B2 Chapter 185: The Third Skill

Kaius looked at Porkchop with desperate eyes, trying and failing to suppress his eager desire to rip open his notifications and dive into his next skill selection.

It was only fair to ask—after he had picked first last time, and as a coherent team it would be important to get their input on the skills he was offered, even if he had the final say.

Porkchop held his gaze for a moment, stern and unyielding. Slumping his shoulders with a sigh, Kaius relented. It was rather greedy for him to try for twice in a row.

“Just messing with you, go ahead.” Porkchop said with a snort, nearly shoving him off his seat with a playful bat of his paws.

“You’re sure?” Kaius asked, unable to hide the gleeful smile that spread across his face.

“Yeah,” Porkchop nodded. “I don’t get as antsy about this as you do. Besides, I’m really curious about what you got offered.”

Without standing on ceremony, he seized the lifeline he had been given and threw himself fully into his notifications.

*Ding! Class skill available for selection!*

Latent Glyph of Aelina:

Class Skill - Tier I

Affinity: Arcane, Martial

Type: Glyph-binding, Runic, Spellcasting

Selection Available!

Heroic

The ‘Glyph of Transference’, Aelina is the source of the Runeblade’s legendary ability to appear as soon as they are called upon. Its hymns are at once the logistical backbone of Vesryn, and a source of unrivaled battlefield mobility. Ephemeral and swift, it is bound to the feet, where the centring touch of the earth can remind initiates that the present is ever fleeting—and time is not a resource to be squandered.

This skill allows the user to inscribe Vesryn translocation and motility spell-hymns to be activated at will, limited only by the availability of mana to reserve into the working, and sufficient space on the body. Creates a hymnbook on the user's status if one is not already present. Multiples of the same glyph can cast hymns inscribed on their counterpart.

Each level moderately increases the power, range, and area of effect of spell-hymns cast through the glyph.

Each level slightly decreases the physical size of inscribed spell-hymns.

Every 100 levels the user may learn another runic hymn of the relevant tier to add to their hymnbook.

Spell-hymns Known:

Tier I -

Selection Available!

…

Latent Glyph of Tsi’ria:

Class Skill - Tier I

Affinity: Arcane, Corruption

Type: Glyph-binding, Runic, Spellcasting

Selection Available!

Heroic

The ‘Glyph of Withering’, Tsi’ria is the unrelenting siege that devours all resistance. Some foes are too mighty—or too wily—to be dealt with direct force alone. Tsi’ria, and the insidious creep of its mighty afflictions, grind away at such enemies until they are but dust in the wind. Tsi’ria is inscribed on the sclera, so that all may know the risks of drawing Vesryn eyes.

This skill allows the user to inscribe Vesryn affliction and curse spell-hymns to be activated at will, limited only by the availability of mana to reserve into the working, and sufficient space on the body. Creates a hymnbook on the user's status if one is not already present. Multiples of the same glyph can cast hymns inscribed on their counterpart.

Each level moderately increases the power, range, and area of effect of spell-hymns cast through the glyph.

Each level slightly decreases the physical size of inscribed spell-hymns.

Every 100 levels the user may learn another runic hymn of the relevant tier to add to their hymnbook.

Spell-hymns Known:

Tier  -

Selection Available!

…

Mystic Persistence:

Class Skill - Tier I

Affinity: Arcane 

Type: Glyph-binding, Metamagic

Selection Available!

Unique

Sometimes you just need a bit of extra kick. Solar light that vaporises from the inside out, a burst of healing that continues to trickle in, flickering incorporeality after a blink—that kind of thing. It’s saved me more than once, sure as the hells.

This skill allows the user to alter a runic hymn inscription to have additional over-time effects for 5 seconds, for 20% added base mana reserved.

Every level reasonably increases the potency of the over-time effect.

Every 20 levels the additional over-time effect extends for an additional 1 second.

Kaius couldn’t contain his gasp as he processed the fact that he had not one, but two different glyphs available—spell casting ones at that. 

He’d always thought that the chance was pretty good he would get offered more, afterall it was a central function of the class, but there had been a niggling doubt that the rest would align closer to his Bladerite in function. Single purpose speciality things, with far less of the breadth of capability offered by Drakthar.

That worry was blown aside as easily as sand in the wind. If there had been just one, it would have been possible that the glyphs would be an infrequent and rare thing, but two? The chances of that would be incredibly unlikely.

He knew that he would pick one—while Mystic Persistence was good, it just simply didn’t have the same level of utility—but which?

Thank the gods he had his team with him to work through it, he’d have sat there ruminating on the decision for hours if he was left to handle it alone.

“Well, what did you get?” Ianmus asked, curiosity naked on his face.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t gasp like that if it wasn’t good.” Porkchop agreed with a nod.

Shaking his thoughts from his head, Kaius minimised the selection screen.

“Two glyphs,” he said quietly, almost reverent. “One focused on translocation and mobility spells—though I don’t know exactly what that means, other than it likely being movement related—and the other focuses on afflictions and curse magic. Aelina and Tsi’ria”

Porkchop's eyes widened in surprise, while Ianmus rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Well, at the very least I can confirm Aelina will be movement focused.” Ianmus said confidently. “Translocation magics are all about travelling to or away from a specific spot or level of existence. Teleportation, incorporeality, target based movement, and other such things.”

Kaius grinned as soon as he heard the word ‘teleportation’. It was the pinnacle of movement magics, and one that every would-be caster hoped to one day achieve. Who wouldn’t want to skip weeks of overland travel with a simple snap of their fingers.

Of course, he doubted he would get it as a tier one spell. Teleportation was rare, practically unheard of for those outside of the third tier unless they had a specialist spatial mage class. It was somewhat more accessible through the use of ruinously complicated formations, but only the exceedingly wealthy had access to them with any level of regularity.

“And mobility?” Kaius asked, eager to learn more about the other style of magic Aelina offered.

“Simple, they are spells that more directly empower your own movement and grant abilities that would otherwise be impossible. Think sprinting four times as fast and leaving a burning trail of fire in your wake.” Ianmus replied.

Kaius nodded, another useful addition. 

Thankfully, he knew of both curses and afflictions, so he needed no assistance there. Curses in particular were nasty things. Speciality afflictions that were often far more long lasting, esoteric, and insidious than simple afflictions that would eventually resolve themselves on their own.

Honestly, the idea of curse magic made him uncomfortable. Curse mages—and affliction ones, for that matter—had something of a…reputation for being of unsavoury character. If anything, that was an understatement. Curse mages were closer to reviled in truth. It was hard to be a welcome and upstanding member of the community if you could damn someone to a year of mild bad luck without the slightest hint of it being due to a curse.

At least, until someone went looking for it.

Getting offered the skill in the first place was a little worrying. While the class would influence the selection, your own actions did too. It made him think; was he the one holding nefarious designs in his heart, or was the mysterious Vesryn order less noble than they seemed at first glance?

“I have to be honest, I am far more interested in Aelina. I hate the idea of curse magic. It feels…ignoble.” Kaius finally said. “But, we are a team, and if there is a genuine case for it being more useful, I will seriously consider it.”

Even if he really didn’t want to. The idea of feeling the burning pain of inscription on his eyeballs made him want to crawl out of his skin.

Ianmus looked at him with surprise. “I didn’t take you to be superstitious. Curse magic is a branch like any other, and like all tools it is capable of misuse, but it is not inherently evil—no matter what people say.”

“I know, I know,” Kaius said with a wince. “Still, it just doesn’t feel like me. I like to be in the meat of a fight, and knowing that I won due to my own strength, ingenuity, and ability. While it would be easy to argue that it's no different to Stormlash’s stun, I just don’t like it.”

“Then don’t take it. A movement focused glyph fits your needs perfectly, and is exactly what we need as a team.” Porkchop replied, prodding him in the chest.

To his surprise, Ianmus also gave a firm nod of agreement.

“Porkchop is right. Currently, you are our roaming offense. The biggest threat to you, and to the team as a whole, is the difficulty you currently have in being right where you need to be.” the half-elf said.

Kaius frowned. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with that. Afterall, he had been doing just fine so far.

Ianmus caught his expression and sighed. “Kaius, think of the fight we just had, and the aura of flame that the infernus hound summoned. If you had the right translocation spell, you might have been able to move directly into position to attack the beast, or have been able to pull you and Porkchop out of danger.”

“He’s right—you’re strong, and hit harder than a stampeding herd, but more angles to attack from and more avenues to avoid injury will only make you all the more lethal.” Porkchop said, flooding their bond with an assurance that his competence was not in question.

When his brother put it like that, it was hard to argue. He knew that he would only start with a single spell, but when he had multiple? He could imagine himself stepping on the air to attack a giant beast from above, or slipping through shadows to strike unaware.

Plus, who could resist the temptation of a potential teleportation spell in the future?

“Aelina it is.” Kaius replied with conviction, and chose his third skill

**Ding! Latent Glyph of Aelina Class Skill Available, would you like to proceed? This choice is pivotal and irrevocable.**

As soon as he confirmed his choice, the now familiar omnipotent grasp of the system settled on his soul.

Power roared through his inner centre, weaving a new golden shard to join the nexuses of power that orbited the golden conflagration of his soul. As the skill crystalised, the system turned its attention to his mind.

Knowledge and understanding was crammed into his head with the subtlety of a dwarvish greathammer backed by a full-bodied swing. 

Gut wrenching aches resounded in his head as his brain felt like it swelled to thrice its size—threatening to spill out of his ears.

With that pain came an image. A delicate glyph. Long, graceful, and full of tight spirals, Aelina was immediately obvious as a cousin of Drakthar. Much of the core of the working was the same.

Oh, it was drawn differently. Softer, with thinner lines, and a number of individual runes that made up the arrays were different, but the similarities were plain as day. Even his drastically lacking familiarity with Vesryn glyphic runes wasn’t enough to stop him from noticing them.

Outside of that core binding though, it was vastly different. With the knowledge of its structure came an understanding of how it meshed to his body. Far greater in size than Drakthar, the extremities of the glyph looked like ripples on a pond—or the delicate whorls of a spinning dust devil.

With the core of the formation formed on his heel, the rest would loop outward, encapsulating the rest of his sole and wrapping up onto the instep of his foot.

He knew this for a certainty, and his mind ached all the more for it.

The system didn’t wait for him to stop processing the experience before it made it so in truth. Grabbing an inviolable grip on his mana, the system weaved the glyph with deft expertise.

Each line—each loop in his skin and natural mana flows— left a stinging kiss in its wake. A parting gift that ensured he remembered that every power had its cost.

Finally the system was done, and Kaius collapsed into the back of his chair with a gasp of relief. 

As soon as he had processed the experience, Kaius bent over in a scramble and unlaced a boot as quickly as he was able to.

Letting the heavy reinforced leather fall to the stone floor with a clatter, he ripped off his wool socks and stared at what was waiting for him. 

Another black glyph, delicately weaving its way across the soles of his feat.

“Pretty!”