Ryn
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Chapter 270
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 19:00:06 +0000 UTCMarcus POV
Marcus was currently trying his best to relax and enjoy the ride in the carriage.
However, it was becoming a much harder task than one would originally believe. Especially considering the person he had to share the carriage with.
“Why are you taking a carriage? Why not just teleport around from city to city?” Stella’s voice rang out.
He sighed and adjusted the brim of his hat to cover the rest of his face from her gaze, ignoring her.
“I mean it’s inefficient! Instead of wasting almost all of our time traveling from one place to another, we could be using that time to search through so many cities and towns. What are we going to find all the way out here?”
Most people would say that Stella was blessed with the voice of a goddess. But he would invite them to try saying that after staying within the same carriage as her for over a week. The woman didn’t stop talking. It didn’t matter if it was early in the morning or if he was trying to fall asleep, she didn’t stop yapping.
“Like I told you a thousand times, if you think there’s a better way to find the boy, you can go off on your own. Nobody is forcing you to follow me. I have other responsibilities other than finding the boy.”
“Pft, are you kidding me? You really are still trying to convince me that you are actually following a different person at the moment? Even I know that is a bald-faced lie,” she scoffed as she swung her legs from the bench.
“It’s not a lie. I am following a person of interest that has been quite an annoyance to House Violet and their dealings,” he said honestly, even opening up his aura to her so she could verify its veracity.
She still shook her head disbelievingly. “Whatever you say. I am still going to stay along for the ride.”
He shrugged at her. “Do what you wish.”
He was telling her the truth. He was after a man who he was led to believe was quite nearby. This person has been quite the thorn in the side of House Violet and removing this thorn would be a welcoming pleasure.
What he didn’t tell her, was that he was pretty certain that this person and the boy the two of them were looking for were connected somehow.
Although, he had a sneaking suspicion that she was already aware of this.
It was no secret that people of note knew of Marcus’s unusual ability to track things or people down. It is what made him such a valuable asset to House Violet. What most people didn't know was that he had a very very rare affinity for Karma Magic.
He would be the first to admit that it wasn’t a very impressive or strong affinity, not even close to some of the legendary seers but it was just enough that he was able to predict where certain things were or what was going to happen.
In this case, he had felt a strong connection between the boy and the man House Violet wanted to take care of. It was the reason why he had not forced House Easten to give up the boy even though he had been pretty certain that they knew where Julius was or had some kind of relationship with the boy.
He had waited until the boy left on his own volition. It was simpler this way and avoided angering a powerful House such as House Easten. He knew better than most what kind of dangerous secrets laid beneath the Marquis House.
“Do you think we will come across any Null Fiends along our way?” Stella asked, suddenly.
“Huh?” He asked reflexively, immediately regretting it as he did.
“You know, Null Fiends. The big scary monsters that absorb mana? And the ones that are quite prominent in this region?”
“I know what Null Fiends are,” he said blankly.
“Well, you asked,” she pointed out.
“No, I was confused as to why you were even asking something like that,” he said exasperatedly.
“I was just curious,” she mused.
He only shook his head and used his lone arm to scratch the stubble that was poking his neck, ignoring the look she was giving him.
He knew why she was looking at him. She was hoping that he would ask what she was curious about. But he wouldn’t ask. After all, he had already fallen for the trap several times during their trip.
“You’re not going to ask what I am curious about?” She finally stated.
“Why would I need to ask? You’re just going to tell me regardless,” he pointed out bluntly.
She pouted. “Yes, but a good conversationalist would ask what I am curious about.”
“I never said I was a good conversationalist.”
“You could at least fake being one then,” she pointed out with pleading eyes.
He grunted at her, giving her the only answer he thought was necessary.
She harrumphed and went on to explain it regardless. “Okay, well I am curious about how every one of their species has the ability to absorb mana. Even those at Tier 2 are capable of some kind of absorption. Don’t you find that odd?”
“No, not really. They have very specialized skills and Concepts that allow them to achieve this.”
“Come on. You really believe that’s the whole reason?”
“The only reason I really care about. I haven’t had to deal with Null Fiends in years,” he said uncaringly.
“Well, I have a different theory,” she stated proudly. “I believe that the main source of their dangerous absorption ability comes from the unusual way they circulate their mana.”
“What?” He asked, a little bit of interest actually forming.
“I know it sounds weird. But the last time I came across a Null Fiend, was a Tier 5 who was protecting some of its spawn. I didn’t really care about the adult Null Fiend that much. But what I noticed during this time, was the way the newborns were using their mana.” Marcus noted the extremely giddy tone Stella was getting as her eyes glimmered.
“It was quite uncontrolled, but it allowed me to get a better idea of how they use mana, funnily enough. I couldn’t quite get a close enough look without the Tier 5 getting aggressive, but the children almost were using their mana in a way that sucked every bit of ambient mana inward.”
His interest waned. He didn’t see where she was going with this. Sure the absorption skill of Null Fiends was impressive but many other users had some kind of similar ability.
When she saw his less than enthusiastic response she couldn’t help but give him a frown. “Don’t you understand the significance of this?”
“Nope,” he said while sitting up and looking out through the window. He had sensed something but wasn’t quite sure what it was.
“How can you say that like you don’t care? Aren’t you curious why or how a Tier 2 monster can filter all of that mana without harming themselves or changing their path? How come they are all relatively the same monsters? If they were absorbing ambient mana without any control or adaptive regulator, that would drastically affect the progression and evolutionary traits they gained or learned.”
Marcus was barely listening to her as he focused his senses outward. He even went so far as to use his psychic abilities to enhance his brain so that he could reach out further.
Stella on the other hand was so enthralled with the topic that she hadn’t noticed that his attention was elsewhere.
“The only thing that makes sense is that the Null Fiends have some type of natural regulator that tirelessly and systematically organizes and codifies each type of mana on its own. Can you imagine what we could learn from examining this process in closer detail, Marcus?” She stated excitedly but when she noticed he was staring out the window her eyes narrowed.
“Marcus? Are you even listening to me?” She exclaimed.
Instead of answering her, he was too focused on what he was sensing. It was the aura of a Tier 5 off in the distance, a human Tier 5, a decently powerful one too. It also showed very similar signs to the man he had been hunting.
However, that wasn’t what gave him pause. He felt a lot of other aura signatures alongside the Tier 5. A very large group of humans were fighting with other humans if his senses were correct. Alarmingly, he felt the connection of the boy he was after was also with them.
He didn’t particularly care about the lives of the other people, but Lady Lily had made it very apparent about the importance of saving her friend. If something happened to this boy during this battle and he was too late to do anything about it, Lady Lily would be furious.
Marcus did not want to endure that. The young Violet’s temper was just as terrifying as her grandfather’s.
The thing that worried Marcus was that the karmic connection he managed to establish with the boy felt a bit… off. It almost felt like someone had placed him in some kind of restriction or imprisonment.
That made Marcus angry. If anything happened to the boy, he would slaughter anyone who was involved. It didn’t matter if it was the Crown Prince of the Empire. They wouldn’t escape Marcus’s wrath.
“Why can’t you be a little more interested in what I have to say?” Stella asked sadly.
He turned and gave her a serious look. “I think I sense the Tier 5 I have been chasing after,” he told her.
That made her stop the tangent she must have been preparing for him.
“So? Just go and get him then. Unless you think you can’t handle another Tier 5,” she said teasingly.
He nodded at her and got up, preemptively activating his skills. The wave of power that exuded from his body made the enchantments on the carriage flicker and Stella gave him a curious look. She must have been wondering why some random Tier 5 was making him use so much power to deal with.
However, before he teleported he gave her another look.
“I thought it might be prudent to let you know that the boy might be with this man,” he said before wrapping himself in spatial magic.
He smiled as he saw Stella’s stunned face. He gave her credit though. She recovered quickly and before he was even able to finish his teleportation, he felt her activate her Time and Spatial Magic at the same time. Then with a look of complete concentration on her face, she teleported alongside him toward the distance.
That's one way to get her to be quiet, he mused to himself.
Comments
Steven Frey
I never said I dislike slice of life I enjoyed the caravan chapter I don't like pointless filler during a multi chapter pointless beatdown, not to mention of it was so easy to half atep.yoir domain why don't all noble children get suppressed to force a breakthrough
COCOMOJOE
I like the slice of life parts the best.
George McKibbin
Haha I certainly won’t. Keeps me engaged. And they’re writing a book, that’s what makes a page turner, and what makes you jump right into the next book. It’s only frustrating because we get it chapter by chapter but there’s a chapter almost every day so can’t complain tooooo much haha
Magnuss
No for me this chapter killed the hole tension. There is no cliffhanger anymore because we know that 2 more peak tier 5 are coming in to save the day. The plot armor feeling is there with or without this chapter. For the hole arc after the teleport with the princess the story got worse/more predictable. The princess reveal and the kidnapping of her where handled nicely but the hole arc around the challenge rift feels like filler zero real stakes and it feels as if Julius gets more or less carried with the amount of tier 5 help. On top of that the difficulty of the challenge rift was a joke. So the first time now where it was getting a bit interesting with the kidnapping of him two tier 5s are teleporting in for the rescue. Really sad.
Jennifer Leigh
You say that but people get downright mean during a slice of life or set up chapter. Zogarth gets complaints if slice of life things happen or Jake does repetitive, important stuff. . .like training. Of course he has mastered the cliff and if you want to read people freaking out check the god fight. Someone else (can't remember) got seriously boo'd because the released chapter was setting up the scene and giving background before a cliff.
Sean Dawson
I feel like this one was needed. Without it when he is saved we would have nothing showing us how/why they get to him just in time. It’s would feel plot armor even if a later chapter was added showing them doing this as it would feel out of place. If read one at a time yes seems waste but if you read the last chapter and then this one and the next one (rescue assume) together it’s good. Cliffs just change our viewpoint.
Aki Foxtail
This chapter was really well written but I can't put my finger on exactly why. Just know I enjoyed this one way more than any in the last two weeks.
Daniel Hamilton
I agree, well said. It also makes the story more three-dimensional so to speak and adds depth to the characters and helps build the world a story takes a place in.
gray matter
Yeah I think it may have applications for what he was trying to do initially with his thoughts on using kinetic for defense by absorbing all the kinetic energy of attacks. Him and Stella might nerd out on their way back to the academy.
Kbzzy
Crippling arc straight after the last crippling arc would be boring
Chaoticgoose
lmao
gray matter
I already made a long post about all that we learned in this chapter so I’m not gonna repeat it, but disagree. We generally get a lot from POV of the powerful, just not the direct gratification of what we we wanted as readers, that’s a constant for the web novel format. Nothing about this web novel is in any way some wow factor of “I can’t believe I didn’t get what I wanted today” They all do it and it can’t really be helped since you get one chapter at a time. From Rolus’ POV we learned of blood magic. From Cassidus’ two povs we got a look at a few different levels of abilities to include maintaining conversations a mansion away through multiple wards while being able to maintain a magical sensing and monitoring of Julius. From Richard’s POV we got a look into the responsibilities of running a house as well happenings around the empire and things of note that involve how influential Julius’ friends are.
gray matter
I liked this PoV actually. It’s one of the few that aren’t really about Julius. We got introduced to Karmic magic and some of its possibilities (we got introduced to blood magic and some things it’s capable of with Rolus’s small POV too) along with Stella thoughts on null fiends and high tiers abilities to bounce from city to city, we knew about teleportation abilities but not a lot. I acknowledge the extension of the cliff but I thought it was done fine here and I enjoyed this chapter. I like POVs from the powerful sometimes. It’s a good way to expand the world for the reader as well as our knowledge of what’s possible. Especially since our MC likes to find things out the hard way instead of researching in the library or pestering his friend Kyle for answers. Personally I wish Stella’s ramblings were about something that interested me more either magic wise or in the empire, but Julius was interested in how they absorbed mana as well, so maybe it’s a little foreshadowing into a future ability of Julius possibly in combination with his kinetic freeze. I know earlier in his development of the kinetic freeze he wanted to develop some sort of shield or way to rip the kinetic energy out of or absorb from all attacks. TBH I want to know what Marcus thinks when he finds Julius and or watches him heal.
Pedro Manuel Ortiz Valles
I am going to do exactly that.
gray matter
Yeah I’m glad he didn’t get his authority yet, it’s too soon imo. I mean we are what 8ish months away from him figuring out his affinities at tier 1?
gray matter
Which one? He’s done a few which is why I generally catch up on runesmith once every month or two. It’s not just that though. At an every three day release schedule, every main event or training/building arc is about three weeks long.
gray matter
Yeah or complete peak tier 5 who are known for their strength. I agree with you though otherwise the marquis wouldn’t have been as worried. I mean they could just also be peak assets of those two houses indicating the seriousness of Zenith’s and Violet’s interest.
Thomas Grimshaw
Got to love the build up, can't just have two random people turn up and trounce the guy.....
Steven Frey
For the record none of your patreons are gonna unsub if you stop dropping cliff hangers every chapter. In fact MANY would praise you.
Felipe Andrade
Story is awesome, but too many cliffhangers with small chapters is difficult for me to handle. Might need to wait a few weeks to let chapters accumulate.
Radek Homola
I think Marcus and Stella are tier 6...
outlaw
The cliffhangers on top of POV changes are rough man, almost makes me want to ignore the updates everyday and just wait for a few days so that it doesn't keep hitting so often
Kyfe
Called it
Zach
Also Lily you are the best, love you and your terrifyingness
Petr Pavelka
Nah, he still has ways to go, author of Runesmith once made a cliffhanger last for 7 chapters by switching PoV. And Runesmith updates once every 3 days. There was quite an outrage in patreon chat back then :)
Zach
SPACE MAGIC TEACHERS HAVE ARRIVED! I LOVE IT, TFTC. “COME CHILD, LEARN THE MYSTIC WAYS OF SPACE AND TIME” Julius head: “omg this means I might be able to store EVEN MORE baked goods in temporal space. IM IN”
Quasimotolovesbells
Those two are agents of the houses, two of his academy friends arranged to go looking for Julius, I don't think it's specifically said yet but they are like tier 6 or 6+ and are some of the most dangerous fighters on the continent. Seems like the arc is coming to a close, essentially because if they free him they will be making everyone return to school, these two are mentioned by the people Julius was staying with, where he and the princess just tier'ed up.
Corwin
Nice. Now Julius can learn about a space concept as they continue their journey. And please let Marcus absolutely destroy the Bishop quickly.
Zenty
Not another cliffhanger.. Will we have an awkward situation where 3 tier 5s will drop in at the same time? That shadow that's suppose to secretly follow him would be quite useless if he didn't make a move before some external help arrives...
Mitchell Calhoun
Yeah this is waaay less realistic/enjoyable than that option. At least in my opinion.
Mitchell Calhoun
This chapter feels like we learned nothing and it was 100% filler. Should have started it with then saving him or at least end it with then appearing to give something interesting.
Orthneil Kelley Jr.
Thanks for the chapter! You have mastered the art of the cliffhanger haha
Adrian Auriat
totally agree this is cool also it means that there is so much more to discover in circulating the mana like the trolls do
Derek Walker
A triple cliffhanger…
Tom
who is Marcus again?
Pierre Tadrus
Sk?
Magnuss
Don’t know what I should think about the more frequent pov changes some are good but others like this chapter does feel like 99% filler. At least for my taste the povs could get dialed back a bit. On another note thanks for the chapter.
Colby Jordan
Though Julius may be getting some help.. you just KNOW he is going to get grilled by everyone else around him.
DT
I hope there's another chapter tomorrow 🙏
Pierre Tadrus
Oh I was right nice.
Amanda
Yes!! I hope they get him out of that Tier 5’s grasp. And I’m so ready to see what exactly is happening to his emblem. He has what I’m sure the others see as a concerning tendency for self mutilation but he is once again being true to himself!
TUSF
Neat. I figured either House Easton or Marcus & co would happen to stumble upon the fight. It was either this, or either an improvement arc or crippling arc (or both)
Connor Hinrichs
Okay, so these searchers were also foreshadowed in a couple of chapters, but this feels more 'dues ex' than if Hans assassin/shadow affinity agent had interfered
asasasasasas
Oof, yea I was a little worried we were about to have an imprisonment arc. Ew but luckily it isn’t going that way.
TYRELL GRAY
Ohh shit, something is gonna go down.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. House Violet to the rescue !
Rallaster
Ugghhhhh... Cutoff right before it gets good! Now to wait another 24 hours... Lol
Usernames_are_annoying
TFTC. I was wondering how Julius would get out of this one.
uthr
For the record, I was interested in the Null Fiends' circulation. Seems like something Julius would adapt for himself.
NinjaSF
Thanks for the chapter
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
