Skip Navigation

Mercuri

@ Mercuri @ani.social

Posts
2
Comments
191
Joined
1 yr. ago

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • It felt like they were rushing to end it or had given up and wanted it to end.

    From what little I read in the afterwards (I skipped most of them), the author thought it would be a shame for readers to have to wait a whole year for the conclusion so he said he'd publish volume 16 only one month after volume 15. Volume 16 definitely needed more time in the oven. "Lets spend half the book just switching perspectives! That won't be annoying or confusing!"

    I am still hoping the author decides to do another series after this one continuing with White.

    The Misadventures of D and White! It could happen, but it would basically be a story entirely about the god's realm as there's very little left on Game Planet for them and what IS left is very, very finite.

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • Saaaaame. It's my headcanon!

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • turns out this is the LN of the 2023 anime “The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far”

    Oh, that anime was... okay. Way too heavy-handed with the foreshadowing so by the time the big bad appears you're just like "ABOUT TIME" instead of "OH SNAP!" I can't imagine the book being any better, especially if you know what's coming.

    <Secrets of the Silent Witch>

    Vol. 7 - I really love how the series has a main plot that is steadily continuing forward without falling into the LN trap

    Ooooh... I actually liked the anime but I was worried that it would degenerate into little more than "omg, I'm too shy to do anything... until I'm literally forced to do something and then I'm awesome." Rince and Repeat. To hear that there's an overarching plot bumps it up a few notches.

    An actual villainess and not just someone framed by the Prince’s new love interest? You got my attention now!

    I'm a sucker for Villainess stories... but sounds like it completely misses the opportunity to ACTUALLY have a cool villainess.

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • PART 3

    On a final note, I do like all the tie-ins and callbacks in the series. I always thought it was weird that Oka's Student Roster skill said the reincarnations died by having their skills removed. She thought it was because the skills were stolen but she strips Natsume of his skills and he doesn't die so that seemed odd. But later on when you see Ariel's plan it makes sense. How cool is that? Early volumes forshadow events all the way at the end of the series.

    Whew... damn, it was only two books but I wrote a whole freaking novel here. As far as the series as a whole, I loved how nothing was ever as it seemed and how most of the typical tropes were subverted. Almost everything is explained as well. Usually there's just hand-waving in an isekai but not here. However some of the side characters are so stuffy or one-dimensional as to make their perspectives such a pain to read. For every Ariel there's a Julius. And as stated before, the ending could definitely have been better. It's not quite tripping at the finish line but it's close. Overall I'd probably still give it an 8/10. Sure there were some crappy moments but when it was good it was REALLY good. White is a 10/10 Chaos Gremlin.

    <Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life!> Volumes 1 - 6. Very surprised by how different the anime is from the LN. Sure, the anime hits some of the same plot points but it's vastly different in execution. For instance, how Nano is made into an actual character in the anime. Likewise in the book there are just vague references to things, like how she only knows training from anime. In the anime, she actually dresses up like Master Roshi and stuff, so those jokes hit better.

    They completely skip the Eckland Academy arc and start the story after Adele has become Mile then change a lot of the wacky things that happen at Eckland to things that instead happen at the Hunter Prep school. And that whole kidnapping ring in the anime? Not a thing in the LN. Nor is the female member of Crimson Lightning who takes care of Reina a thing.

    On the flipside, Marcela's role is much bigger in the LN and Mile's backstory is much more relevant.

    What I'm trying to say is that I've never seen an anime differ so much from the source material before. It's like they took the best parts of the first four novels and redid it into a 12 episode anime... and yet they still threw in extra bits like Reina, Mavis, and Pauline secretly trying to buy Mile a gift. Reading the LN, it's very obvious that would NEVER happen because they were always about working together and earning money as a team except on very explicit rest days. And then there's the ubiquitous beach episode. So yeah, it's a bit baffling in some regards.

    On a side note, I didn't know FUNA also wrote I'll Shall Survive Using Potions and Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement. Those are two other anime isekais I enjoyed for being unique even if they were silly. I might have to consider reading the LNs now.

    What I do love is how Mile keeps trying to be an "normal, average girl" yet she keeps doing all these crazy feats that leave everyone banging their heads against the wall. Literally. There's so much more random nonsense than we got to witness in the anime. If White is a chaos gremlin, Mile is a ditz gremlin. Marcella's incantation to get her "Adele Simulator" working is particularly hilarious: "Lower intelligence, remove all common sense, increase carelessness times five..."

    The side stories are also particularly unique from other LNs. Usually a side story is something that's not particularly relevant to the main plot but might give some extra insight or a different perspective on things. The side stories here though are sometimes completely random and seemingly totally irrelevant to everything.

    Also, the art is STUPIDLY cute. Just adorable. I also love how they even include "non-canon" art that the artist did just for fun in the back of the books too. I mean, how cool is it that the artist loves illustrating this novel so much that they do extra art just for funsies?

    Anyway, I 'm definitely enjoying it, if it wasn't obvious from the fact I'm already 6 volumes deep already. Thanks for the recommendation!

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • PART 2

    Asking a god to fix everything was the LAST thing I would have expected because that's how they got into that mess. So Shun pissed me off in that regard, although D did point out that Ariel used White's God powers. Regardless, I don't think the solution is to have D just fix things, especially since we all know she could snap her fingers and be done with it. That's a boring and unsatisfying ending.

    There's also already WAAAAY too many people willing to die for their cause so a heroic sacrifice ending would be boring too.

    So what do we do instead? Well, I could see it going down two ways.

    First, power creep. This is more-or-less trying to keep with the original ending.

    White has already shown that she has ridiculous growth potential reaching Godhood in record time and all that. And she has clones that can do things in the background. So I ask you this question: If a God is just a being with a lot of energy, where do they get their energy from? We know that White got it from the MA bomb but how about beings like D and Meido? And the way D and Meido talk at the end implies that energy is a scarce resource even among Gods.

    So the story plays out more-or-less the same except this time when Oka checks Student Roster she sees "Killed by the Evil God D" next to the status of Shun&Co. You know, so the skill is working as intended and not just some random mysterious deus ex machina hint. She puts two and two together and realizes that D is the evil god. Like, white is the color of good... DUH! The reincarnations decide they need to confront the "evil" D.

    They do telephone for exposition and because they have to pick up Sophia, Wrath, and Ariel for 'reasons'. Rondalt teleports them all to the Lower Stratum which he's been to before (Seriously, why did they have to ride from the ENTRANCE of the Labyrinth in the first place?). After a confrontation with Wrath, they make it to the Bottom Stratum. They then use the System's connection to talk to D, who then pulls them all into a dimension of her creation (same as Guli-Guli did). More exposition happens while everyone pisses their pants at D's power. Miss Oka is shocked to learn that her benefactor is the tiny spider she saved and silently thanks White for everything.

    Shun being Shun idiotically challenges D because "even if there's no chance I still have to try" and they fight, with D not even taking the fight seriously because there's no fun in that. When all hope seems lost because D is too powerful, White shows up and kicks her into next week. She proclaims she brought friends, then drops an unconscious but still alive Guli-Guli in front of Oka and Shun so they can heal him.

    Rewind to earlier when Guli-Guli pulls White into the alternate dimension to fight. It turns out White figured out how to get energy the godly way (what do you think her clones were doing in that alternate dimension all this time?). And she stored all that power in her scythe, which was also in that alternate dimension! I dunno, she sucked it out of the sun or stole all the magic from Earth that they weren't using or something. Anyway, since the extra power was in the alternate dimension because she was hiding it, she was initially losing to Guli-Guli. Powered up White is now maybe half as strong as D, especially after also stealing Guli-Guli's energy with evil eyes (hey, they were fighting to the death and he's still alive so it's all fair, okay? okay? okay). But more importantly, she found a way to be immortal so even D can't kill her. I dunno... she puts part of her soul into the planet's MA field or something. The planet is alive therefore it has a soul and therefore White can put her soul into it. Hey, it's not any more stupid than super teleportation! Anyway, D realizes she can't kill white without blowing up basically every planet in the universe. D and White decide on a truce and to team up. It's basically the Ariel/Kumoko situation all over again.

    White uses her new God powers to shut off the system without any sacrifices, then tells D she'll be back after she spends some time with Ariel. We get a real epilogue. Sariel and White have funny moments of non-communication with Ariel somehow understanding the entire conversation even though nothing is being said. Also White learns nothing and continues to be a chaos gremlin.

    The End.

    So I really like that ending but the power creep thing has been done to death. What is this, SSJ White? And there's still loose ends and White just magically fixing everything is kinda meh. So as an alternative I give you: game ending.

    D wants the world to be a game and the world quest is indeed a quest. Except the quest is misleading, right? So the "correct" answer is to support the Ivory God because that is the only way things actually work out. As D said, the Pontiff's plan was NEVER going to work. It's also the opposite of what everyone chose when they sacrificed Sariel so it hits harder.

    On top of that, people start picking up more quests that hit at the truth of the world and the identity of the evil god. A world quest's outcome should involve the entire world, not just a handful of people who are mostly outsiders! So yeah, everyone gets random quests and as people complete these quests, more power is generated and send to a corresponding god.

    So despite Ariel not expecting anything from humanity, humanity actually starts to side with the Ivory god, especially knowing that the System has been running far too long to continue to be viable. As a result White starts winning the fight with Guli-Guli (who was NOT weakened deus ex machina style)

    As White gets more power, a voice pops into her head.

    <Energy threshold has been reached.>

    <Unpacking D's guide to Godliness.>

    <Administrator functions are now accessible.>

    Yeah, remember that thing D installed onto White when she became a God and then NEVER came up again? Turns out D wanted White to take over managing the planet so she could make it more entertaining for her. White kicks Guli-Guli's butt but doesn't kill him, instead picking him up and dusting him off. What a good sport!

    White returns to the planet and goes about fixing things while complaining about how busy she is the entire time. On top of that, the World Quest shifts to tasks to help fix the world.

    To fix the system, White basically sets up a robot spider clone to manage it and saves Sariel. While she's at it she saves Ariel too by using System powers to undo the damage caused by Humility (although in the process Ariel's stats will end up only being like 20000 or so for a few hundred years while her soul heals). Everyone on the planet gets the [n% I = W] skill so their souls go into the regular cycle to heal when they die. New souls are given the option to reincarnate into a "Game World" with skills and since they'll only be there one cycle their souls don't get damaged at all.

    People like Kunihiko flock to the world and instigate more change and not only fix the planet but make it one of the most prosperous in all of existence. Sophia finally marries Merazophis. Shun restores the Kingdom with Leston as the new king then marries Katia. Sue moves in and lives with Shun and Katia, much to their dismay. Fei and Hyrince have a thing that's on again, off again. Hugo removes the corruption in the emptire while Fei pesters him about it. Miss Oka becomes a teacher. Wrath opens a sword dojo. Kunihiko and Tagawa's ending stays the same, as does Yuri's. Tenth Army act as world police for Administrator White. The puppet spiders get new outfits. Ronandt retires and is frequently seen playing with Fiel. Aurel gets promoted to head court mage. She hates it. Ariel tells White, "Thank you! I love you so much" just like White wanted way back in Volume whatever. They even get married with Sariel officiating. Later White is frequently seen in the Demon Lord's castle with Ariel skipping out on Administrator work playing video games. Everyone gets a happy ending. Even D.

    The End.

    I think I like Ending 2 better. It hits the themes of the series perfectly and doesn't just solve problems with absurd God powers... again.

    I will say that I felt pretty silly that it took me until Volume 16 to realize there was a reveal in the TITLE. Thankfully I got it before White says it at the very end as the last line of the book but boy did I feel dumb.

    Initially I thought the title was about their bad luck getting reincarnated as a spider and their determination to make it work no matter what. But that's only partially true. The TRUE meaning in the title is that they really were just a spider all along. And just like D said, ironic how the throw-away reincarnation was the one to achieve godhood when all the other reincarnations with better skills and abilities couldn't cut it.

    Remember, Kumoko's reincartion bonus was Skanda, which is NOT a unique skill like Ninja or Student Roster. She really was a throw-away that D didn't spend any more time than necessary making. I think that's why when Kumoko exceeds D's expectations, D gives Kumoko a proper unique skill in Wisdom.

    Another thing I noticed was that while the series starts out as LitRPG, it drops most of it in later volumes. Sure skills and stats come up, but you no longer see big status pages. This is mostly fine since all the main skills have been established and the skills lists were getting overly long.

    White gets kicked from the system and can no longer see skills and stats so by proxy the reader also cannot see skills and stats. It's kind of cool in that regard if you think about it.

    CONTINUED IN PART 3

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 08 - December 14]

    Jump

  • Okay bookworms, this is a LONG one so buckle up.

    <So I'm a Spider, So What> Volumes 15 & 16. Honestly, a bit of a disappointment. Not that it was bad but 15 seems to set up for something really great and then 16 ends up being mostly predictible with little payoff. Like, the payoff in volume 14 was HUGE! But volume 16 leaves barely any room for epilogue.

    And like, the cover of Volume 16 shows Ariel and White sitting happily together. Like they just won and where so exhausted they collapsed there on the spot. SPOILER: THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN!

    When I saw that I was like "OH SNAP!" I had already suspected something was up from the wording before about "An evil god wants to sacrifice half of humanity". It's initially implied by the context that it's White but "evil god" has always been D, so maybe because White is D's protoge she's also evil? I also thought maybe the "evil god" could've been Guli-Guli because he was on the wrong side of the conflict and Team Ebony's plan would result in a worse fate for humanity than Team Ivory. But no, it's D. Which could've been okay except I don't feel the author handled it well.

    I DO like how if you pay attention to the wording it actually becomes obvious that the ivory god and the ebody god are not the evil god because the adjectives have changed! But anyway...

    I really feel the author wrote themselves into a corner and didn't quite know how to finish the story, especially given his self-imposed time constraints. Like one of the strengths of the series is that defeating the bad guy doesn't solve the world's problems. It isn't just your typical "defeat the demon lord and save the world" iseaki. And that means you can have a DEEP villain with lots of backstory and motives. But since he's the cause of the problems and not the source you still have to deal with the problems afterward. Which means you need another villain or challenge to overcome so the story doesn't just become a laundry list of chores to check off.

    So the author decides to make D the final boss? D is already established as the most powerful being in the series. You can’t have a fight with someone like that unless the author gifts everyone a package labeled "Plot Armor: Pre-Activated." Barring some insane turn of events that was never going to work well. And we don't get any insane events; just your standard predictible showdown.

    And no, not the showdown between White and Guli-Guli. Turns out that didn't matter AT ALL. Not even the prayers to decide who would win. All meaningless. The "world quest" is instead completed by less than a dozen side characters. Yay?

    And even just to get to the ACTUAL showdown it was a stretch. D making a big empty void and just casually waiting for people to teleport to her? Rondalt uses never before seen magic to do the teleportation? Ariel just letting her enemies waltz into the System Core even though she's in a weakened state and has basically already won? Even the message Oka gets is ham-fisted. "Oh, D made your skill so she must've messed with it to give you a personal message" my foot!

    And why was the Sword of the Hero even there at all? And Ariel just GIVES it to Shun? It was stupid! And wait, didn't using the Sword of the Demon Lord last time drain a MASSIVE amount of MA Energy from the planet? Shouldn't Shun's wasteful use of the Sword of the Hero have basically ruined the planet forever? And D made the thing so of course it's not going to be more powerful than D herself.

    And do I even need to mention that Shun&Co are so underleveled and weak that they don't even matter?

    So of course D was going to wipe the floor with them until White shows up. I will say White "spawn camping" D was pretty hilarious though.

    One more thing... according to D, the Pontiff's plan to sacrifice Guli-Guli, White, and Sariel wouldn't have given them enough energy but White's plan to suck Guli-Guli dry (but keep him alive) and then use all her own energy to save Sariel and all of humanity would have worked? That doesn't make any sense. I guess the Pontiff wasn't planning on shutting down the system? But without the Gods there would be no core! Anyway...

    So what was the payoff for getting through that ridiculous ending? One or two lines about what happened to each person with a good chunk of them being "We don't know what happened to them." Ridiculous.

    CONTINUED IN PART 2!

  • until next year

    Jump

  • Imagine if they found the one piece in 1045.

  • "Ichijōma Mankitsu Gurashi!" Teaser Visual

    Jump

  • Me on the right trying not to laugh and give away that I put "SOFT CREAM" on the ice cream machine.

  • [Discussion] Which character is the cutest for you?

    Jump

  • Lets be real... everyone in K-ON is cute as hell.

  • [Discussion] Which character is the cutest for you?

    Jump

  • Oh damn, these are good choices. I think it's even funnier that Mahiro is actually a grown man and Jahy is an adult demon!

    Wait... Akatsuki starts as a man too...

    Only conclusion is that Hakase must be a grown man.

  • Crunchyroll is Officially Ending Its Free Ad-Supported Streaming Service on December 31, 2025

    Jump

  • Now you have to pay to get ads! Because paid tier gets ads anyway for Crunchyroll products with no way to turn that crap off. Huzzah!

  • Crunchyroll is Officially Ending Its Free Ad-Supported Streaming Service on December 31, 2025

    Jump

  • Not just seems like, they objectively are.

  • [Discussion] Which character is the cutest for you?

    Jump

  • Haru Urara from Umamusume

    Her reaction when she wins a race in the game is priceless. Actually, every emote she has is adorable.

  • [Discussion] Which character is the cutest for you?

    Jump

  • Oh man, it's so hard to pick just one. I'd probably have to go with Mem-cho from Oshi No Ko. It's not just her looks either. Her entire personality is cute.

    A strong runner up is Kanna Kamui from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. She's absolutely adorable.

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 01 - December 07]

    Jump

  • Indoctrinated? That's probably the best word. Could also be conditioned or brainwashed.

    Also... lol!

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 01 - December 07]

    Jump

  • What volume 11? There is no volume 11. It never existed.

    lol. You're right.

    White and Ariel are great together.

    Really some of the best moments. I could gush forever on those two.

    If you want another wild mc, Mile from Average Abilities is your girl.

    I think I remember you recommending it in a Midweek question a month or so back so that's why it's on my radar. I even enjoyed the low-production quality anime because of Mile's wacky antics.

    I miss White, Ariel, Sofia, puppet spider sisters and even D.

    White turning the puppet spiders into actual characters was NOT something I saw coming. Ronandt has also grown on me a lot so when Ronandt and the puppet spiders get into it that was great.

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 01 - December 07]

    Jump

  • I always hated the chapters from the human’s POVs.

    I remember when the anime was coming out the comments were always like "Noooo... an episode that's just the human POVs!" Feels the same way. I mean, it does really help flesh out the world when we see different perspectives but urg, volume 11 was bad. It just made me hate Julius as a character, which I think is the opposite of its intended effect.

  • What light novel(s) have you read last week, and what do you think about it? [December 01 - December 07]

    Jump

  • <So I'm a Spider, So What> Volumes 9 - 14. Okay, let me just say that Volume 11 sucked. I mean, not the worst thing I've ever read but I really didn't enjoy it. The ENTIRE book is from the perspective of side characters. Sure, we get some insight into the happenings going on with these characters but we already know what's going to happen to them so it reads like filler. I will say that there is one piece of information that ends up being quite telling after we get some new information in Volume 12 but damn, I feel like I could've skipped that whole volume and been totally fine.

    Worse, the bits of actually GOOD story from Sophia's perspective were only a page or two in length. I would have LOVED to see more of Sophia's story. Sure, we get a basic summary of what happened in later volumes but having that in Volume 11 would've made it much easier to get through.

    Alright, anyway, where was I?

    Right, even though Volume 11 sucked the rest of the books were like OMFG THIS IS AMAZING! Like, I already had one twist spoiled for me from looking at the fan wiki but it was like, the smallest twist. And the reveals JUST KEPT COMING! Alright, there's like way too many spoilers so I'm going to reference everything in this spoiler tag and then later on I'll be like [Spoiler 1] and you'll know what I'm talking about if you look at the spoiler, okay? okay.

    1. Timeskip

    2. Kumoko's Deification

    3. Kumoko being a spider that was in the classroom / D being the real Hiiro Wakaba

    4. Hyrince being a clone of Guli-Guli

    5. White being the mastermind behind all the happenings to Shun... mostly

    Oh, and it seems I was totally correct about the story continuing from before [Spoiler 1] until it meets back up after [Spoiler 1].

    I knew from the wiki that [Spoiler 2] happens but I seriously thought that would be something that happens more towards the end of the series, not in Volume 10! Then again I thought the form we see her in at the end of the anime / Volume 5 was an evolution past Arachne. Speaking of Arachne, drunk White is best White.

    [Spoiler 3] was also spoiled for me from the wiki, but I still LOVED seeing it unfold in the LN. How cool is it that you can still be going "OMFG!" at a reveal that's already been spoiled for you? TOO COOL! And it really gives such strong meaning for why White is helping Oka and the other reincarnations.

    Also, I originally thought the reason Oka thought Wakaba was dead was because Wakaba was D and D wasn't a reincarnation. But no, it's because White became a God and therefore was booted from the System. Since Oka's skill only works within the System it couldn't see White any more and removed it from the [Student Roster] which made Oka think Wakaba was dead. We also learn in Volume 14 or so that the [n% I = W] skill puts the souls into the normal cycle of reincarnation rather than keep them trapped on the planet like the natives. So really when [Student Roster] shows a blank spot it's because the soul isn't part of the System any more. But Oka falsely thought that blank spots meant the reincarnation had died, which is only one method that a soul would not be part of the System.

    Yeah, I really didn't like Volume 11, but when I found out about [Spoiler 4], that was completely new information to me. I kind of wish I had known about [Spoiler 4] before reading Volume 11 because then I might have been able to read more into it. As it stands I basically just powered through to get back to White's story.

    Speaking of White's story, it was so cool to some things that happened in Volume 5 from a different perspective!

    Back in Volumes 1-5, the Shun chapters were the only ones happening in the future. Now that White's caught up to that timeline we got to see those events from her perspective.

    I think my favorite thing was when we saw the Nightmare Vestiges talk to Shun. They were all cryptic and mysterious and made you really wonder what secrets would be revealed later. But when we see it from White's perspective, they were all like, "We did the thing!" because they were purposely being all dramatic for laughs.

    Likewise, when Ronandt (who somehow looks like Gandalf in my mind despite there being art and anime depictions of him) fights Shun from the roof of the castle in Analeit, it initially seems like he was there as part of some master plan. But when we see those same events unfold from White's perspective she's like "what is he doing here?!" And even though Ronandt can tell that something weird is happening in the castle he just dismisses it like, "Eh, I'm sure it's fine" much to White's exasperation.

    Finally we see that Sophia always cryptically refers to White as "Master" because it's a curse placed on her by White as punishment for her unruly behavior. In Volumes 1-5 and in the anime it's always a really big mystery who Sophia's master could be and while we have some suspicions, it's not revealed until the final moments. I just like that there's a legitimate reason for it and not just that the author was trying to be mysterious.

    That doesn't mean the author isn't mysterious though. In Volume 3 there's a chapter called "???" or something which is an exchange between two unknown characters. In Volume 12 or 13 it's revealed that those characters were White and Hyrince when they more-or-less have the exact same conversation. It might just be an addition that was made when the web novel was made into a LN but it's still really cool to see inserts like that when they come full circle.

    It's so great that all these events we see have explanations behind them but they're NOTHING like what we would normally expect! And the backstories are amazing too. It's also great to see how White and Ariel went from enemies to friends. When Ariel wraps White up in a blanket of thread and tells her to get some sleep because she looked tired, my heart melted.

    My favorite thing about Volume 14 is we can see the events that lead to the creation of the system and the origin of Dustin, Potimas, and Ariel. We also get to finally see Sariel before she became part of the System and Guli-Guli before he became an administrator. I had always wondered why Guli-Guli was the only true dragon left on the planet and we get a thorough explanation. We also see how Potimas is an even bigger dirtbag than we were led to believe. And of course, White gets to do White things and be awesome.

    Oh, and Potimas getting absolutely WRECKED and then reduced to such a pathetic state was the cherry on top.

    What I find crazy is that there's still two more books and we've already hit a major event at the end of Volume 14. It really has me excited for what happens next as I have NO idea what to expect! Right now the biggest question I have is how Ariel became a Divine Beast. Based on the backstory given to us in Volume 14 it seems my original assumption can't possible be true.

    I had originally assumed that Ariel was a spider monster that evolved into a human form. This is also how I originally thought Kumoko was going to get her human form. But it turns out Ariel was always humanoid. And the reason her body is tiny like that of a child is because she was sickly. And we know that Sariel became part of the System. So where did the idea that the Goddess had a pet spider divine beast come from in the Kingdom of Sariella's religion? Maybe it had something to do with the origin of the Kingdom of Sariella, which shares the name with the Sariella foundation. Regardless, I'm curious if it'll ever be explained!

    Whew... well, that's a lot of text and rambling. I think I'll stop it here for now and get back to reading.

    On a side note, anyone have any recommendations for what to read next? I'm thinking either Slime Iseaki, Average Abilities Isekai, or Overlord Isekai but feel free to recommend whatever.

  • Midweek discussions - Uh oh! No no no no no nooo.. Don't Usagi Drop me!

    Jump

  • Neat! Watching the anime I was like "I bet these are real recipes you can do"