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An Otherworldly Scholar - 158
🕑 Added 2024-09-10 23:12:31 +0000 UTCAccess. Special Rune. Rank I. [Identify]: A set of credentials issued by Admin001 with the purpose of accessing the System’s back end. For the love of all that is holy, Robert Clarke, don’t lose it, or we will all be in hot water.
The last snippet worried me. I was far from ready to tinker with the System’s code. There was too much at stake. One wrong rune and the fabric of society would collapse; without the System’s support, Farmer’s yields would be halved, Alchemists couldn’t brew potions, Craftsmen’s skills would be gone, and combatant's power would disappear. I tried to collect myself. Before making any edits, I needed to find the physical location of the crystals where the System was stored.
Having access credentials felt like having a suitcase with nuclear codes shackled to my wrist. Not only was it dangerous for the world, but for me. Nobles would move the sea and the mountains to achieve the power to modify the System at will. My only safeguard was that few selected people knew I was a Runeweaver, and even among them, only Elincia and Astrid knew my mission was to fix the System. As long as it remained a secret, no one would lust after my powers.
There was another individual who knew about my new Class. What did you do, Wizard? You met him. What a shame to see a man of your capabilities leashed like a dog. The Lich realized that something in me had changed. Did he find out I was a Runeweaver? Did he know Runeweavers could edit the System? I shifted nervously against the cold stone of our hideout.
One way or another, I needed to get stronger.
I summoned my [Rune Encyclopedia], but instead of the familiar old tome, a System prompt popped before my eyes.
Fractalis System initializing…
Checking the contents of the foreign soul…
Foreign Soul Robert Clarke detected…
Corruption detected, initializing security settings…
Failed to initialize security settings…
Initializing emergency security settings…
Special access granted…
Initialization complete.
The prompt disappeared. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was still night. The [Black Storm] raged. There was no sign of undead monsters in the sky, so I assumed Farcrest had weathered the attack. I didn’t feel any significant power-up, unlike the previous times the initializing screen assaulted me. No new elements had been added to my Character Sheet, and my mana pool remained the same size. I thought it had passed. Then, it came like a tidal wave.
New title acquired!
Iron Rank Runeweaver: Title awarded to those who have dipped their toes in the art of runeweaving.
Class Reward: Enhanced understanding of materials. Enhanced knowledge of runes. Rank I enchantments require less magic.
The information was kneaded into my brain to the point I felt nauseous. An intense migraine bashed my brain against the walls of my skull. The information was violently shoved in, filling the gaps in my runeweaving learning. I lost track of time, but by the end of the process, I felt like a Stone Golem’s punching bag. I blinked repeatedly, trying to focus the scene before my eyes, and after a moment, the kid’s silhouettes regained clarity. The old [Rune Encyclopedia] tome floated before my eyes, inviting me to open it, and so I did. I opened the rune section and found newly added text beside each entry instead.
Fire. Elemental Effect Rune. Rank I.
Light. Elemental Effect Rune. Rank I.
Wind. Elemental Effect Rune. Rank I.
Gradual. Trigger Rune. Rank I.
Instantaneous. Trigger Rune. Rank I.
Absorption. Energy Rune. Rank I.
User. Condition Rune. Rank I.
The list went on with the fourteen runes I already have mastered. My initial guess about the nature of the runes wasn’t far from the mark, although seeing it on paper helped me sort my ideas. The existence of the Condition runes was a novelty, as I initially thought there were only three types of runes: Effect, Trigger, and Power Source. I picked the fire rune and appraised it using [Rune Identification].
Fire. Elemental Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune is the symbol of the destructive and purifying force of the flames. Affinities: Iron, Stone, Obsidian. Mana threshold: 300.
The description was too dramatic, but I ignored it and focused on the numbers. While I was aware I was freehanding the enchanting process, the existence of a metric caught me off-guard. The information about the System usually lacked concrete numbers, and even the Class Growths in the Book of Classes were constructed on a comparative basis.
Mana threshold: 300.
The System Avatar hadn’t even worried about using a unit of measurement. I shook my head. Rookie mistake. Not using units would be a reduction of two marks. I wondered if using [Identify] on the [Rune Identification] text was too meta. I had nothing to lose by trying and was starved for information. When I used [Identify], a second prompt overlapped with the Rune Encyclopedia.
Mana threshold. [Identify]: The measurement of how much mana a rune can exert. Commonly referred to as ‘maximum rune power’ or ‘maximum enchantment power’. The greater the rune’s rank, the higher the mana threshold.
Setting a limit for the runes’ power seemed an excellent failsafe against absentminded Runeweavers. I couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that I wasn’t going to destroy the fabric of reality if I accidentally heated a pebble to Plank temperature. Not that I currently had that amount of mana.
I wondered how this ‘mana threshold’ translated into the enchanted item.
The class reward talked about enhanced understanding of materials.
I glanced at Zaon’s boots and used [Identify].
Wind-Shot Boots. [Identify]: Wind-infused boots that can create small air currents at the user's discretion. Enchantment threshold: 340/290. Status: Degrading.
That was new. I sorted the new information. Runes had a mana threshold, the power they could exert. On the other hand, items had an enchantment threshold. I guessed that was about how much rune power the item could hold before getting damaged by the enchantment.
Enchantment threshold. [Identify]: The measurement of how much mana power an item can hold. High-quality items have a higher enchantment threshold.
My hunch was correct. We had been lucky that the rune power on the boots only slightly surpassed the enchantment threshold. Zaon and Firana had their own means of improving their movement, but the boots breaking in the middle of a fight would be a death sentence for Ilya. I glanced at the pile of Warm Stones in the middle of our hideout.
Warm Stone. Enchantment threshold: 70/500. Status: Stable.
The Fire rune had a power of three hundred, but the Warm Stone’s enchantment threshold was only twenty. It made little sense. I wondered if the total rune power was so low because of the material affinity of the Fire rune. I summoned my [Rune Debugger], grabbed an unenchanted pebble, and put the Fire-Gradual-Recharge on it. The [Rune Debugger], as expected, glowed green.
In the upper right corner, a box with the number seventy appeared. I pushed more mana into the pebble, and the number rose, but no matter how much power I used, I couldn’t surpass the 180 mark. I learned two things. Material affinity seemed to halve the threshold requirement to engrave the elemental rune, and the threshold listed on the rune was the maximum possible power. Still, I could use less than three hundred rune power if I wanted a not-so-hot enchanted pebble.
I left the pebble aside and examined the enchanted items available. I used [Identify].
All the enchanted boots were slightly above the enchantment threshold, but none of them showed signs of being worn out. Not yet, at least. The Warm Blankets were below the enchantment threshold due to the low power of the Fire enchantment. I focused on Firana’s sword.
Aias Sword. Enchantment threshold: 5000/5000. Status: Stable.
“Damn,” I muttered.
Compared to my enchanted items, this was a masterpiece.
A threshold of five thousand was way above whatever I could currently enchant. There were seventy-two runes in the Aias Sword, of which I only recognized eight—fire, instantaneous, absorption, recharge, user, activation, and direction. I could probably set up a crude fire-spitting weapon with those runes alone, but the Aias Sword had much more to unveil.
“It can’t be that easy,” I said.
I used [Rune Identification]. Instantly, several rank-I runes lit up and became entries in my [Rune Encyclopedia]. Vampiric, Insulation, Reinforcement, Bind. Finally, the System Avatar gave me the tools to runeweave properly. I rubbed my hands as my mind raced. The more runes I had, the more combinations I could produce.
Vampiric. Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune represents eternal hunger. Affinities: Iron, Bone, Hemp Fibers. Mana threshold: 1000.
Insulation. Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune symbolizes the division between elements and the boundaries of magic. Affinities: Leather, Marble, Paper. Mana threshold: 50.
Reinforcement. Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune represents integrity and durability. Affinities: Iron, Wood, Stone. Mana threshold: 200.
Bind. Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune represents the unyielding link between entities. Affinities: Iron, Silver, Gold. Mana threshold: 100.
A part of me was extremely curious about how runes like Vampiric and Reinforcement would appear in the System’s code, but I quickly pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the ingredients at my disposal. Mana Drain was a common weakness for magical creatures, so a Vampiric Sword could be useful. Reinforcement would be great for the boys’ shields and to improve the slight protection given by the light leather armor we were wearing. The rune that caught my attention the most, however, was Bind.
The problem with producing enchanted items en masse was the possibility of them landing in the wrong hands. I had the power to make powerful items, but I also had the responsibility to prevent those items from being used by the sort like Sir Janus. If the creator of the Aias Sword managed to bind the weapon to Firana’s bloodline, then I could do the same with my enchanted items. I grinned. I could even create the ultimate gun lock and handpick those deserving of Ginz’s firearms.
A part of me wanted to share my knowledge with the world. Guns would make the initial levels a walk in the park and prevent useless casualties among low-level kids. However, another part of me wanted complete control. After Janus’ betrayal, I couldn’t leave any loose ends.
I summoned the [Rune Debugger] and started playing with the new runes. The small box in the upper right corner informed me about the power of the enchantment. The trigger and condition runes had values below the line of the hundred. The only outlier was the Hourglass rune, but not even the specialization of the rune raised the number to over two hundred. Most of the enchantment power was determined by the effect rune. Vampiric and Fire were the two most expensive runes, followed by Wind, Light, and Vibration.
The boots we had taken from the Sentinel’s Watchtower had a Mana Threshold of three hundred. The rest of our clothing was around the same number, but leather generally could hold more enchantment than fabric and metal more than leather. The sword I had taken from the stash sat at a comfortable 1200 points of endurance, so a Vampiric enchantment was possible. Just like the other Sentinel items, the sword was top-notch quality.
The Aias Sword had at least three sub-enchantments. Vampiric to drain mana from monsters, Fire to set the blade ablaze and fling fire storms, and Bind to recognize its rightful user. It also had a support enchantment where Insulation and Reinforcement were allocated. I guessed that part of the enchantment was to prevent the sword from melting or breaking. Seventy-two runes were quite the runeweaving job, but I could probably simplify it into the low twenties. My rendition would not be as strong as the Aias Sword, but a low-strength replica still would be deadly in capable hands. And Zaon was one of the most capable swordsmen I’ve ever met.
I wondered if Firana would get mad at me for plagiarizing her sword.
Probably not. Like Elincia, Firana seemed to think too highly of me.
I focused back on the [Rune Debugger] and tried a simple Vampiric-User-Recharge string. The square area turned yellow, meaning the enchantment was faulty but wouldn’t explode on my face. Did Vampiric even require mana? Common sense told me the rune would power itself on contact with something drainable, but, as a general rule, all runes required mana to function. I tested a few more versions of the spell and settled for Vampiric, User, Instantaneous, and Recharge. So far, so good, but I was at a loss when it came to putting two effects into the same enchantment. I had the Vampiric part, and now I needed to add the Fire part. How did the enchanted item know which one to trigger?
[Rune Identification] refused to tell me what advanced logic gates the Aias Sword had. I had access to the Detect rune from Holst’s Enchanted Timer. The bastard had tried to warn me about Janus, but I had been too blind to realize. I had been too biased against him to notice.
“Focus, Robert,” I muttered.
The Enchanter Timer detected when the circuit was full of mana. I could use Detect-Stockpile like in the Enchanted Timer to unleash a powerful attack after the sword was fully charged. The downside was that a powerful attack wasn’t desirable in every situation. Indoor fireballs were dangerous, and friendly fire wasn’t friendly at all. I examined my options. The Billowy Cape detected movement and, more importantly, the user’s intent. It seemed too simple to be real. Were there even punctuation signs for enchantments? Sentence grammar?
Examining the Aias Sword, I didn’t find anything similar to punctuation.
Something about the magic of this world bothered me. The whole issue of the intent seemed too convenient. The System knew when I wanted to cast [Rune Debugger] or [Rune Encyclopedia]. The Billowy Cape knew when to make the fabric flap. The runeweaving process knew how intense I wanted the Light Stones to be.
“What is magic in reality?” I asked.
Even during my fight against the Lich, when I let the Corruption demolish the walls of my mana pool, and I was free from the System, the magic—the Fountain—knew I was trying to gather the thermal energy trapped inside the mountain in a single point over the Lich’s head. I remembered that feeling of complete control. Magic simply bowed to my will.
“Enough of philosophical rambling,” I said to myself.
The [Rune Debugger] gave me the green sign. The Vampiric part of the enchantment was the simple four-rune string, and the Fire part was a modification of Firana’s Billowy Cape enchantment. I hoped it worked as intended. The box in the upper right told me the enchantment power was way above 1200: the Vampiric and the Fire runes had already added up to 1300. Luckily, both runes had an affinity to iron, so when [Rune Debugger] calculated the affinities, the enchantment power barely reached a thousand. As I had room to spare, I added the Reinforcement rune for good measure. The [Rune Debugger] area remained green.
Iron was becoming my favorite enchanting material.
I took a deep breath. The enchantment was longer than the seven-rune Wind-Shot Boots, but I hoped the discount from [Iron Runeweaver] was enough. After all, I was using only first-rank runes. I channeled my mana and opened the gates. The sword drank greedily, but I maintained the flow to the minimum. While the conscious part of my brain managed the enchantment process, another partition of my mind meditated, purifying Fountain Mana to replenish my mana pool. Despite slowing down the process as much as possible, the output was greater than the input.
I poured mana into the runes for what seemed an eternity, although my inner clock told me only an hour had passed. The forest was in darkness, and only the faint glow of my mana illuminated the hideout between the stones and the roots. Across the pit with the dying Warm Stones, a pair of blue eyes gleamed in the darkness.
“Mister Clarke?” Zaon whispered.
“You still have fifteen until the shift,” I replied.
“I don’t think I can get back to sleep,” he apologized.
The last strand of mana entered the sword, and the circuit was completed.
New recipe achieved!
Updating Rune Encyclopedia.
Leechflame Sword added to the recipes tab.
I smiled as a cold shiver ran down my spine. My mana reserves were dangerously low, but I was on a roll, and the success-induced adrenaline rushed through my veins. I still had to figure out how to use the Bind rune, but a single extra flaming sword in the world wouldn’t be as threatening as a gun.
“Zaon?” I asked.
“Yes, Mister Clarke?” The boy replied, opening his eyes.
“Happy Birthday,” I said, tossing the sword.
Zaon’s elven reflexes acted, and he caught it mid-flight. Then, he spied on Ilya to ensure she was still sleeping. Throwing sharp things wasn’t on the list of allowed behaviors at the orphanage. Zaon pulled the sword a few centimeters out of the sheath as Ilya remained asleep. His eyes opened wide, and I grinned.
“It’s enchanted,” he muttered. “What does it do?”
“I took inspiration from a certain flaming sword,” I smiled.
“No way!” Zaon smiled back at me. He seemed to melt in bliss under his Warm Blanket as he cradled the sword between his arms. An instant later, however, he perked up, alarmed. “Firana might not be happy about me copying her style.”
“Or, she will be happy to have matching swords,” I pointed out.
“I wonder,” Zaon sighed. “Girls are an enigma to me.”
Ilya opened a single eye. “Maybe that’s because we speak in complete sentences.”
“Do you, though?” Zaon sighed again.
I made a titanic effort not to laugh.
There were still three hours until daybreak, so I closed my eyes and left the kids to keep watch. Tomorrow would be an important day. They had to know about the Lich.
Comments
ND_JackSparrow
Oh nice, it seems my second guess about it being a password was right on the money. Interesting. I wonder if the "Fractalis System" reappearing was because he got the special admin code or if it was bound to happen eventually? Same for the "emergency security settings". The Runes having "ranks" is an interesting feature. Is that merely a matter of measuring their rarity/power, or will Rob be able to "level up" the runes over time to raise the mana threshold? > I wondered if using [Identify] on the [Rune Identification] text was too meta. We're reaching [Identification] levels that shouldn't even be possible! The fact that he can now instantly learn about any rune he sees is an absolute game changer. Is Opoki still in town? Rob won't even need to buy the items to increase his knowledge pool! Also -- this should be extremely useful once he gets inside the system, as he should be able to [Identify] every rune that makes up its code. As Rob noticed, there has been a distnct lack of "structure" to the enchantments. I concur with his conclusion that intent of the enchanter must play a huge role in the exact behavior of the enchantments. Hopefully he can use this fact to his advantage when he eventually fixes the system; his willpower and desire to see it working again may help bridge the gap.
Ben Bass
TYFTC! Now we are talking, Rob is learning more about intent, and I wonder how much being trained on earth will affect and impact how and what he enchants with his runes. It seems that intent is very powerful and removes the need for a lot of built in guardrails and ‘programing’ around things. I am glad that Zaon got the sword, I think he is going to like it. So how long before Robert starts reinforcing Ginz’ steam engines…
I Dare Korval
Glad to see Zaon got an enchanted gift too.
