(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

Sitting within the tent, Kaius enjoyed the lard fried spider.

Tender and juicy, it practically melted in his mouth, and carried the mild herbs and spices he had used beautifully. All in all, definitely as delicious as he had hoped it would be.

What’s more, with every bite he felt a gentle and warm energy coursing free from the meal, seeping from his stomach to swaddle him like a warm blanket. He didn’t see any major effects in his status, or anything of the like, but it satisfied him on some deep level.

Every wave of the vitalising energy washed away his fatigue and exhaustion from the recent battle, revitalising the mind and soothing the weariness of his body and soul. It sat heavy in his stomach, satiating him far faster than he expected from a meal of its size.

A happy smile crossed his face. He’d always wanted to try high-level beast meat, but it was supposed to be unsafe for those without a class. With Explorer’s Toolkit stretching its worth as much as it could with its meagre levels, he had finally gotten a taste of the empowered foodstuffs that the high-tiered thrived on.

Savouring another bite, his mind turned to more important matters. With the entire team having fallen to silence as they ate, it was the perfect time to survey his status for the first time in a number of weeks.

He was pretty sure Porkchop was already looking at his own, what with the way his half-lidded eyes stared into the mid-space.

Though, it could have just been the food.

Giving his brother a smile, he pulled up his system information.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 19

Race: Human (Dynastic, Greater Beastblooded) - +1 Wil, Str, End, and free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Class: Runeblade Initiate - +3 Int, +2 End, +2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wil per level

Level: 39

Resources:

Health - 1837/2450 (13.5/min)

Stamina - 1920/2320 (18.3/min)

Mana - 1650/3190 (21.5/min)

Free Mana - 1650/3190

Reserved Mana - 0

Stats:

Endurance - 144 + 49 + 25% (245)

Vitality - 58 + 49 + 25% (135)

Strength - 134 + 49 + 25% (232)

Dexterity - 96 + 49 + 25% (183)

Intelligence - 172 + 63 + 33% (319)

Willpower: - 96 + 63 + 33% (215)

Stat Points: 0

Aspects:

Pillar Corporus: N/A

Pillar Mentis: N/A

Pillar Animus: N/A

Class Skills (2/10):

Latent Glyph of Drakthar (Heroic) - 9 > 22

Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite (Unique) - 0 > 10

General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) - 22 > 28

Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo (Heroic) - 23 > 30

Explorers Toolkit (Unusual) - 30 > 36

Tempered by Dissonance (Heroic) - 22 > 31

True Sight (Unique) - 27 > 38

Tonal Weaving (Unique) - 24 > 31

Resonance Amplification (Unique) - 23 > 27

Lesser Regeneration (Unusual) - 20 > 28

Uncanny Dodge (Unique) - 23 > 29

Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus (Heroic) - 36 > 40

Hymnbook:

Glyph of Drakthar-

Stormlash (Tier I - 120 mana)

Honours:

Born for Slaughter (Bonus)

Sublime Prodigy - Glyph Binding (Bonus)

Birds of a Blood Soaked Feather (Bonus)

Persistent Survivor (Minor) (Bonus)

Kingslayer (Major) (Bonus)

Ruthless Underdog (Bonus)

Ruthless Underdog II

Bound Artefacts:

A Fathers Gift - Common Growth Longsword

Growth Conditions-

Gain a class (1/1)

Absorb suitable materials (1/3)

Forge a link (1/1)

A sigh of satisfaction slipped free, though whether it was from his gains or from the fried spider, he didn’t know.

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With a single battle, they had leapfrogged the rising curve. Now the standard beasts of the plains would certainly pose no threat to them, though that was in some ways bittersweet. If they kept this growth up, it would become a significant challenge to find suitable foes to sharpen themselves on.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. He was sure the guild would have plenty of recorded entrances to the Depths of a sufficient layer - however, if he would have access to ones deep enough was an entirely different story.

Hopefully with this mission they would prove themselves capable of bronze, and if not, with only one more. Those were the real threats, both the kind he could grow off of, and the kind that threatened the surrounding region the most. Even Iron, with all the might of the beasts that made up its ranks, were rare enough that they surely could not match up to the devastation that was the overflowing Bronze board. At least until the beasts grew further, that is.

Shaking off his musings, Kaius turned his attention to his companions. Both seemed to be done with their own checks of their gains.

“Satisfied?” he asked the group.

“Extremely.”

“I concur.” Ianmus agreed with a nod.

Kaius grinned, glad that Ianmus in particular was in good spirits at their success against the spider. It was a stark thing, your first brush with the impossible—but the man had handled it as well as the best of them.

“Ianmus,” he asked. “You mentioned you have your next skill available, did you want to share what you were thinking?”

The mage brightened at his words, exuberance sliding across his face.

“Yes, yes! I have a couple of options—all rare, thank the fates. I am partial to all of them, it just depends how I can best fit into the team.”

Kaius waved at the man to continue.

“There’s a direct healing spell—one hundred health for the same mana, but the health and range scales slightly, which could prove significant over time, and the relatively low mana cost means a quick channeling time, especially as my wisdom improves.” Ianmus explained heartily.

“On the other hand, I also have a meta magic that would let me double the effectiveness of a spell for double the mana cost, but the increase scales minutely. This, in particular, would be brilliant for my free casting. Eventually it would let me get far more punch for an attack or restorative than the increased cost, reducing the chances of mana burn.” he continued.

Kaius hummed under his breath. Even if these were just the first two, they were both equally valuable. Healing, the quick kind in particular, was of extreme use in the sorts of battles that they were destined to face, and could literally be the difference between life and death.

On the other hand, Ianmus had proven that his alpha strikes were potent indeed, capable of severely wounding even the assassin spider when he had none of his and Porkchop’s advantages. Sure, it took ten minutes of channeling, but in the right situation it was a game changer. Especially if he and Porkchop could take the heat, Ianmus could potentially even make use of his free casting ability in combat.

Still, he had three options. “And the final?” Kaius asked.

“Perhaps my least favourite, even if still tempting under other circumstances. A variant beam attack, one focused on a blinding affliction.” Ianmus answered.

Scratching his chin, Kaius thought he agreed with the man. It was too niche, especially in comparison to the previous two skills.

“I suppose my main question is whether you are leaning towards free casting or sorcery?” Porkchop interjected.

Kaius nodded. It was a significant point. At some point, for optimal effectiveness, Ianmus would need to lean one way or the other. Not entirely, some level of both abilities was always useful for a mage, but indecisiveness was rarely helpful where the system was concerned.

Pausing to think on the question, Ianmus looked up deep in thought.

“I think, if you had asked me a few months ago, I would have said sorcery. The time cost of free casting is too extreme for most; a single mistake from your front line and you are dead.” he looked down, meeting their eyes. “Now though, with you two? I think the potential power and flexibility of free casting is too useful and potent to set aside. I saw the way you handled that spider. Elite and sixty levels your senior, and it still never had a moment where it could ignore you.”

Kaius turned, meeting his brother’s eyes for a knowing look before he smiled back at Ianmus.

“Then you have your answer—besides, solar free casting is fantastic at healing anyway, isn’t it?” he said with an easy grin.

Ianmus returned it, nodding emphatically. “It is, significantly so. A potent blend of regeneration, recovery, and restorative. I have the education to do it too. I agree, I’ll pick Hypercharged Spell.”

A moment later, the lanky half-elf’s eyes closed, and he made his choice.

Kaius leaned in, grabbing their plates and pan, before popping his head out of the tent to rinse them off with their water skin. By the time he had returned, Ianmus’s awareness had returned from his selection, the man looking as pleased as an overfed pig.

“Right!” Kaius said with a clap. “Lunch is over, we’ve made our gains, and we have a long journey ahead of us. I suggest we get the grizzly work over and done with and survey the damage the spider left, and then make our way to Holsborough before returning to the Guild.”

Ianmus winced at his words, while Porkchop groaned.

“That was a lot of wreckage, Kaius; it might be gruesome.” Porkchop said.

He nodded grimly back. “I know, but it is the right thing to do. That, and salvage rights. Some of those looked like merchant caravans. Besides, I doubt there will be much in the way of remains. Spiders are…thorough.”

Going a little pale, Ianmus looked away. “I suppose we must.”

Taking the lead, Kaius stepped out of the tent, before collapsing it with his eyes closed as soon as his compatriots had exited. Securing it to his brother’s back, he led their way back through the woods towards the road.

It would be grim work, but if they could bring word to Holsborough of any identified caravans, they would be able to do the rest. At the very least, they could send more thorough investigators now that the road was clear.

…

Bleak sights passed before his eyes as they picked through the remains of the assassin spider’s nest. The dense web that crossed the road was now little more than thin silk. Still tough and sticky, but easily clearable without the infusion of one of the spider’s skills.

They’d found shattered wagons galore, but, like Kaius had expected, no sight of any bodies. No doubt there were bones somewhere, hidden in some dark hole in the ranges that the monstrosity had claimed as its territory.

Kaius didn’t have the time or the inclination to go searching for them. As much as his heart bled for the senseless loss of life, they were already gone. His time was better spent elsewhere. They could leave that job for the locals, now that the threat was gone.

Instead, they searched the wagons. Most were weeks old, dating back before the notice had gone out of something picking off travellers. A few were more recent. Poor bastards who hadn’t paid attention to the comings and goings, or were too cocksure and confident to listen.

There was little of value. Most were mundane goods. Cloths, finely tanned leathers, pottery, and foodstuffs. Practical things.

With how broken the wagons were, the wares had been fully exposed to the elements, and the delicates had been shattered. The rest had rotted, or worn beyond the point of being worth salvaging. To them at least, no doubt some enterprising townsman would have a field day picking through what they considered trash.

There was, however, one thing that was worth their time.

“You two, over here!” Porkchop called with excitement, over by a particularly heavy set carriage that had been reinforced with iron banding. The wood had been shattered, and no amount of mundane metal had stopped the spider from prying off the roof.

Kaius shared a glance with Ianmus, who was idly kicking planks aside as he inspected a more common wagon. As one they raced to his brother’s side.

Approaching quickly, he found his brother crouched over a small lockbox, a good ten strides from the wagon. Half embedded in the dirt, and covered in leaf litter, it must have been knocked free in the confrontation.

Or dropped in a merchant’s desperate flight, Kaius thought to himself grimly.

He crouched down as Porkchop levered it out with a single claw. It was a small thing, maybe a hand-and-a-half long and a hand wide, with a thick padlock keeping it sealed shut. Kaius grinned as he saw it. A money box, no two ways about it.

“Want me to melt it open?” Ianmus asked, a gleaming eye on their find. “It might take a while, but I could do it.”

Kaius shook his head, setting the box on a patch of hardened dirt as he rose to his full height. “Nah, this is much easier.”

Raising his foot to his chest, he leaned on the full might of his increased strength as he drove down in a vicious full-bodied stomp.

Wood splintered with a terrible crack, but the box held firm.

It shattered on the second stomp. Whoever the merchant was, he hadn’t invested in an enchanted lockbox.

As the box collapsed, glittering rounds of silver and copper spilled forth—dozens and dozens of them.

Kaius met his team’s gaze, his own wide grin mirrored on their own faces.

“Drinks on me at Holsborough?”