Spiders are misunderstood creatures. Besides the giants in the tropical southern edge of Daksinsthan, most don't pose any threat to humans or livestock. They're content living their solitary lives, ambushing prey, mating, reproducing, and doing general spider things. If not for spiders, harmful insects, pests, and vermin would plague most settlements. All they ask in return is to be left alone....
2024-01-26 21:00:49 +0000 UTC View PostThree weeks remained until Nox’s third semester at Woodson University.
Getting the Round Table to a usable state would take much longer than the time on hand. So, Nox made a list of the spaces they would utilize first. Workshops, research laboratories, and a storefront sat at the top of his priority list. It took him one week to clear the outside of the building and neighborhood—the c...
2024-01-11 11:38:56 +0000 UTC View PostEven though Nox hadn’t consumed any Spirit Caller’s Tea since the night before Kris died, he found himself in the dreamscape again. It felt as vivid as the spirit walking under Pudge's guidance. An early winter breeze left Nox shivering. His arm hair stood on its end, and he needed a conscious effort to suppress teeth chattering. Yellow, orange, and brown leaves covered the ground, and the ...
2024-01-11 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostKris’ funeral was a somber but public affair. The university and council named her the City of Ygg’s savior and hero. They officially published a report of how she had fought and killed an evil archmage corrupting and manipulating Terrrastalia through the dungeon. It told a tale of how she replaced the old god with a friendly mutant dungeon-borne she raised and rescued. It felt like a tall ...
2024-01-11 04:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“So, are we in agreement?” Utpal Banerjee asked. The Daksinsthani sat on the five-person city council to speak for the interests and protection of all merchants. “You're happy to keep your involvement in recent events quiet?”
Nox nodded. “It's better for everyone if my party and I minimize what we did. If asked, we won't deny visiting the dungeon but will not speak of the Cabal ...
2024-01-11 02:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Everybody wants to pursue alternate mana systems, enchanted by their bells and whistles. New star? Pacted companion? Grove and warden?
Most don’t think of all the costs and drawbacks that accompany them. Standard mana systems are simple and direct. They don’t demand maintaining a delicate balance between conflicting stars. Rules and contractual duties don’t limit them. Best of a...
“How do you feel?” Dean Woodson asked Nox. He and Alexander shared a recovery room in the university infirmary. Since she had claimed the job of healing her grand-nephew and heir, the druid also extended her care to him.
“It feels like I’ve been struck by a lightning spell, and someone trapped the essence in my left arm,” Nox answered, feeling disoriented. The last thing he reme...
2024-01-10 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLillin Grey was no longer a mimic.
In fact, she became far more than just a mutated mimic several years ago. The change had occurred when Nox and Lillin snuck away from the Golden Isles for one of her regular feedings.
The floating islands often slowed their journey when passing large towns and small cities. The Trade Empire used the opportunity to find new clients and iron out cont...
2024-01-10 12:20:24 +0000 UTC View PostIt felt odd walking into a dungeon’s heart without facing any beasts or bosses. Instead, the passageways were mostly deserted. Almost naked servants passed Nox and Lillin without making eye contact. Blue-black markings covered their skin. They looked like veins but followed more geometric patterns. Nox was familiar with such marks. He had two sets of them high on his forearms. The people work...
2024-01-10 12:14:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe chaos and servants not attracting the pyramid guards felt like an unusual stroke of luck. Nox hoped it meant they had all given up on their duties and pursued Otis. The chaos outside suggested a lot more was going on than flame slimes attacking myconids. He wondered whether the horn had summoned spirits to the material realm. It was probable that they’d react poorly to the individuals tor...
2024-01-10 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Where the blight is Kris?” Lillin demanded as she and Nox snuck toward the town.
“Probably stalking them while invisible. Knowing her, she wants to find the person behind this before casting her big spells and giving herself away. The best way to end things is to cut off the snake's head instantly. The rest will fall during the confusion afterward.”
“It better not happen ...
2024-01-10 07:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDespite the dire and terrifying circumstances, Nox struggled to suppress a smile as he ventured deeper into the dungeon. It felt like he was finally living his ambition. Best of all, he was alone with Lillin. The pair hadn’t received any isolated delving time since the first rift with the Beauforts. It was precisely the kind of future they had dreamt of before leaving the Golden Isles. Nox wa...
2024-01-09 18:32:26 +0000 UTC View PostChaos ensued as soon as Nox emerged from the portal. Caitlin and Joey were already engaged in combat, repelling a swarm of centipedes trying to force their way toward the portal. Meanwhile, a wave of maggots wriggled through the gaps between their legs, ignoring the delvers and trying to break free of the dungeon.
Instead of walking on hard rock or whatever constituted the dungeon’s flo...
2024-01-09 18:31:28 +0000 UTC View PostA powerful slap across the face ripped Nox from his slumber. It was Kris. She shook Nox violently before hitting him again.
“What in Yggdrasil’s name did you do?” She demanded. When Nox didn’t sit up straight away, the professor struck him a third time. “Get up! By Yggdrasil, Nox, you need to stop whatever Lillin is doing!”
A mess of different stimuli assaulted Nox’s s...
2024-01-09 18:21:23 +0000 UTC View PostFor the first time since he started spirit walking, Nox found himself in the dreamscape with more than one person. Pudge had yet to join them, but his practiced guidance resulted in Lillin and Aria joining him at Ygg's base.
The seasons had changed in the dreamscape. In the material world, Ygg's leaves never changed color. However, in the spiritual realm, yellow, orange, and brown rained ...
2024-01-09 18:20:49 +0000 UTC View PostEven though everyone had classes the following day, they gathered in Pudge's apartment for dinner. Because of his recent successes, he was bringing in a lot of capital for the university, and they had upgraded him to a new apartment above the stables. Since he needed a lot of room for his critters, he had more space than the affluent Lady Oakheart’s suite or Kris’s apartment.
The Beau...
2024-01-09 09:13:43 +0000 UTC View PostA confession in front of a guard captain alone felt insufficient. The damage and panic caused by the giant mound of myconid flesh in Market Ring was a city-wide issue. So, with Alexander and Caitlin’s help, Nox managed to get a few minutes of a city council woman's time. Hilda confessed to her crimes, her orders, the pay, and everything the Singhs had her do in front of Dean Woodson. Dean Ole...
2024-01-08 07:50:06 +0000 UTC View PostEven though they executed the plan relatively smoothly and Nox presented a calm, collected front, he was a nervous wreck throughout the night. He woke up several times with his heart pounding in his chest. Nox worried that Louis might’ve been overconfident in his magic and someone detected their presence or activities. Despite Swati’s reassurances, he had concerns about her loyalty. She app...
2024-01-05 06:34:50 +0000 UTC View PostThe chaos was much greater and more magnificent than Nox anticipated. It wasn’t a small fraction of guests that reacted with magic to quell the supposed threat. Instead, it was closer to half. Fireballs, lightning bolts, icicles, chunks of stone, and miscellaneous arcane projectiles struck the still-growing mass of fungi.
The mushrooms burned, froze, cracked, and turned to dust. Then, m...
2024-01-04 06:32:29 +0000 UTC View PostSwati took the half-brothers by hand and led them through several walls. It reminded Nox of forcing his hand through a slime’s thick membrane and inside its gelatinous body. No debris stuck to his skin when they emerged on the other side. Fortunately, Swati appeared to know her way around the estate. She led Nox and Louis through a couple of storerooms and unoccupied staff quarters. They ende...
2024-01-03 18:41:07 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ve never done anything like this,” Louis commented as he and Nox wandered down the Round Table’s service hallway.
All oncoming and passing staff wove around them, never touching the pair. Nox felt like a moving pillar that everyone instinctively knew to avoid. No one acknowledged them or met their eye. Instead, everyone pretended as if the half-brothers didn’t exist.
...
2024-01-02 06:37:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe Round Table was significantly grander and more immense than Nox initially assumed. It occupied most of the enormous Singh estate’s ground floor and half of the first. The entry hall alone was at least five times the size of his entire property’s ground floor—shopfront, storerooms, and passageways included. Side doors along the left wall led to two eateries and one large bar. The servi...
2024-01-01 07:33:31 +0000 UTC View PostAll of Nox’s lecturers had either finished teaching their course material or were close to doing so. Most had moved on to revision classes or answering practice questions. Only Intermediate Dungeon Theory still continued to slip in new material.
“Only two of the three major roving dungeons reside in or on the body of titans,” the professor said. “This should be an easy question fo...
2023-12-29 08:32:23 +0000 UTC View PostAll parties in Advanced Dungeon Combat helped the city during and following the titan attacks. Everyone with an adept-rank star had done the bare minimum to finish the course and, therefore, passed the minimum requirements. However, Professor Wolfhammer didn’t consider the course complete until the entire party received the same qualification.
Adept-ranked delvers had the right to enter...
2023-12-28 09:17:03 +0000 UTC View Post“What would you like to be called once you’re officially my apprentice?” Nox asked.
“What’s wrong with Alex?” The gang leader asked, awkwardly tugging at her collar. Aisha had purchased blouses, skirts, ties, and boots for her to wear once she started her apprenticeship. A third of her gang—namely the youngest and disabled—had just departed with the latest Edelweiss vessel...
2023-12-27 06:37:09 +0000 UTC View PostAria Edelweiss was neither an academic nor a skilled mage. She had learned at a young age that she only had enough potential to be middling in either line. No matter how hard she tried, the talented and better resourced would always come out on top. However, lacking the talent for either didn’t make her stupid.
“Neither of those are important, my love,” her father used to tell her w...
2023-12-26 06:52:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you think that’s a proportional response?” Aria asked when Nox explained the beginnings of a plan.
“Does proportional matter? The Singhs hired people to steal my work and burn the building with everyone inside. That everyone includes you. Then they waited until I was away from the city and almost pulled off the planned arson. If I didn’t add the internal wards and coatings a...
2023-12-26 06:51:26 +0000 UTC View PostDean Oleg was right. Nox had an invitation waiting for him to the Grand Singh Ball in two weeks. The family picked the Round Table as the venue, of course. The invite insisted on formal attire, no guests or samples. As Nox reread the printed card, he wondered whether all invitees had restrictions regarding dates.
Allen had arranged all of Nox’s correspondence by date and time of deliver...
2023-12-25 07:40:11 +0000 UTC View Post“The wild folk are only wild in name. The Imperium branded them with the misnomer because of their nomadic ways. The residents of the Arctic Wastes move with the seasons, migrating between geothermal hotspots and resource-rich caverns. The continent’s best aether warriors and smiths rise from within their ranks because of the harsh conditions and beasts they must constantly combat....
2023-12-25 06:19:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe urchin gang had lost close to half of its numbers over the last week. Most eateries in Market Ring closed for the week following the earthquake. After all, paying staff their daily wages, firing the hearths or stoves, and cleaning supplies cost money. The remaining businesses only conducted business at a lesser or more limited capacity, and only a tiny fraction of them were sympathetic towa...
2023-12-24 09:14:18 +0000 UTC View Post