Well it was to be expected that he wouldn’t be able to come back, this floor is way too op after all
And honestly, the thing with having half a year to stay on this floor doesn’t sound reliable at all. The director said in around 6 months a person will come here that will pose great threat to bjorn, so it’s not simply a lack of resources or something similar that will prevent the director from sending bjorn back even after 6 months, but a person. And as far as everyone knows, people are variables, who is to say that mf he is talking about doesn’t just decide to come months earlier to take a come to the basement. That is by far the biggest issue. I am not saying to take the deal, but bjorn should start aquiring that qualification asap so he can leave without this guy’s help
well another but similar possibility in this train of thought is that the Portal Stone on Giant Island leads outside the walls, Noark was stated to be able to enter the Labyrinth on Floor 8 i think? or was it 7? im not sure which one it was, but one of them, and they were outside the walls and the city at that time, meaning that theres an entrance outside the city, so if theres one for a higher floor, why not one for the basement as well?
I think that the way that the Director Worded things is Very Very Important also for Bjorn being able to potentially Accept this deal and still return to the Basement, since what the director said was
“The moment you make the promise and receive the qualification, you’ll never be able to return here. Not metaphorically, literally….”
The And receive the qualification part is what i mean, if you can receive qualification at the admin’s command, then you can Also Lose that qualification somehow. So what if Bjorn accepts this, stays for 5 months, gets all the custom essence he can for everyone, leaves with the help of this transaction, and then, for some period of time, can’t come back. Of course, we can assume that if he Does accept this deal, there must be some aspect or factor that happens that re-opens the path, and if the director cant lie or deceive as he claims with the line
“After that, I became a completely different person. I became incapable of deceiving others and was always kind and considerate by nature.”
I think this is literal. Like Hamsiki lost his memories and become an entity who only tended Books, I think this guy truly became someone who Literally cant Lie, and that everything he says, can be taken in its most literal meaning. Such that, if we take what was said about the qualification, this IS the most considerate option, if access to the basement is based on the existence of that qualification on a person, then granting it to allow Bjorn and Co to leave early is considerate as it allows the most people to Survive, however, its not considerate to leave Bjorn no path to return, so therefore, there are TWO conditions placed on not returning to the Basement, not one, and one of those conditions is one that seems to be able to be toggled. I have no doubt that there are more entities in the labyrinth who can grant or revoke qualifications, and so, if Bjorn can just find some means by which to revoke that, then the 2 conditions laid out by the director are not fulfilled, and Bjorn should be able to regain Basement access in theory.
the Director says themselves that they are incapable of being anything but kind and considerate, if that is actually the truth, then the considerate thing to do is to leave an out, or a Loophole.
And on this note, if the manner of a wish influences how a person exists in the labyrinth, could it be someone’s wish that caused something to go wrong with the Labyrinth, like they had a wish about the Land of Dawn itself? And when it tried to fulfil that wish, it twisted in on itself, and corrupted the system
Hm… nourishing food for thought, though the “considerate” part is pretty open for interpretation imho. The director could be considerate enough to give them an out and bypass the normal procedure, but not enough to override the qualification.I actually suspect that it might be the qualification itself that might prevent return access – as in, if Bjorn had received the qualification normally, he still would not be able to return after leaving.I also think the director is lying out of omission as there are other important things about the basement being left out. We know that that basement is a loredump for Bjorn (and us), and that he who triggers hidden knowledge throughout this world will continue to do so here. Are there other treasures or hidden knowledge that Bjorn would have otherwise uncovered via a normal run? Are there other characters like Hamsiki/Marx and the Director that could shed some more light? What exactly grants the qualification? Etc.
oh for sure, theres multiple ways that “considerate” could be taken and interpreted. And i do agree with you taht the Qualification would be the primary factor controlling whether Bjorn can return or not, which is why i think that he may somehow get that Qualification Revoked.and absolutely agree on the lies by Omission part, I think the Director follows rules and things to the letter, and while being unable to lie, also isnt forced or compelled to answer, its more like the idea thats presented in the Eragon Series, if youve read it, where the Ancient language in that world can only speak the truth, and thus lies do not exist, and instead half truths, Omitted information, and specific interpretations of the truth are used to deceive with Truthfulness. But the considerate part in this story is what makes this idea so interesting to me. Someone who is compelled to tell the Truth and leave loopholes or outs AND still works against others in clever and sinister ways? that honestly sounds like a massively intriguing concept for a character, and one who would require immense thought and consideration to go against, as while there is a way around whatever they do in theory, its not outright told to Bjorn and Co, and could still be missed. its a character concept that i, personally, would love to see explored.
Hmm, I’m more inclined towards believing that the “him” that the Director is referring to might be someone we haven’t met before like the Immortal King (first king)
I think the danger coming after 6 month might actually be a floor lord for the basement, or some automated process to clean up things. I guess it creates some sort of time limit. Bjorn has been in the basement for 6 months already, right? So with 6 more, that means that explorers have 1 year to gather all the necessary requirements. If Bjorn could come back, he’d kill it for sure, but not being able to come back is a real handicap.
Unless he spends some of the time going back to the other islands, I don’t think we’re going to be able to see basement floor 2 or any other basement secrets…
Then again, I’m excited to see what’s up in Raphdonia since team entered the basement. We got the barbarian real estate trade, barbarian scout school, reporting back to Melbes, and checking in with Jerome-chief. 🤩
i talked about this in another comment, but i truly think that the director is leaving a loophole in this on purpose, his line about becoming someone who cant lie or deceive and must be kind and considerate i think was more literal than metaphorical, and that he TRULY cant lie and Must be Considerate, and thats why 2 conditions are mentioned for Bjorn being able to return, both the promise AND the qualifications. Since while the promise cant be revoked after being given, qualifications CAN be revoked in theory, and if Bjorn doesnt have those qualifications anymore, than the directors line about only not being able to return if the promise and qualifications are had wont hold true anymore, and if the director TRULY cant lie, then access should be returned, and leaving such a loophole would be considerate and Kind for Bjorn’s future, and the director is Already circumventing the intention of the rules with granting Bjorn the qualifications in the first place it seems like, following things to the letter, rather than the spirit. like the line “It’s my authority to grant them. And I’m obligated to do so for anyone who proves themselves. No contradiction.”This is clearly an overreach of the intent, BUT is also very much following the letter of the rules, and if he MUST be considerate, then of course he will offer an out that allows more people to live. Thats not to say there Isnt a Reason that he wants to delay Bjorn’s access to the basement, idk what that may be, but last chapters line about time changing things makes me question this guy’s intent, but more so that he literally cant truly and forever take access away, and a loophole must be included for the consideration of the other party, and that yes, as long as the conditions are fulfilled, then Bjorn can’t reenter the Basement, so therefore, to regain access, a way to unfulfil the conditions is needed. If this happens though, it likely would mean that Bjorn only gets 1 more shot in the basement, since i imagine losing the qualifications would be difficult, and then he would likely regain the qualifications while in the basement a 2nd time, and then be truly unable to come back at that point. But also, given how long this Basement arc has been, if Bjorn makes a return here, i imagine it will be for another long arc, and that will be the last time we get the Basement as a whole
Tbh, I wouldn’t be mad if this was the last hurrah of the basement. Like you said, we spent a long time here, over 100 chapters here (so far, 1/6th of the story), and there is still so much of this world to learn and expand on. Then again, if there are more secrets and more lore, i’m all for it
As a fellow min-max gamer, this made my nipples hard. Time to redo ALL of his essences to get exactly what he wants. He'll be stronger than he ever thought possible. Which means the “Anti-Royal Family Ending” is actually possible now. His team can potentially be the strongest of all time ever. It's like making an entire team of solo playthrough builds on honor mode or whatever.
we have to consider that they need the mana stones of the monsters, so it may be that Bjorn has ideas for combos they cant make yet due to not having fought certain higher level monsters, since imagine what Bjorn could do if he got a hold of some level 1 or level 2 monster Mana stones and combined them with the abilities of some of his personal skills
True, though I don’t think it’ll be a problem. His essence theory is that it’s not all about high level essences and abilities, but synergy. Plus he’s memorized every ability, and essence there was in the game. If he can maximize the synergy of a person's abilities via this opportunity, I think that is OP enough
The concept of fate isn't touched that much in this story, except when it's about the prophecies.
It's kinda crazy that someone has the power to control fate at such a large scale but it feels like some kind of power did fix the fate of the story in the future. It's not detailed so there could be changes that don't alter the course of it, like when Bjorn saved Amelia’s sister.
But after reading to this point, the story all feel like it's in the past, and someone else in the future is hoping to maybe alter it or avoid it being altered at all. I wonder if it's that kinda of story or this is just dumb speculation, but that's how it feels to me right now, lol
We don't really know what “prophesies” mean yet. They could potentially just be direct commands from gods vs premonitions. That was my earlier theory about how players can potentially be the only ones that receive these orders which can conflict with the royal families interests. That would explain why they demonize players in order to avoid prophesies.
So if they spend the next 5+ months grinding out custom essences, they will probably try to fight the director or whomever it is. Definitely gonna keep the main crew alive, but lose… say 60-70% of the entire group (including the royal army people)
I wonder if this event in 6 months is what the Chief was alluding to with the waves in the waters and hiding under all costs thats mentioned in the journal, i already was wondering if it was the appearance of a boss that the chief meant, and we DO know that he didnt know what Floor Lords were after the Rift Archive stuff, so he wouldnt know to call it a Floor Lord if thats what it truly is
Hmm… not sure about that. If so, they would be safe as long as they stayed on land, but the Director was specific that only a fraction of them would survive period, not conditionally on where they were.The chief should have witnessed this event given the time he was here but be unaffected since he was technically a monster. Or… maybe like how Dreadfear's event is only triggered when there are 5 or more people, maybe this event is only triggered when there are explorers, or those who are qualified after a period of time
maybe its a severity thing based on number of adventurers? as in, the more people there are, the more intense whatever this event in 6 months is, and if it IS what the Chief was alluding to, then there has never been this many people here before, so its intensity would be greater now than ever before
Left this alone for a couple weeks. It was nice having a full on reading spree. Interesting theories from you guys. Your theories truly do feel like reading another chapter though lol.
I feel vindicated! Suck it all you people who downvoted my theory months ago about a lab that deals in monsters and essences with heads that run the floor like Marx and the Director. I am curious about who the ceo is that this director is wary of.
Also now that it’s not much of spoiler but the custom essence is what I saw when I released Bjorn updated stats. I remember what he combines still so I will keep that in my back pocket but it’s not that hard to figure out when you take into account he wants to get rid of lower tier essences for higher tier essences to maximize his character build.
I think I’m picking up what you’re putting down… but isn’t he maxed out? How will he get rid of his lower essences to upgrade? They don’t have a church down hereOr will he just tube it and upgrade it later? I guess thats possible too
Before entering they dumpster'd noarks’ best of the best, considering noark is cut off from the city entirely now recruiting fresh blood to replace losses to the literal royal family's army isn’t possible.I would not be surprised if noark graduated off screen.Next bbeg is either Auril Gavis or the Royal Family, this Arc feels like the power up before the end tbh
Don’t forget, before the round table was collapsed, the corpse collector spilled that Noark (with Orcules) plans to invade Raphdonia. We dunno when it’ll happen, but we can’t write them off just yet.
Question is, will this still continue to be the goal? Bjorn is getting closer and closer to the truth of this world, and that fuels his ability to better navigate fate – his fate, and that which is recorded on the record stone(s)
Well, I feel like he will end up paying a huge price in the end for all this loot. Nothing is free in this world.And the chief said it himself, he will eventually leave but after gruesomes battles and losing many allies…
also its not like they can freely use this area and make any essence combo, its requires the mana stone, and those have been money for them all, so vast majority of them havent kept mana stones and sure tehy have alot on this floor they can access, but they dont have everything, plus i imagine since theres the mention of there only being a small chance of an essence that they may have to fight this monster they create also, so i dont think they will be able to just make and use this without challenge, personally i think it makes total sense and this is a location that almost no one could reasonably reach
Nah they absolutely can.Re-read chapter 616 1 monster becomes 3 stones via the machine, it’s a net positive instead of a 1 for 1.They can absolutely farm whatever the hell combos they want and ensure everyone who hasn’t gotten exp from the base monsters will have exp from the base monsters over the next 6 months.
I really, genuinely hope they don’t go “whelp, everyone take a manticore essence and get another 200 permanent stat’s grinded up, let’s bottle the essence we intend to take and visit the church when we’re back in the city” because that would be the most meta approach to do here
from how it was written, i interpretted that as three monsters being combined by the machine, and then converted back into their base parts by the Machine, so it producing 3 mana stones from one monster seemed to be due to that fact, but we havent seen them actually fight the combo monsters normally, so we cant say for sure what happens on a normal kill, which would be what it takes to get the essence, i mean, ideally they get all 3 stones back every single time, but i could see it being possible that only the machines can seperate them back into 3 seperate stones, while a normal kill produces a combination stone, or maybe a chance for each of the original 3 to drop, we just cant say for sure how it exactly works until we are told
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Well it was to be expected that he wouldn’t be able to come back, this floor is way too op after all
And honestly, the thing with having half a year to stay on this floor doesn’t sound reliable at all. The director said in around 6 months a person will come here that will pose great threat to bjorn, so it’s not simply a lack of resources or something similar that will prevent the director from sending bjorn back even after 6 months, but a person. And as far as everyone knows, people are variables, who is to say that mf he is talking about doesn’t just decide to come months earlier to take a come to the basement. That is by far the biggest issue. I am not saying to take the deal, but bjorn should start aquiring that qualification asap so he can leave without this guy’s help
I just thought of something… there are two portals below the basement of the king's castle…
What if one of them is to the portal on Giant island? I think the probability of this is low, but would be interesting to consider anyway
I think that the way that the Director Worded things is Very Very Important also for Bjorn being able to potentially Accept this deal and still return to the Basement, since what the director said was
“The moment you make the promise and receive the qualification, you’ll never be able to return here. Not metaphorically, literally….”
The And receive the qualification part is what i mean, if you can receive qualification at the admin’s command, then you can Also Lose that qualification somehow. So what if Bjorn accepts this, stays for 5 months, gets all the custom essence he can for everyone, leaves with the help of this transaction, and then, for some period of time, can’t come back. Of course, we can assume that if he Does accept this deal, there must be some aspect or factor that happens that re-opens the path, and if the director cant lie or deceive as he claims with the line
“After that, I became a completely different person. I became incapable of deceiving others and was always kind and considerate by nature.”
I think this is literal. Like Hamsiki lost his memories and become an entity who only tended Books, I think this guy truly became someone who Literally cant Lie, and that everything he says, can be taken in its most literal meaning. Such that, if we take what was said about the qualification, this IS the most considerate option, if access to the basement is based on the existence of that qualification on a person, then granting it to allow Bjorn and Co to leave early is considerate as it allows the most people to Survive, however, its not considerate to leave Bjorn no path to return, so therefore, there are TWO conditions placed on not returning to the Basement, not one, and one of those conditions is one that seems to be able to be toggled. I have no doubt that there are more entities in the labyrinth who can grant or revoke qualifications, and so, if Bjorn can just find some means by which to revoke that, then the 2 conditions laid out by the director are not fulfilled, and Bjorn should be able to regain Basement access in theory.
the Director says themselves that they are incapable of being anything but kind and considerate, if that is actually the truth, then the considerate thing to do is to leave an out, or a Loophole.
And on this note, if the manner of a wish influences how a person exists in the labyrinth, could it be someone’s wish that caused something to go wrong with the Labyrinth, like they had a wish about the Land of Dawn itself? And when it tried to fulfil that wish, it twisted in on itself, and corrupted the system
Hmm, I’m more inclined towards believing that the “him” that the Director is referring to might be someone we haven’t met before like the Immortal King (first king)
Why do i believe one way of getting the qualifications is beating the monster that guts 95% of his party to five
This Director is really fun to talk to… 🙃
I think the danger coming after 6 month might actually be a floor lord for the basement, or some automated process to clean up things. I guess it creates some sort of time limit. Bjorn has been in the basement for 6 months already, right? So with 6 more, that means that explorers have 1 year to gather all the necessary requirements. If Bjorn could come back, he’d kill it for sure, but not being able to come back is a real handicap.
Unless he spends some of the time going back to the other islands, I don’t think we’re going to be able to see basement floor 2 or any other basement secrets…
Then again, I’m excited to see what’s up in Raphdonia since team entered the basement. We got the barbarian real estate trade, barbarian scout school, reporting back to Melbes, and checking in with Jerome-chief. 🤩
im finally caught up again and i wished i let this stack more for sure holy shit
As a fellow min-max gamer, this made my nipples hard. Time to redo ALL of his essences to get exactly what he wants. He'll be stronger than he ever thought possible. Which means the “Anti-Royal Family Ending” is actually possible now. His team can potentially be the strongest of all time ever. It's like making an entire team of solo playthrough builds on honor mode or whatever.
damn with bjorn knowledge of essences he could really come up with new broken op ones … i bet that there will be requirements or limits tho
The concept of fate isn't touched that much in this story, except when it's about the prophecies.
It's kinda crazy that someone has the power to control fate at such a large scale but it feels like some kind of power did fix the fate of the story in the future. It's not detailed so there could be changes that don't alter the course of it, like when Bjorn saved Amelia’s sister.
But after reading to this point, the story all feel like it's in the past, and someone else in the future is hoping to maybe alter it or avoid it being altered at all. I wonder if it's that kinda of story or this is just dumb speculation, but that's how it feels to me right now, lol
So he’ll be able to craft essences that perfectly fit a build. His enemies up top are gonna be ground into paste, barbarian grade
So if they spend the next 5+ months grinding out custom essences, they will probably try to fight the director or whomever it is. Definitely gonna keep the main crew alive, but lose… say 60-70% of the entire group (including the royal army people)
Left this alone for a couple weeks. It was nice having a full on reading spree. Interesting theories from you guys. Your theories truly do feel like reading another chapter though lol.
I feel vindicated! Suck it all you people who downvoted my theory months ago about a lab that deals in monsters and essences with heads that run the floor like Marx and the Director. I am curious about who the ceo is that this director is wary of.
Also now that it’s not much of spoiler but the custom essence is what I saw when I released Bjorn updated stats. I remember what he combines still so I will keep that in my back pocket but it’s not that hard to figure out when you take into account he wants to get rid of lower tier essences for higher tier essences to maximize his character build.
Not sure how I feel about the cheaty essences.
Part of the sell for the story was difficulty in choice for essences and were now kinda throwing build synergy out and having all the things