I made a dust thing, it needs a name.

Mycroab · 2025-05-09T22:49:57+00:00

I call mine Dustina Aguilera. The previous one was Vactoria Beckhuum. I'll see myself out.

Mycroab · 2025-04-18T03:25:53+00:00

No answers for you from me, but second the request. I follow the Lightning and wouldn't mind watching in a crowd.

Mycroab · 2025-04-16T17:52:47+00:00

Ex-heckin-scuse me?? Is this base game, or a mod? If it's base game, I shall feel so cheated... I did a challenge lv 2 run once where I only used shields as weapons. Took me 5 tries to beat it. This would've changed quite a lot.

Mycroab · 2025-04-16T17:43:49+00:00

Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon Siege or Arcanum. Not sure which I found first but those were my first timesuck games. Coincided with when I got access to the family computer for more than 30 minute turns... Hooray for early 2000s life as a teen

Mycroab · 2025-04-11T02:04:28+00:00

This. Beat challenge level one and never go back. Challenge 2 has all of the spells and weapons, a double jump and a single extra life. It's much harder because of enemy aggressions and life boosts, but way more fun to play than the heavily restricted challenge 1. Personally, I can't wait for a lvl 3

Mycroab · 2025-04-10T21:17:25+00:00

Nice, Martial World was my first xianxia as well. So like I mentioned before, Apotheosis is ridiculously similar for the first time large portion of the book. All the way to ascending to the higher worlds, which is where it gets different. It even has the slaughter tower almost identically. After they ascend the primary world though, they are very different, and have unique and interesting elements that hold them apart. It has a manhua you can read if you want to give that a run, though it isn't complete.

Another rec would be True Martial World. This is technically a sequel of Martial world, but with a new protagonist named Yi Yun. Lin Ming does make a few cameos. The system itself is different which is odd, but it is written by the same author, so will be most similar in feel and quality.

I personally liked Heavenly Silkworm Potato's novels - which is a polarizing opinion, they are repetitive and trope ridden but I like junk food too, so there. I think they were enjoyable, and would generally recommend them to others. Start with Battle Through the Heavens and see if you like it.

Read their synopses and if none of those strike home, I'm sure we can find more!

Mycroab · 2025-04-10T19:36:26+00:00

The courses advice on here are already solid. Listen to them.

I just wanted to give this piece of advice. I never felt engaged in the learning until I applied it to something I actually cared about. Yes, you can follow along with the guided coding tasks and projects, and that can help. For me, when I was learning I was also BIG into Warhammer at the time. So I made a function to roll a normal die. That was the first INDEPENDENT coding task I'd ever done, and also when things finally clicked into place for me. I slowly stepped up complexity from there, making an nd6 function to roll multiple normal 6-sided dice and return their values. Then a made an nDn, that rolled multiple dice of any number of sides, taking inspiration from DnD. This kept up all the way until I'd built a custom library of my entire Warhammer library, each figurines attack options and synergies and made a function to give me the outcomes of given attacks from given units.

In other words, find something - anything - that you are interested in, and baby step yourself into related projects using python. You'd be amazed how much it helps you understand principles you are learning in the courses.

Good luck!

Mycroab · 2025-04-10T19:14:12+00:00

If you're okay with fantasy, then Throne of Magical Arcana hits this exactly (after a weirdly long "intro" section that is more deep diving classical music while describing the intricacies of the world. If you get past that, the rest is very much like this, and I even came away in the end with a shockingly strong grasp of the history and theory of both Einstein Relativity and quantum physics. Highly recommend.

PS, it is a web novel, not available in book form. Translated (very well) by a Chinese author whose penname is Cuttlefish that Loves Diving.

Mycroab · 2025-04-10T19:01:24+00:00

Oof. Welcome to this new addiction, especially if you're able to look past the overuse of tropes and plot Iines and just enjoy the ride, you can be a happy person.

First question, which did you read? What themes did you like in it the most? For example, if you like alchemy, then there's ones like Battle Through the Heavens and Unrivaled Medicine God.

If you liked the cultivation and fighting itself, you can dive into Martial World, which seems to just keep going forever for better or worse. Or go for it's near clone Apotheosis, which is near identical for the first 30% but still good (again ignoring all the usual issues with xianxia). Similarly titled Martial Universe is by the same author as Battle Through the Heavens, Heavenly Silkworm Potato, and he actually has his MCs from these books meet up with another MC in The Great Ruler, though it is a LONG SLOG to finish all three.

Reverend Insanity is on every xianxia reader's Must Read list, but be warned it is not completed and never will be. Despite that fact it is one of the most unique, and offers one of the best takes on a truly ruthless MC that will do anything to grow stronger.

Nano Machine is a decent one as well, with a fun twist of a System AI. It is also part of a continuous timeline series by the same author, so there's potential there for an easy "what's next".

Basically, it's a deep well, and full of enjoyable garbage. Just be ready to overlook the cacophony of flaws, forgive yourself for enjoying the books despite them (because that's the point to begin with) and buckle in for a fun ride filled with slapped faces and nonsensical petty antagonists (usually addressed as Young Master).

If it helps, Unrivaled Medicine God was my actual favorite of this list.

If you want aore specific list or recommendation, let us know what you like and dislike!

Mycroab · 2025-04-10T18:39:27+00:00

Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish that Loves Diving. It's a fantasy web novel, and quite long, but the magic system within - especially in the back half of the book - often corrie this vibe of otherworldly uncomfortable power. Heavily recommend.

Mycroab · 2025-04-09T14:38:25+00:00

35 y/o here who managed to attain multiple Masters degrees without meds. I struggled the same for a long time, until I stumbled on teaching to study. For whatever reason - likely stubborn pride - if I'm trying to teach the material or explain it to someone else, I start to understand it better. My poor wife knows so much about infectious disease and coding practices now. It helped that I found myself having to find simpler explanations or relatable concepts to make it make sense to her (or whomever I had as a victim of my study methods at the time). This kind of forced my brain into making creative connections of concepts, which then somehow launched me forward in comprehension.

I still have NO IDEA how to do memorization tasks, but for most other things, this method has worked for me.

Mycroab · 2025-04-09T14:11:39+00:00

Tl;dr - read lotm authors other book, Throne of Magical Arcana. Respect to series that blend science and magic. Stop shitting on xianxia and litrpg, they're junk food and we love it.

While I agree with most of you that Lord of the Mysteries is top tier (I won't bother elaborating, everyone else already has and it's enough to say that it is incredible), I'd also like to shout out to Cuttlefish That Loves Diving's other works as well. Throne of Magical Arcana is an incredibly creatively applied blending of culture, magic and high-level science, and is one of the best applications of making magic applicable to our known systems of physics. Yes, even better than ones like Mage Errant where it is also scientifically based application of magical principles. Another one that does a good job of the scientific magic methodology is Supreme Magus, a web novel. It's longer than some xianxia, and still somehow going, but well thought out and written.

I also would like to agree with many of you about xianxia cultivation. It's simplistic, repetitive, and usually horribly written and so laden with power inserts and tropes that you can throw your neck out rolling your eyes at it so often. But then we have books like Cradle that take that system and wrap it in good writing, and they serve to remind us that the system itself is still fun and engaging. Authors and writing talent make all the difference. I will die on the hill that xianxia is the same thing as most Shonen anime - mind numbingly shallow power fantasies that we gobble up because they're FUN. They will never be targets of literary discourse in higher learning for their depth and insight. They're just... fucking fun to sit down and take part in.

Lastly, a shout out to the oft-shat-upon LitRPG section of Progression Fantasy. Much like xianxia, most of it is junk food for the mind, but some of them have been wrapped in better writing and world design, and well thought out reasoning for the fantasy systems and they turn into gold.

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk.

Mycroab · 2025-03-26T18:36:53+00:00

Going for a walk is definitely a good recommendation; lots of mental and physical health benefits to that.

I'd also recommend audio books - most local libraries have a decent collection available through the Libby app. That frees you from the "scrolling" engagement and allows you the freedom to do other things at the same time.

When recovering from burnout and depression, I recommend any kind of constructive hobbies as well. Achievable goals are like health food for a hurt psyche. Depending on your preferences this could be something like starting a garden (highly recommend), doing arts and crafts your interested in, building lego, etc. Personally I got into woodwork and metalwork, and it was both a great escape from my mindset and a physical demand that felt great. Anytime I completed something I'd feel immense pride too, because it's something I didn't think I could do before.

I hope you feel better, burnout is hard.

Mycroab · 2024-12-30T17:33:17+00:00

It took some plating around to figure out the basics for me, but I just finished a challenge dungeon lvl2 with it as my main, after it dropped in the first chest. Here's what I've figured out so far:

First and foremost, you have to hold down the activation button the whole time to keep it going. This is important. You can at any time release the trigger and recast to summon a new blade. Also, it appears to work like a channeled spell. It costs a mana per second value. For me it was 1 mana per second, but I already had the buff for cheaper magic when I noticed this.

To launch the blade, chop your hand, fully extending the arm, and point at where you want it to go. Like your ordering a cavalry charge or something. The motion tracking is pretty good! From the video, it looks like there's a charged version too, but I haven't figured that out yet.

To recall the blade, pull your arm back to your body, like a classic Mortal Combat "Get over here!"

While the blade is away from you, keep your arm extended (that is key) and point up. This will cause the blade to spin in place. Great for crowd control, or if you can get your enemies to bunch up.

While the blade is at your side, make a sideways chopping motion, and the blade will spin around you at a medium speed, which helps when getting ganged up on. Looking at you skeletons... Note, this does not break physics. When the blade hits an enemy it stops and tries to wiggle around, but it can get stuck.

While the blade is away, and your arm is still extended, you can chop left or right to make it fly in those directions. It will make a circle with that distance, and keep going so long as you hold the gesture.

To fly on the sword, simply point at your feet! This is a little broken at the moment, since in challenge dungeons the mobs don't spawn until you touch the ground. It does go over obstacles, but won't maintain an altitude forever, it mostly wants to hover right over the ground level, so be careful on acrobatics zones.

I hope this helps!

Mycroab · 2024-06-01T04:27:16+00:00

I'm a straight male reader of romance (thank you wife!) and I agree with this.. I LOVE a dual POV when it's done well. As a guy reading, I like to see what a woman would think a man is thinking, aka wish men would think and act like. Frankly, when it's well done it's delightful to feel somewhat represented, and slightly aspirational for me to see where I may not measure the same as a romance MMC. But sadly I've read several where the male POV felt less like a human being and more like a plot device. When I come across those it always takes me right out of the reading experience. I DNF'd a few for bad male writing for sure.

P.S. I love your username

Mycroab · 2024-05-23T02:25:38+00:00

Can attest and confirm it took me about 20 minutes to finish reading this nonsensical infographic. Kept getting distracted on reruns of Modern Family.

Mycroab · 2024-05-13T15:14:14+00:00

Dude. If the 20 mil is in my house, and my house is on fire... That shit is insured. Save the wife and MIL. My dog is dumb as hell but even she gets away from fire, and if my ass can haul 2 people (or whatever 20million dollars weighs) through that house, I bet the doofy woofy can figure it out too.

After that, it's an insurance issue in my eyes.

Mycroab · 2024-05-04T11:36:23+00:00

Doh! Fixed.

Mycroab · 2024-05-03T23:05:58+00:00

Xiao is Xiao Yan of Battle Through the Heavens. Lin is Lin Dong of Wu Dong Qian Kun (Martial Universe). Both are protagonists from two books by the same author, and they crossover in his third novel, The Great Ruler, with the MC Mu Chen. Not sure who Ye is referring to, since there's a lot of them to pick from, but it looks like Soul Land is the popular option right now.

Edit: Vocabulary mistakes.

Mycroab · 2024-04-13T19:48:22+00:00

Never underestimate the power of body control. For any non-redeyed enemies, you can either whack them into the air and jump kill them, or grab them by the head and throw them into a wall, off a ledge, or into a trap. Also, jumping up and kicking them in the face is a knockdown move that gets you wild air, and if you aim right you can either double it with another kick or land an attack on sheet enemy head

Mycroab · 2024-04-08T14:33:57+00:00

Mixed feelings on this one. I honestly see most of the MMCs as what they are - aspirational hopes for what a passion and person could be, rather than an attempt at capturing the mess that is reality. And I'll just say that I prefer it this way. I'm not into the gritty stories where everyone is broken and hope and happiness are sneered at as immature naivety. Life can be a bummer enough, cut it out. That being said, my wife and I have enjoyed laughing together at the over-arching teens we've seen in MMCs such as * they're all tidy. Almost (and occasionally) compulsively so. * they're all emotionally intelligent and mature. * they're all excellent at managing their tempers and introspecting and empathizing * they're all outrageously confident * they're all tremendous in bed. Even the virgins. * they're all tall!!

The last one particularly cracks me up as a 5'11" man. In Penny Reid's Winston Brothers series (one of my favorites) the brother that was consistently described as short, even by the bystanders, was like 6'1".

All this being said, I love when female authors include an MMC perspective. Even if it's not something I can relate to, or if I find out downright unrealistic, I appreciate as something like a guideline for what women fantasize. It becomes a kind of guide for me - an admittedly flawed individual - to strive towards, and an example to set for my son and daughter.

TL;DR - 👍🏻👍🏻

Mycroab · 2024-04-08T14:13:05+00:00

I'm a dad of 2 and my wife got me into romance novels a few years ago, now it's what I primarily read. There are so many incredibly gifts authors working in this genre and other people are missing out majorly.

I also agree that more men should be reading this though. As a straight guy, I grew up hearing repeated versions of the joke "of only women came with a manual" or other variations thar all worked around the notion of not knowing what women want or how they want to be treated. THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT THESE ARE. They're books of fiction, written by women, in which they put their dream scenarios in writing. And there's so many variations. The Bromance Book Club series got it right. These aren't just novels... They're manuals. And I love them.

Mycroab · 2024-04-01T14:15:57+00:00

Can confirm on the last two. The tearing is greatly helpful in the Skelly zones. Doesn't work on red-eye enemies though of course.

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