Runeblade

Kaius was confident as he walked down the open path. Oh, he was still cautious — but he trusted in his reaction times and his abilities. Still, he didn't underestimate the danger. The first trap had almost gotten him — though, in his defence, he hadn't been expecting it — so he would have to be a fool not to.

Quickly, he reached the halfway point to the first obstacle — the low wall as tall as his waist, something that looked suspiciously simple. He slowed, taking another look at the shattered wall that had been broken by the dart.

He readied himself to blast himself back if the trap had been reset. Unfortunately, just like before, there was no evidence either way. Not even a passage or barrel that had fired the dart in the first place.

Neither could he catch any hint of further traps ahead of him.

At least he got a clear sight of the first few obstacles he had to clear. Fifty longstrides of questionably safe stone walkway, then a low wall, then a tall set of bars that he would have to swing across to clear a gap slightly too wide for him to burst across with a shunt. Beyond that, he could see another gap — this time with a balance beam as wide as his finger. That would be tricky, but doable without any complications. Finally, there was a tall climbing wall — easily ten longstrides tall, that blocked off an easy view of what lay beyond.

He shook his head, focusing. Whatever was behind the climbing wall didn't matter — he wasn't going to make it there this attempt. His goal was to work of Vyrthane, and push his inscribing skills as far as he could.

Leaping forwards, Kaius felt his stomach clench as he crossed where he had last triggered the dart.

This time there was no click.

He landed lightly on his feet, breathing out slowly as he judged the rest of the distance to the low wall. It seemed likely there would be another trap before he got there, purely based on the gnawing bite he felt in his gut — and if not there, then definitely at the next obstacle.

Warhaven, thanks to the levels he had gained in its glyph, reached a maximum width of forty longstrides — a little more if he shaped it into something with less volume than a dome. If he got a little closer, he could make a tunnel of force that would cover him almost the whole way to the hanging bars beyond the wall that he would have to swing across.

Setting his jaw, Kaius crept his way forward — ready and waiting for the next trap to be sprung — before he slowed to a halt. Focusing in towards his glyph, he bound Warhaven in his will and pressed his intent upon the spell. A faintly shimmering barrier appeared in the shape of an arched tunnel, just tall enough for him to walk through.

Shaping the spell took him a little effort — the elongation of its area running against the spell's natural tendency to settle into a plain dome when it wasn't infused into an existing structure. He still managed, quickly layering the defence with a second cast.

Slightly more comfortable with solid walls of force protecting him, but no less alert for danger, Kaius continued his advance. Every step, his eyes flicked from side to side — desperately searching for any sign of a pressure plate or trigger mechanism.

His vigilance saved his life.

Five longstrides before the low wall, a faint click pulsed through the sole of his feet. Icy panic shot through his spine — he reacted decisively. Blue motes poured from his feet as he desperately reached for a shunt.

A glinting blur arced down from the ceiling, heading straight for him.

Force blew him back in the same moment Warhaven shattered, both layers of shielding shattering instantly as a colossal blade cut clean through. The world froze — Kaius steeped in a moment between heartbeats.

His spell, for all it broke like cheap glass, slowed the descending blade by the barest of hairs. It was just enough. It swung past — Kaius capturing a glimpse of his own wide eyed look as it cut a fingerwidth in front of his nose.

Another blast erupted behind him, bringing him to a sudden halt as he bled off his speed. Kaius watched the trap shoot back up to the ceiling in its arc. Solid stone melted out of the path of the cutting edge, resealing the moment it passed.

He frowned — this was proving tricky, and he still had no clear idea of how it was supposed to push his Mentis to the point of embodiment.

….

Kaius sat cross-legged on an empty section of the path, a terse look on his face as he stared up at the climbing wall that towered over him.

He'd been stuck here for hours.

The swinging blade had been sudden, but manageable once he figured out it wouldn't reverse direction if he Shunt passed it before it could reset. Surprisingly, the waist high wall after it hadn't been trapped, although the hanging bars after it had been. Just over half the bars sprouted spikes and spun fast enough to blur — but it had taken him all of half a second to start testing them by tapping each handhold with his sword.

Satisfied with his progress, he'd returned to the entrance room — confirming that some of the hidden traps stayed active on his way. Namely, the swinging blade.

Yet, despite his intentions to figure out just what had flashed on the canvas on the wall, the drawing still hadn't returned despite camping out for a full day and night. It was frustrating — amplified his confusion on just what he was supposed to achieve in the trial.

Still, there was little he could do, and he wasn't inclined to sit around for weeks hoping for something to change.

While he could have worked on his spells, Kaius hadn't been able to shake the oddly niggling feeling that he shouldn't. Not until he'd hit an obstacle he couldn't overcome.

Besides, there was solace in action — which might have helped his current frustration if he wasn't still trying to figure out a way over this damned wall!

He'd had a little trouble with the balance beam immediately before his current...obstruction. A fingerwidth wide, it had already been hard enough to make his way across without the wind that had started to blow when he'd made it half way across.

It would have been easy to circumvent with a Shunt, but… he still didn't trust this place. Something in his gut told him that it wouldn't react kindly if he tried to cheat. A hunch that had been proven right when he'd let his frustration get the better of him only a few hours before.

He'd been so bloody confident. He'd let his mana regenerate and reinscribed; at the time he'd been positively bouncing to give the wall his best attempt! If he ignored the possible — now confirmed — traps, it almost looked fun.

Sheer-faced and more than three times his height, its hand grips were closer to texture than ledges. Things that he could just barely cling to with his nails. It would have been a fun test of his growing physical abilities: one of those rare moments where you just felt how much you had surpassed the limits of an unenhanced body.

Unfortunately, it was trapped. Rotten roots was it trapped. He had no bloody clue how to finesse it.

Three attempts. All utter failures, even when he'd leaned on a full load of Warhavens to shield himself.

His first try was the worst. He'd covered the wall in a single barrier of force — one that would block any attack that came from its surface. Oh how confident he'd been as he'd grabbed hold and hauled himself up.

Unfortunately, the second he'd left the ground, twisted spikes had shot out of the wooden wall. They'd gotten him good, alright. A dozen leaking holes in his chest and thighs — clean through, too! It had broken through his barrier in a heartbeat — wounded him before he could rip himself clear with a shunt.

It was luck alone that had saved his life — even Lesser Regeneration would do nothing for him if one of those questing roots had punched through his eye.

In the next attempt, he tried to learn from his mistakes. For one, he put his armour back on. Even if it limited his range of motion a tad, the extra defence was worth it — it wasn't like it slowed him down. Not with his Strength and Tempered by Dissonance being capped.

That wasn't the only thing he'd changed. A full accompaniment of barriers coated the wall. Then he climbed.

He made it a bit further before they broke through — all of a whole longstride! Still, he did get away without injuries.

The third? Well, he could admit that had been a little stupid.

In his defence, he'd been frustrated.

He'd tried a roundabout route — a shunt to blast him higher than the wall, and another to send him over it. At least, that had been the plan.

The instant he'd gotten higher than two long strides in the air, the wall had exploded with a vengeance. Dozens upon dozens of roots shot straight for him. It was like they were incensed, actually mad that he'd dared to try to avoid them!

He'd been forced to retreat instantly — Shunting himself back and down.

Thankfully, the wall had seemed to accept his surrender. The roots had retracted to vanish back into the wall the second he touched the ground.

Kaius sighed — at least he'd gotten another level out of Vyrthane.

His next attempt would come soon. He just needed to wait for his mana to fully regenerate so that he could refresh Warhaven. Let no one say he didn't learn his lessons!

Already, he'd layered a full eight Warhavens over the wall. A worthwhile effort that had netted him a few more levels of his shaping skills. He'd be done after his next batch — unfortunately.

As much as he would have loved to layer twenty or more barriers over the wall, he'd noticed something as he'd cast. There was interference, one that had grown the more Warhavens he'd piled up in the same spot. It was slight at first, but by the last he could feel it pressing back against his shaping — threatening to not just destabilise the most recent spell, but all of the others too.

He could squeeze a bit more, but he wasn't going to risk more than another two — not after spending so long stuck on this obstacle.

Taking a final look at his arch nemesis, Kaius slipped inwards and split his mana into multiple threads. With care and patience, he wove rune after rune — slowly increasing his pace thanks to his growing familiarity with using the technique on the same spell so frequently.

…

*Ding! Tonal Weaving has reached Level 172 > 175*

*Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached Level 179 > 180*

*Ding! Latent Glyph of Vyrthane has reached Level 96 > 97*

Another level — pushing his manipulation skills in a new direction was proving fruitful, even if it did feel like stabbing an ice pick into his brain. Only three more levels until he had his next spell.

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Kaius pushed himself to his feet, staring up at the wall as he took a slow breath. It loomed, still and menacing.

The pressure of the moment brought a grin to his face. Gods, he was actually having fun! Sure, it was dangerous, but it was a reactive sort of danger. He had time — time to approach each challenge with the planning it deserved, time to work on his skills, and time to take a pace that worked for him. It was surprisingly pleasant, even if he did get his chest gored now and then.

Checking the straps of his armour, Kaius eyed the thin handholds that dotted the climb up. He debated if it was worth it to take such a route again. It would be slower, and he'd be closer to the danger, but on the other hand the wall had attacked him far less aggressively than when he'd attempted to circumvent the whole obstacle.

On the other hand… shunt was quick, and he'd layered the wall with an awful lot of Warhavens. Even if it broke through quicker, would it be quick enough? There was no guarantee the far side of the wall would be free of roots, hence why he'd taken the time to shape his spells to cover both.

Surely the challenge would end once he touched the ground? He'd barely need a second to do that — one Shunt up, one across at a downwards angle, and then one straight down. It'd be a rough landing, but…

Rotten roots, to the hells with it. He was going to use Shunt. Worst case, he had enough inscribed to retreat back to this side of the wall if it failed — the roots had stopped when he'd done that last time.

With his mind set, Kaius crouched low. Coiling strength built in his thighs, a spring wound to breaking.

Letting loose a hoarse yell, he drove his heels into the ground with everything he had. Enhanced beyond reason, he rocketed upwards — accelerating all the faster as he detonated an explosion of force right beneath his feet.

Wind howled, racing past his face as he flew straight for the ceiling.

The wall went mad. It boiled like water, writhed like a pit of swarming vipers as what must have been a hundred stabbing spike tried to burst free of its surface. His barrier held them in place — keeping them bound.

But only just.

The first Warhaven shattered like glass before a ballista bolt, vanishing in a burst of released mana.

Kaius keeps racing up.

A second barrier broke, his jaw slammed shut — brow furrowed in focus.

He reached the top of the wall.

Another barrier burst into dust. It had been a moment. Half a moment. Short enough that his stomach clenched with worry that he wouldn't make it.

Kaius reached the peak of his ascent — he fired himself down at an angle, towards the wall. The far side was boiling too, just as furious at his attempt to cheat the trial. Roots flailed against each other, an organic groan of tortured wood filling the hall.

Another barrier broke — there were only two left.

With his Shunt's chained together, Kaius was moving fast enough he could feel the air pushing back against him — clawing him back as he rushed past.

Mana burst through the air, filling his vision. Only one barrier left.

A final bang rang in his ears as he cast a Shunt right over his head, launching him straight down. Kaius bent his knees — it was a race, and win or lose, he was getting hurt.

The roots heaved, spearing in unison. His final shield shattered.

Kaius hit the ground.

A sickening crunch rebounded through his body as his legs shattered, splintering like kindling as he slammed into solid stone. His body was close behind, ribs groaning as they flexed inwards, driving every scrap of breath from his lungs.

His helmet rang like a bell, hitting last.

Kaius's mouth flapped, desperately trying to draw in breath. Moving quickly, he ignored the bones that splayed out from his ruptured shins, and the blood that pooled on the ground. They were already healing, crackling as they ground against each other while his health forced them back into position.

Slamming a fist into his chest, he took a gulping breath and forced himself to his feet — ready to move as he checked on the wall behind him.

It was as still as the dead. Thank the fucking gods

….

Crunching his way through an apple, Kaius looked at the next obstacle with a pensive expression on his face.

The piece of fruit was a rare treat, both for getting over a particularly difficult wall and for the fact his struggles would likely only get worse from here on out. He didn't have many of them left in his storage ring, after all.

Only a dozen or so steps ahead of him, a gargantuan pit had replaced the floating pathway that the course was built on. It was, perhaps, better to describe it as a chasm. Easily five hundred longstrides from end to end, its depths confounded Truesight. A sheer drop for a league that quickly faded into an impenetrable dark.

There was a path across — in a sense, at least. Floating platforms of polished granite, as smooth and slick as ice. Circular islands of stability, they sat in place, uncaring of the yawning space beneath them.

Wide enough he could comfortably stand on one, they were scattered far enough that he would just comfortably be able to leap from stone to stone from standing — five longstrides, give or take a longstride or two in variation. He'd need a little care and focus, but he could do it.

Easily.

That made him suspicious. No way would it be easy — not with how everything else had gone. Plus, the stones were floating; he could think of a dozen different nasty surprises that could be hidden on the obstacle.

Maybe they were frictionless, or would only hold his weight for a moment. Hells, some of them could be fake! The Crucible had already proven it could lock him out of the use of his skills — he couldn't just assume that Truesight would pick up on such a deception.

He sighed — it wouldn't be anywhere near as much of a problem if the chasm weren't so long. An unpleasant surprise: he'd seen the far end of the obstacle when he'd done his best to peak around the climbing wall from the start of the course, but most of its length had been hidden from him.

Caution, as always, was the play. There was no doubt that the trial had something positively diabolical in store.

Taking a last bite of his snack, Kaius grumbled before he tossed the core of his apple at the closest platform. Regardless if Truesight was impacted or not, his senses were still sharp. He might be able to hear when the core hit the bottom of the chasm, and hopefully get some sort of sense for how deep it was.

The core sailed through the air, landing on the closest platform with a wet thud as it slid towards the edge.

And disappeared.

Kaius froze, his mind racing as his senses tuned in and time seemed to slow. The platform was unchanged, lacking even a smear of juice from where the core had smacked into it.

A fraction of a moment later he heard the faintest puff of displaced air. He snapped to the sound. His apple core stood still and proud in the centre of another platform, a quarter of the way across the gap.

He frowned, watching intently. Teleportation — again with no sign of mana or anything to power the effect. As far as he could tell, the platforms weren't even inscribed! He knew it shouldn't surprise him — none of the actions either of the ascendants he'd met used mana. It only made sense for the Crucible Xenanra controlled to run off similar principles.

It still unnerved him — a departure from the simple rules he knew.

Another moment passed.

Without warning, the platform holding the apple screamed down as a roar of wind filled the hallway. Kaius shot to his feet, watching it slip into the darkness in the same heartbeat.

He paled — seeing a faint dot of green and red still stuck to the polished granite. The apple core had been held in place: with how fast the platform had rocketed down, the core should have drifted away — fallen at a slower pace.

Another heartbeat, and he saw the platform pop back into existence as if it had never been touched. It hovered in place as if it rested on solid ground.

Kaius paused, desperately weighing if he would be fast enough to cross the gap. The entire escapade from when the apple core had teleported, to when the descending platform had reappeared after falling had taken moments. That was barely enough time to land and jump to the next platform — something that would be monumentally harder if he was teleported from stone to stone, and had to reorient each time.

Before he could weigh up his options further, a shattering crash rose from the chasm — the sound of the falling platform breaking only just reaching his ears.

He was definitely dead if he fell — a fall from that height, at that speed? He'd be paste!

Running a hand through his hair, he let out a slow breath as he looked longingly at the far side of the chasm. Of course nothing could ever be simple.

He still knew too little — he had to test this. See if it was every platform, or just some. If he could avoid the teleport traps with Expedient Shunt or Slipstep, it would be much simpler.

For some reason, he couldn't muster much hope for the chances of that happening. He pulled a carrot from his storage ring.

Breaking off a chunk and tossing it, the carrot spun through the air before landing on the next closest platform.

It landed, sliding across the platform, only to disappear a moment later — this time frozen in the middle of a platform only a few leaps further ahead. It shot down.

Kaius eyed the empty air where it had appeared contemplatively. Just like the apple, the carrot had frozen — losing all of its initial momentum. A problem, if a manageable one. It would be disorienting and slow him down further.

There was one final thing to check. He needed to know if direction was preserved — if he jumped expecting to still be able to move forward, he might send himself flying right into the pit with how little time he would have to react. He threw the final two thirds of the carrot to the next platform. Just like the others, it disappeared. Tracking the sound of displaced air, Kaius spotted it near the far side of the chasm.

It was facing a new direction.

"Gods' scorn!"

Spitting over the ledge in disgust, Kaius stepped back and took a seat as he wondered how the hell he was supposed to make it past this. Individually, none of the dangers were too bad. Combined, they were lethal. If only the platforms hung for a little longer after teleporting, even by just a second! It would still be challenging, but he'd feel far more confident then he did now.

The problem was he could see little of how his spells could help. After his experience with the climbing wall he had just scaled, he had no interest in trying to circumvent the obstacle with Shunt. Last time it had led to dozens of lethal vines attempting to spear him after they appeared out of the wood. Slip Step would help slightly — but the physical jump between platforms was the least of his problems, and that was all it would help.

Drakthar was utterly pointless, and neither Eirnith nor Vyrthane had spells that would help him with this obstacle either.

Although…they could, in theory. Both skills were a hair from their next spell. If he got one that gave him some sort of physical barrier that he could jump off, or an Eirnith spell that boosted his perception or reactions, he would be far better off.

Even if Vyrthane gave him a barrier that he couldn't stand on, it wouldn't hurt his chances — and it would likely still be valuable for future obstacles. If there was one thing he had in abundance, it was time. There were no pressing threats: no danger driving him forwards. He had plenty of food — he could just grind away at those last few levels.

Besides, picking new spells was always fun, and it would double as training for his mana shaping skills.

Sitting up straight, Kaius crossed his legs and focused. Reaching for Warhaven, he immediately had a sense for the spell — the area it could fill. He'd used it a fair bit to reach this point. It took time, but it had given him a much greater sense of what it could do.

He pushed at the shape — furrowing his brow as he tried to mould the shield into a torus. It fought against him as if it wanted to stay nice and simple, trying to snap back into a simple rounded dome.

Setting his jaw, Kaius yanked — trying to mould the nebulous potential of his magic like it was clay.

This would take a while.

….

**Ding! Latent glyph of Vyrthane has reached level 101!**

**Ding! Spell-hymn available for selection - Latent Glyph of Vyrthane!**

Kaius let out a whoop of joy as he punched the air. Finally.

He'd been stuck on the same strip of stone for a day and a half, endlessly casting and reinscribing Warhaven. The climbing wall behind him turned out to be just as dangerous as it had been the first time he'd summited it. Rather than risk it, he'd stayed in place. Gods, it had been boring — repetitive enough that he'd be glad if he never inscribed the spell again for the next year. Still, he'd done it!

If only the bloody spell wasn't so expensive! Half of what had made it so boring was that most of his time had been spent staring at the wall while he waited for his mana to regenerate. At least he'd had a couple of cloaks in his rings — if he'd had to lump discomfort on top of that, he'd have gone mad.

At the very least, he'd gotten much better at shaping the spell — both in absolute ability, and speed. With his last few casts, he'd been able to shape the barrier into rings and twisting tunnels consistently, each only taking him a second or two to snap into place.

They still glittered in the chasm below him — barely visible forcefields that hung just below the path of platforms, stretching halfway across to the limit of his current range. They were overlapped as much as the spells had been able to handle without interference breaking them down. Considering they lasted a full twenty-four hours, he figured he might as well see if they could halt the platforms on their descent.

Not that he would count on them doing so — regardless, he had spells to pick. Kaius smiled as a list of options appeared in his eye.

Bulner's Vital Protection:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Armour, Defense)

Affinity: Metal

Glyph: Vyrthane

300 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn coats the caster's torso and head in protective liquid metal that repels physical and magical attacks for ten minutes, leaving their motion unhindered. The spell leaves the eyes, nostrils, and mouth uncovered. The caster is still burdened by the weight of the metal.

…

Deepfather's Aegis:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Barrier)

Affinity: Earth, Martial

Glyph: Vyrthane

400 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a greatshield of solid stone that is weightless to the caster for thirty minutes. When blocking with the Aegis, the caster is fortified — preventing them from being pushed back against their will.

…

Bound Maelstrom:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Barrier, Defense)

Affinity: Storm, Protection

Glyph: Vyrthane

200 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a swirling maelstrom around the caster for 10 minutes. This barrier of storm diverts physical projectiles and defends against non-physical magic.

…

Sundering Light:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Barrier)

Affinity: Destruction

Glyph: Vyrthane

500 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a halo of entropic energy behind the casters back. When attacked, the halo unleashes a single destructive attack that sunders the weapon of the aggressor.

Kaius hummed as he thought through the available options. It was unfortunate that none of the spells he'd been offered would help with his current situation, but they all seemed like strong spells. Suitable for him, too — mostly.

Deepfather's Aegis would be fine for someone else, but he didn't use shields, and all it would do is tie up a hand that he could otherwise use to cast and aim his offensive magic.

Bulner's Vital Protection was similar. He did not fight like a traditional mage — he was already armoured. Besides that, the mention of its weight put him off. Sure, he was strong, but at his level, fractions of a moment could make the difference between a mortal blow and missing entirely. His entire fighting style was built around that mobility. If he was willing to make that trade off, he'd already be using heavy armour.

Sundering Light and Bound Maelstrom? Those were spells that sounded interesting.

Defence and disarmament in one, or protection against being targeted by backline opponents.

Kaius sat back, a contemplative furrow on his brow.