Answers… Answers…
Hi Guys!
Wow, lots of things happened this holiday. I hope all of you had or will have (in the west, particularly in the -8:00 time zone) a good holiday!
Whew! Alright, I’m gonna answer some of your questions to the best of my abilities:
> catalinnr Wrote: how does [Smite] work? it's like a skill that can only be used if demi-monsters or undead are in range?
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> Btw,i can't believe i say this but you made Miguel boring and it's almost as he's a side character in the story now, that we randomly get his POV when the main character Claire is out of the action scenes .
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> Way to break his character with the nightmare's drama bs and fake family memories.It just makes me root for Claire to find the beastman kid in the future after Miguel dies.
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> What's worst is that the story it's set in stone due to this binge realease...
[Smite] and Mark’s other spells/skills, such as [Sinestra's Blessing], will be explained in the future (probably the next chapter). It’s not an alteration buff like [Berserker’s Howl] or a regeneration like [Heal] and it’s also not arcane like [Fire Manipulation]. This will be another school of magic, which I’m thrilled to introduce, but I’m trying to hold myself to give spoilers. And yes, it only affects demi-monsters and undead. For a very good reason.
About Miguel being a side character, let me quote what I said in Chapter 13 Author’s note:
> Quote: Q: Why did you let Claire live?
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> A: Claire will play a more important role in the series. Actually, she will be the Female MC in the next ARC. You'll see...
So that’s it. But don’t worry, Miguel won’t be “boring” for long.
> catalannr Wrote: no suspense whatsoever,it's like everything is treated as a walk in the park
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> the fact that you actually wrote the bs about Observe not being used to see before aproaching him is even more stupid
In Chapter 10, Miguel came into conclusion that some of the information provided by the skill [Observe] was subjective. Before he learned Sir Gerry’s name, the blue screen appeared as “Professor Asshole” then after he introduced himself, his name became “Professor Gerry”.
Likewise, if you don’t recognize the person in appearance, the information would be different. That’s why they came up with the first conclusion that it wasn’t Miguel. Dianne took a peek and she said that it was another person. She didn't recognize Miguel either.
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This one’s got pretty interesting questions:
> jacobpaige Wrote: "I don’t really like to directly intervene with mortal affairs as much as possible" how can she not call bullshit on this obvious lie?
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> Also, lots of small typos. You should re-read this when you have the time and fix them.
> jacobpaige Wrote: …Actually, its not even just this chapter. God, the Supreme Being, That Which Stands Above All, would have no trouble finding or communicating with Miguel. Killing the Dark Lord for touching his toy would be roughly equivalent to snapping his fingers, restoring Miguel 100% would be on par with waving his hand and, unless he was just screwing with everyone for the fun of it, there would never have been a need for a Holy Quest. I think you've lost touch with the God you created in the first few chapters, because this isn't him.
In Chapter 6, when Claire prayed to God, she became afraid of Him. I mean, would you question God’s logic when you’re almost pissing your pants? Of course, not. Here’s that part in Chapter 6.
> Quote: Claire, Dianne and Melissa were quiet. It looked like they weren’t convinced. Claire, in particular, was obviously praying to God. After a few seconds of silence, there was a loud thunder that boomed outside. It was so loud that all of us flinched at the sound.
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> …I turned my head to Claire. Her face was pale and she was shaking in fear.
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> “He wanted me to tell you that He’s not a genie and He will smite you for real if you do that again.”
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> She gulped. She didn’t say anything and just nodded. I stared at the rest of them and they looked more afraid than Claire.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
When God said that He didn’t like to intervene, there is actually a good reason for it, which will be explained in the last chapter of ARC 2. (along with God’s intention)
You can also conclude that God is also a hypocritical god. He’s not perfect and obviously, He’s not omnipotent. He even placed the SYSTEM on Earth because He was bored and He wanted to play a game and no all-powerful being would be bored. Even if God is omnipotent, I still think He still won’t do anything on His own. Why?
Pride and Arrogance.
Just like a CEO, a president, a king or even God in the bible, God will let his subordinates do all the work for Him. Being powerful means doing things on your own could signify weakness. You have subordinates who can do the same job, but if you do it on your own, what would that mean? It means that you are not powerful enough to control. That’s one of the source of God’s pride and arrogance. It’s hard to explain, but that’s the way how men in power work.
In Chapter 35, God was angry at Schmidt because of his frustration. For these powerful beings, having powerful and effective subordinates reflect your reputation, command respect and inspire fear. He even mentioned that all of his Administrators are useless.
> jacobpaige Wrote: I thought Claire's abilities revolved around CHA? Why isn't she putting anything into it? Or was that already explained and I've just forgotten?
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> Why isn't Miguel already a Lich? He's had at least 2 days to be turned into one.
Yes. Claire’s ability revolved around CHA, but in Chapter 10, Miguel gave her an advice how to be a more effective and efficient damage dealer. Her skill [Charm] does not deal any damage and her other skill [Wail of Agony] does only little damage. Her way of thinking in Chapter 33 is something like this:
“I need more speed and damage, but I also need to take more hits just in case.”
She wasn’t thinking of improving her crowd control skills at the moment because she and BTP just got out of the slime dungeon. They were thinking of survivability.
And Miguel isn’t already a Lich because it’s a process. It’s a three stage process as explained in Chapter 35. The first stage is the conversion of their mana to dark (which Schmidt already removed), the second will be emaciation or wasting away of flesh. On the third stage, they will die and rise again as lich.
This process doesn’t happen instantaneously. Otherwise, Miguel would’ve become a lich in Chapter 13 given that the dark mana was already inside him.
> jacobpaige Wrote: An admin shouldn't have to fight. If more than one hit is required, then I can only consider that admin as weak and potentially ineffectual, especially when its opponent isn't even The Dark Lord.
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> “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.” He's not a very good admin. Taking sides isn't professional.
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> I'm guessing balancing has nothing to do with an Admin's job...
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> If he doesn't have any agency in the memories, then the memories alone wouldn't be enough to restore him to who he was. He has to remember making the decisions, not just that the decisions were made or why they were made. Its no good if he's just a spectator, especially when the memories are a copy of a copy that's been intentionally altered.
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> Honestly, I would have had far more respect for this chapter if the divine intervention had ended faster. Something along the lines of when God showed up at the end of Time Bandits. As it was, it just felt unnecessarily drawn out and both God and Schmidtt felt weak and ineffectual compared to the level of power they were supposed to have, especially God. He's supposed to have the power to have caused this whole world merger thing, but the conclusion of this arc just felt like one long, poorly thought out, Deus Ex Machina ass pull.
We already established that God isn’t perfect or even all-powerful. Why would Administrators would be perfect?
Everybody in the SYSTEM is bound by its laws. Even Administrators are bound by the same law that governs the world. Plus, Asharra wasn’t even a player. She’s a boss monster and a unique one. Claire even mentioned that if Schmidt turned against them (the players), they’d be obliterated in an instant.
There's a reason why God and the Administrators sided with BTP. There's a clue in Chapter 34 and I don't want to spoil it.
And as I mentioned, this isn’t the end of ARC 2.
I’m really sorry about how I write things and the lack of explanations in the story. Sometimes, I get the itch of wanting to give more explanations, but I always decide to leave those details out to make the readers think.
I’m still trying to improve and I’ll rewrite it as soon as I can. And let me tell you that I appreciate your criticisms and being vocal about what you think. It makes me answer the questions that I’m waiting to be asked. Thank you, jacobpaige. wink [/Scripts/tinymce/js/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif]
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> Deinos Wrote: No. The system and it's wondrous ways of empowering have nothing to do with the struggles, at least not 1 to 1.
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> Say you have a guy that is surrounded by tomes, people who can be his/her teacher and plenty material things. This person will be plenty empowered for no cost.
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> Then you have another guy or the same, doesn't matter really, and he/she throws himself in front to help, gets skewered or maimed, end of story.
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> What did we learn, only because you go through hard ship, doesn't mean you'll get rewarded on the same subjective level and only because you didn't have to go through any doesn't mean you won't get plenty.
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> One example would be Gerry, well he's no MC and doesn't have plot armor, what did that mean for him? He dies. What could it have meant if he survived? He scrapes by, barely, with little to no option to become "grand" unless a miracle happens, which they don't unless, well, a Miracle happens!
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> It's the same really like in reality, when someone grows up in a rich, supporting environment he/she is better off than the guy growing up in the ghetto, in so many ways. Doesn't mean that there won't be an underdog who makes it, like Phillis Wheatley or another black boy in the cotton fields, whose name I couldn't find again, who made it because he was fast on the pick-up and became a lawyer or sth in the end.
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> Point being, these are all flukes that sometimes even get used for the illusion of "everyone can make it" and "heritage doesn't matter so much as hard work".
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> So your craving for an "upgrade" is not based on anything realistic but simply because you want your MC to shine, the White Knight who loses a hand and gets a nuke blaster for it as compensation...
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> That's what I like about this story where the MC obviously survives since.. well, it would be too hard to write something with high standards like "A song of Ice and Fire" with multiple dying protagonists, but at least he's not going running through the scenery stomping everything without repercussions.
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> It makes the story more gritty, relatable and real, which is giving it a proper frame of probability and that I like Wink.
This guy gets it.
I know that the way things were portrayed in this fiction are painful to read. Truth is hard and more unrealistic and unexpected than fictions (Thank god, this is a fiction). Sometimes, there is no gain in pain. Life is unfair. And if you’re lucky enough, all gains with no pain. Those who deserve things don't always get what they deserve.
The point of this whole ARC 2 is frustration, a taste of defeat for our characters, and how much we have to suffer for those we held dear and most of all, there is always hope.
Let me quote Chapter 34:
> Quote: With her mother’s warm words, the boy felt much better. A new fire stirred inside his heart. You have to fall, before you can rise. The boy repeated the words in his mind.
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Good news for everyone:
Most of you wanted Miguel to have a power-up, right?
Asharra dropped loots. And what do boss monsters drop? That’s right. Good items. Or bad ones like in Chapter 6, if they’re unlucky.
Actually, Miguel is already OP. [Mind Barrier] is OP and I think there’s already someone in the comments who already said that. [Mind Barrier] will be connected to his next OP skill.
There’s a reason why it is impossible to make something like mana shield or mana arrows. There's a suggestion about it, but it would violate the mechanics I wrote (Although I've already brokeen a few like [Heal] and [Living Matter Manipulation]).
I mentioned it in Chapter 9 where Miguel listed the basic mechanics of magic. Here’s the quote:
> Quote: 2. Mana in material form is a condensed and pure substance that can be used to power runes and other types of magic. It is formed by a natural phenomenon which the book didn’t quite explain. That phenomenon is the reason for the formation of Mana Stones in all living beings including monsters.
That’s it for spoilers, sorry!
Oh, and this is a grecosky’s fan art of No Respawn:
http://grecosky.deviantart.com/gallery/60791716/NO-RESPAWN
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And last but not the least, I’d like you to give me another chance. I’m still trying to improve as an author. You can see it from my typos, grammatical mistakes and plot holes. I’m so sorry…
I could actually use a proofreader and a confidant to share their opinions on the future plot.
Unfortunately, I don’t have money to pay for a proofreader. This novel is free and maybe I’ll accept donations next time and I don’t think it would be sellable in this… shitty state.
Anyway, thank you everyone for reading No Respawn.
Happy Holidays!