I didn't notice that but I would agree. It almost seems like it was a side note the first time around and he decided to go with it as a plot point later. I get the feeling if he did another draft, say for publishing he would add in a scene for it earlier.

Maybe it's just me but does it feel like we're losing some of the...I'm not sure frame? Detail? The plot is trucking along but the background is fading a bit. Of course the nature of the story makes it hard to introduce new features to the landscape/characters. But a lot of my initial interest in the story was the cast of characters was huge and they were very detailed. As the story has developed they have slowly become diminished versions of themselves.

I'm just bothered because of how well thought out this world is and I want to see a lot more.

 

I honestly don't know how the author is going to be able to finish the story in only one more arc (26-28 chapters). He has so much to cover:

1) Locate the five artifacts to make the key
2) Find out how to trick the Guardian into letting them both out, and not just one.
3) Get Silverlake to teach Zorian something (possibly soul magic)
4) Get Zorian strong enough in his magical fields to make a difference when they get out and need to stop the invasion and primordial summoning.
5) Find a way to minimize as much as possible the casualties during the invasion
6) Find out where the Primordial Summoning is taking place and figuring out how to stop it.
7) Meet Damien (if we don't meet him before the time loop is over, that will be the biggest tease ever)
8) Resolve Zorian's problems with his family (or at least give a good start towards that)
9) Reveal Imaya's background (hints have come up again and again that she used to have a family but that she lost them, most likely through death, and that her house is all she has left)
10) Have an epilogue showing what happens after they counter the invasion and stop the primordial summoning (deal with questionings, get rewards, aftermath, etc.)

Am I missing anything else?

 

The amount of chapters per arc is not fixed and it can be as many as is needed. Though I'm a little surprised that the author didn't want to have Zorian's final attempt outside of the loop to be a separate, if a lot shorter in chapters, arc.

 

True, it would kind of fit in with the way he's delineated the arcs.

Arc 1: (Cyoria/Finding out about the time loop/Allies/Counter invasion/Meeting all of the time travelers Arc)
Loop in which Zorian becomes a time traveler - dramatic reveal of time traveler that can 'kill' people inside the loop.
The key thing that defined this arc was the time travelers. Zorian coming to terms with being a time traveler. Finding out about Zach being a time traveler and a bit about him. Finally, coming face-to-face with the last time traveler and finding out what he’s capable of.

Arc 2: (Wandering/Mind Studies/Matriarch Memory Packet Arc)
First Loop outside Cyoria - Guardian of the threshold tells them Red Robes left and they are stuck inside (unless they find the key).
The key thing that defined this arc was trying to open the Matriarch memory packet. It even ended in the same chapter that they managed to open it, and the rest of the chapter was basically just confirming the info they got from it.

As for the final Arc(s):

If this really is the final arc, then a lot would have to be covered with it, and what would define it would be ‘defeating/one-upping Red Robes’.

However, if what remained was split into 2 arcs:

The key thing that should define the present arc should be figuring out how to escape the time loop and finding out how to counter/defeat their enemies when they do.

And a fourth arc should be made where the key that defines it should be defeating all of the enemies (they have 4 enemies with apparently different end goals that just so happen to overlap: Red Robes, Sudomir, The Ibasan invaders, and the Cult of the Dragon Below) in the final month and dealing with the aftermath.

P.S.: since both of the previous arcs ended in a cliffhanger, the cliffhanger for the third arc could be the moment they start being transferred to the real world, since”

They might not really know whether or not the transfer to the real world would work, since there are two of them and Sovereign Gate’s been glitchy. Some of the possible outcomes could be:
1) Zach gets successfully transferred but Zorian doesn’t
2) Zorian gets successfully transferred but Zach doesn’t
3) Neither get transferred
4) Both get transferred but end up being soulmelded
5) Both get transferred, but into the wrong bodies
6) Both get transferred correctly

And for the fourth arc, just end it with an open ending, with the future being what they make of it.

 

MoL has just been updated and it seems Arc 2 has just really gotten started. I look forward to what happens when they get the first key and if they'll search around for more Ikosian artifacts first before catching up with Damien also now Zorian's specialties are becoming even more useful to the point where I'm wondering if need be can he get rid of Zach with soul an mind magic just before getting out of the time loop

 

I really liked that "WHAM Line" at the end.

 

The author has been getting fond of cliffhangers lately. Also, is there a hint that Zorian might be getting into the healing arts? Psychics are supposedly good at it for some reason, it could prove to be very useful once they are out of the loop, and he could always get instruction from that one psychic Taiven told him about.

 

There's no direct connection between empathy and healing. It's just that those who have empathy tend to be friendly people who like to help others, and hence go into professions like that. Zorian obviously isn't like that, but he's considered getting a basic proficiency in healing before for minor injuries. He does not want to be a full-blown healer though, since it's not where his interest lies.

 

Thanks for the clarification, bludvein. I appreciate it. I thought it might have something to do with psychics being able to process a lot of raw data naturally and that healing spells might do something like that, like some divination spells.

In other news, I went back and reread and then looked at the map the author made in deviantart, and I could only find one out of the three places Zach mentioned. What's up with that? It is that the map didn't include all of the cities that existed? Or is it that Zach went beyond what is show on the map and may even have visited other continents?

P.S.: The one I found was in Falkrinea, which means he's at the very least traveled outside of the country (Eldemar). I hope that doesn't count as a spoiler, because I don't know how to hide spoilers.

---------- Post automerged 09-26-2016 at 12:02 AM ---------- Previous post was 09-25-2016 at 11:59 PM ----------

Immediately after, I found another, but the last one is still missing

 

Really liked the ending.

My suspicions that Zorian will have more interactions with Ichl may actually be correct. I mean, if they can't beat him in "fair" fight then doing what the Red Robe did, working with the invaders, could help them much more. They just need to wait for one moment of the lich's unawareness to break a link between his body and soul, and the Key is theirs. It's definitely doable.

Problem is that they probably need to find a way to gather 5 keys within one restart which, depending on their location, could prove as challenging as finding them in the first place.

I suppose it's where making simulacrums will play a big role.

 

Wait, has it been confirmed that they need to gather all of the keys in one restart? I had assume the keys would somehow fit in with their markers and thus be preserved through restarts.

Alternatively, it could be that they only need to use each key once - the room with the guardian could be outside the loop...

Or did I miss something that runs counter to this?

 

When did the target date for the new chapter change from the 16th of October to the 23rd of October?

 

He posted about it on Patreon yesterday: https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-60-7008065

 

Now that I reread the last chapter to prepare for tomorrow, something finally dawned on me. I didn't about it when I first read it, but the reason Red Robes stuck around with the invaders so much was probably in a large part due to the crown the lich was wearing. We still don't know how Red Robes managed to fool the guardian and leave the time loop, but if he needed to collect all 5 artifacts in order to do it, staying near the lich and building trust would make sense, since it has already been established that he's not even as strong as Zach (who gets demolished by the Lich whenever he tries to fight it), and wouldn't be able to take it forcefully.

P.S.: I know I mentioned this already, but it bears mentioning. I feel that Red Robes reasons for helping the invaders are many. Not even accounting for the artifact we just found out about, helping the invaders makes Zach have more trouble countering the invasion and therefore have less time to be wondering about other possible time travelers and how to get out of it. He would be able to get many resources and a lot of information from them just by telling them what he knows from previous restarts. He would be in a better position to sabotage them if their plans interfered with his interests once outside the loop. Finally, I think Red Robes will use the invasion as a distraction to get into the heavily guarded place where the Sovereign's Gate is to activate it at the peak of the summer festival.

 

I don't think Red Robe needed the crown to escape. It seemed pretty clear that Zorian and Zach need it because RR already left and they need to be able to overwrite the gate's failsafe that prevents other souls from being smuggled out of the loop. Remember the gate was barred because the controller (RR) had left.

For me the biggest question mark in the story right now is how the loop was started if the crown is part of the key. The Ghost Serpent implied that both the gate and the key are required to start the loop.

Which means that Quatach-Ichl was involved or robbed of his crown.

Edit: I like the image of Ichl spending the start of every loop chasing down the guy who stole his crown. But if he was involved then that implies that RR is the original looper and is there to help the invasion. It also requires an explanation as to why Ichl didn't go himself, so maybe Ichl was a traveller in the past and you are only allowed to use the gate once.

 

I don't think Red Robe is the original looper or even particularly wants to invasion to succeed. For me he was simply doing was it's been suggested Zorian do, and that's exploiting the opportunity to acquire knowledge and power and for Red Robe who seems to have an interest in necromancy or soul magic it would make sense to ingratiate yourself with the Lich given he would be one of the best sources. The Lich likely intended to kill Red Robe after the invasion though, but with a time-loop that never simply came to pass.

 

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/60/Mother-of-Learning

This one was an action-filled chapter. I liked it, but there is one thing that I just don't understand.

When they're fighting Quatach-Ichl why doesn't Zorian use the banishing/severing spell formula which desyncs the Lich's spirit from the skeleton body that Kael gave him? If you know you're going to go up against the Lich, make like 1000 of them and barrage him.

 

That was a really cool chapter - lots of action that wasn't glossed over, and a good deal of progress!

Things really got interesting when the lich began to target Zorian as a priority - I'd really like to know what exactly caused that. We also got to see all the prominent mages in action, and there were a lot of cool abilities bandied around - hopefully we can see more of those in future.

 

I thought the chapter got off to a pretty slow start, but it improved significantly when Quatach-Ichl joined the fight. Honestly, I am a bit let down. It had some pretty epic moments, but Zorian's emotional connection to the fight was neglected and therefore it read a bit like a video game.

@Ceebee the only reason that worked before was because Quatach was underestimating/humoring Zorian. If there are actual soul mages present (Zorian counts), I think it is fair to believe that he wouldn't let any spell formulae touch him. That was also Kael's idea and he spent most of a month working on it, Zorian didn't have enough prep time to get that ball rolling.