TurtleMe
patreon
Chapter 337: Layers
🕑 Added 2021-06-11 16:00:00 +0000 UTCI just stared at the old Alacryan, not entirely sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Academy faculty are outside the normal societal ranks,” Darrin said, following quickly on the heels of Alaric’s statement. “At least at the prestigious academies. Even a powerful highblood couldn’t pull you away from a teaching post, and the Granbehls would be stripped of their name immediately if they were caught arranging an attack on Central Academy grounds.”
I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed, unable to keep one eyebrow from raising. “You said they wouldn’t attack again anyway.”
Alaric snorted in amusement. “C’mon, kid. Don’t change the subject.”
“The post is for an initiate-level melee combat instructor,” Darrin continued, drumming his fingers on the table. He was watching me intently.
“Easy street, don’t even have to teach the little wogarts magic,” Alaric added with a grin. “Just swinging swords and running drills, that kind of thing.”
“You’ll only actually have classes a couple days a week,” Darrin continued, “so once you’re settled, you’ll have time to—”
A faint knock at the door brought him up short.
A moment later, the door opened and Sorrel came in with two heavily laden trays full of food. “All this back and forth is hungry work,” she said, smiling sweetly as she slid the trays onto the table.
‘I know what you’re thinking, obviously,’ Regis chimed in while we waited for Sorrel to arrange the table and lay out a few utensils, ‘but you and I both know that, logically, this is a pretty solid plan.’
What about this plan seems logical to you, Regis? I shot back, unable to suppress a flare of annoyance.
‘For carte blanche to keep doing our thing without interference, teaching some rich Alacryan brats how to hit each other with sticks seems like a small price to pay, princess.’ Regis’s tone was smug, since he knew he was pulling thoughts right out of my head to argue back at me with.
You mean teach Alacryan kids how to kill Dicathian kids?
‘Is that what you were doing when you helped little Belmun in Maerin Town get a crest? Or what about Mayla and her emblem?’
I didn’t have anything to—I cut myself off, waving the thought away. The truth was, I suspected that the reason the two children received such powerful runes in Maerin had something to do with me. I didn’t know what, but it was too big of a coincidence to ignore.
‘Haven’t we moved past treating every Alacryan we meet like a mortal enemy by now?’ Regis asked, letting the sharp edge in his voice fade to something almost sympathetic. ‘Hell, aside from you, I’ve only met Alacryans…and I’m not being sympathetic, I’m being convincing.’
I focused on Sorrel laying out the last of our dinner as I considered Regis’s argument. He was right, but I tried really hard to keep that thought from leaking out to him. She beamed at the three of us before whisking back out of the room.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Alaric started up again. “Remember where I first found you, kid? That little library in Aramoor City? You go to Central Academy, and you’ll have access to one of the biggest libraries in Alacrya. And with information a little closer to the source, if you know what I mean. Not so…thoroughly curated as what you found in Aramoor.”
I ignored the old drunk in favor of stabbing a slice of some ruby red fruit with a fork before taking a bite.
“Ascenders do well in academy circles,” Darrin added, smothering sweet-smelling butter onto a thick chunk of steaming bread. “And Central Academy in particular is very prestigious. A professor can easily arrange to get to and from the main Relictombs ascension portal when they want…or make accommodations to gain access to a secondary portal, or even a private portal somewhere. A lot of professors still go on ascents, so you won’t stand out.”
I frowned as I chewed on the fruit, which had a rubbery, jerky-like texture. My most immediate concern was returning to the Relictombs. If pretending to be a professor at this academy wouldn’t be a barrier to that…
“You’d be surrounded by experts in a dozen different fields,” Alaric went on. “The kind of people who love to show everyone how smart and talented they are. Mages who know everything there is to know about how runes work, about the Relictombs, about relics from the ancient mages…”
Swallowing heavily, I leaned forward and took a wedge of hard cheese from one of the trays. “Do they study relics at this academy?” I asked, trying not to sound too interested. By the way Alaric’s face lit up, I knew I hadn’t been entirely successful.
“No, relics all go to the High Sovereign, who probably has some super secret lair where his instillers do their experiments”—I felt my face fall as Alaric’s words doused the brief excitement I’d felt—“but they do have quite a bit of dead relics on display there!” he finished in a rush.
Darrin was nodding enthusiastically. “That’s true. I was a guest speaker there about a year ago, and they showed off what they call their ‘reliquary,’ sort of like a little museum for dead relics they’ve attained over the decades.”
An entire room full of dead relics? I considered the possibilities. If I could get my hands on more relics like the—
What should we call this thing, anyway? I asked Regis, thinking about the multi-faceted stone that allowed me to see my sister and mother.
‘The Orb of Long-Range Stalking,’ Regis said, drawing the name out theatrically. ‘I’ve already been calling it that in my head for weeks.’
Just…no, I responded. But whatever we call them, having a few more relics at our disposal wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay,” I said out loud, “let’s say, for the sake of argument, I go along with your plan. How’s this going to work?”
Alaric thumped the table and grinned, spitting a few crumbs of food into his beard, and Darrin launched into a more detailed explanation.
***
That evening found me sitting cross-legged on the floor in one of Darrin’s comfortably appointed guest rooms, considering my situation, while Regis snoozed on my bed, his huge bulk sinking into the soft mattress.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Alaric and Darrin’s idea did have some merit. Director Goodsky had made me a professor when I was only twelve, and I’d trained my hand-to-hand combat skills for years inside of the soul realm with Kordri.
The academy would provide me political protection from both the Denoirs and Granbehls, and it sounded like I’d be able to delve back into the Relictombs almost immediately.
The Relictombs…
Somewhere, three more ancient ruins were waiting for me to find them. I couldn’t be sure if the zones Caera and I had ascended together were the same ruin or a different one, but I felt instinctively that I hadn’t been successful in my second ascent.
Although I’d made significant progress with God Step—thanks to Three Steps—I hadn’t had a major breakthrough, or found anything that guided me toward insight into a new godrune, since the keystone containing insight into Aroa’s Requiem had technically been from the first ruin.
I couldn’t help the thought that, to master the aspect of Fate, I had to find more zones like the ruined room where I’d spoken to the talking magic crystal. Why else would the djinn have left a remnant of themselves there, just waiting to hand out the keystone to the first worthy “descendant” to come along?
I cleared my mind and reached for the locations of the four ancient ruins, as Sylvia had described them. The implanted memories flashed through my head, but I found no guidance there; none of the places I could see were familiar, except for the one I’d already been to, and I had no way to guide myself to them within the Relictombs.
“We’re just stumbling around here in Alacrya,” I said softly. “What if Agrona gains insight into Fate first?”
Regis’s head lifted from the bed, cocking slightly to the side. “Then…we lose, I guess. Your girlfriend leads his army into Epheotus, and Agrona uses Fate to—I don’t know—turn all the other asuras into dandelions or something.”
Shaking my head, I let myself lean back until I rested against the cool floor. “Whatever Agrona and Nico did to Tessia, whatever those tattoos or spellforms were…I have to save her, Regis.”
“For a girl you’ve been dancing around for your entire life—second life, whatever—I’m sensing a lot of mixed feelings here.” Regis paused to consider his words. “Are you saving her out of love or guilt?”
I let his words steep before eventually letting out a sigh. “I’m not sure, maybe both? It’s complicated…”
The shadow wolf yawned and rested his chin on his paws. “Coming from the guy who figured out how to rewind time to bring objects back to life.”
I let out an absent chuckle, my mind drifting through all the stages of my relationship with Tess. From rescuer to little sister to friend and classmate, to something more. There was always some form of love amidst it all, but not in the way Regis meant it. Guilt of being a man much older than his physical body had kept me from examining my feelings in depth, pushing them away. Even the couple of kisses we shared were tentative, testing…
And then I’d disappeared to Epheotus, and Tessia had gone to war. We’d hardly seen each other during the war, and romance had been so far from my mind…
Then, suddenly we found ourselves together again at the Wall. The Tess I met there was a beautiful and talented young woman who had once promised to wait for me…
That night, that moment on the cliffs overlooking the Wall…that was, perhaps, the first and only time our relationship approached the label of love. Not that I’d been very good at it. Even with two lives, there were still some things I wasn’t good at…
Just like Tess had said…
“Should I have never gotten close to her?” I asked the room, my voice barely a whisper.
“Then how would your life here have been any different from the one before?” Regis asked, not bothering to lift his head.
I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t form a response. There were a lot of things I blamed myself for, but getting close to all of the people that I’ve come to love in this world wasn’t one of them.
Seeing me so conflicted, my companion let out a sigh and slipped from the bed. Turning in a circle, he laid on the floor next to me, his back pressed against my left arm.
I patted his slowly rising and falling side, then pushed my fingers through his fur.
“You’re weirdly soft,” I said, mustering a weak laugh.
“I know,” he said sleepily, his jaw cracking with a huge yawn.
“Thanks,” I said, knowing he’d understand what I meant.
Regis was silent, but I felt him fluff up with contented warmth.
“If only I could use the relic to see her…maybe we could figure out what’s really going on. I would know if she was…still herself ” There was a part of me that was glad I couldn’t, though. I was afraid of what I might see if the stone worked.
When I imbued aether into the extradimensional storage rune, Regis perked up again. “Are you going to try anyway?”
I only shook my head, forcing my mind away from the deep well of guilt and fear I felt whenever I thought of Tessia. She wasn’t my only concern right now. There was another old friend who needed saving, too, and I missed her just as much—perhaps even more—as the elven princess.
Withdrawing the iridescent egg, I turned it over in my hand, feeling for Sylvie within it. Unlike Regis, I couldn’t slip my mind into the egg, couldn’t console myself by touching her sleeping consciousness.
I couldn’t do anything about Tessia right now, but maybe…
Regis lifted his head up off the floor and looked over his shoulder at me. “It’s been awhile since you’ve tried to do your thing…crack the egg or whatever.”
Too long, I thought, considering the increases in power I’d made since Maerin Town. I’d been tempted to try during the long, tiresome days spent imprisoned by the Granbehls, but…I had also been concerned about what might happen if I succeeded.
“Well?” Regis prodded, scratching behind his ear with a paw. “Are you going to try or what?”
“I guess we’re safe enough here…”
I gazed nervously down at the stone, which would drain me of every drop of aether if I started imbuing it. And if Sylvie suddenly reappears in front of me? Would my bond come back as a fox, or a girl…or a fully grown dragon, demolishing Darrin Ordin’s home?
I wondered, not for the first time, if she’d be the same Sylvie who had been by my side since I was a child. Would she be angry with me? Would she remember everything that had happened, everything that we had done together?
What if she reappears, and she doesn’t even know who I am…?
“Only one way to find out, princess,” Regis said, stretching as he stood up.
Mind made up, I hopped to my feet and took three quick steps across the room, pushing open the large glass window that looked out over rolling hills. Since I didn’t know exactly what would happen, I wouldn’t risk Darrin’s home by imbuing aether into the egg here.
I turned to ask Regis if he was coming, but I could already sense the answer. This was something private, something I needed to do on my own.
I held his eyes, nodded, then turned and jumped out of the window, clearing a row of decorative bushes and a small fence before landing in tall grass. The hills were ghostly in the dark, the pale grass colorless in the starlight.
Imbuing aether throughout my body, I jogged off toward a tall hill about a mile from Darrin’s home, the softly gleaming egg in my fist.
***
Despite my best efforts to keep myself calm, my heart thrummed in my chest as I sat cross-legged in the stiff grass. The last time I’d attempted to imbue aether into Sylvie’s egg, it had felt like I was throwing buckets full of water into a quickly draining reservoir. But that had been a lot better than my first attempt, shortly after I’d formed my aether core.
Based on my best guess—it was a lot harder for me to pinpoint the clarity of my aether core than it had been my mana core—my growth between Maerin Town and now was significantly higher than what I’d accomplished on that first ascent.
It hadn’t taken much aether to make the short run to the hill, but I still decided to absorb all the aether I could from the atmosphere before starting. The process was significantly slower than in the Relictombs, where the atmosphere was rich with it, but I kept going until my core was completely full.
To make sure I was maximizing my chance of success, I then released some of the aether from my core, letting it move naturally throughout my body and exerting no conscious influence over it. Most of the aether moved toward my hands—or, more accurately, toward Sylvie’s egg—and some of the excess was lost, but after thirty minutes or so of meditation, my core was overflowing and my body was swimming with free-floating particles of aether.
The sensation gave me a giddy feeling, like I’d had a few drinks and was just on the edge of being drunk.
“All right, Sylv,” I whispered. “Let’s see if this works.”
Gripping the incandescent stone firmly, I closed my eyes and felt the warm radiance of my aether core within my sternum. Imagining the aether channels that ran all throughout my body connecting to my core like little highways, each with its own gate holding back the aether until I released it, I took hold of those gates in my mind.
It was important that the aether all flow into the egg, but it was also important that I channel the aether fast enough to fill the reservoir within it. Of course, if I just sent out an uncontrolled blast of aether, most of it would dissipate into the atmosphere instead of flowing into the egg.
All at once, I opened the gates and pushed. My body grew hot as the flood of aether rushed through my lava-forged channels. At first I was too focused on preventing aether from escaping or being absorbed into my physical body to fully appreciate what was happening with the egg, but as more and more of my aether was imbued into the stone, I realized with a shock that it was working.
More of the purified aether was being drawn into the stone, now, with only a trickle of impure energy rushing out again—a significant improvement.
The spiraling path within, where the aether was drawn into the heart of the egg, began to glow with vibrant amethyst light. Around me, the hilltop was bathed in purple light, splashed through with green, red, and blue shadows.
My core began to ache dully, like an overstretched muscle, as the very last of my aether was pulled into the egg.
The light faded as the vibrantly glowing stone went dim, then dark.
Then, from deep inside the little stone I’d carried since awakening in the Relictombs, there was a crack. It was something I felt rather than heard, like stepping on too-thin ice and feeling it shift beneath my feet.
I waited for something to happen. Would the stone burst open as the aether coalesced back into the form of my bond, just as she had faded into nothing before my eyes? Or would she be reborn from the egg itself, crawling out the size of a newborn kitten?
A few seconds passed, and I started to grow nervous. After a minute had gone by, I knew something was wrong.
There was no longer any aether swirling down through the egg. It had devoured everything I had given it, but it hadn’t been—
I froze. Something was different. I could sense it, even if I couldn’t see it.
Although my core ached from being drained, I spent a few minutes gathering aether, just enough to send an experimental burst into the little stone. Sylvie’s egg took it hungrily, but unlike before, the aether didn’t spiral down into the egg’s center.
The line of purple motes followed a sharp-angled geometric path as they were absorbed.
I let my head hang, the wheat-blond hair I’d inherited from Sylvie cascading over my face. “Another layer.” The words fell like dead leaves, dry and paper thin.
If I took into account the complexity of the new pathway, I was certain this new layer of the reservoir would require even more aether than the first.
And it might not be the last.
My hands trembled as a bitter scoff escaped my lips. To have my excitement turn so abruptly to disappointment left me stunned, staring blankly at the egg until my vision blurred.
Letting out a shuddering breath, I recollected myself and wiped away my tears before pressing the iridescent stone against my forehead.
“Even if it takes all the aether in the Relictombs, I’ll get you out of there, Sylv.”
A/N: FOR DISCORD USERS, PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS THIS IN CHANNEL #NOVEL-TALK AND KEEP TO PATREON-ONLY CHANNELS UNTIL THE CHAPTER IS RELEASED ON TAPAS TO PREVENT SPOILERS. THANK YOU. <3
Comments
Nope Nope
Ouch. I felt the pain of his failure to free Sylvie. 😭 However, his relationship with Regis feels like it is finally growing closer as well. Regis gave comfort to Grey in a very in character way but without being over the top snarky/ass. 💞. I’m glad he is going somewhere where he will have access to more knowledge, artifacts, and relicombs while being both slightly safer and in more danger as well because his lack of knowledge will stand out more maybe.
There’s no guilt involved and you get to be with a cute horned chick, what’s not to love?
Didn’t even realize I heard him like that until you said it
Am I the the only one who hears Regis' voice as Rocket Raccon from GOTG?
Sean Defrank
Surprised to see so many Tessia haters tbh, I really like Tess, flaws and all, Caera Is good but Tess Is always best girl, their story Is just too good together.
I don’t get the hate for tess, sure she was impulsive in the war, but i like it when characters show growth. Caera is just too perfect and flawless
Will T-P
Yh man I thought the same thing, I thought this was already resolved on the wall, but looks like turtleme did a 180 and ditched tessia
maggiesaus
At the beginning of July until halfway through this month, about 200 patrons joined. Taking into account the amount of one off patrons, reaching 4000 patrons will probably take another 2-3 months. Super stoked when that happens.
Austin Miller
I know him and Tess had a thing lol but maaaaaan Caera is just... different in a better way in my opinion
I'm not on any ship, but the passage about Tess let me kind of conflicted. I re-read the whole saga recently and Art is asking himself those questions about his feelings toward Tess since book 3 or 4 and kinda get an answer in book 7, moreover, the way he thought about seing Tess, the way he was always thinking about her (or at least way more than in my memories) after theire promise was hinting that he was really in love with her. So this paragraphe gave me the strange sensation that i was not reading about Art troughts about his relation with Tess, but the critics lot of readers have towards this relation which seem to hint that turtle me is maybe gonna change the direction of his story based on the opinions of the fans, which make me really conflicted because i don't know if i like it or not...(but maybe i'm just overthinking and this questionning was what he intended since the beginning) As for Sylvie, it's just too sadic to give false hopes like this...i almost trow away my phone...(sorry, english is not my first language)
FeyOne
I love everything about this chapter SO much!!! So many things that have been hinted at with Arthur growing as a person, and Regis developing as who he is.... Just YES!!!
no comment..... (what the actual F@#K but you'r not wrong)..... he he he
Will T-P
I didn’t want to believe it, but it looks like Tessia really has been ousted and replaced by Caera. Time for a new fmc I guess
yeah the whole country is a cult pretty much. But their gods actually give em power so. I bet in the end they have the same common origin than Arthurs continent, and thats gonna be quite instrumental.
there not bad at all just mind controlled
All this makes me wonder if alacryans are actually bad, and how Arthur is gonna place them on that scale.
Jennie (Eirine)
Since we skipped the touching-in-private moment, I hope you realise Sylvie's return is now going to have to be something EPIC and FLASHY. Gods, we want our little girl back safely....
Hmm I think the whole point of arthur becoming a teacher at least in the author eyes is so that he gains insight from the dead relics.
Soundd Wavess
Free sylvie till its backwards
I feel like she will interrupt the Teacher arc before it gets stale.
Antonio Camarillo
I am very surprised to see the teacher path instead of him meeting Ceris. Maybe ceris will wait until after all 4 tombs have been explored ? I guess it’s not like she can help in the tombs. It makes sense for the sake of breaking Arthur’s shell and making him realize that Alacryans are not his enemy. He might even refind the kid that he gave the animal to and be his tutor!!
Jacob S
Darn! For the slightest second there, I thought, we were going to see Sylvie break out of the stone. I had been warned, but that was a rather anticlimactic.
BloodStorm
Just purchased book 8 audiobook Ascension 😃
for example, in the novel (The Second Coming of Gluttony) the author has created a political scheme that encompasses everyone in a scenario of war for everyone's success.
just don't let the story drag on nico and tass, at worst their fate will be to decide in the conquest of dicathen, its better to propose a more global scenario
Mandalomaster
Arthur will do that for the information of the spellmarks ( after all the alacryans copy the djinn spellmarks but with mana instead of aether) and to possess the dead relics which both can help him to gain insight in Aether faster. I don't think the author will write a story which will be useless for Arthur after all this arc building since he went off the relictombs. Maybe he will learn how to turn invisible like the ghost bears to sneak and steal the dead relics.
Great chapter as always. From an author's perspective, I think the school arc will give Turtle a lot of options, so it's a good direction to go in for him; however, I'm still not convinced becoming a teacher has any merits from the characters' perspective. As I said last chapter, none of the nobles will be able to give Arthur any legitimate trouble at this point, so there's no reason to seek protection from them through becoming a teacher. The only people who can cause issues are the Scythes and Vritra, and being a school teacher won't protect him if either of those parties get involved.
Wow, big man on the interwebs... Such big talk is getting me all hot n bothered Princess!
Thats probably a while off yet, Art cant take Sylvie into the Relic Tombs because shes Asura and the minute she cracks that egg The Vritra will know because of her connection to them.
I thought it was a great supporting chapter for what's to come. Stfu about cash grab. The author runs the story not the reader. You dont like it then GTFO. You're lucky you can even read this chapter by chapter.
I would say she looks after Art for the same reason she gave Ceara that artifact pendant. She comes off as one that feels like humans should be the masters of their own fate but she lacks the power to go against the Asura alone.
Matthew Monroe
Also, something that would be interesting is that his new crew of ppl a part of a group against Asuras. Like why does one of the scythes look after art? We are still in limbo on that. So the underground resistance in alacrya works with art and link up with the dicathrians…..interesting hmmm
Matthew Monroe
Hmm. Definitely more questions have arisen from this chapter than answered haha. I kinda get the frustration of the school from others. Dont want a repeat, but I think by everyone is so invested in the previous characters, we want to get back to them with Arthur ASAP. So anything that comes off as a side mission feels off. But again I have no idea how this plays out. Should be interesting…
Mandalomaster
I think she will return AFTER all the Ascensions because, as an asura, she can't go with Art and I don't think he would let her alone in Alacrya. So for the plot development she probably will return just before his return to Dicathen
well, that's a chapter to point out that sylvie's revival will still take a looong time
she might be half human
Carth
darn I just edged by an Egg
Isn’t he basically going though the same process Sylvia had to go through to give birth to Sylvie? The difference is that Sylvia went through real pregnancy
Ezra
That was anticlimactic. 😫🍿
Well he has to go to 3 more relictombs and sylv cant go in, right? So I bet by the time he is done Sylvie will be back and they'll prolly go to dicathen. hopefully
Kyle Loomis
I also anticipate that things go off the rails for Arthur early on in his new job that prevent the schoolteacher plot from getting stale… such as the discovery of a useful “dead” relic or an early encounter with Seris or meeting a new yet important character…any situation like this will reveal that this job is a means for the author to move the plot forward in ways other than the predictable trope ‘Art bonds with children, learns not all Alacrayans are evil’ Leaving Art’s POV for another POV at a school-related cliffhanger also sounds likely…solid predictions sir 👍
Gavin
I just want to see Art and Seris meet and see what happens
Rocco Mangiaterra
Cmon guys think things rarely go as planned for our boy Arthur school arc sounds fine and all but that just seems like such an easy way for him to get what he wants, I’m sensing a dramatic Scythe Seris appearance soon where she epically pops in out of no where saying “nice to see you again Lance Leywin” then we go into an Ellie POV or someone else for a few chapters to build up the suspense for Art. I feel like that would be pretty damn EPIC
Artem Karmanov
Vritra also know about relictombs, but cannot go in. And Sylvia just passed info on them to Art, not images from inside
Mandalomaster
Great chapter ! I was sceptical to the fact that he will be a teacher again but this chapter convinces me that he would be a good idea ! Just a question, how did Sylvia know the relictombs ? knowing that the asurans are not allowed in there !
Bruh what? You gotta say more than just that!
The last 3 chapters have become a torture to read it's so obvious darrin alaric adem briar is sylvia, agrona elijiah and tessia and even art/grey don't understand that
Rocco Mangiaterra
Can’t wait till we get a sylv art reunion! Its gonna be epic
Like turtle me couldn’t even give good reasons In this chapter and that’s what’s so upsetting! A library, okay that will be useless because you’re the only mage who uses your type of power and doing group ascents? Like ya put me in a group to get them all killed again or have them see my power which doesn’t make sense to anyone raising further questions? And only teaching a couple days a week? Umm have you forgot your last ascent took weeks??
Ya I’m gonna have to drop this story, I loved it for the character building and the story focusing around the characters decisions being in line with said development. Arthur has literally almost nothing to gain and almost everything to lose for doing the school job. “I need to get back to the relicombs as quickly as possible, I need to get stronger and save people, etc, etc” not train the killers of my family. He’s going to go somewhere where he’s by far the most likely to get caught and blow his cover? To find a useless relic that might be able to help you assuming the school might give them to you and you might wake it up, to maybe help you later.... this is a cash grab and nothing else. I support the story if it makes sense but if it’s just supporting someone greed to drag the story out NO THANKS.
Jon Chefitz
What an awesome chapter, I am so excited to see where the next Arc goes, and god damn I got super excited for a minute when I thought Sylv was gonna come back, but alas we have to wait. Once again thanks for the chapter Turtle, I am so excited for next week, until then see everyone again next friday!
Nice, thx for the chapter :) I’m happy knowing that he can jump into the tombs semi regularly. I was a bit nervous about another school arc, but now I have high hopes. That detail lets Turtle keep things exciting by advancing both major Alacrya centric plot lines at the same time: Arthur’s efforts to keep his identity secret and survive Alacryan society while also finding the secrets beneath the Alacryan relic tombs. That’s an Asura brain move Turtle
Michi
Eh turtle releases a chapter per week and we are 8 chapters ahead just as advertised. I don’t understand how people think this is a cash grab. This is turtles livelihood and if you enjoy it support him on patreon if you don’t then read on a free website.
Loved this chapter
Will Blank
I wanna see him interact with the denoirs. This is fine but I feel like I’m just waiting for him to leave
eh, looks like we will be loosing a large number of patrons now instead of gaining them. 4,000 isnt very likely since he is steering this toward another "school arc". Turtleme probably has something great planned for it but tons of fans at this point are just seeing it as a cash grab.
Its just so human to see art so conflicted, i love the character. cant wait to see what happens next!
Pablo Barbatto
So close Grey!!! Feed the baby!!
Meer
no for 4000
Mahamad Ali
Do we get 2 extra chapters for 3000 patrons
Sam Miller
First!
Meer
first
