NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Runes!
The elders leaned in, their eyes gleaming with amusement as Damien Bloodbane and Maru took their seats.
With an exaggerated flourish, Riki tossed him a hat.
"Can't play without it," he said, smirking.
Damien Bloodbane caught it and examined the ridiculous thing.
It was identical to Maru's and Riki's—strange, pointed, and with a single sharp spike protruding outward.
Riki clapped his hands together and brought out a simple line drawing of a cat. "Alright! You both know the rules! Weave your mana into this cat symbol and use it to push the coffee sphere."
"First one to get splashed loses," another elder added.
"And no brute force." Riki continued. "This is about mana manipulative ability."
Maru cracked his knuckles. "Ready to wash my under garments for a month, brat?"
Damien Bloodbane's eyes gleamed. "Ready to take your money."
The elders cheered, placing last-minute bets.
Riki raised his hand. "Alright, match starts in three… two… one!"
Shua!
Both Damien Bloodbane and Maru released their mana at the same time.
The air hummed with power as two distinct flows of mana rushed out of their bodies.
Maru's mana moved like silk, smooth and flowing, spreading out in delicate threads that moved like a weaving loom. His energy was thin and strong.
Damien Bloodbane's mana, in contrast, crackled with intensity. It was sharper, more precise, each strand forming tight, controlled patterns as it snapped into place. Where Maru's mana slid and adapted, Damien's locked into shape, forming clean lines and sharp angles.
It was clear that Maru was much more experienced in weaving mana.
And faster.
His mana folded around itself, twisting into a perfect cat shape with just a flick of his wrist. His experience showed instantly, the outline of the cat forming with fluid grace, almost like a real feline curling its body mid-leap.
Meow…
A faint resonance echoed in Damien Bloodbane's mind.
His brain registered the sound, but he didn't let it distract him from the work at hand.
His fingers twitched, and his mana responded instantly by folding inward as he rapidly constructed his own cat symbol. His weaving was tighter, sharper, the mana lines interlocking like puzzle pieces.
Meow!
The resonance grew louder.
Damien Bloodbane's eyes narrowed.
That sound… wasn't normal.
His mana flashed, reinforcing his symbol, making the cat's tail curve perfectly, its paws shaped with precision.
Shua!
Maru's cat symbol shot out ahead towards the coffee sphere, a full second ahead of Damien Bloodbane's.
As soon as it did so, Maru had already started weaving his second cat symbol.
The race was on!
The sphere of coffee pulsed, reacting to their energy. It jerked toward Damien Bloodbane, moving faster than expected.
Damien Bloodbane's eyes flashed, and his own cat symbol slammed into the coffee with startling force, causing it to ripple mightily.
"Whoaa! Gently there! If you burst the coffee sphere midair, it will be counted as your loss!" Riki shouted worriedly.
As crazy as it sounded, he had placed a bet on Damien Bloodbane!
He was too pissed off by Maru to put a bet on that old fart.
"Hahaha! Riki, don't worry. I'll take good care of your mana crystal. There's this special little trinket I've set my eyes on for a long time. I'll use your mana crystal to trade for it later! Haha!" A white bearded old fart exclaimed happily.
Whoosh!
The coffee sphere stabilized and halted midair, struggling between the two forces.
The mana twisted as both players formed the intricate cat-shaped patterns in an attempt to take control of the sphere.
Damien Bloodbane was finally getting the hang of it and started to increase his speed.
One after the other, crisp and flawless cat symbols shot out of his hands to smash into the coffee sphere.
The coffee sphere moved toward Maru.
The elders whistled, murmuring among themselves.
"Not bad, not bad!"
"You're good, kid." Maru grinned, unfazed. "But you're a hundred years too early to even think of taking my money. Try this!"
Maru shifted tactics.
Instead of creating more powerful cat symbols, Maru thinned his mana threads instead, making them nearly invisible.
But instead of weaving one cat symbol at a time, he started weaving two.
Each of his hands was weaving one cat symbol!
The group of old men couldn't help but murmur in approval.
"Damn you Maru! Have you got no shame? How can you use your full power and dual cast against a little boy like him? Shameless bastard!" Riki roared angrily.
"Hahahaha!" Maru roared with laughter. "Full power? I am barely using 75% of my power!"
Clearly, even dual casting was not a big deal for him.
Damien Bloodbane's eyes narrowed.
Maru's mana manipulation was so clean, so efficient.
It wasn't about power. It was about subtlety.
Damien Bloodbane adjusted his weaving, thinning his mana threads as well to match Maru's fluid control.
At the same time, he also began dual casting.
The crowd of old men hooted and whistled in appreciation.
"Excellent! Excellent!" Riki's praise was the loudest. "You're a good kid. You're a very good kid! Beat that bearded santa claus for me!"
The coffee sphere wavered in the center, stuck in a perfect balance.
Sweat formed on Damien Bloodbane's brow.
This was closer than he expected.
As Damien Bloodbane focused, something strange happened.
His mana twitched, reacting in an unfamiliar way.
For a brief moment, he sensed something inside the cat symbol.
A presence.
Not just mana. Not just an illusion.
It was as though the symbol was… alive.
His heart pounded as he tried to understand.
The cat symbol wasn't just a random shape.
"It is a rune." Damien Bloodbane's mind shook with his discovery.
The elders thought it was just for fun, just a requirement of the game. They had no idea what they were actually doing.
But Damien Bloodbane felt it.
The shape of the mana itself mattered. The way it twisted and flowed changed its nature.
And in this case, the cat rune had created the presence of a cat.
It was incomplete, due to the oversimplification of the rune.
But the seeds were there.
It was an actual spirit.