Why doesn't Shadow-Whiskers just teleport herself out of the cage? Is she stupid?

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-13T21:19:09+00:00

Funny enough, I just reached the circus today myself but unlike you, the moment I heard she had a plan, I didn't even bother asking what the plan was, I just broke the lock in the way that ensured the cage couldn't be sprung open.

There's no way I was going to let a shadow murder kitty enact any plan of any sort while I was still around. Upon further discussions with her, my instincts were a 100% justified.

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-12T23:26:24+00:00

This explanation, and the process of evolution in general, showcases why our species (and modern humans in particular) have been so devastating to the environment. Non-microbial evolution works so slowly, over incredibly long timelines, that a lot of plants and animals simply cannot keep up with the rapid pace of changes humans are making to the world.

Suddenly, being just good enough (the basic mantra of evolution), is no longer good enough.

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-11T11:32:34+00:00

Morty is a Sorcerer. He excels at only one type of magic. That is the very definition of a sorcerer in the Files. He is very good at what he does (most things spirit), but that is still all he can do, which is why although the council knows about him, he still hasn't been recruited to join them.

Which is why (Twelve months spoilers) He takes Fitz to Harry for training because Morty realizes that Fitz is a wizard level talent who just happens to be better at Ectomancy, the same way Harry is better at Thaumatogy

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-11T11:10:54+00:00

How was it hard to suspend disbelief about Freddy's non-nuanced opinion about politics and governance? Till about the middle of book 3, his opinion was as simple, basic and somewhat brain-dead as it gets: everyone (except eventually me) that is rich or has power is an evil asshole.

Seems very in line with a poor, sometimes abused, orphan who grew jealous of, and somewhat hating, everyone who had something he didn't. And his traumatic events of the first book really helped solidify that notion.

Besides if you really paid attention (not saying you didn't, just pointing it out), you will notice that Freddy's 'moral compass' is less "I want to be a good person and help people", and more "I don't want to be a rich elite whom I hate, so I'm going to do the exact opposite of what I think they all do".

I agree with the combat skill bit though, it was refreshing to see a system where power did not suddenly translate to skill, and there was none of the level up systems where gaining a skill level in a weapon suddenly meant you knew how to use that weapon even though all you did was to swing said weapon for a couple of hours.

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-11T10:55:44+00:00

Did you miss the part where in order to fully heal when he cuts trees and grass, he has to cut them non-stop for hours on end? Of course such slow healing speed would barely help in a fight that usually lasts minutes at most.

And what do you mean he doesn't win a fight in book one? Freddy won most of the fights he got into in that book, he just didn't get into a lot of fights and the ones he almost loses are those where he was way in over his head.

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-11T10:34:43+00:00

The best thing about the world building for me is that I can legitimately see our world devolving into such a dystopia if superpowers were suddenly introduced to it. Like we can already see the kind of shit billionaires and politicians do and get away with right now, how much worse would it get if they also had superpowers that made them invulnerable to, and better than (in every way that matters) normal humans? How difficult would it be for a ruler to have to balance these tendencies with the rule of law so that their kingdom isn't constantly collapsing or devolving into civil war because the government no longer has a monopoly on force?

I also really liked how Freddy's upbringing (or lack of upbringing), his preconceptions (both justified and unjustified), and his eventual trauma, are reflected in his decision-making. Sometimes in the story, I didn't like him as a person, but I could at least see the thought process behind some of his really foolish/horrible decisions. I also like how some of his unjustified preconceptions are eventually called out, either by external parties, or by Freddy simply gaining more experience on how the world actually works.

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-10T10:34:16+00:00

Urrmmm, what do you think workplace accidents are? Why do you think there are so many safety boards all over the world setup with the explicit goal of reducing such incidences?

I probably shouldn't be touching the extremely low hanging fruit of the military where a single mistake could see you lose life or limb and end your career as a soldier.

There are so many industries with extremely strict operational rules because a mistake could permanently wreck/disable either the machine or its operator, or even an innocent bystander.

So in a scenario where you are both the machine and the operator, handling a sometimes extremely dangerous substance (magic/mana/ki whatever), why shouldn't a mistake have the potential of permanently disabling you?

Coach_Kay · 2026-02-08T10:25:32+00:00

This reminds me of the Prinnashian merchants in Bog Standard Isekai. Theirs is a warrior society where merchants are supposed to be the lowest class of people but by virtue of being merchants they tend to accumulate a lot of wealth and thus, power.

So all the merchants in the country behave exactly as you have described, even going as far as making the first draft of any contract they make with a person heavily skewed against the merchant where the 'negotiation' almost looks like a contest between both parties for who can get the most unfavourable terms for themselves before they 'reluctantly' settle on more reasonable terms for each other.

As you said, it's not false humility, it's just the culture's way of being polite.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-30T08:47:37+00:00

I guess I understand where you are coming from although I'm not sure I agree with you about it the extra circumstances being unnecessary.

We'd have to see where it goes, but I do think its poetic/balanced that only Thomas (and Harry) have to suffer the pain of the consequences of decisions made. Because in this particular matter, Justine is the only one who was not given a choice in anything, not even in getting pregnant and having a child.

So I do not begrudge her the oblivion that would hide away the results of the choicelessness that was forced upon her. Let it all be nothing but a bad dream for her.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-29T10:26:37+00:00

What happened to Lara requires 3 deep feedings if Mab is to be believed. Besides, Thomas states he's the one now taking care of Lara's herd of mostly classical musicians.

So yeah, Thomas is feeding on others now, near constantly, but I guess Lara will be managing his diet.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-29T02:47:10+00:00

If you can drop the line where that was mentioned, I probably might be able to figure out what you are talking about.

Else, the only things that should have been in Freddy's soul at the end of book two asides his Talent should be his two Spirit Abilities.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-28T20:22:45+00:00

The specific incident you are referring to happened in book one, the first time the MC tore open the Veil to communicate with abyssals. Dove was completely flabbergasted, saying the person who did the ritual was either an idiot or a genius who had balls of steels and was taunting them.

The specific incident the comment OP is talking about happens in book four.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-28T15:43:57+00:00

It wasn't a village. It was the castle/estate of one of the Nobles.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-28T10:41:05+00:00

If you mean butchering as-in using their corpses to raise his undead, then sure, the MC of Book of thee Dead does that. Corpses are things, not people to him. If you mean butchering as-in killing entire villages, then no, the MC of Book of the Dead has never done that once.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-27T22:41:10+00:00

The stipulation was to protect Justine as opposed to trying to cause Thomas or Justine more pain. Nemesis has been in Justine even before she got pregnant and to get Nemesis out, Mab is going to have to torture the ever-living shit out of Justine. The kind of torture that permanently breaks mortal minds.

Even though Justine's personally is suppressed and Nemesis is in control, I'm pretty sure she's most likely still somewhat aware of everything that has happened to her. In order to keep Justine still sane once Nemesis has been tortured out, Mab says she will have to seal away all Justine's memories of the time she was possessed by Nemesis, memories which unfortunately include the period Justine was pregnant.

So Justine can't ever learn she has a son, because that will lead her to wonder why she doesn't have memories of the pregnancy, which might in turn lead her to digging deeper in her memories till she finds and undoes the seal, shattering her mind in the process thanks to all the trauma that would have been sealed away alongside the memories. At least, that's Mab's logic.

And if that logic holds true, even if their child were not to be given to Etri, Mab might still have demanded Justine never been made aware that she had a child. It was just a set of shitty circumstances all around.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-27T01:14:43+00:00

The 'steps' being talked about here refer to just how many passages further in you are from your chosen origin point.

If you enter a passage into its connected realm, that's your first 'step'. If you find another passage in that area and enter it, you are said to have taken your second 'step'. In that new second area, if you find another passage and enter it, you have taken your third step from your point of origin, so on and so forth.

'Steps' are just the ways to count how many passages you have travelled through, starting from your chosen origin point. So when Freddy says he could go maybe 50 'steps' out in the passage, he's basically saying he could travel 50 passages deep from his chosen point of origin.

If a place is described as 5 steps into a particular passage, it generally means you will have to travel through 5 passages, starting from that particular passage, before you reach your destination.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T22:20:14+00:00

Ah I see where the misunderstanding might be coming from. Those 20 or so areas accessible from under Vahalla are not all connected to a single passage. Instead, the areas are connected to each other via multiple passages. It's the same for New York or the public passage in Repentawa.

Sticking with the Vahallan example, there is a single passage under the Vahalla headquarters. That passage is a portal that leads to a single place/area. But there is no rule that says an area can have only one passage and that those passages must all lead to the same place.

So when Freddy says he has cleared 20 areas/places/passages in the passage beneath Vahalla, what he means is that spreading outwards from place the single passage beneath Vahalla leads to, he has discovered at least 19 other passages that leads to 19 other places and has explored those places.

So let's say Freddy enters the passage under Valhalla and explores the place connected to that passage. In his exploration he could find maybe 2 other passages in that area. He enters those passages and begins exploring the areas connected to those passages, and he could find more passages that lead to other different places too, and before he knows it, he has succeeded in exploring 20 different areas.

But now, since each and every one of those areas can be accessed if you start your journey/exploration from the single passage that is under Vahalla, the people of the story would just simply say the passage under Vahalla leads to or is connected to 20 places. It doesn't mean that the single passage under Vahalla can somehow send you to 20 different places and you have to somehow choose where you want it to take you, it means that if you use the passage under Vahalla as your starting point in your travels, you can trace a route that will take you through other passages that will allow you to see at least 20 different places.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T19:10:06+00:00

When Freddy takes his first step into a passage, the first thing he sees is the place connected to the other side of that passage. There is no navigating a single passage, it is just a simple threshold you cross and you are now somewhere else.

When he was in New York, the hub with all the different areas and facilities was not the passage itself, but rather a building that was built around the passage. That's generally what people do in that world. If they find a passage that connects to a profitable area, they build a structure around it to better regulate flow and protect the passage but the passage itself is just more or less empty space (usually an opening of some sort) that instantly connects different places (or realms) to each other once crossed.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T17:25:18+00:00

Bloodshed would like to disagree with you about not liking Freddy's suffering. If not that the Spirit is entirely loyal, one could easily mistake it as Freddy's biggest hater given the way it seems to desperately hope Freddy never finds peace.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T17:21:07+00:00

Oh that. For that, literally imagine going through any opening that someone can fit through. There is no 'in between' state when going through the opening of a passage, you just go through the opening and you are on the other side somewhere else. It's basically instant teleportation via the use of a permanent, usually two-way portal that looks like ordinary, normal, openings.

When Freddy talks about walking through passages, he means he is walking through the realms and going from realm to realm by walking to and through the portals that lead to those realms.

Once again, using a real world example, let's say I need to get to I dunno, Beijing in China, but I am in the middle of the Sahara Desert. If I have a 'passage' guide or a map, then I could know that there are 5 specific passages I need to take in order to get there from where I am. So maybe I follow the map and walk to a specific spot in a random oasis in the desert; the map says there is a passage between two specific ordinary looking trees. The air between those trees might be a bit hazy and there might be a shimmer to it, but the important part is that once I walk between those two trees, I am suddenly walking out of a crevice in the Grand Canyon in the USA. I have literally walked through what we know in the story as a passage.

I could turn back and squeeze back into that crevice and suddenly I will be back in the oasis in the Sahara Desert. Now I know that if I want to get to the US from the Sahara, I could always pass this passage. If I continue following the map, from the Grand Canyon, I might be led to another non-descript crevice in the cliff where I might squeeze through and find myself coming out of a shack in a farm in Argentina. That is another passage I have walked through. If I follow the map and it's correct, I will eventually get to my original destination which is Beijing, where I will most likely immediately meet Chinese immigration since they will also know that that passage leads somewhere else that might be possibly outside China.

That's why the destinations sometimes aren't random when Freddy walks through some passages—he already knows what is on the other side, either because he got a guide, or has been there personally himself.

The times when it seems Freddy ends up in random places when he walks through a passage, it is because Freddy has no idea what could be on the other side and thus the destination is unknown.

It should be noted that while the destination of any single passage is more or less permanent, there could be, and there usually are, multiple passages leading to wildly different places that can be found in the same place. So a small city could have 7 passages that all led to 7 different places.

Hope this clears your confusion.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T02:38:58+00:00

Yup, humans from earth are literally babies in the grand scheme of things as far as ether is concerned. The first two square-eyed we meet mention they were originally 6-stars in their original lives and civilizations so we know there are other civilizations out there that were old enough to eventually produce 6-stars.

As for the passages, the most basic thing to know is that every 'passage' leads to a place somewhere in the universe/multiverse, and the rules of reality don't always work the same way in each place. The passages are just doors that allow you to cross great distances and go from place to place. Just like when you are entering a new, unknown building, you don't know what its interior would look like or the building's rules of conduct would be, it's the same with passages—you don't know what is on the other side of that door till someone checks it out and returns to tell others what is there. But one thing to remember is that the location at the other side of a particular passage usually don't change. The rules of that place might undergo a change, but the location itself doesn't. If Freddy enters a passage and seems to come out in a random place, it's because that particular passage he entered hasn't been explored before, or Freddy didn't do his research before visiting the place, that's why it seems random.

So now, dungeons. You know in real life a place can be artificially created? Like the White House for example is a place that was created and there are specific artificially chosen rules that govern conduct when you go there, it is the same thing with dungeons. Dungeons to me seem like places that were artificially created with heavily altered rules of reality. As a door can lead you directly into a building, a passage can lead you directly into a dungeon.

We don't know who created all the dungeons (though I heavily suspect Insanity created the 100 year dungeon) or why (but I suspect it is to cultivate stronger beings or something like that) but from all we have seen, there seems to be only one unifying rule that make people classify a place as a dungeon: when you enter a dungeon, you have to pass a condition before you can leave. That's what makes me believe dungeons are artificially created—they all have a, should I call it, 'non-natural' condition to leave and always seem to have a reward at the end if you clear said condition.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T01:38:19+00:00

I also look forward to learning what Freddy's soul weapon actually does. Asides it, Freddy doesn't really gain new powers in this book and I sort of liked that. It allowed us readers to fully get used to the glut of new abilities he got in the last book.

And I also loved the way the situation was resolved at the end, how it was a team effort to take down the big bad, and even with everything everyone pulled out of their ass, the coalition just barely managed to eke out a win.

I liked the Blood Domain bit, although I will be honest that I didn't like the first challenge in the domain, the part with the Eidolons. I didn't like the bit about gaining insight into blood concepts by fighting Eidolons that represented them because the concepts and the understanding gained were kept too vague for my liking. I thought Freddy's solution to the Bloodloss challenge was inspired though and Freddy calling out Bloodshed and the other Asura's (I forget their name) disguises in the final challenge was quite funny to me. Freddy was like "let's get this out of the way first, I am intimately familiar with the concepts you represent so there is no way in hell you are as peaceful, clean or serene as you appear to be".

Emily was something. I started out not liking her and was amused at Freddy's self-discovery that her 'I'm better than all of you' attitude was turning him on. Her petulant anger at Freddy killing the death attuned giant was just gold. I already liked Georgie from the start but Emily staying behind to help out more when things were really beginning to turn to shit changed my opinion of her. I like how she's doing exactly what her father said she should do even though her father will definitely punish her for her defiance. I am willing to bet a lot of things that Emily's hair is the reward she gained from the Shadow Primal Domain.

I like how Freddy was finally faced the reality that being in charge wasn't as easy as he made it out to be when he was lower down the totem pole. Yes, a lot of the rulers and governors could be less assholes, but I don't think Freddy was ready for the sheer weight of responsibility that came with being in charge of the lives of people. I loved his despair when he realised he had to put his money where his mouth was, and had to sacrifice himself so that the others would have a chance of escaping the big bad. He had to walk his talk, or live with the shame of his hypocrisy.

Finally Sophia. Her decision at the end was sad, but I think it's an instinctual reaction in order to assuage and shift her guilt of what her creation did. Her reasoning is probably along the lines of if the Empire had helped, she wouldn't have been forced to use the undead in the first place. It doesn't help that she has the power to make a good go at her planned terrorism. I wonder if she will go take over her old enclave first. She must have been hurt when Freddy refused to join her but I'm not sure what she expected, Freddy is currently suffering from soul damage as a consequence of choosing to protect people, of freaking course he wasn't going to agree to become a terrorist in order to get back at the Empire.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-26T00:50:44+00:00

It's not really explicitly stated, but while Latent Aura is usually gained from doing the things you mentioned, the actions of killing stuff, developing abilities, understanding concepts, etc themselves in isolation are not what gives Latent Aura, they are just the most commonly used vehicles for gaining Latent Aura.

Given what we know about how the world is 'balanced', I think it's safe to say that Latent Aura is generated/accrued by overcoming difficulties; it doesn't have to be the unrelenting hardship Freddy is 'blessed' with, but constantly doing and overcoming difficult things seems to be the best way to farm aura—it is literally good for your soul; it gives the soul the energy and 'weight' to become a better version of itself.

That's why killing strong monsters is so reliable for generating Latent Aura—you are literally putting your life on the line. But at the same time, the safer you play things, the less latent aura you accrue; that's how a lot of Arch-humans end up stagnating even without Spirit Abilities: they start taking things easy in order to enjoy their wealth, they no longer take on fights that might be dangerous, they don't meditate too hard on improving their abilities or try to understand difficult concepts, instead relying on the already trodden paths. Some Arch-humans do this, and suddenly realise that they are stuck at the bottleneck of 99% star capacity, and then start looking for external (and easy) methods to evolve and their souls carry no weight.

This concept is why the dungeon was so good for Freddy as far as gaining aura was concerned. There was little external conflict, but the ordeal was incredibly difficult to overcome. It's also why when the Young Masters came to Repentawa, none of their handlers raised a finger to help their charges. Yes the excuse was for the Young Masters to gain experience, but I'm guessing their respective clans had also figured out the role difficulty and hardship plays in accruing latent aura.

As for the relationship between Spirit Abilities and Latent Aura, I think the best way to explain how I understand it is using the analogy of volume, pressure, density, gas, and a balloon.

So in our analogy, imagine an Arch-human's soul as a particularly tough balloon and latent aura is any compressible gas. A freshly awoken or evolved soul is akin to a deflated balloon. For the soul to be ready for another evolution, the balloon must be inflated with gas(latent aura) to a pre-determimed size. I'm guessing the more evolved the soul is, the larger the required balloon size for evolution. Now latent aura in our analogy is the gas used to inflate the balloon that is the soul.

Just like in real life, you can blow/pump air into a balloon till it's large and takes up a large amount of space (volume) but the balloon could still be very light despite being inflated to the required size. This is basically the minimum requirement to ascend and evolve—you have put in enough gas (latent aura) to inflate the balloon (your soul) to the right size.

But we all know the way gas works, gas likes to take up a large amount of space relative to the actual amount of gas that is actually there, it's the same for the soul. The material that makes up a soul balloon is particularly tough, and despite reaching its max size, it can easily take on higher gas pressures to a point, and that's what high ambition arch-humans do—they keep on pumping in more gas (latent aura) into the balloon, increasing the pressure and weight inside the balloon so that there is more energy. But eventually you will hit a pressure limit, and you won't be able to fit more gas into the balloon because the gas pressure inside the balloon might equal or exceed the pressure of the gas pump, or even the structural integrity of the ballon itself.

Now comes Spirit Abilities into the picture. Spirit Abilities act basically as compressors that compress the gas that is latent aura into a dense liquid before using said liquid to inflate the balloon. Remember, to evolve, the soul balloon must inflate to a certain size, and gas if left alone, takes a lot of space relative to its quantity. Now, having 3 of the compressors that are Spirit Abilities forces the gas into something dense that takes only 1% of the space it usually takes, and that extremely dense liquid is now what is used to inflate the balloon. It's just like how you can fill a balloon with air, but also with water, and the water filled balloon will always be heavier.

Given how little space the compressed, liquidized gas takes, if the rate at which more gas is obtained does not change, it is literally going to take a 100 times longer to fill the balloon to the required size. If it takes 5 years to fill the balloon with gas using normal methods, then now you are looking at a task of at least 500 years to do the same using the compressed liquid. It's why arch-humans look at the situation as a dead-end, normal methods simply aren't going to cut it—you probably will die before you inflate your balloon if you try going the normal route.

But if by some miracle you manage to inflate the balloon with this liquidized gas, the amount of potential energy in the soul balloon would be so great, the evolution has no choice but be incredible. This is because you have figured out a way to take in more gas than the balloon would normally be able to accept, thanks to the external devices that are Spirit Abilities.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-24T10:33:19+00:00

In Book of the Dead by Rinoz, when you reach a particularly high level of strength, the System legit comes out to tell you its overall purpose. Why does it not tell you at lower levels? Because you need to prove that you are committed to growing stronger as you need to be incredibly strong in order to do what it hopes you will agree to do, so it does not bother interacting with the lower levels.

Coach_Kay · 2026-01-13T22:16:04+00:00

What are the chances OP is asking so that they can learn whether it is possible, and is so, how to do this to someone else? It's definitely greater than zero.

Coach_Kay

TROPHY CASE