Rune Seeker

“Achievements!” Yanily said.

“No objection here,” Hiral said, and Seeyela nodded as well.

“Achievements it is, then,” Seena said. “Yanily, go for it.”

The spearman swiped his hand above the interface crystal, then said, “Achievement Rewards.”

Just like that, a cascade of notification windows appeared in front of Hiral’s eyes, and he got to work on reading the first.

Achievement: There’s No Safety in Numbers

Reward: Class Modification: Cleaving Strikes

Cleaving Strikes: When killing an enemy, additional damage based on the amount of overkill damage is added to your next attack.

Note: Overkill damage added to Cleaving Strikes is considered a critical hit, but does not benefit from critical hit damage bonuses.

Looking over at the manic grin on the party leader’s face, there was no doubt she’d gotten the same ability from the achievement. Li’l Ur was literally cackling in glee. With a chuckle of his own, Hiral closed the window and moved on to the next one.

Achievement: Never Even Saw it Coming

Reward: Class Modification: Unseen Strikes

Unseen Strikes: When striking an enemy who is unaware of your presence or location, your first hit is an automatic critical hit and benefits from an additional +30% critical hit damage.

After reading that notification, Hiral immediately looked over at Seeyela. It even had the same word as her advanced class. With her eight-eyed helmet in her hands, there was no hiding the same manic grin that had been on Seena’s face a second ago.

They really are sisters. Crazy, murderous sisters.

Glad they’re on my side.

Still, even though both of those abilities would benefit the two sisters the most, they’d also go pretty well with Hiral’s abilities and style. He couldn’t complain, so he closed the notification window and moved on to the next.

Achievement: The Enemy of my Enemy… is Still my Enemy

Reward: Class Ability (Active): Shatter Armor

Shatter Armor: At the expense of reduced damage, your attacks reduce the defenses of your opponent.

Note: Armor is reduced by up to 15% per application, stacking up to a maximum of 3 times.

Note (2): More effective against enemies with solid armor or defenses.

Note (3): Cooldown—1 minute

That looks really good, with three applications reducing armor by almost half. The cooldown is kind of long, but if the others got the same ability, we can rip a Boss’s defenses apart. Not exactly sure how the percentage part actually works, but I guess I’ll have to take it at face value until I can test it.

Next.

Hiral closed the window and started on the one that immediately came up.

Achievement: The ANTagonist

Reward: Class Modification: Vengeance

Vengeance: When taking damage or being debuffed by an enemy, or when dodging, blocking, or parrying an enemy, gain stacking +2% critical hit chance.

Note: Vengeance can stack to a maximum of 10 times.

Note (2): Vengeance can only apply to one enemy at a time, with the highest Vengeance count determining which enemy.

Note (3): When the enemy targeted by Vengeance is killed, Vengeance resets all stacks.

More crits… but I guess it makes sense. Most of these abilities we’ve gotten are strong, but conditional, like a crit hit. That must make them balanced in the eyes of magic. I’m going to need to get out a piece of paper and figure out how high I can get my crit chance, though…

With a shake of his head, Hiral closed the notification window and opened the final one.

Achievement: Dig Deep

Reward: Class Modification: Solar Supply

Solar Supply: Share solar energy with other party members.

Note: Can only share solar energy up to your maximum.

Note (2): Recipient of Solar Supply can temporarily hold significantly more solar energy, with unused excess bleeding off every second.

So, now we can share solar energy along with abilities? That will be really useful if we need to fuel Seena for more mass destruction. Or Seeyela when she needs to portal us all somewhere. My higher absorption rate will help offset their lower ones too. Not a massively powerful ability in combat, from the sounds of things, but overall really useful.

With the final notification window finished, Hiral closed it and looked at the others. “How did you do?”

“Considering this wasn’t a lost dungeon, pretty well,” Seena said. She then reviewed the abilities she’d gotten—all the same as Hiral this time around. Checking with the other two confirmed it was the same for them too.

“Shatter Armor and Vengeance are going to be great for Boss fights,” Seeyela said. “And Seena is going to tear through groups of weaker monsters. Not that she wasn’t already, I guess, but it’ll be even faster.”

“After we save the islands, we’ll have to come back down for Nivian and Wule, and start running some more dungeons,” Yanily said.

“That… does bring up a question,” Hiral pointed out. “What do we do after we save Fallen Reach? Are we going to try and figure out a way to deal with the Enemy?”

Nobody spoke immediately, though they all shared a look. Their previous encounter with the Enemy had been very one-sided. Sure, they’d be stronger next time, but would it be enough? Odi had said there were squids over a mile long. How would they deal with that?

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“It’s a good question,” Seena said, “but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Our first priority is saving Falling Reach and our islands. The Enemy is a distant problem, and maybe something we’ll never even deal with. We could keep doing what we’ve been doing for generations—stay in the sun. Nothing has to change.”

“Do you really believe that?” Hiral asked, and both Yanily and Seeyela waited for Seena to answer.

The party leader thought about it for a moment, then blew out a breath. “No. No, I don’t. Now that we know about the squids—about the dungeons—things are definitely going to change. But!” She held up a finger. “I’m still serious about it being a problem for later. Much later. Right now, our only goal is to save both our peoples from the islands falling out of the sky.”

“One problem at a time,” Seeyela agreed, nodding, and that seemed to be the end of that particular conversation.

“Before we deal with any of those problems, we still have to get our Rank evolutions,” Yanily said.

“Yanily is right,” Seena said. “Let’s evolve, then we’ve still got another fifty-some minutes before we have to leave the dungeon. I know Hiral wants to explode, so we’ll give him some alone time to do that before we exit.”

“It’s not like I want to explode,” Hiral said. “Though, I admit, it’s likely to happen.”

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen anywhere close to us,” Seena said before turning her attention to Yanily. “Let’s do this.”

One by one, the party members went over to the dungeon interface—though Hiral didn’t absorb Left and Right since it could interfere with his evolution—and swiped their hands above the crystal. As soon as the options came up in a window for them, they stepped away from the rest of the group and said, “Rank Evolution.”

Solar smoke stretched out of the interface crystal to connect with the Meridian Node on the center of Hiral’s chest—where his Rune of Separation was—and then energy flooded into his body. The four of them had made sure to give each other room for exactly this reason.

While fire, lightning, and poison filled the areas around the other three, Hiral instead floated into the air, and the scripted double helix on his skin ballooned out to rotate around him. As more energy poured from the interface crystal into him, previously blurry characters in the long sentences became more clear, the power of the mysterious writing reinforcing his body and abilities—and taking him into the realm of C-Rank.

Sure, getting more attribute points per level as he increased in Rank made him stronger than the previous Rank, but that wasn’t all there was to it. There were also the unseen effects of being a higher Rank. A more durable body, faster natural healing—even without Regeneration+—and what could only be described as more efficient stats. 20 Str at D-Rank was significantly stronger than 20 Str at E-Rank, and C-Rank would likely be another boost.

Those unrecorded advantages of Rank were the true divisions that made Rank evolutions so powerful—something he only understood as he advanced himself—and he felt each and every one of them etching their way into his body.

His Meridian Lines pulsed with power, his senses more attuned after mastering Cycling, and he followed the trail of energy as it traced through his body. As it rebuilt him from the inside out. Muscles dissolved and were reknit so quickly there wasn’t any more discomfort than a slight stretch, while the same script floating in the air around him also seared itself into his bones. The blood pumping through his veins practically glowed with solar energy, supercharging his internal organs, and even his mind became sharper.

Thanks to his high Atn, his senses had already been well above average, but even they felt like they had a blanket pulled off them. His sight sharpened, new smells tickled his nose, and he could almost hear the hearts of his party members pumping in their chests. The air on his skin moved in swirls and eddies, relaying each time his friends took a breath into their new, C-Rank lungs, and even giving him a vague sense of the room’s layout.

It didn’t end with his physical senses, either. His connection to the Chord of the Primal Echo had grown stronger, the music dancing all around a little clearer to his ears. The whole process of evolution was invigorating. Intoxicating.

And then, just like that, the sphere of yellow script floating through the air around him snapped back in to reforge the double helix written across his skin, and Hiral dropped to the floor. His C-Rank Dex easily got his feet under him, and his whole body was light. Strong.

The evolution to C had been very different than that of D-Rank. D had given him something like insights into his power, into what the runes meant, and what he could do with them. It had been about knowledge. Yes, it had improved his body, but not to the extent of the C-Rank evolution. Crossing the threshold to C had been much more about a physical increase, about a body reforged through solar energy into something else.

He'd read about the experience, but to actually go through it himself was something else entirely.

Wow, he thought as he opened and closed his fingers, revelling in the simple ease and strength coursing through him. The tattoos and Meridian Lines emerged from his skin like bruises forming at high speed as he watched Left and Right getting unsummoned.

“I love Rank evolutions,” Yanily said, only for a series of notification windows to spring up in front of Hiral.

Evolutionary Inspiration – Due to a nearby evolution, you’ve gained a permanent bonus based on that evolution.

Bonus: Gain +2 to all attributes.

A quick look showed him all three of the windows said the same thing—one for each of his party members—for a total of +6 to all his stats. Not as dramatic as getting an advanced class, but that’s still pretty good.

Getting to C-Rank also gave him 8 more points—6 from C and 2 from his advanced class—which he quickly allocated. A quick activation of Foundational Split brought his doubles back out beside him, and he then took a look at his stats.

Attributes

Strength (Str)—18 (3+6) = 28

Endurance (End)—18 (3+6+14) = 44

Dexterity (Dex)—20 (3+105+13) = 183

Intelligence (Int)—18 (3+6) = 28

Wisdom (Wis)—18 (3+6+38) = 72

Attunement (Atn)—20 (3+105) = 165

Hiral let out a low whistle. Before he’d come down to the surface, his highest attribute had been Dex, and that had only been 20. Now, with all his bonuses and gear, he was at 183. More than nine times his old stat. Sure, he’d seen very little progress on everything other than Atn and Dex, but considering his fighting style, those were the two things he needed the most of.

“Oh, I could get used to this evolution thing,” Right said beside him, the Meridian Lines on his right arm and chest sparking a fierce purple from the Infernal Conjuration over his black coat.

“My tattoos will now shape at a B-Rank efficiency,” Left added, the Dagger of Sath flowing into his hand. Despite being made of liquid, something about the weapon looked more solid, like it had a desire of its own to cut. And, unless Hiral’s eyes were playing tricks on him, it was a few inches longer than it had been.

“You’re not the only one,” Seena said, flames still licking off her. “How did nobody tell us it felt like that?”

“Never looked like that, either,” Yanily said. “I’ve watched people get their Rank evolutions at the Grandfather, and all that"—he pointed at Hiral and the two sisters—“was very different.”

“Because of our advanced classes?” Hiral offered.

“Must be,” Seeyela said, drawing one of her Fangs of the Lady and spinning it around in her hand. “Everything feels... easier. Like I was tied down before.”

“We’ve got an hour before we have to leave,” Seena said. “Let’s get a feel for what we can do in that time.”

“Uh…” Hiral started, holding up a hand.

“It’s fine; go look at your new toy and get your exploding over with. Then come join us.” With that, Seena led the other two to the far side of the large chamber.

“We’re… going to go with them,” Right said, pointing with both hands after the others.

“Have fun exploding,” Left said.