The Runic Artist

Nate woke up with a pained groan. His head was killing him. Rolling over he found that he was not alone in his bed. Whoever she was, she was facedown in one of his pillows, loudly snoring, framed by her curly red hair. Looking around his suite blearily he spotted his easel nearby, a canvas sitting on it with a few lines indicating the start of a sketch.

“Frick?” he called mentally, wincing as he did so.

“Yes, Boss?” said his Familiar, floating down through the roof.

“Who is that?” he asked, indicating the woman in his bed.

“That’s Florence. She came home with you last night from the brothel,” Frick replied with a toothy grin.

“Come again?” he asked, very uncertain he’d just heard correctly. “What brothel?”

“Was a crazy night, Boss man. Started out pretty tame, but then Luc got you all involved in a drinking game. Then you guys were off hitting the town. You somehow got an idea to check out this place called the Den of Desire. The ladies there absolutely loved the lot of you,” Frick explained with unconcealed glee.

He put his head in his hands. “So I paid this woman to come back here?”

Frick cackled, “What? No. Boss, you’re the smoothest guy I have ever met. Even Luc said so. What was the line you used again…it was something like, ‘You’re so beautiful that it would be a crime not to paint you’. Anyway, she loved it. I think you even did try to paint her.”

They both looked at the easel and the barely started painting resting on it.

“Well, fuck. I don’t know what to do in this situation,” he whispered.

Florence chose that moment to roll over and look at him, smiling flirtatiously, “You could still paint me.”

He didn’t have to think about the request for long. She really was beautiful and he did love to paint.

“Frick, can you go downstairs and get me a coffee and check on Kiri. I mean check on her. As in knock on her door. Not bust in on her. If she complains about it you’re going into the contract for the day,” he ordered as he walked over to the canvas. What could he say? A beautiful woman was naked in his bed and had asked him to paint her. It would be rude to say no.

*************

Walking towards the training ground he had an extra bounce in his step. That was despite the crowd of people in the compound all drifting along in the same direction. He didn’t remember anything from last night but he definitely remembered his morning. The painting hadn’t taken him long and Florence had loved it. He’d promised to have it delivered to the Den of Desire for her after the paint finished drying. That was only half of the reason for his bounce though. The other half was the six Orbs he’d found in his spatial storage. All Uncommon. All for his Magic Power Stat. Luc had made good on their deal and he hadn’t waited to absorb the orbs. His Magic Power was now ninety seven, flirting with a hundred. It easily broke a hundred and sixty with his Empowered Runic Artistry. He may not be an actual Mage, but for this Tournament he sure as hell was going to fight like one.

Kiri was a step in front of him, and unless he was mistaken she had her own bounce.

“So you remember nothing?” she asked, glancing back as she deftly avoided getting jostled by the crowds.

“Nothing. It’s a total blank from when we left the Guild till when I woke up this morning. I must’ve gotten really drunk really fast if I didn’t try to balance it out with a little Life Drain. What about you?” he replied, glancing at her curiously.

“Oh, I remember most of it,” she replied slyly. “I didn’t see you leave but Luc shadowed you home before returning. He called you a lightweight by the way. But I also think I saw him go upstairs with three women at the Den. Your teacher is a lot crazier than you let on.”

“By the Wanderer, seriously? Three? What do you even do with that many women?” he paused, realising his mistake. “Don’t. Don’t answer that. I do not want to know.”

“You sure? I could give you instructions. Maybe you could write them down, you know, in case you forget? So, the best place to touch a…” she was saying, clearly holding in her laughter.

He sighed and tried not to laugh as Kiri continued to go into more and more excruciating detail, laughing at his awkwardness the whole time. He knew better than to let her rile him up while he alternated between blushing at some of her more lurid suggestions and laughing at the jokes she threw in.

Kiri only stopped her detailed instructions as they entered the Guildhouse, finding Aisling, Evindal and Deverell waiting for them. The crowds were giving the tall woman a wide berth. He didn’t blame them. Even after spending so long around her, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that the air near her was electrified. It was actually interesting he never felt the same from Luc or Evindal. Maybe it was a Skill of Aisling’s and not just a matter of her level? His train of thought was broken as Aisling glanced at him.

“Thank you, Nate. For the trust and for not asking Evi for more. I appreciate it, even if I would’ve liked a little warning so that I wasn’t beside myself with worry, ” said Aisling, her facial expression soft, before it hardened a moment later. “I hear you had an…interesting…night. Right before the Tournament started? Please take this seriously.”

“They’re only young once, dearest. Try not to give them too hard of a time. Besides, I can heal them up so they’re ready to compete today,” Evindal interjected. “And I am as much to blame as Nate for not warning you.”

“Sorry, about not warning you and about last night,” he said. “It was just supposed to be a little celebration, but it sounds like we got a bit out of hand.”

“I suppose I should have given you a little warning about Luc’s idea of a celebration. You are not the first to fall prey to his antics,” supplied Aisling with a pointed glance at her husband.

Evindal laughed awkwardly for a moment before reassuring his wife. “And it will never happen again, my love. Don’t worry about the kids either. They’ll be ready for their fights today. I’ll make sure of it.” Evindal finished by patting his wife on the back in what Nate suspected was an attempt to placate her.

Aisling motioned to them and they fell in behind her, heading through the Guildhouse in the direction of the training fields. Coming out of the Guildhouse, he could see the fields remained the same, divided into four, but their surroundings had been transformed. On their previous visits, there had either been minimal seating or no seating at all, depending on the field. Now there were earthen bulwarks expertly sculpted to turn the entire area into an amphitheatre. Or a mini-colosseum, he supposed. There was no shade from the sun on the twenty levels of seating, but he supposed that was probably less important with the raised stats even the Commoners possessed. He certainly wasn’t going to care in his temperature controlled robe.

In the centre of the arena was a raised stage on which sat three people. The Prefects of the Etrua branch of the Adventurer’s Guild. The first looked the same as the first time Nate had met him. Prefect Raoult wore green this time, but with his bald head shining in the sun and loose nature of clothes, he looked like a pirate. Next to him, wearing a frosty expression was a blonde woman that was certain to be Coralie’s mother, Prefect Allais. He kept an eye on her for a moment, seeing as how she was the woman that had put Hamish up to trying to hurt him in his Silver assessment. Not that that asshole sounded like he needed a lot of encouragement. It was a good reminder about what Aisling had said to Kiri and himself on the way to the Capital. While the Guild was united against the Nobles, everyone had their own angles, their own desires, their own goals.

Fortunately for him, for now, his goals were relatively straightforward. Make top eight, get into the Royal University, keep painting, work towards changing his current embodiment before he hit level sixty. Easy, right? He snorted at the thought which garnered him a glance from both Kiri and Aisling. Deverell and Evindal ignored him as they made their way to some seats that had them near the edge of what had previously been training ground three and four.

He returned his eyes to the raised stage and noticed the final Prefect looked asleep. He was thin, based on his legs, but that was all Nate could really tell since he was reclining in his chair, with a wide brimmed hat over his face. He wracked his memory for a name but realised that Aisling and Deverell had never mentioned it.

The hum of the crowd as they chattered in the background made talking difficult without raising his voice so he settled into his seat wedged between Kiri and Aisling. Deverell sat on Kiri’s other side and Nate was noticing with Awareness of the Runic Artist that the Dagger Dancer was constantly keeping an eye on their surroundings, even now. Evindal sat down on the other side of Aisling and they settled in to wait.

Frick was hiding in the Familiar Contract. They’d agreed that he should be one of Nate’s hidden aces. A few people had seen the Familiar but he doubted most would know just how extensively the Spirit could assist him. Most Mages had Skills for improving their spells and stats, with perhaps the occasional Skill that was basically an optimised spell. Evindal’s A Time to Flourish was an example of the latter. It sounded like most Familiar's, especially at his level, couldn’t cast spells. Frick suffered from that problem too. However, he had no issue activating runes. There was no spellform required. It was all Skill based, which meant Frick could do almost everything he could, so long as he had prepared the appropriate runes.

“Any last minute thoughts, Frick?” he mentally sent to his Familiar.

“That was a totally different brothel experience for me,” Frick replied.

Nate sighed. “Anything relevant to the Tournament?”

“Nah, Boss. Kick some ass and take some names. Let me know when I can come out and go goblin-mode,” said Frick, snickering afterwards.

Nate rolled his eyes and went back to watching the crowds as the stands filled. The crowds weren’t as big as some back on Earth but he was sure there were at least five thousand people already sitting with room to fit another five thousand. It might’ve seemed like a smaller crowd, given the size of the city, but he supposed that many of these people weren’t from the Guild and had likely had to pay for entry.

The poorer quarters of the city likely couldn’t afford the fee and so the crowds were filled with merchants looking for opportunities, or just entertainment. The skilled labourers were likely just here for entertainment. He’d sensed bakers, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, builders, chefs and everything in between. The final ones were the few individuals that his Awareness of the Runic Artist failed to penetrate past their skin. He felt he could force the issue, and likely win, but he held off remembering how Coralie had been able to sense when he did so. Evindal was a weirder case. He’d noticed the skill without Nate even making an effort to bypass his veil. It was a good reminder that every Skill had a counter and even if many could not pinpoint it was him, they’d still know.

Maybe that should be the path he focused on for his next Skill evolution? Something to obfuscate his sphere of awareness so that his information gathering wasn’t as obvious. It was definitely an option. Before he could continue planning out evolution paths, Prefect Raoult stood, his voice resonating throughout the stands and crowd, drawing everyone's attention.

“Please quiet down and take your seats. We’ll be opening the fifty third Royal University Entrance Tournament shortly. Could all participants please make their way to the corral between training grounds one and four. For those of you unfamiliar with our Guildhouse here in the Capital, that is beneath the blue and green flags,” boomed Prefect Raoult.

Kiri and Nate got up after Aisling nodded to them both, Deverell following a moment later playing escort. As they walked to the corral, the Prefect continued his opening speech.

“To all of you joining us, thank you for coming. Over the next few days you’ll see the best and the brightest from our beautiful country of Etrua compete to make the top eight and earn those coveted, Guild-funded placements at the Royal University. On this stage we even have one such graduate. Prefect Porter earned his own place at the Royal University through this time-honoured tradition and the training and teaching that he underwent at the Royal University paved his way to becoming a Prefect of the Adventurer’s Guild and a pillar of the Guild here within Etrua. Amongst our almost two hundred participants today, perhaps another star will rise,” with a quick glance at Prefect Allais he added, “or two.”

“Now, what you’re all more interested in. Especially our Silver badge competitors. The format for the competition, and the prizes. After all, we’re not just going to stop when we get to the top eight are we?” the Prefect asked the crowd to a resounding cacophony of ‘no’s’ and ‘boos’. “No, of course not. Because even among the elite, there are those who stand taller than their peers. We want to know who is the strongest from this cohort of Silvers. Who stands at the apex! To that end, the format is simple. All of our competitors will fight five times. From that we will select our top thirty two based on their number of wins.

“We expect some ties, so those who do tie, will fight additional matches until we have our top thirty two. From there it will be single elimination matches, whittling the best of the best down to our elites. The top eight. From there we will continue to whittle down the numbers, the losers facing each other for placement. Why? Because we have additional prizes for the top eight. That’s right! Additional rewards will go to our elites to help them achieve the best they possibly can at the Royal University. Eighth through fifth will receive a rare item from the Guild Vault. Fourth will receive a rare item and a Common Stat Orb. Third will receive a rare item and an Uncommon Stat Orb. Second will receive a rare item and two Uncommon Stat Orbs. Finally, first place, our apex aspirant, will receive an epic item and two Uncommon Stat Orbs.”

The crowd, which had quieted down while the Prefect spoke went wild upon hearing the prizes, surging to their feet. For Nate, he wasn’t sure how much he cared about the rewards. Wasn’t like he couldn’t just go get such things himself. Or make such things, in the case of the epic item. It really showed how powerful his Classes crafting capabilities were. Arriving at the corral he could see that the Prefect hadn’t lied. There were almost two hundred competitors here, mostly armed with armour and melee weapons. Scanning the crowd he shrugged and turned back towards the centre of the arena.

“The rules for our matches are simple. Fights end when one party surrenders or is unable to continue. Avoid going for killshots, but with Lord Evindal present we’re confident there will be no accidental deaths. There are no equipment limitations, but if it breaks, that’s on you. No refunds! With that, let the Royal University Entry Tournament begin!”

Nate smiled, glancing at Kiri, who raised her eyebrows and pointed forward, where one of the Gold badge members was holding up a sign with his name, alongside a sign for someone named Cezar. That meant he was up first. Stepping forward he joined the Gold badge who had him indicate which name was his. The guy named Cezar was only a few seconds behind him. His opponent wore some supple looking brown leather, with a longsword sheathed on his left hip, a small metal buckler strapped to his left arm. He scanned Cezar with Awareness of the Runic Artist as they were led out onto training ground number one.

Cezar

Elusive Apprentice Blademaster (R) (30) / Elusive Novice Swordsman (U) (10)

Taking up a stance ten metres away from his opponent Nate waited for the Gold badge to check with them that they were ready. Even after acknowledging they were ready, they were forced to wait while the other three fields were filled with their own competitors. It took a minute before he felt why, as mana flared around the training fields, erecting barriers to protect the crowds.

Finally, after what felt like minutes but had probably only been another thirty seconds, the barriers finished reinforcing themselves. The moment they did the Gold Badge raised his arm before bringing it down and yelling “Begin!”

It was finally time for Nate to show that he deserved a place at the Royal University.