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

Kaius woke from his skill-vision to the sound of his team chatting. Opening his eyes quietly, he smiled as he watched the conversation continue.

“So your people do not wander? Explore the forest?” Kenva asked, her head propped up by one hand as she focused on Porkchop curiously.

Porkchop shook his head—an affectation that Kaius knew was for the benefit of those who struggled with the subtleties of his more natural body language.

“No, we do, but only irregularly. If a region grows too dangerous, or hunting too sparse, we will search for a new place to make our home—with how easy it is for earth and stone aligned cousins to carve out new tunnels, it is no great difficulty. Usually it only happens once every couple of years or so, but sometimes more often if our Patriarchs secure more valuable territory at a Moot, or our Matriarchs trade for one.” Porkchop explained.

His answer seemed to puzzle Kenva, the woman’s brow furrowing. “You are not what I expected—most of the greater beasts I have heard about, like the wyverns who roost in some of the Drozag range’s more inhospitable peaks, are much more…solitary. If I am honest, the thought of a whole society of creatures of your strength is intimidating to say the least.”

That was a sentiment that Kaius understood. Even if Porkchop was, by his own admission, uniquely capable and driven, the innate strengths of his people still gave them a massive advantage, especially with their access to complete legacies.

Still, he knew from his brother that even with all of their might, there was little need to worry about expansionist desires from the Den. It seemed to be a vice unique to the higher races—a desire to change the environment to better suit their own needs, regardless of who was already living there.

Porkchop seemed to find amusement in Kenva’s reply, a throaty chuckle resonating in his chest.

“Bah, Dragonlings,” he said. “For all of their strength, they couldn’t work together even if it was the only way to save their lives. I honestly don’t know how they grow so strong—I can’t imagine that they can grow a legacy when even their own mothers can’t stand them, they have to have some trick.”

That was new to Kaius. “Wait, they don’t even rear their young? And how do you even know that—and why wouldn’t you bring it up when we fought the drake?” he asked, breaking his silence. He doubted his brother had held anything back that could have given them an advantage, but he was still curious.

He smiled awkwardly when everyone’s eyes snapped towards him. “Sorry, I only just woke up—I hope it hasn’t been too long.”

“Welcome back to the world of the living,” his brother replied warmly. “It’s only been a quarter hour or so. To answer your question, I know a little because the dens have had to put down more than one ornery dragonling—the idiots have enough of a superiority complex that every few decades one of them will get it in their head that my people would be easy targets. They never expect someone to follow them back to their roosts.”

“As for why I never shared? It wasn’t particularly relevant—I’ve only heard a few night-stories of the hunting valour of ancestors long passed, not the true detailed accounts straight from one of my Patriarch’s mouths. Those are saved for those who become hunters in truth—something that only happens in the second tier.”

“What of true dragons?” Ianmus asked, enraptured as he leaned in. “We know so precious little about them, and the den’s oral histories stretch so much further than any records I have seen. My father’s people would likely know more, but the conclaves aren’t exactly inviting—not even to those with a portion of their blood.”

Porkchop snorted. “I barely know a few hunting stories of wyverns, true dragons are something else. Anything with a brain knows that you do not tussle with a god given flesh. The only stories I know of them boil down to ‘hide if you see one, make your peace if they are angry or hungry, and if they take an interest in your territory? Leave before they notice you and purge you and everything you love with the same regard that you would give to a particularly bothersome infestation of fleas’.”

“Now, I think we are being a little rude,” his brother continued after a moment’s pause, turning his attention to Kaius. “How was learning your newest skill? Any new insights?”

Kaius smiled and obliged their curiosity.

Actually learning the spell was much the same as it always had been—he woke up in the office, and was given the space, time, and practice he needed to commit the hellishly complex knot of runework that was War Haven fully to memory.

Only when he could confidently inscribe it on his body without risk of injury was he released from his bond. Thankfully, it wasn’t an overly lengthy process—not anymore, at least. With the growing level of Tonal Weaving and Resonance Amplification, memorising the spell-hymn and controlling his mana well enough to weave it into place was no great task.

Especially since he had been growing more and more familiar with the intricacies of the complex and expansive glyphic language used by his Vesryn glyphs. With every glyph and spell he acquired, he started to notice more and more overlapping functions.

Where initially Aelina and Drakthar had seemed almost alien in their construction, with the addition of Vyrthane and a slew of spells, he could now see that certain individual runes of the scripts were present across all three—though plenty more seemed to be specialised, and unique to each glyph.

At a grander scale, he was beginning to see how they fit together. Admittedly, a small victory in the face of the true understanding that eluded him, but at the very least it meant that his dream of glyphic mastery was still a possibility.

All he needed was time, more examples, and to improve his Skills.

It also made him all the more curious about Sigil of Vesryn’s Pact. The knowledge of how to forge the initial glyph had been burnt deeply into his brain, but its construction was far divorced from his spellcasting glyphs. If anything, on a shallow and superficial level, it seemed far closer to the sigil he had inscribed when he had bound his blade completely.

Still, even if it was tangentially related, any example he could get his hands on would be beneficial in the long term—something that made him all the more eager to select a glyphic body formation. That, and they were bound to be a valuable tool that he could use to further enforce his brother’s safety. Tough as he may be, Porkchop was their Bastion; a position that put him in the most danger by far. Anything he could do to lessen that risk, he would.

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Alas, he wasn’t the only one with options to pick, and he wasn’t so cruel as to force his companions to wait their turn again.

“Alright then!” Kaius said, pushing himself to his feet and leaning back on the carved pillar behind him. After sitting on the hard stone floor for so long, his legs had started to ache.

“I may as well—I’ve already taken a peak, and I only have a single stand out option considering our circumstances.” Kenva replied, splaying out her legs in her own attempt to grow more comfortable.

“Oh? Couldn’t wait your turn?” Ianmus teased, drawing an eye roll from the ranger.

“Bah.” she waved him off. “Mostly, I think I should pick Winter’s Mark—it will let me highlight an enemy to my awareness, and increase the wounds that they take. More importantly—” Kenva tapped the side of her eyes. “If I spot any vulnerabilities, they will be marked as well, and any attacks that I can land on them will have their potency increased even further.”

Kaius nodded thoughtfully. All things considered, he understood why she thought it was the stand out. It paired beautifully with her ocular skill, and in their current circumstances anything that would allow them to more easily kill a singular tough opponent would massively improve their chances when they went up against second tier depthsborn.

He did see one issue though—one that Ianmus and Porkchop also picked up on.

“While I agree that it’s a good pick, I think in the future we are all going to need to think hard about picking a skill that improves our ability to handle larger groups of foes. As it stands, we have an outstanding team composition for dealing with a singular or small number of targets of great strength—almost overly so.” Ianmus replied.

Porkchop let out a grunt of agreement. “Agreed—at this point, even if one of us has to pick a lower rarity skill it might be worth it.”

Hearing their words, Kenva paused—hesitating. “There was one other option, but our situation makes me reluctant to take it—even if it would round out my kit in such a way.”

“Oh?” Kaius asked, curious.

The ranger gave him a nod. “Another skill, also Unusual, would allow me to fire an arrow that could halt mid flight and summon a rain of deadly stakes. I just…”

He nodded, understanding her reticence. Not only was a horde of weaker creatures the least of their worries at the moment, but it was a large ask to expect Kenva to accept their input on her build so soon. All they could give was advice.

Scratching his chin, Kaius weighed the two skills in his mind. They did need skills with an area of effect, but—

“I think, considering everything, Winter’s Mark makes the most sense—you’re right in that it will be a potent boon for what is to come. We just need to be aware that it is a glaring hole in our collective capabilities—one we should rectify as we close in on our final skill selections.” he finally said.

She nodded, and the matter was settled.

“Ianmus?” he asked, looking towards the mage.

“Two meta-magics, and a staff skill I have little interest in.” he replied, eyes glazing over as he ran through his skill options.

“Well, let’s hear it then.” Porkchop replied, his head propped up on his paws.

Ianmus cleared his throat, shuffling a little straighter.

“First, Bound Rays—it would let me shape both my freecast and sorcerous sunbeams freely without having to spend time or mana to do so, although I will still have to channel more if I want to increase the total area of what my spell impacts without reducing its power. The cost is…bothersome. It will limit my range to a bare hundred long-strides, though thankfully my range would increase as I levelled the skill, as would the ease and extent of the shaping it would cover.” Ianmus explained.

His description made Kaius perk up—more than once Ianmus had saved them with a well shaped beam, and there had been dozens more times where such a thing would have been valuable, but was infeasible due to the extra time and cost of shaping the spells with his mana manipulation.

More than that, he’d seen first hand what the mage had done to the tightly packed group of boggarts with a thin sheet of solar mana. A potential solution to their area of effect problem, albeit a situational one considering it would still require a substantial time to channel anything exceptionally potent.

“And the other?” Porkchop asked.

“Artinine’s Light Weaving—it will let me direct my spells in flight, but comes at the cost of drastically slowing my spells. I get the sense they will still be fast, but no longer all but instantaneous.”

Kaius cocked his head, not quite understanding the value in the skill. It wasn’t as if Ianmus had any difficulties with accuracy, and the fact that his spells almost instantly hit whatever he aimed at was a significant benefit in Kaius’s eyes—the man’s rays were almost impossible to dodge without preemptively avoiding his aim.

Seeing his confusion, Ianmus explained further. “It’s better than it sounds. First, it would let me fire around obstacles, and would make my spells far harder to defend against. Second, and perhaps more importantly, more advanced applications of solar magic would become accessible to me earlier than otherwise—and it would likely have a very positive influence on my future classes.”

“Oh?” he said. That was interesting. He knew very little of the intricacies of traditional magecraft, but he knew that there was very little chance that solar magic was limited to simple beams—no matter how effective they may be.

Ianmus nodded. “Sunbursts, stationary walls, and a dozen other shapings are normally limited to the second tier—without a high enough Manipulation skill, Willpower, and mana they’re far too costly in time and resources. Both of these meta-magics will help me get there faster, but Artinine’s Light Weaving would be the most effective.”

Kaius nodded, but ultimately thought he had little he could add—he didn’t have the expertise required to give Ianmus a measured opinion.

“I’m bowing out—you lost me halfway through the first one.” Porkchop huffed.

“Me too. Magery was never of much interest to me.” Kenva agreed.

Kaius grinned. “While I wouldn’t go that far, I do agree that I don’t have much to add.”

“It’s okay.” Ianmus chuckled. “In that case, Light Weaving it is. With our current progress, I’ll soon be able to cast some more advanced spells that will provide me with some much needed flexibility.”

As soon as the mage had made his choice, Kaius saw his brother’s eyes snap to his own. He grinned, feeling Porkchop’s curiosity and impatience bubbling away in his chest light an overwound spring.

“What about your final pick, brother?” Porkchop asked, his voice artificially even and calm even as his tail drifted over the dusted stones behind them. “We might as well get it out of the way now.”

Kaius laughed, though he could admit that he himself was intensely curious about his offerings for Vesryn’s Pact.

“I suppose we should.”

He pulled up his notifications.