Tikky's Topics (169)

This story is so far up my alley, I can't fathom how I've only chanced upon it now.

But the truth is that you should never tell people to always get their pets from shelters. A LOT of shelter animals, ESPECIALLY dogs, are abused, abandoned and traumatized (because there are much less stray dogs out there and most of them have the same background as the shelter dogs).
In other words: They don't need more chaos, with suddenly new people around them, they need special care. Some people can do it, because they know how. Most people, and that is reality, are completely fucking it up though, because they have no clue. And it's very easy to have no clue, because you need to have the qualifications for it; it's more than just being especially unqualified to own a dog.
Don't get a dog with issues and then mess it up even more. That's not "saving" it.

I just found that story, like, two days ago, but the new chapter today is the last? How sad.
But anyway, that whale though. Really came and went "Nom Nom, Motherfucker".

I don't want to start reading if I won't ever get to finish it. There hasn't been an update in two years. Does anybody know?

So Quinton 2 gets a long-haired ML?

I wanted to read this, but no way I'm gonna start when they only have 20 chapters.
This is hell.

Also, what is this weird summary? It's not 100 % wrong, but it's also not correct. Who wrote this?

The thing is: I don't dislike this at all. At the same time, this shit is all over the place.
First, he's "immortal". What does immortal even mean, when the system needs to shut his consciousness down in order to keep him safe? Duke just showed him that he's not immortal by a long shot.
Okay, so we took away from the OP unbeatable attribute - but it's still stupid, because it's called "immortal" and shit like "infinite stamina". It ain't infinite, if it ain't infinite, author.
But even so, though he seemed to have been strong in his last life and whined about having to do a course, because it took him two years to master in his last life, eventhough it sounds as if he has barely any fighting style that you could call a fighting style during the brawl with Duke Draker (if you just pretend to be a genius, which isn't far off from what he's doing anyway, you can get out naturally by pretending to finish the course by perfecting it, no? And if you can't, because you can't actually use this swordsmenship, why not actually attend and learn some?). That's an immense let-down, because it feels less of an overpowered guy due to his hardships and training, but more of a mediocre fighter with no real swordsmenship to speak of, who only survived due to something he was born with.
Well, but he did lean Aether, which is great, right? Uh, no, not really. Because we go on to learn that Aura is a lot greater than Aether, which also means he HAS to use the Sun Sword in order to counter real Aura. But I really hate things like this, because it means he's simply overgeared.
Yes, someone without Aether couldn't use the sword, so that's great and all, but someone with innate Aura can use Aura with any weapon, while he's royally fucked if he ever loses his fancy gadget sword.
WHY didn't they give him the chance, with the system or the dragon heart - or really, at any point in the story - to develop Mana. In that case, he'd still have to show that he trained tirelessly, but his body was simply unable to give him access to Aura. All he needs is the possibility in his body and he can show what he can do. That would have been much more satisfiying and a better solution than getting a stupid gadget to make up for not being able to actually face any other knight, because Aether can't properly go against it.
I don't know. Sure, I will keep reading, but that shit is disappointing.

But he became an obsidian knight just because he likes the color black?
Not gonna lie, I would have done the same. Feel you, bro.

Anybody else feel intense bloodlust? Like, please, beat up those motherfucking gods, or my soul will never rest in peace.

Sooo... I read this story for the first time in a long time, and I couldn't remember a lot of things, so I started from the beginning. I seriously don't know how much of this story was even out when I last read, since I'm at chapter 45 now and I feel like there was much more I vaguely remember to have happened, storywise. And it does have 200+ chapters now, so maybe there are a hundred chapters I've not read yet, maybe more, maybe less.
But one thing that I feel like I felt before, but much stronger this time - maybe because I gave more of a fuck, who knows? - is the presence of the character of Gilly, the nanny of the MC. Or rather than her presence, it would be the lack thereof.

I don't know, because I didn't check the comments for it, but I feel like this will not be a popular opinion, since she's, objectively speaking, the "unhatable, motherly caretaker character", which is usually a character that people like.
They stand against the strict father-types that only ever expect greatness and show worry, sympathy, and pride for their child only behind closed doors, maybe in front of their closest confidants. One other example of this dynamic can be seen, i.e., in "The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman", where the literal mother is acting the Gilly-way but the grandfather takes on the father's role instead.
Anyway, I'm never a huge fan of the motherly trope, in most cases, but it always depends, and the only time I really accept the things that I hate about this trope, specifically in this Webtoon, is when a character has to completely hide his involvement in fights and other things.
In fact, the only story that does the family trope really right - and then runs a truck all over it somewhere down the road; if you know, you know - and you can fight me on that, is the Webtoon "The Dark Magician Transmigrates After 66666 Years". But I digress.

So, what really is the problem I have with Gilly as a character and motherly figure in this story? Since it does provide a mother, but one that isn't "motherly", instead, it came up with the system of every Runcandel child having a nanny to themselves, which is normal enough for a noble family (of sorts). But her role in this story bears no meaning, and outside of her "objectively unhatable role", she's actually portrayed abysmally.
She is portrayed in such a way that she's, actually, actively unlikeable and more than anything, she is completely and utterly redundant. She's an obsolete plot device that doesn't even have meaning as a prop in the background. She exists to talk sometimes and exist, maybe as a possible love interest to Murakan, but that is about it. You don't believe me?
Well, let's talk about likeability first, by breaking down who Gilly even is:
1. I believe her family comes up later, but that might be a suggestion, because of a comment made by a mercenary about her being of the McRolan / McLoren family, which made it seem important. I don't know if that ever really comes up and becomes important, but even if it did, we'll get to that later. Let's just keep this point in mind.
2. She is a nanny; therefore, she was always at his side and protected him. But was she a good nanny? Well, she is the servant of a very well-known house, with the job of teaching the things a regular teacher wouldn't - she's important for his growth as a "person", not as a sword fighter or scholar. So how come that even within the Storm Castle, he was mostly by himself, and whenever something happened, Gilly just didn't do anything, even in his second life, when nobody had any right nor reason to treat MC and his nanny as "lower"? The only thing she added was making strawberry pies, which she stopped doing when they left the Storm Castle, so they could have easily said it was the kitchen maids' doing. He's a son of that house; there's no way they don't provide him with strawberry pies if he wants them, especially within the Storm Castle, where they are meant to still be "safe". Gilly must have been provided all the ingredients to make them, after all, so adding in a chef or regular maids would have changed nothing at all.
When they are basically kidnapped on their way to the Garden of Swords, it's Gilly, the servant of the Runcandel house, who should be in charge of teaching her ward exactly such things as that, who doesn't know how an escort knight is supposed to behave. She also doesn't catch that "the enemy of my enemy might be my friend".
In the now overwritten future, she remained by his side, because the family didn't "take her" from him, which is funny. After all, the father in this time actually threatens him with exactly that once (though I'm not sure if that might have just been a joke in that situation). But when he leaves the family, and she is also exiled, she doesn't stay with him. So it was, in the end, a mere job; otherwise, she could have stayed with him and lived a regular life. Once he started learning magic and he even countered his curse that nobody knew he had (which is also kind of wild, because his nanny didn't even notice anything either, despite her supposed power), she could have even saved his life and braved the things to come together with him. Right, it can't be expected of her.
But she took the job, seemingly knowing she would "keep it forever", seeing as how a thirty-year-old Luna still has her nanny around also (or at least I believe that old woman by her side sometimes is her nanny). So she got exiled with her ward and just thought "well, now I'm free of you" and fucked off, after all she did before, which I loathe, is to say SORRY, because she somehow didn't do her job right, which, well, true, but also not true, because it has fuck-all to do with anything.
It's this whiny, mentally weak attitude that I really dislike. If you want to create a "strong female character", making her brawnie in a story where literally anyone can be brawnie without any difference in base outside of "Talent" (and originally, I had no problem with the word "Talent", which is funny, because a good friend of mine hates this word and always acts like he stepped in shit when someone goes on about talent, but lately, stories like this made me really loathe the word also, so I kinda really get him now) isn't a big deal. Make her like this, and she's still a weak-ass person.
And that's exactly what she is. On top of being a low-grade nanny, she's weak, whiny and annoying.
But wait, I say she's annoying? Right. I notice that I always get annoyed whenever she's on screen. Like, every time she opens her mouth, it's like someone's rubbing sand paper on my balls. And if I feel like I shouldn't skip, because it could be something useful, I will ALWAYS end up standing corrected, because she never adds ANYTHING to a scene she's in. It's like that's her only real skill, outside of baking strawberry pie.
And when I say she's annoying, I mean especially these scenes that make the "cautious, worried mother"-trope so absurdly annoying to me in most stories. But here especially, because she's a fighter herself. Any other fighter in this show - no, even non-fighters, like the human trafficker and scammer Jet - can tell at a glance how great the ability of someone fighting in front of them is. Among ALL the people who are around the MC, only HER and a fucking DRAGÒN, of whom she's also aware, are in the know about his true powers. She knows that the stuff that everybody else knows is but a FRACTION of the power he really has at his disposal. And yet SHE'S the one always crying about how he shouldn't get careless, and how he shouldn't be fighting here or shouldn't go there. This isn't worry, so don't get it fucked up.
If you incessantly and excessively "worry" like this, this just means that you are really saying:
"I don't believe you are strong enough to manage that."
"I don't believe you are smart enough to understand that."
"I don't believe you are capable enough to accomplish that."
"I don't believe you are competent enough to do this."
In other words, when I call her a "low-grade nanny" that literally ties into that whole whiny-part, because it starts with her leaving him, apparently, after whining about how she's sorry, as if it was her fault that he couldn't wield the sword properly (which, arguably, it isn't, but instead of saying sorry and crying, she apparently really never did anything; she didn't propose to leave the family with him, she didn't use her family to find an out of sorts, she just... existed, and then she whined). And now, when he's objectively one of the strongest people in the entire history of the family by his growth-standards, she still can't manage to properly convey her believe in him. On the contrary, she actively shows, time and again, that she can't muster up and ounce of believe. As if she, as a supposed 7-Star-Swordsman, couldn't comprehend his strength and still believes him to be some 6-year-old. Every time she whines about how dangerous something is or that he basically shouldn't get cocky, just because he managed to beat one guy who wasn't up to standard, it simply portrays her unwillingness to believe in and acknowledge his ability. I can't even remember when she actually complimented him on his actual progress and skill, but I'm not saying she never did - I just don't remember, because this whining that I'm talking about speaks far louder than empty compliments when directly faced with success that is undeniable.
When I tell you a hundred times "you did well", because you managed something and I can't say you didn't, that means INFINITELY less than me telling you just once "I know you will do well" upfront.

That's btw all she is. A member of, apparently, a well-known family and his below average nanny. More character we don't get to see in 45 chapters of her being around constantly.

There are four things that could be given as examples for why she is needed, but I can use them to show you why she is not. Or rather: These are the only scenes up until chapter 45 in which she accomplishes anything at all.
It's important that it's the beginning because in 45 the MC is already a provisional flag-bearer, no longer "child", even when he really never was in the main story, at least mentally. So he's with her right now, when her powers are sealed, so she's a weight bound to his leg more than anything else. Afterwards, he will likely go on missions without her again. I can imagine she will be, as she's supposed to be physically strong, an ally of sorts, but seriously, that could be absolutely anyone at this point down the line of the story.
1. The time she "saved" him when they were "ambushed" on their way to the Garden of Swords
She literally carried him out of the carriage and handled the two fake knights.
Sure, but in reality, it was MC who had to realize that those knights were, in fact, fake. He also was the one to realize that the "ambush" was likely done by people who were sent to rescue MC and Gilly. He was not unfit at all, physically. He could have jumped out and run by himself. Even if it was about him getting weaker or needing to be carried, I believe we established a good stance with the mercenaries, so they could have dealt with them easily. Doing the fakes in could have been done by the mercs as well; this was just a scene to show off her "powers", to make her look cool, since we don't get to see that for quite a while after that, as she's completely useless from that point onwards in the fighting department.
In other words, her entire involvement felt rather forced and completely unnecessary. "This could have been an email"-type of situation.
2. Pies...?
Well, I already said how that could have been replaced easily.
3. Plot device to help give exposition to the reader
We already have one and it's called Murakan. He hasn't been around for a while, so he can ask enough questions for the both of them to make MC explain shit. She's not needed for it.
4. "But everybody has a nanny that's at least 7-Star"
That's a thing in this story, so if he didn't have one, others wouldn't either. The thing is, the only other person whose (presumed) nanny has been shown was Luna. In general, the only other people in MCs direct age-range within the family are the Tona-twins. We haven't seen their nannys yet and when he returns, they are older. What I'm going on about is that, rather than a fucking nanny, I'd assume these children to have maidservants or direct attendants of sorts who are closest to them. Especially Luna, who held quite a high position and, despite giving up on the seat of the matriarch, still holds that high position to this day. She could have had a direct servant of her own for 15 years and it would have made no difference to the relationshipt those two have now, because I don't even know if the elderly women who's sometimes with Luna is actually her nanny or not. You can't tell indefinitely, it just makes the most sense within this setup. So every nanny that is to come may as well just be a servant they got after becoming either flag-bearers or at least becoming intermediate swordsmen, thus proving their bare minimum right to be a family member. Whatever - something along those lines would have made more than enough sense, in my opinion.
4. MC can't tell anyone that he regressed
This is actually not a reason for her being needed that I feel the need to argue against, because they are all strawmen that I build anyway, but actively a point that makes her stand in the way.
Because he says he "didn't want to tell anyone" at some point, which never came up before (or am I blind? I mean, it wouldn't really matter, it just stood out to me that he never actively said anything like it until that point, so I don't have any clue what conviction led him to this decision). But in reality, he makes his own life harder by being unable to properly explain the things he does as a provisional flag-bearer, for the sole reason that he knows things from the future, but can't tell them about it. He wouldn't logically be able to make up a good reason for each an every one of them. Saying that he could just feels unrealistic and it would make much more sense to tell them about it. Since the real issue should be his magic, which is striclty forbidden in his family, and he told them both about it, being a regressor is the least of his problems.
But I just can't shake the feeling that he would tell Murakan at some point, if Gilly wasn't a thing. Especially since Murakan and Solderet have a "connection" and it's highly likely that Solderet caused his regression. Talking with someone who might know someting would make absolute sense. The way they play down Murakan and only play him for laughs kind of annoys me. He's a fucking DRAGON. Sure, make a joke here and there, but this is a bit much, because I imagine he really DOES know quite a lot - he has to, given his background and age.
In other words, I feel like Gilly is the only reason he doesn't say it, because I see how the author would not involve her in this. I mean, sure, if it was just that, they could have made the MC tell Murakan while they were alone in the library at Storm Castle, but I still believe it makes a difference, because at the time, he was still more reluctant to even trust Murakan in a way and also, if he had told him, Murakan would have long since spilled the beans to Gilly while they traveled, with his portrayal that the author seems to love (making the dragon the butt of every joke, probably an over-correction to keep him from making the MC "too OP" from the start, by having him weakened and all, until the MC himself bulks up on his journey, which is the goal anyway, but they didn't need to go this far). Therefore, I can't shake the feeling the author chose to go this route to make those things possible and somewhat make sense. What Murakan doesn't know, he cannot blurt out accidentally.

But that's basically my run-down of this outright insufferable bint, so make of that what you will. Also, yes, I'm filling in for future chapter I have yet to read with logical conclusions, but if they don't come to fruition, for most of them, that would just mean the author breaks their own rules or goes out of his way again to try and give her some time to shine in between. That wouldn't actually topple any of the things I've said. But more than that, my general evaluation of her status as a nanny and her character is already set, because even if she were too change now - like, this very moment within chapter 45, which I've only halfway read through - it would already be too little, too late. It simply wouldn't change shit, lol.