[Water Magic Anomaly Repaired]

  You have repaired an anomaly known to the Grand System. Please continue to resolve anomalies.

  Reward:

  Increased breadth and depth of one Attribute Ring of your choice.

  25 coins.

  Ethan dusted off his hands, throwing his chest out as he looked at the dribbling font before him. Pinching the 25-coin piece between his fingers, he held it up for her to see. "That's it. We just repaired an anomaly and earned 25 coins."

  Amelia couldn't stop looking at the repaired anomaly. She shook her head several times before looking up at Ethan. "The energy pattern of it changed completely."

  Ethan stood there staring with his mouth open as he realized what that meant. Amelia was well-practiced with mana control, and her mana senses were well above his. She had spent her entire life doing stuff like this after all. "There was a difference between what it was before and what it is now. Okay, that's kind of interesting. Do you think you can accompany me to another anomaly?”

  "Normally, I would decline your invitation," Amelia said, "but this is probably the most interesting thing I've ever seen. Do you have a theory about something? You've got that look on your face."

  Ethan nodded, mentally placing his attribute increase into his mind ring yet again. He needed to work on his affinity ring, but for now, that's where he was putting all his points.

  "The Anomalous Materials Group has been doing this for a long time. Their history is a bit foggy, but Armel told me it was originally made up of people at high ranks. He was vague about it, but that's what I got from it anyway. So, these people have been containing things they suspect are anomalies, but nobody has ever been able to fix an anomaly. Has anyone ever taken the reading of an anomalous material before and after it was fixed? I doubt it. They’ve never had a baseline to work from.”

  Amelia shook her head. “You’re on the right track, but think about it. They could compare the energy from a functioning item and one they suspected was anomalous and draw conclusions.”

  Ethan gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to let go of the idea, but she was right. There were simply too many anomalous materials with energy patterns that fell outside the norm to be catalogued. “I wish you were wrong about that.”

  “I’m not. But I’m happy to investigate another anomaly.”

  With Ethan's dreams of being the savior of the anomalous materials group dashed, he turned his attention to Alex's list. He didn't want to deal with another anomaly in the ‘font’ category, instead selecting one that was suspected of being a cursed item. At first, his companion objected, but they headed out anyway. It was currently contained within a guard outpost within Gale House, near the eastern wall.

  Ethan approached the two guards standing at the ready by the large oaken door. They looked at him as though he were nothing more than a smear on their shoe until he pinched his badge between his fingers and tapped the circle at the top. "I am here with the Anomalous Materials Group. I think you have a sword in your custody that needs to be contained."

  The two guards, wearing their full armor and looking rather intimidating, pulled their visors up and shared a look. Ethan did not envy them for being trapped in such stuffy armor all day.

  "We keep it in the armory at the back of the armory, sealed in a chest. We'll all lead the way." The one guard who had spoken up handed his spear to the other and opened the door. The guards didn't even question that Ethan had Amelia in tow.

  They headed into the barracks and were greeted by an assault of stenches that defied even the bucket of dead fish inside the shack. The scribe pinched his nose, taking about three-quarters of his total mana and dumping it into his vigor ring. A field of magic spread out, scrubbing all the surfaces clean in an instant and leaving behind a pleasant scent that lingered in the air. He just hoped it would linger there for some time before the nasty guards had their way with it again.

  “Does anyone else smell flowers?” the guard asked with a chuckle. “Perhaps we should invite mages in here more often…”

  The barracks weren't exactly large. After a few turns, they approached the armory. The guard led the way to the back of the stone room, kicked the lid of the iron-banded chest, and took a few steps back. "Don't touch it. This is one of the swords that does weird stuff if you hold it. Being in close proximity shouldn't be an issue, though."

  And with that, he left them alone with the anomaly. Ethan wasn’t completely sure it was an anomaly yet, but he didn’t want to give up on his dream of teaching the Anomalous Materials Group a method to identify them from afar.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Let’s get to work.” Ethan settled in before the chest, his pen at the ready. “I know you have a busy day today.”

  As Ethan sat before the rusted iron sword in the chest, he felt confusion wash over him. It was unlike anything he had felt before, but perhaps this was something he should have expected. He had never dealt with magical items before, and it made sense that it would require a completely different approach. The energies inside were complex, seeming to weave a tapestry of sigils he couldn't completely understand.

  "This one is tricky. I don't think I even recognize the system it's using. Do you have any idea what the function of the sword could be?"

  Amelia shook her head. "I'm not very good with item enchantments. That's more of a crafter's domain."

  Ethan stopped probing the item with his senses and took a minute. He had one thing to be grateful for. There didn't seem to be any aberrant energy coming from the item. If it was collecting or releasing mana from the air, he couldn't tell. That meant it was mostly safe to be around, but he didn't dare touch it. He scooted closer to get a better look at the length of the blade. He tilted his head to one side when he spotted the runic and strict inscriptions along its length.

  "What language is that?" Ethan asked, trying to make any sense of the runes but failing.

  "Perhaps some form of dwarvish script? I don't recognize it as anything from the X-13 crafting system, which means it might be from a different system altogether. Then again, I’m not very well-read on the topic.”

  Ethan clicked his tongue. Was there any connection between those runes and the function of the sword? He could at least find a starting place. That might be enough for his system to kick-start itself, allowing him to emulate whatever anomalous system the sword was using. Or it was a completely mundane sword, and he could rule it out as an anomaly. Either way, he would consider that a win.

  "This is going to take a lot longer than I had expected. Maybe a few days. I'll have to hit the books, and dinner's getting close. Might as well just call this a day. Did you want to go get something to eat?"

  Amelia threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "You're giving up just like that?"

  Ethan shook his head. "I'm not giving up. I'm doing what you told me to do. I'm being cautious. Something like this would take a lot of time for me to work through, and I don't want to make a mistake. Once I figure out what system these runes are from, I can emulate whatever system the sword is using. Then, my system will tell me if it's an anomaly or not. Hey, this might not be the anomaly detection technique I wanted to teach the anomalous materials group, but it's close enough."

  Although she was reluctant to agree, Amelia eventually nodded. Ethan wasn't eager to get involved in another system, not when he was just getting a handle on the X-13 system and its variants. He had class tomorrow and a lot of studying to do tonight, but for now he wanted to get some food in his belly.

  After leaving the guard post, the duo met up with Barry for dinner. They chatted about their days, and when Amelia finally departed for the night, Ethan patted the big dude on the shoulder.

  “I gotta hit the books. Might be back late,” he said.

  “I’m not your mom.”

  With Barry's seal of approval, Ethan headed for the library. Fortunately, it was open all day and all night, and he was allowed entrance. The first thing he did was ignore all the books they had on runes crafted with the X-13 system. Instead, he looked at the others. This didn't make the process much easier though. The information here wasn't well catalogued, and he had to hunt through the shelves to collect an armful of books. Then, by the light of a glowing crystal lamp, he poured through them.

  The amount of variation that existed between the different systems was astounding. Although the X-13 system was similar enough to the M-228 system, their method of gaining power and effectively leveling up was very different. The people with the core-based system could actually swap out one of their cores whenever they wanted, effectively changing their subclass. Although their main class was bound to their soul, they could at least have some versatility in that regard.

  Ethan fell down a rabbit hole reading a book detailing the differences between the two systems. It was common for people with the core system to have a few subcores to level up. They often had one for combat, one for crafting, and even ones for utility, such as cleaning or laboring cores. The deeper he fell into the hole, the more he learned. That system belonged to the local sector, which basically meant that everyone born in this collection of planets was typically offered the same system. That made the scribe question why Amelia had the X-13 system instead. There were some fine details he wasn’t quite getting.

  Blinking away the stupor brought by hours of reading, Ethan looked at the nearest clock. It was approaching midnight, and he had just thumbed through a book detailing the differences between systems, learning nothing about the runes. He placed the book onto his discard pile and opened the most promising ?of all the materials he had gathered. After going through only a few pages, a small section in the book caught his attention. Within the M-228 system, there was a specific class core that used dwarves and runes to enchant items. Ethan flipped page after page, looking for the section the book promised would detail the specific class, complete with examples.

  Ethan watched as the pages fell open on the Dwarven Runeweaver class. The scribe looked down at the pages. The runes on the scribe were practically glittering in the dim crystal light. He withdrew a sheet of parchment he had kept in his pocket. Thankfully, he had copied at least a few of them. They didn't match exactly, but they were close enough for him to determine that this was it. He was looking at a sword created by a dwarf using the M-228 system. Or an anomalous variant…

  With his Celestial Pen, Ethan sketched a few runes in the air. His system didn’t respond, but the practice helped him connect with a fragment of the core system and the Runeweaver class. The more he sketched the runes out, the more he was certain of it. This was exactly what he was looking for. He snapped the book closed and looked up, his eyes fuzzy from exhaustion.

  The sensible thing to do was to go to bed. But tomorrow’s class wasn’t until noon. Ethan scooped up all the books, taking them to the return area before heading directly for the barracks. Amelia wouldn’t mind if he tackled this one on his own. She was a busy woman, after all.

  RoyalRoad, and

  Patreon where you can read up to 155 chapters ahead on this story (300k words wowzer), 9 ahead on Gladesbale, and whatever my next project is.