Shirtaloon
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Chapter 979: Unequivocally My Thing
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 22:00:06 +0000 UTCBoth of Jason’s territories on Earth had a central tower at the heart of them. The two buildings loomed over the cities they sat within, incongruous with their surroundings. Administrative centres for the clan, they also served as portal hubs, connecting to each other and the astral spaces they contained. The upper floors of the building contained office space and other amenities required by clan leadership. The bottom half of each tower was a massive atrium with multiple mezzanine levels.
The atriums were more like hanging gardens. Plants grew everywhere, dangling from bridges crossing the open air at every level. Water features spilled from one floor to the next. The natural light was oddly unnatural, finding its way everywhere, whatever the time of day. There were no gloomy corners or places overshadowed by the bridges or upper levels. At most there was a pleasant dappling as it made its way through the bridge gardens, or the two large willow trees on the ground floor.
The bottom floor was a reception area, but hard to navigate as it was more garden than lobby. The mezzanine levels had food courts, lounges and facilities related to the testing and training of essence users. Both staff and visitors could be found roaming the atrium at any part of the day. The portals were always to be found in the atriums somewhere, but had a habit of relocating themselves without notice.
The exterior of each tower seemed unrelated to the interior. The façades were prone to undergoing massive changes, with the reason and schedule unknown. Since Jason’s return to earth, the changes had been more frequent, from every few weeks or months to every few days. What might be a Chinese pagoda one day could be a celestial tower of marble and gold the next. What remained the same was the vast and spectral presence of a blue and orange eye, shining over the tower.
Emi loved discovering each new form of the tower. She enjoyed hunting through the atriums for the portals, visiting both domains to see what shape the buildings had taken. She would often take Vincent with her, wandering through the gardens together. He liked to sketch the towers, and she had a collection of his pencil drawings in their apartment.
Since her uncle’s return, she hadn’t been able to keep up with every change. They came too fast when she was busy, whether going to Australia or preparing for Jason’s longer-term plans. On this particular day, she had been called to the Slovakia domain, so she had the chance to visit the building.
It certainly wasn’t hard to spot, rising above the rooftops of Saint-Étienne as she rode a black scooter through the streets. The current design was a stark edifice of black glass and red embellishments, like the lair of some science-fiction despot.
“Do you think Uncle Jason is angry?” Emi asked. “I have this feeling that the building changes are based on Uncle Jason’s mood. This one time, it turned into what looked suspiciously like a Japanese love hotel, which I hope it doesn’t do every time he—”
“Mr Asano is, indeed, quite angry,” the scooter said before she could continue. “He has it under control, however, which is as much as we can ask for. He is distracting himself with another task.”
“The mysterious thing you aren’t allowed to tell me about?”
“Mr Asano felt it best to let the results speak for themselves, in case of disappointment.”
The tower sat in the middle of a large market plaza. Food from the magically rich astral spaces was abundant, and mostly shipped through the portals in the tower. Food kiosks and produce stalls formed a small maze, and Emi brought the scooter to a stop. She drew gazes as the scooter exploded into a cloud of darkness the disappeared into her shadow, and she heard the usual whispers. Princess of the Asano Clan. It was a long time since she’d let it bother her.
Normally she would check out the markets before going in. The food grown in the perpetual night of the Slovakian astral space were often unusual and interesting. Today, she headed straight for the tower doors that were, on this occasion, sliding slabs of dark glass.
The interior was like a different world, some fey paradise trapped in a villain’s tower. A butterfly came down to land on her shoulder, the blue and orange of its wings vibrant but real. While reminiscent of Gordon’s doom harbinger butterflies, these were not the glowing variants Jason used to kill by the score.
She wandered over to the long reception desk, where one of the four attendants were free. Emi recognised him as Tony Asano, who was a second cousin or something. Their great grandmother had already established a genealogy office to make sure that things didn’t get awkward a couple of generations down the line.
“Tony, do you know where the Slovakia portal is right now?”
“Second mezzanine, near the tteokbokki shop. Don’t you normally like to hunt it up yourself.”
“Somewhere to be, today.”
Tony leaned forward to whisper, despite it being pointless. With essence users having such powerful senses, each section of the reception desk had privacy magic to keep people’s business private.
“Is this something to do with your uncle?” he asked. “I heard he had Nigel’s teams bringing vampires back when clearing out blood farms.”
“I don’t know,” she told him. “They didn’t tell me anything.”
“I bet something so cool is happening.”
“You know that you could have been involved in stuff like this, right? But you couldn’t get out fast enough after basic training.”
“Well, yeah, but monsters are scary. I’ll stick to guided hunts and minimal combat quotas to rank-up, thank you very much.”
“That’s… not unwise.”
“Really? I thought you combat types were all ‘essences shouldn’t be wasted on the weak,’ and such.”
“I’m not a combat type, Tony. Is the tteokbokki any good? I haven’t tried it.”
“I had the one with the ganjang sauce for lunch yesterday. It was good, but I’d recommend the gochujang, if you don’t mind it a little spicy.”
“Thanks.”
***
In a ritual room in Carlos’ research centre, Jason, Clive and Bussinger watched Carlos and Farrah painstakingly draw out a ritual diagram.
“I appreciate the assistance,” Carlos told Farrah. “With magic this delicate, it’s good to have a ritual specialist make sure the circle is drawn with as much precision as possible.”
Jason turned when he heard Emi’s voice from down the hall.
“…would I want to buy an amphora? They’re just inconvenient jugs.”
“They’re artisanal.”
“That just means they cost three times as much.”
“Rhett, she knows!”
Jason shook his head and went out to reception. The two former Order of Redeeming Light zealots at the desk turned pale.
“Uncle Jason!”
Emi moved in for a hug, wrinkling her nose as he tousled her hair.
“Uncle Jason, I’m not a little girl anymore.”
“Of course not, Moppet. Let’s go.”
“What’s this all about?”
“You’ll see.”
He threw a stern look at Rhett and Jaime, who wilted like spinach in a sauna. Once he was gone, they both let out the breaths they were holding.
“Did she say uncle?” Rhett asked.
“She did.”
Jaime looked over at the small ‘amphoras for sale’ display at the end of the counter.
“We should change the sign to say we don’t sell to Asano family members.”
“This is the Asano Clan, Jaime. That would cut out most of our market.”
“That’s why we need to get the online store up and running.”
“We still have the shipping issue.”
“I’d rather work on that problem than have Jason Asano asking us why we sold his aunt or whatever a dodgy amphora we made with an enchanted 3D printer.”
“You know he can probably still hear us, right?”
“That does not undercut my point.”
***
Carlos, Farrah and Jason watched as Clive and Emi, on their hands and knees, peered closely at the completed ritual circle. Clive explained the intricacies as Emi pointed and asked questions. Bussinger, who soon would be standing in the circle stood aside from the others, staring at it.
“Geneva Andros has shut up like a clam,” Farrah said. “She’s waiting for reps from the Network, like she’s in an interrogation room waiting on a lawyer.”
“She basically is,” Jason said.
“Anna and Danielle want to bring in as many people as possible. The Swiss government, the UN, the EU, all the magic factions. Not the ones with close ties to the Swiss branches, though. And the intelligence agencies we’re working with. They have the best interrogators, if we really want to put her in a room and sweat her. The basic idea is to drag all this into the light and see which bugs scatter.”
“And how is that going?”
“Andros might be staying tight-lipped, but all her little minions in the vault have proven less resolute. It looks like this Finnegan woman thought she was running a very tight little operation, with almost no one in the know. It turns out that her bosses were less discreet, already starting to shop around access to cores. If we hadn’t caught onto this now, the CIA would have in months at the latest. Probably weeks. We may have trouble rounding up everyone involved.”
“That doesn’t matter. My involvement begins and ends with stopping the reality core farming, and making sure it doesn’t start it up again.”
“That second part will be the trick. We may have to smack these operations down a few times, if people keep starting them up. They might see the risk as worth it, whatever example we make of these people.”
“I know. Now that someone has developed the method, the genie is out of the bottle. We’ll have to do our best to hide the bottle and smack the snot out of anyone trying to dig it up.”
“It’s looking like we’ve got a good line on the people in charge. The problem is that the operation itself, and the key players, are still in the wind.”
“The woman the portal specialist mentioned? Marie Finnegan?”
“It turns out that she’s the beginning of an interesting trail. That guy Remy had some surprising revelations to offer, once we pushed him. Lucky for us, he really doesn’t want to be in a room with you again. Turns out that while her bosses were selling out her secret operation, she was selling it to the vampire queen.”
“We suspected they were working with the vampires.”
“It seems that the connection is a little more personal than that. Finnegan has been working directly with Elizabeth. ‘Intimately’ was the word Remy used. It seems that the vamp queen been increasingly on the outs with her subjects since your little vampire apocalypse. She’s out of people to trust, so her, Finnegan and McKean have been running their own show.”
“You’ve confirmed McKean’s involvement?”
“We have. We even got a location on their main lab, but it’ll be tricky to mount a raid.”
“How so?”
“It’s a submarine. It moves around so even a portal specialist who has been there can’t go back without an organised rendezvous. We’re looking into having Remy try and set that up, but if Finnegan doesn’t already know he’s been snatched, it’s a matter of time. Zara is bringing her people in.”
“The Storm Kingdom delegation?”
“Most of the Storm Kingdom is water. Their adventurers know how to operate under the sea.”
“They mean to search for the sub the hard way,” Jason realised.
“Exactly. We’d need to get lucky, but we have a general area to search.”
“Anything you need me for?”
“I think Anna will want to shake you at people in the coming days and weeks. It looks like they’ll have to gut at least two Network branches here in Switzerland. The same way they did in France after Adrien Barbou. We’re covered for now, though. Just concentrate on what’s happening here. Also, what’s happening here? That is the most precision analytical ritual I’ve ever seen. It’s basically a soul microscope. Why do you need to look at someone’s soul that closely?”
She turned to look at Bussinger, standing nervously in the corner. Jason followed her gaze.
“I think I sensed something during the fight,” he said. “Can’t be sure, so I’m having Carlos take a closer look.”
“Uncle Jason’s being extremely cagey,” Emi said as she got up from the floor. “That ritual circle is immaculate, Farrah. You’ve gotten even better since the last time you were on Earth.”
“I had a lot of time to practise while someone…”
She gave Jason a flat glance.
“…was off fighting super gods for the fate of the cosmos.”
“It was for the fate of the cosmos!”
“There’s always an excuse,” Farrah said and shared a nodding look with Emi.
“Can we just start please?” Jason asked, and they all turned to Bussinger again.
“Uh, what exactly is going to happen here?” she asked.
Carlos stepped between her and the others. With his lab coat and the glare he gave them, he looked like a doctor shooing people away from his harried patient. He then turned to Bussinger and spoke softly.
“It’s very simple. We’re going to take a look at your soul, but just the outside. It’s more or less the same as someone looking at your aura, but very thoroughly. It won’t hurt or be harmful, although most people report the sensation feeling quite intrusive. Asano did ask if you wanted to be subjected to this right? What did he tell you exactly?”
“That he wanted someone to check something, about one of my powers. That someone was apparently you.”
“And that’s all?”
“What was I going to do? Fight him again? He fought me and six other people, and they all look like skeletons that were fished out of a tar pit.”
“They’re alive,” Jason clarified. “Gold rankers. There’ll probably be some PTSD.”
“You, of all people, should know better than to joke about that,” Carlos said.
“I’m not,” Jason told him. “Living through the things I do to people is going to stay with them for a long time.”
Jason turned to Bussinger.
“You’re in good hands with Carlos. He’s a healer. Kind of the opposite of me. But I’m not going to force you into doing this. If you want to go back to the mountain and get detained until we figure out what to do with you, that’s your choice.”
Bussinger looked at all the people staring at her, before settling her gaze on Jason.
“It’s been going through my head,” told him. “What do you want? Can I trust any of what you tell me? Then I realised that it doesn’t matter. I can’t escape you; I can’t outfight you. You’ve been asking me to participate, but that’s just to make things easier. If you want me to do something, you can make me, whether I want to or not.”
The others watched Jason as he stood in silence, considering how to respond.
“You’re not wrong,” he told her. “I can make you do as I please. The whole world, really. But I don’t, because I don’t like what would make of the world and I don’t like what it would make of me.”
He sighed, then turned to Carlos.
“Sorry, mate. Let’s pack it all up.”
“Wait, what?” Bussinger asked.
“What?” Jason asked.
“You’re just going to give up?”
“Yeah. Consent is unequivocally my thing.”
“I didn’t say no. What is it that you think you saw? I think everyone here wants to find out, myself included.”
“And I’m not going to tell you. Not without knowing for sure. I’m almost certainly wrong, and I wouldn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Not on this.”
“Alright, then,” Bussinger said. “I’ll do it.”
Comments
Kconraw
Thx for the chapter
Chloe
Tyftc
Cody Cahill
I know this is a long shot but shirt made it known she used monster cores to rank up, im curious if her tribulation lightning is somehow cleansing her monster core use like the purity “relic” is supposed to do.
Cody Cahill
I’m curious if she’s cleansing her monster core use and doesn’t know it. Maybe she’s the “artifact” created by purity?
Kristy Riedel
That is true, but it is also incomplete. When they spoke before they began fighting, Jason felt compassion for her and didn't want to kill this young messenger. He looked for way out and couldn't find one. When their fight began to threaten innocents, his soul broke out and he discovered that his new power as an astral king gave him a way to prevent save everyone. The cost was that he had to torture one soul to save them all. He made that decision in the moment, when he was isolated from his team and familiars. We've all made decisions in moments of pressure that don't align with our higher ideals. Jason has always hated the abuse of power, and struggled at every new power level to learn how to use it without abusing it. We don't learn each lesson once in life and never fail again, we learn over and over, hopefully failing less and less. I love that Shirt portrays this *human* condition so well, and when Jason is finally perfect the series will cease being compelling.
FlareNight
I get that Jason believes consent is important, but I'd argue the most pivotal event in the series was when he soul-tortured a woman in order to force her compliance in changing the mark on her soul. Yes, he's been regretting it since, but I'm pretty sure it's also when we quite literally learned who he is, Hegemon.
Jacob Stevenson
TYFTC!
Stuart Thwaites
The gods seem to be a natural function of magical reality that gains sentience. knowledge existed before Knowledge and even though Purity hasn't existed for a while, people on Palimustus are still getting essences and awakening stonees of Purity.
Nick
It's probably burning out outside influences, using the soul as a roadmap. My bet is that her technique can be used to clean out vampiric curses that havent touched the soul.
Soli116
What of ot was an essence stone?
Myron Jabido
that's what I was thinking too
Max Lopo
Or, you know, purity was a smartass silly bugger and hid his relic on earth. Because why not.
Jordan Brennan
Tyftc!
Havics Child
Less filler, more, setting context and doing the world building needed for something important
Chris Furry
There aren’t any filler chapters in the building of a good story. You have to have some slice of life chapters and exposition chapters in a novel to make it a story, instead of a chain of major events being hopped to one after another by the MC with no feeling that their life outside combat or being a detective, actually exists. It makes the story discombobulating when you don’t get some slice of life type content to make the dramatic story mean something.
Chris Furry
I’m almost certain it would have to happen the other way. On Pallimustus, the gods make the divine essences and awakening stones, and have total control over them. Divine essences and awakening stones don’t just manifest.
Kismet
Could be.
Kismet
No one has said, and it would be impolite to ask, but I think she's a portal specialist, of the Remy variety. It's the only thing I can guess. 😆 It's the only way she could get around like she does. Woman's a champ.
Brad Gammey
Her lightning hurt her but got rid of the afflictions she had. There was an exchange of damage to purifying, which would at least point to a direction for the research. If they understand the underlying principle, they can replicate it and change bits, like a ritual can be changed. A link in the chain to the solution.
Seth J.B.
I'm wondering if it will be for curing vampirism or cleaning out the taint from core use.
Rachel Clements
TYFTC!
Stephen E Wilson Jr.
Or cleans core use from a soul. That would explain the secrecy.
Stuart Thwaites
I like the ides, but It's more likely that her lighting tribulation came from a god-made awakening stone. I imagine divine awakening stones would start manifesting, then divine essences and finally actual gods.
GrizzLeo
He's noticed her healing/cleanse ability damages her in the process. Typically Healing magic uses the Magical Matrix of the soul to revert to a prior state before damage. I'm wondering if her ability circumvents or even penetrates the Soul/Body matrix to make fixes, after all that's basically what they spent years figuring out how to do. An ability that "burns" the ailments and replaces it with what the soul/body matrix should be even if still some damage remained.
Sean C Jackson
You know most of the time I disagree when people say that on here but this one really does.
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Thought the same thing
pyrite jester
I'm honestly torn on that one. Unless the purity follower was aware of his gods plan I dont think it's on earth. Plus I was under the impression that the follower who came to earth was post death. Meaning the artifact would have already been lost
Jason Hardman
Nascent divine blessing? First hint of Gods manifesting?
Kristy Riedel
It means you can charge 3x more.
David Yow
My money is on Purity hiding his artifact on earth somewhere and that’s why everyone was like yo I’m prepping for the war that comes after the apocalypse since we’ve got a big ol’ god McGuffin
Kristy Riedel
Pretty certain it was just the key to the ball.
Laura Hemly
She kept them around, I think, because the Fires of Brainwashing hadn't stripped as much personality from them as it did in most of the more dronelike folks. I think she just thought they were fun to be around. As do I!
Kristy Riedel
I don't think God's are viable on earth yet. They are transcendent rank and earth can only support up to gold so far. World Phoenix is still preventing entry by diamond rank and above.
Kristy Riedel
No, Healer told Jason that the purity relic was not in that place. We have no reason to believe Healer was lying.
MrCynical
Nah. Melody intentionally kept them around because they acted as a distraction for her and canaries for the underling group morality level best I recall. Doing remember exactly why, but she had a very explicit reason for keeping them around because the ritual had such an underwhelming effect on them.
Scott McCarthy
They were made by the finest artisans avaliable (within the production budget)
Code Reed
He's found some way to either peal away monster core taint or to work through it.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Trevor Mallow
Considering it was a type of cleansing that got his attention to begin with I think you might not be far off…
pyrite jester
Yes and her powers definitely shouldn't be able to do anything for them but I think purity's relic might.
pyrite jester
I agree her power would only be for the lesser vamps. But I think purity's relic might be able to do more, considering it can effect monster core residue.
SqrlyGrly
Jason made a comment to healer that he was the anthropomorphic personification of the intent of healing. Or something like that. Healer said it was accurate but rude.
pyrite jester
You're right. When talking to healer in book 8 (I think) healer explains what gods are. And Jason sums it up as 'bundles of authority with a particular flavor that gained sentience and funny ideas'
mockery jones
Honestly. Feels like a filler chapter.
Chad .
I called this like 200 chapters ago. My guess is she either got an awakening stone or was in contact with Purity's artifact. I doubt she, one time use, of purity's artifact.
Chad .
I don't think the gods of Pali came from mortals. I think with the high magic and rules that need to be governed. Like a cohesion of laws. Death, undeath, disguise, war, healer, knowledge. Plud they change it up, Jason will always use his mortal body Shirt said that if all of the rivers dried up the god of rivers would change. Or something like that.
Telewyn
I thought the Purity relic was the natural array?
Landsraad
Even if it does cure/cleanse things. Its still a wuxia Tribulation... Death rate on recipients is probably high except for her since its her skill.
Landsraad
I almost forgot that they were old Purity Cult that only lived becauae they slacked so hard at working that they slipped under all the people that died around them lol
T-Dawg 2099
Worth it! The real question is: Can she hit other people with her Tribulation Lightning?
Destined
Just throwing this out there but where do gods come from when there is enough magic in the world. Could she be the start of them and if so could others be the same as her.
Hunter
100 %. I think, if this is the true theory it’ll cure lesser vampirism and ghouls at best.
ThoMiCroN
But I don’t, because I don’t like what it* would make of the world and I don’t like what it would make of me.”
Hunter
Wild theory. When I first read it my mind went from divine lighting to her possibly having some divinity or in the process of becoming one of the new gods of earth. But Jason always used the term manifest when he referred to them appearing on earth and I don’t think he would need a special soul projection ritual to know that given who he is. He also said he was interested in one of her powers not the soul itself.
Hunter
From what we have seen her lightning can only act on herself. My mind is telling me it’s gonna somehow cure vampirism.
ThoMiCroN
Wow, the Asano do mukbang now.
Hunter
Spark of divinity? I hope It’s not something as simple as her lightning curing vampirism. Which would quickly move the vampire war toward a conclusion if it could be weaponized.
Caleb
Maybe she is the reincarnation of purity from the other world. Maybe that was purity’s sanction. It could also just be purity’s artifact. Everyone seemed to think it was on the other world but was there ever any proof of that. Purity might have sent it to earth when it was created and pretended to hide it on the other world.
ABTelford
My theory is she can burn out vampirism
Havics Child
Also lots of people have mentioned gods, but it normally takes hundreds of years for gods to spawn in and magic has only been high enough to support them for under 2 decades.
Robert Crocker
After scrolling, this doesn't seem to be much of an original thought, lol
Robert Crocker
What if the purity relic didn't end up as an object, but as a person?
Havics Child
So yeah, she is about to have massive numbers of people offering incredible sums of money if people are right about purging core influence. And almost as much if it purifies the soul itself.
gator mate
Tftc
Havics Child
LIES!!! Every person I've met named Samuel or similar was more than happy to take a lady up on the offer if she was drunk, or get her drunk for the purpose. It's just not a name to trust in my experience. ;p
PapaJohn
Jaime and Rhett's arc is the BEST
gabriel boley
Mango is appalled
Robert Crocker
One might say it...purifies them? Traces of divine energy? Purity's relic?
Tex Northend
She has the thing the messangers are looking for.
Michael Romo
Someone mentioned the purity artifact, what if she's the purity artifact or like purity new form? Shade and dawn did mention you can't kill a god. "I'm almost as hard to kill as a god" "thought you couldn't kill gods" "you can't " Jason mentioned that purity was out there somewhere just like the og builder. They just exerted all of their authority. Soooo..... is purity gonna be earth first god? Thought that would've been Jason. Haha
Chuck Haeberle
What does that mean??
Tom Vernon
They are artisanal
Michael Romo
Though If i remember correctly dawn said the earth shouldn't have gods, not that it didn't... damn now I wanna go back and listen haha
David Cooper
"Tribulation lightning" equals sparkly vampires?
Arieh Sochaczevski
Biscuits! So… he thinks she’s slowly cleansing herself of the side effects of core use? Making the whole thing with Purity’s remains irrelevant?
David
I don't want her to be the artifact or for it to be an awakening stone. The original post was more of a "Damn. I hope that isn't the case, so it probably will be". I like your idea for the awakening stone being influenced by the relic much more because it wouldn't throw the story (or the entire Earth) off the rails.
Justin
Glad it’s a Monday because I only have more questions. Great chapter TYFTC!
Chuck Haeberle
Why so expensive!?
Vincent Ciavone
Could also be the magic levels increasing causing an awakening of the artifact in somebody. But I can't imagine something other then it being purity related rn
ShowBizGAL 1996
Read it again. It gets easier the more you read it. :-D
Danny G
You are in luck. They are on sale for $250 each. $400 for a pair.
ShowBizGAL 1996
Um, I thought "true vampirism" like Craig Vermillion's went soul deep. So the true vampire's are stuck, since they voluntarily allowed the taint into their souls so as to accept the "gift."
Samuel Strode
Dodgy amporpha
Samuel Strode
ROFL
Samuel Strode
Oh I noticed
Samuel Strode
Consent is unequivocally my thing— mine too!
Danny G
That woman is everywhere. I swear I just saw her at the grocery store.
Skalias Pablo
I can't describe the joy it brought me viewing part of Emi's day from her perspective in this chapter.
TjStorm
because I don’t like what would make of the world because I don’t like what I would make of the world
Tyler S.
What if it was sent with the Network creator and the forming of the grid help't mature the artifact like a gestating Eternal (like the bad marvel movie lol)
TjStorm
It’s been going through my head,” told him It’s been going through my head,” she told him
Josh A
But only 0.00001% each time. It's gonna take awhile, grab a chair.
Nea
I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what's going on! I have a couple of ideas, and each is wilder than the last!
Zachary Blevins
Blah blah, blah word salad, blah blah blah
ShowBizGAL 1996
Especially if it's filled with marshmallow cream and/or peanut butter! Yum! :-)
Joanna
You know, at first I thought your suggestion was really unlikely, but then I started investigating the origin and meaning of "tribulation lightning" and it's starting to make more sense. I doubt that she is the artifact, but it's possible that one of her awakening stones was somehow influenced by it to produce this particular power
xXMetrinSlerbaXx
The dialogue at the middle was pretty hard to follow, didn't know who was speaking most of the time.
Justin Butler
"She knows!"
Quintin Landhan
Biscuits!
Michael Romo
Idk how to even began to pronounce those words 😄 guess I'll have to wait a few years for Heath to read them lol
Tim
The Keystone to his study. If there was anything other than that it wasnt mentioned, but the mystery object was the keystone but he was eventually called out on it.
Robert Landers
Ha! Purity was sanctioned… to the other planet!
Daniel Wills
Always heard it as Mango Shart in my head, personally.
Shadowessence
I wonder if anyone noticed how emi said THEIR apartment
Kyle Hunter
While Consent is a great choice of being Jason's thing, I really thought the chapter was going to be more sandwich related.... Based on the title, I thought Jason and stash were setting up a sandwich/bakery to blow off steam.
Teddy Torres
I want a cozy spinoff series of them starting different business ventures until something sticks
Danny boy
I don't think we will find out until Jason is diamond rank
David
I hope that’s what it is. The artifact being on Earth would be bad enough.
Gotrek65
Ah I can't wait to know what he thought he saw!
Joanna
You know, that's a good point. About the loot, I mean. There was the guy's key, but there did seem to be more to it than that, huh?
D Rod
Purity Magic?
Vincent Ciavone
I was wanting to say something like that but it just seems too crazy but if anybody on earth would sense it, I imagine it's Jason
JWR
I believe the tribulation lightning is what he is hoping will cure vampirism. The tribulation lightning might have the ability to destroy unclean substances from one soul. You see this sort of information when it comes to tribulation lightning in cultivation stories.. When the main characters in one of the cultivation stories gets struck by tribulation lightning, it goes through their entire body and cleanse all the nasty poo inside the cultivator’s body. I believe that is what Jason is hoping to do with the tribulation lightning and the vampire.
Chris Cahill
Or somehow purity’s artifact got shot to earth and she absorbed it as a awaking stone
OJCOPACABANA
I could see that, I was thinking it might be some kind of soul cleansing tribulation through self damage something or other
T-Dawg 2099
A cliffhanger followed by a cliffhanger? You absolute monster! I'm shooting for the moon: Bussinger's Tribulation Lightning is going to be useful for removing vampirism and it cleanses monster core taint.
Kathryn Lemay
Wow, Im legit on the edge of my chair lol, i must know!! Cant wait for wednesday!
OJCOPACABANA
Mango lol
Sean Beasle
I mean that’s how I got on his patreon 🤷🏻♂️ bro is a good sales person
Julio Capacetti-Quintana
I think the Occam’s Razor explanation for this mystery is that this Tribulation Lightning essence ability has the same potential to clear monster core residue like the Purity Relic. Maybe at Diamond, maybe as part of a ritual, or maybe, being a core user herself, Bussinger just doesn’t use it often enough to notice the effect. I can’t think of any other reason Jason would be so squirrelly about not getting anyone’s hopes up. Nothing else comes to mind that would be so monumental. In my (admittedly limited) experience in cultivation fiction, Tribulation Lightning has a tendency to clear all manner of “impurities” from cultivators as long as you withstand the tribulation. That’s what the essence ability says on the tin, but I just feel like it goes deeper than regular afflictions. To those positing it might be a divine essence ability, I don’t think that makes much sense since Bussinger was already Silver-rank by the time Jason and Farrah arrived on Earth the first time. The level of magic at the time she’d have claimed her essences and stones (roughly 3-15 years before the start of the series at a guess) wasn’t even high enough for regular manifestations, let alone divinity.
Russell Ventimeglia
Lightning - so Thor?
Tom C
Tribulation lightning skill that clears away the debris from monster core rank ups. Is my guess TFTC!
Ravert
A cat for sure but is he alive?
Terry Bell
Ok....So was talking to Clives wife and we thinking Bussinger may have the first spark of Divinity on Earth....Just a theory though.
Darkdragon
Love the biscuit sandwich
John Collier
So what’s everyone’s guess on what Jason has seen? Purity essence is what’s striking to mind from all the theories on the last chapter but if it’s not that I have no idea
John Durrett
The memory those gold ranker's will have after they have recovered, they will never ever never ever cross Jason again.
Tina Young
Now I really, really want to know 😊
J Holmes
Mmmm, Korean food. Gochujang >> plain old gangjang
Vincent Ciavone
Maybe she has some soul purification that works on monster core taint. Wild reach tho
Tom Rhyne
May Wednesday arrive quickly…
Tom Rhyne
Amphorae, too. But he can’t admit that in current company, clearly.
Nematrec
Cliff hangers are unequivocably Shirtaloons Thing.
Jason Galyon
What’s in the box!?
Hell 5pawn
Well now I have to know. Best way to write anticipation is to drag it through multiple chapters whilst mentioning it, apparently. Also we never did find out what he looted from Mango Shaat, did we?
Robert Landers
My thought as well, but why did he not just ask what she worships or if she was/is religious? I suspect it is something else.
David
It’a going to be a trace of the purity artifact or she somehow IS the artifact.
Christophe Putnam
That's what I'm thinking. She has a divine essence from one of the first gods awakening on Earth.
James Culbreath
Rhett and Jamie are my favorites.
Chuck Haeberle
This is all really fascinating stuff but I'd like to learn more about the amphorae?
Laura Hemly
Thanks for the chapter, Shirt, even though you just extended the torment of the Friday cliffhanger for at least two more days! I presume Emi's chat with the amphora artisans is compensation of sorts. It helps. 😅
Tyler S.
Blame the Builder hes a prick
Justin Crisler
No.
Tyler S.
He has opened a door that when found can help essence users slowly gain more and better control of their Authority
mhaj58
Good to see Emi again, but I’m tired of reading about how Jason had to spend 15 years reforming the Cosmic Throne while everyone else had to carry on with their lives without him. It’s not his fault the authorities keep messing up wherever he happens to be and he is the best option to save the cosmos. Find something else to blame
Tyler S.
Sorry mate youve been biscuit sandwiched
Bingus McCready
Holy shit…I have like, 5 ideas of what it could be that he saw, and they’re all utterly insane. Can’t wait for Wednesday! TFTC!
Kevin DD
Gods?
SqrlyGrly
I suspect tribulation is a holy skill. That is what he wants a second opinion on.
Dylan Alexander
Maybe she has a connection to the cosmic throne?
Tom Rhyne
Usually I wait a bit to read these, so I’m not waiting longer later. But this title got me…
James Culbreath
Pants!
Paul Brittain
Biscuits!
Bobby Baxter
First
Darkdragon
Biscuits
