LCD Mother of Learning

Dec 29, 2018 at 3:46pm
Chapter Delayed (1 Week)
Chapter 94 is delayed by 1 week. Next target date is 6th of January 2019.

Sorry people. No New Year's Eve chapter in the end.

 

Ah, aight then, a few more days.

 

Ya i know, i even said before that it was other peoples speculations about her given what they know of her and her personality. But that these impressions are the only place in the whole novel where we get any amount of information as to why Silverlake hasn't been seen previously or currently using Simulacrums and is likely to not use them in the future. I was just mistaken who was involved in the conversation... sorta.

Well alot could have happened. Here a a few i can think of. Keeping in mind Silverlake is very invested in her indefinitely continuing life.
- Simulacrums just immediately kill themselves because they realize they have a finite lifespan and refuse to be tools
- Simulacrums seek to actively sabotage the original as a form of revenge or something.
- Simulacrums lose their minds and go on a rampage from insanity
- Simulacrums seek to kill the original for any variety of reasons
- Simulacrums are cooperative like Zorians (least likely, i would say impossible given that she hasn't been seen or heard of using them but i can't rule it out completely so... who knows. Maybe Nobody103 is misdirecting us?)

Ill preface this next part by saying i think we totally agree except on the scale at which the Simulacrums of SL will retaliate against the original.

So given everything we know about SL she is somewhat similar to QI. In this aspect atleast, they both want to live forever, it is a pursuit they both sought after and something they both succeeded at though in different ways. I i think they both zealously hold on to the concept of them living forever, this has been outright stated by QI and shown by SL.
So when SL makes her Simulacrum and it realizes what it is... then i think given her nature she would do more than mess with herself. If the original SL (Timeloop) has zero care her out of loop self and it's ultimate fate because it "isn't her" then i think she would hold the same apathy towards her Simulacrums and therefore her Simulacrums would hold the same stance towards the original.
Given what we know of SL, witches mental stability in general (just referring to when they feel slighted in general since we've heard before of their vengeance when slighted.)
With all this i think an SL Simulacrum would perceive it's creation and immutable death as the greatest act of evil towards itself and given witches history and SL's heavily implied evil past i think there is a fair chance it would strike out in vengeance against it's creator given her lack of care towards other versions of herself.

I know i'm making some jumps and assumptions here but Given Silverlake i think these are all very possible and to me at least quite likely.
Though even if i am wrong on the scale of revenge we are both right in saying she cannot because the Simulacrums either fuck with her too much or refuse to help. Atleast given what we have been told as of yet.

As an aside, i think Zorian being inside of the Time Loop was the only reason he was so quickly able to have the mindset which allowed his Simulacrums to be so helpful. If he hadn't yet still found himself capable of casting the Simulacrum Spell i think it would have been a challenge to reach the place where he would be okay if he awoke to find himself a simulacrum. Especially to be sent to death for whatever purpose.
Has nothing to do with this conversation just something i was thinking about earlier.

 

Once again, regarding RedRobe's identity.
If I remember correctly, you need the Imperial Dagger inside the Royal Vault in order to perform "Soul Kill". Given the timing of "Soul Kill", RR has to have easy access to the Dagger. But it is really difficult to access that. Even if the royalty wish to access the dagger, the timing has to be when the Vault is officially opened.
So, is this a plot hole, or does this mean RR is some high level member of the cult staying in the capital, who can access the Vault easily? Is this a clue to his identity that has yet to be explored?

 

1. he is an experienced soul mage, he probably learned to replicate what the dagger does rather than using it every time. Just like he had to hack the temporary looper stamp he had.
2. zorian has gotten really good at looting the vault after only a few loops. there is no reason to think RR couldn't have done the same over the many years.

 

1. I'd be surprised if the soul magic is prerequisite for "soul kill". It is just triggering the dagger function which removes the current souls and marks them as to be not replicated on next iteration. This function is available for people with markers. Performing the same function via soul magic is not very likely, since divine magic is involved apparently.
2. The looting is possible, but not likely done by direct assault. I'm pretty sure such activity would raise a lot of stink and papers would write about it, people would notice griffon hunters/pursuers chasing after the thieves. Another explanation would be Red robe him/herself having access to royal vault or having close ties to someone with access to royal vault to retrieve it via official means.

 

reading fail. I said he is using soul magic to copy what the dagger does without the dagger. Not that you need soul magic to activate the dagger. Those are completely different words. I even pointed out to the hacked soul stamp showing that hacking such things is doable.

You said yourself, it doesn't have to be a direct assault. Maybe mind magicking the right people, who knows what. The guy has had a lot more loops to work on it. Furthermore, for all you know there was a search and zorian just didn't notice due to how action packed that loop where he soulkilled the aranea was.

The problem is that you keep pretending that this is "the only explanation" instead of "another explanation"

There are many many different ways this could be done, we don't know which way was being done here. But this is neither a plot hole nor a case of "it must have happened this way"

 

I'd be ready to believe he was able to recreate the effects of the dagger.
Whether or not his Soul Marker Modification was his own doing or someone else's (Qi or Pan) he is atleast familiar with the use of Divine Energies. Perhaps after such a long time in the loop he become so good at analyzing and influencing Divine Energies, add in his ever expanding experience as a Soul Mage... then copying an ability usable only in the loop seems like a good theory.
I think it's possible for sure.

We've seen that Qi has become very skilled at analyzing and influencing Divine Energies, so there is a basis for the possibility.

 

Exactly. and worth noting that redrobe and zach were in the loop for decades before zorian joined in.

 

Yes yes New Chapter

 

I completely forgot about Veyers.

 

Now he come as Title

 

Red Robe always had his face on black so there's no why to know his identity but from story we know RR seem calm, cautious and collected and RR doesn't match this Veyers. Either Veyers is not RR or Veyers good actor or he's like Kratos who perfectly capable but have rage issue

 

I don't think personality will be a good way to find out who RR is. Zach and Zorian really have no idea about RR's personality or they way he acts in general. They know next to nothing. Honestly they can only approximate his level of power and ability based on the skirmishes he and Zorian have had and the fact that he asked for Qi to help subdue Zach. They have only met him in combat situations and have never been able to gauge him in at all in other scenarios. They just don't have enough data.

They need 1 of 3 things to happen cause they really have nothing concrete aside from Veyers.
- A Smoking Gun leading them right to him
- Catching RR red handed doing something that reveals his identity or just Mind Raping him
- Have the Veyers lead actually Pan out so they can link together some clues.

Important to note that Zach and Zorian already spoke about appearance and finding him out in similar ways but quickly abandoned that train of thought since there is so many different ways Magic at their levels can conceal and change such things.

 

isn't veyers an angry teen and red robe spent decades in the time loop, maturing and gaining confidence?

look at how zorian's personality transformed in just a few years in the time loop.

 

c94

Spoiler

It is nice that the author explained why they don't just have a talk with the government. It is a pretty good explanation. If they had more time they could have burned some loops optimizing their contact with the government in a way that doesn't backfire, but they didn't have the time.

Also makes me wonder if they do end up foiling the invasion, will redrobe reveal zorian's identity and the time loop just to screw with him before dying?

actually, is it possible for redrobe and silverlake to abandon their bodies in favor of possession if the 1 month self destruct triggers? After all, both of them are experienced soul mages. Redrobe might also aim at getting quatch itchl's help at getting ready to become a lich before the 1 month is over if he sees the invasion is doomed.

 

I thought Silver was an experienced dimensionalist.

Anyways, I think the reason why they never tried was "It's a pretty fucking bad idea to waste time like that". They realized they had a limited amount of runs like, half way through right? Right when they were getting serious about the loop.
Every failed contact would mean a restart wasted.

 

I'd wager those bodies are pretty special. Why abandon top-of-the-line-with-all-bells-and-whistles body and settle for some random mediocre body to settle. Also the body Pan provided might have some sort of lock (if soul attempts to leave, it will explode and hurt the soul, whatever) to prevent this. I think it is just too early to consider jumping bodies. But it sounds like an alternative for conspirators and they have a month to pick up a suitable body just in case they don't release Pan by the end of month.

Her soul sight/perception is super good. She was able to spot that there was a simulacra attached to golem frame straight away. Also Alanic apparently had some encounters (possibly learned from her) during his early years as necromancer.

Some thoughts/predictions after reading the chapter 94:
1. Red Robe is working on Plan B/Plan C/whatever. Looks like we've seen plan B for wrath bombings and I'm guessing we will soon see plan B for summoning. The QI/RR will attack shifter villages directly to kidnap/secure Pan's essence for summoning/release of primordial. We will learn some of the secret of red-haired beauty, cause her little brother will end up being kidnapped as well.
2. Briam's familiar sensitivity. Since drakes and Briams link is emphatic, drake could work as mind magic talent/skill detector. Investigate anyone the drake hisses at.
3. Veyers. Looking at the entrance, he's the same hot-headed-with ignition-went-wrong. Either he had a fight with his sponsor/whatever and decided to take actions into his own hands (after he learned that Zach is supposed to be very powerful - he decided to confront him to defeat him). There should be some sort of mind trap on Veyers as well to see if RR can flush out Zorian (if RR and Silverlake didn't share the information yet). This may get interesting. I'm hoping we will learn who was pre-loop RR after Zorian performs mind reading and learns who assisted him with blood-line ignition.

 

Well, nothing has been said to lead us to believe that those bodies are special. I don't recall a single line of text even hinting towards that. We had the discussion previously before where i *think* we all agree its possible but nothing has even been hinted in that direction.
And it is pretty obvious why they would abandon ship if they could. The whole preparing a new body may not be something that can just be done lackadaisically once they realize they have no hope and have lost. You always prepare you life saving trump cards before it is even remotely near too late.
If it is possible they would presumably put a not small amount of their time into insuring they live win or lose.
Sure if they win all their prep is for nothing but if they don't and wanna take their chances with whatever self-destruct mechanism then i'm sure they would like the best odds they could when attempting it, if they do. The more research they do the better the odds they have.

I'm sure this won't be explored in the novel just because of the setting and the Villians need to be proactive instead of hermits researching body swapping or whatever. But if the stakes were real i'm sure they would put some effort into it right away to determine if it is worth the time investment. Afterall, who is to say the Primordial who views Humans as Ants would keep his deal with them and allow them to live.
I personally wouldn't hold too much Faith in a Promise or Contract created by someone unfathomably more powerful than myself.

What Conspirators? RR and SL are the only people we know of who made it out of the Loop and have the Pan created bodies. They would be the only 2 with any need to Create Swap to another body.

 

Pan created custom bodies for SG-RR and SG-SL. Even if it was half-serious about it, the body should be impressive (I'd say comparing some sword made in factory vs comparing the sword made by best sword-smith even if not totally serious about it. And Pan could have been serious when it made the bodies). It would be like a incentive to make them put very best effort to keep the body it provided.
Yes, we don't know anything about those bodies, but it's just makes no sense for them to be anything else besides being close to perfection as the human bodies go.

By saying conspirators, i did mean those two (SG-SL and SG-RR). I could have picked better words to describe them.