章 5: Unique Skill Awakening

{POV: Charybdis 'Vel'}

I can't understand it.

There's something missing.

I am so close!

My eye darts around as if paranoid. I can literally feel the 'bag' under my eye. The only reason my hair hasn't started to thin and I'm not currently pulling my hair out with my hands is because of my special constitution.

I've been in the library 20 days in a row now, only leaving once to drink some more of that delicacy made with berries. I didn't go there for any other reason of course.

Why did I feel the need to clarify that?

Stop! You're getting distracted once again! I shouted in my mind.

Focusing once again in my third read through this particular book, I still couldn't make sense of the interactions between every single rune I had studied. Sometimes, they wouldn't interact, and others, they would either highly lower the efficiency of the runic cluster or just block it altogether.

I finished the page and looked around. The various mountains of books on different runes, basic and advanced versions, rune interactions and rune circuits that I had already read at least twice each seemed to stare back as if mocking my inability to fully grasp the subject.

I know I had already reached the quota for the month, which started around 25 days ago. They asked me to create a device that would be part of a bigger machine, being created by many departments in parallel.

My job was to create a way to transmit magicules over long distances with the least amount of mana leakage to the ambient. I was told this was of utmost importance for the overall efficiency of the machine so I took it very seriously.

In the end, my best attempt resulted in a bulky wide cable the width of a fat dwarf's arm. It still leaked a small amount of mana, but according to the researchers that studied my creation, it retained around 80% over 10 meters. They called it revolutionary.

I called it a failure and 'locked' myself in the Advanced Runic Library, researching a thought that came to my mind. 'Runic Clusters'.

The idea is that by grouping runes together in a cluster, eliminating the runic circuitry that would inevitably radiate precious magicules intracluster and then eliminating the circuits intercluster as well, by repeating the pattern of clusters around the first cluster, the efficiency would be maximized as long as the runes were tuned to receive mana not only through people channeling and circuit connections, but also by reabsorbing the ambient mana they lose through normal operation.

This could theoretically create a thin cable, completely carved in a cluster of rune clusters working at transporting magicules with a near 100% efficiency rate.

To explain the design, on the inside of the hollow cable, another opaque cable exists, made of a magic conducting material. Obviously, the whole reason for this project was to avoid using the expensive magisteel as the conductor, so we have to use the second best. Steel.

A normal steel cable retains 60% per 10 meters, so it's not ideal.

The hollow cable around it would be carved with a runic clusters cluster, using barrier runes to trap the wasted mana from the cable, and simple one-directional magic manipulation runes, that returned the emitted particles back to the inner cable that is carved with simple absorption runes. At a set distance, in the outer cable, ice runes are included to lower the temperature of the steel.

Every mana conductive metal is more efficient the colder it is.

The problem is, the closeness of the runes, and the frequencies they emit clash with one another and they cease to work efficiently. It's been plaguing me for days and if I ever needed sleep, I would be losing it over this.

I kept reading. Why? I'm not going to give up. I know the answer exists. It has to be somewhere in the books in front of me, so I WILL find it.

(It allows the user to make mental connections between unrelated ideas with extreme ease, allowing for much faster problem solving)

<[Innovative Mind] requests subskills>

<[All of Creation] acquired>

(It allows the user to comprehend anything as long as they have a basic understanding of it and it is perceivable to the user.)

<[Parallel Calculation] acquired>

(It allows the user to carry out multiple thought processes simultaneously. Possible applications include the detachment of analysis of phenomena from the user's regular thoughts, and the preservation of consciousness by using additional thought processes as backups.)

<[Thought Acceleration] acquired>

(It allows the user to greatly increase the speed of their thought process. The user can adjust the level of acceleration as needed, as well as extend the effect to other individuals.)

<[Perfect Recall] acquired>

(It enhances the user's memory capacity to near-infinite levels, allowing them to retain and retrieve vast amounts of information effortlessly.)

<[Runic Telepathy] acquired>

(It allows the user to interact with carved runes in a spherical area around the user, or with runes anchored to an active communication rune connected to the user.)

Oh my God!

As I heard the monotone voice speak to me in its weird cadence, my eye widened like it wanted to leave its socket. My hands liberated handfuls of hair and both fell limply on the table.

I can remember every detail of every page I have ever read perfectly. Be it the creases on the corners or even the different shades of white and yellow marking its age. I remember every single moment of my life, including those spent aimlessly floating around the material plane while trying to resuscitate.

I can have different lines of thought at the exact same time and accelerate them tens of times.

But what I'm more excited to try, while solving my rune cluster problem in parallel is this [Runic Telepathy].

I quickly leave after returning the books to their place with [Gravity Manipulation], running in the direction of the laboratory I work in, before I'm forced to stop or crash into the small figure who stepped in front of me.

"Hey V. How 's it going? You know, I was getting worried when you stormed off and isolated yourself in the library. I'm so glad you seem happier now. You have to tell me what happened.", the small long haired female dwarf said in an excited tone.

This annoying runt was the one who collaborated with me on the creation of the 80% Mana Channeling Cable, calculating the best positions for the various runes I had to use when creating that disappointment.

Even though she was annoying, I found it hard to leave the slim young dwarf hanging.

"Greetings. I don't have to tell you anything, but come with me.". She started following beside me with a wide smile, running to match my long strides. "What do you think of the MCC80?" I asked.

She tilted her head. "Well obviously it was disgustingly inefficient and a complete disappointment, just like you for even taking part in its creation." she said in an odd biting tone as if she meant the opposite of what she said. Which was weird because I agreed wholeheartedly.

"You are right, and that's why I had to push myself to find the solution…", I was interrupted by her voice, but now she was the one that was annoyed.

"Wait. Stop talking. I was being sarcastic. I only said that because you said you believed it was a disappointment and ran away disgusted at yourself 20 days ago…". We arrived at my door, and I opened it.

We both entered and she continued. "You explained to me your cluster idea, but I have to be honest. I studied runes for four years, and have been working in the department for around 40 years, and all the current knowledge suggests that it is impossible."

She paused for a second, leaning on the white table in the middle of the room, full of cluster prototypes and damaged MCC80's. "It was detailed in runic master Rurik's paper on 'Interactions Between Runes', that the interactions are inherently chaotic.".

I shook my head, disassembling some of the useless contraptions on the table and building something different. "You don't understand Trygna. They may look random, but there must be some kind of pattern, and now that I've reached a breakthrough, I'm gonna prove it…"

The dwarf shook her head and sighed. "Look V. I understand your eagerness in advancing runic technology, after all, when I was young…"

"I'm older than you."

"... I also dedicated myself to rune advancement, but you are taking it way too far. Sometimes, some things are simply not possible and your attention is more valuable elsewhere.", she said with a worried expression.

I don't think I have ever seen someone show worry for me. This is strange.

"Trygna, I acknowledge what you are saying, and I appreciate your concern with me. I think I can trust you somewhat. No one else bothered to relentlessly annoy me when I was obsessed in the library. I want you to put these on.", I showed her a hastily thrown together prototype.

She looked like she was about to cry. "Oh my god V. That's so sweet of you!", and then she analyzed the contraptions in my hands. "... But what are these? You have just slapped some wind runes on two boards and attached a cord. This looks like what a three year old kid would put together in an attempt to fly.".

My cheeks warmed a bit in embarrassment. "Please trust me and put these on your feet, and then wait over there in the open area.".

She looked skeptically at me, let a long sigh escape her lips and took the primitive prototypes from my hands. "The only reason I'm doing this is because I also trust you V. Considering what you have achieved with your MCC80, I know about your standards, and you would not make glaring mistakes, even in such rushed work.". She walked to the middle of the clear test area.

"I need to warn you that, for your safety, you should try to remain straight and not move briskly." I said before starting a countdown.

She started saying something about that not boosting her confidence, but I was paying more attention to my [Innovative Mind]. I felt every single rune carved in my laboratory and partially in some of my co-workers'.

I focused on the boards the dwarf was wearing. "... two, one, Fly!".

I willed my magicules to transfer and fuel the wind runes. I felt my reservoir start emptying at a snail's pace. That wasn't because wind generation was cheap, but because of my outrageous capacity compared to most everyone else.

And it was only getting more expensive. The amount of wind generation needed to achieve the thrust necessary to lift my little test dummy was very high, and so was the mana cost.

The stacks of paper I had used to write calculations and read rune research were now chaotically flying across the room and some of the lighter machines on the table were getting pushed away from Trygna as she started flying unstably in the middle of the room.

Slightly panicked, but with incredulous eyes, she shouted at me, swaying from side to side as I tried to stabilize her movement, interacting with the runes with my mind. "Woou… What is this?"

Her arms swang in a circular motion, perpendicular to the ground, trying to gain balance in the air, as she tried to understand what was happening.

"Don't tell me you actually created a Magicule Storing Unit?... Oh… or maybe even a Remote Mana Transmission device?... OOOH!… or maybe even a Magic Generator??? Oh my God, I really shouldn't have doubted you. You are amazing. Runicol reincarnated even!!! This is revolu…".

She was getting way too excited. I had to interrupt her hysterical yelling. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble…" I yelled over the wind as my hair flapped about behind me. "... but none of that is true.".

I stopped transferring magicules to the wind runes and the connection was broken. With the removal of the force holding her up, she fell to the ground with a flip and landed on her feet.

I continued. "Technically you are right in thinking that it's a form of remote mana transmission, but it's the result of a skill I have. Unfortunately it is nothing related to runic development. Can you please keep it a secret?"

She looked a little bit disappointed. "Well. It isn't a breakthrough, but it is still amazing. Of course I will keep it a secret. That's what friends are for right? They help each other in their times of need."

Friend huh? I didn't know we could be considered friends that easily. I guess it won't hurt to be friends with a mathematical genius like her. She can even help me with any future creations, so at least she'll be useful.

"So… I'm going drinking for a bit, to relax and clear my mind from trying to solve my cluster problem. After, I'm leaving Dwargon to visit my home for a while. Want to come drink with me?" I decided to ask her for some reason.

About the cluster problem, now that I could recall every book I read perfectly and had processed the information together in parallel, a lot of things became clearer.

A lot of new ideas, mostly about the different ways runes could theoretically be combined to make what in normal magic is called 'Compound Magic', and I'll be calling 'Compound Runes', were popping up in my mind. But the main frequency interaction clash problem I had before hasn't been resolved yet.

She remained silent for a few seconds, thinking. She showed a regretful face. "Unfortunately I can't come. I've got to finish a job that really can't be delayed…"

She took the flying boards off her feet and placed them on the table. She approached the door, but before opening it, she turned to me.

"Where are you going drinking anyway?", she asked with a mischievous glint in her eye and a raised eyebrow.

My cheeks heated a little bit and I felt the nonsensical need to hide that I was going to the 'Butterflies of the Night'. "Umm… in a… drinking store?"

"..."

She stared at me with a blank face. The heat in my face intensified and I quickly tried to think of an excuse.

I didn't find one. "Anyways… I'm leaving. Farewell." I opened the door.

I could hear the mirth in her voice when she said her goodbyes from behind me.

I was walking in the direction of the 'Butterflies' when it hit me. I'm an actual idiot. I could have used my mind's [Thought Acceleration] to come up with an actually believable excuse. Well, what's done is done. Why did I hide where I was going anyway?

I opened the door. "Hey girls! Vel's back!" I heard the blonde clingy elf that hugged me on my first time here yell to all the other elves. Just like the first time, she ran at me and I returned her hug with my arms and tail.

The other girls gave some excited cheers as well, and almost immediately, my 'personal' table in the right corner had a familiar purple drink.

The night progressed spectacularly. The company and conversation kept me very entertained, but I had to ask a question that had been on my mind since the first day.

"Excuse me, but where do you get the Tyriana manaberries, or the TyriMana Brandy itself from?"

The green eyed, long haired and extremely 'soft' blonde elf that always stuck by my side, Elowen, pouted cutely. "Oh… You want to get rid of me already?", she said with a strange sad voice.

"Wh… What? Of course not. It's just that it's very expensive and I want to drink it a lot more often." I said in a slightly panicked voice.

She smiled and snickered. So she was teasing me huh? I need to do something. This transgression cannot go unpunished. "But actually, now that you talk about it, leaving you alone might be for the best. After all, I'm starting to get bored of you." I said in a monotone voice, putting my elbow on the table and supporting my chin with my hand as if thinking deeply.

Her beautiful green eyes widened in horror and her cute little mouth hung slightly open. "Rea… really?" she exhaled almost imperceptibly, voice wavering.

Now it was my turn to smile widely, looking down at her. Her lovely face was slightly illuminated by a red glow. I laughed loudly, grabbed her with my tail, and pulled her towards me until nothing was in between. I approached my head to her big pointy ear and whispered in a low voice. "You won't get rid of me that easily, Elowen".

Her face, now hidden behind her hands, had a rosy tint and when I looked up, everyone in the vicinity was looking at me. Maybe I went too far.

I cleared my throat, drank the rest of my cup and looked at one of the servers. "Excuse me, I have a question. Could you come here?"

She had an amused smile on her face, but answered my question when I asked the same thing. Apparently, the Tyriana Manaberries grow in the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania, sold to Dwargon for processed goods, and then made into brandy here.

Because of its rarity, and very low customer base, due to the toxic effect on weak beings, the amount bought was very small and expensive.

I have a new goal. I'm going to bring my monsters from the east of Jura and make them learn various crafts, like brewing, architecture, blacksmithing, woodworking, weaving and others. If the residents in my territory are skilled enough to build infrastructure like the one in Dwargon, I can live much better than I currently do. This is exciting.

Elowen looked like she had recovered from my teasing and with a strangely happy and determined look continued to converse with me throughout the night.

The next day, feeling refreshed after drinking the whole night, I went into a bookstore, bought a bunch of empty books and some writing utensils and left. Afterwards, I had my bracelet removed and left Dwargon.

Around a month has passed since I left the forest, and I certainly hope they haven't forgotten to get their tributes ready or there will be hell to pay.

When I was far enough away that no one would see me, I started flying, manipulating gravity to bring the mountain of empty books behind me. I had one in my hands as I zigzagged around trees with one of my thought processes and wrote with another.

The reason I was flying so low was to avoid detection. Afterall, I want to give the impression that 'Charybdis is dead' to the rest of the world, except east jura.

I was writing books, because I couldn't take the important ones out of Dwargon. I wasn't simply rewriting the books though. With my new abilities, I could write books on rune theory that were hundreds of times more comprehensive and compact, while sharing the same knowledge as the originals.

I was basically writing a series of books that unified rune theory. Of course, I knew I didn't know everything. The types of runes I know are as follows: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Ice, Barrier, Life, Light, Lightning, Optical, Slowing and Sunlight.

A lot of those are gimmicky, so there aren't that many useful applications, even though there are so many types.

The more interesting ones that I heard about, mainly from Trygna, like Analysis, Creation, Flight, Gravity, Nuclear, Spatial, Transfer, and Transportation were lost knowledge. At least to the public sector of the dwarves.

So the books I was writing were for example, 'Fire and Ice: Heat Manipulation', 'Water and Wind: Generating Elements', 'Earth and its Manipulation', 'Runic Barriers, and its Unlimited Applications', 'Basic Runic Theory', etcetera.

It is weird how you can generate and manipulate water and wind, but you can't generate earth, only manipulate it.

Anyways, these books should be enough to teach most of the basics of runes to the monsters.

On the way, I felt a familiar presence. Gazel Dwargo really was in the forest, though he just seemed to be wondering about. Interesting.

An hour later, I could see the destroyed villages on the border of the Ameld river had mostly been abandoned, so I summoned one megalodon, and ordered it to attack the few that were in the process of rebuilding.

I kept flying, until I reached my clearing where I noticed the various bushes that were there before, but hadn't started growing fruit. There were various different colored berries, but unfortunately, none of them were the striking Tyriana Manaberry.

I landed in the cave, but before I could do anything, I noticed a big black bear had taken my place. This is unacceptable…

Who would dare try to steal my cave.

When it noticed me, it started running in my direction, with its jaws open as if to crush me with its teeth. This pest can't be serious can it?

As it reached me, I used enhancement magic on my arms and legs, even though I most likely didn't need it, and grabbed its jaws. Throwing it to the air, I jumped, flipped in the air and torpedo kicked him with an explosion.

Its body made a crater on the ground where he hit and he started moving to get up. As if I would let him.

I flew and lightly stomped its head under my foot, just enough so that he couldn't get up. Hh started whining and pointed its rear up to the sky in the universal sign of animal submission.

As I continued adding pressure, he started painfully roaring and thrashing around with its limbs. "No one steals from me", I said coldly, as my eye stared at his deforming head.

'Spruush'. Its head exploded, eyes having been launched a few meters out of their sockets. I used life magic to wipe my 'clothes', turned around and headed to my cave.

I could have ended the fight in a second with [Wicked Light Ray], but it would have heavily damaged my cave.

I used earth magic and raised a crude stone platform and a table in front of it. I sat, placed all my books down on the side, and on the table, the one I was currently writing.

I relaxed, released my aura and felt better than I ever had. It was like having every single muscle in my body tense for years, and then relaxing them all at once. It felt liberating.

I continued writing and waited for Naga to inevitably arrive.