Chapter 48: Well of Souls

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Tur4

50 minutes left till midnight!

Eagerly awaiting next chqpter! Any idea what time it will be released tonight?

Yes, Ikosians are still there. Though in much reduced numbers, since the land cannot support as many humans as it could in the past. Some Ikosians left for greater pastures, but most did not - many did not have the means or the will to move. The underworld extends to incredible depths underground, and nobody knows how far down in goes. By popular understanding, it goes straight into the center of the planet where the Heart of the World is situated, continually spawning monsters and such. It might be theoretically possible to go under the ocean, if one could survive deep enough. It has never been done, however.

Domagoj Kurmaic

Thanks! I really appreciate the answers. Your answer brought a follow up to mind hope you don't mind. Is the desert area where the Ikosians came from still inhabited by the same people that came to Altazia? (similar to Europe people settling America) or did they migrate and abandon the desert area? I know your busy. One final question. Is there dungeon under the oceans? Could a person cross via dungeon from Altazia to Miasina? Thanks again!

Tur4

I'm trying to organize my worldbuilding notes before letting them loose on the internet, and I intend to open a wordpress page once I have enough content. For now, you will have to be patient. Or ask me questions like you're currently doing, I guess. :) There are five continents. Altazia, where the story is currently happening. Miasina is to the south of Altazia - the northern part of the continent is a giant desert (this is where Ikosians come from), and the south if covered in jungles (Koth, where Daimen currently is). Also to the South is Blantyrre, the largest continent. It is largely equatorial, almost entirely covered in jungle, and has no human civilizations living on it. Lizardmen come from here. Hsan is the third continent inhabited by humans, but it isn't particularly important for the story so I haven't developed it much. Finally, there is the Southern Continent, which is cold and isolated and largely a space-filling landmass of no importance. I'm trying to make a world map, but it's slow going. I don't know how many Rank 8s exist, but not too many. Less than 10 known ones in human controlled territories (across the whole world, not just in Altazia).

Domagoj Kurmaic

Getting excited about next update. Also, I know you said it started as a world building process. Any way we can get some more info about the world? What are other continents like? How many are there? Also, How about mana Wells. We know there is a rank 9 in Cyoria and its the largest in the world. Are there many Rank 8s around? Thanks.

Tur4

Great chapter and great story! Honestly this is one of the rare types of story - a well thought story. Also I absolutly like that you as author don't write something you can't handle well, e.g. some authors try to add a lot of humor when their jokes are flat, some are writing grand scale stories when they can't think one step ahead and leaving huge holes in the story, you don't make such mistakes and it greatly benefits the story. Thank you for it!

I really liked this chapter. First of all, it contains a lot of innovative munchkinry. Remotely controlled golems are a very good idea. Remotely controlled body double is an even better idea. I agree that every self-respecting mage should have a body double. I really enjoyed Zorian's amateur attempts at sculpture. Sudomir's deeds are even more grand and intimidating. Building a well of souls in the middle of nowhere and using gates to expand it's area of effect is the perfect example of munchkining the hell out of magic system. The reveal about Xvim was great and made his character much more believable and deep. It also was surprisingly funny. Thanks for writing this story, it is a delight to read.

No? The schedule has been 3 weeks to a chapter for quite a while now. And the chapter is a little shorter, but that isn't so unusual. It's hardly the first chapter that only had 6000+ words. A few have even had 5000+ words. I usually aim for 7000+ words per chapter, but ultimately I have goals I need to hit for each chapter and the final product can end up longer or shorter than that. That's why 'Soulkill' has 14000+ words instead of being broken up into two.

Domagoj Kurmaic

Questions: All will be later my friend... (Or maybe not all of it. Maybe just some it. It's a lot of questions.)

Domagoj Kurmaic

Oh my god. THE TWIST. Xvim might not actually be a huge unrepentant asshole? That's too good. Thanks as always for the chapter! Eagerly looking forward to the next installment.

Great chapter. Really liked all of it. The golems army with mind control was really cool. Zorian is really becoming formidable.

Tur4

Are you starting to slow down your release schedule? Because it feels like this story seems to be decreasing in pace, not to mention, this latest chapter seemed kind of shorter then your normal ones.

Vanathor

Damn it I just wrote a quick thing that was deleted. :( Anyways, the chapter was really amazing, from Zorian's thoughtfulness at the beginning, Sudomir's crazy actions and reveal, Zorian returning to Cyoria, or the Xvim thing at the end. I was laughing super hard at that one. I also love that the community predicted Sudomir's wards, but not the rest. What would have been cool would be if you had at some point revealed that a single soul could not power it, like what Zorian said at the beginning. Every other clue was there for his prediction, though. It's probably good that we couldn't predict Sudomir's reveal though. I predict that Red Robe's fancy soulkill spell simply sends souls to Sudomir's thing or his own. Then, he could potentially the mechanism he uses to transport back to bring those souls back too, thus giving the appearance of soul kill and his own time magic. He couldn't link his soul to Zach's without side effects, and obviously doesn't have the switches, so he probably linked his soul up to the gate producing the time magic, and thus any soulkilled souls. So the climax is freeing those souls and regaining the aranea, in a big fight of freeing souls. Maybe two attacks, one on Red Robe and one on Sudomir. Potentially at different points in the story. Or maybe, Sudomir wants to go back in time and souls are powering it. :P (that's too cliche though.) You don't have to comment on any of that, as usual. But woohoo Xvim will finally share the secret of shaping exercises and be a part of his party! (As alluded to in Sum of Its Parts, where the i in 'Its' should be lowercase) I still share hope that they will be able to loop too, like Red Robe. That could totally happen at climax. As for real questions, how about these. Is Taiven with them like before? Will Zorian gift Kirielle with her drawings. Please tell me that Zorian will gift Kirielle with her drawings. Hmmm. Will we get more Raynie action? What about the telepathic family girl? Estin? Edwin? More confusing names? Other class members? Invisible magic missile? Invisible magic attacks? Golem!Zorian? A reliable factor like Zach's mana vision to test Zorian's strength? Zorian visiting his soul tutor friends (Lukav and Alanic)? What about telling Silverlake about the Sudomir? Fighting the Grey Hunter? To get Soul Sight? (Don't tell me that's not happening, not with your level of foreshadowing. You spent a whole chapter, so it will be important, god damn it!) Ummmm. Zach? Zach? Zach? Telling Zach about the switches? Wrecking Red Robe? Visiting Zorian's family in Koth? Keep up the great work! I looked at some other novels on my ebook reader and here's some stats on your length. 2x the standard novel. 1/5 of Wildbow's Worm and 1/3 of Wildbow's Pact. Almost exactly 1/2 of HPMOR. Your book is shaping up to be a masterpiece. I eagerly await the next installment of MoL. *Glancing around the room for a minute* So how's life Domagoj. World building exercises fun? Working on MoL? Having *lovely* days at work? Good. :P By the way, you're awesome, you surprising bastard. :)

Green0Photon

Thanks for another awesome chapter going more into the joys that are necromancy.

Nepene

OMG Domagoj, I was busy and you totally blindsided me with this post. Aaaaah I need to reread! :) You're the best.

Green0Photon

Yes! Keep up the good work. When are you going to become a fulltime writer? I look forward to weekly chapters ^^