Rune Seeker

Hiral sat against the wall of the tunnel, hundreds of feet back from the staircase leading up to the empty city. Left had gone to scout ahead, vanishing as he activated the Way of Shadow, while the others had backtracked to get some rest. Seena had pushed them well beyond the foot of the stairs, in case anything noticed them and could enter the tunnel, and they’d since set up their tents.

A look at his status window showed the experience they’d gained in the dungeon had finally been applied after they’d exited, with it pushing him all the way to level 4. A few quick stat point distributions—along with the new ring—put a smile on his face.

Attributes

Strength (Str)—18 (3) = 21

Endurance (End)—18 (3) = 21

Dexterity (Dex)—20 (3+38) = 69

Intelligence (Int)—18 (3) = 21

Wisdom (Wis)—18 (3) = 21

Attunement (Atn)—19 (3+38) = 60

Getting 3 free points to all his stats, including the ones he’d been ignoring, was a huge boon. It was like getting more than four extra levels at D-Rank. Even better, his doubles somehow had copies of the rings when they split off, giving each of them the 3 extra points per stat too. Right and Left couldn’t take those rings off, and the accessories dissolved into solar energy like they did if they got unsummoned.

For his part, Hiral had decided to put his free points into Dex and Atn, like his forced points, to really lean on that strength, though he was starting to become a bit unbalanced. He didn’t need to worry much about Str when it came to damage, with his RHCs and Ring of Amin Thett based on Dex and Atn. The Emperor’s Greatsword took care of its own damage with the gravity manipulation, and if he really needed to, he could always use Runes of Impact to add some punch to his blows.

Int and Wis would likely help him be a bit smarter—obviously—but the Growers already had the Wis side of things covered, and frankly, he could just leave anything Int-based up to Left. His only real worry was his End. He couldn’t take much punishment with his End still basically in E-Rank. Yes, reaching D-Rank had naturally toughened up his body in a way not reflected in his stats, but it wouldn’t amount to much if another D-Rank caught up to him.

The crystal armor he wore would help, but should he put some points into End in the coming levels? It might be a good idea, but the focus on Dex and Atn held a certain appeal. The way they boosted his reflexes and reaction time blended so well with all the years of training he’d put in. Those two stats, more than anything else, let him push all that training to the limit.

And that feeling of pushing his limits—of pushing past them—was addictive.

He’d have to talk to Left and Right about it, get their opinions. For now, though, he smiled again at the stats and closed the window. With that done, he took a look at the others to see how they were doing.

Nivian sat in the middle of the tunnel with his brother, slowly stirring a pot of stew he’d pulled from his Interspatial Ring. Though the ring had prevented the pot from spilling its contents and keeping it fresh, it oddly didn’t keep its temperature, so Nivian was slowly reheating it for dinner.

“The stew is a good choice,” Seena said, coming over to sit down beside Hiral when she saw him watching Nivian. “Warm food, plus I think it gives a buff to endurance, critical hit chance, and crit damage. He’s been playing with the recipe a bit.”

“He seems to really enjoy cooking,” Hiral said.

“He does. Don’t tell him I told you this, but their mother died down here on the surface just before they were old enough to start coming down with her.” Seena nodded towards the twins. “Ruela—that was his mother’s name—used to cook with Nivian. Taught him how. As you can probably guess, Wule just sat around and threw jibes at his brother, but it was a happy time for them. I think cooking like this, Nivian doing the work and Wule sitting with him, reminds them of that.”

“I’m sorry to hear about their mother,” Hiral said. “Is it common for children to come down with their parents?”

“The first few times, yeah,” Seena said. “Seeyela came down with our parents first, then a few years later when I was old enough.”

“A few years?” Hiral asked, looking from Seena to her sister, who was once again sparring with Yanily, Right lounging nearby. “I thought you two were only a year or two apart?”

Seena raised an eyebrow and slowly turned her head so she was scowling directly at Hiral. “I’m not sure if I should be insulted or flattered by that. Seeyela is five years older than me. She was my age when she had Favela.”

“I see,” Hiral said. “And how old were you when you first came down to the surface?”

“Fourteen. I already had a few levels by then from training up on the islands, but as you probably noticed, the trip down takes a certain amount of physicality. We don’t throw our kids off the islands too young.” She chuckled. “Usually.”

“So… Favela… She’s kind of a prodigy, then?” Hiral joked.

“My niece falling off the island falls under that not usually category,” Seena said, then leaned her head back against the wall. “I can’t believe it’s really only been a few weeks since all that happened.”

“Since I threw myself off the island?” Hiral said, thinking back to the panic-filled flight—fall—from the island before he’d even had a class. “If you think about it, though, if Favela hadn’t fallen… we wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have come down with you in the first place, and…” He trailed off, thoughts quickly turning darker. “Lonil, Vix, Fitch, Balyo, Picoli… They’d all still be…”

Seena patted his knee. “We might not have ever found Seeyela and the others. And even if we did, against those Shapers, what would we have done on our own? If Favela didn’t fall—if you didn’t jump off and save her—no, we wouldn’t be here, but all of us might be dead.” She gestured at the rest of the party. “And we never would’ve found a way into the dungeons, or learned about the threat to Fallen Reach.

“Look, don’t dwell too much on what could’ve been. It won’t be. This is it. Yes, things would be different, but that doesn’t mean they’d be better. Focus on what’s ahead. On what we still need to do, not what we could’ve done.”

“On saving Fallen Reach?” Hiral asked.

“Exactly. We may not know what the threat is, but the fact we know there’s a threat at all is more than anybody on the islands has. It’s up to us.”

Hiral couldn’t help but chuckle. “The Everfail, Fallen Reach’s only hope? You’d get laughed off the island for saying that.”

But Seena wasn’t laughing, and she punched him none too gently in the thigh. “Are you still thinking of yourself like that? I thought we got past it.”

“Old habits,” Hiral sighed. “When I think about it, I know I’m not that person anymore.”

“You never were,” Seena said.

“You didn’t know me then.”

“I didn’t need to. I think we’ve been… through some stuff… together. I’ve seen the real you more than any of them did.” She pointed one finger up as if the islands were passing overhead.

“Some stuff?” Hiral asked, smiling. “Yeah, we’ve been through some stuff.”

“Exactly. Even before you had your class. Look, Hiral, I’m not trying to nag you. And I’m sorry I punched you. I know it’s not easy to change how you think so quickly, but I’ll keep telling you the same thing as many times as I need to until you accept it. And if you need to talk about it, I’m here. We’re here.” Once again, she nodded towards the others.

“Thanks, Seena,” Hiral said. “I don’t think I’ve said it, but I’ve never really had something like this. Other than my family, I mean. You guys all mean a lot to me. The way you’ve taken me in. I really can’t thank you enough.”

“We needed a sixth party member to fill the group,” she said straight-faced. She even managed to hold it for a few seconds before her lips cracked into a smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help it.”

Hiral shook his head, but he was smiling too. “Don’t blame you. I set myself up for that.”

“You did. But, seriously, we’re all family in this party now. After everything we’ve been through.”

“Some stuff,” Hiral agreed.

“Yeah. Some stuff. And not just Nivian and Wule, or me and Seeyela.”

“Oh, please don’t brother me up with Yanily,” Hiral said, practically pleading, and Seena chuckled again.

“He’s not that bad.”

“No, he’s not, really,” Hiral admitted. “Except at whatever he’s trying to do now. It doesn’t look like he’s making any progress at all.”

“It doesn’t, does it?” Seena agreed as Seeyela and Yanily once again backed up after a quick exchange. Raising her voice, she called, “Hey, Yan, what are you even trying to do?”

The two sparring Growers didn’t pause what they were doing. Yanily held his spear up horizontally, then thrust it forward in one strong motion with a shouted “Yah!” Seeyela, for her part, brought up her paired fang daggers as if to block something… except nothing really happened.

“He’s trying to copy that lightning-bolt charge he did with the sword,” Right answered for the spearman. “Says he felt something when it happened, so he’s been trying different kinds of thrust attacks to make it work.”

“That last one was like what Balyo used when she charged up her spear,” Yanily said, finally dropping out of his fighting stance and resting the spear-butt on the ground. “The technique is like a word at the tip of my tongue. I know it’s there, I can practically taste it, but I can’t quite get it out.”

Hiral looked from Yanily to Seena, then to Right, and back to Yanily. “Because you’re trying the wrong thing?”

“What do you mean?” Yanily asked. “With the sword, I kind of went… yah!” He thrust one arm out. “Then I was all zzzaaap.” He made a wiggly gesture with his hand and hopped forward.

“Exactly,” Hiral said. “The sword used a movement ability, not an attack. All I’ve seen you do for the last hour is thrust. Instead of trying to copy it with an attack, why don’t you try to merge it with a movement technique of your own?”

“I don’t have any movement techniques, unless you mean Nivian dragging me up with his Swarm Tactics,” Yanily said.

“Should we try that?” Nivian asked from where he sat beside the steaming pot.

Even from a distance, the smell reached Hiral’s nose, and his stomach growled quietly.

“Are you sure you don’t have a movement ability?” Hiral asked, and Yanily paused. “Maybe one that’s not quite a technique at all yet? Something you’ve… improvised?”

Yanily’s eyes narrowed as he scratched his head, but Right seemed to catch on pretty quickly. “Of course, why didn’t I think of that?” the double asked.

“Why didn’t you think of what?” Yanily asked the double, only to see the man pointing down at his feet. As soon as Yanily’s eyes settled on his own boots, his eyes widened. “Could that work?” he asked quietly. Rather than waiting for anybody to respond, he immediately dropped back down into a fighting stance.

This time, instead of looking at Seeyela, he focused on a section of floor off to her side, then began slowly spinning his spear in his hands. Around and around the weapon went, Yanily’s concentration deepening with each sweeping swing. Faster with each rotation, the spear became a blur, the relative quiet of the cave broken by what sounded like the rumble of distant thunder. Thunder coming from Yanily’s spear.

Then he began adding his solar energy in a slow, steady stream, as if he were dipping his toes in unknown water. Electricity sparked on the edge of his glyph-etched spear-blade with the first touch of energy, and then Yanily snapped his back foot forward while whipping the spear in an arching uppercut. Feeding a powerful pulse of solar energy in at the same time, the spear—and Yanily—suddenly transformed into a bolt of bright lightning and shot towards the ceiling. Within less than the blink of an eye, the lighting bolt struck the ceiling and then ricocheted off, slamming back to the ground in an explosive shockwave of power that threw aside the tents and revealed Yanily with his spear driven a foot into the solid stone.

Powerful arcs of lightning crawled along his body and crackled in the air around him, while a smell like the one preceding a crisp rain tickled Hiral’s nose. Yanily stood in the center of a ten-foot-diameter circle of sparking energy for several long seconds before he finally moved, pulling the spear from the ground, and the lightning coursing along his body faded away.

Seeyela, off to the side, looked from the charred ground and the missing chunk in the road to her two daggers. “That is what you were trying to do to me!?” she asked, voice cracking.

“You did it, Yanily!” Hiral cheered.

“Yes… yes, he certainly did,” Nivian said, voice cold like a winter storm, and Hiral looked over to see the stew pot on its side.

And most of the pot’s contents running down Nivian’s face and chest.

“And there go those buffs,” Seena said as Yanily took a step back from the tank rising to his feet.