26 KiB
[RT] [HF] Mother of Learning Chapter 43: Overwhelmed
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Author: u/gbear605 history’s greatest story*
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URL: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/43/Mother-of-Learning
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Score: 99
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Created: 2015-10-18T20:04:09
Post:
Comments:
u/literal-hitler [+37] (an hour later)
I love how Zorian starts out trying to be moderate. Only wants to make two friends to avoid drama, only wants to spend a bit of time on golems, only uses basic spells to avoid being overpowered... and he ends up with all the friends, him wanting to spend all day on golems, and still beating everyone else so bad Taiven started crying.
The accidental badass trope isn't used nearly enough.
u/BSSolo [+19] (an hour later)
I love happy, idyllic loops like these. If Zorian's final post-loop timeline ends up anything like this, well... It's very near to a perfect ending.
This is why I love this story. It's about personal interactions, a main character who grows in both strength and character, and exploring an interesting world and system of magic.
u/Gauntlet [+31] (55 minutes later)
A pity he didn't decide to use his suicide stones to get out of the situation at the end there.
u/literal-hitler [+84] (an hour later)
Your first response to a crying girl is suicide. You are a true redditor.
u/Gauntlet [+25] (an hour later)
Works in real life too.
u/Gurkenglas [+29] (42 minutes later)
Zorian isn't paranoid enough, if even Taiven noticed this. Sooner or later someone in power is going to connect dots and investigate him.
u/Jon_Freebird [+16] (15 hours later)
Bear in mind that Zorian is spending quite a lot of time with her at this point and she knew him pretty well before the loops started, not to mention that she's pretty sharp. I think it's not unreasonable that she would notice where other people wouldn't.
u/elevul [+9] Cyoria Observer (2 hours later)
Aww, Taiven is jealous.
u/doug89 [+9] (5 hours later)
If anyone is interested, there is another discussion over on /r/noveltranslations.
u/nicholaslaux [+2] (19 hours later)
I'm confused, isn't this being written serially, rather than being a translation of an existing work?
u/bkn2tahoeng [+8] (19 hours later)
Written in english and not a translation.
That sub is generally about Chinese webnovel translation hence the name.
We are refugees from /r/lightnovel which give us 1 week notice to move out from their sub since they want only Japanese novels there.
u/None [+9] (19 hours later)
[deleted]
u/bkn2tahoeng [+5] (19 hours later)
I'm sorry, it was the wrong sub. It should be /r/LightNovels.
It was because the Chinese webnovel was flooding that sub and the mod got dissatisfied with it. He/she believe that /r/LightNovels should be mostly discussing about Japanese novels.
Sadly most of us got tired of the typical Japanese MC trope which generaly is meek and coward. So this Chinese MC trope is kind of a blessing for now.
Therefore they eventually gave us 1-2 week notice (I forgot) to make a new sub or join the sub that they have made (I don't remember). Almost everyone choose to move to a new sub to avoid that mod though.
u/Timewinders [+3] (a day later)
How are Chinese webnovels? I've been into Japanese anime, manga, video games, etc. for a long time and I know Korean media (at least fanart and TV dramas) are getting some attention recently but I've never heard of stuff from China getting popular here for some reason.
u/None [+4] (a day later)
[deleted]
u/Timewinders [+3] (a day later)
Well, that trope is not that uncommon in Japanese lightnovels either. Mahouka for example, where the main character is literally incapable of emotions. It's funny how so many power fantasies aimed at teenagers make the characters not care about anyone else, as if empathy is a weakness. I guess to an insecure teenager a character who doesn't care about how others view them feels empowering.
u/bkn2tahoeng [+2] (a day later)
Most of the one translated is about the path towards OPness. However not all are made equal.
I shall seal the heaven is an example of a great chinese webnovel. Unlike the rest of its peers, the MC wasn't shoved with luck like the IET novels (e.g. coiling dragon). Nor the MC slaugher its way like in Martial God Ashura (maybe? I didn't read it)
Or you can always find translated "proper" novels & some more webnovels in here. You can find the translation of Condor Heroes series which is very popular in East asia. So much so that it has its anime. I personally recommend A step into the past by Huang Yi. It is quite rational IMO.
In the end though, you do need to understand some chinese culture to able to understand some their novels. Rebirth/reincarnation is not a common sense in every culture.
I think the sheer size of Chinese population (overseas Chinese included) makes it not as important to promote their novels outside their own region.
That is unlike Korea which depend their economy with that culture push.
u/abcd_z [+2] (2 days later)
I can only speak for the Xianxia genre, but I've found them to be like junk food for the brain. Low culture, but surprisingly addictive.
u/Marthinwurer [+1] (6 hours later)
Thanks for posting this link! I keep forgetting what sub the other one is.
u/BSSolo [+15] (an hour later)
I really like this twist. The Taiven/Zorian interaction in the first loop was quite cute, so here's hoping that Zorian decides to confide in her the way he does Kael.
u/SpeculativeFiction [+23] (3 hours later)
He's tried several times, she just never believes him. With this much evidence, maybe she won't laugh it off as a joke this time.
u/BSSolo [+8] (3 hours later)
Oh, I had forgotten! Time for a re-read already? :D
Thank you.
u/None [+6] (6 hours later)
I don't think it's the best idea to assault the highly secure time magic research facility under Cyoria that even the invaders left alone. I mean that place could be where the finishing touches are placed on the spell to that ends up reversing time by one month.
Also, when exactly is the planar alignment. Is it exactly at 2:39/2:40am?
u/Cheese_Ninja [+11] (7 hours later)
I think the facility is unrelated to the time loop. Time dilation is something that is difficult, but can be done, and has been referenced before. I think the time loop itself is something much more special, and I've been leaning towards the opinion that it's more likely to be related to Daimen's discovery in Koth.
[You're very close,] the matriarch said. [They were indeed trying to cause as much damage to the city as possible, but it was to be much more than a simple distraction. Apparently, the date of the summer festival is very magically significant. It is the day of the year when the barriers between planes of existence are the weakest. In fact, the weakening starts exactly one month before the date, gradually reaching its peak on the day of the festival. And this year's summer festival is even more special than usual. I'm afraid that us aranea don't know much about astronomy, seeing as we live largely underground, but apparently this year's summer festival includes some kind of… 'planetary alignment'?]
Reasonable guess would be that the loop starts at the beginning of the alignment, ends at its peak. I'm curious about whether that means it starts 2:40am on the first day as well, if Zorian can somehow inject a "wake up" command in head for the very beginning. I think Kael was saying that's around when the Aranea die at the beginning of each loop.
u/None [+6] (a day later)
A research facility that claimed to be researching time dilation would be great cover for a facility researching time loops. They'd have the perfect excuse to hire qualified researchers.
u/RidiculousAvgGuy [+1] (2 days later)
Hoping they /do/ have a Hyperbolic no-GF Chamber.
Sure, in a normal person, it would age him beyond his years, but since he's in a time loop...
u/Cheese_Ninja [+6] (2 days later)
nobody103 already made a statement about the time dilation about a year ago.
Yes. The logistics of time dilation are much more complex than people usually posit, though. I cringe every time someone write in a scene where a character spends a few months in their personal dimension (double cringe if they spend all those months alone; how are they not insane by the end?) like it's nothing. Later, when Zorian actually gains the capabilities to do that, I intend to explain why Zorian can't just casually abuse that idea.
It definitely exists down there, and Zorian will acquire access to either it or the necessary techniques, but it doesn't seem like he's going to be spending all time in such a place.
u/GodKiller999 [+1] (4 days later)
Where's the original comment from?
u/Cheese_Ninja [+2] (4 days later)
Had to google it, turns out it was bludvein's questions to nobody103, and he posted both the questions and answers on jcafe's forum.
It's odd how often I see bludvein's posts on various sites, but that's mostly because he and I both follow The Games We Play, Mother of Learning, and Kumo desu ga, Nani ka. Edit: Oh, he posted on 17thshard too about Stormlight Archive. I should probably see what other series he follows if I need something to read.
u/AKAAkira [+9] (4 hours later)
Anyone want to throw out guesses on how much information those "memory stones" can hold? If if's significantly more than a notebook, then I think Zorian just got a stealth upgrade to his cross-timeline carry-over capabilities. Maybe even let Kael keep entire memories, at the absolute most optimistic.
Well, assuming those stones are something he can blueprint and reproduce, like his spell requires. And assuming the limiting factor in his brainspace isn't actually raw information rather than just mass. All right, maybe this is bit too much of a speculation...
On another note, wow, he got killed so off-handedly by the lich. Shouldn't he be afraid his soul would've been ripped out of his body and kept as some kind of trophy, or something? Not that I would've seen that coming, since I thought Zorian wasn't having a noticeable effect on the invasion overall, but after the fact I feel like that's really something there should've been countermeasures for. Or at least some consideration whether Quatach-Ichl would bother.
Eh, but the drama ending was as neat a bombshell as I've ever seen.
u/ZeroNihilist [+13] (15 hours later)
Shouldn't he be afraid his soul would've been ripped out of his body and kept as some kind of trophy, or something?
From chapter 4, the lich's first combat instinct seems to be the red disintegration ray. The lich only resorts to soul magic when Zach practically yells it at him.
So basically, the lich would generally just murder Zorian. Assuming he survived somehow, he would have plenty of time to activate his suicide failsafes. But even if that didn't work, as long as he managed to not say "My soul is in a time loop, lol" like Zach did, the lich would just kill him.
That is, unless Red Robe informed the lich about Zorian beforehand, in which case he would almost certainly not wait until the invasion itself to mutilate his soul out of the loop.
u/AKAAkira [+10] (17 hours later)
Point. Forgot about that precedent.
Always that voice at the back of my mind, though, going, The lich just has to notice one little thing, and...
u/JulianWyvern [+3] Wayward Wanderer (4 hours later)
Zorian has presumably, a bunch of countermeasures against someone trying to use soul magic on him. Besides whatever protection rituals he learned, if he's left uncouscious his suicide rings activate. If he's not unconscious he can just do it himself
u/JackStargazer [+2] Primordial Apologist (22 hours later)
Anyone want to throw out guesses on how much information those "memory stones" can hold? If if's significantly more than a notebook, then I think Zorian just got a stealth upgrade to his cross-timeline carry-over capabilities. Maybe even let Kael keep entire memories, at the absolute most optimistic.
If they are that effective, this could be 'mind bubbles in Time Braid' levels of 'can just bring people into my loops now'. If he can backup at least a month of memories in those, he can bring people's last iteration along with him into the loop.
u/None [+5] (an hour later)
Curious on why Zorian didn't try learning martial arts from his classmates. Even if the strength and dexterity from it doesn't carry over, he can still learn how to more efficiently move his body, like "All you need is Kill".
Also, it seems we're going to be in Cyoria for a while longer. Preferably until Zorian manages to get any/all useful info from his classmates/the treasury/research facility as well as figuring out the most optimal method of making friends with everyone.
u/bludvein [+27] (2 hours later)
My take on it is that Zorian is simply not going to be into martial arts...ever. It would take far too much time devoted to it to turn it into any kind of useful skill and it's not a game changer anyway. Seriously, what good are martial arts among high level mages? Ever see Quatach-Ichl or Kyron throw down with their fists? Plus most of his opponents are nonhuman and hence it's suicidal to get within range of them.
Zorian is more the type to sit safely in an aegis and slug spells or pull a gun and just shoot his opponent if he needs a non-magic option.
u/MarkArrows [+22] (4 hours later)
Zorian is more the type to sit safely in an aegis and slug spells or pull a gun and just shoot his opponent if he needs a non-magic option.
IMO, it's even one step further. If Zorian can beat someone without even being spotted, or anywhere near the fight, then he'd be in his happy element.
Dominating an iron beak and having it do the dirty work for him is totally in his style.
u/None [+10] (2 hours later)
For me, martial arts are less for attacking and more for defending. As seen in this chapter, the martial artist is able to dodge spells and be generally very agile/flexible. Zorian has low mana reserves, so being able to dodge and be quick on his feet would be a massive boon to his stealthy fighting style.
u/bludvein [+10] (21 hours later)
Any mage worth their salt can weave homing functions into all but a few spells, totally making dodging a non-option. This is demonstrated just this chapter with Naim. Despite being into martial arts enough to be on a national level, it's practically useless against Zorian who's using nothing but magic missile and shield. Even the vampire who has superhuman physical abilities and a magic weapon gets owned by the squishy mages.
u/Nepene [+9] (3 hours later)
Zach did try to beat up Red Robe in physical combat, but Red Robe was better at physical combat.
It can be useful as a backup. Zorian also has a shocking grip spell, he can make combat more effective. I imagine there are a number of deadly touch spells he could use.
u/doug89 [+5] (5 hours later)
Didn't he get into a grappling match with Red Robe in the loop after the soul kill incident? I think he resolved that one by pulling a revolver and gut shotting him. Surely having even a little bit of martial arts training would be a good thing.
u/None [+5] (2 hours later)
[deleted]
u/None [+20] (5 hours later)
There's a Shaping Exercise for that.
u/aeschenkarnos [+3] (2 hours later)
He probably will, it just hasn't occurred to him yet. All he needs to do at this point is spend a few hundred restarts training with Naim (and presumably then other more professional martial artists, mountaintop monks, etc etc).
u/memetichazard [+13] (10 hours later)
He's been warned that the time loops are deteriorating, though. Given that he's got an unknown deadline, martial arts are probably something he's not going to invest in as a skill with a potentially low RoI due to physical limitations.
In other words, he doesn't have a few hundred restarts to spare.
u/Sceptically [+4] (7 hours later)
Or it's occurred to him that martial arts is mostly about training the body, which would be a bit of a waste of time for him as things currently stand.
u/aeschenkarnos [+1] (8 hours later)
It may turn out that mana resources depend on physical fitness, ie Constitution. I believe Zorian is a weedy guy.
u/Sceptically [+7] (8 hours later)
As long as he's looping, he's not going to get much out of physical training. He gets reset at the end of each loop, after all.
u/notmy2ndopinion [+1] Concent of Saunt Edhar (5 hours later)
Training in martial arts would be helpful in capturing the mage-killing super-spider that he was so terrified of ... ah yes. the Grey Hunter. I'm guessing that Mind Magic will work like it did on the Iron Beaks, assuming that he can survive long enough at close range to capture it.
https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/29/Mother-of-Learning
u/bludvein [+5] (3 days later)
It's not the least bit helpful. I don't care if he was the greatest martial artist to ever live, there's an uncrossable divide in their physical abilities. He's not going to win by wrangling with it at close range when it's fast enough he can only see blurs and durable enough to shrug off bullets. The thing is practically the invincible terminator of spiders.
Also, the Grey Hunter is highly magic resistant and hence uncontrollable by mind magic.
u/BSSolo [+3] (2 hours later)
You are probably right regarding the second part. I wonder if he will be able to finish this Cyoria phase of his before Zach decides to return to the capital, or if Zach will return and they'll have a surprise encounter?
u/None [+2] (3 hours later)
Most likely it'll be the cap. Simply deciding that he finished everything up at Cyoria would be a waste of time. I think that something major will happen that would drive him out into the Highlands/other continent. Zach coming and being pissed off at Zorian would be one possibility, the other is Red Robe finding his identity.
u/None [+2] (15 hours later)
[deleted]
u/None [+3] (a day later)
Why wouldn't it be carried over from loop to loop? Muscle memory is just memory. It's not, like, literally in the muscles.
u/Nepene [+6] (40 minutes later)
Neat.
It seems easy enough to deflect her. Make up some lie like "I have secret mind magic arts from the Aranea, which utilize a unique innate ability of mine which they share that allows me to instantly copy a number of skills from people and learn spells much faster."
He could tell her. It's a risky ploy of course- would she keep her mouth shut? More allies in the loop would be good.
He could plead the fifth and remain silent. Lots of options.
u/doug89 [+13] (5 hours later)
I wouldn't mind him telling her.
And if he wanted to deflect, all he has to say is "I'll tell you, but after the festival."
Edit: It just occurred to me it would be a bad idea to tell her because she lacks mental protection and any information she has is likely to be skimmed by the rats. The only way he can safely tell her is by making her leave town until the end of the loop or telling her on the last night.
He probably could tell her about his empathy and lie, saying it lets him learn faster or copy skills.
u/loonyphoenix [+7] (15 hours later)
It just occurred to me it would be a bad idea to tell her because she lacks mental protection
Does Kael have any? I don't recall. If not, then how is telling him better? I have a feeling Zorian isn't so paranoid that he'll avoid telling his friends about time travel just because he's afraid they'll leak information to a mind mage.
u/SometimesATroll [+3] (53 minutes later)
Might be best to keep from mentioning the Aranea. Red Robe thinks they were bringing others into the loop, so letting any information out at all connecting Zorian to them could be bad.
u/elevul [+2] Cyoria Observer (2 hours later)
Or quite simply keep his methods secret, or vaguely referencing some innate ability.
Taiven is just jealous atm, and if he does start explaining it will make things worse than if she just things he's born like that.
u/JackStargazer [+1] Primordial Apologist (22 hours later)
I have secret mind magic arts from the Aranea
That one wouldn't work, because Taiven-of-this-loop has never seen an Aranea. They were soul-killed, so Zorian has never interacted with them to her knowledge.
u/Nepene [+1] (a day later)
So essentially, they are mysterious, inaccessible beings of myth that can't confirm or deny his story.
u/CopperZirconium [+2] (a day later)
So there's an earthbender now? I really like the specialized mages in this story.
u/elevul [+2] Cyoria Observer (2 minutes later)
Sonofa. :D
u/literal-hitler [+4] (4 minutes later)
It wasn't me this time.
u/gbear605 [+3] history’s greatest story (24 minutes later)
I saw the email alert an immediately posted it, since I had seen this same discussion on previous ones...
u/elevul [+2] Cyoria Observer (32 minutes later)
No problem, I just had hoped this time to be, well, in time. :D
Well done.
u/Nepene [+3] (3 hours later)
Would it be sad to use a time loop to be the first to post on MoL posts?
u/PeridexisErrant [+7] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (4 hours later)
Nope, it'd be easy mode. Just remember the timestamp and link, then submit just before it goes live.
u/Nepene [+10] (4 hours later)
That is another useful way to spot potential /r/rational users who have gathered magical powers.
u/PeridexisErrant [+5] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (5 hours later)
Again, nope. If I had magic powers - which I don't honest - this is an example of the trivial but info-leaking kind of activity I would avoid.
Winning a lottery? It happens to someone. Winning a lottery, and also predicting a large number of other events with no plausible mechanism? Highly suspicious. Better to use it three times only:
- Do something big, which would usually have very severe consequences. Eg optimise the outcome of pulling a Snowden for every country, at the same time. If still anomyous, continue with #2 and #3.
- Find personal happiness, eg via the power of Love^^TM
- Excessive money - eg via a lottery - to accomplish whatever goals remain.
u/notmy2ndopinion [+1] Concent of Saunt Edhar (5 hours later)
The Filigree Sages intended to cart all of them off back home for research purposes, but they agreed to let Zorian peruse them and copy a few choice bits for his own use. That was enough to keep him busy until the end of the restart, so he was perfectly happy with that.
correction: (assuming that the restart doesn't abruptly end at the end of the paragraph)
The Filigree Sages intended to cart all of them off back home for research purposes, but they agreed to let Zorian peruse them and copy a few choice bits for his own use. That would be enough to keep him busy until the end of the restart, so he was perfectly happy with that.
u/Kazinski [+1] (10 hours later)
Also, conciliatory prize, not consolidation.
u/bludvein [+2] (11 hours later)
Or consolation
u/OutOfNiceUsernames [+1] fear of last pages (6 hours later)
- the .. bodyguards ran off .. leaving Zorian to free to approach the .. mages → the .. bodyguards ran off .. leaving Zorian
tofree to approach the .. mages- According to the Filigree Sages, shafts like these were the 'secret' to the ease with which the aranea could penetrate even very deep layers on the dungeon without getting slaughtered in the process. While a shaft like that did allow for some of the horrid things from lower layers to reach you easier, they were very defensible and could always be collapsed on invaders if incursions got too frequent. In cases where such shafts didn't exist, aranea were liable to create them via application of stone shaping spells. — Imho, the description gets kinda repetitive and could be changed slightly to amend against that.
u/torac [+2] (10 hours later)
salvage crews claimed where optimized
were
u/UNWS [+1] (14 hours later)
Oh new chapter, woohoo. I was just gonna check my email since its a bit late in the month :D
u/melmonella [+1] Tremble, o ye mighty, for a new age is upon you (2 days later)
So why is Zorian still spending time with Taiwen again? She can't teach him anything, and hunting monsters doesn't seem all that important.