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

In the warm comfort of the roaring hearth, the former elders of Threefields nodded knowingly as Kaius spoke of their encounter with the terrorbirds shortly after their last visit.

“Damn bloody plague, those bastards are,” Jekkar sniffed. “Have to get me boys to put a bit o’ fear of the gods in ‘em every month or two. Keep attacking the greathorns.”

Jekkar was, of course, referring to oversized goats they’d seen in the valley on their way into Dawntown. He’d asked about them earlier — apparently they were a herd that had been farmed in one of the villages prior to the phase change.

“What about after that — how’d the two of you end up working together? Bit of a surprise to find a teammate just out on the road,” Yanmi asked from where she was nestled in a plush armchair.

“What can I say,” Ianmus answered from his own seat nearby. “They came across as lunatics, but I got a taste for the chaos.”

Kaius grinned — that he had. That fight against the irontusk had been legendary — hard to believe that they fought a shaggy giant like that when they’d only just gotten their second skills.

“There’s gotta be more to the story, surely?” Yanmi asked.

“Of course there was,” Kaius replied. “Shortly after arriving in Deadacre, we went our separate ways. Ianmus was intending to head to the Dukedoms, and Porkchop and I went to check out the guild. Ro, the manager I’ve mentioned in my letters a few times, caught me and Porkchop out almost immediately. She recognised him as a meles, and me as a scion. Said she’d help us out — but refused to let us take on missions without a third. We got lucky. The few caravans still heading to Greenseed were booked out, and Ianmus had gotten a bit of a taste for the delving life.”

“I still don’t know how you convinced me that taking on that assassin spider was a good idea,” the mage muttered.

“It was a damn good fight, and you know it,” Porkchop replied, cracking an eye from where he was laying in front of the fire.

Kaius laughed; it had been a hell of a fight. Still, it had proven what they could accomplish together. No major injuries, and they’d taken down a monster twice their level — and avenged the more than a few travellers it had waylaid.

“I can admit now we were a little reckless — we hadn’t considered how it would look to return to the city so much stronger than when we left. It made us… stand out — the spider should have been beyond us. Ro ripped right into us, and walked us straight to the Guildmaster. Made sure we knew how much danger we would be in if the wrong people found out about our talents.” Kaius said.

Gods, he still remembered how terrifying Rieker had been. He’d destroyed them — right before picking them back up. He was enough of a monster that the ‘spar’ had been enough for him to awaken his first Aspect.

Holt, the old warden of Threefields, raised his brow at Kaius. “Knock a little sense into that thick skull of yours, did he?”

Smiling as he took a sip of his bottle, Kaius nodded. “That he did.”

“It was a bit of a haze of work after that. We took missions, grew stronger, gathered Honours, and developed our Aspects — but the truth is, someone did notice us.” he continued, thinking of the rat faced noble-born criminal that had supposedly sold them out.

“Your disappearance,” Hurrin said. “We didn’t hear from you for months — you told us a little, but what happened? You get ambushed?”

“Only damn way they could have taken us,” Porkchop growled. “We’d just finished one of our hardest fights — a pack of biters out in the Bonefields. Full squad of Silvers when we were barely scraping our hundredth levels.”

Illendra gripped the oak table she was sitting by in a white knuckle grip.

“You were damned, then…” she whispered.

Kaius raised his brow at her. “Damned? We killed two of them — would’ve been more if we hadn’t been drugged.”

The room went dead silent as his audience stared at him in disbelief. Even if they knew in theory how much stronger he and his team were than the average, it was still a tall tale. Every single one of them had been raised on the adage of taking easy fights. Playing it safe. They were living proof of what was possible if you didn’t.

“Ye pulling our leg,” Jekkar said, drinking deep from his tankard.

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Kaius shook his head. “You know the kind of classes we have — the kind of Skills we earned. We didn’t slow down in Deadacre — Rieker and Ro helped us push hard. With the Honours we’d gathered… they weren’t ready for us. Didn’t stop us from getting captured, though.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. What came next was…dark — he still dreamt of those days he’d spent strapped to a table, under the knife. The questions. The salt.

Taking another swig, he caught Holt eying him. The warden had pieced it together — best he moved on before the others did too.

“They took us to some underground compound. Bloody large thing — Onyx aligned operation, with hundreds of men.”

He got scowls at his mention of the criminal syndicate — they had as much reason to hate the bastards as he did. He’d lost a father, they’d lost a friend.

“Even if they kept us under lock and key, they didn’t account for my glyphs,” Kaius continued, leaning down to tap the lines of Felmenia — formerly Aelina — that peeked out over the top of his boots. “I had a way out of the cell, all we needed was the right distraction. Kenva was in the cells when we’d arrived, and threw her lot in with us quickly.”

The attention of the room shifted to the ranger. She smiled slightly, shifting in her seat under the weight of so many eyes.

“Those three I understand, but what brought you to the attention of such terrible folk?” Holt asked, “Normally most operations like that leave the Hiwiann well enough alone — too much risk of a blood feud.”

Kenva winced. “I was foolish. I was on a ritual journey — a period where my people act without support of their clan — and was far too open about my Legacy. Shortly after the phase change hit, I decided on a solo trip overland. Earned some Honours, but…”

“They ambushed ye, without witnesses when the whole world was going mad,” Jekkar finished for her, scowling. “Rotten bastards.”

That they were. A good thing the man responsible was rotting in a shallow hole in the Frontier.

“Our distraction came with the beast migration — damn near every beast east of Deadacre went into a maddened stampede. They overran the facility — exactly the opportunity we needed to escape. With the chaos, and fearing trackers, we didn’t dare make straight for Deadacre. Ran right into the Depths — the twenty-second layer at that.”

Yanmi frowned at his mention of the beast wave. “That warning you sent of the Tyrant, it caused that, didn’t it?”

Kaius nodded — though they hadn’t known at the time.

“What of your delve?” Illendra asked, watching him with rapt attention. “I swear you only end up in the Depths in the worst of circumstances.”

He laughed at her question. She wasn’t wrong — he was two for two on that front.

“We were horrifically underlevelled, but we managed. Even gathered some more Honours. Our plan was to move horizontally through biomes, and come out somewhere near Deadacre after we had hit Silver.

“I’m guessing yer plans changed?” Hurin asked. “That where ye hit that Crucible you mentioned in one of yer letters?”

It was indeed.

“It was magnificent, and terrifying. We were split up for most of it — individual trials that were designed to help us ignite and embody our Aspects, administered by an Ascendant no less,” Kaius explained.

He ran through their experience quickly, focusing especially on how the trials had pushed them to their very limits, and forced them to grapple with the truths that underlayed their Aspects. At the end of his tale, he paused for a moment. He had to impress on them how vital it was for people to visit a Crucible.

Dawntown had been training their younger generation in Legacy Skills and Honours for over a year now. In many ways, they were a proof of concept for what he had attempted with the public release of similar information by the Guild. Mastering the Aspects was the natural next step — and learning cycling was even more vital. If people wanted to truly pursue the peak of their ability, they needed to step onto the Path to ascendancy as soon as possible.

Yanmi’s eyes were sharp as he told her the limits of what he knew. She didn’t even flinch when he admitted he wasn’t able to explain the full benefits of attending a Crucible due to oaths of secrecy with Xenanra and the system itself.

“If you’ve recorded details of what to expect, and the dangers on the journey through the Depths portal you entered, I’ll ensure that everyone knows that it should be attempted before they cross into the second tier — if they’ve got the drive, at least,” she assured.

Kaius nodded, happy she was taking it seriously. With her in charge, he wouldn’t have to worry about people chasing Honours and glory without a full and complete understanding of the risks. For most, visiting the crucible on the verge of the second tier would be just fine.

“What about after that, lad — did you leave the depths?” Hurin asked, watching him closely. The innkeep had taken his story well in stride. Though, perhaps Kaius shouldn’t have been surprised by that. In many ways, his first foray into the depths before he got his class was far more unbelievable, and he’d already detailed some of his journey via letter.

“Not immediately. We held off on our second tier class selection, and delved deeper, accruing as many Honours as we could. By the twenty-ninth layer, we hit our limit. That’s when we picked our classes and returned to the Frontier,” he explained.

“And the Onyx bastards?” Holt asked.

“Started tracking us immediately. We expected it — waited for them. Wiped out Old Yon and his hired Silver thugs almost to the last. Two fled, the ones that recognised us from our captivity.”

The warden grinned, nodding with satisfaction. “Good lad, I’ll drink to that.”

A sentiment Kaius agreed with. He raised his bottle, toasting with the rest of the room.

Now he just needed to figure out how to explain the last few months of utter chaos.