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Shirtaloon
Shirtaloon

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Chapter 990: Monstrous on the Inside

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Great chapter, although this is going to be one of those times when I don't want to wait the weekend for the next one and am tempted to upgrade my subscription tier. I really hate having to remind myself that budgets are there for a reason, and to not go destroying it for who knows how many months over it.

Jonathan Campbell

Tyftc

Chloe

Cool she has aspects of both Warrior and Hero going on

andrew keefe

It’s so refreshing to have a chapter with a deeper dialogue than the usual banter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it, but lately it felt like the dialogues throughout this book has been really short albeit important. This was an awesome chapter.

Nico

So happy that Jason was able to get there in time to save her and her team. I personally would like to see them added to the retinue simply because he is her idol.

Marcus

I’m not crying, you’re crying. Love when Jason has the moments to teach through introspection

Opossums Coat

Pretty sure it's not posdible

Corac

I love how the little things get turned into really awesome character moments, like Jason revealing why his appearance changes the way it does with each rank up. All those little moments he or someone else talked about his chin for a good joke here and there have now been given an entirely new meaning.

Thomas Foster

Thx for the chapter

Kconraw

I believe that monster surges are a natural thing just less common and less severe, I vaguely remember the mention of monster surges in book 12 but I could be wrong about that.

Throh_goblin Lord

Here are my thoughts based on the books. According to Dawn in the first earth arc books 4-6, the monster surge is a direct result of the link between worlds. Jason’s origin universe had dimensional membrane that wouldn’t allow magic to seep in. After the network founder manipulated the underpinnings of reality to allow magic to seep into Jason’s universe via the link, a threshold was met wherein the magic reached saturation on earth which made the magic rebounded and caused a monster surge on Pallimustus. There are mentions of other worlds experiencing monster surges which I suspect have similar causes but different antecedents. Astral fluctuations , universe magic saturation threshold saturations, and dimensional membrane instabilities caused by the Builder ripping off astral spaces, and who know what else. Later in the series, (I forget where) it is mentioned that no more surges have happened on Palimustus since the builder invasion. I could be way off and forgot something. Perhaps it’s normal for a surge to take place naturally, my theory is that no more surges will take place until both worlds reach equilibrium and the bridge stabilizes.

N8rtotPlayz

I think it came calling with Jason fixing the throne

christian montgomery

I think Earth is still in the mindset of "cut your losses" if one person falls behind well that's too bad, if a team needs back up well we'll try to get them to you. In this case though, Delia seriously lucked out with the fact that somebody had enough backbone to approach and ask for help of the one man that could not only get to her but also extract her and her team while cleaning up a Vampire mess. We all know Jason isn't a fan of the person left behind deals

Kalanaere

But is his foot fetish at the level of the System AI in DCC?

Kalanaere

I’m also thinking there are at least several more books and a couple arcs to get through so not worried about it ending that soon lol

Betsy R

It’s a current culture thing with the rise of certain platforms and the internet. I read an article about how all the young ppl these days are way more aware of the sharing of kinks online a lot younger than we (millennials) did and have taken to wearing socks in their sandals to avoid random feet pictures where as my generation was always told it was an uncool dad thing to do. I have gigantic Godzilla feet for a woman but fairly cute little toes and I still have no shame with them being seen lol

Betsy R

Why?

Justin

They've always been going on, however because of the 2nd builder's machinations they were worsened, which required Jason to fix it. Him fixing it didn't remove the monster surges, just made them go back to normal levels Edit: it is a dimensional membrane thing, but not all dimensional membranes act the same. Earth gets monster manifestations, but doesn't have enough magic for monster surges, because it's drained to pallimustus because it's membrane can survive the magic whereas Earth cannot

Kaelan Spears

Felt. I deliberately didn’t read any chapters of my other favorite webnovellast week so that I’d have stuff to read this week with no HWFWM coming

MoonlitShade

Dear god I hope not. With Beneath the Dragoneye Moons coming to the end of its story soon, if HWFWM also is nearing the end I’ll be losing my two favorite webnovels of all time back to back 😭

MoonlitShade

I love how she is exactly what an adventurer should be. Have not seen many of those from earth yet.

Manowar

More and more i think shirt has a foot thing lol

Sabroso JFD!

I was under the impression it was a dimensional membrane thing, since off world diamonds spoke as if it was common knowledge. Also, by your own reasoning the surges would have stopped once the link was stabilized/fixed. But they continued as normal.

Fervent Fiend

Monster surges are a pallimustus thing, not an earth thing. It's related to earth, in that excess magic drained from the earth to keep it stable goes to pallimustus and causes Monster surges, but the reverse doesn't happen.

Kaelan Spears

Ah, thanks. Looks like that that is about to come calling.

Code Reed

She’s the prime avatar for the Great Astral Being that governs time, its been called a few things over the series like The Sands Of Time. She saved Jason from the diamond rank messenger during the messenger attack on Yaresh.

Levi Reed

@Shirtaloon so after reviewing the book 13 chapters I noticed that there is no mention of monster surges on Earth. Is the dimensional membrane still too much in flux for the conditions of a monster surge to manifest, or was there something I missed and it was glossed over? In book twelve they casually commented that two surges had gone by, did the same thing happen on Earth as it did on Pallimustus?

Fervent Fiend

Yeah, who's that?

Code Reed

I was so hoping for “Hello Dawn”…

Richard Rader

If they were rare on Pallimustus with actual adventurers then I'd doubt they would be common on Earth.

Dalton Service

Raythe. Weren’t you listening?

Hayden Leech

Who?

Code Reed

Another great chapter.

Tenebrous Savant (Metatron)

If Dawn shows up, we're nearing the end of the series. While I'm looking forward to Shirt's new projects, I'm not looking forward to Dawn showing up.

Soli116

I think that's discussed in "the topic of pants." when he built the gold-ranked avatar, he wanted to keep it as close to authentic as possible to make the transition easier. ..or something.

ByLAWphoto

Surviving those type of events is rare without someone strong enough to save you at the last minute

Scott Frederiksen

Not when you use like 20 people using guns to take out single monsters. they weren't being adventurers and taking massive risks like they have to now

Issei Hyoudou

So...if parts of your body stay imperfect because of an insecurity, is that why jason still has a pointy chin? Either that or because he doesn't want to turn completely into his brother and that's the part he's holding on to.....interesting.....

Derrick Snyder

Maybe, Raythe did say they had a job for Jason and his team, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of the story. Remember, Jason still needs to hit diamond rank and also become a transcendent. Lots more story for Shirt to tell

Jacob Kraus

Love the surprises and a very good read thank you so much

Jim Hudson

Sounds good to me

Jim Hudson

Some good points and food for thought.

Jim Hudson

I'm sceptical that soul scars wouldn't be common knowledge on earth, more people should've gotten them in the proto astral spaces at least

HonestAbe

We know Dawn won't be back until the middle of something catastrophic. Otherwise she wouldn't have warned Jason's team about needing to "leave people behind" no matter what. And Raythe similarly already told Jason that she would be the one to tell Jason about the fight he's already lost that Dawn, Boris, and Noreth all refused or weren't permitted to tell him about that required the bridge between worlds to be built. Though I imagine Jason still has some time to prepare for it because the bridge likely needs to be open before whatever enemy has been using him, the World Phoenix, and others I can't remember can make use of it. But still lots of story to go. Vampires and settling Earthly affairs, whatever is going on with the Order of the Reaper, likely more Storm Kingdom with him and Zara getting together, introducing some of his family to Pallimustus, etc.

MrCynical

“She clasped his hand and he helped her to his feet.” —> “She clasped his hand and he helped her to *her* feet.”

Arieh Sochaczevski

I'm having an existential moment... if Raythe is back, I feel like we're approaching the thing Jason's team was warned about...and that means we're close to the end of the story...

Brad Gammey

I was so excited. A long awaited guest, the space station where guests arrive from the astral. My brain was saying “YES! Dawn is back!” Then I read and then reread the description of the astral vessel. “Huh?” My brain said, “that’s not Dawns cottage!” Finally they greet each other. I was so disappointed. But hey! The prime vessel of a GAB showed up, this will be interesting. My disappointment is mildly assuaged. TYFTC! Enjoy the LitRPG con!

N8rtotPlayz

At least for all the pain and suffering that Dalia went thru, her first sight was to meet Jason and hear one of his adventuring firsthand. She can pass that moment down through storytelling to her children in the future.

John Durrett

"Souls change all the time, but those changes are usually slow and gradual. When the change comes fast, and cuts to the core of who you are, it leaves a mark" This part has me thinking stretch marks. It's like the marks I have on my thighs and biceps from lifting weight to heavy too fast, it made my muscles grow too fast for my body to keep up.

Justin Hunsberger

She’s pregnant with Jason’s child and raising her out of Jason’s influence.! That’s just cold. SMH

John Durrett

It’s a wound so sever and emotionally overwhelming that the soul will never forget. PTSD is the closest and probably truest representation if given form on the body.

John Durrett

In my mind the scars are more like darkened outlines of where flesh was ripped from the body. Stretch marks are more thinning of the skin from forced stretching such as a growing babe, that comes back together once the pressure is off. A scar can be as simple as a line in the skin with a different coloration because all pigmentation has been lost. Those lines can be lessened by putting on sunscreen of the highest value while the body repairs

John Durrett

So Delia is gonna have one hell of a story now. Not only did she take a literal beating just shy of death but none other than Jason Asano himself stepped in and saved not only her but ultimately her team as well. Bonus she got to have a full sit down conversation with explaining things to her. For once someone listened to him, didn't freak out on who he was . Delia just gained herself an Ally for life

Kalanaere

I think the information about souls and their relations to bodies is something he’s kept quiet on Earth, maybe so they don’t try to experiment on souls too much. Things like resilience to suppression effects are best kept on the down low.

Will

She is the prime vessel of the sands she helped Jason just before his battle with the great astral begins where he was repairing the sundered throne

Phillip Marshall

What are they going to do? Shit Jason alone mopped the floor with what 4 golds and he was holding back. Colin would annihilate them

Kalanaere

I believe she exceeds Dawn in power. She's one of the two oldest and longest serving Primes.

Kalanaere

Agreed! Aside from she's obviously destined to be a Priest of Jason she's not in it for glory. She's in it to make a difference and do her best to help. She's honestly a lot like Jason at the beginning.

Kalanaere

Raytheon is Prime Vessel of GAB of Sands/Keeper of Moments aka TIME. She is actually older than Dawn to such a degree that Dawn to significant degree. Jason first met Raythe and Veselias (sp) back on Pali when they finally wrapped up the underground Zone. Shade advised Jason to show both of them absolute respect.

Kalanaere

I think it's a neat representation of PTSD, even with adventurers faking scars to seem cooler, it's similar to people who lie about being a veteran or make up stories to sound badass

Vincent Ciavone

Haha! I saw that 😂😂

Sushicraft 563

So they are like stretch marks?

Justin Hunsberger

You need more rereads. :D

Soli116

Shirt needs a fluffy white cat, a mountain in the shape of his head, and a weather machine.

Soli116

i'm blanking on who Raythe is lol. i know i should know but cant for the life of me remember

Anthony Jenkins

I had forgotten who she was

justin

So, so good! Ty!

Andrew Whewell

10 days. I'm not sure I can make it.

Soli116

I’m going to be like a crack addict going through withdrawals

Brian Small

I bet Clive's wife is secretly the Dean of the Celestial Book.

Hell 5pawn

I still find it kinda messed up that scars mean you took damage past your existential limits and your Soul Remembers.

Youkai-sama

Thank you! I knew we had seen her before but I also couldn’t remember

Maria Klein

Found her on chapter 19 of Welcome to The Multiverse book 5 Contention by Sean Oswald. Was a real laugh, didn't know he was into bunny girls.

John Haseltine

I blame Clive’s wife for this cliffhanger

gabriel boley

It’s been brought up before and it’s great to see it again. Adds weight to when he met with Amy’s kids; looking so much like their father

Daniel Wills

Same

Omar Diaz

The antici..................................pation is the best part though.

Corvid

We already were told Raythe would be the one telling Jason about the thing Dawn can't/won't tell him. The battle he's already lost without even knowing he was in it. Dawn explicitly told Jason and his team that the next time she see's them it will be horrible and she hopes Jason can forgive her for it.

MrCynical

Colin is a growing boy. He needs to snack.

Daniel Golding

If I'm remembering correctly, the next time we see Dawn is when the bad stuff starts. All of the "Do what you have to and keep going no matter how many of your high gold or even diamond rank friends die" stuff.

Corvid

I fucking love this series.

Mike Stewart

I don’t think he can make wide scale changes easily, though he was able to shut off the system on Pallimustus. He mentioned expanding the system beyond essence users after transcending

Nikolai Pesudovs

Enjoy the hiatus Shirt 😉

Zuzana Toulcová

Dang, and no new chapter next week. Ima die

Crjourdan

Just checked it. 3rd book, it's the exact same!!

Zuzana Toulcová

Jason lacks the juice as a great astral being to have anything beyond basic functionally for the System on a universal basis.

Shirtaloon

The irony of everyone wanting time travel to get the next chapter when Time's vessel arrives.

Jason Hardman

Neah.. but trouble might be comming.. the bigger type. If Dawn would come it might even freeze one down, depending why she was worried that Jason's oppinion of her would suffer..

Zuzana Toulcová

Not sure about that. Knowledge is wisdom and remember when on Pallimustus these things were kept secret cause someone might try to reproduce a stronger soul with similar eee.. events onto unwilling test subjects? I think that is a good reason not to.

Zuzana Toulcová

What a lovely chapter =') That detail about Jason looking more like his brother is genius

FabianTheGreat

Thanks!

RGrocks

Damn you shirt, what a nice little cliffhanger. Raythe chapters mean something cool is about to happen.

Mitha

Why wouldn’t Jason grant title viewing to everyone? It’s a pretty innocuous information.

ThoMiCroN

She is the REP for the keeper of the sands, (The Great Astral being of Time), and is a Diamond ranker equal with Dawn, who is her good friend.

Gt Novack

Same effect. I think it was called something else though

Michael Romo

It doesn’t matter what* happens to your body. strongly enough to have an affect->effect* on your magic.

ThoMiCroN

Knew it as soon as I saw the word sand. Though clear glass orb got my hopes up for dawn.

Michael Romo

This cliffhanger is gonna suck… no chapter for a whole week and 2 days

Alejandro Piña

Yeah, now that I thought about it, it would've been nice to see her.

RonGAR

I was hoping to see Dawn again, we haven’t heard from her since Raythe told Jason that she said that the world phoenix was going to lose to Jason in reforming the cosmic throne.

mhaj58

Compared to strongest man in the world, earth's first quasi deity, is a (small) universe and interdimensional traveler eats vampires barley moves the needle.

wanderer117

I LOVE it when Jason sends messages on The System. “[System Administrator] has expanded your system access to include information on conditions affecting your soul.” Nice!!

Chiqui Joy

Time's vessel, time off... There's no such thing as a coincidence

Justin Edwards

Thanks

Cordell Patrick

Prime Vessel for The Keeper of Moments - she killed the Diamond rank messenger before he could get Jason and she met him after the Brighthearts transformation zone back in Ch 11 with the Reapers vessel asking Jason to restore the Sundered Throne.

Andrew Snowball

I am liking Delia.

Daniel

Gotta keep those cliffhangers rolling so more people buy the Patreon. It sucks but can’t deny in makes good business sense.

Dylan Alexander

😭

Justin Butler

Thanks for the chapter.

Joshua Little

Uh oh Jason’s in trouble

Brave Badger

Who's Raythe again?

Cordell Patrick

Shirt is as bad as Zogarth with the cliffhangers sometimes. Sheesh.

Dick Ramsey

Nah, Jason fixed the throne because it needed to be fixed. I’m pretty sure she mentioned that they would be seeing each other again cause Jason still owed her.

Jean L. Philippe Jr.

Whose Raythe again?

RGrocks

I'm pretty sure she's here to tell Jason about the "next fight" that has been so ominously foreshadowed

Bryan Jackson

No, he doesn't care anymore

Bryan Jackson

She’s the current vessel for the GAB of time

Jean L. Philippe Jr.

She's the head of the Cult of the Sands, or the Great Astral Being representing Time.

Daniel West

Maybe, don't feel like checking. Though the achievement is hers. I'm happy for her.

JonO

Of course we get a gigantic cliffhanger when there's no chapters next week 😅

Jeff

Basically a similar "achievement" to Jason's first scar. Didn't he get a similar strengthening? Well not that it wasn't made even stronger through fighting of the star seed.

Flojoe

Thank you commenters for reminding me who Raythe is! Glad this community is so awesome. Delia is just lovely. TFTC!

Tom C

Thanks yall!

Thomas Keller

I thought the sand was a pretty good clue.

Sean C Jackson

She's the Prime vessel of the astral being who doesn't really have a name and deals with time. She killed Mah Go Shot. Likes the name Keeper of the Sands. Friends with Dawn. Probably there about the THING.

Jennifer Leigh

why! why did you have to remind me?

Grayvisc

Thanks

Josh Turple

I was elated to see her with scars and a title! I teared up a bit at seeing her dubbed resolute.

JonO

Yep

Joanna

She is to the GAB of time as Dawn was to the World Phoenix. She is the one who killed the diamond rank messenger for Jason in the battle of Yaresh, and one of the representatives who asked him to serve as the battle ground for the GABs while he was half transcending.

Kristy Riedel

She's the GAB of time's prime vessel

Joanna

Thanks

Josh Turple

I love Delia! And Colin is so freaking funny. His line about leaving them alive and the prompt cut off was so funny

Jacob Trevino

Vessel*, not Avatar sorry

Jarrett Glass

Prime avatar for Keeper of the Sands

Jarrett Glass

"Oops, evidence!" Colin as he tossed the arm LOL ------------ Isnt Jason worried about ppl seeing his body-double eating vampires? What if that gets caught in 4K? LOL --------- Doesn't Colins Gold level abilities allow him to 'copy' certain abilities from the things he devours? ------------ Hmm Lets see what Raythe wants.

RonGAR

Vessel. Not avatar. GABs have Vessels. Astral Kings have avatars.

Tyler Dideriksen

And next week Shirt is taking off. See you again in 10 days!

Nematrec

I believe she is one of the two prime avatars (or what is they called?) for the great astral beings that asked him to do the cosmic throne war thing. But I don't remember which gab she works for.

Kasper Lynderup Jensen

Sands of time prime avatar, right? The one who messed up the Diamond messenger.

Michael

Ahh so I'm thinking Raythe is the She. Oh no I just realized this isn't a weekend cliffhanger :'( it's a week cliffhanger. Urghhh

Justin Butler

If I had to guess, it's probably either for a chat about not doing time travel or keeping information from his prime avatar. I'm pretty sure the payment for the favour of killing mango shit was restoring the cosmic throne (I think it was at least mentioned at that point)

Dillion

Ooooh it’s time! After the hiatus we get to The Thing, just in time for it to Start Doing Thing in chapter 1000

Frog

Thanks for the chapter. But not for the freaking cliff! You are just plain evil, man! EEEVIL!!!

Laura Hemly

Really really this is cruel and unusual punishment cliffhanger before hiatus

jacob butler

Shush, don’t make it worse

Justin

Raythe? Sounds like payment for a favor is about to come due.

Michael Alpert-Appell

Dangit who's that again?

Josh Turple

10 days*

Meruem92

Prime vessel of sands of time thingie

Meruem92

Really...REALLY?! A cliff like this before a WHOLE WEEK OFF?!?!?! COOOOMMMEEE ONNNNN MAN.

Tim

Correct the one who intervened when the diamond rank messenger was bee lining it for Jason during the eleven jungle City fight.

Charles A. Pehl

Who's Raythe again?

Ctrl Alt Dust

Bah! Fridays… An otherwise lovely chapter. Jason doesn’t get enough time to just help or talk to people

Pierce

Wow, you do it all the time but still always gets me. NOW I HAVE TO WAIT A WEEK TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! I HATE CLIFFHANGERS!!! Great chapter! TYFTC!

Justin

Prime avatar of the keeper of sands. They killed the diamond rank messenger that Jason sucked up.

Will Campbell-Jones

Figured she'd have soul scars after her battle.

David Petersen

At some point you gonna need to a glossary of characters, after 900 chapters it’s sometimes hard to remember the side characters. Raythe is the hourglass GAB envoy right?

Domy

Interesting

Stephanie Washburn

Prime avatar of the Keeper of Sands, the time centric great astral being iirc

Aevum Decessus

Was she the one who kill mah go shat? I want to call her a time lady but then I might get sued…

Aaron Schwartz

Ohhhhhh crap. I can’t decide if I love or hate that Shirt always drops an absolute banger chapter with a huge cliffhanger right before a break. Both I guess. TFTC either way!!!

Bingus McCready

So Raythe returns just as Shirty decides to take a week off. Authors are the biggest internet trolls

mhaj58

Which one is Raythe again?

Thomas Keller

10 more for 1000, art time at ch 1000?

Meruem92

Biscuits

mhaj58

Guess I'll be the first to read the cliffhanger before the hiatus.

ONEsie


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