The Runic Artist

Frick woke him in the middle of the night by shaking him. He was about to spin up a barrier around himself as he sat up quickly but as he activated Eyes of the Runic Artist he realised there was already a barrier around him, created by Frick it seemed.

“Just saw the demon, Boss. Only for a moment, then it was gone. But figured it was scoping the place out. I pointed it out to Saskia right away. She went to see if she could track it but I came down to wake you,” Frick rambled out quickly, his ears flopping back and forth.

Nate quickly got up, adrenaline pumping through him as he moved to the window, scanning what he could see of Helmfirth through the panes of glass. Even with his ability to see the flows of mana he couldn’t make out any disturbances, nor the unusual red energy that had coursed through the demon. Even if the thing was stalking him, he was well protected, for now.

Frick could spot it, even through its illusions, using his Eyes of the Runic Artist skill and his Familiar seemed highly dedicated to watching over him while he slept. Coupled with Saskia or Deverell playing chaperone when he wasn’t with Luc and he should be fine for now. Glancing at his bed he ran a hand through his blonde hair. He was not getting back to sleep tonight. It was hopefully only a couple of hours till dawn anyway. Better to spend that time developing some of his Skills. He brought up his Status so he could make some plans.

Stats

Physical

Mental

Magic

Strength

12

Intellect

93

Magic Power

43 (20)

Dexterity

59

Charisma

17 (3)

Magic Control

34

Agility

23 (10)

Creativity

77

Channelling Speed

32

Endurance

41 (3)

Willpower

13

Mana Reserve

58

Constitution

30

Perception

70

Mana Absorption

22

Classes

Primary Class - Level 1 (21)

Secondary Class - Level 1

Tertiary Class

Wandering Runic Artist (M)

Wandering Realmwalker (L)

…

Skills

Runic Knowledge - Concepts (L) Lvl 22 - (+27% Intellect)

Conceptual Material (M) Lvl 21 - (-10.5% Mana Cost, -15% Time Required)

Eyes of the Runic Artist (M) Lvl 21 - (+50% Perception, +18% Creativity)

Imbue Intent (L) Lvl 24 - (11 Intents, 5 Imbued Intents, +12% Intellect)

Enhanced Magic Power (E) Lvl 8 - (+12% Magic Power)

Runic Creation (L) Lvl 19 - (-36% Mana Cost)

Runic Artistry (E) Lvl 10 - (-14% Mana Cost, +17 Magic Power for Runic Arrays)

No Steps Necessary (L) Lvl 10 - (100 metres teleport range)

From Me, To You (E) Lvl 10 - (50 metres teleport range)

Spatial Awareness (E) Lvl 23 - (115 metres Detection Range, 2.3 metres Sphere of Awareness)

Spells

…

Status Effects

Divine Translation Spell (Permanent)

Familiar Contract (Permanent)

System Contract - Aisling Teigland & Deverell Courbet (Temporary)

Class Core Concealment Soul Engraving (Temporary, Legendary)

He’d been languishing at level twenty two for a while now, something he intended to resolve once they set out for the Capital. Looking over his Status he had to admit that at least his Skills had been steadily developing. Fully half of his Skills were already past their first evolution, with a sixth about to join in. He still had no idea what to do about Enhanced Magic Power. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t useful to him right now with his low Magic Power stat.

His two spatial skills would continue to advance and he needed to think of some ways to use them to push their development. That was going to be especially hard for No Steps Necessary as it was already a Legendary skill. To push it to Mythic he’d need to apply some creativity to the problem if he wanted to have a hope of succeeding. But the most important skill at the moment was Runic Artistry. He’d been underutilising it till now, having thought it to mostly be a crafting Skill. It was that, but it also left the options open for so much more. He’d even have considered using it with Runic Creation to dynamically create runic arrays, if the mana cost of doing so wasn’t so horrendous.

The question was, how to push Runic Artistry to the next tier. It was currently Epic and pushing the Skill to Legendary should add a serious boost. Whether it was the adrenaline, or just his tired mind free-associating ideas, the path forward came to him almost as soon as he’d asked the question. Three dimensions. A path forward for both Runic Creation and Runic Artistry. Up until now every rune he had created was done so in two dimensions. They were flat. Even if the outcome was in three dimensions, due to the mana distribution fields, the actual rune itself was two dimensional.

Laughing at himself, he realised that he’d already started to touch on the Concept with his Mana Gathering Array. It was made up of multiple runes all linked together, each one in two dimensions, but the final array, when built, took advantage of three dimensions as it was built as a cube. There was nothing stopping him from creating three dimensional runes. It would be easier with Runic Creation initially, as that only really relied on his visualisation and enough mana to support his design.

He’d never had to work with the materials much beyond improving the mana capacity of them, and occasionally, applying an affinity. But for this to work in actual runes he built in the future, he’d need to spend some time actually shaping the material to his needs so the rune could be embedded inside. That made one thing clear. Such runes wouldn’t be able to be imbued into his robe. His robe was a two dimensional canvas. He’d have to craft the runes into something else and then figure out a way to carry them.

That didn’t matter to him as much as realising the path forward though. Sure, he was making plenty of assumptions, but it seemed like the logical next step. Now he just needed to start testing it. He still had a little while till dawn and training with Luc. He’d spend that time testing his hypothesis. With a mental thought to Frick to keep an eye out, he got started, spinning up a basic design with Runic Creation.

*************

Nate looked at his options as he walked towards the North Gate. As he’d suspected, just using Runic Creation to create some possible three dimensional runes had been enough to push the skill to level twenty one and evolution.

Runic Creation 19 > 21

Runic Artistry 10 > 11

Runic Creation (L) is ready to evolve.

What is replication if not recreation? What is modification if not control? What is projection if not extrapolation? Runic Creation is all these things, and more. And more, when it comes to runes, is always better. This skill allows the user to project Runes composed of mana onto any space or surface and dynamically alter them as they desire. Mana cost based on Intellect, Creativity, Skill Level, Rune complexity and Rune Tier. Additional Skill Levels decrease mana cost by 2%.

Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.

Skill Evolution Options:

Runic Creation (L)

Additionally increases Intellect by 15%.

Runic Creation (L)

Additionally increases Creativity by 15%.

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

The options for bonuses were the same as for his Eyes of the Runic Artist, which wasn’t really a surprise since those were also the two Stats that were mentioned in the Skills description. He’d glanced at his Status earlier and knew his Intellect was already benefiting from a total increase of thirty nine percent. A number that would also grow organically with two of his Skills. That made his decision easy as he selected the option that would improve his Creativity. As another star bloomed on his robe he extracted the Powerful Shadow rune he’d made to replace the one he’d given Kiri and copied it into the new rune slot. He’d been intending to use a rune for Wind but he’d had an interesting thought on his walk towards the gate and wanted to try it.

He was a little early but didn’t have to wait long for Luc to arrive and pull them through a rift into the forest. The sunlight had just started peaking through the canopy but the birds and insects were already awake, the noise permeating their surroundings. The sounds of the forest were accompanied by the whistling of the wind through the leaves and with his Spatial Awareness active, he could feel the leaves passing through his sphere of awareness. Looking across at Luc he had expected his temporary teacher to be ready to deliver the morning's lecture before attempting to dent him with metal balls. Instead Luc was holding out the Mana Gathering Array, balanced on his hand.

“How did you do this?” Luc asked, an incredulous look on his face. “I know the fill rate of mana gems using a Mana Gathering Array. I know them incredibly well, in fact. This…thing…isn’t just a little bit better than the array detailed on the schematics I gave you. It’s more than twice as good. So the first thing I did was have Deverell look at it. I thought, maybe you’d somehow used better materials. Maybe you somehow got a hold of something in the Legendary tier. Aisling seems to dote on you and it’s not beyond her means to have something like that lying around. But, do you know what Deverell said?”

Nate shrugged. He had a pretty good idea what Deverell would’ve said but he was kind of enjoying Luc’s reaction so he wanted to let it play out naturally.

“He said,” Luc continued in an exasperated tone, “that there was nothing involved that he could detect beyond some Epic materials. So ignoring how you got your hands on Epic materials besides the ones I supplied you with, and I am going to ignore it, because that’s already implausible in this town of country bumpkins, even if you traded the materials I gave you, but ignoring that fact, you somehow improved on an Epic Mana Gathering Array design, in a backwater town, in the middle of fucking nowhere. Who are you kid? Are you some genius Enchanters bastard? No judgement from me if you are. I’m a bastard myself. But this,” Luc said, shaking the Mana Gathering Array in his hand, “is unbelievable!”

Luc paused to let Nate know he was serious before stating, “I want another one.”

“Shouldn’t you, you know, be trying to undersell it a bit, Luc? I mean, you’ve basically said it’s amazing. More than twice as good as you expected in fact. Then you told me you want to buy a second one? How am I not going to fleece you for this?” asked Nate, a grin blooming on his face.

“Kid, I like you. Fleece away…bloody commoner saying…that. Fleece…like a bellok. Bloody farmers,” muttered Luc.

“How much is it worth to you?” he asked.

Luc snorted in response, “Think I have given you enough help already, kid. Set your own price. If you undershoot, that's your problem.”

That made him think, what was it he needed? More Stats, more levels, more skills maybe, more equipment and of course, more mana. Though that last one he could solve himself it seemed. He knew what he was going to be having Frick make for the next few months. That whole ‘Assistance’ reward was really starting to pay dividends. So what was the best thing for him? That led him to his next thought. Luc was training him. Why not ask him?

“What do I need to win the Tournament?”

“Smart question,” Luc replied with a grin as he set the Mana Gathering Array down on the grass. With his Eyes of the Runic Artist he could see how the mana in the clearing was being drawn towards it, pulling the mana inside like a whirlpool.

“What you need,” continued Luc, “is more Magic Power. If you’re going to try and fight like a Mage in the Tournament, then you need more power behind your enchantments. There will be other Mages and I guarantee every single one of them has a Magic Power over a hundred. Yours is what? Half that?”

Nate shivered. That was awfully close to being spot on. At forty three his Magic Power was his second highest Magic Stat, but it was being heavily boosted by his Robe of the Prepared Runecaster. Thinking through his previous request, he’d asked for a Rare Orb for any of the Magic Stats which should add nine to the Stat. That seemed like a decent way to go, though this time he was going to ask for Magic Power specifically.

“Orbs totalling forty five points of Magic Power,” he said as confidently as he could.

“Too much. Magic Stat Orbs are harder to come by than others usually. Only reason I said yes to the last request was I already had one on me,” Luc punctuated that by pulling an Orb out of his spatial storage and tossing it to him.

Nate caught it and after reviewing it with his Eyes of the Runic Artist was able to see it was in fact a Magic Power Orb. He instantly started absorbing it by pulling at the Orb with his mana, guiding it to his Class Core. The Orb vanished as it broke down until it was completely gone and he could see the improvement to his Magic Power on his Status.

“As I was saying, forty five is too high. I can do twenty for another of these Mana Gathering Arrays,” Luc said, eyebrow raised as he had watched Nate integrate the Orb.

“Thirty six then and you have a deal,” Nate replied. Luc paused for a moment before nodding his own agreement as Nate continued, “Has to be before the Tournament though. I’ll have your Array ready.”

“Agreed, kid,” Luc replied.

Maybe his Enhanced Magic Power would actually be useful after all. Assuming he could push the Skill. Alternatively he’d try to use Skill Synergy to integrate it into something else. There was an opportunity obviously with Runic Artistry, which already added Magic Power as part of its bonuses. Those weren’t currently being impacted by his Enhanced Magic Power, so maybe he could find a way to combine the two. That line of thinking was rudely interrupted as he felt rifts begin blooming around him.

Luc was watching him, his blue eyes unusually intense, “Enough daydreaming, kid. I’ve got you for one more week. One more week to make sure you don’t embarrass me at the Tournament. So saddle up, kid, because if you can say my name without cursing by the end of this week, then I have failed you as your teacher.”

Without any further warning the myriad of metal balls started flying as Nate called forth his Barriers. It was finally time to test the limits of Runic Artistry. Before this week was done, he was going to show Luc what he was worth, and that even battle - though ugly - was ultimately a form of art.