(L) Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? [WN]

[kari-no-sugata II]

Hmm, interesting. Potimas's thoughts on "gods" aren't that far different from how I thought they were presented in this series. Essentially he seems them as living creatures with a lot of energy. So to beat them you "just" need to make them run out of energy.

Somehow, I can imagine Shiro being really annoyed that Potimas used poison on Ariel. Shiro's Evil Eye of Gluttony seems handy against ever lasting opponents.

Hmm. If Ariel could duplicate "Kumoko" against all those robots and counter the magecraft jamming barrier then maybe she could win. If she can use Gluttony then she can fight forever too...

[lullabyz]

Wow... to think that this Poti guys actually care for Ariel even if it's a lil' bit...

[EvilSociopath323]

まったく、システムというものは理不尽この上ない。
　自然の法則をことごとく捻じ曲げ、世界のありようを変質させ、その上でこの世界に生きる生物にエネルギー の供給を強要してくるのだから。

This part is interesting. I wonder if Po would claim something like this if he thought that the system is there to restore the planet. Does he simply not know? Or does he know something we don't know? Or maybe he thinks that the system restoring the world is just a lie?

[Okashira]

Originally Posted by EvilSociopath323

This part is interesting. I wonder if Po would claim something like this if he thought that the system is there to restore the planet. Does he simply not know?

To be honest, my impression is that he does not give a damn if the energy is being used to restore the planet or not. Pochi sounds like he is merely pouting that such a huge amount of useful energy can be hoarded, without him touching it.


In any event, thanks to body in-charge, Ariel should be 100% clear on what's actually happening to her and how to solve it, so I'm looking forward what she does from hereon.

[Amuris]

yeah, it seems more like he just fundamentally doesn't care if the world is dying. Can't tell if he's of the mind that they should just abandon the world rather than draining themselves to revive it(which makes his use of the tech hypocritical) or if he's just more nihilistic about it and thinks the world should be allowed to die rather than put on life-support.

The thing is, there are way to many people like Potimas in real life and I don't understand them either. So I can't just dismiss something a blatant stupidity or hypocrisy as that's what makes it more realistic...

[kari-no-sugata II]

Translation for "Elf Village Battle ⑥" is up.

Spoiler for thoughts:

As far as I remember, Potimas's only long term goal is to become a god. But is his idea of what a god is really correct? Is a god simply a living being with a lot of energy (and the knowledge to manipulate it)? He did fail to become a god after all. He doesn't seem to place much importance on the soul, that I can see. Which is perhaps where he's going wrong.

So anyway... it seems that rather than having a "nuke" that Potimas has some nasty to deal with weapons... and a lot of them in many cases. I wonder if the Gloria Type Ω has any nasty combat abilities? If not and if Ariel can use Gluttony again, maybe she could wear it down instead.

So why can't Ariel do something similar to what Kumoko did in chapter 200 and counter the magecraft jamming field. Idea 1 - the current field is too strong. Idea 2 - Shiro never tried to teach it to Ariel or Ariel refused to learn it. Idea 3 - Ariel is unable to learn it (unlike Shiro I don't think she ever learned to create magic from scratch, though maybe she could with practice). Idea 4 - Ariel could do it but is being stubborn about it (doesn't want to rely on Shiro, even indirectly).

[NicApple]

Idea 5: Zannen Ariel is intentionally playing the losing role so she can make a big comeback with her magic while introducing herself as the newly reborn maou shoujo ariel.

Potimas will self implode upon seeing her magic transformation scene.

[Arkeus]

Potimas seems to somehow think Gods have only power and almost no utility, which is weird.

Seems the odds that Ariel can easily take care of that Gloria unit are getting higher.

[K2Grey]

I was wondering if Ariel could resist the magic obstruction effect with the magic obstruction effect of Divine Dragon Barrier. Kumoko tried with the lesser Dragon Barrier in the underground facility and failed, but the higher version of the skill might be worth a try.

However, from an author perspective, it is probably exceptionally easier to write the fight without having to worry about how Ariel should use her enormous arsenal of abilities.

What makes Potimas so confident the Gloria Type Ω can fight indefinitely? Is it just that it has a really huge battery or is it hooked up to something (the same power source as for the elf village barrier, perhaps)? I was sort of expecting Potimas to actually be hidden within the Ω, but if he is still talking over the loudspeakers then his body must be elsewhere protected by who knows what.

[Tcol]

Mind blowing with science+magic

[roffle]

How does using this plan (sealed up room + CO2 from the Gloria) against Kuro even work? Kuro can just teleport them both outside?

[Okashira]

Pochi is probably betting on his kekkai blocking teleportation. We already know that this is probably moot on Shiro, since her eyes are designed as a counter plan to that kekkai.

[EvilSociopath323]

At this rate the reason why the robot is indestructible is that it's actually a hologram or something Po, for 2 chapters you made me think you're not just small fry. Give me back my expectations.

Also I hope we get to see his reaction about what's going on outside.

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Okashira

Pochi is probably betting on his kekkai blocking teleportation. We already know that this is probably moot on Shiro, since her eyes are designed as a counter plan to that kekkai.

I think the biggest issue Potimas is going to face is that all his plans were based around Ariel and Kuro being the biggest dangers. Shiro is much more subtle than those two. We already know he's not prepared for her, but I really can't wait for him to realize that Shiro is a Goddess and that she became a Goddess one year after being born. I'm expecting monumental levels of rage.

[kari-no-sugata II]

So far in this "elf village war", we've seen the mass production grunt robots (10,000 or so), the sea urchins (100+), the triangular pyramid (1?) and the Gloria Type Ω (1?). What we've yet to see is the android / humanoid type Glorias - eg a modern version of what Sophia fought with or what Kumoko fought with in LN5. I wouldn't be surprised if the next chapter is from Sophia's POV and we see such a thing.

Originally Posted by roffle

How does using this plan (sealed up room + CO2 from the Gloria) against Kuro even work? Kuro can just teleport them both outside?

I'm not sure. The barrier around the village could prevent normal teleportation IIRC so there might be other stuff that blocks teleport. Whether that would work on Kuro is another matter.

Originally Posted by Okashira

Pochi is probably betting on his kekkai blocking teleportation. We already know that this is probably moot on Shiro, since her eyes are designed as a counter plan to that kekkai.

Well, if the "magecraft jamming field" where Ariel is exceeds Shiro's power output, I'm not sure what she could do (as in, I don't know not that Shiro would be trapped). The field doesn't extend into the body, so it wouldn't rob her of raw strength but it would probably block her teleporting out. What Kumoko did in chapter 200 did restore her status values and internal skills but didn't allow her to use normal magic. On the other hand, what does it mean for her clones? Would they be able to summon Shiro out remotely or not?

When Shiro "ate" the "magecraft jamming barrier" around the sea urchin, at the time Shiro wasn't inside a jamming field. She also didn't need to "overpower" the barrier - essentially she used a higher level technique. Would Shiro be able to "eat" a "magecraft jamming field" from within the field? Hmm. I guess so? It might depend on exactly how the field is created/maintained and the relative power levels of the field and Shiro's Evil Eyes. If the field can be rapidly re-created then it would become a battle of how quickly Shiro can eat it vs how quickly it can be recreated - so she might not be able to do magecraft in general normally but she could probably eat the field indefinitely. Which would be the exact opposite of what Potimas would want

[J4n1]

Does Kuro even need to breathe?
You'd think that was among the first weaknesses you'd get rid of as a god.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by J4n1

Does Kuro even need to breathe?
You'd think that was among the first weaknesses you'd get rid of as a god.

Maybe he doesn't but even if that's the case he would still need to "spend" energy to create the same effect internally. Potimas's plan is basically "make the opponent run out of energy" - it's very simple and very "boring". It would be very effective if the execution has no "holes" (loopholes, flaws).

We shall see how things turn out but right now, I think Potimas's flaw is that while he's good at preparing he's seems to think it's possible to create a "perfect" plan. If he doesn't have anything significant on top of what he's shown so far then that would be the case. If he has alternative plans based on alternative concepts then he would be much more dangerous. He hates the "illogical" System but the System does show one thing - everything can be countered and there's no perfect solution.

I wonder if it'll become a big problem that Shiro didn't secure all the reincarnators first. If Potimas starts getting nervous he might try to do something with them and Shiro might not be able to react in time.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Xacual

I think the biggest issue Potimas is going to face is that all his plans were based around Ariel and Kuro being the biggest dangers. Shiro is much more subtle than those two. We already know he's not prepared for her, but I really can't wait for him to realize that Shiro is a Goddess and that she became a Goddess one year after being born. I'm expecting monumental levels of rage.

Shiro can be so subtle that I wonder how long it will take Potimas to realise that Shiro is actually a god? She's deliberately using the minimum amount of energy, so it might not be obvious.

When Shiro originally fought with Alaba, she said she could have probably defeated it with just Sloth and the Evil Eye of Grudge. It's very much the same concept as Potimas is using here. I've had a bunch of ideas on how Shiro could fight with Kuro and some of them are similar to what Potimas is trying here, but without the magecraft jamming field - the general idea was for Shiro to sneakily suck up Kuro's energy every time he attacked, slowing draining him, while also trying to "poison" him with something very subtle (and this would be just the warm-up stage as well).

I don't know if Shiro is doing any indirect attacks on Potimas currently, or if she's leaving it entirely to Ariel. For example, one thing that Shiro could do is have a load of spiders underground, digging their way towards Potimas's base. Then find Potimas's MA reactors or whatever and take those out first.

Originally Posted by Tcol

Mind blowing with science+magic

A number of authors would say that "magic" shouldn't have rules and shouldn't be explained. That's one option. This is the kind of cool stuff you can do when magic is explained and is more like an extension of physics.

Originally Posted by K2Grey

What makes Potimas so confident the Gloria Type Ω can fight indefinitely? Is it just that it has a really huge battery or is it hooked up to something (the same power source as for the elf village barrier, perhaps)? I was sort of expecting Potimas to actually be hidden within the Ω, but if he is still talking over the loudspeakers then his body must be elsewhere protected by who knows what.

The sea urchins have a connection to another dimension inside them. The Gloria Type Ω probably has something similar. Maybe it can repair itself from almost nothing and be continuously fed energy remotely...?

Originally Posted by Arkeus

Potimas seems to somehow think Gods have only power and almost no utility, which is weird.

Seems the odds that Ariel can easily take care of that Gloria unit are getting higher.

Not sure what you mean by that. Potimas is saying that a god's utility is a combination of the amount of energy it has plus the knowledge it has. In System terms, "energy" = MP and "knowledge" = magic related skills.

Originally Posted by NicApple

Idea 5: Zannen Ariel is intentionally playing the losing role so she can make a big comeback with her magic while introducing herself as the newly reborn maou shoujo ariel.

Potimas will self implode upon seeing her magic transformation scene.

Hehe

But Ariel's plan to mentally attack Potimas by cutting through all his plans and traps would work... if she succeeds. Potimas thinks there's no chance Ariel can win since it was designed to take on a god. If a mere mortal can beat it then obviously he sucks. The kicker would then be for Shiro to appear and be introduced as a god. Clearly proving that he'd totally overestimated himself. Maybe D will then reincarnate Potimas as a worm but with his old memories

[J4n1]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

A number of authors would say that "magic" shouldn't have rules and shouldn't be explained. That's one option. This is the kind of cool stuff you can do when magic is explained and is more like an extension of physics.

Realisticly, any world with magic would have magic as part of whatever science or natural philosophy it has.
And that would reflect on technology levels of the world (depending on abondance and ease of use of the magic).

Unfortunately lot of authors (light novels, web novels, novels, etc...) tend to just make a poor imitation of an existing culture, dump some mages in it, possible a few out of place magical contrivances (adventurers guilds and their card systems being a major offender here) and call it a day.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by J4n1

Realisticly, any world with magic would have magic as part of whatever science or natural philosophy it has.
And that would reflect on technology levels of the world (depending on abondance and ease of use of the magic).

Unfortunately lot of authors (light novels, web novels, novels, etc...) tend to just make a poor imitation of an existing culture, dump some mages in it, possible a few out of place magical contrivances (adventurers guilds and their card systems being a major offender here) and call it a day.

Certainly laziness on the part of authors and simply writing "more of the same" without thinking about it is quite irritating as a reader. That being said, it is possible to write an interesting story with magic that keeps it mysterious and unexplained but that limits a lot what you can sensibly do with it. Personally, I much prefer the style of magic in fiction like in this story where it effectively supplements physics. You can then do really cool things with the story.

It's interesting to contrast Shiro's attitude towards the System (as a god, she treats it more like a tutorial to learn from) vs Potimas attitude, where he treats it as something broken/incomprehensible. It's amusing to picture him tearing his hair out simply trying to create a chemical poison