Nox Brews Stories posts
Posts: 496
Files: 6
123. Complete Conjugation
Before making his final decision, Lukas checked what conjunction abilities Biomancy and Stormdragon’s Eye spawned together. It wouldn’t influence what he or the other clones received, but considering the complete future arsenal felt sensible.Draconic Biology: Morph will either adopt draconic fea...
122. Triggering The Trap Card
The ritualists fell one at a time.Only the first of them turned into dust. Then, anyone who strayed from their position around the ritual circle’s edge was torn to shreds. It looked like a giant invisible bird was taking chunks out of them. The most unnerving part of it for Lukas was that none of ...
121. The Ritual
Things started going wrong as soon as the ritual began.All eyes went to the ceiling, ignoring the banging on the door. Muffled yells came through them, accompanied by the clashing of metal. None of the ritualists seemed to care. They had trust in Ephram’s guards. It wouldn’t surprise Lukas if th...
120. When The Hunter Becomes The Hunted
Lukas’s head was foggy. One moment, he was on the rail connecting the plateau with the Shadow Seeker’s fort to the district, the next, he was in a dark room, bound, gagged, and on his bottom. He tried to use his arcane senses and the sixth sense granted by Spellweaver to feel his surroundings, b...
119. Final Preparations
The Shadow Seekers guild house had become a familiar environment. Lukas visited it to update Ogden on the investigation. The resident shopkeepers were always eager to appraise Eins and Zwei’s latest creations. He also liked checking their shard and essence stocks.After recent clone projects, Lukas...
118. The Luck Thief
If there were a happiness index of clones, Ace believed he would be at the top of it. Morph would come next since he had the most significant degree of freedom after him. Eins would follow as he genuinely loved everything to do with Arcane Smithing. However, that was likely to change in the near fut...
117. Arcane Development
Alter Metal Mass has progressed to Rank 7!Steel Weave’s flexibility and durability have increased at both weight extremes.Spellweaver has progressed to rank 2!Assistant Spindle’s arcane capacity has increased.Lukas laughed, reading the journal messages.“What is it, boss?” the newly resummone...
116. Storm And Shadows
[Sorry folks. I've been down with a super high fever. Spent most of the last few days delirious and in bed. I'll make up for it with chapters throughout the weekend.]It was no fun being a Stalker with Alter Metal Mass. El-Prime shoved clones like him into one of two roles.Primarily, they fun...
115. When The Cat Is Away
“Why won’t it reach the fucking threshold?” Flukas groaned, slumping back in his chair. Lightningfire spheres floated around him, and a Shadowfire hovered in front of his floating hand. The clone had hoped that using two different kinds of magic at once would help push his Heart Pillar to wher...
114. Coming Clean
Never enough clones.The ‘special’ clones already used almost half of Lukas’s clone slots. Eins continued to toil in the workshop, crafting weapons and tools of varying strength and complexity. His fellow artisan clone didn’t have a unique shard, but was almost always spoken for, dividing his...
113. Trials of Aquila
“Fight!” Shouted a woman from the floor above.Xander moved first, charging. He slid along the stone floor without moving his legs, knees bent, and one round shield held in front of him. Morph had watched the man closely during the recent mission and was sure it was one of his primary shard abili...
112. Clones At Work
“Rolls that add up to four or multiples of four are bad news, boss,” the new clone said. Playing with a pair of black metallic dice. Gold studs planted on all the sides served as the number markers. “Don’t ask me why. You probably read somewhere that in some cultures, four is a bad omen or s...
111. The Shadow Seekers' Mission
“We expected bad, not this bad,” Ogden said, slumping in his heavy metal armchair. It appeared uncomfortable, but didn’t seem to bother the man. Sections of it looked like joints, leaving Lukas to wonder whether it too was one of the guild leader’s mechanical exo-suits. “Can the former aud...
110. Progress On The Home Front
More notifications awaited Lukas when he returned home. He dispelled the clones still in the city and resummoned them straight away.Arcane Smithing has progressed to Tier 5!Strength and toughness have increased.Minor ability upgrade available.Arcane Smithing has progressed to Tier 6!Magic metal crea...
109. Returning To The Gray
Lukas loved his spindle.The only reason he accepted a familiar was because he loved the idea of a spell-casting assistant. It manifested as a forearm-wide wooden cylinder with a half-as-thick metal cylinder growing out of it. The latter had luminous threads wrapped around them. There was an equal di...
108. Tools For Greatness
Lukas couldn’t be more pleased with his growth.It went without saying that he owed it all to the clones. They were the reason he had covered ground that others had taken years to overcome. Apparently, the true barrier appeared after tier three. Esther had claimed progress slowed to a snail’s pac...
107. Much-Awaited Progress
Lukas’s theory proved correct.The victims of the Void slugs all resided in the neighborhoods along the river. All basements and cellars contained evidence of body-snatched individuals. It seemed they remained in a dormant state until their master was threatened. The Void Lord was undoubtedly intel...
106. Hard Won Victories
Lukas had hoped his role in the battle for Reistein—and Fracture since they were dealing with the Void—would be over after he took care of the ritual and set the floor on fire. Much to his disappointment, other concerns awaited him when he fled the building.“We shouldn’t be doing this, Maste...
105. Tactics Don't Come In Boxes
Lukas looked inward, focusing on Spellweaver, and left the clones to their work. He trusted them to keep the enemy busy and off his back while he played with the threads of magic. The weave was far more complicated than anything he had encountered before, looking more like a dense tapestry than the ...
104. A Battle On Two Fronts
Lukas let the clones enter the building first. They used the same roof entrance as during their previous infiltration. The party intended to enter through the ground floor, as there were too many of them to go unnoticed, especially since both mages had prepared spells to assist with their infiltrati...
103. It Never Hurts To Be Prepared
The auditor and her apprentice were both subjects of concern. Lukas set a clone on the pair while having Mira teach him psychic defense exercises. It was a good excuse to spend time with her, which didn’t set off Xander or Liesel’s alarm bells.“That Morph is a character, isn’t he?” Mira co...
102. Leading A Horse To Water
“What do you mean they tried to kill you?” Liesel demanded, frowning. The party had gathered in her and Mira’s suite. The auditor and her apprentice weren’t present, preferring to stay in their wagon. Neither Morph nor El-Prime had seen much of either of them since their arrival in Reistein,...
101. What Lies Below
Using rituals to train Spellweaver was an expensive endeavor. Having the clones cast spells and unraveling the threads didn’t help as much as he had hoped, confirming Lukas’s suspicions that ascension required using all of an ability’s functions, not just repeating one element of it repeatedly...
100. Ritualweaver
Lukas stirred from a deep slumber almost a full day later, still feeling exhausted and mentally drained. The ritual had taken more from him than he expected, awakening a new respect for Penelope. The sorcerer continued after casting as if it were just another spell. Lukas had almost lost consciousne...
99. Things Are Not As They Seem
Morph didn’t really care that he didn’t get to visit the hot springs. He was constantly experimenting with his physiology under his clothes and wasn’t too keen on showing off the changes. Compressed lumps of biomass also covered his back and vitals. Morph had hardened their outsides, turning t...
98. Reistein
Reistein came into view during the fifth day of their journey. The party hadn’t faced any trials following the giants’ attack. One of the stalkers sighted a warband of snowmen across the river. Their scout seemed to have also spotted the human group. Neither side attacked the other. Instead, bot...
97. Confessions And Half-Truths
Lukas couldn’t tell whether it was a part of the Aquila guild’s training regimen or if Mira and Xander were equally dedicated. The pair rose an hour before the rest of the party every morning. While everyone clung to the final minutes of slumber, they exercised and ran individual combat drills.X...
96. Silver and Black
“My name’s not Hammer,” the hammer-wielding vanguard member said, wincing as the auditor’s apprentice tended to his wounds. “It's Haima. Hai-Ma. Is that clear?”“No need to get testy, Hammer,” Morph said, soothing the goats. He stroked their woolly necks. “What do your golems sa...
95. Storms and Shadows
“You’re on vanguard duty,” Xander whispered, rushing past Morph. It seemed the man had something akin to a Charge ability that allowed him to move at incredible speeds but only in straight lines, regardless of terrain. It wasn’t a spell. Otherwise, threads of arcane energy would’ve stood o...
94. Strategic Assaults
Unlike the rest of the party, Lukas was delighted when the caravan came under attack. At first, it seemed like a swarm of burrowers had found the road. Leisel announced it was unusual and commanded a defensive formation straight away. They avoided frequently traversed regions, preferring areas heavy...
