“Well…” Shelby starts clearly excited. “Do you remember when I discovered the meaning of that new rune?”
“I got this honey.” Cheyeene says to Graham. Turning back to her favorite Elder she says, “Do you mean the rune, that after days of study, millions of dollars in material costs and another few days of headaches.” She grabs the metal plate on the table and presses a button only for the light to move left. “Was capable of moving a light to the left.” Shelby nodded and was about to speak again only for Cheyeene to continue. “You then sent out a report. This went to the entirety of the valley, that you needed everyone from the maids to the other elders to search the entire library for more runes.” About to speak again Cheyeene cuts her off and continues. “Then you decided that the five hundred people in our valley wasn’t enough so you sent another report out to our vassal families and requested that the 8,500 members come help.” Looking at Shelby seriously Cheyeene waits for her to respond.
Shamelessly Shelby speaks up with a nod. “Yes.” Graham visibly looks frustrated and Micah tilts his head up reminiscing. Cheyeene laughs; the situation was annoying but it was mostly her husband’s problem. Also, they are rich and have far more than that put away to help their crafters develop. Owning a dungeon is a very lucrative endeavor. She then asks her to continue.
“I don’t think you understand the importance of what I wrote. In my testing I found that it requires a significant amount of focus and energy to create. This was against our clan’s rune that does the same thing. But it preformed the same motion with 50% more efficiency and power!” Shelby says getting excited.
“We understood why you did that Shelby.” Graham says with a gruff tone. “That is why we allowed your search to continue. But why are we here now.”
“Well. What does that rune mean to you?” Shelby asks while pointing at the rune.
Graham looks at it and just shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Exactly!” Shelby says. “Now Helo what does it mean to you.”
Looking at everyone Helo speaks the word. “Dre’da”
As he says that word everyone looks at him with some surprise. While the word didn’t do anything in particular when he just spoke it. That word had some meaning behind it. Like a metaphysical weight that gave the word meaning.
“What was that?” Allie says while studying Helo’s face.
“So, you know that word?” Graham says while still appearing to be shocked.
“Yes. It is my native tongue. The person who helped raise me Ms. Accleas said it was the first language of my people. From what I understood it is spoken by my family still.” Helo says looking at Allie. She is holding his hand now. Looking over to Hinata she also speaks up.
“If that is the langue spoken by your family, do you know the written language as well. Does it have anything to do with the runes?” She picks up the plate and looks at it.
“Actually, that is something I have been curious about. It is even something I wrote down to look into. Many of the runes I have seen around look familiar to me. While some don’t look familiar at all.” Helo replies to Hinata.
Speaking up Anthony says. “That probably has to do with the fact that there is no one complete runic language. At least that we know of here. The one that we have can trace itself back to multiple sources. From what it seems your language being one of them.”
“Ah. That is something…” Helo isn’t sure what to say or how to feel at this point.
“That means that you might be one of the only people on this world to have a mostly complete runic language!” Shelby says excitedly. “You will be my apprentice!” She says looking at the adults and daring them to say no.
“You won’t hear us complain Shelby. You’re the best enchanter we have.” Cheyeene looks at her and points around.
“So. What does this mean?” Micah asks slowly.
Graham speaks up now. “This is another one of those things that we will never speak about. Similar to Helo’s insane leveling requirement, or his crazy bloodline, or the fact that he can’t use mana. Damn looking over all that, I wonder whose kid you are. Do you know?”
“Wait! He can’t use Mana!” Shelby yells.
Patting her back and shaking her head Anthony comforts here. “Yes, dear that was like so yesterday’s news. Like literally.”
“I don’t know my parents only Ms. Accleas. But from what I remember she also know the Ser’Pri’Shafa lanquage.” Helo stops and stares at his hands. “That I should have expected.”
“Um but they gave me this.” Helo says while holding up his necklace. Everyone looks at it and tries to identify it.
“I can’t see a thing. Identify doesn’t even try to do give me anything.” Anthony speaks up. Looking around he sees that everyone says the same thing.
“Magical perception doesn’t see anything either.” Shelby says half way reaching out to touch it.
“Yeah, it is called ‘A mother’s first gift, a father’s first lesson.’ From what I can tell, some kind of deity made it and soul bound it to me.” Helo says not totally comfortable talking about it.
“That would be like getting a personal gift from our bloodline patron.” Micah speaks up in awe. “Does it do anything?”
“Actually, it should have awakened with my class. I haven’t looked yet.” Helo says and is about to look.
“Wait Helo.” Graham calls out. “Do that at home. Your first dungeon run is in a week. The next day Helo has his special training. Everyone has had busy days. If you learn anything important tell us Shelby. We can claim we found another book. So lets all call it here.”
Saying goodnight Helo promises to go and meet with Shelby and Anthony at the same time he did today.
Walking back home everyone is pretty quiet until Helo speaks up. “So it looks like I know what profession I am going to do.”
“Haha yeah if you tried to say no Elder Shelby would have thrown a fit.” Allie says with a laugh.
“Yes she seems quite excited to get started tomorrow.” Hinata adds and hums to herself.
Walking in silence again they all get back home. Everyone else is already getting ready for bed. Having missed dinner Helo grabs a bit of food before heading up to his room. Walking up the stairs he turns to see both Hinata, Allie and Lelai on the couches facing a giant movie screen. “Come sit.” Allie says pointing to the spot between them.
Sitting down and getting comfortable Helo looks at all three girls then at the screen. As Allie is scrolling Hinata asks if he has looked at his necklace yet. Responding that he has not Helo takes it off his neck. Holding it up he looks at it and uses ‘Identify’.
A mother’s first gift, a father’s first lesson. (Mythic/Hidden) (Rare/Shown)
This is a fang made from a divine being and soul bound to you.
It is enchanted to by another divine being and will awaken when you are ready.
- Hide’s its nature from others. Only another divine being will be able to read this item’s full status.
- Soul Bound: This item will always find its way back to you as it shares your soul.
Tier 1 Awakening:
- Spatial Storage: 10m^3, stasis
- Tier 1 Compendium of Knowledge.
- +5% to all stat efficacies.
Tier 2 awakening: (???)
(???)
“Woah.” Helo says as an index appears in his mind. He can see information on all kinds of different topics. But the main one seems to be about enchanting. There is a list of what Helo assumes is every single tier one rune that his father knows. There are also notes on magic and energy, how to fight using a multitude of weapon, and even how to start awakening his bloodline fully.
Both girls are waiting for him to speak up. Hinata seems to be patiently waiting even if she isn’t. Allie on the other hand is about to burst.
“It has a spatial storage.” Helo says. Not really sure how to use it he tries putting his shirt inside and it disappears. Hearing a squeak, he looks to see a blushing Allie. “Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Well, I did. But I didn’t know it would actually work!” Helo says in a rush. Looking at his necklace he sees red feather and his shirt. Willing the shirt out he is going to put it on but to his surprise Hinata reaches out and takes it.
“It is fine Helo-Kun. You should get comfortable.” She says while tossing him a blanket.
“Ah. Okay.” He looks back in and pulls out the feather. It is warm in his head and he uses identify.
Pheonix Feather (Ancient)
A feather from a Pheonix.
Filled with vitality.
Everyone stares at it in awe and Helo puts it back. “They must have given it to me for a reason” Helo gets comfortable and pulls Lelai into his lap. Petting the sleepy fox Helo speaks up. “It is also filled with a bunch of knowledge. It seems like my father’s knowledge and notes on crafting. Plus, a bunch of other things like fighting.” Helo tells them but he is not really sure if he should.
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“Mhmmm” Hinata hums and nods her head.
“I think Shelby is going to love that!” Allie says to them both.
“No.” Hinata speaks up. “Don’t tell her. If she needs a rune for something important and you know of one, give it to her. Otherwise, knowledge like that is meant to be passed to family. My father wouldn’t give something like that to anyone other than me. Your father is the same. The clan library is filled with knowledge but it isn’t the most important things. So, help if you have a way to. But, otherwise tell nobody.”
Nodding along Allie agrees with Hinata. “Yeah, I guess just giving it all to Shelby would bring everyone else begging for answers. It would bring a lot of bad attention to you.”
“Okay. But ill still help you both. I’ll look through it for anything on being a seamstress, Allie. I already know it has a lot of stuff for alchemy.” With smiles both girls lean back to watch the movie they chose. Having zero interest Helo slips into a meditation and focuses on his necklace. As he sits there, he reads up the basics of enchanting. From what he can tell there are multiple languages of runes. Thankfully they are all sorted. Going to the Ser’Pri’Shafa sections he sees what is basically a dictionary for his mother tongue. Then he goes to the other sections and finds out how to search. Looking for lighting runes there are over seven hundred of them.
Going back Helo starts looking through catalysts and sees many ways to enchant. Most common is etching the enchantment into your item. Then using catalysts to fuel and strengthen it. There are also ways to enchant using liquid or even enchanting on the inside. The final technique in the list is a way to enchant the spirit of an object. This requires advanced materials and uses the power of the material to enchant its metaphysical weight. It would be like a powerful dwarf smithing with a hammer made from the body of a fire golem. Then after many years it gains the ability to combust with each strike.
From what Helo saw in Shelbys work room the enchanting that they have here uses etching and catalysts. They string words together to make an enchantment and create an array that links the entire item with that you want. This array is filled with symbols that help the runes have the outcome you desire. It is like drawing a ritual into an object and making in permanent.
Everything he has read makes him think it will be incredibly difficult. What he saw when Allie used ‘Runic Conjuration’ made him think that it would be easy. But it is not the case. Allie uses her own mana control and the skill itself to make that work. Her skill also goes in a row using a rune to make fire, then one to condense it into a ball, then another to fire it. That entire time it is held stead by her mana control and skill. With enchanting all of that has to happen within the array itself.
Helo would have to use a gathering rune, then storage, then a rune for activation, then a rune to designate where the fire should appear and so on. That entire time there has to be an array of symbols that help coordinate and manipulate the mana.
“Haaaa” Helo sighs coming back to his sense. Feeling something on his shoulders Helo looks and sees bother girls sleeping on his arms. A little surprised Helo slowly moves them both. “Ha. All three girls are asleep.” Quietly he carries Lelai to bed. Then grabbing Hinata he does the same. Before grabbing Allie and taking her to… Hinata’s room. Looking around he sees very obvious Japanese style clothing. Laying Allie down he checks on Hinata and sees a massive hammer in the corner.
“Well Damn.” It is to late now he says with a shrug and goes to bed.
The next morning Helo gets up and he can hear Allie and Hinata talking about how they slept in the wrong bed. Getting himself and Lelai ready for the day he finds a multitude of scarves on Lelai’s bed. All of the scarves have the same rose pattern that his clothes do. They also have a mark on the inside that is the insignia on Helo’s system gear. “Awh, that is really sweet.” Helo says to himself.
“You’re welcome!” Allie replies from the door way. She is wearing a purple crop top today that shows off her toned stomach. She has a massive smile on her face. “We also wanted to show you this.” She says while entering with Hinata. Hinata has sport clothes on that outline her bust while wearing leggings. Hinata is holding out a leather bag that looks like something a 5th century human would store their coins. It is dyed dark green and has a nice silver strap. The tips of the strap have a wolf on one side and a fox on the other. It also has the logo on it. There are three foxes. One of them is colored in and the others look kind of wispy. Behind the fox is a massive golden tree. “This is my family’s symbol.” Hinata says. Moving closer to Helo. Turning the bag, the other side has a wolf that is glowing silver like the moon. Behind the wolf is an array circle.
“And this is my family’s symbol. Also, this a storage pouch. This is for you. Honestly…” Allie is scratching her cheek. “We forgot to give them to you all.” She pulls out a small box with similar bags in them. These one’s are similar colors but there are no symbols.
Looking at the bag Helo is a little surprised. This bag feels quite personal. He knows about their bloodline and carrying something that holds both of their clan symbols feels important.
“Is it okay to give me this?” Helo asks while looks at them. But girls smile and say its fine.
“We have known that we were going to ask you into our party for a while. You saved us Helo-Kun and we never forgot.” Hinata says this while reaching over and grabbing his arm. Afterward she moves toward his door. “At breakfast we will pass these out. But we also came here for a reason.”
Allie tosses Helo another bag. “This is for Lelai. She is smart enough to know what it is and she can just ask you to hold things for her.” Allie says this with a smile.
Lelai does in fact know what is going on. The little fox is getting quite smart. Looking at Helo she yips and nudges her clothes. Yipping again. “Really? We would but this stuff in a drawer.” Helo says while pointing at a drawer. Yipping again she takes off two and sets them aside, then she yips at him and points toward the drawers. Choosing a bottom drawer that is perfect for her, she nudges it open. The girls laugh as they watch Lelai boss Helo around.
Finally grabbing the last two and putting the silver and red one on her, he places the second one in the bag. Looking at the bag in his hand Helo wills it away. Looking into his necklace he sees the bag next to his feather. With a nod he looks at the girls with a smile.
“That is actually something we wanted to talk about.” Hinata says while standing in the doorway. She points at his chest.
“The truth is Helo. This world isn’t as advanced as it seems in the compound.” Allie starts saying.
“You see… the integration can get very violent. A lot of worlds civilizations are wiped clean by monsters and beasts. The world becomes a place to hunt and explore. A lot of people are going to die when the integration starts even though this world is important.” Hinata adds.
“Yeah. This world, from what I understand is in a prime location between multiple factions and uncharted territory. It will be a great location to have a trading hub and host expeditions to find new worlds. The ways all the dimensions interact and overlap is weird. But something about where this world is makes it a great place.” Allie speaks while sitting down.
“I see. But what does that have to do with my necklace.” Helo asks.
Hinata answers him. “The max people can reach right now is tier 3. A lot of the enchantments that go into our systems and defenses are much higher tier. That makes this place a safe haven. But it also makes it a target. Destroying the artifacts that we came here with, will basically make you lose your position to inherit earth. A lot of these things were sent here with us. The tablets are limited in number, the dungeon core and its crystals are invaluable, the servers that connect everything needs tier 7 ruins. They are basically magic quantum computers. That is something that we have been working on, duplicating earths tech. But the truth is magic is far more temperamental than electricity.”
“Your necklace is another thing. You already know it is special. You said it was made by a divine tier being. Right now, it appears like a basic item. But if someone sees you use it, they will want it and kill you for it. These bags work by condensing and then trapping space somehow. I don’t know how it works. But these bags can’t hold anything with a lot of energy or other spatial items. They are also easier to break and steal from. Yours works by somehow creating its own dimension. That means to break your necklace you have to at least be able to collapse its dimension. But it was made by a divine being and he probably reinforced it. That can’t be made here.” Hinata finishes and turns around.
“Yeah, just be careful. The only people that have spatial items like that are clan heads, select elders and maybe their favorite heir.” They both walk down stairs and tell him to come eat.
Heading down stairs Helo gets some food. Sitting at the table between the girls with their back to the wall they are all eating and talking. Lelai is sitting on the table and munching on her own plate. Everyone else starts trickling in and sit on the other side or the end. Finishing their food Allie and Hinata sit back and the table and take turns petting the fox with a food coma.
Helo sees Kenneth glare at Lelai with a sneer. Hitting him with his aura the only person that can feel it is Kenneth. Flinching he makes eye contact with Helo and sees slitted red eyes staring at him. Pushing back Kenneth feels like he is being hunted. Once Helo retracts his aura Kenneth just gets more upset and decides that he is going to get rid of Helo.
“So, everyone. First off, we have gifts!” Allie yells and starts tossing out spatial bags.
Everyone gets one but Helo and Kenneth make a comment about it. “So where is the little boy’s bag. Did he not deserve one.”
Looking at Kenneth like he is an idiot Hinata says. “Helo-kun already got his upstairs Kenneth-San.” She says to him and pats Helo’s hip. Seeing this Kenneth just sneers.
“Ahhh. Yeah.” Allie looks at Hinata for a moment before moving on. “Now some things to know. While the bag is tier 3 it is not indestructible. There is also a recall enchantment on the strap. If you push mana into it you can think of anything inside the bag and it will be on the top. It won’t hold another bag or anything with a lot of energy. They will make the bag fall apart. There is about 10 feet in diameter of space. I think that is it.”
Standing up Helo waves everyone back down. It takes looks from Allie and Hinata for Kenneth to stay seated. Walking behind the two girls Helo starts talking to everyone. “We all should trying to have breakfast together. Today was a great example, I know that Aiko goes out of her way to make great food for us.” Aiko is blushing and looks proud. “Now at 9 o’clock I would like all of us to start a morning session of practice together. To start we will meditate for 30 minutes. In this time look inward and watch how your energy flows, activate skills or trying to manipulate your mana.” Seeing everyone is still listening Helo continues.
“After meditation we will work on skills. Everyone is going to meet with myself and Luna to go over the intricacies of your skills and how you want them to evolve. Then we will try to find out the best way to get you there.” With a nod Helo keeps taking. “After thirty minutes of skill work, we will spar. This will not be full speed sparing. But will focus on technique and integrating our skills. After that at 10:30 to 11:00 we will break. At this time, you can do whatever you want. Then we will have Aiko’s great lunch. By 2 o’clock everyone should be back and we will do full contact sparring for another two hours. After four everyone is free to do as they please. Don’t forget to work on your hobbies or professions. Also, next week on Monday and Wednesday we have dungeon slots. We start after breakfast and should be gone until after dinner. We are starting on the 19th floor.”
“Now one last thing. Luna, can you order the clan tablets for each of us. These tablets can access the clan’s data bases. This is a great resource to grow your skills, magic, etc. That is all.” Helo says this and looks at Allie and Hinata. He hopes that he did well. He isn’t used to things like this. But he read the papers given to him by Graham and this was his recommendation.
“That was great Helo!” Allie said while pulling Helo outside. Getting outside they sat down in the grass and started meditation.
Focusing on activating his skills Helo tries to find out the best way to push them to grow. Deciding the start with ‘Quick Step’ Helo tries manipulating the skill to go to both legs together. He doesn’t have much luck but he can see that his effort is working.
Finishing the meditation Helo remembers that his necklace has tips. Deciding to look later Helo starts the technique work. Stopping continuously to look in his necklace he finds a knife fighting technique that focuses on wounding and crippling. It is a vicious style and is filled with how to move and parry. Practicing the style Helo is focusing on the four initial movements. They are designed to either be a slash or a stab depending on how your opponent reacts. Each technique focuses on a single limb. It is essentially broken into High-right/left and Low-right/left.
With this Helo went through his day. Nothing of note happened until Helo he was walking to see Shelby at 4:15 after a shower. On the walk over he started looking in this archive for a tip on modifying ‘Quick Step’. Finding a tip on stamina-based movement skills he read “unlike mana, stamina cycles through blood or comes from cells, it doesn’t want to leave the body, to start focus on creating your own cycle.”.
With a stop Helo realized that he should have seen it sooner. It is basically replicating the technique of his gear. With about three more miles to walk Helo tries it out. On his first try he can’t grasp the energy quick enough to do anything. But watching the skill activate he sees how it travels in his veins and builds up energy. Trying to build up energy Helo can feel a tiny amount start to move.
Attempting a cycle Helo slowly manipulates a section to create a loop and he feels that the energy within a loop is much easier to control. It is breaking the energy out of its pathway and making it freer. Like a direct electrical current verse an alternating current or like a highway and cloverleaf intersection. So, he needs to create his own off ramp, he can’t stop the flow of his energy but he can direct it. Then once it is free from its natural flow he can control it.
Trying again Helo creates a loop first then activates the skill early. The skill follows the loop and absorbs the free energy inside of it. Taking a step with his right foot, the energy combusts within his muscles launching him forward far more aggressively than usual. Landing on his left he tries to plant his right foot only for it to send a wave of pain up his leg. “Awe. Shit. I definitely pulled something.”
Sitting down with a wince of pain Helo smiles to himself. “I did it”