The Runic Artist

“It has been a good match, but now it’s over,” Nate called across to Null as the arena continued to rumble, the barrier around the arena flickering. He started trudging towards the swordsman, dripping blood into the sand as he closed the gap between them. Distance shouldn’t be a big factor but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a factor in what came next, as he needed to guide the power he was unleashing.

The barrier around the arena flickered, then vanished as his own runic array took control of the twenty mana batteries beneath the arena. Prefect Raoult was standing, Evindal and Aisling interposed between the Prefect and the arena as Luc’s mad laughter filled the silence of the arena. He’d thought long and hard about Null’s skillset. Between his natural physical abilities and his boosting skill, even ignoring the second more powerful boosting skill, hitting him with some sort of naturally formed projectile was always going to be a risky endeavour. The same was true of creating natural phenomena that could affect the arcane swordsman. The solution had been based on a random comment from Luc. Null was using his own mana to nullify the mana of others. So, what would he do when the quantity of mana he had to nullify far exceeded his own?

Mana gathered around Null, controlled by Nate’s Imbue Intent and the gargantuan Mana Gathering runic array beneath them, being fed by a small army of Mana Release runes connected to the mana batteries that had been powering the arena’s barrier. Finally filtered through a Gravity Control runic array that was bearing down on Null with enough force to bring the man to his knees. Null’s face contorted in pain as he struggled to contend with the mountain of mana trying to press down on him.

Nate had strongly suspected his skill was both passive and active. Passive in that it was always ‘on’ but active in that he could control its shape around him to an extent. Null’s internal mana was quickly being depleted. The swordsman tried to flash forward with a boosting skill but the Mana Gathering was centred on him and gravity itself was fighting against him. Even under that pressure, Null refused to give up. Struggling against Gravity many times the norm, the arcane swordsman dragged himself to his feet.

Nate had no intention of allowing the battle to continue though. He was running out of time. But he could tell Null’s mana had finally been completely expended. The first runic array he created was Life Drain, linking it to Null as he began to draw on the man's vitality to keep himself going. It wasn’t enough to restore his arm but the blood flow slowed to a trickle and he felt his mind clearing. He hadn’t realised how disjointed his thoughts had become due to blood loss.

The second runic array was the one he’d defaulted to for almost every match. With his Earth Gathering runic array, dirt and sand began to rise towards the stumbling swordsman, the Gravity rune having almost no impact on the falling grains. A moment later Null was sealed inside a coffin of earth.

Turning to the referee Nate looked at him pointedly. The referee glanced at the stage where the Prefects had finally sat back down, anger clear on Raoult’s face while Luc continued to laugh, only quietly now.

“Victory to Nathaniel Weber!”

The crowd’s response was thunderous but it was hard to enjoy with his blood still leaking, especially now that he’d dropped the Life Drain effect on Null.

The relief he felt as yellow light washed over him was tangible and for the first time, he experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end of Lord Evindal’s healing. Runic Knowledge - Concepts buzzed constantly and he felt two concepts intermingled in the Skill. The first was obvious. A strong sense of Life was all around him. The second might’ve been harder to recognise if he hadn’t already seen the elf’s Classes. Time was intermingled in equal measure and he suspected that Evindal was reversing time on his body to ‘restore’ it to a time when it was healthy. His arm flying across the arena to reattach certainly lent credence to the theory.

Null was out of the coffin and had stood, laughing softly as he walked over to join Nate. The light of Evindal’s healing left them both at the same time and they met in the middle of the arena, Nate being the first to offer his hand. Null took it and shook it firmly. He appreciated that the swordsman hadn’t tried to crush his hand as they shook, and offered a tired smile.

“Good match,” he said softly, unsure how to take Null’s soft laughter.

“Good? That was great! How do you have so much mana, if you don’t mind sharing? Is that where all your Orbs went?” Null asked curiously.

Nate blinked a moment in response but was beaten to a response as Frick appeared out of the dirt, taking on physicality as he began his stomping goblin dance as he cackled.

“Wasn’t his! We turned the arena’s mana batteries against you!” crowed the little goblin Spirit.

Null’s eyes widened as he glanced down before he started laughing loudly, wiping away a tear. “So you really are an Enchanter. That’s priceless. Dad’s going to be so pissed!”

Null finally paused his laughing to smile over at the stage before glancing across at the remaining competitors. At first Nate thought he was looking at Britt, but his next words revealed his true target.

“Guess I will settle for third. Thanks for the match, Nate. You showed me some areas I need to improve and a flaw in my current Skill. I appreciate that. Really. Best of luck in the finals.”

With those parting words, the swordsman began walking towards the side of the field as Prefect Raoult moved forward on the podium to address the crowd.

“Not one but two upsets. I doubt anyone could have seen that coming!” boomed Raoult.

“I did,” yelled Luc, which earned him a glare from the Prefect and an answering laugh from the crowd.

“Be that as it may, we will take a short recess to let the competitors rest and prepare. When we return, we’ll have the final two battles. Coralie Allais versus Null Raoult battling it out for third and fourth, followed by our final match as Kiri Beaufoy and Nathaniel Weber battle to see who is number one. It’s going to be amazing so don’t miss it!”

Nate was about to reach the edge of the field when he sensed space warping around him. Knowing what was coming he didn’t fight back. Not that he could have. A moment later he stood in his room, along with Kiri, Luc, Aisling, Evindal and Deverell.

Luc was the first to break the silence, “Top two! I’m going to be rubbing this in that blowhard's face for years! Did you really turn the arena mana batteries against Null?”

Everyone looked on, clearly interested, so Nate spent the next five minutes explaining how in some of the previous matches he’d had Frick investigate the enchantment powering the barrier around the arena. How he had then devised his own ‘enchantment’, that could syphon off the mana from the batteries and funnel it into his own two runes; one which effectively sent mana with his own signature at Null, forcing his Skill to react and; a secondary one to create a gravity effect to slow the swordsman down.

As he finished, he could see Aisling beaming with pride, while Luc just shook his head in amusement. Kiri was veritably bouncing in the corner with unconcealed glee. Deverell and Evindal both offered nods of congratulations, though the elf added a smile to the mix unlike the stoic Dagger Dancer.

Aisling was about to speak when Luc cut her off, “Okay. A deal’s a deal. I said if you beat Null, I would make the contract.”

A screen of blue appeared in front of him and he made it visible immediately, wanting to make sure Aisling thought it was worded correctly.

System Contract:

Luc Crozier swears to not reveal any information about, or related to, the Classes, Skills, Stats or Spells of the holder of this contract for the duration of their life to anyone not in the immediate presence of the contract holder when this contract is made. Failure to uphold this contract will result in the transfer of 10 levels worth of mana from Luc Crozier, to the holder of this contract and will null and void the contract.

Accept? Yes/No

Kiri mirrored him, showing her own contract with the exact same wording.

“What is this about?” Evindal asked, looking from Luc to Aisling.

Aisling paused a moment in thought, while Luc looked on impatiently.

“Can you lock us in time, my love?” the Stormspear asked.

A moment later Nate sensed the change. The people in the taproom below them seemed frozen, or if they were moving it was so slow that he couldn’t tell.

“Thank you,” Aisling said. “That should likely prevent anyone trying to spy from doing so. I am guessing Luc has been pressuring Kiri and Nate for their Class information, though his reasons remain unknown.”

“Money and mana,” supplied Luc with a smirk. Nate had suspected as much. Luc saw a business opportunity, depending on what Nate could do, or more specifically, what he could create. It was actually good to know the man had self-interest in mind. He would’ve been more concerned if it was just curiosity driving the man's desire to know his Classes.

“Money and mana then,” said Aisling with a hint of annoyance. “Either way, you know how tightly we’ve been keeping their Classes a secret. I…I won’t ask them to reveal them to you unless you make a similar System contract to Luc. Even then, the choice is theirs.”

Evindal stared at them with his Amber eyes for a long moment, Luc growing even more visibly impatient behind him.

“I know my wife to be a careful and respectful woman. For her to go this far must mean she sees immeasurable value in you. Both of you. I normally wouldn’t lower myself to making such generous contracts with Silver badges, but for her sake, I will offer the same agreement. If you’ll have me in your confidence, as you do her. Though I hope in time, you’ll see that I would not betray you, and release me, as I know you released her.”

A moment later, a second system contract appeared. The wording was the exact same with the name Evindal Ravalynn instead of Luc’s. He personally was inclined to accept both the System Contracts. The wording seemed fairly ironclad to him, leaving no wiggle room and specifying everything except for his Status effects, which honestly, no one had ever asked about anyway. For the two individuals, Luc was still a mentor, and he knew the man had other Spatial spells to teach him. He might even be able to help him train his spatial skills further. Besides, he still had nineteen more levels to go in his Wandering Realmwalker Class, which meant four more spatial skills. His advice could be priceless, even if Nate stood a tier above the man.

Evindal was a different story and his reasoning was different for being willing to trust the man. It came down to Aisling. Nate trusted Aisling. She certainly had her own agenda, but she’d made that clear from the start. Nate could be an asset to the Guild and that was all that Aisling cared about so she was willing to do whatever was needed to keep him in the Guild. That fact was apparently not lost on Evindal, who seemed to dote on his wife, if Nate was any judge of their interactions. So while he might not yet trust Evindal, he had no reason to believe that Aisling’s judgement was that poor. Besides, even if Evindal did decide to break the contract, it shouldn’t be enough to push his level to sixty, which meant he still had time to evolve his Skills and improve them in preparation for his next Class evolution. Finally, he trusted Luc to assist him if things went south, if only because the man was about to view him as a cash cow as soon as he revealed his Classes.

He glanced at Kiri who shrugged and gave him a nod, “Up to you, but I am fine with it. The other two know mine and they never even had a contract with me.”

With a shrug he agreed to both contracts before smiling at the gathered Platinums.

“Well, come on then!” prompted Luc impatiently.

With a thought Nate brought up his Status sheet. He hid the actual Statuses from everyone else but displayed the rest of his sheet in its entirety as he glanced at the notifications from his fight with Null.

Amplified Magic 19 > 20

Empowered Runic Artistry 28 > 30

Runic Creation 31 > 32

Imbue Intent 32 > 33

Awareness of the Runic Artist 30 > 31

True Teleportation 22 > 24

Runic Knowledge - Concepts 28 > 30

Stats

Physical

Mental

Magic

Strength

12

Intellect

145

Magic Power

128 (26)

Dexterity

68

Charisma

17 (3)

Magic Control

48

Agility

23 (10)

Creativity

117

Channelling Speed

39

Endurance

50 (3)

Willpower

22

Mana Reserve

128

Constitution

30

Perception

120

Mana Absorption

49

Classes

Primary Class - Level 10 (30)

Secondary Class - Level 1

Tertiary Class

Wandering Runic Artist (M)

Wandering Realmwalker (L)

…

Skills

Runic Knowledge - Concepts (L) Lvl 30 - (+35% Intellect)

Conceptual Material (M) Lvl 29 - (-14.5% Mana Cost, -25% Time Required)

Awareness of the Runic Artist (M) Lvl 31 - (+70% Perception, +18% Creativity, 15.5m Sphere of Awareness)

Imbue Intent (L) Lvl 33 - (18 Intents, 9 Imbued Intents, +16.5% Intellect)

Runic Creation (L) Lvl 32 - (-62% Mana Cost, +15% Creativity)

Empowered Runic Artistry (L) Lvl 30 - (-39% Mana Cost, +72 Magic Power for Runic Arrays)

True Teleportation (M) Lvl 24 - (240 metres teleport range, +18% Magic Control)

Amplified Magic (L) Lvl 20 - (+24% Magic Stats)

Spells

Minor Spatial Lock (R)

Status Effects

Divine Translation Spell (Permanent)

Familiar Contract (Permanent)

Class Core Concealment Soul Engraving (Temporary, Legendary)

Obfuscated Mana Soul Engraving (+40% Bonus to Hiding Mana Signature) (Temporary, Legendary)

System Contract - Luc Crozier & Evindal Ravalynn (Temporary)

The room was silent for a moment before three people spoke at once.

“You’re both developing well,” said Aisling, her voice once more filled with pride.

“Nine Hells, what the fuck!?” cursed Luc, crossing the room in a flash to get closer to the visible sheet.

“....I….you were right to demand a contract,” whispered Evindal, the normally pale elf as white as a ghost.

There was a pause and Aisling touched Evindal on the shoulder.

“They’re ten levels below the competition…” whispered Evindal, staring at his wife, still white in the face.

“Wait a minute. Mythic. Your crafting Class is Mythic. And you gave me an Epic Mana Gathering Array?!” Luc groaned in annoyance. “You can do better, can’t you? It could’ve been Mythic, right?”

Nate shook his head in response, “Maybe, but more likely Legendary is the best I could do. I don’t have the sigils needed to make the actual rune Mythic. Though the material could’ve been.”

Luc did a double-take, glancing quickly from Nate to his Status and back again, “Conceptual Material. It’s Mythic. That’s how you made the materials, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

By the end of the tirade Luc was shaking him.

“Yes,” he managed to get out through rattling teeth.

Luc let him go walking across the room, laughing softly. He was beginning to wonder if his mentor had gone mad, when the man spun to face him, there were tears in the corner of the Arcane Riftwalker’s eyes.

“Rich! We’re going to be rich!” Luc shouted with a beaming smile.

He answered with a smile of his own. A life of comfort was back on the table!