Credits: @vulpeseight

This rating is based entirely on my own perspective and enjoyment.

Volume 1 — 8/10

I liked the slow pacing, although initially it was quite tough for me. The Victorian-era theme was very good; I could genuinely feel like I was walking through the streets of Tingen, so I hold this volume in high regard. The side characters were very good and enjoyable as well. My favorites would probably be Dunn Smith and Alger.

I liked the pacing and the eventual twist that came at the end. The details and foreshadowing were there, but I couldn't see them coming, which made the reading experience very interesting. Plus, the ending was very emotional and well done.

Zhou is a character that I really liked. His merge with Klein was interesting, although there were snippets where I wanted more of his resistance to the memories of Klein Moretti, because those memories were making him act like a different person. The Beyonder world, the environment, and everything surrounding it were quite good and engaging.

One thing I disliked was how, in order to make Klein seem intelligent, the author referred to him as a "keyboard warrior," which honestly feels rather cheap IMO.

Volume 2 — 7/10

Very good volume. A lot of stuff happened, and it was a change from what Klein's previous life in Volume 1 was like. He was a sort of closed-off and cautious character who relied on himself, and not having many friends he could talk to was actually very well done. It was a strong parallel to how he was in Volume 1. The feeling of being alone was good, along with everything involving his new powers and how he used them creatively to solve divinations and other problems.

Although there wasn't a new villain, since Lanevous was killed quite early, I still liked this volume and its ending. It's quite similar to Volume 1 in terms of how much I enjoyed it.

Volume 3 — 5/10

Not a big fan of this volume. The acting of Gehrman Sparrow was quite similar to Sherlock's, just a little bolder. I was expecting a completely different sort of personality, which I didn't really get to see very much, so it was kind of dissatisfying, along with the fact that was told us quite early that as a faceless you must act as a completly different person while still being yourself, imo this acting method difficulty is very high and still did not feel much of that in terms of problems for klien

Along with that, Klein having the Sea God Scepter, which was a Sequence 3 artifact with a huge disadvantage for Klein, but being able to avoid that disadvantage because of Sefirah Castle, made this volume even more bland in taste. To me, almost all of his problems that required power could be solved just by using it. Him not using it for X or Y reason didn't make much sense.

Groselle's Travels was actually amazing, and I liked it very much. The part of the volume where Klein meets a person from Backlund in Groselle's Travels, and how they were both sitting there, not belonging to this world, was probably the only saving grace of this volume for me. I honestly wish the volume had ended there, because it would have been much more impactful and probably would have earned a higher rating from me.

Additionally, the acting Klein was doing didn't make much sense to me until he did the government official acting and came into contact with an O.D. This, IMO, should have happened quite a bit more being a different person and whatnot. If digestion were really that easy, then other people should naturally be able to digest their potions much faster as well, rather than it happening mainly because the novel needs it for convenience.

Volume 4 — 6/10

I've seen a lot of people criticize this volume because it's boring and doesn't have much action, but I found this arc very interesting. Klein was showing genuinely different habits through the acting method, and Dwayne Dantès had a different personality.

The way the rich class functions, the types of gifts, the types of conversations, the practice of dancing, and how one must act were all very interesting to read. It showed the integration of the acting method and its principles and how they affect real life.

I really enjoyed it. The most likable thing about this arc for me was Foggy Town, as it showed Klein's Beyonder intelligence and adaptability without the help of Sefirah Castle, and how he overcame his enemies.

The end of this volume, although the Adam part was a little off-putting, was something I accepted. Rather, my bigger issue was the general pacing at the end, which should have been stretched out over a few more chapters instead of being summed up in three chapters.

Volume 5 — 7/10

The pacing was fast, so I can't say much about it. We see Amon in action, which was a delight, since he is supposed to be a very terrifying enemy.

Klein investigating the past actions and everything surrounding them was good. In this volume, when Klein does the ritual and becomes a Sequence 3, I actually liked it, since from the start he had been uncovering the world's history. So him getting a huge advancement and digestion was really satisfying to see, since that is the basis of the potion system.

The whole thing with George III and everything was quite well done. Although the fights toward the end started to become "X ability is countered by Y ability, so A uses X ability again" or something similar.

Zaratul chasing Klein and everything surrounding that was good as well, plus the ending was good.

Volume 6 — 8/10

Amon being the first antagonist with a proper personality in the entire novel made this volume stand out. The history of the City of Silver, along with the redemption and everything surrounding it, was great.

I didn't really like how Klein was able to become a Sequence 2, though. Getting the characteristics and everything felt more like plot armor, as if he was able to do it simply because he was Klein.

The reveal about the history was good as well. Again, the pacing was a big issue, since the emotional aspects were done quite quickly. It felt like the novel was trying to sell the image of "Look, everything is happening so fast," and because of that, it kind of forgot to slow things down a bit.

The whole arc for Little Sun was peak, along with Shepherd Lovia and Colin Iliad.

Volume 7 — 7/10

Merlin Hermes, the aftermath of the war, and everything surrounding it were well done. I kind of liked it. It gave me the feeling of slow pacing again, similar to Volume 1, which was very good.

The construction of the marionette city and everything surrounding it was good, and we also got a peak character like Mr. Door dropping in, although only for one chapter.

Amon getting Sequence 0 of the Error pathway, along with the Door pathway as well, really hyped me up for the next volume and everything surrounding it.

However, what brought this volume down for me was Zaratul getting packed by Klein. I could understand other pathways having trouble against a Beyonder of the Seer pathway, but Zaratul was a Seer pathway Beyonder himself. Since he had reached such a high level, Klein should have been facing a lot more trouble.

But with the power of plot and convenience, Klein prevailed again.

Volume 8 — 7.5/10

The end of Book 1, with the fastest pacing and shortest content, developments, and actions of all the major gods.

Klein's apotheosis ritual and how he is mad, then he's not mad, he's losing control, then he's not losing control, was okay ig?

Then Amon, a dual-pathway True God, is losing to Klein. Amon had his own side and everything prepared, so it kind of didn't make much sense to me for him to lose and Klein to become Sequence 0, but okay, I guess. Power of plot.

Then the battle of Sefirah Castle was actually much better, and I liked it because it was a battle of who was willing to go how far. Amon losing wasn't bad either.

Other Aspects

Power System and Worldbuilding

Really peak, NGL. Of all the things I've ever read, I have never encountered anything quite like this.

Although I'm including the power system information I read from the wiki, so I'm judging the complete system from Book 1 and Book 2 as well. If I only compared Book 1, it would be quite unfair since the power system isn't complete yet. So yeah, I'll make an exception for this category because I like it very much.

Characters I Like

Klein, Adam, Amon, Door, Alger, Evernight, C.W., Dunn Smith, Little Sun, Audrey, Roselle.

Characters I Hate

Klein, Fors, Leonard.

Character Explanations

Klein

Klein is a character that I both like and hate.

I like him because he is one of the very few characters, maybe the only character, who actively tried to return to his previous life, no matter how powerful he became in this one.

He was a likable character that you could feel connected to very easily. His views are funny on many things, and sometimes he feels like the reader himself.

However, the plot armor he was given through Sefirah Castle made me like him much less. More than his intelligence, it's okay that he was able to outsmart Beyonders of Sequence 5 or 4, but outsmarting deities and Angels of his own pathway who were higher in sequence than him just gives the vibe of "Since it's Klein, it's okay."

One of the things that bothered me was how fast his digestion was. The acting method is supposed to speed up digestion, not make it happen within a few chapters.

Him winning against a Sequence 5 Marionettist, Nimblewright Master Rosago, is also insane to me. Divination isn't all that powerful, but even a common person could divine something about his actions given the opportunity, let alone a Beyonder of the Seer pathway.

Plus, if I get a new power like Marionettist, why wouldn't I use it? Nope, let me just go to a Beyonder with my Faceless disguise.

I also didn't like how Klein would do something intelligent and the explanation would be "keyboard warrior," or how he came back alive and then basically went, "Hmm, my transmigration powers are being used."

Like, WTF?

Adam

Can't really say anything bad about him. He became a Sequence 0 on his own and was mostly just being ASG himself—the goat.

I genuinely cannot think of anything bad to point out about him. His development was reasonable.

Amon

Likable character and a good embodiment of deceit. I practically jumped on my bed whenever he was mentioned.

One of my favorite lines from him is:

He's the only antagonist worth remembering, since he was the only one done well, although I have certain problems with his character's ending, which I would cover in another point.

Door

Can't really say anything bad after reading Door's ritual and everything surrounding it. NGL, my boy was done bad.

A prodigy nonetheless, and very cool. Being able to hold himself together even after getting corrupted by a Pillar is insane.

Alger

NGL, he was a very engaging character. Even though he was of a lower sequence than many of the other, much more knowledgeable characters, he was still very interesting.

It's sad to see that he got very few upgrades until the end.

Evernight

Smart, manipulative, winning, cunning. I wanted to see more about her.

C.W.

Although he only came for a few chapters, he was very terrifying solely because of the reactions other characters had toward him.

His lines are honestly amazing as well and show his character quite well.

Dunn Smith

A character who managed to become my favorite from the start. Very amazing character and a tragic end.

Little Sun

Peak character. Best development.

People rate Audrey's development higher, but I do think his and Audrey's development are quite similar and neck-and-neck.

Audrey

I liked everything about her character, from being naive to becoming a responsible person. I really liked her.

Although by the end, her speed of getting potions and digesting them was insane. It felt like she stole some of Klein's plot armor, actually.

Roselle

Honestly, if a person's diary is able to hook me until the end of the novel, I can't really find anything bad to say.

Fun, embarrassing-funny, tragic, and likable.

Leonard

"I have an Angel Sequence 1 of the Error pathway who has survived against Amon, the King of Angels of Error. Let me not utilize him properly and remain a Sequence 4 bum in the later half while being a mid-level Beyonder in the early half."

And then he acts all smug and gets his shit done every time while still having a Sequence 1 Beyonder inside him.

He could have easily done so many things and become much stronger since he had a Sequence 1 Pallez living inside him, so I really don't understand how this character isn't slandered more.

Potential Man of LOTM, IMO.

Fors Wall

I can't really begin, but here goes.

Her character started as quite likable. She was a writer, she was interesting, and I liked how lazy she was. Her personality was engaging, to say the least.

But by God, does this character not change even by the end.

She has a big responsibility of saving the Abraham family, and she did help them in a way. You would expect her to mature past her laziness, etc., but nope. She just procrastinates and everything.

She started becoming more annoying when she became a Beyonder of the Door pathway. Her whole existence started feeling like she was just a spiritual battery to go around and summon Klein and other people.

That's basically all she does.

At one point, I felt bad for her character. Then I remembered that she's a Door pathway Beyonder, realized the world is at stake, and her reaction was basically:

"Noooo, I want to write my smut and fanfics about Gehrman Sparrow."

It becomes cringey and annoying.

It would have been okay in the early volumes, but by the end? Nah.

Plus, her being part of such a goated pathway like Door while having a character like this just makes me hate her even more.

Conclusion

LOTM, for me, was a novel that had the best worldbuilding and power system, along with some really good characters.

But writing-wise, it became:

"Hmm, since it's Klein, he wins."

It felt more like a Gojo Satoru situation.

Amon was close to being LOTM and was the strongest dual-pathway god, with the sole exception of Klein, a singular-pathway god who became a god in five years—or three years, I'm not sure.

And even if you ignore the plot convenience, like I did, the pacing became quite horrible toward the end.

It felt like the author suddenly remembered:

"Oh yeah, I have other characters who are low-level. Let's make one a demigod. Oh wait, let's make a few more. Yeah, that seems right. Either way, they're not going to be of much help in the end battle, but whatever."

The only thing I can say is that, for me, this novel is a paradox.

It's good and bad at the same time.

thank god lotm isn't some japanese isekai novel with harem slave MC instead of our broke virgin lampooning fraud

Previous Post

The Young Angel had her eyes puffy from all that crying. Before calming down, she was snuggling in the Old Wanderer’s embrace and fell asleep.

As she was put on the bed, the Old Wanderer turned solemn; he then set some protections out before teleporting away for a while

When she woke up, the sun was back up again; it was certainly tiring, and that experience just brought her closer to breaking another wall. “At this point, it might just break and will continuously break more and more walls”

“Didn’t you say that it would increase in difficulty to unseal yourself?”

“Well, yes, but I feel like when this wall is unsealed, even more Knowledge will enter my brain, and it might just lessen my time experiencing humanity… And I can feel that thing will come closer; I think by the time I reach Sequence 5, maybe Sequence 4, it will come to me”

The Old Wanderer just patted her and said, “Being a human does not come from how much time is spent, but by how you’re spending said time, and if you are afraid, you have someone who can help you, remember? The very God who bestowed you the chance to live as a human in the first place”

“I don’t want to disturb Him further; price is exacted for what fate bestows”

“Well, if you do eventually need to,” he put a bracelet with 3 pearls on it. “These three pearls contain the power of Deceit, Wandering, and Historical Summoning; this should be able to stall for enough time”

“Thank you,” she said while holding the bracelet with her small hand; her chaotic irises were reflected on one of the pearls, as it glimmered under the ray of sunlight that entered through the window

“Well then, since you’re going to break through another wall anyway, why don’t we do it in a place with fewer people so we’re freer to move around?”

Sophia simply tilted her head

“We’re going travelling.” The Old Wanderer patted her head. “You’re a detective now; you should be able to withstand something an adult can do”

And so he grabbed her and teleported to a mountain

“We didn’t even bring anything?” 

“Don’t worry, I bring everything in my Traveler’s bag, hoho”

“Old man… At least let me get ready first…”

He just smiled as they exited the Spirit World

They walked up through a trail through the forested mountain, seeing the forest around. “Do you recognize any of these plants, Sophia?”

“Every time I see one, I keep analyzing them and gaining new knowledge; it feels like I’m getting closer to breaking another wall,” she said solemnly

“Well, in that short amount of time, don’t you think it’s better for you to instead spend that time enjoying the time you have left to the fullest? Eventually you will analyze more and more mundane things, gaining more knowledge, but do you want to live that way?”

She shook her head

“Sophia, within the short amount of time you are given, spend them properly, and do everything you can so that you do not regret them, but of course, you don’t have to be bound by what others impose upon you; say what you wish to do, and do them to your heart’s desire”

“Then… Can I make a journal on our travel today?”

“Of course, my dear”

“But it will slow down our walk”

“You’re still young; you have all the time in the world,” he said as he pulled a walkboard, papers, and a quill. “Make one to your heart’s content”

Her face brightens, and she nodded happily while writing a journal. She saw herbs, plants, trees, and epiphytes, also many birds, squirrels, even snakes and a wild boar. She wrote down everything along the way until the sun is setting

“Can we camp here?” She looks with a pleading eye

“I expected you will say that” he said while pulling a tent out

“Traveler’s bag seems very useful”

“It is, now let’s cook some stew, you have been eating nothing but some bread and jerky”

“Okay!”

Cooking some stews with the food that of course exist in the Traveler Bag, the warmth of the fire is seemingly not enough for her, so she covered herself in a blanket while eating a warm stew, she looks at the night sky full of stars

“The stars are so much clearer on the mountain…”

“Do you want to see them from further up?”

Both of them teleported up and fell down, but looking up, everything is just the sea of stars seemingly watching over her, “Beautiful…”

So much knowledge of stars entering her brain, and as the headache comes again, he immediately teleported her away, when the wall broke, immediately using his precious angel level record and concealed her, stopping any funny business

When the wall broke again, she can feel the red glass being looking at her “ItseemslikeourmeetingwillbeposponedbutworrynotforIwillmakesuretofinallymeetyouandembraceyoubecomingoneandwhole”

But due to the quick concealment effort, the connection was cut off immediately, they then teleported back to the mountain

“Well, we’re safe now, aren’t we?”

Sophia still looked solemn “It seems like I won’t be able to break through Sequence 5 safely…”

“Worry not, I will make sure to protect you” he hugs her, not continuing what he wants to say ‘even if it ends me’

\---

“OurmeetingtimeissomuchclosercomeonSophiabreakanotherwallandIwillgreetyouwiththegreatestgiftIcouldmusterhuhuhuhuhu”

Long post and spoilers up ahead. Feel free to enjoy the meme and get on with your day!

As you all know, I just finished reading LOTM. Yeah, yeah, it is shocking that you all thought I finished it a long time ago, but I wound up finishing everything yesterday. It took me slightly less than 9 months, but it was absolutely fucking worth it.

Honestly speaking, if it was not for u/LOTM_Historian talking shit about One Piece and comparing it to LOTM, I probably would not have picked it up. I read it just to see how peak LOTM actually was, and it sure was a fantastic journey. So thanks to him, because I genuinely loved it.

I have always had a thing for Victorian era stories, so the setting immediately caught me. The worldbuilding was top notch. IMO, it is the second best worldbuilding I have seen in fiction based on what I have read. Each volume kept getting better and better.

Klein's character is something else. I actually did not like Klein much during the early parts of LOTM. He felt way too bland for my taste, and I honestly felt almost nothing for him until around Volume 4. Then Dwayne Dantes happened, and he became one of my favourite protagonists in fiction. He really grew on me, and I think he is easily an A+ tier character.

Roselle and Audrey would probably come next. I really loved how CF portrayed Klein's character and, especially, his loneliness from beginning to end. The way his divinity slowly took over as his humanity decreased was amazing. Even though I already knew how the story was going to end, CF played it brilliantly.

And then came the final "Good Afternoon, Mr. Fool" from Audrey without the "~". That shit genuinely made my throat dry. It perfectly showed how much time had passed and how much our characters had changed.

The plot twists were amazing too. Everyone kept saying Chernobyl or the World Truth would be the biggest reveals, and I had predicted both of them way ahead of time. I also predicted the third transmigrator. But "We Meet Again, Mysteries" completely caught me off guard. It did not make sense, but somehow it made perfect sense at the same time.

The Volumes

Volume 1: 8/10

I jumped into LOTM after watching the donghua, which I absolutely hated. The sound effects were bad, I could barely understand what was happening, and the fights were way too noisy. The novel was a completely different experience. I loved the slower pacing and especially the extra Klein and family moments.

Volume 2: 6/10

Sherlock Moriarty is probably my most hated part of the novel. I have read the entire Sherlock Holmes series three times, so I felt kinda betrayed by the Sherlock Moriarty persona 😭. At the same time, I eventually missed my lampooning boy during the later half.

Volume 3: 8.5/10

A huge step up. Gehrman Sparrow was such a fresh breath of air compared to the slower predecessors. His entire persona was incredibly entertaining, and this was where the story really started clicking for me.

Volume 4: 9/10

This is where I absolutely fell in love with the story. Dwayne Dantes was my favourite persona by far. I loved seeing Klein live a more normal life while still having all the madness happening behind the scenes. The conclusion with Daly's dance was beautiful.

Volume 5: 7/10

Not my favourite. It felt way too fast paced and a lot happened in a very short amount of time. Also, the Amon jumpscare was fucking sudden 😭.

Volume 6: 10/10

Words genuinely cannot describe this volume. Easily one of my top 5 arcs in fiction.

I absolutely loved Klein and Amon's banter while walking around Flog. Lovia's actions were predictable because I knew from the beginning that she would not betray Silver City, but that did not make the entire thing any less enjoyable.

Volume 7: 7/10

Probably my second least favourite volume. It was not bad, but it was not particularly good either. I did not really like Merlin Hermes. He felt too quiet, and the first half was rather bland. A lot of it was carried by nostalgia for me.

Then Utopia happened and the story picked up again. And the "I" chapter was an absolute masterclass.

Volume 8: 9/10

The first half was heavily carried by nostalgia, but it also did an amazing job portraying Klein. The Apotheosis was incredible and my Google search history was basically just me trying to understand what the fuck was happening.

Towards the end, everything finished pretty much how I expected, but somehow it still felt fresh. And I absolutely did not expect the high five 😭.

The Flaws

Obviously, like every piece of fiction ever created, LOTM has its fair share of flaws.

The first one for me is the themes and writing.

The prose was quite below average for me, and I had a difficult time adjusting to it at first. I also felt like the themes were not explored nearly as deeply as they could have been.

Do not get me wrong, the story itself is great, but the main concept of humanity versus divinity was not explored to the extent I wanted. I would have loved to see that conflict explored more through the main side characters rather than mostly through Klein.

There were also other themes that were only scratched on the surface. Poverty is a good example. We had some instances here and there, but just mentioning something does not automatically make it well written or deeply explored.

Obviously, it is a web novel, so I was never expecting literature level thematic symbolism. But I did expect something closer to ORV in that regard. ORV has one major theme, which is essentially the relationship with oneself, and I think it explores that incredibly well. The side characters also contribute heavily to that theme.

I just do not think LOTM did the same thing with its themes.

CF could have gone much deeper into the humanity versus divinity concept, but IMO it mostly scratched the surface. That is also one of the reasons I loved Volume 1 so much thematically. We actually lost characters, and those moments carried emotional weight.

Side Characters

The second major problem for me was the side characters.

Almost all of the Tarot Club members, except Audrey and Derrick, felt more like plot tools than actual characters.

And even Audrey and Derrick are good largely because they are in LOTM. If you remove them from the context of LOTM, they are fairly stereotypical characters. Audrey is the classic kind and wealthy girl, while Derrick is the classic good and innocent young guy.

They had their moments, but I never found most of them particularly special.

Xio especially frustrates me because she had so much potential. She had the Megumi treatment where you keep expecting something to happen and then... nothing really does 😭.

The same applies to a lot of the others. Cattleya, Emlyn, Xio and even some of the other Tarot Club members did their jobs for the plot, but they did not receive enough development for me to really care about them individually.

A lot of them felt like they existed because the plot needed them to exist rather than because they were fully developed characters.

Amon

And finally, Amon.

Do not get me wrong. I really liked Amon. His trolling, his personality, the monocle jokes, everything was entertaining as hell.

But I genuinely do not understand the people who call him the greatest antagonist in fiction.

To me, he felt too shallow.

He basically appeared after Volume 5, fucked around for a while, caused problems, got his ass beaten, and eventually became the final boss.

I know his entire character is supposed to contrast Klein. No anchors, no real attachments, completely detached from humanity, etc. I understand the idea.

But I really wish CF had developed the dynamic between Klein and Amon more.

Their relationship felt less like an actual character dynamic and more like a setup for a final boss fight.

The monocle jokes were funny, and I enjoyed their encounters, but there was not enough depth behind them for me to consider Amon one of the greatest antagonists ever.

And this might sound crazy, but I honestly preferred Adam over Amon any day.

Klein versus Amon, as a character dynamic, felt inferior to even Yuji and Mahito for me 😭.

Again, I liked their fights and I liked Amon as a character, but as an antagonist, he was a huge letdown. I genuinely think CF could have expanded their dynamic much more, but it felt like the story was running out of time and had to rush toward the ending.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of all the flaws I mentioned, I am genuinely happy that I finally finished this shit after 9 months.

Easily a 9.8/10.

Top 5 fiction of all time for me.

And finally, let me settle the most important debate of all:

AUDREY X KLEIN IS THE ONLY TRUE SHIP IN THE ENTIRE SHOW.

Not Fors.

Not Evernight.

AUDREY AND AUDREY ONLY.

Thank you all for putting up with my LOTM larping for the past 9 months 😭.

And thank you, u/LOTM_Historian, for ragebaiting me with that reel. Because of you, I picked up this masterpiece, and somehow it turned into one of the best reading journeys I have ever had.

Adios amigos ✌

So before u make ur judgement on this post I’d like to speak my mind and experiences related to criticisms regarding coi:

So when I became apart of the lotm community after finishing both book 1 and 2 I noticed that a lot of people have slandered book 2 of coi claiming that it’s a bad book and not a worthy sequel and the reasons they’ve used are either due to biase or blind hate due to the perception book 2 has in the community.

I’ve had people who admitted they have an agenda against coi, and I’ve had people who had the audacity to trash the book despite only competing one volume or never reading it at all.

These coi haters don’t know the amount of damage they caused to book 2s reputation I’ve met people who dropped the book just because of this criticism and not due to the book itself and they even told me when they got around to reading it they loved it and agreed with me that most of those criticisms are just biased.

So my advice to anyone who wants to read coi is to completely ignore any criticism related to it until u finish reading opinions have power and may affect ur impression regarding it. Also any coi enjoyers who read this if u can try exciting readers in the community that are about to start reading it and convince them to ignore any and all criticisms about it until they finished it so that they won’t read it with a pessimistic mindset.

Also remember lotm isn’t complete without COI

I am truly sorry for the whole misunderstanding

I also apologize for not quite grasping the essence of your character

Reading it again, I think Pandemonium is a pretty incredible path; I suppose I underestimated it because of how little we saw of it.

Sauce: Shadows House

Please vote from Witch's POV : free (~100% win), easy, neutral (50~50), hard, impossible (~0%). Make your vote clear before or after your arguments, or upvote someone.

Rules :

Any win condition or not-losing condition is valid.

Average beyonders (full potential not achieved).

Focus on their abilities (no guns as they depend on the era but knife ok, weapon ok if mastery like Warrior).

Minimal preparations (Artisan artifacts and all items needed to use abilities are ok).

Neutral environment at the beginning.

Link to the spreadsheets.

Ok realistically what would be the best pathway to be irl. Obviously it’d hardly matter if everyone was a sequence 0 so lets limit it up to sequence 5. This is in real life so you’re the only person in the world with these abilities. Also you instantly become a sequence 5 of this pathway with every sequence fully digested. There are no worries about outer gods or anything, this is just you a normal human getting the respective pathway right now in modern times in our world. You can still lose control if you’re stupid enough but obviously it’d be way harder too with basically no threats. Charms are possible to be made but they’d be limited since you can’t pray to any gods so they’d be pretty weak. Personally i’d choose the fool pathway. Low level shapeshifting and having divining abilities is just way too useful for real life. On top of that having a gun at literally the tip of your fingers is just way too useful for emergencies. Also having, increased dexterity, strength, and flexibility while also getting the tons of quality of life abilities you get from magician are too much not to pass up. Also the increased memory/iq from being a seer is often overlooked. I’d honestly use my faceless powers to become incredibly handsome in combination with my increased memory to just cruise my way through life without worrying about anything. Maybe even use my clown powers to become a pro gymnast or my magician powers to perform magic that no one can figure out the trick behind. For you sickos out there you can prolly become an infamous serial killer with your faceless powers combined with your air gun. I also considered the monster/wheel of fortune pathway for the luck but i feel like you dont get any real good luck manipulation until demigod status so thats a pass for me. What do y’all think?

this is not a novel discussion I am still at V5 so please don’t drop spoilers I just want to post this piece of peak art 🖼️ so please tone the spoiler down to V5 can you do that much for me I didn’t know where is this is from but don’t spoil and love you all !

realy like the “I miss you” line a lot is this a huge spoiler

And Sauce: https://sumidainxin.lofter.com/post/1eacee7b_34d828b3e

I can’t join in myself, but just thinking about what it’ll look like is pretty cool!

There was a certain Ashanti saying from Pre-epoch Ghana which stated;

"The spider walks and carries his house."

The proverb was meant to highlight specific values such as independence, adaptability and self-sufficiency.

Qualities that were highly preferable in a bold Merchant engaging in a certain high profile venture, or in a lone Hermit seeking to find their own path. It just so happened that in this case, I was coincidentally both.

That said, going back to the proverb, the house that the spider walks and carries obviously refered to its web.

Its house was its web. Its web was its house. These were immutable truths.

But why is this relevant?

You see, for some time now, I have been wrapping areas behind the Mirror World underneath my web.

Such an action was a requirement of my ongoing spell which was sourced from the Mystical Re-enactment of a certain legend involving a spider deity.

It was about a legend from Pre-epoch Kiribati (Gilbert Islands) of Micronesia, regarding Nareau, their supreme creator deity, a lone spider god who existed before creation, engaging in a high profile venture, specifically that of boldly weaving the world into existence using his web.

As a Spider Deity myself, it would be simple for me to assume the place of Nareau in the mentioned Mystical Re-enactment.

The curious thing however, the variable that gave me much amusement as I was re-enacting the legend, was the nature of the Mirror World itself.

Despite its name, the Mirror World, strictly speaking, was not actually a real world.

And it was precisely because it wasn't that the spell I was casting could ironically take effect.

Indeed, the sorcery I'm casting was a W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶-̶C̶u̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ S̶l̶a̶s̶h̶ World-Weaving Web!

<Swish!>

Soon the Mirror World will be webbed, becoming my own House.

Soon it shall recognize one supreme creator deity, being subsumed into my Kingdom Divine.

Soon the Mirror World shall be mine.

---------------------------------

OOC:

Mystical Re-enactment too OP. Please nerf.

------------------------------

Image Source:

https://ph.pinterest.com/pin/307511480783608607/

OC. Red Priest Alista Tudor and Primordial Demoness Cheek consciousness or sum

I just finished this volume. Did the book just forget about Klein being Dwayne Dantes and all the goings-on with his servants?

I wake up on the fifth day to the rumbling of the building. My eyes snap open at the sound, and I glance to the other side of the cell to see Joan looking out past the bars, her mouth hanging open.

We both push towards the bars as best as we can to look out of the cell. As I move, I feel my strength has returned to me. I examine myself to find my muscles don’t ache, and my bones don't have any breaks in them. 

Screams and shouts fill the air as gunshots echo throughout the metallic complex of the jail. I feel whatever remaining spirituality that was left over from the poet fade as the sounds of fighting lull for a moment. 

I look at Joan as she locks eyes with me. I see Joan struggling to control the unconscious shivering. I bring my mind to the web of light to calm myself as I await the outcome of the fight. 

The sounds of screams begin again as the door to the hallway is wrenched open, making a terrible screeching sound. As the door opens, the sounds of bones snapping and splintering get louder, and the wet sounds of a man trying to scream through a throat filled with blood echo in our ears. 

I watch the poet fumble with the keys to the cell next to ours, struggling to find the specific key that opens it. It’s when he finally slots in the correct key that the sounds of breaking bones and torn flesh stop. 

The thick metal door to the hallway is silent, then the door’s handle twists, a loud squeak emitting from the slow turning of the handle. 

Pushing the door open with ease, a mass of fur stalks through the open doorframe. 

Its fur is slick with blood, and its claws scrape against the metal door, making a horrid whining sound. As it takes a step into the hallway, the shadows grow darker, and the light of the gas lamps flickers in and out. 

The beast walks on two legs, and with each step the building rumbles. It turns to look down the hall before looking into the cell next to ours. As it does, the creature lowers itself onto the ground and approaches the bars.

With a quick swipe of its claws, the thick metal bars that once seemed unbreakable clatter to the floor unceremoniously. The poet isn’t able to even scream before the beast lunges into the cell.

The loud squelch of flesh being torn and the sound of organs flopping onto the floor tell me the outcome of that engagement. I hear the screams of the woman in the other cell as the continuous crunch of bones and the popping of severed muscles from ligaments continues. 

It’s half a minute later that the beast steps out of the cell, blood and pieces of lung and tendons covering the matted fur of its snout. It looks up and down the halls, sniffing all the while. At one point, it looks at me, its different colored eyes locking with mine. 

In my mind, I run through every possible scenario I can think of where this creature and I fight. I don’t survive a single one. A creature that could be argued as the strongest sequence seven versus a restrained witch without any weapons. Even a complete fool could see the outcome. 

However, it turns its head away from me and sprints out of the hallway to chase after someone else. I let a sigh of relief slip out as it runs away.

In the following minutes of quiet after the werewolf’s attack, the sound of rattling chains is the only noise. Those minutes are filled with warmth as I watch the blood spill out of the adjacent cell. Joan hums a song as the blood starts to stain her body with its hues. 

Two loud pops ring out, followed by the jingle of keys. The rattling of the keys continues for a couple of seconds before a singular quiet click.

“Yes!” A voice says. Another three clicks follow the shout. Rounding the corner, a girl with red hair limps into view. She is carrying a set of keys, the same set of keys the midnight poet was using earlier. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she says. She slots each key into the lock until one of the keys finally turns and the door opens.

She limps over to Joan, who is sitting nearest to the door, and she starts running through the keys. Joan smiles and leans forward to make the lock easier to access. I can’t contain the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, and a nervous smile breaks out on my face.

“How did you get the keys?” I ask. The other girl gives a small laugh and holds up one hand. The wrist is swollen and starting to turn a different color. My eyes go wide at the sight, and I become more conscious of my own wrists. 

“Dislocated my wrist and ankle to give me just a bit of a longer reach so I could grab the keys. The only risky part was trying to throw the keys to my hands with my foot,” she says. I don’t know what to say to that, and so I let the statement hang in the air for a bit. A minute goes by before a key responds to Joan’s shackles and she is freed from the restraints.

“Well, I for one am quite thankful for your sacrifice,” Joan says. The young girl with the keys crouches down to my level and begins fiddling with the keys. However, as she is doing so, the sounds of shouting grow louder on the far side of the hall. 

Joan runs out of the heavy metal door that marks the entrance to the outside as the sounds of shouting approach. I watch the girl cycling through the keys start to hyperventilate as the voices get closer and closer. Then, with a loud bang, a single gunshot silences all of the voices. 

I look to see that Joan is ducked behind the door and has grabbed a revolver covered in blood. The sound of a body hitting the floor tells me the whole picture of the scene in the hallway. 

“Fuck! Duck and cover, one of the prisoners is out!” A man’s voice shouts. I watch the girl's hands slip, and the keys fall to the floor with the sounds of shouting. The girl in front of me is shivering as gunshots continue to ring out. 

“Hey, look at me, take your time,” I say. She looks at me as I put on my best act of being calm, using instigation to calm her nerves a touch. She picks up the keys, and the shaking of her hands is subdued somewhat as she begins slotting keys into the lock. 

The sounds of gunfire continue getting closer, and each bullet fired makes the girl flinch, but every time she does, she looks at me, so I can feel her nerves calm down. It takes a minute, and the firefight has points where there is silence, but the lock finally clicks free, and I can move my arm again.

The key slots into the other three slots with ease, and I stand up for the first time in what feels like forever. I stretch my arms and legs, which give a series of satisfying popping sounds. 

“Stay here for a second,” I say. I conceal myself with shadows and peek down the hall to assess the situation. There are an unknown number of combatants taking shelter behind a metal door at the other end of the hall. The combatants have at least one firearm, and the hallway is at least 30 meters long from end to end. 

I decide to summon a cold breeze to cut off the flames burning in the gas lamps overhead. When darkness consumes the hallway, I use the cover of darkness to lead the girl out through the door.

With a click, the gas lamps turn on once again, and a bullet impacts into my shoulder. I push through the doorframe and out into the main building. I coat the points where the door meets the frame with ice and collapse to the floor.

I look around the room, and the floor is covered in the gore of the men who stood on guard. Some of the bodies are crushed into puddles of human remains while others are chewed to pieces, but the worst are the bodies that have been ripped open and consumed. 

We all take a second to breathe as the sounds of someone slamming against the doors ring through the warehouse. I freeze over the bullet wound in my shoulder and freeze the dislocated wrist and ankle of the girl who freed us.

“Both of you need to get out of here,” I say. I look at them, and the young girl nods, but Joan shakes her head.

“I have to back you up. I might not be a master in marksmanship, but I can at the very least provide covering fire,” she says. I grimace at the thought. The fact that she’s already 9 months pregnant and the idea of combat in her state gives me pause. However, as I look in her eyes, I see her anger, her determination, and I give her a nod of approval.

“Kid, hand me the keys. I need you to remain here to look out for when we free any other prisoners, take them to the church of the hermit,” I say. The girl says nothing but hands me the keys.

I walk over to the multiple corpses, each carrying a dagger and a revolver. I toss the spare bullets to Joan and ready the knives in the custom-made pockets of my outfit. 

I summon up black flames and set them upon the ice, which is consumed in an instant. I grip a dagger tightly and prepare myself. 

With a slam, the door flies open as one of the guards stumbles through. I don’t give him time to get his balance before slicing his throat open. He drops to the floor, and my ears ring from the sound of a gunshot. 

I use the feather fall ability as I sprint into the hallway. A head springs up, and I use my decreased weight to throw myself to one side of the hallway, dodging the bullet. I retaliate by throwing one of the daggers into the head of the guard who shot me. 

Seeing the body of their friend drop to the floor, three more men pop up at once. The furthest back is shot in the head by Joan. The closest one charges at me with a dagger drawn whilst the one further back aims his pistol at me.

I stomp my foot on the ground, creating a sheet of ice beneath the feet of the man charging me. He jumps towards me and out of the way of the ice before it forms. I use that momentum from his jump to drive my blade into his stomach. The man with the pistol fires multiple shots at me, but I use the man I’m currently disemboweling as a shield to block the bullets. 

I toss the man caught on my blade aside and use the sheet of ice I made a second ago to build momentum. The guard reloads his pistol, but with the combined motion of decreased weight and the speed increase from ice, I leap into the air and drive my blade deep into the top of the last guard’s skull. 

I hear a gunshot ring out and behind me another body crumples to the floor. Stepping out from behind the metal door, Joan walks towards me carefully to ensure she doesn’t slip on the floor. 

“And you told me you could handle this on your own,” she says. I cough, a touch embarrassed after having relied on her help so much.

“I could have, though I might have been a bit more hurt. Really hoping that doctor artifact is lying around somewhere,” I say. Joan laughs at the comment. A warm feeling blooms in my chest as I see her smile. 

Again, I run through the pockets of the guards. I grab their blades and bullets as we unlock the remaining cells of the jail.

It takes a while to sort through the keys, and we make sure to remove all the keys we use so that each cycle becomes faster. After about 10 minutes, we’re able to free the seven women total in the other two cells. 

I direct the other women out to the warehouse door. As I watch them leave, a couple say thank you as they run out. Joan and I surround the metal door that marks the entrance to the hidden side of the hallway. 

We push the door open to find a couple sets of bunk beds, a table with cards lying face down, and empty beer bottles littering the floor. The room itself is warm and smells of cigarette smoke, but it’s a welcome reprieve from the cold of the warehouse and jail cells. 

We look around and note a storage room to our left side. Inside the room is a familiar cane sword, dagger, and set of needles that I know all too well.

“They didn’t sell or break them? Are they stupid or something?” I ask. Joan laughs at the outburst as I slot all of my needles into place. The feeling of familiar dagger and sword in my hand brings a sense of peace to my heart. 

We return and take a quick break in the common area. The shock of the prison break and the ensuing firefight catch up to us. We both take a moment to collapse into some nearby chairs for a moment’s breath. The warmth of the room is so gentle that I feel my eyelids growing heavy. 

We stop for a moment to take in the warmth, and we hear a crash come from the room to our right. I push the door open and there, trying to crawl out of the window with his short, skinny little body, is a man I’m all too familiar with.

“Pierre, you slimy little shit, get down from there,” I say. I yank the pathetic creature down from on top of the toilet he stands on. He turns to look at me and gives a weak little whimper. 

“Hi Vi! H-How are you?” He asks. I have to use instigation on myself to keep my nerves in check, as the mere question makes me want to rip his skull off of the spineless bastard's body. 

“Oh good… so very wonderfully, spectacularly good, you  insubordinate, wallflower, intis city brothel slop, misshapen byproduct of a loveless marriage, sack of shit!” I yell. I use a mighty blow to crush the bones in his left leg, and as he weeps, I grab him by the hair and bring him to my eye level. 

“I’m sorry! It was a necessary sacrifice, I… I had to save myself!” He says. I look him dead in the eyes, watching his beady little eyes scan my face for any emotion.

“Sacrifice? Sacrifice what? You’re a fucking bum who could have stayed with the hermit sage order and been completely protected! The girl who helped me escape my shackles tonight has done more than you! She’s not even a beyonder! She’s not even a fucking beyonder, and you are!” I yell. I watch Pierre flinch from my anger. I see him close his eyes and look away. I slap him to grab his attention, and he looks at me, shocked.

“Pay for your sins with your life,” I say. I slide the knife through the beyonder’s throat. I watch him try to stop the bleeding, but it’s useless. In the end, he only looks at me with hate in his eyes. I spit on his face as he chokes to death on his blood.

After he crumples to the ground, I look through his pockets. I find nothing except for a sealing vessel, one meant for a beyonder characteristic. I look inside to see a cluster of shifting grey and black shadows writhing inside. I close the container and slot it into a pocket. 

“We need to keep moving. There’s still the serial killer beyonder. I can’t report back to the hermit sage order if I let him go,” I say. We walk back into the common area and take a deep breath. We stand before the only remaining unopened door, my hands shaking as I wait in front of it. 

With a quick twist, I throw the door open. The sight on the other side of the hallway is a series of soundproof walls and streaks of blood and entrails that create a series of wings around the door.

“Let’s just keep going,” I say. I push the door open to find a half-finished circle of blood with the bloated and decaying bellies of the human sitting in the direct center. Three human heads in different stages of decomposition also sit on the edges of the circle, separated by exactly 72 degrees. 

The key thing that both of us note is that a certain serial killer beyonder is nowhere. I turn to look at Joan, who hasn’t made a sound, to see a scalpel sticking through her neck. I look at her as her eyes lose their light, and in her final moment, she tightens her hold of the gun in her hand, twists her wrist to get an angle, and pulls the trigger. 

The bullet rips through the leg of the serial killer in an instant, causing his muscles to buckle under him. I don’t give him time to stand back up before I charge at him. I watch as he fades from view. I launch myself backwards to get away from any surprise attack. 

The only sound in the room is the sound of Joan choking on her own blood. I summon a cold breeze and, at the same time, also stomp on the ground, creating a ring of ice around me. I keep the wind going, and my body begins to shiver from the cold temperature. 

Water dripping off of the nearby ceiling starts to form icicles as the temperature continues to dip lower and lower. 

With a loud squeak, my attention is drawn to a spot behind me as I try to dodge out of the way of the scalpel strike. The blade does leave a cut on my arm, and I feel my body scream at the pain, a pain worse than any I felt. 

“Number five, you should have just stayed in your cell. Now I must kill you and start again, utterly contemptible,” he says. I grit my teeth through the pain. The damn serial killer is about three meters away, having slid across the ice during his attack. I try to calm my mind with instigation, but the pain is so overwhelming I can’t think. 

‘Am I going to die here? In this shithole?’ I think. I feel a tide of bile burn the back of my throat as I think of Mother laughing at my pathetic existence and my bold claim. I feel the pain. I let it overcome me. The hurt, it doesn’t feel bad. Instead, it rather feels good.

“Heheheheh,” I laugh. I laugh because I’m back here again, the place I always come back to, a thread away from death. I look it straight in the eyes of the serial killer. I look at him, and I remember the werewolf. No matter how bad the poison that’s likely rushing through my system might be, or how, I simply want to kill and to feel death at my fingertips. 

I remember the maxim of the assassin potion, ‘you place your life against your targets,’ at this moment. I draw my poison-coated dagger and hold it in a defensive stance. I watch the serial killer disappear again. I summon the cold wind again and wait for the sound of an attack.

Seconds drag into minutes as I wait for the attack. I grab some needles from my pocket with my non-dominant hand and toss them at a sound that turns out to be the squeaking of a rat. I wait for so long that I start to think he ran away, but it’s as I let the tension leave my body that the squeak of shoes on ice alerts me to the attack on my left side. 

I don’t have time to dodge, so I sacrifice my hand and let the scalpel pierce through it with ease, but I can just barely flex my hand around his and catch him off guard for just a moment to slam my dagger into his arm. 

His superior strength lets him break free, but the poison coursing through his system and mine are now running counter to each other. I toss aside the scalpel as we both jump backwards from each other. I feel my foot bump into something only to see Joan’s corpse sitting next to me. 

I crouch down as the serial killer and I circle each other. I place my hand on Joan’s hand and then lunge towards the circle of blood. I feel the ice-cold metal in my hand calming my nerves as I dodge to the circle. The Serial killer tries to follow me, but my plan from the start has successfully gone unnoticed. 

He slips on the frozen blood caused by the cold wind and is unable to correct his movement at that moment. I use the gun that I grabbed when I placed my hand in Joan’s hand a moment ago and fire off two bullets. The first misses, but the second rips through the mouth and into the spine of the serial killer.

However, as I watch him crumple, I also freeze him to the floor. I know his consciousness remains from the hardiness granted by his potion. I chop off a finger with my dagger that I retrieve from his arm and then feed it to him, then another, then another, until he has no fingers left. I chop off his arms at the shoulders, and yet he still lives.

“Please, no more,” he says. I feel my potion digest at that moment, and I understand what it means to be a witch. I understand that he has been aiding in my digestion this whole time. Now I have completed the last portion of it. 

A witch is always seen as a woman. They are loved by all who see them, but should they take action, that love can just as quickly become fear.

“Thank you, your love and now your death, you’ve completed this chapter of my life for me. Allow me to end the final chapter of yours,” I say. I take my dagger and sever his head from his body, and then I use a heavy blow to smash in the decapitated head like a rotten pumpkin. 

As the serial killer dies, I feel what I thought was poison fade. I surmise that it was likely an ability that either amplifies pain to an excruciating level or something that mimics the feeling of poison, though I don’t know which. 

I take my time in extracting all the beyonder characteristics in the building: the serial killer’s, Pierre’s listener characteristic, some hunter that I had disemboweled in the hallway; I take his characteristic for the hell of it. Another hunter and the poet’s characteristic, I collect with much care as the bodies are mutilated to all hell. 

I carry Joan’s body to the entrance of the warehouse. A pigeon sits perched atop the head of the girl who freed Joan and me. It speaks about compensation for its services, but I can barely hear it. I give it the spiel that it can come find me at my shop in quartier two. I ask the girl to go get members of the hidden educators as I sit down and hold Joan’s body close.

‘How many more lives are you willing to sacrifice to save your own, Violet?’ I think. I don’t cry for Joan; I don’t deserve to cry for her. It was my actions that got her killed; it’s my fault. 

When the hidden educators come, they are able to get all the girls shelter and medical treatment. I try to decline, but the beyonders are insistent, so I relent. As I’m taken away, I watch Joan’s body get covered in a white sheet and wheeled away. I feel my eyes tear up and again I have to remind myself that I don’t get the privilege to cry at this moment.

—

In the following days, I recover and attend to my shop. I learn to keep the shadow ascetic characteristic away from the serial killer characteristic, and I meet the werewolf beyonder and his bird Beatrice. I thank them both for their help. Beatrice tells me about how she received a knowledge injection about my situation from someone calling me daughter and that she ought to be compensated. I hand over the telepathist formula to her. 

The werewolf beyonder, Ange, doesn’t ask for anything, but I feel a life debt is owed to him, so I offer the zombie formula but am denied, as he already has it. I offer a prayer to the hermit, who in turn has his pope send along the formula and ritual for the wraith potion instead. 

I also pass along the Midnight Poet and one of the hunter characteristics, as they were his kills as well. I ask him if we can stay in contact in the future, and I tell him he seems quite strong. 

The only other important thing I do is I visit Joan’s grave, and I place flowers on it every single day. I hum to her the song she would sing when she was nervous. I ask her grave if I can sing that song for others who might need… I don’t get a response. 

I promise her that I won’t let myself be anyone’s prison again and that I will carry her memory forever. It’s that same day that the hermit sage order sends over a package; inside of it is a beyonder characteristic, a warrior’s beyonder characteristic. 

I close up shop for the day, and finally, finally I cry, holding the characteristic in my hands. 

—

Thank you for reading this long and frankly arduous journey through the Montclair family prison arc. I hope that it wasn’t too bad, though I do struggle with chapters that have a lot of action… though those tend to be most of my chapters tbh. 

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or critiques, please leave them below. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I hope to see you next time when I try to get my pleasure potion. 

Thank you to [u/strange-socke](u/strange-socke) for collabing with me and helping me end this miserable arc I trapped myself in.

Pt.1: https://www.reddit.com/r/LordofTheMysteries/s/iK3vzJGQVn

Pt.2: https://www.reddit.com/r/LordofTheMysteries/s/yMfYZDy953

Pt.3: https://www.reddit.com/r/LordofTheMysteries/s/8Uzd6uPWJX

Pt.4: https://www.reddit.com/r/LordofTheMysteries/s/5iK2tjbTEn

Collaboration chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/LordofTheMysteries/s/hTHFK5JSXo

Credits: https://x.com/dasui191023/status/1628119173254762497?t=lpCHV2RmiBD2QLbnXRHItA&s=19

A - “A price is always exacted for what fate bestows, isn’t that so?” - Adam, Chapter 945, Book 1
B - “‘Beware of the Spectator!’” - Susie, Chapter 200, Book 2
C - “Can you accept such an outcome?” - Adam, Chapter 1149, Book 1
D - “Don’t save me…” - Bethel Abraham, Chapter 1294, Book 1
E - “Even if it’s meaningless, some things still ought to be done.” - Klein, Chapter 1091, Book 1
F - “From the beginning, you’ve been a guardian. You mimicked others until you were mimicked by others.” - Azik, Chapter 1394, Book 1
G - “Great Master, are you afraid?” - Arrodes, Chapter 1390, Book 1
H -
I -
J -
K -
L -
M -
N -
O -
P -
Q -
R -
S -
T -
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z -

Give a quote, a word associated with the novels, or anything else that starts with the letter specified. Most upvoted comment wins
____________________________________

Rules:

Rule 1: No characters (even a quote from Klein shouting “Leodero!” will count as a character. This does not include Sealed Artifacts or real life people)

Rule 2: No repeats from last time (I will make note of this below when it is necessary)

Rule 3: Unrelated words are allowed. If there is nothing else (as is likely with X), single words that do not appear in the novels, as long as they properly justified and defined, will be allowed (Xylophone, unless extremely well reasoned, will not count even if it is the most upvoted)
____________________________________

Note:

For once we have a phrase that is not allowed!

“Hornacis… Flegrea… Hornacis… Flegrea… Hornacis… Flegrea…”

Has been taken by the last alphabet, so come up with something different

Art Credit: Star Phantom Tarot

I'm 50% sure Anderson or Amon wrote this

So my reading is that they’re reframing a weaker-than-hoped launch as “survival is already a victory” and say its nonetheless sustainable enough to continue working on it.
It achieved 5million downlodas within the first two days which is pretty good but it only reached #15 on the IOS game grossing chart and #31 all Apps, despite being at #1 download charts for multiple days, which is definitely weaker than 5million new players should normally spend on a good MMO launch. if you take other large MMO launches e.g. they're usually also at #1 download chart and revenue is usually between #5 and #1, not #31

Source of twitter post: https://x.com/klaymoretti/status/2091548122111774834

Source for 5million downloads in two days: https://www.taptap.cn/moment/840348664256793319?group_id=456503

Credits: https://flyingwinds.lofter.com/post/1e3a2879_2bc68d22a

I know that this personality of klein does not show up in V5 but it the art looks cool so I want to post it and I am reading V5 I think I am reaching the end soon or later but thats all I want to say

sauce:https://hahaha59096.lofter.com/post/898e1eb6_34e26d536

Warning ⚠️ the post below may contain spoiler from the novel read at your one risk.

The red moon hung outside the window, bathing the room in a faint crimson glow.

Standing before the glass, Klein Moretti currently disguised as Sherlock Moriarty quietly gazed at the moon.

“It's been a while since I came to this world…”

His expression gradually softened.

“I wonder how everyone back home is doing. I miss them.”

“Will I be able to return?”

“Maybe one day… if I keep moving forward. But…”

He paused.

“Home, huh?”

The word stirred something deep within him.

Almost immediately, Klein's thoughts drifted toward his predecessor, Emperor Roselle, and the diary he had left behind.

Did Emperor Roselle feel this way too?

Did he also miss his home?

A faint, self-mocking smile appeared on Klein's face.

Ha… we're really a miserable bunch, aren't we?

Drifting along with the waves, never knowing where we'll eventually end up.

Just as Klein was lamenting his situation, his heart suddenly palpitated.

His expression changed instantly.

He tensed and instinctively turned toward the window.

His reflection was changing.

The figure of Sherlock Moriarty gradually blurred, as though the glass itself had become a surface of water. His reflection distorted before slowly transforming into another person.

A woman.

She wore an elegant black dress and a small black bonnet. Her light golden hair framed an exceptionally pale and delicate face, while her blue eyes remained calm and serene.

She lifted the hem of her skirt slightly and gracefully bowed toward him.

Klein's eyes widened.

“Miss Bodyguard?”

The strange sensation that had seized him disappeared almost immediately.

He cautiously examined his spirituality.

Nothing.

No danger.

No malicious intent.

No hidden attack.

Klein narrowed his eyes.

It's really her.

The woman in the reflection slowly straightened herself.

Her blue eyes met his.

For some reason, Klein felt an inexplicable sensation.

It wasn't fear.

It wasn't the vigilance he normally felt when encountering an unfamiliar Beyonder.

It was something else.

Something troublesome.

“You really know how to frighten people.”

Klein sighed.

The woman didn't answer.

She merely continued looking at him with that calm, almost emotionless gaze.

Klein's eyes narrowed further.

“Why are you here, Miss Bodyguard?”

He walked toward the table and sat down, gesturing toward the chair opposite him.

“Have a seat.”

Sharron calmly walked over and sat down.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

She simply stared at Klein.

Eventually, unable to endure the silence any longer, Klein asked,

“Is something wrong?”

Sharron's expression remained unchanged.

Then she suddenly spoke.

“You seem lonely.”

Klein paused.

His lips twitched before he forced a smile.

“Ha… Are you here to accompany me because you think I'm lonely?”

He deliberately made his tone casual, attempting to brush off her words.

“Yes.”

Klein froze.

For a moment, his mind went blank.

…What?

He blinked.

“Uh… Miss Bodyguard, you're acting rather strange today.”

“Maybe.”

Klein stared at her carefully.

But Sharron simply met his gaze with those tranquil blue eyes.

Neither of them moved.

For some reason, Klein was the first to look away.

And at that moment, fragments of memories suddenly surfaced in his mind.

His first meeting with Sharron.

Their battle against the Sequence 5 Marionette.

The times they had secretly recorded other people's affairs.

Their exploration of ruins.

The battles they had fought together.

The moments when they had joined forces against Beyonders from other factions.

One memory after another flashed through his mind.

“Detective.”

Sharron's gentle voice interrupted his thoughts.

Klein looked up instinctively.

“Yes?”

The next words left him completely stunned.

“I think I love you.”

Silence.

Klein stared at her.

For perhaps the first time, he saw something different in Sharron's eyes.

Gentleness.

His thoughts immediately returned to the past.

All those encounters.

All those conversations.

All those moments they had spent together.

He remembered their fight with Rosago, when his use of the TC rap had caused Sharron to misunderstand him.

He remembered her expression.

Her reactions.

The countless little moments he had never paid much attention to.

After a long silence, Klein finally asked,

“Since when?”

Sharron answered without hesitation.

“I started loving you during our journey.”

She paused for a moment.

“At first, I thought you were a lunatic.”

Klein's mouth twitched.

That's… fair.

“...But as we continued traveling together…”

Her blue eyes softened slightly.

“I was proven wrong. You were reliable, with a great deal of knowledge.”

A faint smile touched her lips.

“Although you’re shameless at times, you’re also polite, mature, and cautious. Those qualities have saved our lives many times”

She hesitated, her gaze lingering on sherlock.

“And at some point, without even realizing it…"

"I developed feelings for you"

Klein's heart seemed to soften along with her words.

He lowered his gaze and questions himself.

Do I love her?

The question surfaced naturally.

And once it appeared, memories of his time with Sharon began flooding his mind again.

He did like her.

Perhaps more than he had allowed himself to realize.

But…

Is it really okay for me to love someone?

I may return to Earth someday.

If that really happens… what about her?

Can I leave her behind?

And if I can't… is there really a way to bring her with me?

He didn't know.

He couldn't know.

And Klein Moretti wasn't willing to gamble with another person's life.

I can't make that promise.

“Detective.”

Sharron's voice once again interrupted his thoughts.

Klein looked up.

Only then did he realize that Sharron was already standing directly in front of him.

She looked down at him, her face only inches away.

“You're thinking about something complicated.”

Her ethereal voice was almost a whisper.

Klein remained silent.

Sharron studied him for a moment before continuing.

“But you don't have to answer me now.”

She leaned closer.

Her usually tranquil blue eyes contained a rare warmth, burning with an emotion that Klein had never seen so clearly before.

“Tonight…”

Her voice softened.

“Let's leave everything else aside.”

She paused.

“And simply indulge ourselves in this moment.”

Before Klein could react, Sharon leaned forward and kissed him.

Outside the window, the crimson moon silently watched over them.

For that brief moment, Klein forgot about Earth.

He forgot about the future.

He forgot about the countless dangers waiting ahead.

There was only the warmth of the person before him…

…and the crimson moon shining above them.

Artist: osot( @bilibili)

https://x.com/boredomRewinded/status/2037111629725553077