Rune Seeker

“You really have some overpowered weapons,” Yanily said to Hiral.

“You sure you’ll be okay without them?” Seena asked, though she clenched and unclenched her free hand, like she was exploring the benefits she’d gotten.

“Once I have a bit more solar energy, yes,” Hiral said.

Then, without even needing to ask, a small dome of golden light enveloped the pair – along with his doubles – from the Banner of Courage.

“We should get out of the rain though,” Hiral said. “We’ve been lucky up till now, but the Enemy could show up at any time.”

“We’ve got time,” Yanily said. “This rain isn’t the kind that has them in it. They’re waaay over there.”

At that statement, everybody else stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the man.

“You can sense the Enemy?” Seena asked slowly.

“No,” Yanily said. “Can you?”

“Then why would you say they’re waaay over there?” Seeyela copied the man’s intonation nearly perfectly.

“Oh, I can feel their storm. It’s different than this one,” Yanily said, pointing straight up with his free hand. “It’s… dirty? That’s the best way to describe it. Tastes awful too.”

“Why didn’t you ever mention that, Yan?” Seena asked, fingers once again rubbing the bridge of her nose. She’d gotten pretty good at that considering the bulky gauntlets she wore.

Yanily, though, didn’t immediately answer, like he was suddenly surprised by the ability too. “I couldn’t do it before that last dungeon. At least, I don’t know if I could. I can definitely feel it now.”

“Another Yanvolution?” Seeyela asked. “He’s almost as bad as Hiral with his random upgrades.”

“Whatever.” Seena shrugged. “An ability like that could be a literal life-saver. We’ll explore it more after we finish the dungeon. Then again, Yan, if you sense anything while we’re in there, tell us over the party chat.”

“You got it, Boss,” Yanily said with a thumbs up.

“Good. Let’s get in there, then. We’ve got less than three hours to get to the Bonder city,” Seena said. “You sure you’re good?”

“Already charging up thanks to Cycling, the Banner, and the Edict of Energy,” Hiral said.

Seena squeezed his hand, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, then pulled away and headed for her maze entrance. Drahn was at her side a moment later, bow in hand, while Gran stepped up beside Yanily.

“How tough are you?” she asked.

“I’m not a tank…” Yanily said.

“Do you need both of your arms if it gets bad?”

“Preferably.”

“Pah.”

Hiral just chuckled as he went to his tunnel entrance with Left and Right at his side, and Seeyela went to hers. “Don’t kill everything before we get a chance,” he said to the white-armor-clad woman. Even with her helmet on, Hiral could practically feel her excitement at getting to really push her abilities to the limit.

“Then don’t dawdle,” she said.

“Be careful, everybody,” Seena said. “Go.”

With the command, everybody took a single step forward into their respective maze entrances, and a notification window immediately popped up in front of Hiral.

Dynamic Quest – Beast Wave

A tide of monsters roams the Hanging Garden ahead of you, stalking ever closer to a hidden city within its depths.

Thin the sounder to give the defenders a fighting chance.

Chimeric Interlopers slain: 0/73

Hiral blinked at the notification, and then a second time. Seventy-three!? That’s… oddly specific. And what is a sounder?

“You each got a dynamic quest?” Hiral asked into the party chat as he continued down the path.

“Oh yeah,” Yanily said. “Kill eighty of those Chimera things. That should be pretty good experience.”

“Eighty?” Seena asked. “We’ve got ninety-eight we have to kill.”

“Seventy-three here,” Hiral said.

“… I only have to kill sixty-five,” Seeyela said. “Is the PIMP underestimating me?” Even with the stone pillars separating the party, it would be impossible for any of them to miss the woman’s bloodlust accompanying that last statement.

“Think of it as at least?” Seena offered.

“I’m going to crush this quest,” Seeyela said. “And there’s my first target.”

“Already?” Hiral asked Left and Right.

“Don’t look at us,” Right said. “You’re the one dragging your feet.”

“How’s your solar energy now?” Left asked, though Hiral took a second to scowl at the other double first.

“Good enough,” Hiral said. “You ready to see how we do against these things now?”

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for a rematch,” Right said, purple flames running up his fist and forearm to join the white glow from his pseudo-aspect on his right shoulder. Over his shoulders and head, the sunrise from the gauntlets seemed to flare with his intent.

“First things first,” Left said, and reached up to touch the tattoo on the side of his head. A second later, he pulled his fingers away, trailing a thick stream of solar energy that snapped in a burst, rushing out to hover behind the double. From the glowing cloud of solar smoke, a new form took shape. Like a man in a flowing robe, his four arms pressed together in front of him in prayer, and with all three eyes closed. An aura of sublime harmony radiated from the life-size image of the Herald of Peace. “Here,” Left said, and a new buff notification appeared in front of Hiral’s eyes.

You have been buffed by Aura of Peace.

Standing within the Aura of Peace grants you a 25% chance to resist hostile debuffs, while reducing solar energy consumption used on abilities or items by 15%.

Note: Leaving the radius of Aura of Peace removes all associated buffs until re-entry.

“Nice,” Hiral said. “Herald has three other abilities too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Left said. “They are more situation specific, though.”

“No problem, I trust you’ll use them well.”

“Great, great. Can we go punch things now?” Right asked. “I bet the others are already way ahead of us.”

“This isn’t a race,” Hiral said.

“Tell that to the Bonders.”

“Fair,” Hiral admitted, taking a breath to center himself. Threads of solar energy moved to his different runes, preparing them for what was to come. First, he gave his doubles the ‘gropey buff’ – as Yanily would call it – then focused his attention on his other runes. Seeing how Banst had mastered a single rune and used it to such efficiency highlighted how little Hiral had done himself to reach that end. He needed to correct that if he wanted to take his destiny into his own hands, and this was where he was going to start.

While upgrading Emperor’s Decree, he’d managed to unlock his Edict of Increase – a powerful gain without question. And, from the way it felt, part of it was simply through usage. Using the runes more would allow him to thin the barrier separating him from the Edicts and connect them. The other part of that had to be a requisite amount of mastery. It wasn’t complicated, but it would clearly take time. He’d been using Increase constantly since he’d gotten it.

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Rejection was likely close to unlocking as well – just through how much he naturally used it – but if he wanted to see another jump in combat strength, there was one clear target.

The Rune of Separation.

He’d vastly underestimated the rune from the beginning. Even after he stopped believing its only purpose was Foundational Split – Hiral’s thoughts ground to a halt. Was the Rune of Separation actually responsible for Foundational Split? He’d always assumed it was, since he’d gotten them at the same time. But, his recent theory about the runes – that they couldn’t be given by the PIMP directly – ran counter to that.

What if the golem had used the Rune of Separation to remove his Maker PIM temporarily? Just long enough for the PIMP to give him an ability – Foundational Split. An ability that would let him work around the incorrect PIM that had been holding him back his entire life.

That could mean him getting runes he could use directly on his body, instead of in crystal constructs, wasn’t intended.

Just like Nivian had suggested, the PIMP’s plans weren’t complete or perfect. Which, honestly, just made Hiral feel better about his recent choices. Yes, there was still an aspect of luck to him getting his class, but it also meant he could influence things for the better.

Starting with how he used his Rune of Separation. So far, he’d hardly applied it for more than making an occasional strike sharper. While that was its most obvious application, Banst had showed just how much could be done with one rune and a bit of imagination.

It was time to correct that. And maybe do a few tests.

“He looks ready,” Left said.

“We all are,” Right said.

Channeling solar energy into his Rune and Edict of Increase boosted all of Hiral’s attributes – easily by almost twenty percent – and a burst of Rejection shot him forward. Stony pillars blurred by on both sides, micro-applications of Attraction and Rejection assisting him in guiding his body, almost like a second set of external muscles and nerves. Ahead of him, his sensory domain plotted his path, while he started simple – gathering Separation around his hands.

It formed as invisible blades, bolstered by Increase and Breaking, just as Hiral leapt from the ground. Twisting mid-air, his feet ‘landed’ on the side of one of the stone pillars – held there for a split-second by Attraction – before he Rejected off to make a sudden, ninety-degree turn.

Straight for a very surprised looking boar of some kind.

Excessively thick, bristly fur covered the animal that had to be almost as tall as Hiral was. Huge tusks curved out of its lower lip, and its tail rose as a familiar snake.

(Chimera) Chimeric Warthog – Low-B-Rank

Hiral’s View gave him a name as the large beast tried to turn itself around in the tight space of the maze-like tunnel. It barely had a chance to lift one of its hooves before Hiral reached it, Separation-coated hand piercing straight into the thing’s side up to his elbow. A pained grunt of surprise bellowed from the warthog’s mouth, but Hiral’s attack had almost been too sharp.

His hand – comparatively small to the monster’s body – had slipped in so effortlessly, he hadn’t caused nearly enough damage. And even though he was literally up in it to his elbow, he hadn’t hit anything vital. So, it was time to spread the damage a bit.

As the beast began to turn, Hiral twisted his hand inside the beast – eliciting another grunt of pain – before jerking his arm out horizontally to the side. If his hand had gone in easily, it came back out without even a hint of resistance, slicing a foot-long gash down the flank. Blood poured out of the wound, soaking the thick fur within seconds, and splashed to the ground.

That wasn’t all it did, though, with the blood on Hiral’s arm seemingly coming alive and trying to burrow its way into his body. The Breaking he’d already prepared for his attack across his hand and arm instantly turned the blood into nothing more than dust. His last experience with the Chimeric blood had taught him a lot, and while there might be more to gain from exposure to it, he’d have plenty of time for that later.

For now…

Right’s purple-enshrouded gauntlet whammed into the warthog’s head, sending blood and spittle flying as the thing jerked to the side. Left was there a second later, his Dagger of Sath driving into the wound Hiral had already opened, and extending it all the way to the beast’s rear.

With the thing already – and suddenly – on its last legs, according to its plummeting health bar, Hiral could’ve left the rest of it to his doubles. But then he wouldn’t have a chance to test. No, he needed to experiment more with Separation. What else could he do?

The stab had been effective, but not damaging enough, though he could aim to go deeper. Up to my shoulder? It’d be the King of the Swamp all over again. Slicing had worked pretty well too, but it still wasn’t quite right. He needed something more… brutal.

Inspiration came in a flash – as it usually did – when he looked down at his hand, the memory of the first pseudo-aspect he’d formed coming to the forefront. With the image in mind, Hiral spread his fingers, crooking them at the same time he surrounded each individual one with its own layer of Separation.

Then he stepped forward and clawed down and across. His fingers tore through the thick fur and flesh with ruthless ease, but the damage was almost entirely superficial. The warthog shuffled to the side from the tearing pain, but it wasn’t any real, lasting damage.

So, Hiral followed in step, filling his other hand with his rune’s power, and adding more Breaking to the mix. Another clawed strike across the warthog’s flank left deeper wounds where the flesh seemed to rapidly decompose on either side, spreading the injury several inches wide and deep. Still not enough, and Hiral stepped ahead again as the Chimera tried to hobble to the side. Anything to escape the painful attacks.

Ah, of course.

This time, Hiral reached straight up, wrapping his fingers in Separation, Breaking, Compression,and Expansion, before clawing straight down. Where his hand passed, the warthog parted. Not just its flesh. Or muscle. Or bone. No, the whole beast, straight through, scars carving out across the stone ground ahead.

That was almost it. Too bad the beast wouldn’t be much more use for testing.

A series of splats signalled the end of the fight, even the Chimera’s blood on the ground suddenly going inert as the health bar bottomed out. A push of Rejection made sure none of it got on Hiral or his doubles, and he took a quick second to check his notifications.

“The experience isn’t going into escrow for once,” he noted. They hadn’t gotten much from the last dungeon – with it not having much more than Mid-Bosses and Banst – and each of them had only gotten a pair of levels. Doing a bit of farming seemed pretty attractive, assuming he could kill things fast enough to go beyond the required seventy-three. “Let’s keep moving.”

“You want us to hold back?” Right asked as the three of them leapt past the corpse.

“Nope,” Hiral said, funneling and refining more of his runes into his hands for the next target – test subject – that’d just come into view. “Let’s kill as fast as we can. We’ll make up for quality with quantity.”

Another burst of Rejection shot him down the narrow path, blades of shimmering Energy and Separation – infused by other runes – forming from the ends of his fingers and thumb. Hiral didn’t bother waiting until he got to the beast – another warthog that barely noticed him coming – before he lashed out. Like he’d done not-so-long ago against the Bristle Rat-Pack King, arcs of razor-sharp energy followed his motion.

Closing the twenty-foot distance to his target in the blink of an eye, the five, clawed-blades of Separation tore chunks off the surrounding stone pillars, and did even worse things to the pig they hit. The whole monster, trying to turn as it heard Hiral and the others approaching, bellowed in pain as the blades cut more than halfway through it in five different places. Soaked in Breaking, the wounds spread unnaturally, the softer parts of the monster simply dissolving, while even bone fractured and turned to dust.

Still, despite the display, the attack wasn’t outright fatal, and Hiral had the opportunity for a second test. Another small bout of inspiration at thinking about a Mid-Boss he’d fought added a layer of blue energy to the edges of the blades on his left hand.

Death Knell’s Sever Life.

Hiral’s second swing didn’t stop at ‘half-way-through’, and even the Chimeric blood lost its virulent aggression at the cold touch of the attack. Well, it does say it does extra damage to living targets, and these Chimeras seem to be on the extreme end of that spectrum.

“You’re getting better,” Left said – now with two Wings of Anella on his shoulders – as he and Right sped past where Hiral stopped to look at his handiwork.

“Still dragging your feet though!” Right called back, and the doubles were already engaging another warthog that’d heard the last one bellowing.

“Hey!” Hiral shouted, leaping ahead. “I need to keep testing!”

“Then keep up!” Right responded, the two doubles laying into the poor beast with abandon.

It looked like it wasn’t just a race against the other party members. If Hiral wanted to push his limits, he’d need to compete with his own doubles.

“Fine by me,” he whispered, launching ahead with his runes and Edicts glowing fiercely.