Rune Seeker

“Fitch’s sword,” Hiral agreed, leaving the weapon to float beside him.

“That’s… creepy,” Milly said, unconsciously moving to stand a bit behind Left.

“I know you weren’t sure about taking it,” Seena said with a glance at her sister. “But, if it’s a powerful weapon, it’s best we make use of it.”

“You sure you’re okay with it?” Hiral directed his question to Seeyela. “I can leave it in the Ring of Amin Thett, or get rid of it entirely, if you’d prefer.”

“No.” Seeyela shook her head. “Seena’s right. You should use it. What’s it do, anyway? Besides make my skin crawl.”

Hiral looked to the side. “If you think its appearance is disturbing, maybe I shouldn’t share the window…”

“I don’t think this is one of the surprises they want in a fight,” Left pointed out.

“Fair,” Hiral agreed, then opened the weapon’s window to show the others. Unlike the yellow of his personal status windows, this one came up black and wriggly. Yes, the window itself squirmed even as they read the text.

(Lost) Flame-Bladed Rapier of Eldritch Horror – A-Rank

Ability – Dark Edge of Insanity: Coat the blade in darkness that breaks the mind and brings nightmares to the surface, hindering combat effectiveness of those struck.

Note: Dark Edge of Insanity intensity and duration based on user’s Atn.

Note (2): Dark Edge of Insanity has reduced effect on Undead and Constructs.

Ability – The Bad Touch: Pierce the veil between realms to release a fraction of that which lives beyond to attack nearby foes.

Note: The Bad Touch’s damage and duration based on user’s Atn.

Note (2): The number of active The Bad Touch summons is limited by user’s Rank.

“I feel dirty just reading that,” Nat said.

“It… gets worse,” Hiral said, taking the sword in hand. A quick slash at the ground by his feet activated The Bad Touch, and reality seemed to split open like worms beneath rotting flesh. That alone wasn’t too bad, until a tentacle with an eyeball at the end of it squirmed its way through the slice. At its base, it was about as thick as Hiral’s leg, and tapered off until the palm-sized eye blinked at its tip. And, of course, unlike a person’s iris, this orb housed a constantly shifting scene of darkness and light that made Hiral want to vomit just by looking at it.

It almost looks like something reaching from within trying to escape as it gets pulled deeper and deeper underwater…

“Does it just stare at people, then?” Yanily asked.

Instead of answering, Hiral sent a mental command to the tentacle, and it whipped around to look at the entrance where they’d entered from. A split second later, a beam of pure, pink energy screeched from the eye to slap into the stone wall.

“I can have up to three of them active at once,” Hiral said. “Ranged attacks. Pure damage. No debuffs.”

“Bet you were disappointed about that,” Seeyela chuckled.

“Kind of,” he admitted.

“Did… did the Enemy have eyes on their tentacles?” Yanily asked. “Cause I don’t remember eyes. And I’m pretty sure I would. Then again, I guess they are invisible…”

“I don’t think these are Enemy tentacles,” Hiral said. “Something else from where they’re from. Something… darker. Or, I guess it could be another species we haven’t seen yet.”

“What makes you say that?” Seena asked.

“Just a feeling I get when I hold it,” Hiral said, looking at the sword in his hand – namely the script along the blade he couldn’t read. “Whatever the weapon represents is important to the Enemy – or maybe the Infested – but isn’t of them, if that makes sense.”

“A squid Progenitor?” Seena suggested.

“Could be something very much like that,” Hiral said. “Li’l Ur, do you remember something that matches these tentacles?”

“I…” the little lich floating at Seena’s shoulder started. “There was something, but it’s gone. I can’t recall…” the lich trailed off, looking up with a somehow-pathetic expression on its skull-face.

“That’s okay, little guy,” Seena said, patting her pet lich gently on the head. “Let us know if it comes back to you?”

“Of course, Mistress,” Li’l Ur said.

“Maybe whatever that something is, we can use it to our advantage?” Seeyela asked, looking back at the sword.

“We’ll see.” Hiral shrugged and pulled the sword back into the Ring of Amin Thett. “As for the other weapon I got as the dungeon reward, it’s much prettier.” With another quick mental command, a massive, two-handed greataxe emerged from the ring.

Easily as tall as Hiral was, the weapon was made of the same crystal as the Emperor’s Greatsword across his back. Heavy blades sprouted in both directions from the end of the weapon, the tops of which curved around the sunburst-like design that capped it. Of course, like the sword before it, none of these features were what really drew attention. No, for the axe, it was the fact the weapon seemed to hold an entire universe within it.

Stars, constellations, and other colorful galactic entities filled the haft and blades. Staring at it revealed a depth to the ‘space’ that couldn’t possibly be contained by the person-sized weapon – and yet was.

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“This is Fate Spinner,” Hiral said, then opened the weapon’s window for all to see.

(Lost) Fate Spinner – A-Rank

Effects: Grants user access to Ability (Passive) – Inevitable and Ability (Passive) – Eternal

Ability (Passive) – Inevitable: Increases user’s critical hit chance by an amount based on Dex.

Note: Current bonus = 33%.

Ability (Passive) – Eternal: Abilities channeled through Fate Spinner are partially powered by the stars within, reducing solar energy cost by an amount based on user’s Atn.

Note: Current reduction = 30%.

“I’m so shocked I can’t even be jealous right now,” Seeyela said flatly. “Thirty-three percent to crit. From one item. How far over one hundred are you with that? Can you even be over a hundred?”

“I… don’t know,” Hiral admitted. “Haven’t done the math. Need more crit damage gear though.”

“That’s a strong A-Rank weapon,” Seena said. “Do you have a weapon skill for it?”

“Got one with a little practicing, thanks to In the Hands of the Duelist,” Hiral said, bracing the weapon with both hands and taking a few mock swings. Compared to all his other weapons, the axe was heavy. Without a Rune of Gravity – like the Emperor’s Greatsword had – he was whipping around its full weight every time. He’d tried using his own rune to lower and increase the weight, but it was oddly unwieldly compared to having a rune installed directly into the weapon.

No, he’d have to do it the old-fashioned way. Good thing he’d gotten a few extra points in Str from the achievement…

“Anything else you want to share with us?” Seena prompted.

“Uh…” Hiral looked at the others, then released the axe to float in the air beside him. “I guess there is one more thing. Well, one more… group of things…” With those cryptic words, he once more activated the Arsenal of Amin Thett within the ring at his back, and four, head-sized crystal orbs floated out.

“You have Mediums?” Nat asked.

“Four of them?” Milly followed up, her voice a little more accusing.

“Not… exactly,” Hiral said. “To either of those things. I actually have about two dozen, but four is all I can control at one time right now. One per rank, I think…”

“How do you have four?” Milly asked. “That’s not fair!”

“It’s really not what you think,” Hiral said quickly. “They aren’t the same as your Mediums. They’re not bound to me, and I can’t put or use tattoos on them. They’re just the same defensive orbs that were flying around attacking people on Fallen Reach. All they can do is fire attack beams or raise a defensive shield. Neither is particularly strong. B-Rank after I inscribed some runes to make them a little stronger.”

“What can they do?” Yanily asked.

“Shoot stuff?” Hiral said with a shrug. “They’re another ranged option. Lower damage than my RHCs, but a higher rate of fire, and I can position them at different angles. Just more options, really. Four concentrated beams on one target should do some okay damage, I think.”

As he spoke, Hiral gestured with his hands, the four flying orbs following his movements to whip through the air in different patterns. Out to the sides, as if surrounding a nearby target, back over his shoulders like support artillery, then rotating around in an infinity pattern. Finally, he even brought them together in front of himself and activated their shield ability, creating a wall-like barrier directly in front of him.

“Why do you have so many in your ring-thing?” Nat asked.

“They’re not very durable,” Hiral said. “One or two good hits from a C- or B-Rank will be enough to bring one down.”

“And you really use all these weapons in a fight?” Milly asked.

“Those and more,” Yanily said. “His ring’s ability – well, not the death beam – is called an arsenal for a reason.”

“You have a death beam too?” Nat asked, and this time she actually crossed her arms, and Hiral nervously nodded. “That’s it, I’m getting lost on the surface too.”

“I’m going with you,” Milly said. “Left, you’ll come with us, won’t you?”

“Perhaps we should talk it over with your parents first,” the double suggested, and Milly just huffed.

“Is that really all this time?” Seena asked Hiral.

“That’s it for me,” Hiral said, stuffing all his weapons back into the ring. Once they got inside the dungeon, he’d pull them all back out. Then again, considering the glares he was getting from his sisters, maybe he didn’t need them all. He could get through a dungeon with just the new ones, couldn’t he? Yeah, it’d be a good chance to practice.

Practice. That was totally the reason he’d leave most of his weapons hidden away. Not because he was scared of his two younger, E-Ranked sisters. Not. At. All.

Guess I know where the doubles get their cowardice…

“Okay, let’s do the rest of us,” Seena said. “Then we’ll move on to the girls.”

And, that’s exactly what they did. The others didn’t take nearly as long as Hiral – he’d gotten a couple of extra achievements, after all – and their new abilities were pretty straightforward. Yanily’s main upgrades included the spear that would grow with his own power, and a new ability that greatly increased his mobility. That one also happened to be visually amazing, with wings of storm clouds and lightning springing from his shoulder blades to move him around.

Seeyela, interestingly, got a new kind of Gravity Venom that would affect anything she struck, increasing the target’s weight – and lowering its speed – with every hit. She, of course, also got the aura she’d activated during the final battle with Vorinal, Aura of the Void-Venom Empress, though it wasn’t quite as powerful as the one granted by her sponsor. As for her gear, she got a pair of anklets Hiral was able to install into her armor, which gave her a decent Dex boost, but more importantly improved her speed and balance. They were kind of like a combined version of what Hiral got from his Pants and Bootsor Ur’Thul.

Like her sister, Seena got a lesser version of her sponsor’s aura – the Aura of The Mother of Flame – as well as an ability that acted a lot like the crystal orbs Hiral had stowed in his ring. The Burning Artillery was aptly named, and created a sphere of flame at her shoulder which would throw firebolts at any target she attacked with another flaming ability. The damage wasn’t huge, but it was basically ‘free’, since the sphere would persist for almost an hour.

Totally going to see if I can steal that through Shared Strengthfor myPrimal Chord.

As for gear, Seena actually got something for Li’l Ur. A tiny – and adorable – robe that boosted the buffs he used on his Mistress. The fact items like that even existed within the PIMP’s vault raised all kinds of questions, but they weren’t likely to get answers to those for a long time. Either way, they gave her a nice increase to her firepower.

As if she even needed it.

After the quick review of the party, they went through Nat’s and Milly’s admittedly limited abilities. Then again, they were only E-Rank, so they couldn’t be expected to have a lot yet. The group spent a solid ten minutes discussing how their magic worked, though, and came up with a few ways to give the girls safe opportunities to practice with them.

Finally, with all that done, Seena gave everybody a nod, and more importantly, permission to enter the dungeon.