I might be getting times confused in the story, but I'm pretty sure that was the case before Cinder was introduced.

 

Updated.

Really like the intelligence we see in the Panoptes here. We saw something similar with the Goliath awhile back, but that seemed more like it was a puppet of Malkuth instead of the individual Grimm making the decisions.

Here we clearly see it weighing its options and then committing to a course of action, which is a great way to remind us that it's not just the knights/riders that we need to look out for.

 

So I ignored some schoolwork to binge the whole thing. In increasing proportions, I was swiping past entire pages of reiterated exposition. The overall structure of the plot is interesting, and I was surprised at how the complex universe appeared at first. But reading about the protagonist deriving (from first principles) facts about his enemies is only interesting for so long.

Once the rambling exposition is stripped away, I find myself unsure what remains of the story. There are a lot of new skills introduced. There are some scenes where Jaune heroically ignores social convention and intrigue (making any and all problems go away). There are some sickeningly saccharine scenes with his "daughter."

I am not a clever man, and it took me about 160 chapters to realize I didn't like the story. By then I was committed so I finished up to chapter 200. I'd call this a guilty pleasure if it were any pleasure at all. 2/5 for persistent work and intriguing plot ideas, buried under a sloughing mass of unpleasant or unnecessary wank.

 

When I first submitted this to the Library, I was worried that this story would be abandoned at any moment. The first arc had been strong, and the daily updates made me willing to overlook a lot of flaws. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have given it a 5/5, but at the time it felt exciting and new.

After who knows how many words, all of that excitement is gone. The only thing I'm left with is a story that's far more "Gamer" than RWBY, a mess of power levels and "wouldn't it be cool" moments that make Spacebattles salivate and me tune out. There are still occasionally good moments, but they're drowned out by everything in between.

It never annoyed me enough to stop when I was reading it in bulk, but I can't bring myself to care enough to catch its updates. 3/5

 

Sorry for the double post, but the story's been finished. The ending was more abrupt than I expected, but at least it's finally over.