Runeblade

The first thing Kaius noticed was the thick layer of semi-dried gore that was sticking to his skin and gumming up the fine joints of his scalemail. The second was the smell, the foetid stench of stale battle.

He groaned, eyes opening as he sat up. He was back on the plateau, leaning up on the same stone plinth that he had sat next to before selecting his class.

Porkchop lurched up beside him, whirling towards him to butt him with his head. “Kaius! You’re back!”

“Hey buddy,” he said, ruffling the fur of Porkchop’s head. “How long was I out?”

Porkchop chuffed, leaning into his touch. “An hour, maybe two. Not too long. Now what happened?! Tell me everything!”

Kaius grinned at his bond-brother’s enthusiasm. He understood, after so long of having the mysteries of class selection hidden from him, he would be eager to learn more from someone who had just gone through the experience.

“Well, for one, I found out that there is a great reason why it is only spoken of in generalities. The system prevents discussion of it with those who have not gone through the process.” He held up his hand as Porkchop started to whine, his eyes unconsciously drawn towards the new lines of his glyph peeking around his armour. “I wasn’t finished. Lucky for us, you don’t count due to our soul-bond, for reasons I don’t quite understand.”

Porkchop visibly vibrated for a second, before he seemed to force himself to still and tilted his head. “Well, if you can tell me then tell me!”

Kaius shook his head, a small smile on his face. “Well, it's supposed to be quite different for everyone, and I'm not sure of the differences for a greater beast since you have a bloodline instead of a class, but it was quite the experience. I was in the Sea, with a guide. It was…very ceremonial. Apparently it brings you to a place you will feel at ease, and your guide is in the form of someone that you would trust and pay attention to.” he finished.

“No,” Kaius shook his head. “The guide helped me narrow down my class choices, and then led me to a place where I could review them. Once I picked, several of my general skills evolved, and then I got to pick a class skill from a choice of three. After that, due to my class skill choice I got to pick a runic hymn. That was interesting. Once I had chosen the spell, the guide left, but I had to go through a strange training where the system granted me knowledge and had me practise until I could create the hymn without its assistance.” Kaius explained.

“Anything else that you think might help?” Porkchop asked, clearly eager to pry as much information as he could out of him.

Kaius hummed, looking upwards to the cavern ceiling far above, thinking back on his experience. “Not directly, I don’t think. Just trust your guide, and listen to their advice. We did really well.” Something jumped to his mind. “Oh! We were right about the Honours, they get some sort of scaling upgrade when you have a class. I haven’t checked exactly what yet though.”

Porkchop sat up. “Really? That’s fantastic! I was worried that they would only be a small boost. Enough of that though, did you get it? What you wanted?” his bond brother asked.

Kaius’s cheeks ached with the force of his smile. “I did, and so much more.”

“Well, don’t hold me in suspense!”

“Seventeen Heroic class offerings, though I only looked through the glyph-binding ones. One was perfect, nigh the limit of what could be obtained for the first tier. Warforged, Adamant Body, Runic Lexicon, and Mana Manipulation all evolved, going up a tier, and my first class skill was a glyph that grants me two hymns every tier, of the same rarity of the skill - also Heroic.” Kaius rattled off his gains, inwardly deeply satisfied at the way Porkchop went stock still, his ears perking up as he stared at him in shock.

Barely a moment later, Porkchop surged into motion, tackling him to the ground in an excited flurry of blurring swats and affectionate nuzzles. “A Heroic class?! And three more skills? That’s amazing Kaius!”

He laughed, shoving his bond-brother off of him. “I know! I expect you will get much the same.” he said, sitting back to lean against the plinth once more.

“You have to tell me EVERYTHING, every description. Leave nothing out.” Porkchop insisted.

Kaius smiled, and launched into a description of his new changes.

….

Kaius glanced over at the prone form of his brother, sprawled out on the hard stone next to him. He looked to be in a deep sleep, but Kaius knew from what Porkchop had told him that he would be utterly unresponsive until he returned from his selection. His brother had also said that if something weird happens, he shouldn’t be worried. Which was worrying in and of itself. Bloody idiot had refused to explain though, nor why he had insisted on removing his barding, prefering to keep it a ‘surprise’.

Despite having managed to remove the worst of the muck while Kaius was gone, most of Porkchop’s fur was still plastered to his heavily muscled frame. Despite that, he still looked bloody adorable curled up in a ball.

Shaking his head affectionately, Kaius turned back to his task at hand. Working the caked and stiff buckles of his vambraces to bare his arms. After their discussion, Porkchop had dived straight into his selection, and Kaius intended to use the time to familiarise himself with Tonal Weaving and his new method of inscribing his hymns.

He’d had some practice with his new spell in the mental space the system had created to teach it to him, but he knew that until he had put that into practice with his real body, he would continue to feel uncertain about the process.

It was, afterall, ruinously complex. As soon as he had tried to form the hymn for the first time, he had immediately realised how much of a boon Tonal Weaving was going to be. His newest spell… made full use of the medium of his body. Dipping into his flesh and winding itself around his mana flows. It was an order of magnitude more difficult than standard arrays from a practical perspective, let alone the scholastic complexity of developing them wholesale.

If he’d had to use his Jurryrigger’s Inscription Stylus he would have been fucked.

Clawing at the last buckle, he managed to dislodge a dried clump of viscera that had had it stuck fast, and freed his arm. Sighing, he leaned back and worked on the other. Thankfully it was a bit less messy.

As he worked, he pulled up his updated status, marvelling at the changes.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 19

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Race: Human (Dynastic, Greater Beastblooded) - +1 Wil, Str, End, and free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Class: Runeblade Initiate - + 3 Int, + 2 End, + 2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wil per level

Level: 1

Resources:

Health - 930/930 (7.9/min)

Stamina - 810/810 (8.0/min)

Mana - 1060/1060 (10.5/min)

Free Mana - 1006/1006

Reserved Mana - 0

Stats:

Endurance - 33 + 44 + 22% (93)

Vitality - 21 + 44 + 22% (79)

Strength - 23 + 44 + 22% (81)

Dexterity - 22 + 44 + 22% (80)

Intelligence - 23 + 59 + 30% (106)

Willpower: - 22 + 59 + 30% (105)

Stat Points: 1

Aspects:

Pillar Corporus: N/A

Pillar Mentis: N/A

Pillar Animus: N/A

Class Skills (1/10):

Latent Glyph of Drakthar (Heroic) - 1

A/N: one off affinity/type shown for old skills in [brackets]

General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) - 20 [A: Life, Chaos. T: Resistance, Survival, Defence]

Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo (Heroic) - 20

Explorers Toolkit (Unusual) - 18 > 20 [A: Nature, Primal. T: Survival, Insight, Stealth, Body Enhancement]

Tempered by Dissonance (Heroic) - 19 > 20

True Sight (Unique) - 17 > 20 [A: Arcane, Revelation. T: Perception, Insight, Body Enhancement]

Tonal Weaving (Unique) - 20

Resonance Amplification (Unique) - 20

Lesser Regeneration (Unusual) - 14 > 20 [A: Life, Blood. T: Healing, Body Enhancement]

Uncanny Dodge (Unique) - 1 > 20 [A: Fate, Martial. T: Insight, Precognition, Body Enhancement, Evasion.]

Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus (Heroic) - 20 [A: Soul, Primal. T: Bond, Body Enhancement]

Hymnbook:

Glyph of Drakthar-

Stormlash (Tier I - 120 mana)

Honours:

Born for Slaughter

Sublime Prodigy - Glyph Binding

Birds of a Blood Soaked Feather

Persistent Survivor (Minor)

Kingslayer (Major)

Ruthless Underdog

Bound Artefacts:

A Fathers Gift - Common Growth Longsword

Growth Conditions-

Gain a class (1/1)

Acquire suitable materials (0/3)

Forge a link (0/1)

Kaius stared at his status in awe. If he had thought his growth explosive before he had gained his class, it was down right absurd now. Between the scaling growth of his Honours and the absurd number of stats that he received for his Heroic class, he was gaining over fourteen stats per level, though the system rounded down to the nearest whole number.

That was over double what a Common class would receive. Given time, he would be nigh unstoppable to those of comparable level to him, and the distance would only grow as he rose through the tiers.

Though, he did note that the system seemed to round the scaling stats of his Honours down to the nearest whole number. Something he didn’t quite understand the vagaries of, but there were many things like that. Still, he was strong.

A hard smile split his face. This kind of strength would be what he needed to have his revenge on the bandits that had forced him to the Depths, if his father had not already done so. Anger burned within him, tinged by old grief. He knew, knew, that something must have happened to Father. It had been a year, he would have found the entrance of the falls months ago, even if he had had to rest and recover after a fraught battle.

If he had been captured, Kaius would be coming for him. With the strength of his new class he should rise explosively through the early levels, gaining the power needed to safely track down the bandit’s forces.

Gritting his teeth, Kaius turned his mind away from the simmering anger in his chest. That would be for the future, now he had a skill to practice.

In the end, he had decided to pick Stormlash, despite its high mana cost. It was a powerful spell, and one that he would find easy to enmesh into his fighting style. His hope was that the lash would extend his reach, allowing him to create openings for both himself and Porkchop—while building on the foundation created by Liturgical Bladeform to create a seamless style of steel and spell.

Storm spells were well renowned for the searing burns they left behind, and the massive damage they did internally. Without significant magical protection, it would be a hard hymn to defend from indeed. With sixty-five strides - twenty long-strides - of range, he would have more than enough range for most of his engagements, especially since that distance would grow as Drakthar levelled.

Thankfully, with the significant growth of his Intelligence he could already make use of eight inscriptions, something that he should be able to add to every third or fourth level. It would be a long time until he received his next spell, if he didn’t get offered more glyphs that is, but he hoped that Drakthar would level quickly under heavy use.

Reminded of his plan, Kaius spent his free point on his intelligence. Later he planned to use them to shore up his Vitality, but for these early levels he planned to maximise his mana pool. At least until it outstripped his regeneration so much that it became cumbersome to refill.

Sitting up from the plinth, Kaius crossed his legs and let his hands fall limply to his lap. He closed his eyes, though this time he didn’t delve deeply into his internal soul-space. Instead, he reached for one of his newly evolved skills, Tonal Weaving.

Newly found instincts settled over him, the skill working in tandem with True Sight and Resonance Amplification as he painted the image of his runic formation in his mind's eye.

It was an interesting thing, long tendrils of runic script writhing and rolling over themselves, each one made up from jagged characters—each utterly more complex than the weavings he had made from High Lothian. Holding the image in his mind, he started to pull on his internal mana flows, connecting them to the waiting support of his Drakthar glyph.

They held stable, coalescing near the wrist and palm of his left hand. He pushed the image of the inscription onto the mana, willing it to respond to his desires, to mould to the shape that had been burned into his mind at the system's instruction.

Controlled by Resonance Amplification the mana leapt to his will, precipitating into a new shape. It was a slow process, even driven by two skills and supported by the visualisation capabilities of a third, it was still an action that he only knew in theory. Tiny mistakes were corrected, constrictions in his mana flow smoothed.

The minutes ticked over.

Sweat began to bead at his brow, the processes of weaving mana directly into runes while holding a separate image in his mind taxing even with his enhanced stats. Still, he made progress.

Correcting the last few characters, the runes snapped into place, locking down a portion of his pool that he had been using to weave.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 21!**

**Ding! Tonal Weaving has reached level 21!**

**Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached level 21!**

Kaius gasped in relief, opening his eyes to stare down at his hands. New lines of black sprouted from the glyph on his hand, wrapping sinuously around the base of his thumb before curling in on themselves to trace the curve of his wrist.

Holding his hand up to inspect the runic hymn from all sides, Kaius grinned. It was actually quite pretty, all things considered. At first he had thought having black markings on his skin would be jarring, but as time had gone on he had come to appreciate how they drew the eye to their geometric perfection.

Smiling in satisfaction, he dropped his hands back to his lap and closed his eyes once more. Kaius was hopeful that he could squeeze at least another level out of the skill, it was still slower than his previous work with a stylus. Irritatingly so.

He breathed, centering himself and bringing the image of the inscription back to the forefront of his mind.

One down, seven to go.

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