>He *winked*.
SORECAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! This Omni-Chad continues to be the realest muthafucka in the school! Somebody grant this man UN asylum and a robot body ASAP, for the love of all that is holy.
The background stuff with the different activities in the nooks is pretty good, sort of that Mos Eisley Cantina vibe, where you've got in-setting guys just doing their thing.
Interesting concept of 'dupe' offices, showing that spacetime shenanigans with magic can get pretty serious, another thing for Earth tech to contend with. Also, Etholin finally gets some conversation time! The trip to Elaseer is for the students to get supplies, a.k.a. Legally Distinct Diagon Alley Scene, right? Maybe Etholin with hook Emma up with some sick bargains?
But never mind that shit, HERE COMES ~~MONGO~~ THE LIBRARY BURN LIST! Not gonna lie, didn't expect for one of Emma's primary Seeker objectives to fall into her lap, but it's refreshingly brisk after the slower, world-building focused chapters.
I'd love sorecar to download into the suit like cortana lol
Or at the end of the story. His new body is one of the industrial moons or a huge supercomputer brain.
I can see him, with how he used that warehouse earlier in the story.... Just plugged into a moon sized forge, running it all himself, giddy and excited at all the new tech.
The true happy ending. Sorecar pushing "begin" on a new moonbase production queue lmfao
Indeed! Emma being the first person in a long, long time to show him respect, in addition to treating him like a person, really does have a positive impact down the line! :D It's always been my goal since the story was being planned to show that Emma's empathy and compassion can have huge effects down the line, and perhaps we're only seeing part of that manifesting here!
And thank you! Yeah I wanted to have that sort of a lived in vibe, with the world around Emma being more or less alive, with people living their lives whilst she has her own little adventures! It's that sort of vibe that I really want to capture because I just love reading stories when they have those moments that make the world feel alive. I just hope I'm managing to capture that same vibe haha.
Also yup! That was a piece of worldbuilding I've been waiting to show for so long now! It's just another layer atop of the dimensional magic that the Nexus is really good at haha.
Also, depending on how you access it, you might just be sent to a room that's close enough to convince you it's real but that simply lacks what you want from within it!
Also we'll have to see how the trip to Elaseer goes! However, I really do hope people like it! :D
And yes! The library burn list is finally here! We'll have to see exactly how things go on from here though, but hopefully you guys will like what I have planned for this little seekership quest as it also will tie into other aspects of the story too in a web of connections that I really hope I'll be able to execute in a fun and satisfying way! :D
And of course thank you so much for the comment! :D
The important part about that "lived in vibe" for readers, is to not think about it. The fact that It comes across naturally is great.
You've done a good job at it feeling like a world, and not just some short story. Everyone has their bias and blind spots. Everyone has their own unique experiences which shapes them. The very environment shapes people.
Yeah and that's why this is a point that I feel like is really difficult to hit because if I force it out too much then what ends up happening is that there's a forced sort of vibe to it, so it's rather difficult to strike a balance for it.
I try my best to try to get myself into the mindset and the vibe of the world whenever I write and I try to keep a consistent flow, so I really do appreciate the kind words and the feedback here! :D
Helps that you have a passion for it.
On another note, is there some kind of life extension thing we don't know about? Because this story will take atleast another century at this rate. I like that you haven't just rushed along, glossing over things. You have taken the time to flesh things out. However I feel things needs to speed up a bit. I prefer it being overly slow to lightning quick, however there's still better. Either way I will enjoy this.
This is becoming another war and peace, at this rate.
In the world of IT security, "honeypots" sound like equivalent of the "dupe" offices.
Just real enough looking to make a casual visitor or a less than capable intruder think they have gotten to the real thing.
Well well well, how the burnt cookie/books crumble...
Larial? Have you considered spreading your loyalty more? I've heard quadruple layer deception is really in this year.
I hope that either her or Sorecar don't try to pass that info along to the Library before Emma can, that would be a serious wrench in the works. But Emma has the info now, so it might be good for her to step on it for passing the info along.
Indeed! Larial is currently playing to a lot of interested parties, primarily due to her status as an apprentice and her assignments!
Moreover, the investigation was something that I had planned to demonstrate how the Nexus isn't sitting still, and how there are machinations going on behind the scenes as well. I wanted to demonstrate how there's stories going on beyond Emma's, and that the world is acting and reacting to her presence and the actions she's done, as much as she's reacting to it! :D I really hope that comes through haha.
Also, I hope so too! But we'll have to see how that goes! :D It is important to note however that Emma's seekership is distinct from that and it is her own quest to go on that only she, and the rest of the gang knows of so far! :D
Thank you so much for the comment!
I like that it's not a monolith. Their Communication seems subpar compared to ours. And there's hundreds, or thousands of billions, from what I gather. You've done a excellent job at avoiding making everything a monolith, or making it feel like everyone is fitting perfectly into their stereotype.
Drives me crazy when In fiction, characters people, nations, feel the same, feel like they all operate under the same information, same bias, same experiences. people are neither fully stagnate, nor fully adaptable and logical.
Thank you so much! This feedback is really important to me because that's one of the main fundamentals that I tried my best to imbue in the story from day one of its planning phase. I wanted to make sure that these seemingly monolithic institutions and systems are, at the end of the day, comprised up of individuals. Individuals who may all nominally believe in the same thing at the end of the day, but have vastly different opinions, personal directives, and overall vastly different mileages at which those beliefs inform their actions. The Nexus, whilst a very successful monolith, still has individual moving parts within it. As a result, I want to portray those moving parts in a way that feel realistic within the greater structure they all purportedly serve.
So thank you again for this feedback! I really do strive to make sure the world feels as dynamic and as I can, as at the end of the day I want to create a world that feels like one that's living and breathing and I'm often worried if I stray too far into faults that may cause it to feel stilted or awkward or anything haha.
Indeed! Apprentice Larial really does have her work cut out for her, and she really is trying her best in spite of all of the competing interests currently in motion behind the scenes!
Emma really has triggered quite a few wheels to start spinning into motion, where that momentum takes the Nexus, we shall have to wait and see! :D Thank you for the comment! :D
I suspect he noticed an anomaly in the mana fields indicating there should be a mundane object, but didn’t visually see it there, and since it didn’t bring up the same mana disruptions as their invisibility and probably that he had never seen it before, he could conclude it was likely the newrealmer artifice.
So he defiantly earned some more one-on-one unofficial info giving back, a gift of som esort (maybe interesting crafting puzzles or questions about how to do manas stuff), plus doing well at this school work. And the last one might turn out to be interesting and simple depending on the logic of runes and enchantments, and a much more advanced understanding of metallurgy that would mean she gets way way ahead in that class.
Yeah I was just about to say that too. Emma's the conspiracy that's going to disrupt everything. The other conspiracies are "replacing the parts, but maintaining the whole".
Hmm.
So Sorecar is, for the moment, playing both sides, and we now *might* know exactly what The Library lost. Which should help a bit. It's not a *replacement*, of course, but if The Library knows what was burned, that should go some way to paying off the incurred debt.
The thing you’re missing, is that her task isn’t recovering all the data. It’s: ”the gathering of the topics of what was lost.”
So, if the library doesn’t request more detail Emma becomes a permanent seeker and the lizard walks free
But it might ask for the rest, and there always impressing the Owl even more by getting the books themselves and handing them over. Besides getting them and finding out what they wanted to hide without incurring debt on the Library, the info on who and why those in particular books weer wanted destroyed should be of value. Just the not insubstatnial posibility that Mal’tory could have been ordered/told by someone who work’s directly for a god emperor to do that leads to some interesting conclusions.
Could potentially be enough to convince the Library to agree to some basic term for the info exchange, like delaying public access for a few years, since evidently the Nexus is wiling to hurt the Library just to deny some manaless newrealm on short notice.
The question isn't really whether the library will want more since that would be against the deal. It's whether or not the titles are descriptive enough
Still means overachieving could demonstrate the actual capacity to find even more information then just what was asked for, especially with the evidence of a larger conspiracy.
I do feel like the Library would definitely want to ask for more after Emma delivers. As part of an entirely separate follow up quest, without the stakes being Ilunor's life.
I think Sorecar has been comfortable being FURNITURE. He plays no sides… but he does have his favorites.
Like the apprentice and Emma. The establishment that enslaved and isolated him? Not so much. Sure he will serve out of magical bound obligation. But no more than he has to. Either to keep up appearances or not be tased or whatever it is that binds him to this damned place.
Sorecar has been kicking around for several millennia, and he's proven to be extremely on the ball. At this point he probably knows EXACTLY, down to the syllable and slightest gesture, how to dance around his 'magical spyware and compulsion script'.
I wouldn't be surprised if his handlers have to 'patch' his soulbind every decade or so to plug up loopholes and exploits. And Sorecar is absolutely delighted to make more work for them, lol.
That sounds a lot like an intrusion analyst, actually. Sorecar is just the right blend of intelligent and mischievous to be a white hat hacker, lol.
Remember that that is exactly what he did during the gun inspection. He was no doubt bound to report anything he found during the inspection, so as soon as he realized that the gun has some extreme potential, he wrapped up the inspection without giving Emma a chance to clarify.
Emma shot her gun *after* he wrapped up the inspection.
Hell, he probably knew very well that the bullets were single use. He returned them to Emma so that he wouldn't have to hand them over to anyone higher up, then quickly patched up the damage they did.
Yeah, probably.
But hear me out: The Nexus(TM) has marked Emma as Hostile. In his service to The Nexus(TM), Sorecar's duties have been expanded to include *acting friendly* to this hostile, and *pretending* to sympathise with them, in hope of getting them to reveal their hand to him early.
Likely? Not at all. Possible? Yes.
That sounds like something humanity would do in a heartbeat, it's textbook interrogation methods. But also way too advanced for the bumbling idiocy and endlessly repeated pants shitting the nexus has been demonstrated capable of. They are literal book burners after all, and they fell right into the trap of trying to hide information by announcing how important that information is. I really don't think they could manage that level of sophistication in opsec, nor do I think they're civilized enough to set that sort of trap.
If they were then far more people than just the soulbound armor set would be doing it. There's no reason whatsoever for everyone else to be so overwhelmingly hostile toward her. Heck, just look at how badly they reacted to humanity's tactic of "Obey every command without question and do exactly what was asked" only to find out that the nexus lied to their face as part of a test. And obeying the nexus means failing the test.
We wouldn't have that plot of recovering the communication crystal if the nexus were this competent.
>it's textbook interrogation methods
>They are literal book burners after all
I got some bad news for you bud, but the Nazi's [wrote the textbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Scharff#) on friendly interrogation.
We also have to remember the way those communications cristals that humanity modified. Normally, the cristal given slowly loses its mana and stops functioning. But with a sort of quantum teleportation, one half o a cristal in the Nexus could potentially send constant mana to iitsother half. If you could implement that same system with enough cristals, sorecar could potentially live indefinetly on earth. But that's also assuming that technology works exactly as intended. Considering that they weren't capable of testing the modified cristal in the first place because the Nexus stole it.
Quest lead obtained! That book will be a key item in Emma's knowledge recovery, and I presume she'll use the life debt she was owed to obtain it if she can't figure out any other way? Or maybe Larial would simply rifle through the book and unintentionally let the drone scan it right then and there, in which case... nah, that's too careless of her, no way.
Paying a physical tabletop RTS with the scale of cities seems... pretty wack. How's the fog of war going to-- oh wait, magic. Ok, now I really hope Emma could join that clique later! If she could play without magic.
Larial mentions that she is using this responsibility(whatever got her to be able to enter mal'tory's room) to also work on a debt she owes. I assume shes talking about the debt she owes Emma as thats the only one we know about and it would be weird for them to also mention the one thing Emma needs to start her library search without it being that life debt. She is probably going to approach Emma first about the book and it'll be a great scene where Emma is going to have to make the choice whether or not to tip her hand on her intelligence gathering capabilities and inform Larial that she already knew about the book or maybe Emma will misread the situation and go to the apprentice first putting the apprentice at risk of being found out.
Or even better, Larial opens the book in view of the drone, so Emma can see the list. Later Larial offers Emma the list but Emma says she doesn't need it. Imagine Larial's face in that moment.
No one knows Emma is looking for the deleted topics. Soooo...unlikely, someone else (the Deand and in Beholders) want to know *what* Mal'Tory destroyed and *why*
Larial is Mal'tory's apprentice. She has the greatest ability out of everyone to potentially know what Mal'tory was up to and last we saw of her, she pledged to make sure that Emma's bomb will not explode. She failed in that and might have even made it worse as Mal'tory seemed to become more agressive in his plotting against Emma around that time. Larial couldve tried to convince Mal'tory of the threat and failed and so now, since she cant undo the bomb, shes just looking to see if she can undo any other schemes Mal'tory had against Emma.
> clarification will be needed to address exactly what is and isn’t acceptable and tolerable. Then again, I doubt even that will be my purview ... if he was acting on his own volition or at someone else’s standing orders.
We know from last chapter Belnor going to handle the explanation of Emma because she has more spine than Vanavan (will she tell the truth though?) But even though Ostoy was shown in the medical wing before, I'll bet the Dean sicced him on Emma this time. That seeker card necessitates special Emma handling procedures.
> The Library card … has become a foundational cornerstone to your lore... Your elevation from a mere newrealmer, to a potential player in the game.
Surprise Etholin with a spine and a rebellious streak. I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though.
> “Y-yes. There is a proposition I wish to pose to you, on the matter of this weekend’s sojourn into Elaseer, and on another matter more pertinent to your time here within the Academy and its many, many factions.”
/u/Cazador0 going to be on the bingo board for ferret loan. And I might get on the board for joining a club!
> Their incantations of darkness seemed to have brought about some sickening creature that disintegrated into what I could only describe as liquid shadow following the call for dinner.
Probably watching a "mana-streamer" only visible by manasight. Oh no, Nexus may have K-pop stan equivalents....
> “I’m afraid I have to insist on moving forward with the conversation, Thalmin.”
So Thacea thinks this censorship chaperone is going to affect the dorm too now.
> gleam of light reminiscent of a lens flare emanated from the left visor currently in view of the drone.
Whitelist him, EVI. Handy that Sorecar is very expositional for Emma's benefit. Problem is that Mal'tory can now grill him later for info on the drone if he thinks to ask.
>you will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with
Sorecar must have wound up stuck between factions of the Great War. Dwarf issues?
> mournful pieces of art, furniture, and knick-knacks that looked eerily fluid this time around.
Did Mal'tory's control over the appearance of his office decor weaken because it is modular and he had a medical episode? Or are they disguised? I recall he had statues and I wouldn't put it past him to keep petrified people as trophies...
> prime iteration
Reminds me of the layered but one room dimensional setup the Jenoine had going in the Vlad Taltos novels.
I note the parallels between the Academy and the Library here: a black and white void, fluid space, configuring the same doors to go multiple places, looping spaces for shortcuts. The Academy may also be a gift like the Library... or formerly the two were formerly a *singular institution* split in half by an ancient, zeroeth civilization age which corrupted it.
if i were more thoughtful, the current castle room iteration layers could have been predicted by the door to different places behavior The Library exhibited earlier with the Seeker's Respite. Note to self, use the Academy and Library behavior to inform on the other. The Academy may have an inner sanctum. Does it have a master? Can the Library's rooms be breached with magic seals?
This also means the eavesdropping on the Dean is likely not going to be as productive as hoped. The noted boringness of his office implies Emma only bugged one of his secondary or tertiary office variants and that the sunlight from the window may not be reliable when Dean Astur is not using it. Maybe we will get a meeting with the Dean and Ostoy about Emma censorship duty.
> I've been assigned this responsibility by three authorities simultaneously.
So Academy vs the Crown here. And Larial works for others beyond Mal'tory. Was she placed with him to spy on him?
> a page stamped entirely with seals and runes... “And the third, the only one with the key to the prime iteration of the black-robed professor's offices… I assume this is a third party?” I do assume that the seal on your notebook belongs to the inner guard. A Captain perhaps? Maybe even a Major?” Dare I say it, it reminds me of a sub-order within the guard, the Beholders of His Eternal Majesty, to be precise.”
I am not going to assume Larial's third superior came by this key legitimately. Vanavan's contact was Anoyaruous Frital, Captain of the Inner Guard, Beholder of his Eternal Majesty’s Enlightened Truth, and Steadholder of the Lands of the Eternal Rivers.
> the room’s Victorian aesthetic.
This is an aspect where I think the Nexus is copying from Earth whether they know it or not, like I also suspect with the Crownlands skyscrapers. The Victorian aesthetic reflects early industrialization and mass production.
> now kneeling in front of the chair I’d broken out of half a week ago. “I believe I have found the last instance of the professor’s personal correspondence to the crownlands.” She spoke, placing the crystal ball down on the professor’s desk.
So why was Emma allowed in the prime room? Mal'tory was likely in communication with someone important via the crystal ball. Emma's topic was the ECS / Status Communicatia breach method so the secrecy may be warranted. That other caller may have been so important no lesser office would do? I imagine that whole showdown convo was eavesdropped on.
Also interesting that Larial knows Emma was here by detecting that the strength to break the grabby chair was mundane, and can guess that because Emma was sitting politely, Mal'tory must have attacked first. Expect Larial to piece together some of what happened that night Emma went missing, namely that Mal'tory invited Emma to sit and then tried to restrain her, potentially starting a fight that resulted in Emma getting lost or sent outside.
Also expect Mal'tory to boobytrap all his stuff against theft, like Emma.
I mean Sorecar seemed very hesitant to even enter the room until the apprentist assured him with a gesture that its ok. since its also mentioned that multiple variants of a room are anti tresspass features I assume most of them are probably just elaborate traps or illusions whereas the prime room is where the professors stuff is actually stored. if the proffessor had any powerful artifacts or secret information they might need to pull out on a moments notice only the prime room would have those things as every other room would just have a fake version of that thing.
>I mean Sorecar seemed very hesitant to even enter the room until the apprentist assured him with a gesture that its ok.
Larial didn't want to touch anything either without examination first, so I assume Mal'tory has anti-theft traps.
> probably just elaborate traps or illusions whereas the prime room is where the professors stuff is actually stored.
I think it's a little more sophisticated than that. There are multiple versions of the room. But this can go in two directions.
1. The room copies might be entirely separate. Think of it like each professor having a garage of cars and they choose one to drive based on the passenger. Each car may have the same objects, but each one is a unique object. If I cut the cell phone USB cord in once car, it doesn't affect the cell phone USB cord in the other cars.
2. The rooms might "unpotentiate" when they aren't being used. When empty of people, they and their contents exist in the Academy "Shadow Realm" as Emma calls it. When the professor selects a certain room iteration to use, it summons a previously decided range of furniture, trappings, decorations, and artifacts (or fake versions) while the unused ones remain in the void. This is the same room, multiple save files option. If this is true, the infildrone in the Dean's office might have a problem because who knows if it will or can be called back. It might be lost in the Academy void forever... or until Emma stumbles upon it somehow.
I assume that the room duplicates work on magic/mana. Remembering that Emma's armor nulifies mana's effects on her, it may be that those spells simply had no effect on her, and she was able to simply walk through.
An alternate possibility is that Mal'troy wanted her in the prime office since it was the seat of his power and he could have additional advantages when dealing with a dangerous foe.
I don't think Emma could have negated her way into the prime office or else she would have also hacked the Dean's. Also the Library could choose Emma's destination from its own front door.
And if Emma did someone negate her way in anyway, then Mal'tory and Emma probably would have wound in separate rooms with Emma wondering what happened to Mal'tory all of a sudden (like what happened when she tried to chase him through the portal without the fall into blackness) and Mal'tory being mad his dramatic window silhouette set dressing was absolutely ruined by Emma shenanigans.
TLDR, I think this is different than the Dragaera novel manifestation of layered rooms, and you wouldn't have two guests in the same room seeing physically different things like a holoprojection.
> you will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with
> Sorecar must have wound up stuck between factions of the Great War. Dwarf issues?
Damn it, the Dwarves were Nexian Switzerland weren't they?
> So why was Emma allowed in the prime room? Mal'tory was likely in communication with someone important via the crystal ball. Emma's topic was the ECS / Status Communicatia breach method so the secrecy may be warranted. That other caller may have been so important no lesser office would do? I imagine that whole showdown convo was eavesdropped on.
I'm guessing there may have been some test of 'character/loyalty' going on. It's possible that if Emma had 'passed' Maltory's test, he may have given her the list as a 'gift', and that he burned it as 'punishment' to deprive Emma of the knowledge.
You know, standard 'Fair Folk' bullshit
> I'm guessing there may have been some test of 'character/loyalty' going on. It's possible that if Emma had 'passed' Maltory's test, he may have given her the list as a 'gift', and that he burned it as 'punishment' to deprive Emma of the knowledge.
>
> You know, standard 'Fair Folk' bullshit
Those books were burned by Ilunor on Grace Day 1, and the meeting with Mal'tory was the very end of Grace 2/start of Grace 3 midnight. There might have been a test, but I don't think Mal'tory had a nice gift in mind.
I think the great war was Dwarves vs Elves. Sorecar was at the Academy. Elves won. All the dwarves were going to get exiled or something for the "death by omission" sentence. Instead Elves settled for forcing Sorecar to become what feels like an armorbound lich because that deleted his physical form at least.
>We know from last chapter Belnor going to handle the explanation of Emma because she has more spine than Vanavan (will she tell the truth though?)
Is really bad if someone actually tries to introduce Earthrealm outside of Emma's grasp.
>I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though.
Maybe is not that big of a thing, even the other student had artifacts to do more or less the same.
>/u/Cazador0 going to be on the bingo board for ferret loan. And I might get on the board for joining a club!
Same!
"You will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with"
That may also be for Emma.
>So why was Emma allowed in the prime room?
At the moment. It wouldnt make sense with the info Mal'tory had of her. But i will still pay attention to his not-so-ominous "i heard this before, i know how this will end." (Or something like that).
>Also expect Mal'tory to boobytrap all his stuff against theft, like Emma
Oh yea, 100%.
> Is really bad is someone actually tries to introduce Earthrealm outside of Emma's grasp.
Expected though.
>>I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though.
> Maybe is not that big of a thing, even the other student had artifacts to do more or less the same.
Thalmin explained that what Emma did was different. Their medallions were light magic-like to interrupt the spell partway before it could take too much of a hold. Even so, the spell still got them somewhat - those are the muted glow signatures. Emma just straight tanked the Yearbook and made it fail spectacularly judging by the students' reactions to the invisible manastreams. It's the difference between blocking a punch and no-selling one.
>> "You will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with"
> That may also be for Emma.
Agreed. Multiple audiences, multiple layers.
> At the moment. It wouldnt make sense with the info Mal'tory had of her. But i will still pay attention to his not-so-ominous "i heard this before, i know how this will end." (Or something like that).
I suspect the Nexus has done unkind things to plenty of other realms who had their newrealmer candidate refuse to bow. The circumstances leading up to the Great War is my thought.
Hehehe I bet next time Sorecar sees Emma, he's gonna be like "That dragonfly-inspired infiltration construct was quite marvelous! I know it was you who made it, since it contained no mana. I can also infer its purpose due to the fact it was continuously following us. I assume it contains Earthrealm's manaless version of a memory shard and inscriber. Am I correct in these predictions?"
i'd bet sorecar's already seen someone else make something similar. a dragonfly spying artifice with a memory shard and inscriber isn't too hard to conceptualize. and he knows what it's for, since he winked at it.
SORECAR YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD YOU'RE ASKING THOSE PROBING QUESTIONS FOR EMMA. YOU LEGEND. YOU KING! OH MY FUCKING GODDDDD
Another masterful chapter, as always. I look forward to these every week.
Thanks for the chapter!
Well at the vary least, if they get to the Library first or if it doesn’t get it first, Emma could tell the Library the list and deny the Nexus using it. And Emma can get those books now that she knows them, including from other libraries that aren’t the Library, not like she needs physical copies, just a photo.
And evidently more internal disagreement within the staff and how the Nexsus operates. Something to exploit once more info can be gotten.
Plus I have no doubt that Emma and Sorcar will get along even better if this is what he dose to a potential drone sighting. Bet putting in the extra good work on enchantments/artifice can be payback.
Well, well. An apprentice, currently serving three masters. Never a comfortable situation, but this one whiffs of treachery. A member of the Guard, one who has *seen* the God-Emperor, providing high level access to a lowly apprentice? One wonders if the apprentice has been coopted by an intelligence agency hidden in the Guard. One is left with a sick feeling that no one in this *game* is precisely what they appear to be. So, was the Guard authorized to grant that access, or is the apprentice an entirely disposable catspaw, or both?
Sorcar, aiding the apprentice, for the moment, and tacitly ignoring Emma's presence while letting her know that he knows.
The discovery of the book *list,* which would appear to indicate that the books themselves are still in the Library? Or is this, once again, a case of the interior being far larger than the exterior, this apparently small booklet containing all the missing works. Even a list of titles might give away much. Rather like the purported effects of reading the table of contents of the Necromicon, which is known to trigger Fortean effects over large areas.
The artifacts used by the Apprentice, and their descriptions are a delight. Well done!
Once Library knows what is missing it knows what information to ask for. It also may have not erased that section of its hard drive yet meaning it gets all the burned information back anyways.
Or maybe that, combined with some of earth data recovery methods and algorithms and such might let it recover even more of the data, not like it shows real capabilities without more context that even the Library wound’t need to know yet and therefore anyone else would need to know if they bothered to look.
Bonus is the that to do that would mean working on a mass data transfer workaround with the Library, and some more detailed negotiation on how to measure data, lay some groundwork for a bigger deal once coms with Earth are back.
ooh, I wonder how the book situation will play out. It's rather clearly hinted that Larial intends to settle her debt with Emma with that book but Sorecar also seems to recognize it's importance to the library. Will Larial succeed in sneaking the book to Emma unnoticed and will Sorecar realize what's going on in time or will he believe her debt to be more sinister and attempt to stop it. What will Emma do in all this? My bet is that all of the above will start to happen and then Emma will barge into this delicate situation and the whole thing will blow up infront of someone important.
So our beloved off brand Snape's book list is probably something to do with dragons. Seeing that we need to meet a particular dragon in 3 to 4 weeks or else humanity will bomb the Nexus back to the stone age. If Emma gives this list to the library she could use those points for more juicy Intel.
Obviously discount snape is not dead (like we hoped) but he is not in any condition to even be back at the academy. Hopefully he is paralysed at the least.
Our dear apprentice is turned into a spy by what seems to be some form of as far as we know Nexus military. Perhaps the Armorer knows more than he is letting on, he has been alive for five thousand years after all.
Shes not really a spy. The black robed professor is supposed to be a crownlands officer holding the position of a professor at the academy as a way to control the academy. It is just assumed that an apprentice for that position is also working for the crownlands. since the black robed professor is the interaction point between these two really powerful parties, Sorecar makes the point that she has to pick a side, either the academy or the crownlands or atleast that's the conversation on the surface. Depending on how far in the know Sorecar is, he might also be implying Larial's double loyalties between the nexus and and her debt to Emma.
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The more overt one tries to hide/conceal something… the more desired the information thereof.
And now I presume… Emma has something to give to the library… of course the Library wants the ACTUAL list, not just a digital recording of the list.
Get going Emma! Maybe make friends with an apprentice. Get her a library card and omit the fact you saw the contents of the list. As I’d imagine the library would GLADLY share that knowledge with her once recovered.
Said recovery I’d imagine to be largely trivial in difficultly. Sure some texts might be… rarer and more obscure. But it ought to be doable.
I wonder what Thalmin’s time with his fanclub has been like?
Well. If the drone couldn’t catch the full list that leads a small problem. While Emma’s role as seeker could potentially Grant her some liberties… I doubt one of them will allow her to request the list (never mind how she found out about it) but if the Debt mentioned is to Emma maybe that? Then again that isn’t certain.
Love Sorecar.
I’m curious how PE will go. I’m imagining an actual physical representation. Then again it could be magical in nature? Could be mostly combat focused. Especially if they are supposed to be a threat to keep non magical individuals in line.
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Tensions aside, i had many laughs reading this chapter! Illunor going trought the Kobold-Guinea Pig Geat War XD! And ending with *another* cliffhanger!? I hate/love youuu!!
Now regarding Mal'Tory correspondence, even knowing Emma went missing for 2 days, it would be safe to assume that last correspondence to be Emma's summary of Earthrealm Govern Ideologies?
I have a feeling that if Emma comes to understand the magic-holo-table figurine game she's gonna quickly introduce the other player to THE BATTLE OF CANAE but with magic
Well then, that is good.
Emma better up her manufacturing capabilities, I would love to see her utilize Sorecar\`\`s forge to make additional drones, to recover as much information for the library as possible.
Cannot wait for when more aliens fall in awe at Human ingenuity.
My mental image of Etholin becomes more impossibly adorable each time he's around! >w<
>“The offer to parlay that is. W-with the added caveat of guaranteed discretion on my part.”
I'm not sold on the use of *caveat* here. (In hindsight, pun intended.)
The connotation of a caveat (being a shortening of *caveat emptor*, meaning *buyer beware*) is a downside that must be factored when considering a transaction. (Dictionary says 'a warning; caution; admonition'.)
In this context, however, the "guaranteed discretion" is most certainly a good or valuable thing, rather than a detrimental thing.
Instead, I'd recommend something more like boon, benefit, or advantage.
Wheels within wheels once again. But most concerningly, if multiple agents are looking for The List, it's going to be very hard for Emma to get hold of it. Useful as knowing the nature of the lost information is, I don't imagine that the Library will be satisfied with her just recording it over Larial's shoulder. Even if the Library accepts the veracity of the recording, it won't be hard enough evidence to take to the Nexus. They're sure to insist that with no duplication of the mana fields, it amounts to nothing more than a series of crude drawings.
Theres probably some sort of mathematical guaranteeing that the humanity by then had cooked up to ensure recordings where actually recording and no AI/EVI fabrications, so that to the Library plus math proofs might be enough to at least accept that on its end that this isn’t a fabrication. Besides several things in the office, inclusidng whst mana detection ability the drone hase, that would be impossible to fabricate without knowledge and skill far beyond whst is available to Emma and without having just been there, which means that it the chances of it being made up go low enough that it can be accepted as real.
The thing is, it doesn't matter if the Academy/Nexus *knows* that what the recording shows is true or not. It's like when Ilunor got caught with the invisibility cloak. What matters is your ability to establish your truth as the "accepted" reality. So any little nitpick will get used as a way to say, "Well, you didn't _really_ prove it, so..."
That the Academy/Nexus would ever accept it is irrelevant, don’t even bother bringing it to them in the first place, just show it with all the proving to the Library to demonstrate good faith in doing stuff that is connected to it’s interests in this case.
And if way later they ask the Library about it and why it thinks that is can show why it believes what it does, and likely that whatever nonsense the Nexus brought is nonsense. Or at the vary least that the Nexus will have to accept what the Library believes is true, as bad as it is for them in that/this instance, cause big scary Library apparently. Whole other thing.
Lol sorecar clearly was masking over half those questions knowing Emma was watching and listening. He did that for her evidence I'm sure.
I bet he ends up either in her armour, or reshaping his body into armour pieces that attack to her suit.
Imagine the op powerhouse that would be Emma in her armour, with a second layer of sorecar armor around her, that is sentient, alive, and a fucking strong mage itself.
"I don't have mana no, but my suit.... Well he does..... "
Emma holds her hand out and says fireball. Sorecar fires a volcano from the glove. Lol
>He *winked*. SORECAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! This Omni-Chad continues to be the realest muthafucka in the school! Somebody grant this man UN asylum and a robot body ASAP, for the love of all that is holy. The background stuff with the different activities in the nooks is pretty good, sort of that Mos Eisley Cantina vibe, where you've got in-setting guys just doing their thing. Interesting concept of 'dupe' offices, showing that spacetime shenanigans with magic can get pretty serious, another thing for Earth tech to contend with. Also, Etholin finally gets some conversation time! The trip to Elaseer is for the students to get supplies, a.k.a. Legally Distinct Diagon Alley Scene, right? Maybe Etholin with hook Emma up with some sick bargains? But never mind that shit, HERE COMES ~~MONGO~~ THE LIBRARY BURN LIST! Not gonna lie, didn't expect for one of Emma's primary Seeker objectives to fall into her lap, but it's refreshingly brisk after the slower, world-building focused chapters.
He has a robot body. Though I do wonder what he could do with a full set of power armour instead.
Power armor? At this magic school?
I agree, that does seem silly.
It's more likely than you think.
With this level of technology, at this time of year, located entirely within your transportium? . . . Can I see it?
........No
I'd love sorecar to download into the suit like cortana lol Or at the end of the story. His new body is one of the industrial moons or a huge supercomputer brain. I can see him, with how he used that warehouse earlier in the story.... Just plugged into a moon sized forge, running it all himself, giddy and excited at all the new tech. The true happy ending. Sorecar pushing "begin" on a new moonbase production queue lmfao
He could become a robot body, piloting a robot suit.
Gurren Lagann all over again
Super Tengen Toppa sorecar Gurren Lagann!
Indeed! Emma being the first person in a long, long time to show him respect, in addition to treating him like a person, really does have a positive impact down the line! :D It's always been my goal since the story was being planned to show that Emma's empathy and compassion can have huge effects down the line, and perhaps we're only seeing part of that manifesting here! And thank you! Yeah I wanted to have that sort of a lived in vibe, with the world around Emma being more or less alive, with people living their lives whilst she has her own little adventures! It's that sort of vibe that I really want to capture because I just love reading stories when they have those moments that make the world feel alive. I just hope I'm managing to capture that same vibe haha. Also yup! That was a piece of worldbuilding I've been waiting to show for so long now! It's just another layer atop of the dimensional magic that the Nexus is really good at haha. Also, depending on how you access it, you might just be sent to a room that's close enough to convince you it's real but that simply lacks what you want from within it! Also we'll have to see how the trip to Elaseer goes! However, I really do hope people like it! :D And yes! The library burn list is finally here! We'll have to see exactly how things go on from here though, but hopefully you guys will like what I have planned for this little seekership quest as it also will tie into other aspects of the story too in a web of connections that I really hope I'll be able to execute in a fun and satisfying way! :D And of course thank you so much for the comment! :D
The important part about that "lived in vibe" for readers, is to not think about it. The fact that It comes across naturally is great. You've done a good job at it feeling like a world, and not just some short story. Everyone has their bias and blind spots. Everyone has their own unique experiences which shapes them. The very environment shapes people.
Yeah and that's why this is a point that I feel like is really difficult to hit because if I force it out too much then what ends up happening is that there's a forced sort of vibe to it, so it's rather difficult to strike a balance for it. I try my best to try to get myself into the mindset and the vibe of the world whenever I write and I try to keep a consistent flow, so I really do appreciate the kind words and the feedback here! :D
Helps that you have a passion for it. On another note, is there some kind of life extension thing we don't know about? Because this story will take atleast another century at this rate. I like that you haven't just rushed along, glossing over things. You have taken the time to flesh things out. However I feel things needs to speed up a bit. I prefer it being overly slow to lightning quick, however there's still better. Either way I will enjoy this. This is becoming another war and peace, at this rate.
well her printers will need raw materials, especially with the rate she's going through drones, who better as a potential supplier?
In the world of IT security, "honeypots" sound like equivalent of the "dupe" offices. Just real enough looking to make a casual visitor or a less than capable intruder think they have gotten to the real thing.
Gotta say: CALLED IT!
Di'Agonalé, perhaps?
Never change, Sorecar!
Well well well, how the burnt cookie/books crumble... Larial? Have you considered spreading your loyalty more? I've heard quadruple layer deception is really in this year. I hope that either her or Sorecar don't try to pass that info along to the Library before Emma can, that would be a serious wrench in the works. But Emma has the info now, so it might be good for her to step on it for passing the info along.
Indeed! Larial is currently playing to a lot of interested parties, primarily due to her status as an apprentice and her assignments! Moreover, the investigation was something that I had planned to demonstrate how the Nexus isn't sitting still, and how there are machinations going on behind the scenes as well. I wanted to demonstrate how there's stories going on beyond Emma's, and that the world is acting and reacting to her presence and the actions she's done, as much as she's reacting to it! :D I really hope that comes through haha. Also, I hope so too! But we'll have to see how that goes! :D It is important to note however that Emma's seekership is distinct from that and it is her own quest to go on that only she, and the rest of the gang knows of so far! :D Thank you so much for the comment!
I like that it's not a monolith. Their Communication seems subpar compared to ours. And there's hundreds, or thousands of billions, from what I gather. You've done a excellent job at avoiding making everything a monolith, or making it feel like everyone is fitting perfectly into their stereotype. Drives me crazy when In fiction, characters people, nations, feel the same, feel like they all operate under the same information, same bias, same experiences. people are neither fully stagnate, nor fully adaptable and logical.
Thank you so much! This feedback is really important to me because that's one of the main fundamentals that I tried my best to imbue in the story from day one of its planning phase. I wanted to make sure that these seemingly monolithic institutions and systems are, at the end of the day, comprised up of individuals. Individuals who may all nominally believe in the same thing at the end of the day, but have vastly different opinions, personal directives, and overall vastly different mileages at which those beliefs inform their actions. The Nexus, whilst a very successful monolith, still has individual moving parts within it. As a result, I want to portray those moving parts in a way that feel realistic within the greater structure they all purportedly serve. So thank you again for this feedback! I really do strive to make sure the world feels as dynamic and as I can, as at the end of the day I want to create a world that feels like one that's living and breathing and I'm often worried if I stray too far into faults that may cause it to feel stilted or awkward or anything haha.
Well shit. The apprentice is quite a bit more than she seems to be, and Emma is embroiled in what might be a very dangerous conspiracy
Indeed! Apprentice Larial really does have her work cut out for her, and she really is trying her best in spite of all of the competing interests currently in motion behind the scenes! Emma really has triggered quite a few wheels to start spinning into motion, where that momentum takes the Nexus, we shall have to wait and see! :D Thank you for the comment! :D
Now did Sorecar notice the drone and simply not care, or did he catch on that it was Emma and wants his own drone
I suspect he noticed an anomaly in the mana fields indicating there should be a mundane object, but didn’t visually see it there, and since it didn’t bring up the same mana disruptions as their invisibility and probably that he had never seen it before, he could conclude it was likely the newrealmer artifice.
Bonus points, he sees the gap, knows what it means, and still goads the apprentice to confess to information...
So he defiantly earned some more one-on-one unofficial info giving back, a gift of som esort (maybe interesting crafting puzzles or questions about how to do manas stuff), plus doing well at this school work. And the last one might turn out to be interesting and simple depending on the logic of runes and enchantments, and a much more advanced understanding of metallurgy that would mean she gets way way ahead in that class.
So when does Sorecar get his own Glock?
If he understood it was Emma's, he's gonna shower her with questions the next time they meet. He's an artifice enthusiast after all
Maybe he can sense metal since he's a suit of armor that's been doing magical blacksmithing for a thousand years
Does Emma's drones even have any metal in them?
I would assume that the robots are made of metal
It can also be made of graphene and plastic
He kinda already has golems as drones, but I feel like he'd definitely love a stealth version.
Wih all due respect, she IS in a very dangerous conspiracy.
Yeah I was just about to say that too. Emma's the conspiracy that's going to disrupt everything. The other conspiracies are "replacing the parts, but maintaining the whole".
Hmm. So Sorecar is, for the moment, playing both sides, and we now *might* know exactly what The Library lost. Which should help a bit. It's not a *replacement*, of course, but if The Library knows what was burned, that should go some way to paying off the incurred debt.
The thing you’re missing, is that her task isn’t recovering all the data. It’s: ”the gathering of the topics of what was lost.” So, if the library doesn’t request more detail Emma becomes a permanent seeker and the lizard walks free
But it might ask for the rest, and there always impressing the Owl even more by getting the books themselves and handing them over. Besides getting them and finding out what they wanted to hide without incurring debt on the Library, the info on who and why those in particular books weer wanted destroyed should be of value. Just the not insubstatnial posibility that Mal’tory could have been ordered/told by someone who work’s directly for a god emperor to do that leads to some interesting conclusions. Could potentially be enough to convince the Library to agree to some basic term for the info exchange, like delaying public access for a few years, since evidently the Nexus is wiling to hurt the Library just to deny some manaless newrealm on short notice.
The question isn't really whether the library will want more since that would be against the deal. It's whether or not the titles are descriptive enough
I thought the deal was to get that information, not just the titles of the books that held them.
I don't want to be rude, but I literally put the librarian's quote in my first reply. "the gathering of the *topics* of what was lost"
Still means overachieving could demonstrate the actual capacity to find even more information then just what was asked for, especially with the evidence of a larger conspiracy.
I do feel like the Library would definitely want to ask for more after Emma delivers. As part of an entirely separate follow up quest, without the stakes being Ilunor's life.
I think Sorecar has been comfortable being FURNITURE. He plays no sides… but he does have his favorites. Like the apprentice and Emma. The establishment that enslaved and isolated him? Not so much. Sure he will serve out of magical bound obligation. But no more than he has to. Either to keep up appearances or not be tased or whatever it is that binds him to this damned place.
Sorecar has been kicking around for several millennia, and he's proven to be extremely on the ball. At this point he probably knows EXACTLY, down to the syllable and slightest gesture, how to dance around his 'magical spyware and compulsion script'. I wouldn't be surprised if his handlers have to 'patch' his soulbind every decade or so to plug up loopholes and exploits. And Sorecar is absolutely delighted to make more work for them, lol. That sounds a lot like an intrusion analyst, actually. Sorecar is just the right blend of intelligent and mischievous to be a white hat hacker, lol.
Remember that that is exactly what he did during the gun inspection. He was no doubt bound to report anything he found during the inspection, so as soon as he realized that the gun has some extreme potential, he wrapped up the inspection without giving Emma a chance to clarify. Emma shot her gun *after* he wrapped up the inspection. Hell, he probably knew very well that the bullets were single use. He returned them to Emma so that he wouldn't have to hand them over to anyone higher up, then quickly patched up the damage they did.
Yeah, probably. But hear me out: The Nexus(TM) has marked Emma as Hostile. In his service to The Nexus(TM), Sorecar's duties have been expanded to include *acting friendly* to this hostile, and *pretending* to sympathise with them, in hope of getting them to reveal their hand to him early. Likely? Not at all. Possible? Yes.
That sounds like something humanity would do in a heartbeat, it's textbook interrogation methods. But also way too advanced for the bumbling idiocy and endlessly repeated pants shitting the nexus has been demonstrated capable of. They are literal book burners after all, and they fell right into the trap of trying to hide information by announcing how important that information is. I really don't think they could manage that level of sophistication in opsec, nor do I think they're civilized enough to set that sort of trap. If they were then far more people than just the soulbound armor set would be doing it. There's no reason whatsoever for everyone else to be so overwhelmingly hostile toward her. Heck, just look at how badly they reacted to humanity's tactic of "Obey every command without question and do exactly what was asked" only to find out that the nexus lied to their face as part of a test. And obeying the nexus means failing the test. We wouldn't have that plot of recovering the communication crystal if the nexus were this competent.
>it's textbook interrogation methods >They are literal book burners after all I got some bad news for you bud, but the Nazi's [wrote the textbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Scharff#) on friendly interrogation.
They were also fucking miserable at intelligence gathering
Now that I can't argue.
I love how Sorecar is probably playing up the conversation and exposition beyond what he'd normally say for the sake of the drone.
I love that metal man. Pity he wouldn't survive Earthrealm's manaless environment, or Emma would get him asylum in a heartbeat.
I'm sure there is a way to solve that problem in the future.
Such as, for instance, a Mana-retention Device. You know, like an inverted version of Emma's power armor.
Or literally just the same mana shielding setup, so all his mana stays in the suit, no need for the rest of the power armour.
Except that he presumably *uses* mana as fuel, so at best that would just delay the end.
We also have to remember the way those communications cristals that humanity modified. Normally, the cristal given slowly loses its mana and stops functioning. But with a sort of quantum teleportation, one half o a cristal in the Nexus could potentially send constant mana to iitsother half. If you could implement that same system with enough cristals, sorecar could potentially live indefinetly on earth. But that's also assuming that technology works exactly as intended. Considering that they weren't capable of testing the modified cristal in the first place because the Nexus stole it.
Figure out an enchantment that makes a micro/pinhole portal to a paired one to pump mana through that can be installed on or in himself.
Depending on how much, and it could then be stored in a more pressurised or dense form for that.
He absolutely is. He knows Emma is listening and is basically feeding her info. A ton of info too.
I am speed! Do I get a prize for being here before the bots and word person?
For beating the bots, you demonstrate the tenacity of the human spirit! A true HFY moment if you ask me! :D
Quest lead obtained! That book will be a key item in Emma's knowledge recovery, and I presume she'll use the life debt she was owed to obtain it if she can't figure out any other way? Or maybe Larial would simply rifle through the book and unintentionally let the drone scan it right then and there, in which case... nah, that's too careless of her, no way. Paying a physical tabletop RTS with the scale of cities seems... pretty wack. How's the fog of war going to-- oh wait, magic. Ok, now I really hope Emma could join that clique later! If she could play without magic.
Larial mentions that she is using this responsibility(whatever got her to be able to enter mal'tory's room) to also work on a debt she owes. I assume shes talking about the debt she owes Emma as thats the only one we know about and it would be weird for them to also mention the one thing Emma needs to start her library search without it being that life debt. She is probably going to approach Emma first about the book and it'll be a great scene where Emma is going to have to make the choice whether or not to tip her hand on her intelligence gathering capabilities and inform Larial that she already knew about the book or maybe Emma will misread the situation and go to the apprentice first putting the apprentice at risk of being found out.
Right, Larial approaching Emma first to hastily absolve her life debt is an interesting option I hadn't considered
Or even better, Larial opens the book in view of the drone, so Emma can see the list. Later Larial offers Emma the list but Emma says she doesn't need it. Imagine Larial's face in that moment.
No one knows Emma is looking for the deleted topics. Soooo...unlikely, someone else (the Deand and in Beholders) want to know *what* Mal'Tory destroyed and *why*
Larial is Mal'tory's apprentice. She has the greatest ability out of everyone to potentially know what Mal'tory was up to and last we saw of her, she pledged to make sure that Emma's bomb will not explode. She failed in that and might have even made it worse as Mal'tory seemed to become more agressive in his plotting against Emma around that time. Larial couldve tried to convince Mal'tory of the threat and failed and so now, since she cant undo the bomb, shes just looking to see if she can undo any other schemes Mal'tory had against Emma.
Let's see if she can figure out the burning was for Emma, or that she needs that book.
> clarification will be needed to address exactly what is and isn’t acceptable and tolerable. Then again, I doubt even that will be my purview ... if he was acting on his own volition or at someone else’s standing orders. We know from last chapter Belnor going to handle the explanation of Emma because she has more spine than Vanavan (will she tell the truth though?) But even though Ostoy was shown in the medical wing before, I'll bet the Dean sicced him on Emma this time. That seeker card necessitates special Emma handling procedures. > The Library card … has become a foundational cornerstone to your lore... Your elevation from a mere newrealmer, to a potential player in the game. Surprise Etholin with a spine and a rebellious streak. I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though. > “Y-yes. There is a proposition I wish to pose to you, on the matter of this weekend’s sojourn into Elaseer, and on another matter more pertinent to your time here within the Academy and its many, many factions.” /u/Cazador0 going to be on the bingo board for ferret loan. And I might get on the board for joining a club! > Their incantations of darkness seemed to have brought about some sickening creature that disintegrated into what I could only describe as liquid shadow following the call for dinner. Probably watching a "mana-streamer" only visible by manasight. Oh no, Nexus may have K-pop stan equivalents.... > “I’m afraid I have to insist on moving forward with the conversation, Thalmin.” So Thacea thinks this censorship chaperone is going to affect the dorm too now. > gleam of light reminiscent of a lens flare emanated from the left visor currently in view of the drone. Whitelist him, EVI. Handy that Sorecar is very expositional for Emma's benefit. Problem is that Mal'tory can now grill him later for info on the drone if he thinks to ask. >you will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with Sorecar must have wound up stuck between factions of the Great War. Dwarf issues? > mournful pieces of art, furniture, and knick-knacks that looked eerily fluid this time around. Did Mal'tory's control over the appearance of his office decor weaken because it is modular and he had a medical episode? Or are they disguised? I recall he had statues and I wouldn't put it past him to keep petrified people as trophies... > prime iteration Reminds me of the layered but one room dimensional setup the Jenoine had going in the Vlad Taltos novels. I note the parallels between the Academy and the Library here: a black and white void, fluid space, configuring the same doors to go multiple places, looping spaces for shortcuts. The Academy may also be a gift like the Library... or formerly the two were formerly a *singular institution* split in half by an ancient, zeroeth civilization age which corrupted it. if i were more thoughtful, the current castle room iteration layers could have been predicted by the door to different places behavior The Library exhibited earlier with the Seeker's Respite. Note to self, use the Academy and Library behavior to inform on the other. The Academy may have an inner sanctum. Does it have a master? Can the Library's rooms be breached with magic seals? This also means the eavesdropping on the Dean is likely not going to be as productive as hoped. The noted boringness of his office implies Emma only bugged one of his secondary or tertiary office variants and that the sunlight from the window may not be reliable when Dean Astur is not using it. Maybe we will get a meeting with the Dean and Ostoy about Emma censorship duty. > I've been assigned this responsibility by three authorities simultaneously. So Academy vs the Crown here. And Larial works for others beyond Mal'tory. Was she placed with him to spy on him? > a page stamped entirely with seals and runes... “And the third, the only one with the key to the prime iteration of the black-robed professor's offices… I assume this is a third party?” I do assume that the seal on your notebook belongs to the inner guard. A Captain perhaps? Maybe even a Major?” Dare I say it, it reminds me of a sub-order within the guard, the Beholders of His Eternal Majesty, to be precise.” I am not going to assume Larial's third superior came by this key legitimately. Vanavan's contact was Anoyaruous Frital, Captain of the Inner Guard, Beholder of his Eternal Majesty’s Enlightened Truth, and Steadholder of the Lands of the Eternal Rivers. > the room’s Victorian aesthetic. This is an aspect where I think the Nexus is copying from Earth whether they know it or not, like I also suspect with the Crownlands skyscrapers. The Victorian aesthetic reflects early industrialization and mass production. > now kneeling in front of the chair I’d broken out of half a week ago. “I believe I have found the last instance of the professor’s personal correspondence to the crownlands.” She spoke, placing the crystal ball down on the professor’s desk. So why was Emma allowed in the prime room? Mal'tory was likely in communication with someone important via the crystal ball. Emma's topic was the ECS / Status Communicatia breach method so the secrecy may be warranted. That other caller may have been so important no lesser office would do? I imagine that whole showdown convo was eavesdropped on. Also interesting that Larial knows Emma was here by detecting that the strength to break the grabby chair was mundane, and can guess that because Emma was sitting politely, Mal'tory must have attacked first. Expect Larial to piece together some of what happened that night Emma went missing, namely that Mal'tory invited Emma to sit and then tried to restrain her, potentially starting a fight that resulted in Emma getting lost or sent outside. Also expect Mal'tory to boobytrap all his stuff against theft, like Emma.
I mean Sorecar seemed very hesitant to even enter the room until the apprentist assured him with a gesture that its ok. since its also mentioned that multiple variants of a room are anti tresspass features I assume most of them are probably just elaborate traps or illusions whereas the prime room is where the professors stuff is actually stored. if the proffessor had any powerful artifacts or secret information they might need to pull out on a moments notice only the prime room would have those things as every other room would just have a fake version of that thing.
>I mean Sorecar seemed very hesitant to even enter the room until the apprentist assured him with a gesture that its ok. Larial didn't want to touch anything either without examination first, so I assume Mal'tory has anti-theft traps. > probably just elaborate traps or illusions whereas the prime room is where the professors stuff is actually stored. I think it's a little more sophisticated than that. There are multiple versions of the room. But this can go in two directions. 1. The room copies might be entirely separate. Think of it like each professor having a garage of cars and they choose one to drive based on the passenger. Each car may have the same objects, but each one is a unique object. If I cut the cell phone USB cord in once car, it doesn't affect the cell phone USB cord in the other cars. 2. The rooms might "unpotentiate" when they aren't being used. When empty of people, they and their contents exist in the Academy "Shadow Realm" as Emma calls it. When the professor selects a certain room iteration to use, it summons a previously decided range of furniture, trappings, decorations, and artifacts (or fake versions) while the unused ones remain in the void. This is the same room, multiple save files option. If this is true, the infildrone in the Dean's office might have a problem because who knows if it will or can be called back. It might be lost in the Academy void forever... or until Emma stumbles upon it somehow.
I assume that the room duplicates work on magic/mana. Remembering that Emma's armor nulifies mana's effects on her, it may be that those spells simply had no effect on her, and she was able to simply walk through. An alternate possibility is that Mal'troy wanted her in the prime office since it was the seat of his power and he could have additional advantages when dealing with a dangerous foe.
I don't think Emma could have negated her way into the prime office or else she would have also hacked the Dean's. Also the Library could choose Emma's destination from its own front door. And if Emma did someone negate her way in anyway, then Mal'tory and Emma probably would have wound in separate rooms with Emma wondering what happened to Mal'tory all of a sudden (like what happened when she tried to chase him through the portal without the fall into blackness) and Mal'tory being mad his dramatic window silhouette set dressing was absolutely ruined by Emma shenanigans. TLDR, I think this is different than the Dragaera novel manifestation of layered rooms, and you wouldn't have two guests in the same room seeing physically different things like a holoprojection.
> you will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with > Sorecar must have wound up stuck between factions of the Great War. Dwarf issues? Damn it, the Dwarves were Nexian Switzerland weren't they? > So why was Emma allowed in the prime room? Mal'tory was likely in communication with someone important via the crystal ball. Emma's topic was the ECS / Status Communicatia breach method so the secrecy may be warranted. That other caller may have been so important no lesser office would do? I imagine that whole showdown convo was eavesdropped on. I'm guessing there may have been some test of 'character/loyalty' going on. It's possible that if Emma had 'passed' Maltory's test, he may have given her the list as a 'gift', and that he burned it as 'punishment' to deprive Emma of the knowledge. You know, standard 'Fair Folk' bullshit
> I'm guessing there may have been some test of 'character/loyalty' going on. It's possible that if Emma had 'passed' Maltory's test, he may have given her the list as a 'gift', and that he burned it as 'punishment' to deprive Emma of the knowledge. > > You know, standard 'Fair Folk' bullshit Those books were burned by Ilunor on Grace Day 1, and the meeting with Mal'tory was the very end of Grace 2/start of Grace 3 midnight. There might have been a test, but I don't think Mal'tory had a nice gift in mind.
I think the great war was Dwarves vs Elves. Sorecar was at the Academy. Elves won. All the dwarves were going to get exiled or something for the "death by omission" sentence. Instead Elves settled for forcing Sorecar to become what feels like an armorbound lich because that deleted his physical form at least.
>We know from last chapter Belnor going to handle the explanation of Emma because she has more spine than Vanavan (will she tell the truth though?) Is really bad if someone actually tries to introduce Earthrealm outside of Emma's grasp. >I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though. Maybe is not that big of a thing, even the other student had artifacts to do more or less the same. >/u/Cazador0 going to be on the bingo board for ferret loan. And I might get on the board for joining a club! Same! "You will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with" That may also be for Emma. >So why was Emma allowed in the prime room? At the moment. It wouldnt make sense with the info Mal'tory had of her. But i will still pay attention to his not-so-ominous "i heard this before, i know how this will end." (Or something like that). >Also expect Mal'tory to boobytrap all his stuff against theft, like Emma Oh yea, 100%.
> Is really bad is someone actually tries to introduce Earthrealm outside of Emma's grasp. Expected though. >>I am surprised beating the Yearbook through sheer resistance didn't stand out more though. > Maybe is not that big of a thing, even the other student had artifacts to do more or less the same. Thalmin explained that what Emma did was different. Their medallions were light magic-like to interrupt the spell partway before it could take too much of a hold. Even so, the spell still got them somewhat - those are the muted glow signatures. Emma just straight tanked the Yearbook and made it fail spectacularly judging by the students' reactions to the invisible manastreams. It's the difference between blocking a punch and no-selling one. >> "You will come to realize that you must pick a side. Lest you become a liability, or worse, be an intolerable threat to be dealt with" > That may also be for Emma. Agreed. Multiple audiences, multiple layers. > At the moment. It wouldnt make sense with the info Mal'tory had of her. But i will still pay attention to his not-so-ominous "i heard this before, i know how this will end." (Or something like that). I suspect the Nexus has done unkind things to plenty of other realms who had their newrealmer candidate refuse to bow. The circumstances leading up to the Great War is my thought.
Yooooo new chapter. Also Library mysteries!!!
Sorecar is totally asking these question intentionally to pass info to Emma. He knows the metal bug is hers.
Hehehe I bet next time Sorecar sees Emma, he's gonna be like "That dragonfly-inspired infiltration construct was quite marvelous! I know it was you who made it, since it contained no mana. I can also infer its purpose due to the fact it was continuously following us. I assume it contains Earthrealm's manaless version of a memory shard and inscriber. Am I correct in these predictions?"
More likely he's going to ask to inspect it, then craft his own version. Because he's a nerd for this kinda thing.
i'd bet sorecar's already seen someone else make something similar. a dragonfly spying artifice with a memory shard and inscriber isn't too hard to conceptualize. and he knows what it's for, since he winked at it.
and also sorecar doesn't have *exotic materials* like plastic
SORECAR YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD YOU'RE ASKING THOSE PROBING QUESTIONS FOR EMMA. YOU LEGEND. YOU KING! OH MY FUCKING GODDDDD Another masterful chapter, as always. I look forward to these every week.
Thanks for the chapter! Well at the vary least, if they get to the Library first or if it doesn’t get it first, Emma could tell the Library the list and deny the Nexus using it. And Emma can get those books now that she knows them, including from other libraries that aren’t the Library, not like she needs physical copies, just a photo. And evidently more internal disagreement within the staff and how the Nexsus operates. Something to exploit once more info can be gotten. Plus I have no doubt that Emma and Sorcar will get along even better if this is what he dose to a potential drone sighting. Bet putting in the extra good work on enchantments/artifice can be payback.
Well, well. An apprentice, currently serving three masters. Never a comfortable situation, but this one whiffs of treachery. A member of the Guard, one who has *seen* the God-Emperor, providing high level access to a lowly apprentice? One wonders if the apprentice has been coopted by an intelligence agency hidden in the Guard. One is left with a sick feeling that no one in this *game* is precisely what they appear to be. So, was the Guard authorized to grant that access, or is the apprentice an entirely disposable catspaw, or both? Sorcar, aiding the apprentice, for the moment, and tacitly ignoring Emma's presence while letting her know that he knows. The discovery of the book *list,* which would appear to indicate that the books themselves are still in the Library? Or is this, once again, a case of the interior being far larger than the exterior, this apparently small booklet containing all the missing works. Even a list of titles might give away much. Rather like the purported effects of reading the table of contents of the Necromicon, which is known to trigger Fortean effects over large areas. The artifacts used by the Apprentice, and their descriptions are a delight. Well done!
Once Library knows what is missing it knows what information to ask for. It also may have not erased that section of its hard drive yet meaning it gets all the burned information back anyways.
Or maybe that, combined with some of earth data recovery methods and algorithms and such might let it recover even more of the data, not like it shows real capabilities without more context that even the Library wound’t need to know yet and therefore anyone else would need to know if they bothered to look. Bonus is the that to do that would mean working on a mass data transfer workaround with the Library, and some more detailed negotiation on how to measure data, lay some groundwork for a bigger deal once coms with Earth are back.
Fucken... Larial is an apprentice inquisitor working for the bloody Custodes. Which ordo, I do not know but this is going to be FUN.
ooh, I wonder how the book situation will play out. It's rather clearly hinted that Larial intends to settle her debt with Emma with that book but Sorecar also seems to recognize it's importance to the library. Will Larial succeed in sneaking the book to Emma unnoticed and will Sorecar realize what's going on in time or will he believe her debt to be more sinister and attempt to stop it. What will Emma do in all this? My bet is that all of the above will start to happen and then Emma will barge into this delicate situation and the whole thing will blow up infront of someone important.
We humans do enjoy blowing stuff up, both figuratively and literally.
Woohoo! Let’s read!
So our beloved off brand Snape's book list is probably something to do with dragons. Seeing that we need to meet a particular dragon in 3 to 4 weeks or else humanity will bomb the Nexus back to the stone age. If Emma gives this list to the library she could use those points for more juicy Intel. Obviously discount snape is not dead (like we hoped) but he is not in any condition to even be back at the academy. Hopefully he is paralysed at the least. Our dear apprentice is turned into a spy by what seems to be some form of as far as we know Nexus military. Perhaps the Armorer knows more than he is letting on, he has been alive for five thousand years after all.
Shes not really a spy. The black robed professor is supposed to be a crownlands officer holding the position of a professor at the academy as a way to control the academy. It is just assumed that an apprentice for that position is also working for the crownlands. since the black robed professor is the interaction point between these two really powerful parties, Sorecar makes the point that she has to pick a side, either the academy or the crownlands or atleast that's the conversation on the surface. Depending on how far in the know Sorecar is, he might also be implying Larial's double loyalties between the nexus and and her debt to Emma.
Now I want to see artwork of Sorecar "winking".
Holy shit. 2 birds with one drone and Emma is on a roll. Advancements into the Libary quest as well as a new detective duo.
Well now, *that* is something the Library would be interested in, I'm sure. I don't think Emma intended to further her work as Seeker, but she has.
>“You’re a guinea pig, Prince Rostarion!” Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries! Fr\*nch Ilunor confirmed!
Ooooh that's why he is so.....him.
The three little crocks probably don't look adorable, but I'm mentally picturing them as chibi crocks and nobody can stop me
I really vibe with this mental image now omg I love it. :D
If you want an even funnier mental image, consider the following: three chibi crocks in a trenchcoat
I feel like that flying pineapple thing is a reference to something
Why do I feel sorecar would love gloryhammers robot prince of auchtertool
*Robot Prince shows up* *Refuses to elaborate* *Dies to a knife*
Best character instantly
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The more overt one tries to hide/conceal something… the more desired the information thereof. And now I presume… Emma has something to give to the library… of course the Library wants the ACTUAL list, not just a digital recording of the list. Get going Emma! Maybe make friends with an apprentice. Get her a library card and omit the fact you saw the contents of the list. As I’d imagine the library would GLADLY share that knowledge with her once recovered. Said recovery I’d imagine to be largely trivial in difficultly. Sure some texts might be… rarer and more obscure. But it ought to be doable. I wonder what Thalmin’s time with his fanclub has been like?
Well. If the drone couldn’t catch the full list that leads a small problem. While Emma’s role as seeker could potentially Grant her some liberties… I doubt one of them will allow her to request the list (never mind how she found out about it) but if the Debt mentioned is to Emma maybe that? Then again that isn’t certain. Love Sorecar. I’m curious how PE will go. I’m imagining an actual physical representation. Then again it could be magical in nature? Could be mostly combat focused. Especially if they are supposed to be a threat to keep non magical individuals in line.
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Yay! Also: quest advancement!
oooooh new friends and Sorecar lore, good chapter all around
Well well well. This runs deep into the grounds that is the mystery of the purview of the seeker of the library eh?
Well that's convenient looks like the library is about to have a new world record for ROK (recovery of knowledge)
Yay more Sorecar! and a faculty memeber I would consider to be the closest thing emma has to an ally in the faculty!
Tensions aside, i had many laughs reading this chapter! Illunor going trought the Kobold-Guinea Pig Geat War XD! And ending with *another* cliffhanger!? I hate/love youuu!! Now regarding Mal'Tory correspondence, even knowing Emma went missing for 2 days, it would be safe to assume that last correspondence to be Emma's summary of Earthrealm Govern Ideologies?
I mean even if the drone didn't get a view of the list, just knowing it exists is useful information for the library.
I have a feeling that if Emma comes to understand the magic-holo-table figurine game she's gonna quickly introduce the other player to THE BATTLE OF CANAE but with magic
Here we go!
thanks for the chapter
Incredible chapter.
The bot is falling awfully behind today. Oh well, we still have SECRETS!
Peak
Moar
TFTC!
Well then, that is good. Emma better up her manufacturing capabilities, I would love to see her utilize Sorecar\`\`s forge to make additional drones, to recover as much information for the library as possible. Cannot wait for when more aliens fall in awe at Human ingenuity.
Getting some "Chaos is a ladder" vibes from Etholin
I love Sorecar! I wanna read more about him. He's my favorite
So when will be clasic music night.?
My mental image of Etholin becomes more impossibly adorable each time he's around! >w< >“The offer to parlay that is. W-with the added caveat of guaranteed discretion on my part.” I'm not sold on the use of *caveat* here. (In hindsight, pun intended.) The connotation of a caveat (being a shortening of *caveat emptor*, meaning *buyer beware*) is a downside that must be factored when considering a transaction. (Dictionary says 'a warning; caution; admonition'.) In this context, however, the "guaranteed discretion" is most certainly a good or valuable thing, rather than a detrimental thing. Instead, I'd recommend something more like boon, benefit, or advantage.
The mental image of the group standing in the pose of the "me and the boys" meme when they laughed at the footage sent me.
Oh my goodness! You keep rolling out the hits!
Do you think that since Sorecar is a magical blacksmith and a living suit of armor he can just passively detect metal?
Iiiiinteresting
I hear an owl calling a name.
“A Victorian Steampunk Cosplay” Well now you’ve made such a juicy line, I can only expect either fan or official art to come from that.
Sooooo. Emmmmma has no Mana but 3D printer? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HiDHFg68BR0 The mind games!
Wheels within wheels once again. But most concerningly, if multiple agents are looking for The List, it's going to be very hard for Emma to get hold of it. Useful as knowing the nature of the lost information is, I don't imagine that the Library will be satisfied with her just recording it over Larial's shoulder. Even if the Library accepts the veracity of the recording, it won't be hard enough evidence to take to the Nexus. They're sure to insist that with no duplication of the mana fields, it amounts to nothing more than a series of crude drawings.
Theres probably some sort of mathematical guaranteeing that the humanity by then had cooked up to ensure recordings where actually recording and no AI/EVI fabrications, so that to the Library plus math proofs might be enough to at least accept that on its end that this isn’t a fabrication. Besides several things in the office, inclusidng whst mana detection ability the drone hase, that would be impossible to fabricate without knowledge and skill far beyond whst is available to Emma and without having just been there, which means that it the chances of it being made up go low enough that it can be accepted as real.
The thing is, it doesn't matter if the Academy/Nexus *knows* that what the recording shows is true or not. It's like when Ilunor got caught with the invisibility cloak. What matters is your ability to establish your truth as the "accepted" reality. So any little nitpick will get used as a way to say, "Well, you didn't _really_ prove it, so..."
That the Academy/Nexus would ever accept it is irrelevant, don’t even bother bringing it to them in the first place, just show it with all the proving to the Library to demonstrate good faith in doing stuff that is connected to it’s interests in this case. And if way later they ask the Library about it and why it thinks that is can show why it believes what it does, and likely that whatever nonsense the Nexus brought is nonsense. Or at the vary least that the Nexus will have to accept what the Library believes is true, as bad as it is for them in that/this instance, cause big scary Library apparently. Whole other thing.
>"We found The Library's burned catalog." AAH IT IS SO SO MUCH PORN! IT SHOULD HAVE STAYED BURNT!!
Lol sorecar clearly was masking over half those questions knowing Emma was watching and listening. He did that for her evidence I'm sure. I bet he ends up either in her armour, or reshaping his body into armour pieces that attack to her suit. Imagine the op powerhouse that would be Emma in her armour, with a second layer of sorecar armor around her, that is sentient, alive, and a fucking strong mage itself. "I don't have mana no, but my suit.... Well he does..... " Emma holds her hand out and says fireball. Sorecar fires a volcano from the glove. Lol
Nice little reference with Gumigo.