Rune Seeker

After a few more brief tests to see if positioning made a difference – it didn’t, as long as Right wore the gauntlets, his head would forever be a sunrise, even with the hood up – they stopped chuckling and took a look at the new items’ stats.

(Lost) Auroran Conquerors – A-Rank

Effects: Grants user access to Ability (Passive) – Auroran Haste and Ability (Passive) – Sun-Forged Body

Ability (Passive) – Auroran Haste: Move as the rays of sunlight crossing the sky – Increases movement and attack speed by 15% + 3% per additional Rank.

Note: Current hasted bonus is 24%.

Ability (Passive) – Sun-Forged Body: The sun is the source of life, and in it, you’ve found new strength – Increases all physical attributes by 15%, reduces physical damage taken by 15%, and reduces heat or fire damage taken by 50%.

Note: Sun-Forged Body stacks with other sources of protection and reinforcement.

“Well, damn,” Seena said as they all looked at the items. “And those are only A-Rank? They’re impressive.”

“If you have a body made from solar energy,” Hiral countered. “That’s a pretty limiting restriction, so – you guessed it – balances out.”

“He’s going to be faster than you are,” Seeyela said. “That Auroran Haste is crazy. Wait, what happens when you absorb him? Do the gauntlets drop to the ground?”

“Then destabilize and explode?” Yanily asked, taking a step back.

“We… should probably test that,” Hiral agreed.

“Yes,” Seena agreed. “We should. And now, instead of the middle of our next Mid-Boss fight.”

“I’m kind of low on solar energy after the fight with the Guardian anyway,” Right said. “I’ll go back inside and dispel myself. Yeah, I could do it here, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to get back to the gauntlets in the heat of things. Best to figure out if they can be on their own for a bit.”

Hiral looked at the others, and when there didn’t seem to be an objection coming, he nodded at Right. “See you in a minute.”

“Yeah,” Right said, then turned and dashed back into the research facility. And, Seeyela was almost correct – the double was fast, but still not quite as fast as Hiral with the pseudo-aspect and what he’d done with his runes. Using Attraction and Rejection in micro-bursts was much easier with the pseudo-aspect active, and the more he practiced with them, the easier it would get. Just how much could he improve his speed – or power – by adding the external control? If he…

Hiral’s thoughts trailed off as the tattoos and Meridian Lines emerged on his right side. “That was quick,” he mumbled, eyes on the building for a second. It hadn’t exploded – yet – and he activated Foundational Split. If Right needed to… Ah, never mind.

The double peeled off Hiral in the usual cloud of solar smoke, with one small difference – a pair of semi-solid-solar-energy gauntlets adorned his arms. He’d taken the Auroran Conquerors with him when he’d been dispelled.

“It seems they’re directly connected to my PIM now,” Right said. “Showing up as an ability in my status window, with the other two abilities under them.”

“Can you take them off?” Seeyela asked.

“Why would I want to?” Right countered.

“To… scratch your nose?” the woman asked kind of lamely, then just shrugged.

“Feeling jealous?” Yanily asked Left at the same time. “Here he is getting new toys, and all you got were a couple quest items.”

“Don’t tease Left,” Seena said before the double could respond. “Speaking of those quest items, I’m thinking we should store them in a ring and take them with us, as opposed to installing them. Hiral?”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Hiral agreed. “We might get some information out of the system being partially powered, but probably not. We can plug them in with we have the rest.”

“Which means it’s time for the second Mid-Boss,” Yanily said.

“Yes it is,” Seena agreed while Hiral took the Solar Cores from Left, and dropped them into his Interspatial Ring. Then, because Right had mentioned he was low on solar energy, Hiral reabsorbed both his doubles.

“Sis, how are you doing on solar energy?” Seena asked. “Think you can find out where we need to go next?”

“You bet,” Seeyela said, giving her sister a thumbs up.

“Pretty sure it’s that way,” Hiral said, pointing. “Saw a thread of Connection while I was looking at the Guardian’s runes. You all heard the conversation about that?”

“Yup,” Seeyela said. “It’s fine. We’ll handle it.”

“We’d probably get less experience if it was weaker,” Yanily said like that made all the difference.

“There is also no guarantee destroying one rune would weaken the other,” Li’l Ur added from Seena’s shoulder. But, before Hiral could say anything, Seena held up a hand.

“I know that look,” Seena said to Hiral. “You just got curious. Seeyela, why don’t you get going and figure out where that second Mid-Boss is. I’m sure these two will be talking the whole way.”

A second thumbs up, and Seeyela vanished with a bamf.

“Drahn, since Hiral is going to be distracted, and we don’t have Left at the moment, keep an eye out for us?” Seena continued.

The tracker nodded.

Seena’s hand dropped back to her side, and she looked between the lich on her shoulder and Hiral. “You can go ahead now.”

“I can keep a lookout for ambushes while we talk as well,” Hiral grumbled, but Seena fell in beside him – with Li’l Ur on her closer shoulder – and took his hand in hers.

“I know,” she said with a small smile.

“I… uh… I’ll watch our backs… over here, in the back,” Yanily said, pointing off to the side. Then he winked at Hiral.

Is this winking thing contagious?And Seeyela is correct, it is creepy.

“Did you have something you wanted to talk about?” Hiral asked Seena, when they clearly had some space between them and the others. Sure, he was very curious about what Li’l Ur meant, but Seena…

“Nope,” she said with another smile. “Just wanted to be near you while you talk to Ur. You’re cute when you’re figuring something out. And we have a few minutes until we get to the next fight.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Hiral said.

“Don’t waste those few minutes,” she countered.

“You’re sure?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Yes, though if you feel guilty about it, you can pay me back in cheese.”

“You’re as bad as Yanily and the pastries.”

“Don’t be silly. Cheese doesn’t make you chubby.”

“Uh…” Hiral started.

“It doesn’t,” she said with a glare that clearly stated reality would bend to her whim, and nothing he could say – factual or not – would change that.

“You’re… right. It’s practically like being on a diet.”

“Glad you understand,” she said, the glare vanishing. “Now hurry up and ask.”

“Right. Thanks,” Hiral said, then turned his attention to the lich on her shoulder. The one with its little hands on its hips, and looking very proud of itself.

“Yes, would-be apprentice, ask your questions of your great and knowledgeable would-be master,” Li’l Ur said.

“Why did you say destroying the rune on the Guardian might not weaken the other Mid-Boss,” Hiral started. “It’s clearly only one-half of the whole thing. Wouldn’t that, I don’t know, break the whole rune?”

“Even after seeing the Edicts – I can’t believe you can do that – you’re still thinking of the runes too much as a physical thing. Yes, they are etched on your body, but let me ask you this, if the spearman…”

“Yanily,” Hiral filled in.

“… drew a Rune of Gravity on a rock,” Li’l Ur continued like Hiral hadn’t said anything. “Do you think that rock would float?”

“Well, no, it would need solar energy to…”

“If he supplied that energy then,” Li’l Ur cut Hiral off.

“It…” Hiral started, then stopped. That was a good question he hadn’t really considered. Could anybody use runes? If somebody knew the characters and supplied the necessary solar energy – even if the runes weren’t on their bodies – would they work? There were those runes around the dungeon entrances that obviously did something. And the runes up in Fallen Reach and the Buried City that were used to make the walls last longer. So, it had to work. Didn’t it?

None of the people he’d met in the Rise of Fallen Reach dungeon had runes on them. Then again, none of them were Builders – that he knew of – but they were still using runes. There was definitely more to it, but something about that was nagging at the back of his mind.

“Yan can use the runes I put on his boots,” Hiral said, letting his mind wander through the winding path of his thoughts. “Though, I guess he doesn’t need to anymore.”

“I still use them,” Yanily offered over the party chat. “Uh… not that I’m listening in. I just happened…”

“What do you use them for?” Hiral cut off the poor spearman and his awkward excuse. “Skyfall does it all for you now, doesn’t it?”

“After seeing you move around all rejecty-like,” Yanily said. “It made me think maybe I could do it as well. I don’t have the same control you do, but they’re good for bursts of speed.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I saw that,” Hiral mumbled. “How long have you been doing it?”

“Uh… probably since back in the Forge of Ur’Thul,” Yanily said. “Started trying it when we were learning the Primal Chords. I can’t make them do anything other than jump, but I’ve been able to control the direction better.”

“Wow,” Hiral said. “You seriously never cease to amaze me, Yan.”

“Told you, before” Seena said without using the party chat. “He’s a natural.”

“Right back at you, Hiral,” Yanily said. “I’ll let you get back to interrogating Li’l Ur.”

“Not quite interrogating,” Hiral mumbled, but did direct his attention back to the lich. “Yanily, the spearman,” he clarified when Li’l Ur looked confused at the name, “can use the runes with solar energy.”

“He’s using the runes you created and conceptualized,” Li’l Ur reminded him.

“That’s… true,” Hiral said. “It’s still my image of him jumping. And it doesn’t sound like he’s been able to change it.”

“He won’t be able to,” Li’l Ur said. “Those runes – his boots – won’t ever be able to do anything different. Or work for anybody else. When you created those runes, I suspect you visualized the spearman jumping. Correct?”

Hiral chuckled. “There was a bit of trial and error in there, but, yeah.”

“Then he is the only one who can use those runes, unless you alter them,” Li’l Ur said.

“Because I made them?” Hiral considered. “What about the runes up in Fallen Reach then? The ones they used to slow the time of the buildings? Can anybody alter those?”

Li’l Ur shook his small head. “How many people did you see creating those runes?”

“Uh… maybe a dozen?” Hiral thought back to the group he remembered doing the rune work. There weren’t many of them, which was kind of odd considering how many buildings needed their attention. “Why weren’t there more?”

“Let me ask you another question,” Li’l Ur said instead of answering. “Do you believe the runes to be powerful?”

“Absolutely,” Hiral said. “And the more I learn about them, the more powerful I think they are.”

“OP,” Yanily said.

“He’s not wrong,” Seena agreed.

“So, what are you getting at?” Hiral asked the lich.

“If the runes are so powerful – so much so even the Enemy uses them – why weren’t more of Dr. Benza’s people using them? Why don’t Growers or Makers use them now?”

“Because… they can’t?” Hiral said. “That has to be it. I don’t know if it’s about the balance thing of the PIM… but no, the runes also exist outside of our magic. Dr. Benza’s people – and the Fallen – learned about them from the Enemy. And you know about them. So did the Emperor too, right?”

Li’l Ur nodded. “The Emperor taught me about runes, though my use of them was… rudimentary compared to his command of them.”

“Rudimentary? Didn’t you say you basically used them to create the urn and the entire undead race?”

“I did,” Li’l Ur said. “While you may consider it a crowning achievement of my life – or unlife – it was a… shoddy job, if I’m being honest. Had the Emperor undertaken the same task, I can only imagine the results. Truly, he was a maestro when it came to runes.”

Hiral mulled over Li’l Ur’s words and scratched at his chin, the silky smoothness of his gloves not quite taking care of the itch. Wait, the gloves?

“Is that why you made the Second-Skin then?” Hiral asked. “I always thought it was a little too convenient how perfect it is for me. It’s almost like my second skin with how well it enhances my runic abilities.”

“I…” Li’l Ur started, but he stopped when a look of surprise came over his face. How little blue balls of fire in a skull’s eye sockets could even look surprised was a question for another day.

“Ur?” Seena asked, spotting the dismay on her pet’s face. “You okay there?”

“I… I did not create the Second-Skin of Ur’Thul. It was a gift. A dying gift,” Li’l Ur said, and Hiral didn’t miss the note of despair in the lich’s voice. “The Emperor gave it to me before he died. It was his…”

As soon as Li’l Ur said that, a notification window popped up in front of Hiral’s eyes.

The Lost Second-Skin of ??? – Set – S-Rank

Hiral blinked at Ur’Thul’s name having vanished from the set description. No, it wasn’t just the set description – all of the individual pieces had the triple-question-marks in them now too.

“What in the Fallens’ names?” Hiral asked. Even if what Li’l Ur said was true – and Hiral had no reason to believe it wasn’t – why hadn’t the PIMP changed the name of the equipment to the Emperor’s Second-Skin or something like that to match the Emperor’s Greatsword? Though, it was a helluva coincidence Hiral had two pieces of the Emperor’s equipment. Two pieces that almost perfectly matched up with his growing abilities to interact with runes and Edicts.

… two?

Hiral’s mind flashed back to his last conversation with Li’l Ur on the topic of Edicts, when the lich had told him the Emperor used runes too.

“Seeing the Edicts, it is… uncommon,” Li’l Ur said. “Even at the peak of my power, I could not see them – let alone command them. Only one among the Progenitors could…”

Hiral perked up at that and leaned forward slightly. “Who?”

In response, Li’l Ur looked past Hiral, and over his right shoulder.

Turning his head, it only took Hiral a second for his eyes to land on the hilt of his sword.

What if Ur hadn’t meant the sword?

“Li’l Ur,” Hiral said slowly. “What was the Emperor’s name?”

“To most,” the lich said, voice barely above a whisper as he remembered something. “To most he was simply known as the Emperor. But, to his friends – to me – he was Amin Thett.”