บท 37: Runes Card

After he settled down, he took out what Hazel gave him. It was a rectangular piece of stiff paper that looked like a playing card. As he looked at it, he found it to have some mana paths on it. He realized this was what Ori talked about in the club room. This was a Runes Card.

He remembered that Ori said this was a one-time use, so Arthur didn't try to activate it. However, he had a different idea in mind as he looked at it. Sitting down, Arthur placed the card in front of him and began to study it. After a long while, he didn't receive any message from his legacy.

Arthur decided to observe the runes tree since it signified his progress in runes. After several times of studying the card and observing the tree, Arthur realized that one of the runes was getting brighter. It was the Protection-I rune.

"Is this card related to it? Can the reason I'm not learning a new rune-like the time at the willpower test be that this rune is artificial?"

The difference between artificial and real runes was vague, but Arthur understood the concept. A rune is like a link between mana and the world used to achieve a particular result. It converts mana into different phenomena.

The mana moves in a specific pattern being the rune's path in order to attain this. The mana rune then manifests various phenomena by using its link to the world.

But what if there was no link and merely a mana path? The rune wouldn't achieve the same result. It would then become a process of gathering a phenomenon from the world using the rune's path.

It was a complex process, but it all boils down to a phenomenon called resonance. The mana path would resonate with the world and alter its reality.

This came at the expense of a higher mana cost and lower effect. For example, an ice rune would work better in a frosty environment. This was attributed to resonance as well.

Real runes, in comparison, would directly create things out of mana. This came because of the link to the world that humans don't have, but Arthur did.

Arthur decided to put the rune card down and started to practice his mana control. After the fight with Lian, he had seen tremendous changes.

Even though he still needed time to use this technique, and he still couldn't stabilize the mana around him, he felt confident that he could take out the violet-gem goblin ant underground with a bit more practice.

After he finished his practice, Arthur ate a meal with Kira before inspecting the rune card. As he studied it more, the protection-I rune started getting brighter and brighter, and after a while, simply looking stopped getting the rune brighter.

Arthur began to feel the lines running along with the card, where they met, the materials they used. Arthur even smelled it just to be sure he was doing everything that he should do.

After another hour of experiments, Arthur decided he only had one thing to do. It pained his heart to waste it, but he activated the card anyway. A sphere of light appeared around him and disappeared after 3 seconds.

Arthur looked at this in bewilderment, wondering if he might have misused it. However, his legacy proved that was it.

[Protection-II rune has been learned.]

[Protection-II: This rune would protect you from attacks for 5 seconds. Applies defense that equals your strength stat. Mana Cost: 15% of your Strength stat.]

It was the same as before, with only the word 'physical' missing. Although Arthur expected a higher degree of defense for this rune, he still felt pleased that he no longer needs to worry about magic attacks. However, the cost of using this rune increased as well. Arthur showed his current stats point to see his growth.

[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]

[Level: 10 (5%)]

[Strength: 42]

[Agility: 46]

[Stamina: 35]

[Perception: 27]

[Mana: 35/37]

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (12%), Useable Runes: 8]

[Skills: Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill (F), Poison Strike (F), Camouflage (F)]

He gained one stats point by reaching level 10, and he used it on mana. After he absorbed the essence of the two mages with Lian, he gained 4 points in mana, raising it to 35.

The other two were of his hunting for the previous two days, as primitive cores started giving him mana. There was also an increase of 1, 1, 2, and 1 for strength, agility, stamina, and perception, respectively.

Calculating the amount of mana he needed to use his new rune, Arthur ended up with 6.3 points. It was a fair price to pay for another layer of protection. Furthermore, he wouldn't need to worry about the rune breaking when he faced the violet-gem goblin now.

His preparations seemed ready for now, but it was almost nighttime. Arthur decided to head underground tomorrow morning after he got some rest.

***

After lying in bed for almost an hour, Arthur couldn't sleep for some reason. Every day, he would be too tired to think about stuff, so he would fall asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Even though his body wanted to sleep, his mind was fully awake for some reason. Maybe it's the anticipation of tomorrow's battle, perhaps they were the worries, but Arthur didn't know what to do with his time.

He started practicing moving his mana again, but he got bored with it after a while. He wasn't used to such a lifestyle. He was constantly trying to get stronger and practice or hunt. He needed some time to rest, and Arthur realized that was the reason he couldn't sleep.

The only time he wasn't trying to get stronger to survive was his sleeping. Even that after the incident with Lian, he became less comfortable as it kept him on edge.

"Why did I want to get stronger when I was a child?"

His voice penetrated the silent room and met no answer. After a while of looking back, Arthur remembered why. There was a book he always carried around when he was a kid. It was about a hero who got stronger and started to explore the world and move through the skies.

It was the freedom that he wanted. The ability to do anything, go anywhere, only limited by his imagination. Arthur got up from his bed and descended the stairs after picking up his sword. He took a bottle of Gin and poured himself a glass.

After chugging it down, the alcohol blurred Arthur's senses. He could use his rune to get rid of the toxicity, but he decided against it.

Dizzy, he walked outside the pub. The myriad of colors he always looked at illuminated the night. Living on the edge of the world, Arthur felt slightly frightened the pub might just fall off while he slept here.

Kira was asleep a distance away, but Arthur had no plans of waking it up. He wanted to take a stroll through the forest while using his camouflage skill. Using the darkness as a cover, Arthur blended into the night as he made his way through the woods.

Trees and more trees met his eyes; after a while, he reached the periphery of the lake. He sat down by its shore as he admired the reflection of the lights on the lake's surface. It was a magical scene that Arthur never saw the like of before.

His eyes moved along the shore as he looked in the direction of Erin's camp. It was in a valley beyond the lake. At this time, they might be sitting around the campfire sharing stories of their adventure.

He looked beyond the mountain range and could see the tower illuminating the world around it. Runes of all colors lit on its surface. Arthur realized that at this moment, someone was trying to conquer the tower to get out of here.

He wondered how strong can someone be to defeat a tower that Arthur couldn't even reach. What drove them forward? He wondered.

Seconds became minutes, and an hour passed while he sat on the edge of the lake. As he was absorbed in his thoughts, he felt the mana twist and turn on top of the lake. After his perception got stronger, he was able to sense the change in the surrounding mana faintly.

Arthur stood up from his position and retreated backward. It was good that he had brought his sword just in case he needed it. After entertaining the thought of running away, he was too late to do so as the mana intensified and twisted.

A black hole appeared on top of the lake before a person fell from it. The hole then disappeared, and the person crashed to the lake's surface, disturbing it like a thrown pebble.