This will keep me busy for a week or three

In hindsight, with knowledge of future books

Theo is definitely an asshole

But even at his most misanthropic in book one

It’s glaringly obvious that he doesn’t really believe his whole schtick about being ruthless and ignoring others

he's trying hard to be an asshole

rather than it coming 'naturally'

He’s all like “I can’t afford wasting time on friendship, I need to put all my energy into advancing my own power while never trusting anyone!”

“Now, I’m going to help everyone around me because for some reason I can’t focus on my own problems while they’re struggling.”

“I’m so ruthless.”

sees an actually ruthless asshole "well i have to fuck that guy up"

"because i'm so ruthless obviously"

Magnafor is such a tool

Though honestly I get where he’s coming from

After being killed twice and booted back to Earth, he is understandably paranoid

But he took the wrong lessons from it

yeah he just was like "oh i've got to do it super fast and blitz through everything to get back up to speed so i can defend myself!!"

and then he got eaten

Theo’s policy of keeping a low profile is the right one

But also only effective because he’s starting with a vast knowledge advantage

So he can stick to smartly choosing small prizes that are worth more for his specific blueprint

Honestly Theo not being the asshole he thinks he is was obvious to me on a first reading.

he was trying so hard to be an asshole and then he just

Couldn't do it

like literally the first time someone expressed ANY difficulty coping with things AT ALL in a way he could conceivably help he literally was like FINE I'LL HELP YOU

Speaking of I haven't remotely finished what's out of thisseries

I love Nauda

And Theo

All three of them

The whole message of book 1 is very clear

That friends and allies are worth more than simple material rewards

I love that, too, because it's so against the norm for cultivation-adjacent stories

(That said, Wight also does it in his books, but that's also why I like those tbf, so.)

Especially with how cultivation works in soulcrafting

Where you need such specific materials to advance

A group working together can make use of resources SO much more efficiently