Rune Seeker

Dr. Benza’s image did its familiar shimmer, and suddenly the man was tapping his lip like he was thinking about something.

“You probably don’t know this,” the doctor started, “but magic is all about balance. Unfortunately, because of the appearance of the Enemy, we learned that all too well. Since they arrived—since they’ve been systematically killing us off—we’ve been building the planetwide PIM system.

“That’s probably a lot to digest, so let me start from the beginning before we get into the finer details. Like, for example, why you’re not all S-Ranked from birth, or what the PIMis in the first place.” Dr. Benza paced side to side like he was lecturing a class.

“Magic is about balance. Yes, I said that already, but it’s important enough I needed to repeat it. Before we developed the PIM, we had magic. Magic very similar to what you’re familiar with. It was part of the world we were born into, and over the course of our history, we learned how to manipulate it. Magic was an integral part of our society.

“But it was too weak. When the Enemy attacked, we were completely overwhelmed. The magic we’d grown so accustomed to—that we relied so heavily on—let us down. We’d been… complacent. We felt we’d deserved the magic, which meant we didn’t earn it. Effort equals results, and we didn’t put in the effort. That was our first clue.

“Well, technically our second. Let me back up a minute and tell you about the Fallen.”

Hiral’s eyes widened. What do the Fallen have to do with anything?

“Ah,” Dr. Benza said, looking beyond the party and shaking his head. “Apparently the Fallen are the topic for the Intermediate-one Tutorial. So, please come back after you’ve cleared your first D-Rank dungeon.”

“He’s just a tease,” Yanily said.

“Yeah, I don’t get this censorship,” Nivian said. “Why doesn’t he just tell us everything we need to know?”

“This is actually a good example of balance,” Dr. Benza continued, again tapping his lips. “It’s why we broke up the Tutorials into different levels after certain accomplishments, and why we limit the information the public receives. It makes your PIMs more powerful. Okay, I jumped way ahead there. Yes, I know, this is what happens when I go off-script. Thank you for the reminder.

“Anyway, going back to the arrival of the Enemy. Ahem. When we realized our magic wasn’t strong enough and saw an example of stronger magic, we decided to completely start over. Yes, we found a way to utterly destroy the magic system we’d used. Then, and only then, we rebuilt it from the ground up. We sacrificed our history to give our future a chance.” He held out his left hand, then his right. “Balance.

“We constructed the PIM system based on what the Fallen use, but modified it to take this balance into account in the hopes of forging magic capable of defeating them. Effort equals results. The true power of the PIM isn’t how it tells you what your stats are—or how it modifies them—but how it grows exponentially based on how much effort you put in.

“We designed the system to grow with you. The more you grow, the more powerful you get. Kind of obvious, right? To give you an example, our strongest warriors were probably around what you would call Low-C-Rank. That was our cap. The most powerful we’d ever get. And not nearly strong enough to stop the Enemy.

“However, by building the PIM to start at the bottom of E-Rank, the magic balanced it out by giving it a very high ceiling… S-Rank. Or, SSS+Rank if you consider the theoretical class evolutions. We also built in other requirements to push that ceiling up, such as requiring solar energy, the limit of attribute points you get per level… and even levels themselves! Yes, having twenty levels per rank, instead of say, one, allowed the PIM to be more powerful overall.

“It’s why we went to all the trouble of building dungeons and Fallen Reach. These efforts allowed us to create a magic system with tremendous potential. Enough potential, we believe, to finally defeat the Enemy and the Fallen.”

A shiver ran through Hiral’s body. “Why did he just group the Fallen in with the Enemy?” he asked quietly, and the Growers in the room looked his way.

“We gave up everything to build the PIM system,” Dr. Benza went on like nobody had said anything. “But, what is it? Personal Interface Magic? It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? The status window you can pull up conveniently tells you what your stats and abilities are, but is that all the PIM does? Rhetorical question, I know. It does far more than that, though that is where we started when building it.

“The PIM both reports on and modifies your attributes. It’s part of who you are, but also separate, all at the same time. It’s the lens through which magic is focused into you, but also a filter that feeds information back to the PIMP. Balance. Now, I can’t go into details on the PIMP in this Tutorial, but needless to say, it’s integral to the magic of the PIM system.” Dr. Benza then held his hand up beside his mouth. “It’s also listening to what I say,” he added more quietly, giving a wink.

“An added bonus to the PIM growth as you cross Ranks is that it allows the incorporation of more and more outside influences. What do I mean by this? At E-Rank, the gear you can get from dungeons is somewhat limited, in that it can modify abilities to a certain extent or, more likely, grant new ones.

“Don’t get me wrong—versatility is very important, but not always a direct path to increased power. Once you reach D-Rank, you can also start getting equipment that will give you things like bonus attributes. Need more strength? You can get rings that do that, because your PIM has evolved to have that functionality. Neat, huh? Also, in case you didn’t guess it, this is part of that balance I was talking about.”

“Wait, Nivian, don’t you already have an amulet that increases your endurance?” Hiral asked, thinking back to their first dungeon.

“Uh… not exactly,” Nivian explained. “It doesn’t actually up my endurance number, but makes me tougher relative to my strength and dexterity. Kind of like armor. It doesn’t make me get tired slower or anything.”

“As for how the PIM manifests itself,” Dr. Benza continued. “Well, that goes back to our race discussion from Introductory-three. The four races identified by the classification engine have different PIM manifestations, each with their own advantages. The Makers, for example, need to have their skin inked to access the power of their PIMs. Growers have roots… uh… growing within them, while Bonders rely on their animal companions.

“Builders, finally, have the truths of the universe written on their skin, which allows them to power the runes they inscribe in crystals. Each of these systems has strengths and weaknesses. For example, only the Growers are truly self-sufficient, needing no outside objects or help. Makers, on the other hand, can manifest very powerful tattoos, assuming they were inked on their skin by another.

“Balance,” Dr. Benza said again, holding up his hands. “And that is the end of the Introductory Tutorials. I’ll see you again after you’ve cleared your first D-Rank dungeon. Who knows? Maybe one of you watching this will even have your own class evolution by then!”

With that, the image reverted to the standard “waiting” image they’d seen earlier, and all eyes turned to Hiral, who looked down at the runes on his arms.

The truths of the universe? Is that what the double-helix pattern is? But he said Builders needed to use the runes inscribed in crystal. There must still be more to it.

“Over. Powered,” Yanily said. “We get roots and he gets the truths of the universe. How is that fair?”

“He also explodes,” Nivian said.

“So, Hiral, I always thought Fallen Reach was just a name,” Seena said, ignoring the banter in a practiced fashion. “He brought up the Fallen a couple times in all that. Anything you can share?”

Hiral let his arms drop to his sides—he could mull over Dr. Benza’s words later—and looked at his party. “Fallen Reach is named after the Fallen, as you can probably guess,” he said with a small chuckle. “They are—were—heroes, or so history tells us. They were the ones who put Fallen Reach in the sky to chase the sun.”

“That doesn’t exactly match up with what the doctor was saying,” Yanily said.

“It doesn’t, though maybe we’re missing something? He said he couldn’t talk about it until the Intermediate Tutorials, so…” Hiral trailed off with a shrug.

“Are they important to you?” Seena asked. “The Fallen, I mean. Do you worship them or anything up on the island?”

“No,” Hiral said immediately with a shake of his head. “Like the tattoos”—he thumbed at Left and Right—“they’re part of our legends. The towers are named after them—the ones we use to tell time, because one pulses every hour—but other than that… they’re basically just a footnote.”

“Do you know anything about them?” Nivian asked. “Anything that might be a hint?”

Hiral ran his hand over his scalp while he thought about it, then shook his head again. “Honestly, no. Other than them being heroes, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about them. We use them in our curses.” He chuckled.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out more when we get to the next Tutorial,” Seena said.

“Are we going to get to the next Tutorial?” Nivian asked. “I think it’s time we have this conversation. Don’t get me wrong, that stuff about the PIM was interesting and all, but it doesn’t change what Dr. Benza said when we got here about Fallen Reach crashing.”

“It’s kind of moot, isn’t it?” Yanily asked. “Even if we wanted to do anything about it—and if the doc here would tell us anything—Fallen Reach passed by ages ago. We can’t catch up.”

“If I may?” Left asked, and the others looked at him.

“Got an idea?” Hiral asked.

“Possibly,” the double answered.

Hiral glanced at the others, and when they didn’t have any objections, he nodded at Left.

“Dr. Benza,” Left said, “can you tell us more about Fallen Reach crashing?”

The image of the doctor shifted briefly and then shook his head. “Crisis response data is limited to those at C-Rank and above, or those at D-Rank with evolved classes and above,” he said with that monotone voice he used sometimes.

“If we were going to Fallen Reach anyway, would you tell us?” Left persisted.

“No,” Dr. Benza said. “Access is limited as outlined previously and cannot be circumvented.”

“Think this is one of those balance things?” Hiral asked Left.

“Possibly, at least partially,” Left said, not turning away from the image. “Dr. Benza, when we leave this Asylum to get to the next one, how do we travel?”

Another image shift. “A Disc ofPassage will take you to the next zone of your choice when you’re ready to continue your growth.”

“Of our choice? Doctor, can you show us a map of the zones?”

Dr. Benza’s image stuttered to the side, and a glowing, three-foot sphere appeared beside him. Blue, green, brown—the colors started blurry at first, then sharpened as mountains grew, rivers connected to lakes and seas, and a wind seemed to blow across the grassy plains.

“This… this is our world?” Wule asked, stepping closer to the incredibly detailed globe.

“It appears so,” Left said. “And a far better depiction of it than I’d hoped. Dr. Benza, where are we?”

A blinking blue dot appeared on the side of the globe closest to Left.

Taking a step forward, Left reached out and touched the sphere, then gently squeezed his fingers closer together, the whole globe shrinking in response. A smile quirked the double’s lips as he reversed the motion, making the sphere grow until it was as big as they were.

“How did you know it would do that?” Hiral asked. “We don’t have anything like this on Fallen Reach.”

“Just a hunch,” Left said. “Regardless, this is where we are… and I believe these are the Needle Mountains.” He was pointing surprisingly far to the south.

“Is our world really small?” Yanily asked. “That seems pretty far away.”

“The discs move really fast,” Hiral said. “Assuming they’re like the tattoos, I mean. We could’ve easily traveled seven hundred miles or more in the two hours we were on it.”

Somebody whistled at the number.

“And if these are the Needles, that means this is the EnSath River,” Left continued, drawing his finger in a line between the mountains, “and the Sea of White beyond. Dr. Benza, can you show us where Fallen Reach is now?”

A blinking yellow dot appeared above the Sea of White.

“See?” Yanily said. “Even if we wanted to go, we’re never going to catch up to it. We have to wait for it to come around again.”

“Dr. Benza, please show us the zones we’d have access to travel to,” Left said, and different areas on the globe glowed a soft red, dotted lines connecting them to the blinking blue dot.

“I see what you’re thinking,” Hiral said, looking at the lit-up zones and walking around the globe. “None of them are beside the river, though. Even if we get ahead of the island, we need a jump point.”

“Get ahead? How…?” Yanily started.

“The discs,” Seena caught on. “Left and Hiral are suggesting we take a disc to a zone near the EnSath River, ahead of Fallen Reach, then jump when it gets close.”

“Exactly,” Left said. “The EnSath River runs along the equatorial line of the planet, almost too perfectly to be natural when looking at it like this.”

“There are Academics who are pretty sure it isn’t natural,” Hiral said for the Growers’ benefit. “Something to do with the pulses is one theory. Sorry, that’s not important now,” he added as he finished his second rotation around the globe. “I checked again; none of these zones are where we need them to be. Left?”

“Dr. Benza, assuming we clear the three dungeons in the D-Rank zone, will we have access to another Asylum and the zones connected to it?” Left asked.

“Yes,” Dr. Benza said simply.

“Can you show us the connected zones and their ranks?”

More areas blossomed red, though this time they were slightly different shades and had large letters in the middle of them.

“D and… C. Zone ranks?” Nivian asked, looking at one of the zones.

“Must be,” Seena said. “Anybody see one beside the river?”

“Here!” Hiral said, putting his finger on the globe, and the others rushed around to join him. “It’s actually not too far ahead of us, and just two trips.” He traced his finger along the dotted lines back to the blinking blue dot.

“Do any of you know this area?” Right asked.

“Can you make it bigger again, Left?” Seena asked. “This area right here.”

Left put both his hands on the globe and then gently pulled them apart, increasing the size of the globe even further. Interestingly enough, as the sphere grew, it also rose up into the air, forcing the group to tilt their heads back while they looked at the planet Left seemed to be holding above them.

“That’s enough,” Seena said.

“Explains why this room is so big,” Hiral mumbled, looking at how the globe almost reached the tall ceiling. The details of the map, on the other hand, were impressive.

“I think… I think I know this area,” Seena said. “Nivian, do these look like The Horns to you?” She pointed at a pair of curved mountains straddling the EnSath River.

“Those are definitely them,” the tank said.

“These are jump points,” Seena said, tapping the mountains, though her finger barely made the light shimmer.

“So,” Hiral said, nodding as the pieces came together in his head, “we take a Disc of Passage from here to this zone”—he drew his finger along the line connecting the blue dot to the first zone—"clear the three dungeons there, get to the next Asylum, then immediately take another disc to here.” He traced along the second connecting line.

“From there,” Seena picked up, “we cross the zone, ignoring the dungeons if we have to, to get to the jump point before Fallen Reach does. Are you sure the discs are fast enough to get us ahead of the island?”

“Dr. Benza, can you add a scale of distance to the map?” Left asked, and a small notation appeared in the corner. “We have about two hundred to two-fifty hours until Fallen Reach arrives at The Horns. I estimate each of the disc trips is roughly two or three hours.”

“Easy peasy,” Yanily said.

“There’s also the time we need to clear the dungeons,” Nivian said.

“Not to mention getting to them,” Wule said. “This zone looks huge. We’re going to be doing most of this on foot, remember.”

“Then there’s the rain…” Hiral said, and everybody just kind of paused. “If it’s light, I think we can pretty safely move through it. But if it’s storming… that seems to be when the Enemy comes out. We need to think about hiding when the rain is at its heaviest.”

“There’s also the issue of needing to be C-Rank or have an evolved class to get any information about what’s going on up there,” Seeyela said. “But that’s something we can work on while we travel. If we get to this zone ahead of schedule”—she pointed at the zone with The Horns in it—“we can always go the dungeons there to farm.”

“You think we should go?” Seena asked her sister.

“How can we stay here safe and sound if what Dr. Benza says is true?” Seeyela asked. “Even if he won’t tell us what’s going on… Favela is back there. I’m going.”

“And we’re going with you,” Seena said, glancing at her party members, each of whom nodded at her in turn.

“I guess it’s settled, then,” Yanily said. “When do we leave?”

“Not until at least after dinner,” Nivian said.