LCD End of the Magic Era

link: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/end-of-the-magic-era/

C1: I really hope he actually learns from the future's fate and actually tries to enforce sustainable magic practices in his next life in order to prevent it from occurring. I'll be utterly shocked if he does though. Its rare for MCs in these kinds of stories to actually learn anything or think about anyone other than themselves.

That aside, why has it taken him 20 years to get around to learning that formula to absorb magic? Shouldn't he have learned that when he was a kid?

Also curious why the mages stayed on that dying planet instead of moving to one of the ones they'd conquered.

If the contract promised a portion of the profits, and there were no profits, then why would the MC need to pay anything at all? And why would his uncle stab him in the back like that when he was only a month away from becoming a full mage? Shielding him from the storm would net him far, far more money in the long run, something that he should be well aware of if he has what it takes to survive a political appointment in a society like that one is likely to be.

C2: That method feels like it would waste a ton of mana and be extremely unpopular in a society as desperate for mana as his was.

C3: Still not seeing why the MC would owe him anything. Investments are not guaranteed, even if he had actually made an investment, which he clearly didn't. Even if he turned that contract over to whoever, it wouldn't matter. The terms clearly stated that the money was to come from the non-existent profits. The MC owes him absolutely nothing.

C4: Why would the alchemists leave? Nothing would have really changed for them just because the MC's dad died. He was never their boss to begin with. And the business was more than lucrative enough to pay for itself, so it really wouldn't have affected them unless the MC did something stupid with the business. Jumping ship immediately at the first sign of potential trouble would just give them terrible reputations. It might not stop them from getting jobs in the future, but it would impact the way their employers viewed them and the employers' loyalty towards them.

So, Raymond has no sense of gratitude either. There's no way he became a mage without the MC's family's help, not if mages are as prestigious an occupation as is being made out.

Wow, wtf is giving Raymond such an exaggerated sense of his own importance? There's absolutely nothing he could tell the MC about magic that his Archmage teacher couldn't, or wouldn't have already told him years ago.

C5: If that formula is required to even become a mage, then I have to ask again: Why was he only just learning it after being in that world for twenty years?

C8: If he just became a mage a few months ago, then how could he already be a fifth rank mage? He's not the MC.

So, why exactly would the MC have memorized a potion recipe that required such extravagantly expensive ingredients? He wasn't wealthy. He didn't have tons and tons of leisure time. It would have been a pointless endeavor and a total waste of his most precious resource: time.

C10: Regardless of whatever he thinks the MC's status is now, he should know better than to start a fight in the library of the Sage Tower, especially with anyone holding that particular card. Doing so isn't insulting the MC, its insulting the Sage Tower, which is an incredibly stupid thing that no one capable of entering that library should be willing to do without the backing of one of the other seven card holders, which I sincerely doubt he has.

C11: I really hope he remembers that, as long as the mana doesn't run out, he can actually expect to live for those 30k years, and as such, the end of the world is still very much his problem. There's no sign yet that he will though.

C13: I wonder why the MC will even care about them murdering his father. It's not like he had any particular attachment to the man. Heck, he never even met him and probably doesn't even think of him as family.

If his condition is that bad, then why hasn't he even tried to approach the MC or get his apprentice to? He clearly believes that the MC is connected to an alchemist that puts the best ones he knows to shame, so why wouldn't he want to seek his aid?

C15: Didn't the MC spend the other 20k on ingredients for the potion that would let him repair his body so he could promote his rank more easily? How was there so much left to renovate the shop?

Just how pathetic is Mason's family's intelligence network? His connection to a great alchemist is hardly even a secret at this point and yet they still don't seem to be aware of it.

C17: I would think getting him to pay for the repairs and all the lost product would be more useful than making him eat a glass bottle.

C18: So, how were the bystanders not killed by those two spells? Or the shop not burnt down for that matter?

C20: If he expected it to take that long to get the dragon's blood, then why didn't he just do the meditation method? If he got lucky and got the blood, then great. If the more probable event of him not finding it happened, then who cares? He'd still fix the problem, it would just take a bit longer than he wanted it too. Also, why was he so opposed to rebuilding his father's company if it was integral to his plan for raising the money to buy the blood?

That aside, why did he waste so much effort on extracting the dragon's blood? If they were willing to gift him those scrolls, then he could probably just directly ask them for the blood. At worst, they'd want a batch of Spectrum Potions. They might ask for more, but I doubt they'd actually expect to get it.

C23: If just a dozen icicles are so impressive, and mages are so rare, so slow at casting and so poor at responding to physical violence, then why aren't the warriors ruling everything? It'd be stupidly easy to assassinate any of these idiots outside of their heavily fortified homes.

Since when did his father ever monopolize the alchemy industry? He just had one shop that employed three relatively talented alchemists. There were plenty of other alchemists, many of whom were better. If nothing else, I'm sure the Mage Guild sells alchemy products. There's no way they'd let go of such a lucrative business.

C24: Shouldn't he have checked his father's study long ago in case of a safe or something that could help pay off the debts? I mean, even before the MC showed up, the original Mafa should have checked it, or failing him, the butler, or any number of looters for that matter.

C25: If you're unaware of plot armor, then why would you think that 30 minutes was enough time to find anything worth as much as those diamonds? And why would you go without making any preparations? He didn't even bring a sack to carry whatever he found, much less any form of weapon, armor or magic tool. And that's before remembering that his mana pool is already on its last legs from him overworking it for the last two hours.

Also, if the paths are so expensive to maintain, then how did they ever manage to conquer the other planes, or extract enough wealth to make it worthwhile? Not just for him, but also for his father who doesn't sound like he was even a mage, and would have had a very difficult time conquering anything, especially without moving enough troops that people couldn't fail to notice it.

C26: If three people conquered the same plane, then does that mean that there are multiple instances of each plane?

Why the f' would you use Thunder Hammer and not that swamp spell if you were worried about being swarmed? Slowing the enemy down while you flee is far, far more important than killing them, especially when the only reward is an rare drop that's not even worth as much as a single one of the diamonds being burnt to keep you there.

C27: It's nice to see him taking a practical stance on not conquering the plane. I can only hope it will last and that the author won't gift him the plane on a silvered platter.

How is trading 3 diamonds that are essential for making Spiritual grade tools, for 4 essences for making Excellent grade tools a good deal? He should have been cursing the waste, not celebrating the gain.

Does he not realize that announcing his presence like that will just make them increase the guard between now and his next visit (assuming that he's aware of the plot armor that will prevent all that noise from getting him killed right now)? He should have just used telekinesis or something to steal a bit of ore or whatever and called it a day. Its not like he can even carry back more than a small amount anyway.

C28: Even if he has hundreds of diamonds, he doesn't have the skill necessary to alter the array. Also, selling that stuff will just announce to the Viper's Nest that he's found the portal and it leads to someplace with easy to kill undead and priceless gems. Its not like there's any place near his home where he could have gotten them after all, and he's not engaging in trade outside of his shop.

C29: Why does he even care about 500k? He could make those cheap Spectrum potions and sell them at 20k gold each, and that's assuming he flooded the market a bit. Considering how easy and cheap they are to make, he could sell as many as he was willing to at that price and get 500k in no time at all.

"He had won that gamble." Oh please. Like it was even a gamble. Luck is this guy's b****h. There's no such thing as a gamble for him.

So, the author's not even pretending to care about ret-conning the MC's alchemy abilities to allow him to alter an array he barely understands.

I really don't understand why the author is pretending that these small amounts of money would be difficult for the MC to acquire when he has at least two potions that have already been mentioned that can generate profit nearly without limit. Heck, he can probably just trade 1-2 Spectrum potions directly for all four materials without any trouble whatsoever.

C31: It's really hard to keep ignoring the fact that the MC was specifically stated to have nearly zero experience with alchemy, no reason to study it in-depth or memorize its recipes, and yet is still able to make extremely complex potions on the first try with absolutely no mistakes. It's kinda like a kid that's heard about jet planes piloting a fighter jet flawlessly, or someone perfectly replicating a symphony they half-heard once decades ago the first time they touch a synthesizer, while expertly synthesizing all the right instruments at exactly the right times. It's not even at the level of genius. Its just flatout unbelievable, in the absolutely literal sense.

That aside, if the potions are worth so much, then why didn't he just ask for them to be traded for the items he wants directly? I'm sure the auction house would have been happy to buy the items from their current owner at twice the appraised value or whatever and then trade them for the potions.

C32: Seriously, how have the Monchi's survived for millennia with an information network that's so utterly incompetent?

C33: I'm fully expecting Mason to drive the price up.

C34: How would the suggestion to use Styx water instead of troll's blood be useful when Styx water is so difficult and expensive to get in that area?

So, if the contents of the auction were announced beforehand (and they were, or the MC wouldn't be there), then why are people surprised about this spell?

C35: I kinda doubt his potions are worth 1m. I could be wrong, but it just seems really unlikely considering the Spectrum Potion's value.

C37: Why the f' would Mason's father send him to talk to Solomon? Mason is a worthless f' up whose never done anything right and Solomon is an extremely important potential ally. Is his dad trying to destroy their family's millennia long history?

C38: So, if you're able to get one of these fish, then why wouldn't you be able to get dozens? Heck, catching only one should actually be harder if they travel in such big schools.

C39: It would seem that the author forgot that the MC didn't make that comment on Seven String Theory until his last day in the library, or he decided to ret-con it.

And just like that, the Volcano Potion gets promoted from a basic Great Alchemist level potion to a borderline Master Alchemist level potion. Its like the author doesn't even care about continuity.

Selling them together is stupid. The markets for the two potions are slightly different and selling them separately would result in a much higher total price.

C40: There's no way those two potions are worth that much. Their effects are good, but not good enough for such a huge price, especially not when the spectrum potion is only worth 50k and has a similar, but overall better, effect as the Volcano Potion, while also being permanent and likely having fewer side effects. I get that the Volcano Potion would be more expensive since its an emergency item, but it wouldn't be by such a colossal amount.

Though, I could see it if they realized somehow that the potions were made using a different, much cheaper method and simply wanted to buy them to try reverse engineering them. But there's basically no way for them to know that when even the Great Alchemist and professional appraiser auctioning them off failed to notice.

C41: That "small Gilded Rose" that he doesn't care about was the only alchemy shop the Merlin's owned, and yet it was able to dominate the city's alchemy market (apparently). Why the f' wouldn't he care about it? It's still got a great location, a great reputation and is currently making more than enough money to re-hire the old alchemists or import new ones. There's nothing about it that would suggest its market share isn't incredibly high or that its any less of a threat to Monchi's plans than it was when the MC's father was still alive.

Wow. Mason must have been used as a basketball when he was a baby. There's no other way someone could be so stupid.

C44: How is the Hope Potion worth four times as much as the Spectrum Potion?

Wasn't he supposed to avoid using magic? How is enchanting potion bottles all day not using magic?

Well, its not like he can't just get Cadger to buy the materials for him. It would suck to owe him another favor, but it would be a quick and effective solution while they figured out something better. I suppose they could also approach Silver Moon, but unless the MC is willing to reveal his identity as a great alchemist, I doubt they'd start helping him again when they presumably refused to do so after his father died.

C45: And here I thought the MC was trying to remain low-key and would be reluctant to announce his alchemy prowess to someone who had already betrayed him.

C47: Shouldn't it be much, much harder to hold his mana in that super pure, chaotic state? How does he have the time and focus to be reading books and casually contemplating what rune to inscribe?

C50: Why aren't they selling spectrum potions too? They're cheap and easy to make and would be worth far more than the hope potions if the author wasn't a bit touched in the head. There's no reason to not sell both.

C51: I wonder if he'll lose his job over this, or if he'll be able to brown nose his way out of it like pretty much everyone else who's offended the MC who wasn't named Mason.

C56: They keep talking like Master Alchemist is a realm that you can reach by concocting a single potion of sufficient rank, regardless of the difficulty of concocting it. That makes basically no sense. It should be a mark of your ability to craft and design potions of a specific complexity with a minimum efficacy. It's not cultivation or pure magic. It's an acknowledgement of knowledge and skill.

C57: Speaking of butlers, why didn't the MC make enough Mana Baptism for his own? The man has certainly proven loyal enough, and if he were a mage, then he could take over the production of the potions whose recipes the MC wants kept secret. He doesn't even need to be a good alchemist to do that. The MC has almost no knowledge or experience and can still make those recipes with ease, so it should be no problem for Pavey to do the same after a bit of training.

C58: It feels like this entire chapter could have been condensed into 3-4 paragraphs without any loss of information, while also drastically improving the quality.

C59: Seriously? Forming the rune is something you do for the entirety of the Great Mage rank? Why even describe the mana as being chaotic or pure then? There's no way it could stay pure for that long, nor any way for him to maintain control for that long if it were truly chaotic. He should be suffering every day from the chaos, and even more from constantly re-purifying. The author should choose his words more carefully, or do a better job at explaining why something so chaotic and pure could stay both pure and controlled for decades.

Why would the apprentices have even been with the convoy? Wouldn't it be a massive waste of their time, even without considering the danger?

Also, why would Viper Nest not try to hide their identities when robbing the convoy? How did they even become a power in the underworld if they don't understand something so basic as hiding your identity when robbing forces too powerful for you to offend? Do they actually believe that the Black Tower will give a damn if Silver Moon eradicates them and their families? Just how naive are they? And how did people that naive live this long doing what they do?

C60: If only recently advanced Great Whatevers can't control their mana fluctuations well enough to hide them, and hiding them is considered common sense, then how was he able to identify the strength of a rank five great mage using nothing but the mage's mana fluctuations?

How did Rios live long enough to become a Great Swordsman if he's so bad at figuring out when he's out of his depth? This isn't a kind world to begin with, and he's in a very violent business.

C62: "This was a Great Mage that had yet to even reach his twenties." Wasn't the MC in his twenties? I could have sworn he was twenty, if not older. I'm pretty sure it was explicitly stated multiple times.

Yeah, as soon as the mysteriousness of them using that location was mentioned, it was guaranteed that there was a treasure and that the MC would get that treasure. There really was no other possibility in such a poorly written story.

C63: If it only draws mana when it blocks, then why would you ever take it down? Or does it drain mana constantly and drain even more when it blocks? Also, if its so hard to use, then why would it be so popular? I could see it being a must know spell for those talented enough to use it, but for the others, it'd be a waste of time and energy better spent on less difficult spells.

C64: If this temple is so famous and so necessary to his plans, then why didn't he already know it was there? Why does the author insist on pushing LUCK as the excuse for everything rather than simply letting the MC actually plan some things every now and then?

C65: So, if he knows what's in there, then why was he surprised when he discovered what's in there? Does the author even consider things like consistency or continuity when writing?

Also, I really wish the author would just state that the MC has a photographic memory. Without that, its basically impossible for the MC to remember the recipes for those two potions that he casually saw once and couldn't have possibly thought he might ever actually need to concoct under any marginally realistic circumstances whatsoever.

C66: Why didn't he just kill the dragonflies by intensifying the poison? Since the two potions were made at the same time, the antidote should be stronger than even the amplified poison. Or, if the antidote isn't strong enough, then why not just use invisibility or other concealing spells? It shouldn't be possible that he doesn't know them. He'd definitely have died in his last life without concealment spells that were both cheap and effective.

C67: Since the MC now has a True Spirit Magic Tool, why would he still be interested in that book from the Bone Plane? Or are their functions different enough that it's still worth picking up the inferior tool?

That aside, I wonder if he'll combine the scroll with these eyes once they inevitably acknowledge him as their new master.

I wonder how many chapters could be completely removed without affecting reader understanding. I think it must be at least half, but I'm not sure.

C69: Is there a reason that the MC couldn't have just summoned a new golem and sent it in? Or ridden on it to avoid touching the ground?

C71: I wonder how much better than Contract his gains will be here. Or will he gain Contract plus a ton of other stuff just to drive home how much luckier he is than historic mages who ruled the universe at the height of the magic empire's power? There's basically no chance whatsoever of his gains being even on par with Contract, much less worse.

That aside, I wonder if the author is actually keeping track of the antidotes the MC is downing, and if he'll be magically teleported out of the valley, cause the destruction of the poison in the valley, get an ability that makes him permanently immune to all poison, or actually wind up leaving and getting poisoned when he runs out of antidotes (lol, yeah right).

C72: So, the skeletons just went from utterly fearless killing machines to cowards that could easily be dealt with by anyone that knows how to cast fire spells, which is basically every mage ever born.

C73: So, the eyes have gone from something that he can't even hope to obtain to being the base minimum he's willing to accept for the whole venture to have not been a colossal waste of his time. That makes sense.

C75: If the guild doesn't normally allow its members to work for others and controls 99% of the alchemists, then how did the MC's father supposedly dominate the alchemy market in the city? How is Monchi able to run so many stores? How do any stores not owned by the guild manage to open up at all? Wouldn't the guild just shut them down unconditionally in order to maintain its monopoly?

C76: Why would they think that anyone that could recruit fifty of them at once would be someone they could look down on? Any of them with a bit of intelligence should at worst be taking a wait and see approach to the whole thing. At worst, its some rich idiot that will make them even wealthier than they already are. At best, its an alchemy master that could dramatically increase their rate of advancement. Either way, there's no downside for them. Or is the guild in the habit of disadvantaging its members for the personal gain of the higher ups?

Also, why would Bassoro not tell them enough about where they were being sent and why so that they wouldn't make a scene and damage relations with the MC? Its a monumental and pointless risk.

C77: If they hardly ever work, then how do they pay for their research? Research basically burns money.

If Bassoro personally recommended the kid, then why didn't he tell the kid why he was being sent? Does he secretly hate the kid for advancing too quickly and want to see him sabotage himself?

If he thinks John is an untalented trouble maker, then why not just send him back and ask for a replacement? Its not like the MC cares about being rude.

C79: So, why didn't the MC hire apprentices too? Its not like he couldn't afford them.

C80: What's with the assumption that all 255 apprentices have to be hired at the same time? If he can hire 50 alchemist, he can hire 50 apprentices and then go from there. I'm sure the apprentices with a bit of intelligence will be over the moon to be the only ones there initially.

So, he's completely forgotten about the five arrays. I wonder if the author has too. Though, if the author remembers, he'll probably give the MC ten arrays instead.

C81: Speaking of the different forms of alchemy, why is someone whose supposedly obsessed with reducing waste and conserving resources so focused on making consumables while almost completely ignoring reusables?

I guess Hauss did actually accomplish his goal. He's now the only one whose name his idol actually remembers

C82: What is the point of the Nothingness Potion anyway? If you have to stop and drink a potion, then you must already be in a fairly safe state. If not, then you'll die before the potion has a chance to take effect. And drinking it before the fight is pointless since the effect is so very short lived. I could maybe see it for dealing with traps by setting them off while you're invincible, but that's a very niche use.

"Lin Yun didn't have that heaven-defying luck to rely on." Blatant lies.

lol. Looks like I was wrong. Hauss' name just won't stick in his idol's mind

C84: Wouldn't giving out that formula constitute a breach of the non-disclosure aspects of his contract?

C86: Unless that potion makes the drinker invincible, he should have asked for an arm wrestling competition or something. Fighting has a lot more to do with technique than strength at that guy's level.

C89: Shouldn't it be pretty obvious that it's either due to the relatively small amount of mana he put into the tablet, or the extremely limited amount of undead essence? The previous owner was a peak level necromancer. He wouldn't have had issues with either of those things.

C91: Wouldn't Holy magic be even more effective than fire then? It can be used to heal the caster as well as for protection and killing and weakening the undead. So rousing the holy elements would create an even more one sided battle in the caster's favor. Or are there no holy elements to rouse? If not, then why was holy magic ever the dominant form when elemental magic has such a huge advantage? Unless elemental magic is just naturally much weaker, in which case, why did it stop being the dominant form of magic?

C92: Yep, I knew he'd get way more than Contract. Not only does it make him invincible against undead, it will likely also make him invincible against anything else he kills a bunch of. Its just not enough for the author that he already got an item that will make him ten times more powerful than anyone else within ten thousand li of him. He also has to have an ability that can do the same.

C93: Wtf would he think he was the first? He didn't build that path. It'd be pure stupidity to think that it hadn't been used before.

C94: Why would anyone actually die on the Bone Plane if they managed to run away successfully? All it takes to leave is an incantation. Unless they completely lost the ability to cast spells somehow, they'd have no reason to stick around and slowly die.

If the Black Tower knew about the Bone Plane, had a portal that led there, and had in fact already been there, then how did it take thousands of years for someone completely unrelated to them to find the plane and exploit it? Especially if they weren't some small power that was destined to be destroyed in the near future but an actual titan of the magic empire era?

C95: This still isn't explaining why the Black Tower wouldn't have been the original discoverers of the Bone Plane.

So, the author didn't forget the five arrays, he just became confused and combined them with the eyes, even though that makes absolutely no sense and completely contradicts the tomb's original introduction.

He should have destroyed the mage's body or taken it with him. The staff was likely what was keeping it from turning into a lich. How exactly did he survive the end of the world? Pure, unadulterated luck?

C96: Why is he panicking? He can just open the planar path and go home. Its already been shown that there's no specific requirements on where he opens it. Or is the author just so hellbent on giving him even more goodies that he absolutely doesn't need and hasn't earned in any way shape or form, that he's downgraded the MC's intelligence and critical thinking?

C99: Why would a High Mage bother with such an expensive puppet that was so much weaker than him?

C100: And we come to the paywall. I really can't understand why anyone would pay for this series. It's simply trash with no redeeming qualities. Its a total waste of the translator's time and talents.

 

LMFAO i am reading chapter 469 rn "Busybody" Thorne got wreck