Seal Scribing is the ultimate art. Our creations can help defend city walls, illuminate dark and dangerous mines, irrigate large fields of magical crops, prepare food, keep heat, noise, and insects at bay, and much more. So much more.

  The only limit is your imagination.

  — Excerpt from The Introduction to Seals

  Day 83, 5:00 PM

  Four years passed for me, around ten minutes for the good residents of Hailstown, who had no idea their townlord died again and again, learning how to forge various swords and plows and nails. But that wasn’t the limit of my work.

  I went outside the town, finding a nice stash of herbs growing under everyone’s noses in a nearby forest. The herbs I sold to the apothecary, who taught me a bit about her craft for four loops. Enough that I could make my own, non-magical medicine, and get some six levels out of it.

  And finally, there was seal scribing. The craft was creativity in a book, and while I would do everything in my power to learn on my own, I will need to go to an imperial city. Thunderbluff was the nearest, some five hundred miles away.

  So, with a plan in mind, I first procured a dozen stacks of paper, five bottles of ink, and half a dozen quills and brushes. Then I headed over to the library, and shut myself in the common books section, requisitioning a desk for my purposes.

  By morning, I was a level five seal scribe.

  “You are quite dedicated,” Ruby’s teacher mused behind me, nearly giving me a heart attack as I literally jumped out of my seat. “Where did you learn to scribe?”

  “I learned from the books and practice.” I told the truth, the man was a mageknight of no small realm, at least fifth, but quite possibly sixth. Assuming the books I read were true, which I really should under my circumstances, he could see any and all changes to my body and spot lies based on the irregularities.

  “There are no advanced books on the subject in this section of the library. While the runes you used are of the lowest tier, they should still remain well beyond your ability.” The man gazed at my work with cold, murderous eyes. “Who are you?”

  I gulped, not having to feign my fear.

  “I am Dandelion Blackfist.” I allocated my five points, one into charisma, hoping that the minor boost would help, while the rest went into composure. “I don’t really know who I was. But some three moons ago, my half-brother had a man poison me with mindburst poison, and it changed me profoundly. I remember nothing before waking up, drowning in a plate of soup.”

  I drew a deep breath, his glare not relenting in the slightest. “My servant, Hammer, whom I really need to reward handsomely, suggested the library as a safe refuge. He claimed that nobody would target me here. Since then, I have been staying in the library and reading books or going outside, trying to figure things out. Some of the books I read were on runes and seals, and I thought I’d give it a go.”

  I cleared my throat. “Does that answer satisfy you, lord chaplain?”

  “Are you of the Ghost Cult?” He spat the word in such a way I was greatly tempted to just say no, but Redo was red, and I was afraid he might kill me over a careless answer.

  “Pardon me, lord chaplain, but I don’t know what the Ghost Cult is. I would hazard my lack of knowledge means I am not of the Ghost Cult, but I cannot say for certain.”

  He was unconvinced, but I was still breathing. Hopefully, I was moving in the right direction, with Initial Persuasion and Amicable working in overdrive.

  “I’ve been watching your moves. Your mind is at the level of a third realm mage, and you are no mageknight. How is that?”

  I didn’t gulp, Ruby already asked a similar question once.

  “While I cannot say for sure, my guess is that the poison is behind the change. I have been reading on medicine, and poisons in different doses may have beneficial effects while medicine in large quantities can kill. This is only a guess, but it’s the best I can offer.”

  The man’s impaling gaze held me pinned, the pressure making me unable to move, but finally, it let up.

  “You are fortunate you have no demonic energies about you, or I would’ve obliterated you where you stand. Make sure not to do anything foolish. I’ll be watching you.” He turned around, leaving an afterimage as he left the room, moving at a speed my eye couldn’t track.

  It took all of my willpower and composure not to slump back into the chair. I sat down with dignity and gathered the papers, my mind racing.

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  What was the Ghost Cult, what were demonic energies? I had read the entire library, never catching a hint at those terms. What did they mean?

  I had to drop the subject. I had no information, and while Initial Logical Deduction helped me deduce stuff, I couldn’t outright divine the answer without a single fact, save for four random words.

  The only thing it did was tell me the Ghost Cult used demonic energies, which seemed kind of obvious. But there were other things to consider.

  How did the sudden development impact my future and my plans? First, I had grown complacent. I thought just because I was looping in the same place, I would be safe, but I wasn’t looping in the same place, or I was, but I sped up the process to an impossible degree right under the nose of someone powerful enough to take notice.

  I had to get out of Hailstown, but doing so would make me even more suspicious. No, I had to stay for a while. And do what?

  There were several things I had been delaying ever since learning I had the ability. Namely, I had done nothing with mana and my realm. It was a fine time to start, but if the librarian could sense me it could lead to unknown consequences, possible death while Redo was on cooldown.

  No, it wasn’t worth the risk. What I needed were several things, going somewhere nobody knew me, where being competent wouldn’t raise as much suspicion. But the place needed to be nearby.

  Hiding yourself was the easiest in a large environment, with lots of people passing by. The imperial city once more presented itself as an attractive option, but I couldn’t just leave like that.

  That meant I would have to get my second plan off the backburner - how to become a mageknight? I had read several books mentioning those who had managed to recover after their core shattered under strain. The process was dangerous, about nine in ten died, but odds could be fudged with enough experience or repetition.

  On the bright side, I found documented instances of knights rising to mageknights that way, on account of attempting their reawakening with higher quality cores. That meant hope existed for me, but the process was vague and full of unknowns, despite reading through the entire library.

  So, I decided to cheat. I focused all of my mind on a single question - how do I become a mageknight? It was probably more than Initial Reference Checker required, but I wanted it running at full throttle.

  I walked along the shelves in the common section, thinking of becoming a mageknight, but found only one book, which I picked up, and read once again. It was the Introduction to Realm Cores, and I wasted an hour reading the introductory book written thousands of years ago. I read the final word and closed the tome, still no closer to the answer.

  I missed it. It’s so well hidden I missed it even though I read the book twice.

  I once more focused on my desire and just flipped the pages, looking at them without seeing. Then my hand stopped on page ten. A line drew my unseeing gaze. The quality of the awakened core relates to the quality of the saurian core used in the awakening.

  I already knew that, but I hope that wasn’t the only clue it had. Otherwise, I would throw the book away, imperial punishment or not.

  I simply didn’t have the money to buy high quality saurian cores. Even a seventh realm one was worth more than the entirety of Hailstown.

  I kept skimming and once more stopped. The page was one hundred and sixty-five, where the author discussed the nature of human cores.

  Human realm cores remain intact inside a living host even if damaged or severed, but disintegrate into raw mana as soon as they leave it.

  I frowned at the line, not understanding how that had anything to do with my plight, when Initial Logical Deduction hit me on the nose. I needed to increase the quality of my own core as much as possible, then sever it while it was inside me and use it to awaken again.

  I almost dropped the book. That plan was absolutely insane. Mages’ bodies failed ninety-nine times out of a hundred when their core shattered. Knights fared somewhat better, with the survival rate around one in five, but it needed a special kind of crazy to awaken yourself with your old core.

  Fortunately for me, I was that kind of crazy.

  [Name - Dandelion Blackfist

  Class - seal scribe level 5

  Health 25/25, Strength - 25, Agility - 25, Physique - 25, Wisdom - 25, Intellect - 25, Willpower - 25, Presence - 21, Charisma - 25, Composure - 25

  Abilities - See Abilities for more information.

  Attribute points remaining - 0

  To level up, scribe a master tier seal.

  Statuses - none]

  [Abilities - Initial Appraisal, Initial Forest Ambush, Advanced Looting, Literate, Inferior Heartcore, Initial Mana Gathering, Initial Mana Circulation, Initial Black Fist Arts, Advanced Body Reinforcement, Master Rider, Initial Fast Reader, Initial Reference Checker, Expert Calligraphy, Initial Arithmetics, Initial Persuasion, Initial Photographic Memory, Initial Time Optimization, Initial Logical Deduction, Initial Steady Hand, Initial Eye For Detail, Initial Seal Deconstruction, Initial Seal Prototyping]

  [Anarchist Level 7

  Abilities - Rage, Redo, Blunt, Heavy Handed, Direct, Insightful, Precise, Amicable, Visionary, Godly ??, Gate Sealer ??, Vengeful ?, Grandmaster Rider ?

  To level up, force the authorities to impose justice upon a party they had previously ignored.]