Rune Seeker

Hiral drove the Greatsword of Amin Thett straight down through the chest of the bull-like Beastman, stilling its final movements, then looked up at the remnants of the battlefield. Around him, charred and broken bodies – nearly thirty of them – lay bleeding or smoking amidst the rubble of what had been the forest of stone pillars.

The fight had raged more than half-an-hour all-tolled, and the landscape had been drastically altered during it. There had been no choice but to use some of their bigger cooldown – including their domains – to deal with the sudden and brutal onslaught they’d faced. But, faced it they had. And won.

Using the greatsword as leverage, Hiral pushed himself until he was standing upright, only wincing a bit at the wounds across his chest and calf. Big. Strong. Tough. Fast. These Beastmenhad been difficult opponents, and the party had not come away unscathed. A quick look through the Party Interface – the rest of the raid was greyed out – told him his group ranged in health from forty to seventy percent, with solar energy being a bit lower.

“Banner of Courage has another minute on its cooldown,” Left said, obviously thinking the same thing Hiral was.

“Use it as soon as it’s up,” Seena said. “In the meantime, Gran and Left, work on getting those of us without OP regeneration up to full health. Or at least close to it.”

“My healing well is full, girlie,” Gran said. “But that’ll be hard on my already low solar energy.”

“I know,” Seena replied. “Who knows what, when, or if Tomorrow is going to throw the next thing at us. I’d rather we’re all uninjured, if lower on solar energy.”

“Fair,” Gran said. “Just no Delicate Balance until I’ve got some more saved up.”

Most of the party nodded at that – though the buff had been very helpful in dealing with the higher-Rank Beastmen – and Gran got to work. Left’s Waters of Frey joined the vampire’s needles, adding a heal-over-time effect that was more energy efficient, but obviously took longer.

The only one who hadn’t reacted to the short conversation was Yanily, the spearman standing and looking down at where his spear stabbed into the ground.

“You okay, Yan?” Hiral asked his friend.

“Huh?” Yanily said after a second. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“There should be a Beastman here.” Yanily pointed at the ground where his spear was. “It was a real pain in the ass. Really tanky and armored. Took forever to get through its plating, and I finally had it dead to rights, but it… it just vanished before I could finish it off.”

“Did it teleport?” Right asked, though he looked to Seeyela ask he spoke.

The woman was already shaking her head. “No. I saw what Yanily is talking about. Felt something too, but I don’t think it was a teleport.”

“What do you mean?” Seena asked her sister.

“How can I put this?” Seeyela tapped the chin of her white helmet with the tip of her Fang of the Lady while she thought. “A teleport is usually like a… a push. Somebody or something is leaping toward something. You know what I mean? Even if it’s not their power, like when I teleport one of you.”

“With you so far,” Seena said.

“This,” Seeyela pointed to where Yanily’s spear was. “It felt like a pull. Like the Beastman got sucked down the drain.”

“Could it be because of the different energy they use?” Hiral asked. “They don’t seem to use solar energy, so…?”

Seeyela shrugged. “Could be, but I don’t think so. It was something else.”

“Whatever it was,” Yanily ripped his spear free from the ground as he spoke. “It stole my experience for that last kill.”

“All that said, we did well.” Seena sat down on a piece of shattered boulder, her hand going to her side at the same time. She’d taken a nasty club to that spot that’d batted her nearly thirty feet before a large rock had stopped her flight. Might actually be the same rock she’s sitting on. There was no way the blow didn’t break something.

Thankfully, Gran could deal with broken bones, albeit a bit slowly.

“They were worth a lot of experience too,” Yanily said. “At least the ones we got credit for.” He glared at the ground in front of him again. “I’m this close to having enough to hit level twenty. A-Rank is right around the corner.”

“Me too,” Seeyela said.

“I’m already there,” Hiral added, checking his window. From the looks of things, he’d actually gotten enough back while fighting the Mecha-Armors. “Higher-Rank enemies are worth a lot.”

“Might also be something to do with this being a trial,” Seena said.

“But,” Yanily said slowly, looking at their party leader. “You still need an advanced class. Any luck?”

“No.” Seena shook her head. “I’m still close, but I’m missing… something. Romin? How about you?”

The Bonder shared a short look with Wallop before answering.

“We… actually got an advanced class option from that fight,” Romin said. “It’s called a True-Bonded Onslaught.”

“That doesn’t sound very… tanky,” Yanily observed.

“Shush, Yan,” Seena said. “How is it? Something you’re interested in?” she asked the Bonder and his companion.

“Since Tomorrow doesn’t seem to be moving us yet,” Romin said. “Would you mind if I shared the class window to get your opinions? We’ve never dealt with advanced classes before. I have no idea if it’s good or not, though extra stats are always extra stats.”

“For sure,” Seena said.

Gathering a little closer – and the Banner of Courage finally coming off cooldown to surround them in its golden dome – the party gave one last look around for threats, then Romin shared the window.

It popped up in front of Hiral in red, the edges of it oddly… bulky compared to what he’d expected. Not that it really mattered, and he instead went to reading what the Bonder had been offered. The first thing he noticed was that the class didn’t have the Lost tag on it.

Advanced Class: True-Bonded Onslaught.

With a reliable companion at your side, what more do you need? Power. The answer is always power. This is the power to protect the things you care about.

Class Abilities

Gain +4 attributes per level, starting in B-Rank.

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Class Ability (Active): Transformation: Onslaught – Combining be best of both halves, merge with your companion to create a new form.

Note: Attributes, health, and solar energy are combined to give new totals, while only appropriate abilities remain available.

Note (2): Duration of Onslaught is 3 minutes, cooldown is 6 minutes.

Note (3): All abilities of True-Bonded Onslaught remain available while using Transformation: Onslaught

Class Ability (Passive): Bonded, Body and Soul – Being within a radius of 50 feet per Rank of each other endows each member of the True-Bonded pair with a 10% bonus to attributes, health, and solar energy.

Note: Current radius is 200 feet.

Class Ability (Active): Shatter – Add additional damage based on distance when using any Charge or Charge-like ability.

Note: Additional damage is dealt as a secondary effect after the original attack lands, benefitting from any other bonuses applied to the original.

Note (2): Damage bonus accrues for every 10 feet traveled.

Class Ability (Passive): The Best Defense… – Hit it hard enough and it can’t hurt your friends.

Damage you take or would’ve taken – before the effects of any mitigation, shielding, or defensive abilities – increases your own physical damage done for a short period of time.

Note: Duration of increased damage is 30 seconds, refreshed every time you take damage.

Class Ability (Passive): Natural Weapons – All attacks made directly using parts of the body see greatly increased damage.

“That looks pretty good to me,” Seena said.

“A lot more offensive than I’d expect,” Hiral said. “But, if you can already use most of your own, current defensive abilities, maybe some more offense is what you need? That The Best Defense… ability especially. Reminds me a lot of my own Right Back At You ability, which is pretty fantastic. Especially against things that hit hard.”

“And Shatter,” Seeyela said. “Starting a fight off with that sounds like a good way to keep something’s attention.”

“Especially if Infuriate works with it,” Seena said. “But, what are your thoughts, Romin?”

The Bonder and his companion shared a look. “It’s not a Lost class, like each of you have,” he started. “Which makes me think it’s not exactly unique.”

“You can always be like Nivian and wait for another one…” Seena started, but Romin was shaking his head.

“That wasn’t a complaint,” Romin clarified. “I think it might actually be a good thing. It means this is an advanced class other Bonders can get. Maybe even from me in some way. For that reason alone, I think it’s worth taking.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Seena asked. “I have a feeling we’ll need every advantage we can get for whatever Tomorrow has planned for us.”

“You’re okay with me not having as powerful a class as the rest of you…?” Romin asked. “Wallop and I don’t want to slow you down.”

“You haven’t slowed us down at all,” Hiral said. “And, you have a good reason for wanting to take this class. I agree with Seena. Do it.”

“And soon,” Gran said. “We don’t know how long we’ve got to sit around and chit-chat.”

With one more look at Wallop – the Rune-o snuffed at Romin – the two of them took a few steps away from the rest of the party. Then, a tap to the air, and a red window appeared in front of the Bonder. Similar to all the other advanced class evolutions, cracks formed across the window, shards of it falling to the ground at Romin’s feet.

As soon as they hit the red dirt, the shards of energy broke down, sparks of them flowing out in a line to circle around Romin and Wallop. One after another, more broken pieces of the window fell until the notification was no more, and a thick band of energy ran around the pair. A flare of red light, and energy began to crawl up into the air, like a wall being built. Except, this wall wasn’t made of stone, but instead of a thick material that looked unmistakably like the reinforced armor of Wallop’s hide.

The energy continued until the wall was fifteen feet tall, forming up over top until it completely enclosed where the pair stood, and hid them from view.

Within it, Hiral could feel the energy churning, small fragments and truths leaking out of it and getting absorbed by his PIM and those of Seena, Seeyela, and Yanily. Gran didn’t seem to be attracting them like the other three…

Of course, this must be how Evolutionary Inspirationworks. Our PIMsare physically siphoning off some of the leftover energy from the fold in reality where the PIMP is.

As Hiral watched the energy, he could even see where in his PIM the energy seemed to be finding a home. Siege Breaker, an ability he hadn’t even had a chance to use yet. Was that what he would get upgraded from Evolutionary Inspiration?

With cracks now forming in the wall of red energy separating Romin and Wallop from the rest of the party, he was likely about to find out. Another second passed before the whole construct shattered in a rain of energy like broken glass – though the shards tuned into a fine, red, sparkly dust before they even reached the ground – to reveal what lay within.

Where Hiral expected to see the Bonder and his companion basking in their newfound power, he instead spotted a single, twelve-foot-tall Beastman.

Weapons and abilities readied as the large Runeocerous head turned in their direction.

“What?” Romin’s voice – though deeper – came out of the giant’s mouth. “Do I have something on my face?” Then, as if he realized something was different, he looked down at his powerfully muscular arms, thick natural armor covering them. His hands practically looked like gauntlets, while his whole humanoid body clearly carried extra bulk. Plate protected his neck, though it didn’t seem to impede his movement as he turned his extended snout – Wallop’s rune-covered horn at the end of it – to peer at the brass barrels peeking above his shoulders.

Tomorrow’s Miniguns rested vertically down his back like long tubes, with just the top foot of them jutting above his shoulders. A grin spread across the tank’s face as he reached up and slipped his hands into slots clearly designed for exactly the purpose, then slid the weapons along tracks. He extended his arms up all the way – which seemed to bring the weapons to their full extension, then pulled them down so they pointed straight ahead of him. A few motions gave him a limited range of movement for the weapons, but he still had the same huge smile on his face.

“Do those work for Natural Weapons?” Yanily asked, referring to one of the passive effects of the new class.

“More important questions, first,” Seena interrupted. “Are you Romin or Wallop?”

“Both,” the tank said. “Wallop is in here with me. It’s more of an ‘us’ than a ‘me’ now, but we both agree it’s easier to keep calling me Romin.”

“This is the result of your new Transformation ability?” Hiral asked. “Not what I expected… but I probably should’ve.”

“Yes,” Romin said, returning the Minigunsto their resting position and flexing his hands. “It’s a powerful form for the limited time I can take it.”

“Has the cooldown already started?” Seeyela asked. “Or does it start when you split again?”

“It’s already started,” Romin said.

“So, like my Aspect,” Yanily said. “Which means cooldown reductions will help a lot.”

“And adding your stats together is pretty crazy,” Hiral said. “If you’re right about some of the other Bonders being able to get this advanced class as well, that could be a huge power bump for our forces.”

“We’ll have to talk to Burs as soon as we get back,” Seena said. “How’s everybody doing on health and energy? Oh, and Evolutionary Inspiration? What did…?”

Seena’s words cut off – and Hiral didn’t even get to open his notification window – before the world around them shifted like they’d all taken a giant, dragon-sized step. Gone were the ruined pillars, the barren plains extending around them in all directions but one. There, ahead of them, looked to be an oasis of some kind, lush green standing proud amidst the dusty red.

“After my encounter with the weak Beastmen,” Tomorrow continued her narration of events. “I sensed another energy signature very similar not so distant. Curious as to the origin of the creatures, I began my march in its direction.

“Along the way…”

A BOOOOOM shook the ground, with a massive explosion climbing into the sky far, far, far in the distance. But, for it to be that visible at that distance, it had stretch for miles. No sooner had it finished, then a second BOOOOOM resounded from the opposite direction.

“… I figured out what had happened to my two rivals. Like me, Punishment and Tide had survived the transition to this world, and now battled something they’d found. The three of us had fallen here together, but now fought individually. We each had our own opponents to defeat, and mine stood in front of me.”

“That must be where Nivian and Ilrolik’s parties are,” Hiral said quickly.

“Except,” Tomorrow continued. “Something here was… different. I could feel the energy of the creatures Punishment and Tide fought. Creatures of this world. The same energy signature.

“Ahead of me, though? There were the lingering whisps of a powerful entity from this place. Whisps only, because something else had already killed it. That thing with the same energy as the Beastmen. Whatever awaited me in this oasis was much, much stronger than the trash I’d just cleaned up.

“Something on the same level as Heaven’s Punishment, The Final Tide, or even myself. And, like I had sensed it, it must’ve felt me as well. A pulse of energy beckoned, like a challenge. An invitation.

“One I accepted.”