Rune Seeker

Ignoring the spearman, Hiral was just about to dive into his own achievement notifications when Seena’s voice caught his attention.

“Uh… guys,” she said, and Hiral looked through the text in the hanging yellow windows in front of him to see her with her eyes wide open.

“Something up?” Hiral asked.

“You could say that,” she said. “I got an advanced class option.”

“What? Really? That’s amazing!” Hiral minimized his windows to give her his full attention. “What is it?”

“It’s called a Flame Caller of the Phoenix,” she said, squinting like she was reading something Hiral couldn’t see.

“Wow!” he said.

Seena looked up at him. “You know what a phoenix is?”

“No idea, but it sounds… impressive?” he replied with a shrug. “Something to do with fire, I assume?”

“Yeah, looking at my abilities, a lot of them are taking on a fire element… unless they had them already. Looks like I get a few new things too. Oh, I actually get bonuses to any previous fire abilities, and like Yanily, bonus stat points. Two more per level.”

“Six points per level is like being B-Rank,” Hiral said. “You’re going to take it?”

“Oh, yeah. Uh, you might want to take a step back. Remember what happened to Yan when he took his Stormstrider class?”

“Got it,” Hiral said, backing up a few steps to stand by the others, who, like him, had their attention focused on Seena.

“Here goes,” she said, physically reaching out and tapping something in the air.

Not a second later, her green status windowappeared in front of her, then began to burn around the edges. Like a piece of paper catching fire, flames licked the fringes, curling the corners up before it caught on the text. Genuine heat radiated off the window as it was consumed by flames, the pyre in front of Seena growing by the second until not a trace of green remained.

As soon as the window vanished, liquid flame dropped out of the bottom of the hanging bonfire, hissing when it reached the stone floor, and then lines shot out in opposite directions. Inch-thick paths of fire circled around Seena to meet behind her, and she looked at the others for a second before she vanished in a pillar of roaring flames that shot for the ceiling.

Hiral threw his arms in front of his face and took a step back, the heat like a physical thing beating on his already-battered body.

“She explodes worse than you do,” Nivian complained, his root shield in front of himself and his Orbital Shield blocking Wule from the worst of it. A slight bamf, and Seeyela appeared behind the tank, still practically crumpled on the floor, while Yanily didn’t even move.

“You think she’s okay in there?” Hiral asked, taking another step back as the burning sensation on his skin moved from uncomfortable to painful.

“Yanily made it through fine,” Wule said, solar energy pulsing off him to counter the burns they were all suffering from. “Well, no worse than he usually is.”

The fire continued to rage, though, burning so long Hiral started to run through what he could do to help in his head, and then it suddenly vanished. The room plummeted into relative darkness after the almost blinding light from the tornado of fire. Where it had been a moment before, Seena hung in the air, a giant bird of orange and red flame enveloping her in its wide wings.

With a powerful screech, the huge bird whipped open its wings—easily sixty feet tip to tip—and Seena dropped out of its grasp to float to the floor. In the split second Hiral took his attention from the bird to Seena, the strange creature completely vanished, and it was just Seena standing on the black, scorched floor.

“Going to go out on a limb here and guess that was a phoenix,” Wule said.

“It was,” Seena said. “And I guess it’s sort of my… patron… now.”

“It was… real?” Hiral asked. “Not just a manifestation of your new class?”

Seena shook her head. “No, it’s real. Out there… somewhere.” She waved her hand weakly. “It tried to tell me… a lot. Too much. It’s going to take me some time to sort it all out. It was dead, but it’s not anymore. Something about being here, in the Lost Forge of Ur’Thul, let me connect with it.” She put a hand to her head like it hurt. “Sorry, I need time to work through this.”

“That’s okay, no rush,” Hiral said, taking a step towards her, but he stopped at the heat still radiating up from the stone around where the fire had burned. “Uh… the heat doesn’t bother you?”

“What heat?” she asked, tilting her head to look at him. Then her eyes glazed over. “Oh, looks like I’m immune to heat and fire effects now.”

“Can you do the big bird thing again?” Yanily asked.

“No,” she said. “At least, not at this Rank. Maybe later?”

“Okay, just warn us first,” Yanily said, having not moved an inch from where he lay on the ground.

“Yeah, sure, Yan,” she said, distracted by whatever she was reading. Then she forced her attention back to the present. “Uh, how did you guys do with achievements?”

“Haven’t looked,” Hiral said. “Something came up.”

“Oh, what?” she asked, actually blushing when everybody turned a flat look her way. “Ah… right. Well, don’t let me keep you any longer.”

“You’ll have to tell us all about your new class,” Hiral said.

“Of course. After we all have our achievements, we should sit down and consolidate our gains.”

Good enough.

With that in mind, Hiral focused back on his own achievement rewards. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Achievement: Love that Energy!

Reward: Class Modification: (Lost) Cycling Technique

(Lost) Cycling Technique – By focusing on drawing energy into your body in a specific way, benefit from increased solar energy absorption rate, quality of absorbed energy, and efficiency and power of energy-aligned abilities.

Note: Cycling is further improved by use of energy with a subtype matching your body’s preferred energy.

That’s the cycling from the first room. Now that we have the technique, we should be able to do the same thing we did with the spheres with our bodies. And, considering how I feel—along with my paltry solar energy at the moment—we’re going to need it.

What’s next?

The next notification window popped up as soon as Hiral closed the first, and it wasn’t much of a surprise—until the pain hit.

All at once, his whole body—already stiff and sore—seized up while shooting agony lanced through his muscles. Joints twisted to the point of popping, his jaw clenched so hard he felt like he was going to grind his own teeth to dust, and fire poured through his veins. Just when he thought whatever was happening was going to complete destroy him from the inside out, it stopped, and he toppled to his hands and knees, sweat bursting out of his skin all across his body.

“Ah, first time?” Yanily said as his head turned in Hiral’s direction.

“First… time?” Hiral said. “What… what just happened?”

“My guess? You just learned a weapon style. That Chord thing from the second trial?”

Hiral blinked back the memory of pain and looked at the newest achievement window.

Achievement: Strike a Chord.

Reward: Class Ability (Active): (Lost) Chord of the Primal Echo

(Lost) Chord of the Primal Echo – You have learned one small part of the ancient music that formed the universe.

Note: Sequentially and successfully executing sequences within the Chord will result in buff or debuff effects based on those previously experienced by the user.

Note (2): Buffs and debuffs are short-duration (30 seconds) but can stack with the original buff.

Note (3): New buffs and debuffs can be added to the list of available options by experiencing them.

Note (4): Other effects and uses may be possible as more of the music is discovered/written.

“Yeah… I got the style. But why did it hurt so…” Hiral cut off as Wule screamed out in pain and twitched on the floor.

Nivian, surprisingly calm, put a hand on his brother’s shoulder until the spasming seizure passed. When Wule looked to be breathing again, Nivian patted him on the shoulder. “There, there,” the tank said.

“Somebody want to explain?” Hiral asked.

“Weapon styles,” Seena spoke up. “They teach your body how to fight all at once. Years of training, muscle memory, flexibility, all of that, get crammed into you in the space of a few seconds. It… isn’t pleasant.”

“You don’t say? Why aren’t the rest of you twitching on the floor like us?”

“It’s only the first time that’s bad, for some reason,” Seena said.

“And you didn’t think to warn me?” Hiral asked, not really angry—the pain was gone—but still a little annoyed.

“Thought all the training you did on your own would get you through it without the usual suffering,” Seena said.

“Look at it this way,” Yanily said. “Next time, it’ll be totally painless.”

“Great,” Hiral said, going back to his notification window and reading through it.

Pretty much the same as what I learned during the trial, though that final note suggests I can do something other than buffs or debuffs. I wonder what that could mean? Only one way to find out… Testing!

Hopefully it won’t hurt so much.

Before he moved on to the next achievement window, though, he looked at Seena. “Any other mind-breakingly painful skill-related things I should know?”

“Probably not,” she responded, her eyes scrolling side to side as she read while basically ignoring him.

Obviously not getting anything more from her at the moment, Hiral took a deep breath, then opened the next achievement. No pain with that one, thankfully.

Achievement: … comes great responsibility.

Reward: Class Modification: (Lost) Power Modification

(Lost) Power Modification – One random ability (passive or active) is increased in potency.

Random? How do I…?

Randomization of power selection begun.

Randomization of power selection complete.

Class ability selected.

Class Modification – Killing Spree becomes Class Modification – Killing Spree+

Killing Spree+: Each enemy defeated within 60 seconds of the previously defeated enemy grants the following stacking bonuses:

+15% experience gained, +3% to all attributes (duration: 60 seconds or until a new stack of Killing Spree+ is obtained), +3% solar energy instantly regained, instant minor health recovery, and chance on kill to trigger Class Ability – A Violent End

Class Ability – A Violent End: While under the effects of Killing Spree+, killing blows have a chance (based on current stacks of Killing Spree+) to cause the target to explode.

(Explosions!)

Explosions caused by A Violent End have different effects based on who they strike.

Note: Enemies struck by explosions caused by A Violent End take damage based on the exploding target’s health immediately prior to exploding.

Note (2): Allies struck by explosions caused by A Violent End regain health based on the exploding target’s health immediately prior to exploding.

(Explosions! Explosions! Explosions!)

I swear, these notifications are just trying to say “explosions” as many times as they can. Wording aside, this is a pretty great ability. It goes from a maximum bonus of fifty percent to attributes to a whopping seventy-five percent. Not to mention faster regeneration of solar energy and health. More experience too. A lot more.

Now I just have to explain to the others why monsters are exploding around them. Then again, it does say it’s only a chance for things to blow up. Maybe I don’t have to…

Hiral glanced at Nivian, already imagining what the tank would say the first time an undead zombie exploded beside him. Then again, it could be kind of funny…

With that, Hiral chuckled and closed the achievement window, bringing up the fourth and final one.

Achievement – Forge Ahead

Reward: Convenient Exit

When leaving the Lost Forge of Ur’Thul, the portal will lead you to a convenient location.

Note: This portal will be one-way and one-time only.

Note (2): Despite being a Lost Dungeon, the Lost Forge of Ur’Thul counts towards unlocking the next Asylum.

That’s kind of an unusual reward. No class abilities or modifications. Then again, knowing what was chasing us, exiting at a different location is definitely good. Actually, when we came in, the notification already said we would exit at a different place.

“Did we just get ripped off by this last achievement?” Nivian asked.

“You saw that too?” Hiral asked.

“What’s the definition of convenient?” Yanily asked.

“At least it counts towards the Asylum,” Wule said. “We would’ve been in real trouble if it didn’t. Our whole plan hinges on being able to get there.”

“Either way, rip off or not, we can’t argue with it,” Seena said. “You all got the other three achievements? Cycling, a Chord technique, and an upgrade to one of your skills?”

“Oh, yeah, the zombies won’t know what hit them,” Yanily said, lifting one hand off the ground and making a fist. “As soon as I take a nap.”

And, with that, the spearman was miraculously asleep.