Another barrage of notifications hit me, a now-familiar flood of updates.
With a thought, I minimized the windows, letting them collapse into a neat stack in the corner of my vision.
The rewards lined up in front of me—organized, clear, and more than a little tempting.
Most prominent were the 2 new runes granted by the Profession pathway, One was the [Vault Rune] i managed to read its effects right before passing out but seeing it again with a clear mind was something else.
The rune would allow me to increase the storage space of, well, anything. The part about being able to inscribe directly into skin but there would be time to research that later.
The second rune granted seemed to be the basis for advancing the dimensional focused pathway.
[Rune of Dimensions]: Allows the carver to create mild alterations to the dimensions this is carved upon, standardly used to improve arrays or alter other runes, Will alter Elemental Runes to channel dimensional energies.
This would allow me to “adjust” the capabilities of my ranged runes. Maybe even the physical properties of other items.
“might as well test it” the phrase had become common during the survival trial, each death and iteration leading me to try new and more complicated ways of combat.
Carving the [Rune of Dimensions] into a [Fire Rune] caused the flaming sphere to turn a deep shade of swirling indigo, space warping around it as if sucked into the orb.
DING!
A status window appeared before me, detailing what the two runes combined caused.
[Dimensional Flame Rune]: A standard Fire rune combined with the innate effects of DImensions. Changes damage inflicted or imbued into [Dimensional Flames] Capable of damaging beings not native to the inscribed objects dimension. Due to drawing from the Elemental Plane of Fire, This Runes effects are enhanced by 1.5 times
Woah. That was the word that came to mind upon seeing the rapid change scribing the Rune of Dimensions to another foundational rune did. Filled with a burst of inspiration, I continued to draw other foundational runes mixed with the dimensional rune. My [Rune Script] Skill allowing me to only combine two runes at the moment limited me immensely, being unable to merge the combination runes with the boost.
The other foundational runes had similiar effects, but all varying drastically in appearance. The [Dimensional Water Rune] was a roiling sphere of shifting color and fluid. Earth, A multi colored orb that seemed to be of this realm and not. Air, a gust that seemed paradoxical in nature, putting my hand in the effect area caused it to feel like a pull and push all at once. A, admittedly, uncomfortable and laughable sensation.
That’s enough experimentation with the new foundation rune for the day, now i need to examine the [Vault Rune]z Pulling up the information in my interface, i studied the shaping of the rune. It seemed to be a [Rune of Dimensions] but with 4 added sets of lines around it: forming a crude wall shape around it.
attempting to Etch it into walls yielded zero results, my mana refusing to even go into the rune to activate it, the rune merely flashed out the weak Indigo color of the dimensional energy.
hmmm, this is gonna be tricky without a bag on hand, i’d have to carve it into myself.
Thinking about carving a rune into
myself sent my gaze down to my forearm, the new Soulrune looking like a coiled chain wrapping around my arm, iron at the origin and bronze the further along it went. Summoning the chain hidden within the rune, it came out to wrap around my arm, its bronze links speckled with iron. The progress meter had moved to 38% the way to Iron ranking.
“Chained By Fate” speaking the words aloud didn’t make the skill any more powerful, but it put me in a state of mind allowing much easier control as long as i only focused on the chain.
Channeling mana throughout it, the golden blade manifested at the end, compressing and condensing the mana imbued until it formed a sharp yet subtle blade end.
This was going to hurt an abyssal lot.
Willing the blade to carve into my shoulder, chosen for its easiness to hide, the rune began slowly taking form.
Blood flowed like a fountain down my arm, the process of Etching A Rune seemed to take more from the bodies vitality than a normal wound, something i’d need to research later. Intricate lines and circles o made up the [Vault Rune], requiring me to constantly double check the image shown by the system to make sure i performed it right.
The process in total took 3 hours, 3 painstaking, grueling hours of constant focus. By the end my nerves were frayed, exhausted by the constant channeling of mana and the continual source of pain from my shoulder. But it was all worth it when i saw that sweet, sweet system notification.
DING!
Rune Engraved: [Vault Rune]
Due to carving on your very own body, the storage space will be linked to your soul space. You may store up to 50 pounds of items within. 10 cards of [Bronze Rank] or 1 card of [Iron Rank]. storage capacity will increase with mana core ranking.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
By Etchjng the [Vault Rune] onto me, i know had an Inventory tab appear in my Status window, allowing me to store and retrieve items to my hands with a simple thought. deciding to experiment, i transferred a single [Fang Contract, Bronze] Card to my inventory, seeing to fill a slot labeled [Active Cards] and make a small indicator saying 1/10 slots filled.
The cards didn’t seem to add anything to my weight counter, meaning i could store 10 cards and then the 50 pounds of objects, allowing me to move all my belongings with ease at the moment. Deciding to put the most useful cards into my inventory and abandoning the rest in my cave, I continued the work i needed to win by guerrilla warfare.
Taking a block of wood from the nearby wood pile, i continued carving into it the various Imbued rune combination i had come to call the Elemental spike surprise, or ESS for short.
While the ESS was a good way to kill a scouting party without drawing attention to its mana signature. It was an extremely complicated process to etch into it without getting stabbed, elecrocuted, burned, and many other debuffs i had packed into each of them. The addition of the Dimensional affinity only complicated things further, requiring constant use of my [Rune Script] Skill to avoid mental fatigue.
The process of making an ESS was a tedious but worthwhile one, requiring me to carve as many Runes as possible into a small piece of wood. Using the [Spike Rune] as a base and then layering elemental runes to each instance of the former, allowing each spake to take on a different elemental aspect for maximum damage. To end the entire process i carved 1 [Kaboom Rune] and using [Rune Imbuement] to make the wood piece innately explosive, allowing the various elemental spikes to be shot like shrapnel into nearby enemies.
I had used the to lay traps or quickly damage scouting groups before finishing them off with my Chain Blade, but i was limited by the amount i could physically carry. The [Vault Rune] changed all of that. By allowing me to store up to 50 Pounds of items in my soul space, i could store 10 ESS at any given time, and that was without holding any in my pockets or hands.
Chuckling, i made as many ESS as i could store and decided to call it a night.
Heading outside the cave into nightfall, double checking the runes while i went, My magical senses tingled in the back of my mind, a sense i was still coming to terms with. Dimensional Phenomena.
Channeling Mana throughout my eyes, a technique i had come to call Mana Sight, i noticed the entire world had a slight Indigo shade. Was this tutorial an entirely separate World? Everything my magic senses showed me seemed to indicate yes, with all the markings of a stable reality visible and somehow understandable to me all at once.
looking into the forest, I saw a slight shimmer in the distance, Squinting, i could see what seemed to be a mass of Wind and Dimensional affinity barreling towards me. A dust cloud following in its path even as it seemed to simply ignore the trees in its way, phasing between them as if it was a hallucination. “What the-“ Before i could finish my sentence, 20 Small beams of compressed air fired from the mass of Gale Spirits, forcing me immediately into a defensive stance.
Dodging such attacks wasn’t difficult on its own, but if a Gale Spirit or, even worse, A Gale Shaman were to spot my location, things would turn ugly very fast.
Dashing forward, mana enhancement coursing through me as my physical capabilities skyrocketed at a hefty cost. I activated the Blade on my chain and had my formation card slash endlessly.
5 slashes
8
20
39
Only after the final Spriit turned into motes of elemental energy did i relax, while the fight wasn’t hard, i was still on edge from carving the [Vault Rune] Into me. Sending Mana Enhancement to my injuries, a few nicks and cuts from the Gale blasts, i stimulated growth similiar to how i remembered my old Formation Card would feel, the light golden glow coming from my wounds as the knitted themselves shut. “I need to experiment with this sensation, maybe i could make a healing rune?” The thought was good, but if it required more body carving then it might not be worth it when my mana enhancement could improve my healing rate already.
Sending the chain to wrap around a nearby branch, i pulled myself atop it to see the area surrounding my cave. Utilizing Mana sight to see for any other concentrations of Dimensional energy. from a high vantage point, my Mana Sight showed me the true wonders of the world, Small notes of mana of every affinity circles throughout the world, a part of everything, the slight indigo hue showing the Dimensional affinity.
What in the abyss… My jaw dropped to the floor as i saw what must’ve been the most concentrated and condensed orb of Mana i had ever seen, with the little amount of time i’d had Mana sight i had fought countless elementals, a horde of shamans and tamers, and Gustav himself many times. Nothing had the same intensity as the sphere.
why couldn’t i see it before? Probing further i realized that the entire orb was shrouded in Dimensional Affinity mana, and a boost from something, something my soul could barely recollect from the space between timelines.
The Power of Divinity.
That must be where the Spirits are! If they work under the Moderators then they themselves must have Divinity within them as well. It’s the only thing that makes sense!
But what could be there that would have both Spirits there? Sending my Chain forward and launching myself into the sky, I deactivated mana sight and found why the spirits had chosen to stay where they were. The Galefang Tribe.
“You have got to be kidding me!” I berated myself for not thinking of it sooner, Of course the Spirits would stay in the camp that they had influenced.
Falling back to earth, I willed the chain to wrap around a nearby tree branch, hanging taut once i latched on.
Enjoying the moment for a second, i quickly returned to the situation at hand. I needed a plan to get into the Galefang tribes camp.
I had many ways to do this, some a bit trickier than others. Mulling it over i narrowed it down to 4 effective choices.
- I could charge right in, kill everything in my sight and risk dying. This plan wasn’t one i seriously considered as a choice, but it served as a backup option.
- Kill enough of the scouting parties that the tribes defenses would lower enough for me to get in without as much resistance. Doing some quick mental math, I figured i’d killed roughly 57% of the population in this attempt. This option was much more possible, especially with my storage of ESS allowing me to wipe out a scouting party in a couple of minutes quickly.
- I used one of runes found within the book of combat rituals, specifically the [Rune of Disguise] to infiltrate the camp and kill Gustav while he was not focused, the only problem with this plan is the spirits, if they manage to detect me then things will go straight to the abyss. I’d need to make sure the Rune was perfect, and maybe even make a minor array with either the air or earth rune to be more similar to the goblin tribe.
- A mixture of Plans 2 and 3, removing enough of the goblins to allow me to impersonate one high enough ranking, Like a shaman or tamer, and get close to Gustav while the clans population was low. If i could assassinate Gustav before the spirits could find me in their vessels, whatever they may be. This was the plan i was leaning towards most heavily, with my current timelines abilities leaning towards ambushes and preparation instead of headlong charges.
Deciding on Plan 4, I began to make my way back to the cave, In my haste to see the world with a dimensionally enhanced Mana sight, i had forgotten to finish my armor piece.
The Crystal Tusk hide cloak had taken hours to get sufficient materials for, with every new attempt wiping all of my materials until i could turn it into an equippable item. This accursed system, making the laws of reality function and whatnot.
Putting together the final stitch and carving the stealth array i wanted it for, a mix of Stealth and Earth runes. It was time to try it out!
Donning my Crystal tusk hide cloak, The only bronze ranked item i had managed get the materials together for before goblins found me, and activated the Stealth and Earth Runes i had carved into it. Turning the cloak a deep brown and masking my presence, “Should i carve the [Rune of Dimensions] into it?” the question had been on my mind since i had learned the runes effect on other foundation runes.
Going back and forth, weighing the pros and cons. I decided to risk adding the rune to the array, it might lessen the effects of the Stealth rune but with the recent addition of my [Rune Imbuement] Skill i was able to imbue the effect into the whole cloak, lessening the risk of efficiency loss.
I etched the rune carefully into the lining, letting it spread through the cloak’s structure. The hide, harvested from a Crystal Tusk—a nasty, charging boar with tusks like cracked quartz—shimmered faintly as the rune sank in.
Then the system responded.
DING!
Crystal Tusk-hide Cloak – Updated —
Item Rank: Bronze
Runes Applied
[Stealth Rune] — Muffles scent, sound, and presence. Visible to the naked eye.
[Earth Rune] — Grounds mana signature. Blends user with terrain. Increases resistance to tremor-based detection.
[Rune of Dimensions] — Alters attached foundation runes. Dimensional masking effect applied to stealth layer.
Passive Effect Unlocked: Dimensional Sheath
— While cloaked, user becomes harder to detect by entities from other dimensions (e.g., spirits, phased beasts, soul-bound trackers).
— Slight interference with long-range magical tracking.
Material Bonus – Crystal Tusk Hide:
— Natural resistance to piercing. Slight mana reflection when struck by Earth affinity attacks.
It had worked, far better than i had ever hoped! I wanted to carve the Disguise Rune into it as well. But there wasn’t a point without the Skin, blood, bone, hair, or really any part of a creature so it could disguise me as them, deciding it would be better to carve that rune once i had successfully hunted more scout parties to thin the herd.
Setting out, it was time to get the Galefang tribe population down to 10%!
And with that mental declaration, my mana enhancing my body to the maximum without draining my reserves too badly, relying heavily on the [Mana Enhancement] Skill as it reached Bronze 8. I became into a blur as i dashed into the forest, prepared to wipe the enemy out.