Ah, so I’m in this place again.
The one with the star pyramid thing, the one that breathes. Why didn’t I remember this?
MORTAL MINDS ARE NOT MEANT TO COMPREHEND THE HEAVENS.
Oh.
Wait, what?
…
I’m pretty sure something just answered me. I know I’m unconscious again since Nyx isn’t anywhere to be seen. Didn’t it sound like... like... something different before? Like words forming in my soul?
THE G...
2023-12-30 01:57:55 +0000 UTC View PostI... have no idea what to do with this information.
Nyx has been barraging me with questions that I’m probably supposed to be relaying to my paladin, but she’s been asking them so fast one after another that I haven’t had a chance to try. So instead, I’ve just been holding Izahne in silence.
(You know what, fine. I try to help and you ignore me! I should be used to this,) my Assistant whines.
Could you just, lay off for a while? You’re askin...
2023-12-30 01:56:20 +0000 UTC View Post"If you want to,” is all she says.
…
That means no, doesn’t it?
(Basically,) Nyx says with a shrug.
Huh.
I sigh a small ash cloud. “Well... is there anything else you want to do? Before I had lectures and classes and you and master, I mostly just found interesting things to consume and get stronger. Everything is so busy now. Why does it feel wrong to not have something to do when I don’t have something to do? This wasn’t ...
“So uh, maybe the trait doesn’t make me eat souls anymore?” I say.
Izahne gives me a tired look.
Well, hit me with it. What does it say now?
(No idea. The description is literally just garbled text that keeps jumping around like static,) Nyx replies.
Then it’s probably another one that isn’t supposed to be in the System, right? Like one that got forced in or a god messed with like the Skills my Class has?
(That’s… an intere...
Hello, Nerin.
It takes me less time than before to locate the eldra grocer. It’s early in the day, but clearly that hasn’t stopped them from their day’s work. I found them at their usual stall at the settlement’s main square setting out their wares.
And unsurprisingly they jump at my greeting, throwing vegetables of some kind up in the air. I promptly manifest feelers to catch them all – gods, I missed being able to do this!
So apparently the academy doesn’t have any lectures on weekends. Not that I’d know what to do with the time, it feels strange to have a fixed schedule and then suddenly, not.
(Most students use it for leisure or homework,) my Assistant points out.
I can’t say I really get the difference. I’ve mostly just been doing whatever I want anyway…. Hey wait, I’m a wraith again, right?
Nyx gives me a flat stare.
“That means I can f...
Yeah, I was right. Weird.
(Sure, but I was expecting weirder. Like much more weird.)
My paladin is softly snoring as per her nightly usual, wrapped around my arm and radiating positive emotions.
So ‘put my finger in your mouth and then drain me’ and then asking me ‘how it was’ isn’t as weird as you expected?
(I… you know, you’re incredibly naïve. Extremely. Irredeemably. But I guess it at least means I have one less ...
2023-12-30 01:53:09 +0000 UTC View PostAfter I finally satisfy my hunger and we begin to leave the dungeon, Izahne, Eleonor, and the book carrier exchange contact information – at the scout’s goading. What does this mean for me considering I don’t have one of their fancy runic tablet communication gadgets? Not much, although I’m at least now aware that the book carrier’s name is Markus.
“How fast can you run?” I ask the two newcomers. They share a glance before answering.
E...
“Uh. Oops?”
I guess this is one way to meet other students. Although this one looks horrified…
“A-AHHH! I mean, sorry, s-sorry, I’m so sorry!” they squeal as they squirm out from my arms, and promptly start bowing repeatedly.
I tilt my head, while my paladin offers an apologetic smile to them, and then walks forward to whisper something in their ear.
I pretend not to hear, but I can definitely sense the words. “It’s ok, they look scary...
2023-12-30 01:51:59 +0000 UTC View PostA thought transmission? Now?
I’m already seated, books and tools at the ready, and headmaster chooses now to interrupt my schedule?
It’s just as well I supposed, considering my classmates present are already filing out of the lecture hall, and so I begin packing my materials. In some ways I’m one of the less fortunate, considering my dimensional storage is completely full of spell components, research materials, and monster parts – I’m re...
2023-12-30 01:51:25 +0000 UTC View PostAfter another un-exciting… uhh excitingless… exciteless? What’s the word?
(Boring, maybe uninteresting?) Nyx offers.
Sure, we’ll go with that. After another uninteresting night spent moving the nightstand in and out of my dimensional storage, my paladin’s morning alarm finally makes a racket, and she leaps out of bed to turn it off.
“Good morning,” I say. She turns and gives me a groggy smile for a moment before her wits catch up and she...
2023-12-30 01:50:40 +0000 UTC View PostAfter waking up literally every person in my lair, Izahne is apparently dead set on us having a party meeting. What’s the topic, you ask?
(Nobody asked.)
Shut it. Anyway, apparently me being a monster is enough cause for alarm that they all need to talk about it. Because they didn’t already have however many meetings about me being a literal monster. So, I’m probably just going to sit here and watch Philip again – or at least I would, bu...
2023-12-30 01:50:05 +0000 UTC View Post“o wraith mother, queen of hunger,
stripped of flesh and bone
all devour, grow thy power
and make this land thy throne.”
- Ancient children’s rhyme
***
After retraining myself on when to summon clothing and some light practice with it, I’m ready and able to move the two of us in the same way, but for some reason she refused it and now we’re just walking instead.
It will definitely be dark by the time we...
2023-12-30 01:49:21 +0000 UTC View PostWell, that was an incredibly boring and unsatisfying dungeon stop. Sure, I got enough souls to keep my hunger under control – the System prompt even told me so.
But, she’s still not talking to me, not like she had been. The most she says now is the bare essentials, it hardly even counts as interacting. I’m starting to wonder if this is my cue to exit gracefully, or I would if it weren’t for the headmaster’s watching my every move.
(One...
2023-12-30 01:47:43 +0000 UTC View PostI’m not even aware that I’m terrifying. That’s what they said.
They’re wrong. I absolutely know I’m terrifying. That was the look on the face of every single goblin I’ve eaten – terror.
(That’s not what they meant,) Nyx says.
Okay, sure. Why does it matter again?
She sighs. (It matters because the more powerful and terrifying you are, the more you register as a threat to the powers that be. The headmaster is probably sheltering you right...
And then the display goes dead, and the book catches fire. The teacher smothers the flames with a quickly-incanted water spell, but I’m guessing this one’s going in the ‘replace’ stack.
(Unquestionably,) my Assistant confirms.
Huh.
But I still don’t care. I take this opportunity to leave, since it looks like most of my classmates already did once their Magic Attributes were read. Outside of the lecture hall, Idiots One through Th...
2023-12-30 01:46:11 +0000 UTC View PostFirst period is about as boring as yesterday. It’s the same class, since this one is five days in a row. That means same teacher, same boring drawl, same topic that doesn’t matter. ‘Dungeoneering.’ Meh. I just hit things with my Aura and then Consume. There’s no difficulty or tactics required.
The teacher did take attendance today, unlike yesterday. Nyx suggested that they didn’t yesterday because they got here late, so there wasn’t muc...
“No.” Zero hesitation.
I mean, why would I!? There’s obviously something weird going on here. My paladin is acting strange and I have no idea what it means. Ah, she’s tearing up… e-ehh?
(Maybe you should just, I don’t know. Let her have this too? You’re probably going to be making a lot of compromises going forward, since reminder: she owns you too. Right?) Nyx says.
I blink. Hah, forgot about that. Well… Maybe I’ll just…<...
Well, that was mostly painless. I offered, they accepted, and then I dumped all their junk in my dimensional storage since it’s bigger than theirs – except Abaris, but his is full of… I’m not really sure what. Anyway, I played pack mule and ferried all that stuff to my lair, and then they all went furniture shopping.
The only one complaining is Elobahn, to my absolutely genuine and not at all sarcastic surprise. He finally shut up after ...
2023-12-30 01:44:06 +0000 UTC View PostIt sure took the teacher a long time to get here. Is that normal?
Anyway, since the headmaster themself accepted me directly, other than Izahne filling out forms for me and Nyx calling me useless, I didn’t actually have to do much of anything. And since we were apparently right at the beginning of a term, they enrolled me in classes right away. They offered me on-campus housing, but I already have a lair. Plus they have a no pets policy unless they’re &...
2023-12-30 01:43:34 +0000 UTC View Post[Status]
[Name: Izahne Sebelle Emari]
[Race: Indra (Adult)]
[SYSTEM: TYPE C – Level 41 – XP 1160/42000]
[Inherent Skills: None]
[Class: Holy Swordsman (Apprentice) – Level 16 – XP 470/17000]
[Class Skills:]
[Universal Bulwark 6]
&n...
2023-12-30 01:42:57 +0000 UTC View PostSo, I’m in some fancypants office, facing down some short old weirdo with a fluffy white beard.
A lot of things happened after we left my lair… first the party insisted we needed to go clothes shopping, even though we all had perfectly functional clothes – they only had a few bloodstains or tears! Hardly anything needing replacing. Izahne (who insists I call her Izzy – I have since refused to call her Izzy) also insisted on choosing a handful of ou...
The mage seems particularly stimulated over this, whatever just happened.
“You didn’t even use any mana! What did you even do?” he shouts.
Meanwhile Omorth scratches his head and says, “I got a message saying I was offered a blood pact, does that mean anything?”
Ah, peace! Oh wait no, Abaris is talking again.
“A blood pact? You’re absolutely certain it said a blood pact?” he asks.
“That’s what it said,” I interject. “No, I don’t know wha...
2023-12-30 01:40:34 +0000 UTC View PostSeeing the dumbfounded look on my face, the paladin quickly continues.
“I mean, Lady Epione told Pearl that we should keep an eye on you, and we all seem to get along pretty well, at least when you’re not trying to eat us, or whatever that was,” she mutters the last part.
I have no words for the inanity leaving Izahne’s mouth, but I still manage to force out a, “You… uh. What?”
“Come on then, what’s the harm?” Omorth says with a sheep...
Darkness surrounds me, only broken by bits of sound, flashes of color. I feel… something? Suddenly, I can tell part of me is missing, but I’m not sure how.
There are muffled voices, shouting but indecipherable. I struggle to think, but my thoughts may as well be sludge.
And then, my vision clears. I gasp for breath as if I’d been holding it, as if I needed it.
[Soul Thirst effects have temporarily abated due to external interference!]
[Consume has reached Level 16!]
[Aura of the Unwound has reached Level 4!]
[Dominate has reached Level 4!]
[Dominate has reached Level 5!]
[Identify has reached Level 8!]
Yeah, so I got bored of hearing the humans freak out about gods directly blah blah and cults moving behind the scenes and so forth, and finally thought to check my System messages. Hey, remind ...
2023-12-30 01:38:40 +0000 UTC View Post“So how much longer are you following me?” I ask. My patience is starting to wear a bit thin, but I’ve been ignoring them since our ‘friendly spar’. Hey, it’s not like they’re scaring away mobs or stealing my experience.
The shiny human – Izahne, apparently – cocks their head to the side, while Abaris huffs a sigh before responding. “You’re just asking now? Most people would be more cautious of someone after an altercation.” 2023-12-30 01:38:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Huh. This hunt has been far less entertaining than I was expecting… it’s a dungeon, after all. For some reason I thought I’d find more challenges here.
(Again, low-level dungeon. It’s designed so noobs don’t die here, at least not as easily,) Nyx answers.
That’s true, but I’m low-level, and hunting on my own.
(Yes, but noob adventurers don’t typically have balance-breaking Skills like your aura.)
Eh, fair enough. I – what, ow!...
2023-12-30 01:37:00 +0000 UTC View PostStone shrapnel fills the air, pinging ineffectually off my runic plate mail. I’d barely dodged the dragon ogre’s blast, and quickly drag myself to my feet to interpose my kite shield between us. My quarry doesn’t leave me time to check on my companions, but I have faith in them as well as our ability to end the boss battle soon.
“[Moderate Restore Vitality]!” Pearl shouts, her white healer’s shroud flaring around her as my most recent woun...
2023-12-30 01:36:29 +0000 UTC View PostLong ago, when the planes were young, the gods of order took pity upon their mortal followers and, with the aid of the gods of creation, devised a divine apparatus that would both ensure all mortals would have the opportunity to ascend to godhood and also to maintain divine churn – that is, to create an opportunity for the gods themselves to enter the system of reincarnation it also enforced. This apparatus consisted of: