TMKnight

Hundreds of thousands of years at minimum.

The matchlocks are mainly meant to even the playing field of the nonmages, but Arthur didn't have the schematics memorized in the same way he did for steam engines. He basically pointed Gideon in the right direction, but didn't know it all inherently. I think that Gideon could figure it out, though.

🫂🫂🫂 Thank you!

Thank you! We'll have more thought-provoking chapters, soon. This entire thing is complicated, another turn of the wheel in the constant story of generational struggle. Toren and Mordain are very, very similar, and what Toren will take from this conversation is important.

This is the question, isn't it? Toren HAS changed a lot over the past year or so, and he'll continue to change. Mordain directly challenges Toren's morality and purpose here: to stride forward into suffering, or avoid it out of fear? And once suffering does come... How do you rise above it?

I'd appreciate every bit of donation you can give! :) And Mordain, in many ways, is a bundle of contradictions. He claims to care for lessers, but didn't stop Aldir's World Eater or do anything to intervene in any way. He claims to be a man of total inaction, yet he *sent* a letter to Toren. That was action. He also tried this talk, even though it would have never worked. Actions speak louder than words: and Mordain's actions speak more to *fear* rather than an all-encompassing philosophy of inaction.

I think this is entirely valid. Through *contrast,* Toren could understand his own path better. Know his road through what it is not.

He could absolutely try! The difficult part is that I've written souls to be EXTREMELY abstract. On some fundamental level, they're unknowable, even as you learn more and more about them. I think there are things Toren can do to grow his understanding of souls, but they don't align perfectly with what we've heard from Buddhism or Hinduism within DN verse. (And Toren would fundamentally not be able to follow Buddhist teachings of detachment to reach enlightenment and escape suffering. Bro's a phoenix, too passionate and caring about everything. And his entire insight INTO souls is based on how he cares about others and his attachments. Buddhist teaching is something of an anathema to his insight.)

Correct. The Legacy isn't reincarnated yet! The POV character in the first chapter was the "point of divergence" for the story. Timelinewise, we're around the midpoint of TBATE Vol 5.

Next chapter is one of my favorites! Toren finally has a nice long talk with Mordain. It's about time.