Okay… fuck this.
Seriously. Fuck this shit.
Whoever the fuck thought it’d be a good idea to stick him in this situation was a rampant fucking sadist who deserved more than anything to fucking die.
…oh yeah, Drathok.
What was he doing?
He’d teleported over to the fuckmassive, monstrous abomination and seemed to be layering his body within sheets of glowing red magic. Fun.
Meanwhile, monste...
2024-07-26 21:06:32 +0000 UTC View PostMarkus squared his shoulders as he assessed the threat in front of him. He knew the monster before him, the altok, as Randall had called him, better than he knew any enemy he’d ever faced before now.
He almost knew him too well.
Markus knew that even with his increased speed and strength, their physical stats likely wouldn’t be bridged by such an increase. He’d shot up fifteen levels just by being battered by this man over and over, that and killing th...
2024-07-24 23:07:26 +0000 UTC View Post“Hi! I’m Markus. I’m twenty-two years old. Aries. You probably know me from my latest and greatest hits, such as ‘Decapitated Twenty Times’, or ‘Skull Crushed into the Floor Repeatedly’! I’m here now to debut my latest and greatest single, ‘Brain Contusion, Big Confusion, Balls Cru—”
“Your father left.”
…mom?
A staccato pindrop. His mind quivered.
Reality fragmented.
“Your father left us.”
<...
2024-07-22 21:47:31 +0000 UTC View PostMarkus watched as the monster grimaced around the blade piercing the outermost layer of his gut. He struggled, pushed as he attempted to keep the pressure up, to drive the broken blade further…
The monster grabbed the glaive with both hands and began to bend it… Markus held on for dear life, but only found himself being pulled forwards…
He dropped the glaive, leaving it embedded within the monster, Empowered both of his fists, and ran forwards to punch the fuck...
2024-07-20 21:18:31 +0000 UTC View PostMarkus’ head returned to his body before it could begin to roll.
Decapitation wasn’t something he was getting used to any time soon…
Fuck! Decapitation isn’t something you’re getting used to?! Big fucking surprise! Big fu—
And he was gone again.
And back.
Gone again.
And back.
He never grew numb to it. Each paralysing blow was another dent in the vestiges of his already fractu...
2024-07-19 01:52:21 +0000 UTC View PostGate opened.
Whatever was coming out sounded terrifying. The grating of metal against stone rang out in Markus’ brain as the new challenger approached, the dragging of their weapon a new and dissonant chime against a backdrop of bedlam.
The crowd didn’t roar with the same enthusiasm as usual. Not unless Randall prompted them to. They seemed to hang on his every word and motion, puppets that danced at his whim. The arena was Randall...
2024-07-17 00:17:56 +0000 UTC View PostThe time came.
Markus wasn’t ready, and that was as ready as he was gonna get.
“I’ll be here when you get back,” Rika had told him.
She’d said other things. They’d left an impression somewhere in his mind, but he couldn’t quite remember the words.
He was sure she’d be okay. They’d just met. She’d seemed to be doing just fine before she met him.
Markus put it out of his mind. He checked his pocket to make sure...
2024-07-15 01:09:52 +0000 UTC View Post“Man, they really left a book like this lying around?”
“I don’t think they’re that worried about security,” Rika shrugged. “Those barriers are the real deal. I couldn’t even take your note past a certain threshold. I had to hide it in a vase and come back and check it a few times just to make sure I knew what I was looking for.”
“Damn, you can’t even take something I wrote on through one of those barriers?”
“Appare...
2024-07-13 20:41:16 +0000 UTC View PostContrary to Markus’ mounting skepticism, Rika actually returned with genuinely useful books.
Before that, however, Markus was left with about an hour to himself. He had three and a half until his fight, and the time he was left alone in his cell he mainly spent planning. Better that than curling up in a ball, and he was past lamenting his situation. He’d gotten that shit off his chest already, or at least as much of it as he was going to.
It was jus...
2024-07-11 04:30:04 +0000 UTC View PostMarkus made his way to the blacksmith only to find the boar man missing. There was an unfinished weapon sitting across on a workbench, billows filling the place with smoke, and a feeling of unspoken continuity to the place that was eventually made sensical when he noticed a certain younger bipedal boar managing the forge, much skinnier than the one he’d met before.
“My father’s in the tavern,” the young boar said, sniffling between words. His eyes looked somewhat red. “I c...
“So… you just want me to hit you?” Lexi asked.
“Yeah. I’m not gonna be able to use whatever spell you teach me unless I have Shock Mana in my body.”
“Is that so?” Lexi titled her head at him. “I don’t know if I have different mana types in my body. I think I just convert my energy into spells. I don’t really know how mana types work.”
Markus gave her a long look. “You’re my teacher.”
“So?” Lexi shrugged. “...
2024-07-05 22:25:59 +0000 UTC View Post“What did you pick?”
“A good class,” Markus said, staring directly past Drathok. “Something that would actually match my natural aptitudes AND my other existing abilities and also—”
“You picked Dark Knight, didn’t you?”
“...shut the fuck up.”
Markus had, in fact, picked Dark Knight. He panicked. Also, on a reread, it actually didn’t sound that bad. Like at all. Dark Knights’ abilities seemed to mainly be focussed ...
2024-07-04 07:45:24 +0000 UTC View Post“Is reading comprehension not your forte?” Drathok asked, eyeing him with a sneer.
“There’s like… a hundred different classes here. More.” Markus blinked, still able to see the black and blue screens behind his eyelids. “Wanna tell me how to narrow it down, or something?”
“Try using discernment.”
“That’s… really fucking unhelpful.”
Drathok rolled his eyes. “You can filter by type, or by tier. Have you ever actua...
2024-07-03 04:42:19 +0000 UTC View PostWasn’t long until the pair of them were whisked out of the arena, Drathok grabbing Markus and teleporting him away before he could so much as blink, not even bothering to bow to the crowd as he usually did. When they manifested into reality once more, they were in what looked to be an office room.
It looked… dishevelled. Markus would’ve took Drathok for the fastidious, clean type. This looked somewhere between organised and a recent hurricane having blown through.
2024-07-01 07:58:59 +0000 UTC View Post
The raptor gnawing his leg was barrelled and smashed into by a flaming helldog, who promptly sunk its teeth into the creature and began to tear out its throat.
Ember. Good dog.
Markus felt the crystal still burning in his hand as the canine jumped out of it and began her assault, pulling the raptor off of Markus and shaking it so hard that its body began to rip in two from the force of the motion.
She healed his leg right after, enough so that it didn’...
2024-06-30 05:47:43 +0000 UTC View PostOkay so you know those big fucking raptor things from Jurrasic Park?
Imagine if one of those split in half right in front of you, and then two separate big fucking raptor things were stood where there was previously only one.
And now imagine the process repeated again.
And again.
And again…
Markus lost count after the fourth split, but if he had to guess, there were sixteen of these bi...
2024-06-29 01:28:06 +0000 UTC View PostTo Rika’s credit, she calmed down pretty quickly concerning Ember, and that was probably because Ember was the most docile sweet cuddly flaming helldog in all of creation.
Still she kept her distance. Markus had felt the same way once, but that giant pup nearly ripped his arm off, so he felt a tad more justified in it.
“I meant what I said,” Markus said. “Whether you think this is fine or not, you should be careful around me. This place has it o...
2024-06-27 17:46:38 +0000 UTC View Post“What am I, your fuckin’ secretary? Come see for yourself.”
Markus hoisted himself to his feet and began to lumber his way across the room, listless motions propelled by a small, barely nourished seed of fortitude.
He needed to get his head back in the game. Yeah, what had happened had been fucked up. No, he hadn’t known. Yes, he could’ve done more to be aware of his surroundings, and no, he couldn’t fucking forgive himself for hurting anything that didn...
2024-06-27 00:07:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Jeez, Drathok really gives you free run of this place, huh?” Abrah whistled, staring over Rika’s sleeping form for a little longer than Markus liked. “You’d almost think you were his guest, the shit he lets you get away with.”
“I doubt he even knows about this, assuming ‘this’ is even anything.”
“Probably knows more than you think,” Abrah shrugged as he waddled further into the room, right in the direction of the chests. “Guards li...
2024-06-26 02:23:44 +0000 UTC View PostRight after pointing out Markus’ room, tiger girl did a spin at the sound of a loud snore and immediately noticed Cyrus dozing away on his own super plush bed.
“So is everyone just living like kings down here, or…”
“Just some of us,” Markus said, wiping sleep from his eyes as he turned to sit up, pulling the robe he wore back over his shoulders as he did and fastening the waistband. “Take it your accommodation isn’t so grand?”
<... 2024-06-25 02:18:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Blunt my weapon.”
Cyrus took Markus’ glaive and put a protective sheen of magic over the blade in the same way he just had his own sword and hand axe.
“You ready?” Cyrus asked, raising his blade, preparing to touch it against Markus’.
Markus didn’t respond. He only advanced, thrusting his glaive forwards so suddenly that Cyrus had to jerk his arms upwards in order to block the strike, the weapon smashing off the side of his axe-head....
2024-06-23 20:38:22 +0000 UTC View PostMade a server for the story and for my writing in general, plan's to make it a hub for story discussion and art posting and chatting in general, feel free to join and pester me for a patreon role if you're a patron!
2024-06-22 23:53:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Hey, why are you here? Answer me.”
“Come in and I’ll tell you,” Serena said, tapping the bedpost, eyes a bright amethyst. “You’re not just going to stand out there all day until I leave, are you?”
“Grr…” Markus sauntered back into his cell, slumping to the floor, back against the wall. He didn’t look at her. “I’m having a pretty rough day. If you’ve got good news, open with that. I don’t wanna do the twenty questions routine.”
Drathok fell back into his desk, papers scattering everywhere as the oak split beneath him and he tumbled straight through it.
“You dared…”
Drathok clutched his eye with one hand as he scrambled back to his feet, biting his tongue to prevent himself from crying out in pain. By the time he’d turned to face Elasar, he’d pushed his arm back to his side.
“I only did what I considered to be in our best intere—”
“You summon...
2024-06-21 23:22:36 +0000 UTC View Post[Name: Markus Brown]
[Class: Otherworlder (Earth) (Tier: Novice 44)]
[Health: 890/1070]
[Mana: 7908/5590]
[Strength: 80 (+30)]
[Agility: 80 (+30)]
[Arcana: 20]
[Constitution: 130 (+30)]
[Spirit: 150]
[???: 0]
Okay. 170 regular poin...
2024-06-21 00:33:07 +0000 UTC View PostOpening specially reinforced chests with mastercrafted locks turned out to be a lot harder than Markus anticipated. Melting the lock did nothing, whether he tried flame or acid, and attempting to freeze off the hinges was also a total no-go.
He tried pulling the lock off, prizing it with his blade, and even manifesting his mana inside of the lock in order to mimic a key, but each attempt he made was completely ineffective. He’d managed to push his mana partway into the ho...
2024-06-20 00:50:45 +0000 UTC View PostOkay Markus. Massive regenerating plant monster. If you stand still for too long, it’s gonna grab you from every angle and choke you to death.
You know what that means?
“Fucking move!” the imp screamed from beside him, pushing him to the side as it ran out the range of the vines, dropping the chest in the process.
Yeah. What he said.
Markus jumped back onto one of the ruined ledges sticking out of the wall as...
2024-06-18 23:53:56 +0000 UTC View PostI’ve been waiting. Waiting for so long…
Days. Weeks. Years. Eons… it’s all the same down here. Any and all approximations of time are immaterial in this place.
Unable to move more than a few feet at any given time, unable to breathe without lungs to carry air, unable to do anything but lay in constant wait, my world unturning, my heart frozen and petrified and still.
Every time I see a shadow pass in the dista...
2024-06-17 23:26:07 +0000 UTC View PostOkay… Masteries. Time to figure that out.
Glaive Mastery had just hit level 10, as had Evasion. Opening the menu and selecting Glaive Mastery brought up a huge list of ‘Specialisations’ that Markus could undertake for the skill specifically, and he started to read through all of them.
Certain Specialisations were apparently enhanced by his Spirit score and its effect on skill Growth. Those were appropriately marked.
[Weapon Hurler II: This ...
2024-06-16 23:06:58 +0000 UTC View PostTurns out the answer to which stat he invested in with two lumbering giants bouldering their way over to him was ‘nothing’, seeing as by the time he’d managed to dismiss the new notifications on his screen and hit the stat menu, he was already having to dodge new attacks.
Thankfully, these two were actually easier to fight than the first one, mainly because for all of their blind, angry swinging, they occasionally bumped or smashed into one another, with even one missed att...
2024-06-15 16:17:45 +0000 UTC View Post