noct posts
250. For Science!
Rhys deliberately tripped his impurities over a line of the mana circuit, killing it. He held his breath, waiting for the dead man’s switch to activate.
Nothing happened. The mark remained the same as ever.
He frowned. Huh. I guess it’s got a bit of tolerance for breakages. Then again, if it didn’t, with circuitry this...
2025-10-10 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post249. Four Peaks are better than Two
Rhys left the first peak behind and headed toward the second one. His trash star was still burning hot, but it was slowly burning less hot. He still wished he’d had to exert a little more energy to fight the men, but, well, he couldn’t style on them and work hard at the same time, so he’d just have to push his limits a little more...
2025-10-09 19:10:37 +0000 UTC View Post248. Wanna Talk?
The man licked his lips, then snarled. “Dammit! This is all that idiot Blanc’s fault… and now he’s dead, anyways, so why did I even bother?”
“Yeah, why did you bother?” Rhys asked.
The man gripped his robes and pulled them down, showing Rhys his neck. A small mark stood there, the same as Bast’s in both appearance and...
2025-10-08 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post247. Get 'em, Boy!
“Let’s go get ‘em, boy.”
The men charged, and Rhys… Rhys lounged. From all directions, men raced toward him, drawing swords, axes, hammers, or even firing strange magics toward him and his skelly boy. He lazed in their midst, supremely unconcerned even as the weapons and magics closed in on him. As the first man reached ...
2025-10-07 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post246. To The Square
The old man nodded. He turned and led Rhys down the mountain, toward the more civilized parts of the peak. Rhys followed happily, totally unworried. He had unleashed his full power earlier, so he was pretty sure the old man knew he was Tier 4, but he cut his tier back to around 2 anyways, just in case. He’d rather be underestimated than overes...
2025-10-06 14:00:21 +0000 UTC View Post245. Becoming Trash
He sat there before the pillar and absorbed the toxic mist the way other mages sat in a mana well and absorbed mana, soaking it in for hours, then days. No one came by to disturb him, but that wasn’t surprising; even if they knew about this place, even if they’d created it, it would be too toxic for anyone but Rhys to approach. He absorbed n...
2025-10-05 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post244. Deep Shit
Rhys raised his brows for a moment, considering the possibility, then shook his head. Hopefully he wouldn’t run into anyone up here, because if that was the case, then whatever grandmaster or schoolmaster had done this, likely wouldn’t take kindly to someone who wasn’t supposed to be here knowing all about their secret pollution stream. Bu...
2025-10-04 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post243. How Dangerous?
Rhys quickly left the frozen wastelands behind, changing into his ordinary robes when the fur ones grew too warm. Even if he didn’t feel the temperatures that much anymore, comfort and discomfort were still a thing; he only felt it as a mild twinge as opposed to the sweaty hell he was used to overheating feeling like, but then, not only was he...
2025-10-03 14:00:20 +0000 UTC View Post242. Getting Away
Rhys reached out to his impurities. He wasn’t sure if it would work or not, but it was a gambit worth trying… and also kind of his default move. He took a deep breath—
A wave of killing instinct burst across the room, freezing Rhys to his bones. A quiet, almost childish voice sounded out. “Ravin, I like that person.”
Rhys a...
2025-10-02 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post241. Beneath the Ice
“What?” Sid asked, his voice as cold as the ice tunnels they stood in.
“Skill issue. I had a problem with my skill at first, but I resolved it,” Rhys explained earnestly, as if his words could not possibly mean anything else, while simultaneously enjoying Daran’s invisible-to-everyone-else meltdown in the corner of his vision. 2025-10-01 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
240. Lock In
Rhys dove down the hatch. Sid followed after him, in no particular rush. Beneath the ice, Rhys started dragging out items from his trash star—things that were sturdy and adamant, which emanated a desire to stand and survive. He piled them against one another, quickly building a shabby lean-to or hut.
He could run deeper into the ice and ...
2025-09-30 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post239. Not Today
For reasons that Rhys thought were entirely reasonable, he didn’t take the insane bug monster several realms higher than him through his secret teleport escape holes, but instead took him the long way back, through the ice and the snow. It wasn’t as bad going back as it had been coming out, thanks in part to him knowing the route and how lon...
2025-09-29 20:39:30 +0000 UTC View Post238. So Much For That
Mirai came barreling down the street toward them, her fluffy skirts flapping around her. She leaped into the air and bounded to a halt right in front of Sid, spreading her arms in a big pose. “Hi! You’re really creepy. I’ve always loved the goth vibe, though! And you’re killing it!”
A vein throbbed in Grave’s forehead,...
2025-09-28 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post237. Stuck
Rhys turned to go, only for his feet to stick in place on Sid’s web. He opened his mouth to ask Sid to release him, then paused as his anxiety spiked even without him calling on the cursed senses. I feel like if I ask him to help me, he might just help me off this mortal coil.
Sid was dangerous. Crazy dangerous. He definitel...
2025-09-27 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post236. Following the Trails
The trails twisted around the town, overlapping and passing through it many times. Rhys stood back a ways, atop a nearby hill, and gazed down at the town from above. It was absolutely seething with cursed energy from this vantage point, its streets squirming with the stuff, a thousand worm trails curling through the town. From up here, though, h...
2025-09-26 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post235. To The Tavern
Contrary to Mirai’s wandering path, Grave led him swiftly and confidently to a tavern. It wasn’t the kind of tavern Rhys was used to, with a rowdy and down-at-the-heel atmosphere, but instead a refined establishment, with perfectly arranged décor. A man stood at the door, dressed in a neat suit and carrying a cloth over one arm. As they app...
2025-09-25 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post234. Meeting New People
Grave vanished somewhere while Mirai bounded off, leading him out of the café and across the city. She wasn’t wearing much more than she’d been wearing before, though she’d ditched the uniform in favor of a fluffy pink layered tutu-slash-skirt and a tight pink-on-pink bodice, both laden with deco pins, clips, and ornaments, but it made he...
2025-09-24 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post