Shirtaloon
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Chapter 964: Expanding His Influence
🕑 Added 2024-11-20 22:00:05 +0000 UTCIn Zermatt, Switzerland, it was the early hours of the morning. In a chalet of largely glass walls, Marie Finnegan sipped at a mug of hot chocolate. On the coffee table, her phone beeped a notification. She picked it up and saw a text message consisting of only the letter C. She sat down her phone and her drink, then pulled out a second phone and dialled a number not saved in the contacts. Her call was answered, but the person on the other hand said nothing.
“Confirmation,” Marie said. “You have a go to initiate the grid intervention.”
She ended the call without waiting for reply, then activated her lighting fist ability, ignoring the heat as the phone caught fire and melted over her hand. Several minutes later, the remains of the phone were in the bin and she’d washed her hands. As she returned from the bathroom, the phone still on the table rang. The caller was listed as the Network Communications office in Zurich.
“Finnegan,” she said, on answering the call.
“Director, there is an incident in Pakistan we need to brief you on.”
***
The Network had fragmented itself into four, well over a decade ago. The Chinese and US governments had absorbed, or been absorbed by, their respective branches. The Global Defence Network was made up of many lower-ranking Network operatives, along with remnants of the Engineers of Ascension and members of the Cabal who schismed off during the rise of the vampire lords. The last faction was the largest, born from the leadership of branches everywhere but the US and China, and possessing most of the Network’s old assets. This was the group that operated with the approval of the Australian government, managing the local sections of the grid and intercepting monsters.
A large contingent from Asano Village was airlifted to the Network’s Sydney office. This included Anna, Claire Davney and members of various intelligence agencies. They were all shuffled into an amphitheatre-style briefing room with a large projection screen. From there, they watched live footage from Pakistan, with multiple perspectives displayed side by side.
“Whose drones are providing this footage?” Claire asked. “The Pakistanis?”
“The Pakistani military have refused to share their feeds, Madam Secretary,” said the Network liaison, Bryce. “We’ve tapped other drones deployed to the area, by local civilians and foreign media.”
“That was fast,” Anna observed.
“We are not able to disclose any assets we may or may not have in the area,” Bryce said.
Little was happening on the projections screen so far. It showed the Indus River, with a mass of rainbow light swirling over it, but no other activity.
“The current estimate is full manifestation in twelve to seventeen minutes,” Bryce announced. “Mrs Tilden, the operation room is requesting an ETA on the arrival of the Asano group.”
Anna checked the time on her phone.
“Any moment now,” she said.
Around a minute later, a portal opened onscreen. A black stone ring, filled with swirling darkness, appeared in the air. It was aligned horizontally, high over the water, and was large enough for a bus to pass through. What did drop from the portal was a massive tortoise shell. The top and bottom halves were separated, connected only at the corners while the sides were left open. The shell segments on top each had a colourful, glowing rune etched into it.
Inside was a veritable crowd of adventurers, who immediately started flying out into the air. Some had wings, others flew on clouds that shrouded their feet. Some flew through no visible means at all, like superheroes. They were a wild and eclectic group, looking variously like wizards, or heroes and monsters of ancient myth. Or even modern myth, with a few that would have passed as Jedi or Sith. One man had armour and wings of rainbow scales, matching those of the rainbow dragon on whose back he stood. Another man was part bird, like an eagle version of a werewolf.
“Asano isn’t in command,” Claire observed quietly. “That woman on a flying carpet seems to be directing the others.”
“Jason is not the leader of his adventuring team,” Anna said. “The man standing on the dragon is Humphrey Geller. His mother is serving as strategic commander for the larger group.”
“I was led to believe they would move at Asano’s command.”
“They will move at Jason’s request. He values earnest friendship over political alliance, which is one of the reasons he has trouble with diplomacy. His friends are fiercely loyal, Madam Secretary. Forged in fire loyal. This group is strong, and united.”
“And large. This is more people than was revealed on their arrival. All gold rankers?”
“Yes.”
“And they each possess the strength of Asano and his team?”
“There’s a rough parity there, yes.”
“Mrs Tilden, statements by you and Rufus Remore regarding the combat potential at Asano’s command have largely been considered hyperbolic. Are we about to see a demonstration that they were not?”
“I imagine that depends on what comes out of that manifestation, but I doubt it. That many Earth gold rankers would make short work of one manifestation, let alone this group. Barring something very unusual, I don’t see it posing enough of a threat to draw out their full power.”
“Let’s not rule out the unexpected,” Claire said. “Have you noticed Bryce nervously touching his earpiece?”
“I have. He doesn’t seem to like what he’s hearing.”
Claire stood up and took out her phone.
“It might be time for a call to my own Network operatives, back home.”
***
Marie Finnegan had one of the bedrooms in her chalet rearranged for dedicated video conferencing. Four monitors were set up, each displaying a different feed. Two were showing drone footage from Pakistan, one was showing a grid systems analyst in Zurich and the last was showing data taken from the grid. The grid data showed the Sindh Province in Pakistan, with moving lines that ranged from purple to an alarming red.
“To be clear,” the analyst said, “these are not anomalies detected by the grid, but within the grid itself.”
“Are you saying that someone is attempting to collapse the grid again? Weren’t failsafes put in place to prevent, or at least detect that?”
“That’s what we’re looking at, Director. We’re uncertain as to what this is, but the Engineers of Ascension attack on the grid was unsophisticated. A blunt force. This is more nuanced, showing a superior understanding of how the grid functions.”
“And what is it doing?”
“Our best guess thus far is that it is channelling additional magic into the Pakistan manifestation. We don’t know if the intention is to disable the grid, create a greater manifestation or trigger a transformation zone event, like those in 2020. Or something else entirely. To be honest, Director, we’re working off educated guesses at best.”
“What do you recommend?”
“At this point? Hope the people from the other world know what to do. Should we warn them?”
“No. If they are our best chance, we can’t risk them deciding to pull out. We need them to face it, whatever it is?”
“And if it blows up and kills them?”
“Then at least the new problem will have solved the old one.”
***
Anna followed Courtney out of the briefing room to where Claire was waiting in the hallway.
“Can you reach your people in Pakistan?” Claire asked without preamble.
Anna tapped a brooch on her jacket and the air shimmered around them.
“Privacy magic from the other world,” she explained. “Shade, are you here?”
“I am, Mrs Tilden,” Shade’s voice came from her shadow.
“Then anything you say here will reach Asano,” Anna told Claire.
“Someone is sabotaging the grid. Feeding magic into the Pakistan manifestation. We don’t know why, how, what they want, or how likely they are to get it. Anything more than that is going to take time we don’t have to figure out.”
“Thank you, Madam Secretary,” Jason’s voice came from Anna’s shadow. “We’ll do our best to keep a lid on things.”
***
Most of the gold rankers were moving into position around the manifestation, taking formation team by team. Jason’s team were the furthest away, positioned to protect the Sukkar Barrage as Clive, Farrah and Belinda placed it under a protection ritual. Jason floated over to the trio.
“Can you spare Farrah?” Jason asked. “There may be an issue with the grid, and she’s the closest thing we have to an expert.”
“Can’t it wait?” Farrah asked. “We’re in the middle of something here.”
“The grid is feeding extra magic into the manifestation,” Jason told her.
“Oh,” Farrah said. “Clive, do you have it from here?”
“We’ve got it,” Clive said.
“Do you have a dimensional verge spectrum analyser?” Farrah asked him.
Clive took a device from his storage space that looked like a cluster of crystals connected by straws for a school science project, and tossed it to Farrah. She and Jason then shot towards the main group, Farrah’s fiery wings blazing on her back. They reached Danielle, Jason explaining the situation while Farrah used the device to take readings of the manifestation.
“Thoughts?” Jason asked.
“Depends. If this is intended to detonate like one of Travis’ big bombs, we should leave. A gold-rank explosion on that scale isn’t something all of us could survive.”
“I don’t think that’s what we’re looking at,” Farrah said, peering at a mess of light swirling over the device. “Back in the day, when the grid was taken offline, undetected proto-spaces broke down and turned into monster waves. I think we’re looking at that process being artificially forced and accelerated.”
“You’re saying that thousands of monsters are going to pour out of this?” Jason asked.
“Even with this group, we can’t handle thousands of gold-rank monsters,” Danielle said.
“They would mostly be silver rank,” Jason said. “There would still be enough golds to make it a rough day, though. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll spawn a really big essence instead of monsters.”
“That would be nice,” Danielle said, “but I find things like this don’t often go nicely.”
“Jason,” Farrah asked. “Do you still have that instinctive sense for dimensional forces? The one Clive says is cheating?”
“I do. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to tell you, but I’ll have a rummage.”
He drifted onto Danielle’s flying carpet, so he didn’t have to concentrate on keeping himself aloft. He tapped his foot on the carpet.
“Is this new?”
“I have a lot of flying devices,” Danielle told him.
He closed his eyes and projected his senses towards the manifestation.
“I’m kind of getting a proto-space feel off of this,” he said. “Not exactly, though; I have to squint to see it. There’s a definite sense of energy pouring in, though. I’m not sure this manifestation can hold it together. It feels like it’s being overloaded.”
“I’m seeing a lot of instability as well,” Farrah said. “It might be time to run for the hills.”
Jason opened his eyes to look at the device Farrah was still using. The light shining over it was roiling like water in a washing machine.
“Let my try something,” Jason said. “I’ve been trying to limit my influence on the reality around me because it’s kind of rude, but it might be time to go the other way.”
Jason floated into the air, up and over the manifestation. A portal of white stone, appeared high above his head, filled with gold, silver and blue transcendent light. The portal was flat, like a halo over the manifestation, and wide enough to fit a house through. Jason floated between the portal and the manifestation, arms held out to his sides. The light of the portal grew brighter and brighter, until it was hard to look at.
An aura emerged from the portal, swift as a tsunami but heavy as treacle, weighing down on everyone. It was domineering and otherworldly, claiming dominion over everything it touched. It kept pouring out, spreading over the whole region. After a minute it had gone ten kilometres, with no sign of stopping. Everywhere it went, every person of age to accept essences received a message.
-------
System Alert: Unstable Reality
Physical reality in the local area has been compromised, potentially triggering a transformation zone.
The Hegemon has descended, expanding his influence to stabilise reality.
The source of the instability will manifest a monster wave to purge accumulated magic.
-------
Danielle and Farrah watched as Jason vanished in a pillar of transcendent light. It descended from the portal like a divine visitation, inundating the manifestation until it was barely visible.
“Did Jason mention anything to you about being flashy?” Farrah asked.
“He did say something,” Danielle said. “I prefer things clean and efficient, but he claimed it was Anna Tilden’s idea.”
“She’s normally quite sensible. Are you sure it wasn’t Jason wanting to show off?”
“No, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter, at this stage.”
“No, I suppose not.”
While Jason’s enhanced aura was a hammering cacophony to supernatural senses, the area was eerily quiet to normal hearing. That changed with a ripping sound that filled the air like thunder. It was an alien, nails-on-chalkboard screech, somewhere between shearing metal and shattering stone. As the excruciating noise continued to ring out, the first monsters emerged from the light.
Comments
ItWasIDIO!!
These guys just want another hole in reality & can they really not understand that Jason is usually the first sign of things changing plus even clueless he has more info
Nea
I was supposed to do things this morning, but this is too good to put down!
Sandra Pomeroy
TYFTC
StarkRG
What a showboat, he clearly *ascended* into that manifestation, not descended.
BeepBoop
I, personally, have some mixed feelings about Boris' actions, but indeed, you are right that this is definitely not his style. He does not intend to harm or sabotage Jason, he just considers Jason to be a separate entity to his people and faction with his own priorities and thought process that does not completely align. Boris also expected everything to fall apart for Jason before this point where it is no long possible for things to totally fall apart for him unless he lets them. At this point they are friends and allies, but not the sort of friends and allies that people like Jason's team and such are.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Chloe
Tyftc
Kconraw
Thx for the chapter
Jeffery Woods
Yeah I've listened to a lot of books, a good number of them being LitRPGs and I think the best use of splash screens that I've seen is in ELLC (Everybody Loves Large Chests). At the end of most chapters it gives a comprehensive breakdown of either the main character or an important character that was introduced and let's you know "You may now skip to the next chapter" whenever it comes up. It's very well done.
FlareNight
Defier is the name of the chapter. Not sure what number.
FlareNight
Hegemon is his akhashic name, but that could mean both Astral King and god. Here and Boko seem more like he's acting as a temporary local god than anything an Astral King could do. As far as I've seen, they only have that kind of power in their own Astral Kingdoms. He's the Astral Nexus because he's all three, but not really any of them yet (except maybe AK?).
ByLAWphoto
I just realized the worst part of this chapter: it's leading into a boss fight that will definitely be a cliffhanger over the weekend! 😥😥😥
ByLAWphoto
@BaguaBrady--there were sandwiches, so....
ByLAWphoto
yeah, he's the Astral Nexus. remember when he meets the Astral King, he tells Jason that there are other originals. there's the Astral Colossus(?) who's giant by astral standards and there are a couple other 'Astral' names mentioned. so I'm pretty sure he'll be known as "the Astral Nexus." because that's what he is: he is the nexus of gods, GABs, and astral kings--the 3 astral beings.
ByLAWphoto
@Neverborn--she had the decision to be a Voice of the Will, Defier of the Will, or to break the connection, remember? a couple chapters after that, they mention that she was sleeping off the changes because her upgrades came all at once. apparently, Shirt confirmed on Discord that she chose Defier of the Will.
Bryar Beecher
I don’t remember the chapter but when he “fixed” their bond she ranked up immediately.
Critical Meyhem
IIRC Wasn't the space pirate "king" attempting to access Earth once he lost all his people? Only to be denied access by the world phoenix until Jason reached diamond rank. (can't remember which chapter sorry). Could he be attempting a workaround to try to gain access to Earth? Or am I way off the mark.
Idan tal
There was a brief time period it was canon, like “hump”. And while she managed to make almost everyone forget about it with the help of the mentioned method of “kick in the head”, (which hump refuse to apply although proven effectiveness) we still remember!
Neverborn
I also didn't know she was Gold. Would love a confirm on that, and when did it happen?
Kelly
That’s amazing. 😂
The Green Magus
I keep imagining Jason using system notifications to let people know dinner is ready
Soli116
I'm going to say this because people keep wanting to blame Boris. Boris isn't stupid. He's very old with a lot experience. He knows Jason hates the slavery Messengers are under, and will likely be a huge asset to the Unorthodoxy. It would be beyond idiotic to do a stupid fuckery. This sort of thing requires the same brilliant decision makers that invited space pirates and didn't think there would be consequences.
Soli116
I don't think Sophie would like being called a sofa. You might get kicked in the head.
Joanna
She’s called a director of a Network agency of some sort, and the chapter refers to an entire department being based in Zurich. Her being a vamp seems highly unlikely and doesn’t address the larger question
Rachel Clements
TYFTC!
Liesmith
I'm thinking of the propaganda Other Gordan can bring to bear, showing Jason opening a never-before-seen portal in the middle of Pakistan (where the government will say that he's unwelcome), followed by a horde of silver and gold rank monsters on a scale beyond what anyone has ever witnessed. And from there, the narrative becomes "he summoned these things to intimidate us. He claims to be a god!". This is no danger to Jason, but it undercuts the good he's trying to do and disrupts his attempts to be diplomatic. But Other Gordon would just be a useful idiot serving the interests of the ancient vampires. Or maybe Boris exacerbated the manifestation in order to force Jason and Team Biscuit to demonstrate *exactly* how powerful they are compared to the forces of Earth. Or maybe none of that.
DirePants
Great chapter!
ABTelford
Very good point! Huh…now I’m wondering about that as well
Nate Slusher
Great writing! Really good chapter. You are on fire Shirt!
Cody
Some people sure but some people will think lots of crazy things. Magical manifestation have happened fairly regularly on earth for years now and if there's anything your average idiot knows about magic at this point its probably that shiny rainbow lights in the sky=monsters. He's just adding to the light show. Them somehow modifying the manifestation to summon more monsters to just kill them all doesn't make a lot of sense. Even if thats kinda exactly what he's doing. And even then so what? There was a magical manifeststion he did something... and killed a bunch of monsters. That really all that's probably going to happen at least as far as someone watching recording would see.
Chad .
Never said she wasn't a Vamp. It seems like she may have an old name too.
Chiqui Joy
Agree!
Chiqui Joy
The System messages when Jason makes announcements are great!
Kelly
I think that’s more of a species designation. 😂
AfroMocha
Astral space is a good idea can open a training ground... If only he knew someone that ran a school..
AfroMocha
This only works for him in the long run as people might be to afraid to try and be lead into rising up if they think he can rain monsters down on them lol
Thomas Todd
I think Hegemon is used when he acts using his Astral King stuff and System Admin when he's acting as the GAB if the system
Der Ritter
Confirmed in the pirat fight. Carlos is gold. Maybe Yuri
Joanna
Great chapter! I really enjoyed it. Just one question…wasn’t Switzerland completely overrun with vampires like the rest of mainland Europe? I know the Asano clan have been moving out and trying to clear more territory for a bit, and that Switzerland is pretty close to Slovakia, but it still doesn’t seem reasonable that a whole Network bureaucracy could have settled in already
Joanna
No, it also referred to him that way for the messages in Boko
James NB
Is this the first time the system has referred to him as the hegemon and not system administrator since fixing the throne? Just curious if Jason is making the system call him the hedgemon here
Gwiddion
I also really want a power update for all those gold skills.
Idan tal
Farrah confirmed gold? I missed it.
GentlemanG33k
The grid was designed for easy access but with a sophistication that made Farrah think that it had to be designed by a Dimond ranked i understand accessing it but finding the hidden code this seems like part of the design a failsafe if then needed to get rid of someone
Roro
Can we do a roll-call of who is in Jason’s gold ranked entourage and in this fight? Jason’s team of 7, Arrabelle & Emir’s team of 5, Rick Geller’s team of 5?, Valdis’ team of 6 = that makes 23. Then we have those not in official teams like Danielle, Farrah, Rufus, Taika, maybe Trenchant? That would make 28. Not counting the political delegation from the Storm kingdom (except for Zara that’s included in Jason’s team), who are we missing in this?
Kalanaere
Poor Jason. Does exactly as he's told and still gets accused of lying lol.
KollegvomMirgan
Where does Astral Nexus come into play?
Stuart Thwaites
It's been decades with literally everyone knowing about the grid and it was designed so if you knew about it you could access it. The earliest 'internet' was ARPAnet in UCLA 1969/1970 and in just 55 years it conquered the planet. With the right accesses and skills you could turn off all the powerplants in the US with a laptop in the middle of the outback.
Idan tal
Do you people remember when sofa had to escape a huge gold rank tentacle monster while she was silver? Do you think we can get this style of action now, with a changed up gold manifestation? Sure it will be more about keeping the monsters away from people/locations, but I hope to action on this level.
Kelly
‘Jason’ is what people call him. ‘The Hegemon’ is who he is on a soul level. ‘System Administrator’ is his job title after distributing his proprietary OS.
Kelly
“The Hegemon has descended.” This kind of thing always cracks me up. 😂
John Durrett
Saying biscuits instead of first is guaranteed to get you a bump. :)
John Durrett
Hard to say but given the firm roles each of the gods have I’d say it couldn’t be done as it infringes on to many gods rights
John Durrett
Friends and family- Jason the Sandwich and scones or biscuits guy
Jeff McClure
Thanks Shirt!
John Durrett
Colin’s a big boy now and a voice of the will. I pity the fool that crosses paths with a hungry gold, fully powered Colin!
GentlemanG33k
Throwing it out there I think either the Network Founder is still alive or there was more then one outsider that came through originally. I don't think using the grid to power up a manifestation seems like something you couldn't just interpret out.
William Lane
If I had a nickel for every time Jason Asano flashed his influence, id be drowning in petty cash
Liesmith
This might backfire: To outside observers with no knowledge of dimensional forces (eg, the vast majority of Earth's population), it will look like Jason just summoned a shit-ton of monsters.
DreadHawk666 Aron
Thank you for the chapter 😁! He might have a tendency to be flashy but it really wasn’t his idea this time I swear, cross my hart and hope to die😂
Martin Tomsic
Upon further consideration what Jason will be referred to as will depend on who is talking about him. The Cult of the Sys Admin: System Administrator The Church of Jason: The Hegemon Friends and family: Jason Clan Asano: Patriarch or Founder Everyone else: That Bastard, Asano
Martin Tomsic
She'd have loved pre-magic Vegas. Not sure that things are quite the same there since the world got flipped on its head. I think she'd prefer a place with a less overbearing government.
Marcaeus
4) Boris, someone from the phoenix cult, or even the burgeoning Jason revering camps wanted a way to force the Hegemon into direct action
Martin Tomsic
Well, it's clearly whoever Marie Finnegan got the text from and called to. I don't think that it would be the US or China, though it may include people from those countries. I think it's more likely the Network leaders that were left behind by the US and China and eventually teamed with Australia to take out Jason, or some shadow organization that has people from all of the various groups but is completely independent. I get a very "Order of the Reaper" vibe coming from this. Not the actual Order of the Reaper, but a group that functions the same way. A secret organization that has operatives imbedded all over the globe and is intent on being the hidden power that controls the whole world.
Donald A
4. Vampires
ShowBizGAL 1996
Either The System Administrator or The Hegemon. :-D
Rowdy Robby
Thanks Shirtaloon. Friday's going to be good.
ShowBizGAL 1996
That would tend to tick off the powers that be.... but so what? ;-P
Aaron Schwartz
I mean, I get that they’re annoying, but we haven’t had a comprehensive list of Jason’s power since he hit gold rank. There have been a few like back when he had that arena spar with Valdis, But that only covered maybe one or two of his afflictions. To this day, we still don’t know what the exact difference is between shade as a shadow of the reaper and shade as a shadow of the hegemon after he sanctioned himself. we don’t know what the gold effect of his aura is. I agree that just dropping things in the middle of a combat scene can get a bit of obnoxious, but at this point, I need a full stat sheet. I wouldn’t mind having one for the others on his team either.
Martin Tomsic
I think the only reason Jason is able to have any influence is from spreading his aura and (temporarily) claiming a domain. I don't think the gods of Palli would do the same, or let one another do the same.
Martin Tomsic
Every so often toss in a "chapter" that is just a "Team Biscuit Roll Call" where it lists updates of their levels and abilities. Maybe even include some other odds and ends beyond the stats, like info about magic items they possess.
Martin Tomsic
I think the first one is by far the most likely, but can't rule anything out when magic is involved. I'm actually leaning towards the first one myself. I'm thinking that the "shadow UN" that made the deal with the pirates in the first place are still working in the shadows against Jason. Or, at the very least, a group similar to them (like some form of magic Illuminati) is behind it. Possibly operating similar to the way the Order of the Reaper was on Palli. They have operatives imbedded in governments and organizations all over the world with nobody thinking that they even exist.
DT
Definitely not 3 it would be interesting but very doubtful it's probably 1 could see 2 as well but i think it 1
Martin Tomsic
Odd thought, but I wonder if Jason is able to claim the area above cities without claiming the actual cities. It would be kind of funny for him to claim everything more than 1 km above the ground. Somebody tries launching a batch of magically enhanced nukes at another country and they just suddenly stop and get disassembled as soon as they cross the threshold into his sky domain. A bunch of the clouds up there are actually defense bases for fighting any monster manifestations that the countries of Earth can't handle alone. Or maybe there would even be a few cloud castles in the sky, just for fun.
Mattman
Can’t wait to see how the media spins this! *sarcasm*
Jim Smith
It could also be an attempt to generate protospaces for harvesting, and this is testing the methodology. An assassination attempt doesn't make sense since, as everyone has pointed out, they can leave if it gets bad, even though that isn't great from a political/optics, perspective. As far as legitimization goes, that really isn't a factor. They know he and his group are powerful, they know he and his group can be helpful, the problem is that they aren't under the control of the various network factions or governments, and if you were trying to legitimize them "This problem that was here the last time Asano was around, hasn't occurred in the decade since he was gone popped back up shortly after he arrived, but he isn't in any way the cause or responsible for it;" doesn't sound terribly convincing or plausible.
Martin Tomsic
"The Hegemon" is who he is, at a soul level. It's the brand he would use if he were to claim Messengers. They talk about it when he is rewriting the brand on Tera at the end of the Battle of Yuresh. His GAB aspect of himself is the System Administrator.
ByLAWphoto
I do kinda wish there'd be one at the end of each book, though. like a milestone marker. "here's where Jason is now."
ByLAWphoto
my personal conspiracy theories thus far: 1) the Earth leaders are trying to get something strong enough to smite Jason...again. 2) the space pirates are looking for a loophole to get Earth. 3) Noreth had more than one life and he's back, baby! respond below to vote!
Martin Tomsic
Have you ever seen the movie "Pixels"? Now imagine that mixed in with 80s action movies and TV shows.
Martin Tomsic
I don't know if this is the way Dalth meant it, but I can very easily see various religious sects and zealots standing by that as an excuse for why their God has never made themself known. They are above it all and only make changes to Earth through indirect action so as not to fracture people's minds, or something like that.
ByLAWphoto
my dentist office does the same thing. C = confirmed. if you look at the next line of dialog it's clear that's what it was signalling. “Confirmation,” Marie said. “You have a go to initiate the grid intervention.”
granndfunk
Is he sending the wave directly into Colin's waiting mouth? Or just sending them into his astral space?
Martin Tomsic
I was thinking that "C" was meaning "confirmed" or "commence", not that it was the initial of someone's name. Or maybe it was telling her to go with option C. But I am equally intrigued by who sent the text to her and whether they are from a known organization or a new never-before-seen group. Also curious as to whether her acting surprised by what the analyst was telling her was real or faked. I'm guessing faked, but can't be sure.
Jeffery Woods
I have to say, since I'm re-listening to your books, Thank God you stopped doing the Powers description splash screen thing so much. It was insufferable near the end of the 3rd book. Your writing has gotten so much better since. Keep up the good work TFTC!
Charles
I’m pretty sure it’s “The Hegemon”
Telewyn
lol, Jason taking control of the manifestation definitely won’t have any unintended side effects. Does Nintendo still exist, and if so, could they sue Jason if a bunch of actual Pokémon come out?
Zack
System Administrator too. The Hegemon is what he is, particularly in his astral kingdom. The System Admin is what his role now is in the wider cosmos. And Jason Asano (that bastard) is who he is to friends, enemies, and himself. You can see the differences mostly in the Boko incident and in the system messages there, speaking about him in different ways depending on what he needs to do.
3rdImpact
Thank you for the chapter Shirtaloon u made my night ;) Hope u and your ma are doing better, sending hugs and good vibes!
Martin Tomsic
I thought his GAB name had already been settled as being the System Administrator? Now what people will eventually start referring to him as I have no clue, but several times notice windows have popped up to people either calling him that or saying that the notice was from the being with that name.
Hunter
That’s the literal reason lol. But I do get what Dalth is saying because I feel like Jason will hit Diamond well before the gods manifest giving him basically god like power in the eyes of this new magical earth. And when the real gods like the ones from Pallimustus do arrive it will be more widely decimated by knowledge that he is indeed a weird hybrid transcendent astral king and kind of a god and his legend will be confirmed.
mockery jones
"She picked it up and saw a text message consisting of only the letter C". who is C? ex-network? vampire? hopefully it will be revealed for those of us slow on the uptake
CringeWorthyStudios
No, no, Jason is telling the truth there. Just that the key word there is ‘trying’, not succeeding. 😅
Sin
Jason: Time to dabble in transcendence again.
Hunter
I have no idea why this came to mind now. But I wonder what Jason will be known as in the wider cosmos. Like all the GAB have names like keeper of the sands, world pheonix etc. My guess is probably the The Hegemon like shirt said this chapter but anyone think of something else?
BaguaBrady
Where's Neil to call out that lie when we need him
AfroMocha
Not saying they have direct control just thinking maybe some.leve of control not saying they create them for the fun of it.
Zack
Highly doubt that. He loves his flashy stuff, but he despises people who disregard the safety of those who can't defend themselves. This is one of those things that has far too much chance to go wrong. He'd never sign off on it unless there were no better options. And even then, he'd be trying to find a way around it to protect the people.
David Jenkins
This is my first comment but I've been listening and reading the books for over a year before I caved and couldn't wait anymore and I have to say Shirt you have and amazing writing style and have me hooked till the end. Loving it
Michael Deleon
Monster wave time! I hope next week has an update on gold rank abilities only. Or just a massive op beat down of the monsters.
Justin Butler
"I’ve been trying to limit my influence on the reality around me because it’s kind of rude" Sure Jason...sureeee
Hodge Wasson
This works so well in favor of Jason and crew's legitimacy/public image that I am giving it 50/50 split odds on it being someone's misguided attempt to help legitimize Jason & Crew vs. a (last?) hurrah to try and take them out of the equation/make the world shun them.
ABTelford
😀😘 that was a fantastic chapter!!! If a break results in this high a quality, I say you need to take breaks more often!!! 🤩. Or maybe tell your fans you’re going to release only two chapters a week to increase quality. I’m totally for it!
Blake N.
No, the best argument for no gods on earth is that there hasn’t been enough time since there was magic there for gods to form
Zack
50/50 that it's whoever the lady in Switzerland is behind (may or may not be US Network) or that it's the diamond rank pirate guy pushing from outside. Might be both trying to use the other.
brian phillips
Biscuits! Great chapter
pyrite jester
The hegemon has descended.
Laura Hemly
Thanks for tha chapter, Shirt. I can't wait to see the Friday chapter and the cliffhanger you're going to torture us with! 😂😂
Stephanie Washburn
Lol, she'd love Vegas. There must be somewhere she can use that Getting Lucky essence of hers. XD
Stephanie Washburn
Does anyone else wonder if maybe Jason was involved in getting the manifestation amped up?
Zack
No. This is more like what he did in Boko. Exerting influence, but not claiming anything.
Stephanie Washburn
Agreed
Martin Tomsic
If the gods of Palli were able to control the monster surges then there wouldn't have been the huge wait between surges. All of the surges on Earth have been artificial thus far, this one included. Also, the surges on Palli were planet-wide, this is localized. The gods may be able to do things like this if they wanted (or needed), but I don't see a benefit unless there is an extreme risk to the astral boundary of their universe due to an unstable accumulation of massive amounts of magic.
Stephanie Washburn
No new domain. He's just here to stabilize things
MyseriousMage
Not a permanent one but kinda. This happened before, if I remember correctly, with the assassin with the special messenger killer sword. It is more than just his aura but not quite to the level of a domain and it will go away when the portal her opened closes. However the notification did mention that it has the potential for a transformation event which of that happens he will get a new domain.
Dalth
“I’ve been trying to limit my influence on the reality around me because it’s kind of rude” When someone with godlike powers says that, while also being a heretic… I guess this means he has more manners than people expect? I mean, “it’s kind of rude, so let’s not let the world know that I can squish them” is the best argument for no gods showing up on earth.
Lye yeru
If only unfortunately one of them blowing up destroys the other as well
Chiqui Joy
@Darren Given the dialogue at the end of the chapter, I’m wondering if this is another engineered situation planned to give Jason a way to demonstrate his power to Earth. Even if his people didn’t cause the situation, they might have known about it but allowed it happen, similar to the space pirate invasion (but even more passive in how the ball got rolling).
Martin Tomsic
Good point
Martin Tomsic
Yeah, I don't see this as being a Boris move. Too many unknown variables once Jason gets involved to be certain of the outcome. And regardless of how casual Boris acts, he is not someone that would make a move without having a solid idea of the final outcome.
Samuel Strode
Try again by 20 minutes C0bra$ was the first to post
Soli116
I'm really looking forward to the smackdown the old Network gets. First they hire space pirates, and now they're messing with the grid. It's like they're begging Jason to teach them a lesson. Begging!
Hell 5pawn
Hell yeah! This is even better than I imagined it would go. Also, Pakistan is going to have one hell of a time selling this to their populace.
LolGamez
No, he'll likely recind his influence after the batte
michael pigott
Nobody knows how she didn't get noticed on the ride over but she moved to Vegas and started an Onlyfans.
Superior_Shaq
That would definitely be interesting. But I think he would be to scared of what Jason might do in retaliation lmao
Samuel Strode
And he’s a heretic!!!
Tina Young
Tftc roll on to the monster bashing 😁
Chris Pollan
Hellz yeah!!! Battle time...
Martin Tomsic
Did he just claim a new domain in/above Pakistan?
Jordan Brennan
I wonder if it’s Brois pushing Jason to fully display his power.
Jordan Brennan
Tyftc! This sounds like it’s gearing up to be a pretty epic fight ^_^
Martin Tomsic
TBF. we don't yet know whether this problem was accidental or intentional. We don't even know if this is one of the Network splinter groups, the Vampires, or some brand new organization that has been hiding in the shadows and researching magic and technology since before Jason's apartment was obliterated. (Is it the Illuminati? hahaha) They may even be confident that they know what they are doing and how to fix all of it. Of course we all know better and that they are likely decades, if not centuries, behind Clive. But they may legitimately think they know what they are doing. What their end game would be, I have no clue though.
Omy Sadat
The best situation possible for them to show off. It's brown pants time for the people of Earth!
Joshua Batts
Absolutely love how the divine side of Jason is the Hegemon and that swapping into that mode makes the system refer to him AS the Hegemon. Also, suddenly realizing that the only thing preventing Astral Kings from doing whatever they want are the gods, but Jason is the only divinity on earth...
Randren
Currenty in a middle of a re-read and am up to the part where Jason unleashes his aura in Yaresh against the messengers. Awesome reading this and seeing some parallels!
Justin "Johnist" Johanson
Well, that system notice is going to irk some people lol
Martin Tomsic
Thank you for the chapter!!
BloodStorm
A monster wave will be more interesting than a single gold rank monster
GentlemanG33k
Okay we have a huge battle with the strongest gold rankers all connected to the system I want Gold Ability descriptions please.
Soli116
I love the team at gold rank. It's so badass!
AfroMocha
Sooooo is this to saw the gods of palamustis control the monster surges. As in to say the surges of monsters are created by the syphoning of magic from earth? Do they do that as to not have a bunch of magical explosions of power from the cosmos
KeybladeMaster84
First
Matt Hosking
Uh oh
Leo
Thank you for continuing the story.
Chiqui Joy
Holy biscuit Batman!!!! so exciting!!!!!
Darren Williams
Honestly, at this point, they should let Earth implode. The people there suck! 🤣
Connor Wilson
Tftc
Superior_Shaq
These people just give no fucks lol. “Let’s do that thing that caused world wide problems a while back and find a a way to fix it later, maybe”
Valhazstromoz
Badass gimme more flashy flash I'm an edgy boy that enjoys edgy things
mhaj58
Not to be a complainer but the real main character hasn’t been mentioned in months. Where is Clive’s wife?
Kathryn Lemay
I love Farrah and Clive so much! Lol as soon as something interesting is happening with magic, they are always right there ready to check it out. 🤣 Tftc!
Quintin Landhan
Thanks for the chapter!
Preston Stokes
Thank you!!!
Thomas R
Thanks for the chapter!
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
