Ch: 62

I don’t respond to her taunts, mealy sending a pulse of displeasure through our communication. - I think you meant mearly

Hawk Silverthorn

"“SSSSSS,” I hiss through my teeth as I once again feel the sensations of my reel body." - Should be real body, not reel.

Hawk Silverthorn

I'm the only one hating when god like beings have mortal like characters?

Ilya Hamisoniya

I’m guessing the soul eater didn’t have eternal youth hence becoming a lovecraftian monster

Radical

It was a pain to read as the text doesn't flow as well as the previous chapters.. And now when I try and picture the Soul Eater I can only think '400 year old Virgin'

GingerClanger

I'd thought the pain she experienced in her soul would be the most traumatic part. Given that she wanted the sweet release through death I'd imagine that she'd fear that state of being quite a bit.

Moises Meza

I fully give thanks that the goddess of death over all isn't the.....thirsty one. Quite like the switch from how so many always seem to look at it.

Straven

What's happenin? I see frequent updates on rrl but no idea what the status is here on patreon? Authorsan?

Deinos

If she truly inherited the skill from killing the monster then that should be changed, but it's not how I read it. Rather she's been focusing on lost experience before and, by watching this being, the last few puzzle pieces clicked into place, which is nice and satisfying.

Aaron Martinez

Those two goddesses at the end give me a visual of two sisters having a conversation then devolving into a slap-fight which ends abruptly and before they go back to talking like it didn't happen.

Trevor

The monster barrier was made up of tendrils of his soul and his Mana. Maybe that's a direction to take to evolve Mana Skin?

Sondadir

She is quite good at magic and her stats are growing steadily without any investment. On the other hand, her physical stats are extremely hard to raise. That's why her training focuses on her mental stats, and her investments in physical stats. She is a blacksmith first before being a mage.

Sondadir

This was a great chapter my only issue with it is her stat distribution after the fact. After saying "Seeing how much I've come close to death recently" she decides to put her points into vitality, endurance, strength, and dexterity. Um WTF her magic stats are her lowest stats of all and yet of her 5 near-death encounters magic saved her 4 times. If I nearly died 5 times and magic saved my ass 4 of those times id probably invest a bit more in it rather than focusing on physical stats.

Hayden Lux

Anyone else wondering what the soul/mana tentacles are gana be capable of? We know she can make them now and the monster used them to both create a barrier and kill people and it could even have been part of its mental manipulation/illusion abilities. So I am really interested to see what she can do with them both in battle and in crafting

Hayden Lux

No joke, I've been hitting that button at least every other hour for two days...

Chemnerd263

every time i click refresh, I die a little. LOL

Dikfor

This is Aliyah's horror fuel

George Watermelon

I am picturing Aaliyah standing on a wall, maybe Dreys wall, a huge army is fighting for the city, and Aaliyah is directing all that experience towards her, or maybe she is funneling all that experience to her allies making them stronger. What do you think?

Alteron

Plot twist -- the strange monster man is actually the king or high wizard or powerful noble from this or a neighboring kingdom. He doesn't normally look like a roving monster, can in fact control it most of the time. But a couple times a year he needs to go out and hunt to renew his life and shape.

Obran

After rereading the entire book from the beginning, I want to reevaluate my comments. I think that this pace is fine for introduction of a lvl 6 skill. I only have two small suggestions. 1) I think that Aaliyah needs to make one more failed attempt to defeat the monster using only mana without sacrificing her skills to demonstrate why she is driven by desperation to perform the sacrifice. 2) A sentence or two indicating why Aaliyah thought to sacrifice her vitality stat instead of another stat should be included.

Imspinnennetz

Definitely a good story, it kills me having to wait for the next installment. And I hope the author doesn't take the criticism of chapters poorly. It really just shows how much we readers enjoy the story and how we all feel invested in it.

Dikfor

First, I just caught up with the patreon and glad that I joined. Second, thanks for the story so far. I liked this chapter and every chapter before it, people may have different opinions but the story is one of my best, keep what you think is the best. Third, just in her stats page Empowered Spell should be level 9 not 7.

Edy

its not op if its gods power, since its gods power then it is to be expected and disappointed when they arent op.

Thundermike00

Overpower. Not cool."

AlexFoguty

Yeah, but at the same time, she did get a lot of the materials for less than usual. And if you think of it, it is a kind of investment. She increases her skills, works with new materials, and advertises her wares to someone who can probably pay a lot. Hell, I'd wager that general would try to enlist the MC as a private weaponsmith. If that were to happen, she'd get paid to make stuff without the need to procure her own materials.

Dikfor

Enjoyed the last two chapters. I liked the explanations of how and why he/she came here from the past life and why the monster would attack her. No problems with her having mad skills and power. She works hard and will get more. The tier 6 skill is not something you really want or want to use. The break down at the end of the chapter seemed real for the MC, showing she is not a power hungry monster.

Roxanne

Anyone else annoyed about her only getting 10 gold for the arrow, it is in fact complete bullshit, she shouldnt have to be out of pocket for something that's been commissioned.

Jonathan Timm

Paraprhasing the last line of the chapter, “Don't disappoint me, Kosnik4”, because I LOVE this story and the last two chapters have brought radicals changes in the evolution of Aaliyah that have triggered my internal reader alarms. My fears: 1.- Too much OP. I hope the progressive, hard work, sustained growth of Aaliyah don't become a nonsense OP character. So moderation with the devouring soul skill!? Stablish limit of how much she can harvest depending on level and soul capacity? Only if she kills the monster/humanoid? Etc etc. Because... what will happen when she fights in a battle?! 2.- Gods. I hope you keep your word and keep the novel in a respectable and moderate human ground field as it has been since the begining. Because, if there is godesses of life and death, maybe there are one of War and one of Crafts/arts. Not against, but neither favorable. 3.- Soul. I understand the need to work in different levels of narration to make rich and varied the plot. But, sincerely, after reading nonsenses and bullshits of esoteric nature when this kinds of powers emerge in other novels, I should advice to keep it clear, simple and understandable. Finally, IMO, I would recommend a minimum of communication with the patreons after all the comments in the last two chapters. In times of 'crisis', communication is key. Even a sentence of acknowledgement as silly as “Ey, I read your comments, people. Don't worry. Read and enjoy!”, probably would help? So, when is the next chapter?! Can't wait to the evaluation of the arrows by an enchanter in Drey, the reaction of Giovanni and the general (and their meeting), and the fight between the general and feather guy. The war will come to the village? Uh uh. I don't want a single line in the next chap in Aaliyah's pov! XD Edit: Second time my comment is delete in 3 chaps, what happens to Patreon? This time I have copy! BRRRR.

Toni Pampliega

The monster was 'only' lvl160-ish or something though right? Unless it was very specifically only draining life force and not xp there is probably some sort of a severe levelling penalty that kicks in after 100. That doesn't mean it can't be used to level her skills though. Might not be as OP as you might think.

tibbish

By that same logic, the monster was seriously underlevelled for a 3000+ year old monster with a 6th tier skill. I think the increase was reasonable.

olyver

Is it just me or does the experience she gained seem a little on the low side for killing a level 150+ monster? I know you only get a fraction of the exp from a kill, but she took in more exp with the skill..I was expected her to get into the 80s at a minimum. I honestly was expecting 90s.

Pagemaster

Good point, its seems to be a common skill at that, both Kervin and Del have it. I blame it on her low mind stats, its been established that certain skills have a minimum stat requirement to acquire and or pass their tests. I think the sense stat probably governs these sort of skills, which is coincidentally her lowest stat

Blackmoon11

Anastasia is interesting; a flawed character (self importance and greed) who aways comes through when it's actually important. It would be cool if Aliyah helped her break through her magic bottleneck issues to become a better healer and proto-mage, and possibly help her redeem her other character issues as she becomes more secure in herself. Get some healing training on the side as well, it's long past due (seriously, how has she not just paid 3 silver/day for a month to get the basics and then bought a glove - that's only 1.4 gold total, and could save the lives of those she cares about someday. Not to mention that she could help in cases that overwhelmed Anastasia).

Stephen Pearson

Just though of something since she was basically in a coma for five days, doesn't it take about a week for Kelvin to reach the general, the time lines are gonna Match up right ?

Obsidianking

Yeah, I have got to admit that whole getting her sacrificed vitality back by act of God really didn't sit well with me either.

Melting Sky

if you're going to take away something and immediately give it back you might as well never take it away in the first place, no offense meant but that was a really dumb thing to do. it removes all consequences, offers no character growth and at the end of the day it's as if nothing had happened. not only does not work well with magic as it has been shown so far it is entirely meaningless because you just gave it back. The Vitality cost didn't have to be gone for good, the MC could have found a way to get it back like the stats being burned and unuseable but still there and in an unusable state. She could have much later found a way to heal the vitality burned through the soul manipulation skill or something.

Comiak

The monster itself was the original obtainer of the skill back when they were still a person. But sadly as the centuries and millennia passed and even their incredibly extended life span grew close to its end, the person's resolve was overwhelmed by their desire to keep on living even beyond what using the skill passively could grant them. Thus they began to actively abuse Soul Devourer and became addicted to and dependent upon it, gradually degenerating into the bloated, deformed and crippled monster that Aaliyah ultimately defeated. It's one hell of a nasty temptation. You can basically attain imense power and live forever but the cost is once you start to reach beyond the limits of what passively using Soul Devourer can do, you begin to distort and damage your own soul losing a little bit more of your humanity and who you are each time you abuse it. Eventually it destroys not just who you once were, but any chance you would have had to future reincarnate into someone new. You end up a glutonous soul devouring abomination that can no longer even recognize itself. It's interesting that Aaliyah gained the skill by killing the original owner. I wonder if that is something that is unique to this particular skill given it's soul linked nature, or if this is something it has in common with other tier 6 skills. Would somebody without any sort of mastery of a preexisting soul manipulating skill still be able to attain it just by killing the owner? From what we have seen high tier advanced skills in a given discipline tend to require that you build up lower tier prerequisite skills in that same discipline first

Melting Sky

Thanks for the chapter. I overall enjoyed the last two chapters. I think it was faster pacing than the rest but enjoyed it. I think if I wasn't so distracted by wanting to know about the damn general I could have enjoyed it more. I'll likely go back and read once I have my arrow withdrawal satiated. Story flow wise time will tell how this fits in. But now I'm extra looking forward to her meeting the general.

Justin

This chapter is a nice bookend to the previous chapter, the monster can be explained easier now that we have some explanations about the creatures past and abilities. So the monster basically became cursed once it started harvesting souls and It probably learned some skills from those that it harvested from. I see this creature like a drug addict its always chasing after souls to keep living, but the more souls the more damage and corrupt it becomes, hence the weaknesses the creature has. Second her tier six skill isn't that broken because she harvests the souls of things that die near her, not when she crafts and practices magic. So unless she becomes a professional monster hunter it won't affect her to much. Also the fact that tier six skills are inherited, can be why people never reveal that they have tier 5 skills and above because royalty and stuff probably have records of that so they go literally head hunting in order to obtain the skills. Finally the gods are going to play a minor part for a long time or they should , all they really did was show that tier 6 skills boarder on the demi god level and they have pluses and minus, and we cleared up the common isekai trope that she's suppose to be some hero. She's just going to be the next reality TV show for the gods which is how it should be. So over all the second chapter helps fill in some the of the weaknesses of the previous chapter. Keep up the great work

Obsidianking

Maybe with Soul manipulation, she can fix dels link to magic or the stone kin God it would be interesting and could be a a method for her to enter the stonekins kingdom and learn their techniques

Obsidianking

One thing I didn't mentioned, I'm surprised she didn't gain the "Danger Sense" skill, this whole encounter seemed like the event that would allow her to acquire it, especially with all the line "I've come close to death a few times since I reincarnated, but this is the same feeling I had when the cave collapsed on me in my past life.".

PaperMache7

Same, i think the main issue I have is in most novels things like this are usually teased over the course of a couple of chapters, instead of just being dump all in to one. So it is an adjustment for when new things pop up.

Alex

Some negative feedback coming from us on the last two chapters, and I can agree to some of it, I also remember not liking when the war was introduced. I also remember not liking momma bear, But now i have waiting for weeks for news of the general, and I honestly like reading about the mother as I think she adds depth to the story and I am slowly liking her as a character so I say sit tight because this author tends to drop things I initially dislike and then turns that around on me

Somberfish

Thanks for the chapter!

Ungrave

Well, I suppose it points to your success when your comment section is the same size of your chapter from people discussing things. I liked the chapter as a one time thing, and I agree that it's a good idea to do this sort of scope shift every once in awhile, as long as you don't overdo it. Really hoping to see the general's impression of the arrow soon.

Ungrave

One of the reasons, why I really enjoyed the story is that the main character's progression is relatively steady (compared to similar types of stories) and primarily driven by her desire to learn new things and craft interesting items. I feel that the soul monster encounter and the subsequent meeting with the gods is a bit too fast paced.

Imspinnennetz

This was interesting, and I totally agreed with the original idea of not keeping that skill. I am a bit disappointed that the skill is still around, but I am also interested in the ways Aaleah will manipulate her soul and the extra experience she gains. Will she gain the ability to manipulate her growth?

Chemnerd263

They were mentioned as existing and people prayed to them... like the prayer before dinner but nothing more in depth

fuble878

I like the direction that you've taken in the last couple chapters but as some others have said it's such a rapid change that it's a little off putting. As an alternative unasked for suggestion, maybe rewrite it like the end of a book, start of a new book. Maybe you need to write up the arrow finale as an end to book 1. Then a blurb saying we are moving into the next book and it'll be a different more adult / potentially darker story than before. This thing with the soul devourer could be the opening act to the new book. Just food for thought.

Nick

Thank you for the chapter. Feedback: The Gods: This chapter just pushed a lot of my buttons as I don't like 'gods' or creatures from a higher plane interfere in a story as it only robs the humans (lower plane characters) of their agency. Events won't have the assumption organic anymore, as there will always be a subtext of a 'god' pulling strings for 'reasons'. Especially if the 'gods' are not part of the next challenge arc for the protagonist to overcome/kill, there isn't much point to them being there beyond an author's Deus ex machina. Monster / T6 Skill resolution: Speaking of Deus ex machina, having the 'gods' handwave away the consequences of the fight with the 3000+ year old Monster hits the (it was all a dream) button so very hard. Aaliyah had the potential to be 'broken' by this conflict; the monster scene was all set-up to flip all our expectations. With her potentially being bedridden for months reassembling her mind and separating all the memories and impressions she would have gotten from eating the Monster's soul. She could have found herself in a hospice upon waking, forcing her out of the nest. We even had the potential of her gaining memory snippets of some of the most learned masters of their field for the last 3000 ish years as a consolation. The potential branches from this could have led to fantastic narrative shifts, but instead, we got a handwave from a 'god'... The sacrificed vitality returned, most of the memories extracted along with the XP all for a minor stat boost, eight levels and a T6 skill she can't use without the help of a 'god' to keep her sane since she didn't overcome it herself. I expected four levels just from her arrow crafting, getting eight from killing a 3000+ year old creature that has a skill tailor-made to power level is just a kick in the teeth. Good grief, the grass and trees got more benefit from the creatures death, and they weren't actively trying to pull the XP in if the growth of a jungle was accurate. With the recent disappointment that is Savage Divinity, I'm probably feeling more disappointment than is warranted, but this chapter just sucked out all the enthusiasm I had. Suggestions: Remove the 'gods' please, especially if they are not going to be heavily featured as you mentioned in the author's notes, you can accomplish everything you need narratively without them. What to do with the Monster: Keep the encounter mostly as-is, but remove the foreshadowing from the guards and have it be a surprise encounter that Aaliyah claws her way out of by her fingernails. The attack creates a hook to all the people in the know not immediately telling Aaliyah about the disappearance and incentives them to take care of her while she recovers. Recovering from 'eating a soul': Make it a laborious process where Aaliyah builds back her sanity in her 'soul space' over months if not a year or so, presenting it as the new challenge arc. Make the Monster be a significant event that butterflies to everyone that Aaliyah has interacted with, especially if the arrow she just made was enough for the General to 'turn the tide' as now she can't get another one. Do POV switches between Kervin, Aaliyah family, Del, Mr Grey and the General, developing their characters as they work to overcome Aaliyah 'coma' and reach out to people they would have avoided to heal her. Have some tension build between Mr Grey and the General when they overpromise on the arrows before learning their supplier can't make more. Build the world up to be a place that goes on even without the protagonist acting on it. I hope you read this and all the other constructive feedback you are receiving, they might not be what you want to hear and may even disrupt your creative flow, but it is still healthy to take it on board and use it as an opportunity to step back from your work to look at it. Even decide to change nothing in the end, the act will only benefit future writing. We all want you to develop a great story and build up your narrative career. Stay healthy and keep reading. ^_^

meatybyte

I much prefer no gods appear but the "system" they put in place activate some message when she got skill tier 6 she can acces with her particular skill on Soul (the system is based of soul so its normal at some point she have some acces to the backdoor of the system) The appear of god is way off (particulary when you say they dont care about the world and they not goona appear later, if they not gonna have a active role in the story (wich i prefer) dont make them have one initially, you can use the system they put in place instead because with skill soul she have a acces to it, its more believed and better i think)

Zarik0

Bruhhh I hoping to read the chapter is about the pov of general when she see the arrow that she order... Kinda disappointed

yawn

this chapter was fantastic. we finally get to see gods and find out that they don't actually interact much with the mortals. They give the feeling gods should have. also like how you made life goddess short tempered and tyranical while the death goddess was nice and reasonable. i like the fact something dangerous just came out of nowhere as in life things like that happen all the time. also i like how you did the reason she reincarated. usually the stories always go for something bigger put you here for x reason while here we have just happenstance. yeah the chance for that to happen is low but if the whole multiverese is accounted that it happens form time to time just that most beeings and as seen from the gods they don't notice this

Solarlancer

The gods have disappointingly fragile human egos.

J03MAN

Gods have already been a thing.

Russell Todd

Thanks for the chapter, I dig the story. However, this was my least favorite chapter. I'm not a fan of the god angle. I don't quite remember the gods being mentioned much in the story. If in an earlier chapter you went over them already, my bad. If not, then I suggest you add a supplementary chapter early on, like having the MCs parents teach her about the gods when she's younger. If the gods aren't really important to the actual story, I'd rewrite the chapter. Instead of having the gods explain the skill, while in her soul space, have the MC view random memories of the soul devourer that she killed. Show a progression of how first they absorbed xp from monsters, then humans, and then how they maybe accidentally absorbed a human soul and started to change into a monster themselves. Saves you from having to write a whole mythology later on and keeps the story from going off the rails into godhood. Anyways, thanks again and keep up the great work.

Dikfor

She now has a skill that could seriously tempt her to corruption. So why would she not put some points into mind now to help help resist it. Or another creature like the soul devourer

Steven

Thanks for the chapter! Anyone remember if gods were mentioned before?

Solarwind

Thank you!

Andrew

Not one point into mental and magic stats even when she had 80 of them and when they're obviously her limiting factor. I really tried not to, but I'm still disappointed.

MadGod

ALSO I hope she can get creative with the new skills and somehow use them in her craft!

Mr Ove

have to agree with others, last 2 chapters are worse than the rest. though meeting gods was fine(maybe little soon, but fine). these 2 chapers were still good but not when compared to rest of the story. It's like, from scale 1 - 10, story is 10 and these last 2 chapters are maybe 6 - 7. also I repost my earlier comment from last chapter since I uploaded it too late and did not get reply. "The attributes come from soul changing the body, not constantly reinforcing it, so sacrificing already spent points should drain power from spell, rather than enhance it(since it has to change the body to reflect decreased stats),at least without the skill to do so. It would be different if it was unspent points. That's how I understood it, if I understood it wrong can someone explain it to me?"

Tomáš Blábol

Thanks for the chapter. I enjoyed it I think this chapter was a great follow up from the last one. I agree that last chapter came out of the blue but such is life not everything in life is foreshadowed. Also to all the people complaining about the monster can’t be real it doesn’t fit in the story blah blah blah.. we have hardly heard/seen what type of monsters are out there we are in a little village in a big world we know nothing about. This chapter wasn’t like last one it Cleary flowed like any of his normal chapters just that it followed the “chapter” everyone complaining about half probably hoped she woke up from a dream and last chapter was not real, the other half is fine with the chapter but wish for small tweaks in previous chapters to make foreshadowing a thing and few like the chapter as it was maybe even understanding life sometimes doesn’t have any warning of what to come

Mr Ove

This was an interesting and surprising chapter. I do love how the goddesses' aspects are opposite their perception amongst the mortals. I would have liked her to think a bit more about balance when distributing her status points. I am glad she is finally investing in endurance, though. And now she has the eyes of the general, the trade company, and the goddesses, and no doubt others soon enough.others

Carl Mason

Have to agree with many others here. This is without a doubt the two worst chapters in the story, and that's out of a pure storytelling perspective. Don't get me wrong, the individual pieces in the story isn't something I object to. I object to how they're slammed into the story with no or next to no hints of them even being possible. This would have been excellent for Checkov's Gun type scenarios, except here the gun wasn't there and so instead it's a Deus Ex Machina. Actually, several in a row. Sins, according to me, is: Running into the monster without foreshadowing. How to fix: Add a tale about monsters early in the story. A fairy tale told when she's a kid. Perhaps a mention that her mother had told her to beware of the wood or a monster will get her. And to add to that, have the guards in the city warn them to be careful. They've heard of people vanishing without a trace in the villages. The monster: To fix: Honestly, this one is way harder to fix. They way you've built the world it should have been impossible. And don't get me wrong, beating impossible odds makes for immensely satisfying moments, but the protagonist has to work for it. Here she pulled a solution out of her backside. Here's still some steps I'd suggest for it. 1: Either make the monster a non-human creature, OR make it reason like a human. Make the super high levelled foe overconfident. Have it Toy with her, show that it's human with human reasoning. (Even if alien and evil due to age and what it's been doing.) 2: Have her work for her solution under duress. There was no tension since she pulled the solution out and succeeded right away. Make each fail punishing. Make it seem hopeless since she's throwing it all at the monster and failing, until that last moment where she's willing to offer her all to win, even if it's a pyrrhic victory. (After all, make it worth the healing the goddesses give. Not that paltry 10 vitality) As it was, it felt like she tried hitting it once with magic, once with her sword, then she gave up right away. What a quitter. 3: That Weeping Angel ability isn't treated very well. The enemy isn't scary the way it was used here, it just made it way too perfect of an enemy for our Protagonist, tailor made for something she could kill. For this to be scary, it would have had to be terrorizing the village, with glimpses caught as it then vanishes when you look away. You'd be much better off with a traditional monster or monstrous human who's falling due to hubris and overconfidence. Now we just had a stationary target once Aliyah could see it, and that's not really an exciting fight. Defeating a stationary target isn't exactly something showing off a lot of skill or reasoning. 4: Sacrificing stats. If it was this easy to gain a powerboost with sacrificing stats, everyone would do it. Sure, only in life and death situations, but this would be super well known since it'd happen all the time in wars. When faced with getting skewered on a sword, who wouldn't sacrifice some stats to survive? Make the solution be her learning to use her soul, using her Skills. Overcharging her magic spells Again when she just used the exact same trick against the bandits? Doesn't seem like she'd learn anything new from that. It'd tie well into a soul manipulation ability too. Imagine her instead being able to manipulate someone else's skill. Make it activate prematurely, giving her a window to actually hurt the creature and at the same time earn herself a more fitting Tier 6 ability. Her new OP skill: How to fix: This one would also need some work. I don't Really mind the skill, however... 1: She's already levelling 10 times faster than anyone else. Letting her level even faster, even if only when killing stuff, seems way OP. 2: She didn't do anything to earn the new skill. She didn't use her soul skill to defeat the boss. She arbitrarily got rewarded the skill because she killed it with other methods. I'd assume soul manipulation is rare to begin with, so it'd make more sense to have her use her ability in an clever way and win with a method that makes her actually earn her OP ability. 3: More fitting with the fear people have shown when she observe their souls. Have the skill give her a limited ability to manipulate them. Force skill activations, cut them off from their magic, anything else like that would be more interesting than "Now I earn even *more* EXP." The Gods This is more minor, but I'd have preferred them having more of a presence before this. It felt like an infodump. I may be wrong here, but I haven't seen them mentioned much at all in the story. It would have been nice if we actually saw villagers pray to them for... Any reason. Or saw them give prayer for good harvests or other mundane shows that the Gods matter to the people of the world. (Even if the Gods themselves are hands off and don't really care.) Anyway. Rant over. Take it or leave it, it's my suggestions for making these two chapters actually fit with the story you've been going with so far, rather than to just throwing the out there because... There had been too much crafting and too little action? I'm not even sure, Aliyah didn't seem to need this encounter for any reason. It's just a weird undeserved powerup. Thanks for reading, regardless if you agree or disagree :).

Swinter

The issue is not if the events of these chapters were pre-planned or not, or that he had to make a way to have these plot points present themselves. The problem is that the way he made is very poor, and in my view at least, essentially non-functional. Basically, in a single chapter, a super strong monster shows up out of nowhere, conveniently has a weakness she can exploit and dies to her, and then boom, author just hands her a free ultra-super-duper powerful ability. It feels very slapdash and unearned, the sort of bad writing you see in stories a lot worse than this one, where the plot bends to author convenience and rules are made up and explained on the spot. She gains this ability after just killing the monster, because now skills can be acquired just from killing something? Even if this is just a Tier 6-only rule, it feels like it was just made up now to allow her to get the skill. The point is, these are huge plot developments. You need to lay down the groundwork for stuff this big throughout previous chapters. He did not do that, and that’s why I think these are the worst two chapters in the story so far.

IrateRapScallion

I disagree that Mind/Senses is the way to go, that monster and I imagine mental based combatants are quite rare. Even then, she can cover that weakness with her Soul-based skills. I agree that she should invest in Magic much more than she is.

Aezy Ken

I liked the chapter, though I have a bit of an issue on her choice when distributing her attributes. Her issue with the monster seems to in part come from a lack of mind or/and senses, and she still ignored investing in it in favor of vitality. I think at this point vitality is her LEAST important attribute, it was already high enough. Investing in magic would be more valuable since she keep her shield H24,and 30 points in magic (+30%) would bring her much further than in vitality (+15%). And magic is even quite often her limiting factor while working.

Bad Timing

Great chapter, I'd be interested to see the total experience count. There must be an easier way to get out of the her soul though or another skill she could learn ;p

Malcolm

I’m not sure if you were looking for feedback on this, but I liked how you had the god’s speech in bold. It was easy to differentiate from MC.

Aaron Katz

Ooooooooooooooooooo, more plz 👍

Franco Evett - Pig Lord

Let’s be honest. If she didn’t face adversity then this story would be a lot less interesting.

Aaron Katz

Honestly, I really don't like any gods representation in fanfiction or wherever else. I always dissatisfied how human-like and imperfect they are. Godess of life pissed me off, she brought me flashback from Youjo Senki and Being X. Yeah these two are Being X and Being Y for me from now. I wish to never see them again. Hurray, Aliyah got what she had deserved, the very nice award! 8 levels and doubled XP seems to be right. Lvl 6 skill is great, and second 5 tier skill too. Kosnik, please don't escalate enemies levels, she is still incompetent in fight. Everything in the balance, everything is ok. I don't like spoiler about unhappy life. "The anomaly is destined to face adversity" - fk you, Being Y, you weren't even aware about her before and now you throw shit about Aliyah's destiny with your mouth. Don't dare to interfere in her life! I hope story is not going become much more dark that it was. Thank you very much for incredibly entertaining and controversial chapter!

George Watermelon

Good chapter I almost choked on my popcorn when the goddesses showed up.

BLOODYMONKEY

I'm not terribly fond of the meeting with the godesses. I get that we might needs some explanation about the skill that could only come from the gods, but everything else could have been cut. The whole afterlife thing was better left as a mystery. The obsession they have with her at the end seems very out of place given they barely even care about the entire world. So this was not my favorite chapter. I still like the story overall, of course, no worries.

11037

thanks for the awesome chapter

Blood Shade Games

I wonder if she'll figure out how to modify her soul/skills so she can't accidentally consume souls.

Enif

Shouldn’t “ they could care less about me” be “ they couldn’t care less about me”

mars kiyu

Can't believe you one upped the previous chapter in terms of quality, I knew her meeting with the gods was inevitable from the moment she unlocked soul sense (the integrity of the soul being under the domain of the gods) . Finally another Tier 5 skill !!!, soul manipulation may end up being her most powerful skill seeing as she is going to hold back from using her devour skill. Also thoughts and prayers to poor Reel, its been like only a week since she was threatening to over take his level and now she has :P

Blackmoon11

The entire thing kinda feels like "What the fuck just happened." But I understand the need to show off some of the grander concepts one came up with, without waiting for the latter part of the story. Was fun, destiny is not part of the plot. Is good. (fuck destiny oriented stories, how is one supposed to believe the MC worked hard for their achievements, if there is an in-story explanation that it didn't matter if they did)

Cyryl Chołodowski

I disagree with what some of the folks here are saying - To me this looks like a plot device that has been waiting in the wings to further develop the storyline, but did not have a real lead in. So, at a good point, where she had finished the arrow and has some time to kill - enter the gods to allow further plot development down the line. I do not think this was a fly by night thought, nor a Halloween ploy - I think this is something the author wanted to put in the story, but an easy way did not present itself, so he made one. I liked the last 2 chapters, and even though I do not expect to see a lot of the 2 gods in the near future, I do think that they will have a part to play in the future of the story. Oooorrrr I could be full of shit and am reading way to much into it, either way, I liked it.

Mislandor

Yes absolutely this!! Introducing more gods or having them constantly mess with the MC or world will always create more problems than its worth. They're too powerful and they'll screw things up. Having them pop in and out quickly and then largely stay away (which appears to be what the author has set up here with the barrier and hints about "wasting energy") is the way to go

tibbish

I like the chapter. It will be interesting to see how Aaliyah will use her new skill. Now I hope we will go back to general in the next chapter :)

Pltergeist

It was good. I like that you flipped how the goddess are usually portrayed in their roles. Cool that she got the 2 new skills and interested to see how she is able to use them. Like how will soul devour evolve at higher levels. Will she be able to drain someone of their exp through a mix of Soul manipulation and Soul Devour. Or will she be able to stop people from accessing their soul(Status screen and other stuff). Using soul manipulation to hide her levels from people who can see it.

Brad

idk sometimes things happen in live out of nowhere, I'm fine with the goddesses as long as they don't start making life harder for her than it already is.

ShadeByTheSea

I don't really mind one way or another. But she will jump/be thrown into the deep end at some point. This can be the foreshadowing people had hoped. Well, be interesting to see how high-level characters will be if the XP is exponential the amount to reach level 100 will be impossible without more skills in higher tiers.

Jywert

Yes, emily is known as one of the strongest of the kingdom, but how high is her level? The stone kin have at their hight 150-200, but id guess she should be even stronger. Makes one think about the 'over 200' strength aliyah has thought on when she made that arrow. But someone of that level could have 300 or even more, right? Will that arrow hold out? Ill cross my fingers for you arrow-kun, you can do it! :))

D

Depends on where the author takes the story. If she has to be crafting super powerful gear or conquering some countries or something then she'll be needing a big power bump. A powerful monster getting cocky and killed by something it thought was easy prey is fine story wise though.

tibbish

Well, ok, thats one way to introduce the gods. Im kinda glad these where actual 'gods' - not those push overs we often see in other stories. Wonder who number 3 is. We never heard of the gods before. x)) Still, nice going on from the halloween chapter, now i hope we get a time skip soon, cant wait to see how emily reacts to the bow. Maybe it will just in time for the 'big fight'?

D

Thanks!

Håkan Friberg

I don't think we're supposed to. To them we're cattle and entertainment it sounds like. Humans aren't very nice to their food or playthings after all either

tibbish

I am commenting just to say awesome. Can't wait to see what happens next. Also slightly concerned her mythic power requires death nearby to be useful...

Stephen Weinberg

I am commenting just to say awesome. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Stephen Weinberg

Banana

Obran

Wow, just wow, a great chapter in a great story

Alteron

I can not agree with most of the comments. I don't agree. These were not bad chapters. They are interesting since they make the story more unpredictable. And on part of the foreshadowing... It's something else if it constantly happens in a story. But leaving out a foreshadowing is a form of storytelling as well. In a way it's even more realistic than using foreshadowing. Since live is not so nice doing that... And I am pretty sure two chapters ago nobody could predict what happened. And sometimes surprises are really nice. And I liked this one.

Tetsuki

Awesome! I dont like the goddesses much tho.

Dantalia

But that's exactly how live is... Only in books there is always a foreshadowing...

Tetsuki

Thanks for the chapter, Like many of the prior comments I'm not a huge fan of the last 2 chapters, I don't mind the chapters themselves/the situation but it just feels like it came out of nowhere and is a significant power jump. The monster was too strong, with a weakness too huge/coincidental and the gains were too great for something that just appeared. Aaliyah is now significantly stronger and has two top tier skills which will likely be a large part of the story that feel like deus ex machina, I kinda regard it similar to the stories where an MC trips over a rock and finds a magic item that perfectly solves the particular problem they are dealing with right now. Had the monster been a lower level and the gains lesser with it more just a Halloween special/trigger to push Aaliyah breaking down with her parents over her mortality and the bandit issue I would say it would be a lot more appropraite.

Scyfe

I agree, making the story about some squabble between the divine doesn't sound appealing. I much prefer Aaliyah's journey through a world of magic and her personal quest to craft amazing things. Plus, if she ever wants to craft an Ego weapon, she'll need soul smithing, or something like it. So this all works for me.

Adevna

The last two chapters were interesting, but maybe try to sprinkle some foreshadowing into previous chapters. That would help immensely. I was hesitant about the introduction of gods into the story, but it's clearly something you had in the works for a long while and it's done well. Anyway, keep up the great story!

Pixelblade

Well, then. That happened. I think its official that this story has Jumped the Shark. We'll have to see if the direction we're going in is going to be good, but its definitely not going to be the same one we've had so far.

Imp

I feel like its escalated a bit too fast, feels as though this should have been done over 12 chapters or so maybe even 20, with a lot of different POV mixed in, an example would be the generals view on life and how she reached the power that she currently has, Its also a good time in my opinion to establish what's considered as a high level among the different kingdoms and its also a good time to point out the fact that humans aren't that strong compared to the other races, except maybe those who are more barbaric. Just seems too be the power level, after all we haven't even seen a dragon, and there consider to be extremely strong so they should give a good baseline of what's considered as the top of the food chain. Edit: I assume there's other realms as well they should have different power levels some being stronger and some weaker, would be interesting to see the interaction for the weaker ones.

ClapTrapCL4TP

She would not have become noticeably weaker. If you had put all the stats together, you would have understood that there are more of them than plain level multiplied by 10. These are stats earned by a person by blood and sweat during their life. If you look at other people's stats page - she has more earned stats than even people much older than her.

Thanks for making it luck and not some fate thing!!!!

Tera

I can work with it but I still think the developments of the last 2 chapters run counter to most everything I like about this story.

Robert Mullins

These last two chapters are probably the worst in the story. When I read 61, I wasn't even sure that it was a real chapter. It felt that disconnected from the rest of the story. Everything in 61 and 62 don't feel earned even a little. Monster never mentioned before, just plopped in MC's path. MC has just the skillset needed to defeat it due to its convenient weakness. Author then just hands MC a super-deluxe skill. None of it feels earned and it completely breaks the flow of the previous chapters. Also the exposition with the gods is kinda bad? Greatly dislike these last two chapters.

IrateRapScallion

The point about the bogeyman is well made. I can imagine the alternative is that it went to great lengths to keep itself hidden and under radar. It’s a massive glass cannon and is probably cautious of attracting the attention of high levelled warriors hunting it down. That Tier 6 skill with a consequence to its use sounds like a massive double edged sword

Henry Wartemberg

fantastic chapter

Solarlancer

Just to say I liked it. Wouldn’t change a thing. Your interpretation of life and death- 👍🏾 Tier 6 skill- 👍🏾(though i thing the second tier 5 is actually way more interesting)

Henry Wartemberg

I agree with the points about the monster. Maybe instead of the monster being a warped human, the monster is what happens when someone with a t6 skill dies? Like, a mythic skill has system significance and so once created doesn't ever really get dissolved, and when it's bearer dies it will either be absorbed by the killer if they have the insight to do so and survive killing someone bearing a t6, or will float until it latches onto a creature compatible with it/will warp a creature into being compatible with it/create an incarnation for itself. And the skill incarnation can't be looked at because it mirrors the defenses of the soul eyes, maybe? Like when you look at it, the eyes in your soul also see and condemn it, but it can't be kicked out so it just gets frozen without ever being ejected. So it'd be 3k years since there was last a bearer of the skill, and this incarnation has been growing since then?

The Human

It doesn't seem like it if their words were anything to go by. Gonna have to reread but I believe they said that her skill gain just happened to coincide with these two gods and not others.

Bunny Waffles

Mortals can be so very week => Mortals can be so very weak

Tomáš Blábol

I wonder if aliyah could give away skills. maybe she could teach master dell magic?

thkiw

How about the first to create Soulbound weapons. Ones that grow and adapt to the owner, limited sentience. The tether skill is probably going to be if some use in that

Henry Wartemberg

It is a good arch back to normal life. And how the gods acted seems like a good way to worldbuild and seems to confirm that the third eye on Del's soul is the stone kin God. I still think that the monster appeared too suddenly and without forewarning. If it roamed the land for more that 3000 years there should at least be legends about it. Stories about something that makes people vanish into thin air. Something akin to a moving Bermuda triangle.

Sebastian Osterbrink

Interesting they they have appears, at least they seem to be mostly stuck to their own purpose, while they all seem to be family (and based on what little people on the wold actually believe) at least they don’t have massive wars against each other. And at least their systems is automated, not divine bureaucratic incompetence. I can see hr knelling as being him not following som deep philosophies in gods and whst not and her upbringing considering everyone. Hopefully she can grow a little and talking to gos become this: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/comments/jfxd7h/they_told_me_playing_an_atheist_in_dd_is/ Also, kn the fat thing, looks like messing around with quantum physics and true RNG is in order.

ZCochraine!%

Pretty sure he had a skill to check her level or approximate it at least, so wouldn't he already know?

The Human

Is there only two gods?

Thundermike00

Yeah I didn't enjoy this chapter at all it was full of way to preachy bullshit. also dislike the T6 skill.

Call0013

Interesting. She now has a collection of high level soul related skills. Soul manipulation is something that is probably going to be really useful. The question is how the soul stuff can tie in with her main career of blacksmithing. She has magic smithing already. Is soul smithing going to be a thing? She should have asked the healer if she could take a look at her healing glove while she had her in a relatively good mood. Being able to copy healing magic runes is something that should prove useful in the future. I look forward to the general's reaction and future attempts to finally make magic items.

Loki-L

This is exactly my feeling too. I honestly didn't mind the previous chapter that much, but the goddesses coming down and the tier 6 skill honestly just don't sit quite right to me. As far as I can tell there's basically no reason for the skill to exist. She frankly didn't need to be leveling faster and didn't need this huge level bump, and the only reason I can see for the skill to exist is for some struggle when she's desperate to live where she consumes a soul and has to face the consequences which I don't like at all. Like, I can't help but feel a tier 6 spell ought to/needs to be a plot device, by necessity, and the only way I can see this skill being used as a plot device is in a way that frankly I'm not happy with at all. The ominous name (despite having harmless benefits if you don't give into temptation) definitely don't improve my feelings on it.

your_sweetpea

not a fan of gods having interactions in novels i think it ruins the story when something interferes with the story

ciaran mullen

I just want to say that I think these last few chapters might be your best yet! From the trip to Drey, to the making of the arrow, and now the soul eater boogie man and Gods, I love it! The new depth that you are taking the story is amazing! I don’t usually comment but I am super excited about the direction you are taking this. I mean it makes total sense that living in a world of magical creatures bad things come along and people have to deal with them. No longer are we just hearing about a young girl who can black smith and do magic but now we are getting to see her interact with an incredibly beautiful world. Kudos author!

Wesley Jenkins

Mmm my entire comment got deleted. I don’t know if I accidentally did it or if author did. I’m not gonna repost the whole thing just... It feels like the story went hyper mode. I had a long post typed up but it kind of went from a crafting story to an anime protagonist with deus ex autowins and lack of consequences compared to her slow paced growth and grind. I don’t think it ruins the story (let me be clear, I adore this story or I wouldn’t Patreon it), but it feels like an awkward escalation to me. Like someone slipped in 2 chapters of a different story. Good; Goddess meeting, Self-growth, Introspection, Family, Gains from crafting, Tier 6 skill and risks Bad; Goddess blessings removing Vit loss, weird vibro blade thing (drill maybe?), Unique magic and awkward weakness deus ex’ing bosses, level up stats removing healing time and sudden huge magic boosts. Very Bad; still no general reaction

Milandaanza

Kind of a weird chapter for me. Feels like a complete tone (or scale, maybe?) shift from the rest of the story so far. It's not like anything in it strictly doesn't make sense, but it almost... feels too early for literal Goddesses to be descending down from the heavens, I suppose? Plus she was already ridiculously OP, I'm not sure if she needed a skill that literally gives her more XP, unless she's going to end up absorbing a soul in desperation or something which I would be pretty upset about honestly for a variety of reasons. Plus I have a variety of issues with her getting the skill from the monster, honestly 1. The first being that I'm not sure how I feel about the implications of you being able to get Tier 6 skills by killing the people that have them. I can find justification for it in the system you've created (with skills being attached to souls, etc.), but it doesn't really feel like it consistently fits in with the *feeling* of the skill system you've created even if it works on a technical level. 2. I'm not really sure how it makes sense for the monster to have been human originally, given its "unique features." You can say that the soul tendrils are the skill, and the walls are another skill perhaps, but I'm fairly confused by it freezing when it's looked at. I could maybe see it being overwhelmed by revulsion at the state it's now in or something like that, but it doesn't really seem like strong justification to me, and also doesn't seem like a skill of any kind. If anything it feels like a weakness that was engineered so she could beat it, which is the main thing that bothers me honestly. 3. The monster being 3,419 years old just seems ridiculous to me, 1) because she only went up 8 levels when killing it, won't it become impossible to level from now on at all? and 2) because, despite how lucky she was for it to specifically have that weakness (that somehow is perfectly suited to her killing it), I can't help but feel she really shouldn't have been able to kill something that's been thriving that long, and can't imagine *how* it's been thriving so long when it has such a glaring weakness to anyone who can see it. Also I'm impatient to hear more about the arrow, dangit! Thanks for the chapter! I hope I wasn't too critical, I had a lot of thoughts about this chapter, but it doesn't take any skill to nitpick something and it takes lots to write a story I'm as invested in as I am Magic Smithing.

your_sweetpea

I liked this chapter and it sets up what's hopefully a bit of reflection/slowing down for her. Things have been happening nonstop lately, poor girl could use a rest. I do think telling the village leader exactly how many levels she got was pretty stupid though. Especially if she actually doubled her total amount of experience gained (I didn't check the maths). She was a monster before, but if she truly doubled her experience gained...that's some legendary shit. The type of secret no one should be trusted with.

Emma Carlin

.... ngl, I'm super happy the gods fixed her vitality. i didn't *want* her to lose a level's worth of vitality, it would have made her weaker than anyone on her level from then on D:

MagicWafflez

Pretty nice to see she doesnt have a "hero" fate. Her going to encounter a lot of hardship is already a given due to her nature. She is an anomaly who wants to explore and experience new things now. Not encountering any hardship is just weird

Cerber

Thanks for the chapter, I’m glad that the gods in this case aren’t that significant and will not be active in this.

Seth

I think "energy's" should be "energies" at the end

Emma Carlin

Thanks for the chapter. Didn't expect to see gods this soon.

Tim Maguire

Just want to see the general's reaction to the arrow;( I wish the Gods weren't as dismissive as they were but i guess sense.

sean heaney

Corrections

Kosnik4