Enough dust hung in the air that it muffled some of the screams. Giant claws jabbed out and snatched a beetle several feet away as it tried to flee. The flap of wings gave me a moment to roll into another shadowy space several feet away.
A Forger leaped to the edge of the topside with a challenging scream.
I ignored the dumbass as I tried to get my bearings, searching for the path to the safe house.
I scrambled to the path that led in that direction as a piercing shriek came from above. It took everything to not start screaming. Fear rippled through my body until it hit my Willpower. I shoved back and regained control of myself.
Still, I sprinted away from the area, keeping to every darkened spot I could. A few crumpled forms bled out along the path, but I didn’t dare stop.
Jetzo, one of the mercenaries, fought with a group of collared slaves. It was at least ten against one, yet Lenna’s warning rang in my mind. I couldn’t bring them with me, even if I freed them.
Two Azurafolk crumpled to the ground, and I picked up the pace.
The Forger’s eyes locked on me with a growl.
“Haloth, it’s here!” his voice echoed louder than the screams.
I fled.
It only took a few seconds to figure out where I needed to go, and I used everything I had to move faster. Nothing immediately followed, so I slowed down a little to leave less of a trail.
I sped past the turn I needed to make and quickly backtracked using more care. Two collars registered behind me, but I didn’t dare stop.
I touched the runes, and I dove inside before I could think too hard. My map cleared immediately. Yet, I stayed on the floor of the tunnel at the entrance, panting. If anything figured out how to follow me in here, I’d be able to make a stand, even if it was a weak one.
That was dumb. I’d been dumb.
After several moments, I pulled myself up into a sitting position and pulled out the communication stone. “At the safe house, sorry.”
At least the others would know where I was, even if they couldn’t reach me or get inside without my help. It took longer than I’d like for a reply to come.
“Figured, at the tower with the kids.”
They made it back to the other tower, which was good. Not good that they were stuck with the kids, who were brainwashed, but still safe at least.
I leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling.
“Well, I was dumb.” Letting out a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a moment.
The Stable Mana crystal in my internal inventory called my name, along with the crystal I’d gotten from the Aethlelians. It gave me plenty to experiment with, yet I needed to level my Rune skill only once more before I could combine the skills. If I did something to my crystal skill beforehand, it’d only take longer.
First things first. I opened my stat sheet. I only had 3 free stat points, so I left them where they were. They weren’t much in the grand picture.
Name: Alex
Level: 107
Race: Human
Traits: Survivability, Adaptation, Hangry
Class: Shadowstalker, level 107
Profession: Crystal Singer, level 78
Stats:
STR: 390(440)
QUICK: 970(1067)
FLEX: 955(1066)
TOUGH: 430(530)
INT: 911(1054)
FORT: 923(1066)
WILL: 460(534)
CHA: 275(293)
FREE: 3
Monstrosity: 9%
Titles & Achievements:
Jack-of-all-Trades
Lucky Stars
Giant Slayer
Songweaver
Citizen
Ahead of the Curve
The First
System Enforcer
Rogue Ascendant
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Skill: 10/10
Fortified Adaptation - II
Crystal Transcendence
Perceptive Analysis
Unwavering Hunter
Shadow Walking
Razer’s Embrace
Venomous Chomp - II
Tensile Claw Strike - II
Sovereign’s Call - V
Rune Scribing & Attunement - II
Runes:
Truth Sayer
The amount of progress I’d made was both staggering, and it felt like nothing. Everything around us was higher level, and ready to attack at any chance. Well, not the beasts, but anyone with the Forgers was a bit trigger-happy.
In the beginning, numbers going up felt like progress. Now, it didn’t feel like much. The 3 free stat points mocked me a little.
My profession lagging felt heavy at this point, but I was on the path to fix it. I finally knew what I needed to do.
“Practice Runes as much as possible,” I said to myself. “Find a way to increase my skill level before I leave this place.”
Internally, I made a goal. I would merge the two skills before I left here again.
“I need to be smart.” In an area where we were outclassed, we needed to think about things and use our advantages. Plus, it wasn’t like we were the front line assaulting the Fortress. The folks closer to ranking up would be doing that.
Finally, I forced myself to my feet and pulled out my carving tool. I needed to have another conversation with Hai to make sure I wasn’t going to add another dumb thing to my list.
#
“I didn’t expect to see you return so soon to try the Journeymen Challenge,” said Hai. His bright yellow eyes stared down at me.
“I wanted to make sure that the door at the top of this tower wasn’t your resting place. I wanted to poke at it, but I don’t want to be rude.” This probably wasn’t what the challenge area should be used for, but Noseen harped on not being rude.
“Why?”
“I need to find something like the quartz from the challenge, and I hoped it was a store room,” I added, really hoping it was a storeroom.
“No, why don’t you want to be rude? You could have just done it without telling me.” The eyes appeared bigger, like he had moved closer.
“Someone much older than me told me to always be smart, and not to be rude. Especially not to be rude to those who are much more powerful than I am. I’ve done my best to take that to heart, though some of my plans don’t feel the smartest.” I scratched the back of my head. Dust and dirt covered my skin, though at least my clothing was kept clean with the built in runes.
Hai hummed. “The upper level is a workshop, though the rune on the door might be beyond you.”
“The multiple layers are an interesting touch,” I said, thinking of it. “I’ll take my time studying it before attempting it. Even trying will help my understanding of more complex runes.”
“You can see the multiple layers?” he asked, again getting closer to me.
“Of course, can’t everyone?” I paused and stared up, slightly confused.
“No, no they cannot.” He faded away and then appeared next to the fire, back in the humanoid-scorpion form. “Part of me wishes to urge you to take the apprentice profession and see how far you can go. The other wants to see what you will become on the path you are on.”
His words felt familiar, like an echo of something from before.
“Start with the farthest rune you can see, and move closer with each test.” He nodded twice. “The quartz crystals are in the far right area. Keep focused.”
“I will!” Yet, even before I finished, he was gone and an archway appeared much like the apprentice challenge. The rune in the center was more complex, and part of me was tempted to try it. Yet, if I did, I knew I’d want to keep going, and losing multiple days wasn’t an option right now. Not with the Dark Night being tomorrow.
With a sigh, I purposely cracked the rune.
I appeared back in the hallway and got to work.
The rune on the door was more complex than I remembered, but it was only three layers deep. I focused on the third layer and found it to be similar to the rune on the door to get inside the safe area. The second rune didn’t make sense, and it somehow attached to the first rune.
For a while I traced the lines of each, getting a feel for what they meant.
The third was the password rune, to make sure you knew what you were doing. I think it required someone to be an apprentice or a journeyman. The second rune was the stick, while the first opened the door.
I’d passed the trial, but I didn’t have the profession. Still, I bet I could get it to open.
Using the carving tool, I touched the door and got to work.
Together, they asked a question, and I needed to answer it. “I passed the apprentice trial, and need to get inside the workshop.”
Energy sunk into the rune through the tool, and each glowed in order. Then the door snapped open.
My energy drained, and I slumped to one side before pulling on my energy crystal. Before my stomach could growl, I ate some Manee meat, while just looking inside.
Everything glowed behind runes. It made it difficult to even look too long.
The rightmost area had simple workbenches and bins of different materials. But even the bins had runes floating above them.
I leaned forward but caught myself. Part of me wanted to check out each area and rune, plus get them into my sketchbook.
Yet, Hai’s warning hung over me.
Stay focused.
All I needed was some quartz, then I’d do my experimenting downstairs. A light headache started behind my eyes as I stepped inside. I quickly cut off my sight of the energy web. The headache lingered as I hurried to the bins.
I tried to get more information on each material, but the first time I tried it failed.
Same with the second and third try. The fourth caused a notification to pop up.
[You have gained insight into Perceptive Analysis. Perceptive Analysis - II: Your connection to your clan's knowledge deepens with each being you devour. Your six senses work together when analyzing a creature, object, crystal, or rune, tracing the intricate web surrounding it. You can sense cloaking.]
This was not what I needed. Already my toughness had trouble keeping up with the lower leveled version. I stopped trying to use the skill to perceive the nature of the things in the room, and just used my eyes to look inside each barrel instead, looking for the quartz.
It wasn’t hard to find, but a rune blocked me from reaching inside.
This one took much longer to figure out, and when I did, I wanted to growl.
“The only way I can pay is with credits. How many credits are the smaller quartz?” I asked the rune, not expecting an answer.
[Each small quartz crystal is 500 credits. Would you like to purchase one?]
I closed my eyes with a sigh. At least I could use them for something. “Can I purchase 5?”
Five quartz crystals appeared on the workbench behind me. I snagged them with a hand then fled the room. The door closed behind me, and I slumped, trying to figure out why I was so flustered.
My shoulders almost touched my ears, and my hands were clenched around the stones. It took intentional effort to relax as I climbed down the spiral stairs.
“Not going in there again,” I muttered, as I entered the bunk room we’d used before. “Let’s see what I can do.”
The first thing I tried was the permanent light rune I’d used to pass the apprentice challenge. It took no time at all, and I pulled my crystal ring next to it and triggered it.
Both glowed, yet when I looked at them using my perception, I saw that they did similar but different things. Each pulled on the internal energy of the crystals, but the light crystal pulled a different type from the fire crystal, while the Rune pulled just the internal energy that was in everything from the quartz.
It clicked.
The crystal converted the natural energy into fire mana, and the spirit of the crystal used that to make light, while the rune did the work of converting natural energy into light directly. Both ran on the same mana, just different things did the conversion.
I nodded to myself and focused on the quartz. While the insight helped, I needed to level up my Runic skill. The easiest way to do that would be to create something with an overlapping rune.
Maybe I could bind the light source to only be used by myself.
It couldn’t be too hard, right?
