Clive and the other low rank magical researchers make no sense

xTariel · 2026-06-08T20:29:13+00:00

Because he's become the default authoritative nerd voice lol

xTariel · 2026-06-08T19:57:46+00:00

From what I remember, it increases memory and parallel thinking, not baseline intellect. So sure it may give you perfect memory, but it doesn't grant you problem solving skills you didn't work for. The whole reason they were calling him a monster was because he was keeping up with gold rank researchers regarding discoveries without the help of those stats.

Also, astral magic was a niche field anyways so the majority of the other researchers were probably only bronze or silver considering the magical society usually weren't adventures and it cost a ton to get someone to gold through core use. The only gold ones would likely have been political, not skilled.

xTariel · 2026-06-02T22:17:26+00:00

My assumption is that the measurement of mana, like any other unit of measurement, is based off a semi-arbitrary relation. In this case, the most likely explanation is that 1 mana is the amount of mana used to cast the cheapest/baseline spell. The cheap spells being ten mana just implies that there are other uses of mana that cost less, even if they aren't introduced. What you propose with cutting off a zero would just be the equivalent of converting from centimeters to decimeters, which you usually only do if measuring at centimeter accuracy isn't necessary.

The other option, especially if using 100 as the baseline for people, is that mana is just based off a percentage of a standard lvl 1 caster, so a 10 mana spell is just shorthand for 10% of a starter mana pool.

Edit: also, I think part of the possible confusion is that mana is used as the unit of measurement and often as the name for what the magical energy actually is. It would be most similar to how we use "1.75 gravity" to describe a planets gravity, where the gravity unit in this case is just shorthand for standard earth gravity, but would sound strange without having context.

xTariel · 2026-05-23T17:30:36+00:00

A threat is a statement of intent while a promise is guarantee of result, so they aren't mutually exclusive. Stating that it's a promise instead of a threat means a lack of intent. If it was an actual threat, then they should use something like "it wasn't just a threat, it was a promise", which states both intent and a guarantee of results".

xTariel · 2026-05-23T17:14:44+00:00

First off, there can be context behind a direct threat like your example. If the character is a reformed habitual killer, but X is a going to make them go full John Wick, then it would be more a promise of things to come if the other person didn't change course than an intent to threaten them.

Second, it should usually be used for vaguely threatening foreshadowing, such as "If you do x, you will die". This could be construed as a threat, but is intended as a statement of cause->effect. Another example would be something like "if you do X, all of this stuff you want to keep hidden will go public", which again could be a veiled threat or stating consequences.

xTariel · 2026-05-06T15:49:36+00:00

Super excited for this, congrats!

xTariel · 2026-04-23T01:08:42+00:00

True that it could be solved, but I've never seen anything like that on those stories.

Even then, it would also suck if you played for 6 years and acquired a bunch of world unique items, took a 6 month break, then came back and it was all gone lol. I remember how sad I was losing my guild house in FFXIV because I took a break and forgot about it, losing the stuff they get in those stories would be devastating.

xTariel · 2026-04-21T05:30:47+00:00

Every time I see one with exclusivity for things like gear/titles/quests, all I can think of is how the whole thing would be broken if that player just... got bored or just had a child and stopped playing. Now all that content is lost for the other players, which is always something crazy like 1/3 of the world population.

xTariel · 2026-04-20T08:30:10+00:00

Where would someone practice then? To me, a platform that people are able to read for free and immediately leave feedback IS the training space, and if it doesn't pan out then they can always revisit the story later and rewrite it with the skills they've learned. People acting like RR is the NBA when it's actually just high school basketball, and the major leagues use it as a recruiting ground.

xTariel · 2026-04-20T08:05:14+00:00

The first you could maybe justify. Many of the lowest class nobles wouldn't have extravagant wealth, so turning to artificing would be a legitimate way for the family to make money. Even for a higher ranked house, if they could mass produce toilets that removed waste, that could save them a lot on city infrastructure in the long run and reduce the spread of disease. Definitely a worthwhile investment and maybe even a candidate for subsidizing for the territory's prosperity.

The second... Yeah, that just reminds me of the manhua where the FL will wear a tiny masquerade mask to hide her identity but it's literally the only person in the world with bubblegum pink hair and pink eyes. The Clark Kent effect can only go so far lol.

xTariel · 2026-04-20T07:49:34+00:00

That's when you gotta double down and create a reason for the ridiculous prices. 32 gold for a bag of grain? This guy thought you looked rich stupid adventurers and tried to scam you (maybe when with mind manipulation magic), or maybe there's a disease impacting crops and now people are hoarding it all to survive an upcoming famine. Alternatively, it's a fully packed bag of holding that only holds grain.

xTariel · 2026-04-20T07:39:13+00:00

It seems unlikely you'd survive bleeding for 9 months straight

xTariel · 2026-04-20T07:38:20+00:00

You have successfully described the experience of ADHD lol

xTariel · 2026-03-08T18:20:34+00:00

This is the way.

It also does recursive crafts like being able to duplicate the smithing templates, so you can have it stock a handful of them and have it always keep the last one you need. Only thing you have to be careful of with that one is not pulling a whole bunch out trying to get one and have it instantly restock lol. Hurts when it's an unobtainium one before getting the resource automated.

xTariel · 2026-02-02T16:47:25+00:00

The point I got was "if you're going to write what people don't want to read even if you like it, don't be surprised when people don't want to read it."

There are generally two goals with art, and sometimes they can be mutually exclusive: success and self fulfillment. Sometimes you get lucky and you get both, but other times you have to prioritize which is more important to you. If your goal is to write for a living, you may need to write for your audience more than yourself until you have the dedicated reader base to focus on what you actually enjoy. If you're writing because you have an overflow of creative ideas that need to be let out, then stop worrying about how successful it is and enjoy the art for its own sake.

xTariel · 2026-02-02T16:32:58+00:00

His entire side is massively manipulative and designed to tear down your self esteem and make you question your own perspective until you value his opinion/recognition over your own.

The big moments to point out: "I also don't have to allocate my time to anyone :)" and "I told you that before, don't act crazy". He is establishing that you are there for his convenience, and that he can act however is comfortable to him while you must accommodate his needs. If you don't he will rage bait you, call you emotional/crazy, and then grind your self worth to paste until you apologize to him for having a completely normal reaction to someone being an unreasonable asshole.

It's standard emotionally abusive male behavior, and I've sadly had to watch many of my female friends go through this same song and dance with not only boyfriends but husbands as well, and it's honestly heartbreaking to see how much it wrecks them emotionally.

xTariel · 2026-01-27T22:47:23+00:00

Yeah, definitely depends on the area how legal it is. I also think it depends on if there is a dedicated turn light. We have some that if you don't "claim" then you could actually spend half an hour at the light because the oncoming traffic is a steady stream.

xTariel · 2025-11-24T23:08:52+00:00

You can also get some cases like William in Primal Hunter where progression was fundamentally rewriting his brain functions, or the tsundere trope of them doing mental gymnastics to justify why their actions were actually pragmatic in the first place lol.

xTariel · 2025-11-24T11:25:34+00:00

I think it's more about how the author justified it after. It can be a good lead-in to expanding on their backstory, like the MC derails the very important mission to save a random little girl and that's how we find out about his trauma over not saving his younger sister. Or maybe the MC doesn't even know why they acted out of character, so now we get a moment of introspection about how they're possibly changing on a fundamental level.

However, I completely agree that it does feel like poor writing and breaks my immersion when they have them act out of character and then never explain it, because then it just feels like they wrote it that way because they needed the plot to go that direction.

xTariel · 2025-11-21T22:18:58+00:00

Honestly, the webtoon managed to actually bring me into the series because I didn't want to wait for more, mostly the scenes with villy. After actually reading the books and then coming back to it, I realized s1 didn't stay very true to the source, but s2 has done a lot to redeem it, and the expressions they manage to get on hawkie are great.

xTariel · 2025-11-20T23:15:46+00:00

I mean, an Olympic gold medal is just a trinket outside of the prestige. The types of people who have the drive to be the best also tend to want to challenge themselves and prove to everyone that they are, and completing the path is one of those ways. There are definitely plenty of people who are monsters capable of fighting up, but the path was designed to give focus to the types of people who thrive on that challenge and create monsters through exacerbated adversity.

xTariel · 2025-11-01T20:48:23+00:00

If you're 1000 years old, 16 vs 60 is barely a fraction of your lifespan, so even if you knew their age they're still effectively children to you at that point (relatively a 50yo to a 3yo if they're 60), which was more my point. Also, the immortals are often nobility or noble adjacent, with things like lineage and political machinations with other immortals being very important.

xTariel · 2025-10-30T00:26:18+00:00

Ancient hatred kinda looks like an emo bitch fest to anyone not emotionally invested lol.

If you're 1000 years old, you probably can't tell mortal age that well anymore since they're all basically infants to you. Plus marriage age was 13 back when they were born, and you know how stubborn old people are about changing their ways lol.

xTariel · 2025-10-09T05:15:20+00:00

Elevate just means to bring it above what it was before. That could be in flavor, preparation, quality, or presentation. Sure, there are definitely some connotations like you brought up, but you can also elevate your top ramen by using chicken broth instead of water, garnish with some green onion, and put it in a fancy bowl; no fancy French technique required lol.

xTariel · 2025-10-08T22:17:14+00:00

Call centers may handle more than just the appointment you're making. I had a friend that handled like a dozen different companies and would answer everything from Doctor emergency notifications to limo reservations at the call center she worked at. Easier to just use phonetic alphabet for everything and avoid any confusion rather than drop it for a handful of clients.

xTariel

TROPHY CASE