Don't just drop the weights, Noa.

I'm not a foremost expert, but that doesn't sound like a good idea. Pain and fatigue exist to tell us when we need a break. She may very well be weakening herself instead of strengthening.

Well, that's a good way to tear your body apart

Good. Good. That "95% Perspiration" is looking much less literal, here

This is such a cool way to make a character really scary. A perfect mystery almost solved. I'm obsessed with her

and that folks is how you red-ring-of-death your own body!

Merry Christmas Tom :3 ... and associates too, of course xD

Hate the way this girl is drawn - her eyes in particular. Is she supposed to be repulsive?

Pushing yourself beyond the breaking point is how you get Rhabdomyolysis.

I always suspected exercise was an indicator of evil madness and insanity.

I feel the comic has really leaned hard into using long flashbacks to establish characters and I honestly don't like how it ejects Annie and Kat out of the story for long periods of time. Like back in the day it would establish characters by weaving it into more lower stakes stories between the more dramatic ones, but now the comic seems to has to constantly move between major stories beats with Annie and Kat without giving room to breath.

I have to say that looks dangerous. Where does the pain and fatigue go? To energize the glyph?

is this.. how the strenghtening tattoos of the guardians came about?

There's a reason we experience pain and fatigue, of course: they're signs we're pushing ourselves too hard. But obsession doesn't care about warnings.

This ends swell.

well...this explains a lot more than one would think. instead of robot parts its all just energy into a rune

Oh Noa.

my preciousss symbol the three of the forest elves, the seven of the robot leaders the nine forgotten by the shadow men and the one symbol to link them all, and in the shadow, bind them. though so far it seems her own is closer to one of the men ' ring, the one that granted endurance, might and "clarity" (obsession) of purpose

Really, really getting sick of this person.

No Noa you've got to feel the burn! • Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! • Can the glyph change shape? "I am one with the glyph and the glyph is with me" but she's pretty dark about it; does she even go to class anymore? Can she write this off as thesis research? On the one hand she's taking care of herself again, on the other it's still obsessive.

Ok, and what happens when her symbol is full fatigue?

Symbolic!

Drawing those glyphs involves force-feedback? Amazing!

Uh. There's a REASON leprosy is so dangerous, and why diabetics tend to lose their feet (not just blood flow)! If you can't feel pain, you can't notice damage! Parley could beat her to the verge of death and she might not even know! Oh also. Doesn't that make her basically a walking nuke of pain, with it all stored up like that?

The pain and fatigue are there for a reason. I wonder what the final goal is? Carve away all weakness, pain, hunger, tiredness, all your negative emotions because they hurt, all your positive emotions because they make you irrational, and then what? Attempt to become unto-Jones?

Ok, but pain and tiredness are just indicators of the underlying problems

-But she's still not going to classes (as if they could teach her anything.)

What could possibly go wrong?

Oh dearie doo how far does the rabbit hole go, did she store muscle in the rune or did she obfuscate the need for actual physical muscle? Or... is she... just gonna Hulk out? Oh dear I kind of hope that she hulks out. That would be funny! To everyone except Annie!

As I speculated before, it seems there is a heavy toll associated with what she is doing.

Magical Rooiiiddds!

Oh now I get what her symbol does!!! Damnit this is going to be a fight.

Getting "One Piece" level of backstory here.

Dang did she redirect her gains there too cause she is built like a stick man later

#mysymbol

Man this flashback is going further and further from how she appeared in the present.

Is this Loss?

earn ???? it ????

This is gonna be that they defeat her by unlocking the glyph and she takes the collective damage she had stored into it????

Only a small 8 in 9 chance that's gonna have adverse effects

Is that like... 5lbs? Is that all she can do even with a bad glyph??

Noa you need to rest!! Your body can't handle that kind of strain!!

And THERE’S the weak point. Cut that, and she’s done for.

Seems like Noa only acts carefree when others are around.....And this is what she's really like. Loose screws stem from an inferiority complex?

Muscles need time to rest, and if you expend more energy/ do more damage than your body can readily replace and repair, it will start breaking down muscles for the necessary resources.

Wait, is this just carpal tunnel from drawing too many symbols?

Merry Christmas!

Obsession be thy name.

Pain and fatigue aren't arbitrary feelings that hold you back for no reason. Using magic to ignore them wouldn't help her get stronger, faster... it would just help her permanently damage her muscles, joints, and blood vessels.

Losing that Glyph is going to be so devastating...

I want sincerely hope that, once we cut back to the present moment, that we get a magnificent full page panel of Noa having become a rune covered Jojo reference; highly detailed musculature in a fantastic and ridiculous pose~

All of those...*feelings*! They just get in the road of WHAT YOU WANT.

Oh, that is not smart - then you end up with it malfunctioning and all the pain is released at once.

Why does this and the last page give me Bulkini Bottom vibes?

This is the Drago training montage from Rocky IV

Actually goated ideas. Don't use drugs, use *alchemy.*

This is very similar to addiction, actually... broadly speaking. Moderate thyself, remember to hydrate and take breaks!

That seems... unwise. Pain is there for a reason, acts as a warning system for damage.

She redirected the pain.... and the gain? Hence beanpole? Does she have reserves of pain to release onto opponents? "I cast: DOOM!"

Guess she also didn't earn it truly...

No patience...

#mysymbol

At least she's getting exercise.

Ohmygod. The symbol has something to do with zimmy. Why else would she constantly need to release the steam???? Like yin and yang??? Where is jones, what happened to coyote?

Fitness influencers, take note!

So relatable. Who hasn't found their intense hunger for more magical power somehow transferring to an obsession with body building, only to realize that you can apply the one to the other in a continuous feedback loop? Win win!

She has to push her body to the limits in order to be strong enough to create some ultimate glyph. But she’s never had to work through the physical pain and already does not care about the pain she’s inflicted on other people. And, somehow, SYLVIE’S work is so dangerous it needs to remain theory? Something to do with constructs? Guys I’m scared.

Somewhere there's a portrait of Noa just knocked tf out with crazy DOMS

Earning it. Also, as an established gym rat, I have to publicize that this kind of thing is actually counterproductive. Overtraining leads to strength loss and injuries, not gains. Listen to your body. Recovery is where you actually get stronger.

can kat hack the symbol to unleash all the accumulated pain at once?

I'm sorry, is she doing a One Punch Man montage?

of course redirecting the damage warning signals is not the same as redirecting the damage itself, but you do you.