Rune Seeker

Hiral looked up from where he sat studying the RHCs to see how Left and Right were doing. The two sparred with Vix and Nivian, while Balyo and Yanily practiced spear forms nearby. Fitch was by himself doing sword katas, and Lonil was learning how to swing his new heavy club around. Still, Hiral’s eyes kept going back to Left and Right as they trailed purple smoke from many of their movements.

Infernal Conjuration, eh?

Over the last six hours since they’d cleared the dungeon, the party had spent a lot of time discussing the abilities they’d gotten from the achievements and how they could incorporate them into strategies. Interestingly enough, even though they’d all gotten the same achievements in the dungeons—and some before, such as Terminal—the abilities they’d gained didn’t turn out to all be identical. Hiral and Seena, for example, had both gained Infernal Conjuration, imbuing Left and Right—along with many of Seena’s abilities—with additional effects.

Seena’s roots gained a new damage type—the purple flame—as did Left and Right, though Hiral’s copies also now trailed purple smoke when they moved, if they chose to. The smoke, like Seeyela had mentioned, had very minor slowing and acidic effects that didn’t affect the doubles or those they considered allies. During sparring, if the doubles concentrated, the smoke would hinder their opponent, so that implied it was at least somewhat under their control.

On the other hand, Vix had gained the ability to do significant extra damage to conjured items or creatures from the achievement Unsullied and Unsummoned. And Wule, who got possibly the most interesting ability, could summon a pair of solar energy lanterns that would follow him around, acting like batteries until he used their energy. Each gave him an extra twenty percent solar energy capacity.

The abilities from the dungeon had really given the party a lot more flexibility, and would make the next run they planned for the following… whatever they were going to call it after they slept… much easier. In the meantime, Seena had conjured a barricade in the entry to the cave to help prevent unwanted visitors—after they’d taken a quick look outside.

Just like Dr. Benza had said, there was now a clear path for them to follow, glowing roots marking the trail for them to take to the next dungeon. Even more interesting, those plants in particular gave off faint solar energy which the party could absorb to restore spent energy. It was slow going, not even as strong as the Quillback room, but it was certainly better than nothing. Especially since they didn’t know how far the next dungeon was.

Still, those were problems for later, and after moving all the corpses to one corner of the room—they didn’t want to risk leaving them outside and attracting predators—everybody focused on training and practicing with their new abilities.

Well, almost everybody. Hiral had been sitting against the wall, studying the RHCs for the last hour.

“I think I’m close,” Hiral said, lifting one of the RHCs up in both hands to show her. “See this rune in here?” He pointed with his left hand at what looked like a crystal slide with the rune etched into it. “This is the Rune of Impact, from what I can tell. And, you see how there are three slots here? I think the slot this rune is in is the primary slot. It determines what happens when I pull the trigger. You know, a trigger like a crossbow.

“Anyway, when I tested it out by moving the rune slide into other slots, nothing happened when I pulled the trigger.”

“So, what are the other slots for, then?” Seena asked, looking closely at the RHC.

“I think they modify the primary effect,” Hiral said.

“Modify? How?”

“Not entirely sure. I’ll need more runes to figure it out.”

“More runes? What about the ones on your arms?” Seena shifted her attention to the two visible runes on Hiral’s forearms. “Er, you know, Hiral, this is the first time I’ve really gotten a chance to look at them, but don’t both runes look the same?”

“They’re inverted versions of each other,” Hiral said. “Rejection and Attraction. Like two sides of the same coin, or a mirror image.”

“So, if you flip the rune in here upside-down, does that mean it has a different effect?” Seena pointed again at the RHC.

“No, the runes seem to have an absolute orientation, so no matter how you hold it, it’s still the same rune,” Hiral said, though the question sent his mind down a different path. “You make an interesting point, though.” He pulled the Rune of Impact slide out of the RHC and held it up to his eye. “If this is anything like the runes I have, that would mean there must be a mirror image.”

“What would the opposite of impact be?” Seena asked.

Great question. Rejection and attraction. Are they opposites? Kind of, but not exactly. They’re definitely related, though. What would be like that for impact? What is impact? The collision of two forces or objects. What’s the key there?

Collision. Kind of like rejection.

But collision and rejection don’t always happen when two forces or objects meet. Like when I pour water into a larger bucket of water. Or when armor gets struck. Sure, there’s impact there, but if the armor is good enough, it protects the person wearing the armor. Why? If it’s a hard armor, it rejects the blow. Deflects it. But what about padded armor? It doesn’t reject the attack.

It absorbs it.

As soon as the thought solidified in Hiral’s mind, scripts of solar energy flowed from the double-helix patterns on his arms to consolidate on his biceps. Yellow energy flared—Seena even had to look away from the bright light—and the power built and built as the scripts swirled into a larger shape. Then, all at once, the light flashed. Hiral’s solar capacity dropped to zero in an instant, and his previously bare biceps now held two new runes.

“What…?” Seena started to ask, but a flash and Whoa from across the room had both their heads snapping to the commotion.

Blue light billowed out of Left’s and Right’s upper arms, so bright, it forced everybody to turn away or cover their eyes, then flashed once, and the doubles were gone.

“Hiral…?” Seena asked beside him, and the other Grower heads turned in his direction as well.

“Everything okay?” Yanily asked.

“I think so,” Hiral said, opening his status windoweven though he suspected what he’d find. “I’ve got two new runes. The Rune of Impact and the Rune of Absorption.” He looked down at his right bicep, though the rune was gone, and his tattoos had returned.

“What happened to Left and Right?” Nivian asked.

“That part… I’m not sure about,” Hiral said. “But I’m completely out of solar energy, so it’ll be a few minutes before I can bring them back to find out.”

“Completely out and only a few minutes? Overpowered S-Rank absorption,” Yanily said. “Well, let us know when you’re ready. Balyo, let’s get back at it.”

The spearwoman shrugged, then fell back in beside Yanily, and the two resumed their spear forms.

“You okay?” Seena asked.

“Yeah,” Hiral said. “Guess it answers a question I had, though.”

“What’s that?”

“How I would learn new runes. The dungeon abilities I got from the achievements didn’t give me runes, so I was a little worried I’d never learn any more. I guess I need some kind of… insights… into them. When I understood the concepts of impact and absorption, the runes just manifested on their own. I guess that’s how I get new abilities.

“I mean, Shapers need Artists to give them the new tattoos, so I was really hoping that wasn’t the case for runes. Actually, how do Growers learn new abilities?”

“Evolution,” Seena said. “Not the kind like when we go from E-Rank to D-Rank, but from challenging ourselves. Kind of like, if we need an ability to overcome a particular situation, we’ll spontaneously learn it.”

“Okay, now that sounds overpowered.”

“It would be,” Seena laughed, “if it was consistent. We can’t control when or why it’ll happen. All we can do is keep putting ourselves into more challenging situations to try and force an ability evolution, as it’s called.

“Though, I guess it’s not really an evolution. We get a new ability, not a modification to an existing ability like we got from the dungeon achievements. Or like the mutation where I can use my Spearing Roots to create walls. More like my Target ability. I got that from one fight where Yanily just would not hit the right Troblin. It was driving me absolutely crazy, and then, boom—new ability.”

“Wow. Sounds like Yanily needs to be annoying more often,” Hiral joked.

“Oh, he’s annoying plenty often enough as it is.”

“I can see that. Still, it’s so interesting. Uh… not Yanily. The magic. All the PIMs are different. I wonder what the fourth race is, and how they learn abilities,” Hiral mused out loud while he slid the rune-slider back into his RHC.

“Fourth race? Oh, from how the dungeon interface had a fourth light that didn’t glow? You think there really is one?”

“I think there was one, at least. Now? I don’t know. I don’t even know how many other Builders are out there.”

“Growers. Makers. Builders. Strangely… appropriate race names,” Seena said. “You think Dr. Benza can explain more about it after we clear the other two dungeons?”

“I was really hoping he’d be able to explain more now. We cleared this dungeon, after all, but it was still all the same information when I tried asking after we got out.” Hiral threw a dirty look toward the interface.

“He wants us to keep pushing ourselves. Keep getting stronger,” Seena said. “We can only do that by moving on to the next dungeon.”

“So we can deal with the Enemy he’s talking about. Well, talking around,” Hiral amended. “Do you think we’ll have an easier time the second run through Splitfang Keep?”

“Much easier. Partly because of all the new abilities we got, but more so because now we know what we’re up against. Assuming nothing changes.”

“I don’t think it will. Dr. Benza said something about it being a snapshot, and things resetting. I’m sure the Troblins will all have the same abilities and hide in the same spots.”

“That’d be a relief. Anyway, back to your—what did you call them? Cannons? Now that you figured out new runes, can you do anything to them?”

“No. I’m not sure why, but I know the runes I have aren’t the right kind to be put in those support slots. I’m not complaining, though. I’ve learned so much in the last few hours, not to mention since we came to the surface. I have a class. You can’t even imagine how big a deal that is.”

“What was it like, not having one?” Seena asked.

“Horrible. And I’m not exaggerating. I was the only person above the age of ten without one. People thought something was wrong with me. Like I was sick or broken or something. Worthless. Even my own mother wouldn’t talk to me.”

“How did you deal with it?”

“By dreaming of the looks on their faces when I finally got my class. When I proved them all wrong.”

“Can Makers choose their class?” Seena asked. “For reference, Growers can’t. It sort of comes naturally to us around our eighth or ninth birthday. Tenth at the latest. Like our abilities, it’s kind of spontaneous. But, I see you’ve got all these tattoos.” She pointed at Hiral’s tattooed arm, since he’d reabsorbed Right and Left.

“Yeah, I was trying to become a Shaper, like those… uh…” Hiral trailed off; the issue of the people who’d captured Seeyela’s party was still a bit embarrassing.

“I know what Shapers are,” Seena said flatly. “Caaven’s niece, remember? I’ve been around enough when Arty came down to trade, though I wasn’t sure about you until this last time.”

“Oh, you mean when I threw myself off the island? Twice?” Hiral laughed.

“Kind of stands out,” Seena agreed with a chuckle. “Shaper?”

“Yeah. Both of my parents are Artists. Two of the best on the whole island, actually. They started doing my Meridian Lines and tattoos even before I was old enough to take the Shaper test. Oh, there’s a test you have to pass that grants you the class. You have to”—he touched the dagger on his left forearm then pulled his hand away—“shape something. It’s simple, really, if you can do it. I… uh… failed it ten times.

“Anybody who can’t do it ends up as an Artist or Academic. Not that either is a bad class,” Hiral quickly amended.

“Why didn’t you become one of those two, then?”

“Couldn’t be an Artist. There’s a test for that too. Uh… which I also failed…” Hiral said, and of course his brain whispered Everfail in a child’s voice for him. “Artists need to be able to mix their blood with a special pigment used for the tattoos. My blood didn’t work. And I didn’t want to give up and become an Academic.

“Looking back, I bet I couldn’t have passed that test either. Seems like I was trying to get a class for the wrong race.”

“Were you… adopted… Hiral?” Seena asked.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing myself.” Hiral chuckled. “But, no, I’m pretty sure those are my actual sisters. Uh, I’ve got two younger sisters. Way smarter and more gifted than me, but totally related. And I remember them since they were babies. I don’t know how to explain the race thing. I just don’t. Another thing I want to ask Dr. Benza.”

“Sounds like you have a long list,” Seena said.

“And getting longer.”

“Something I don’t get,” Seena said, scratching at her knee as she sat beside him. “Two things, actually. One, why do you guys even have tests? And two—if this is too personal, you don’t have to answer, but—why didn’t you give up on being a Shaper? Why’d you keep trying?”

“The test is only once a year, like a rite of passage, and it’s a big celebration when people succeed. I think it’s mainly just an excuse for that. As for your second question, it’s not too personal. Stubbornness, I guess? My father suggested I skip the test some years, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kept asking myself, ‘What if this is the year I get it?’ And then I worried I’d have to keep waiting.

“Spoiler, I never got it,” Hiral said, forcing himself to chuckle. Oddly, it wasn’t quite as easy as he’d expected, even though he had a class. The pain was still there… like part of him thought this was a dream, and he’d wake up classless all over again. “That… and, if I’m being honest with myself, I knew if I skipped a year, I don’t think I would’ve been able to go back later.”

“Why did you? What made you want to be a Shaper so much?”

“At first, it was because the Measure suggested I should be,” Hiral said.

“The Measure?”

“Ah, it’s where we get tested when we’re born, and our crystals get embedded in our chests,” Hiral said, tapping the center of his chest. “I guess where we get our PIM. Since I had the high solar energy scores, everybody assumed I’d be a great Shaper someday. Maybe some of their hopes rubbed off on me. Parents put a lot of effort into my tattoos because of that.

“As time went on, well, I didn’t want to let everybody down. Then… that turned into proving them all wrong when they changed their minds so quickly about me. I went from being the once-in-ten-generations prodigy to… the Everfail practically overnight.

“I… just couldn’t let it end like that,” Hiral said quietly.

“I don’t think I could’ve kept going,” Seena said.

“You’d be surprised how far stubbornness and anger will get you. So, Makers have three class choices. Shapers, Artists, and Academics. What’s it like for Growers?”

“Six classes,” Seena said, mercifully going along with the topic shift. “First, you’ve got Spear Wardens—or just Wardens, as most people call them—like Yanily and Balyo. I’m not exactly sure why, but the spear is a kind of special weapon for our people. We all learn how to use one, at least basically, starting around when we’re five or six.”

“Another thing passed down from your ancestors?” Hiral asked.

“Yup,” Seena said with a nod. “And when people have a talent for it, they tend to become Spear Wardens. It’s a strong combat class, and the only one focused on a single weapon.”

“What about Fitch and Vix?”

“They’re both class number two. That’s right, they actually have the same one—Stinger. It can take a lot of different forms, but it’s usually another weapon-focused class. The person finds a weapon or style they have an affinity with, usually by learning a style ability, and that guides them down the class. Like the Spear Warden, it’s always a damage class.

“Then you’ve got Lonil and Nivian—Swarm Leaders. In most parties, they’re both the tanks and the leaders.”

“Except with you and Seeyela in the picture?” Hiral chuckled.

“What can I say? We like telling people what to do,” Seena agreed.

“Luckily, you seem pretty good at it.”

“Thanks. Swarm Leaders have a list of defensive and what we call taunting abilities.”

“Why do I feel like Yanily got some of those taunting abilities too?” Hiral asked.

“Unfortunately, those aren’t abilities. Just how he is. I wish he could use those in combat on somebody other than us.”

“Wule and Cal are both the same class too, right?” Hiral asked, getting back on topic.

“Correct. Menders. They all have abilities focused on healing and restoration. Some of our highest-ranking Menders can even regrow lost limbs or cure diseases. It’s a powerful class and very much in demand. Just need to get them enough experience down on the surface to gain some of those abilities.” She grimaced a bit at that last part.

“You don’t look happy about that,” Hiral said.

“Remember how I talked about spontaneous ability evolution? That’s usually what needs to happen to get those kinds of abilities. Which means…”

“Somebody needs to lose a limb for the Mender to gain the ability to regrow it,” Hiral finished. “Ouch.”

“Yeah. Part of me hopes Wule never gets that kind of skill,” Seena said, looking over at her friends.

“You do a good job protecting them,” Hiral said quietly. “I’ve only been with you all a short time, and even I can see it.”

“Thanks,” Seena said, eyes lingering on the other Growers a moment longer. “Fifth class is what me, Picoli, and Seeyela fall under. We’re Callers. I’m what you’d name a Wood Caller. Picoli is a Light Caller, and Seeyela… Well, she’s something special. A Gravity Caller. Maybe the first of her kind. Most of our abilities work around manipulating our focus. Wood, in my case.”

“Which explains the roots and vines… Are vines actually wood?” Hiral asked, thinking about it.

“Don’t get technical on me. We do actually have Plant Callers, but they use a much wider variety than I do, so I got wood.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Hiral chuckled, and Seena scowled at him. “Uh, so, sixth class?”

“Farmer,” Seena said. “Kind of like your Academic. It’s the catch-all class that non-combatants fall into. I hope that’s what Favela gets. Farmers get to stay nice and safe up on the islands. If you get one of the other five, well, you have to come to the surface.”

“Is Caaven a farmer?” Hiral asked.

“Yes, which is why I brought my party down looking for Seeyela. He wouldn’t know the first thing to do if he came to the surface.” Seena laughed. “I’d almost like to see it… if it wasn’t so dangerous.”

“Hah. Same with Arty. Did you see his face when I told him I wanted to come down with you? Actually, did you see your own? Complete shock.”

“Gee, I wonder why? Crazy Islander jumps off the island, then tells me he wants to do it again? What did you expect my reaction to be?”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Hiral said, looking away from Seena to find Seeyela stalking over. “Uh oh. Incoming.”

Seena wiped the smile from her face just in time for Seeyela to plant her feet in front of them.

“You two don’t look like you’re training very hard,” Seeyela said, crossing her arms.

“You kidding?” Seena looked up at her sister without standing. “Hiral here just gained two new abilities.”

“And why aren’t you trying them out to see what they do?” Seeyela asked, turning her attention on Hiral.

“The process drained all of my solar energy…” Hiral said, but the look on Seeyela’s face told him just how weak of an answer that sounded. “But, hey, would you look at that? I’ve just now recovered enough to resummon Right and Left.”

That was a lie; his solar energy was already past thirty percent. Really, he only needed three percent to use Foundational Split, but that would leave them all without enough energy to use any of their abilities.

“Then let’s see what the light show was all about,” Seeyela said, offering her hands to help them stand.

“Right,” Hiral said. After getting pulled to his feet, he took a couple steps away and activated Foundational Split.

Right and Left peeled off of him on opposite sides, then each glanced at their upper arms.

“What is it?” Hiral asked them.

“It seems I have access to an additional tattoo,” Left said. “The Banner of Courage.” He pointed at the tattoo of a triangular flag planted in the ground on his left bicep.

“Reaaaaaaally?” Hiral said, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. “Right?”

“Ah, Meridian Line up to just under my shoulder now,” the double said, the line glowing with solar energy along the back of his hand, up the side of his arm, and stopping just below his shoulder.

“When I got upper arm runes, you guys got access to your tattoos up to that point as well. So, for you to unlock more tattoos, I need to find more runes,” Hiral mumbled.

“More abilities, huh?” Seeyela asked.

“Yeah… yeah!” Hiral said. “The Banner of Courage is a buff ability for anybody within a certain range. Versatile, and really well-suited for a party. Not many people get it in Fallen Reach, because they don’t fight in groups usually, but my parents wanted me to have it to promote teamwork.”

“Great story. Very moving,” Vix said.

“Yup,” Seeyela agreed. “And you know what more abilities means, don’t you?”

Seena and Hiral looked at each other, then both spoke at the same time. “More training.”

“Best get to it, then,” Seeyela said.

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