Rune Seeker
Chapter 7: D-Rank

With everybody finalizing their preparations to go, Hiral did a quick check to make sure he was ready. He had the Emperor’s Greatsword slung across his back, and his RHCs on his thighs. His new and improved RHCs. With the Runes of Increase and Energy, he’d finally found a use for the other two—previously blank—slides in the weapons. The hand cannons now each fired an energy blast that not only scorched what they hit, but also packed at least twice the punch they had before. Definitely a nice upgrade from his class ability to modify crystal gear.

Speaking of which, the strange crystal ring floated upright about a foot behind him, so that if he turned his head, he looked right through the open center of it. The script throughout it glowed slightly, and once he’d fed it a bit of solar energy, it’d instantly moved into position behind him. What it actually did was still the big question, with his View skill giving him nothing but a question mark when he looked at it.

There weren’t any runes inscribed in the ring to give away its purpose, but when Hiral looked at the space within the ring, there was something like a pull. Solar energy wanted to flow that way, though every time he tried, nothing happened. He was still missing a piece of the puzzle.

With a shake of his head, he moved on from his weapons to the ring on his finger. Left’s tests with the Interspatial Ring had gone well. So well, in fact, that each of the six people now wore one. Their tents, sleeping bags, food, and other supplies all fit weightlessly inside. It took a few seconds to pull anything out, but it was far more convenient than carrying a backpack around. Hiral even had all his extra crystal in there to work with as they travelled.

With his gear in good shape, he pulled open his yellow status window to take a quick look at where he stood, a smile appearing—like it did every time—when his eyes passed over his class. He’d wanted one for so, so many years, it was almost like a dream to actually have it. Not exactly the class he’d always imagined he’d have, but, honestly, this Runic Artificer class was a much better fit for him than Shaper would’ve been.

Eyes traveling down his stats, he noticed he’d even gained another base point of Atn from his time in the workshop. Nice!

Name: Hiral Dorin

Race: Builder

Class: Runic Artificer

Rank: Low-D-Rank (Level 1)

Attributes

Strength (Str)—18 (0) = 18

Endurance (End)—18 (0) = 18

Dexterity (Dex)—20 (32) = 58

Intelligence (Int)—18 (0) = 18

Wisdom (Wis)—18 (0) = 18

Attunement (Atn)—19 (32) = 51

Solar Energy Processing

Absorption Rate: S-Rank

Capacity: S-Rank

Output Rate: S-Rank

Abilities—Runes

Rune of Separation—Primary

Rune of Gravity—Secondary

Rune of Energy—Tertiary

Rune of Attraction (Forearm, Left)

Rune of Rejection (Forearm, Right)

Rune of Absorption (Bicep, Left)

Rune of Impact (Bicep, Right)

Rune of Decrease (Shoulder, Left)

Rune of Increase (Shoulder, Right)

Abilities—Active

Foundational Split, Terminal, Eloquent, Enraged, Intimidate

Abilities—Passive

Infernal Conjuration, Gourmand, Racial Growth*, View (Enemy Health), Good Things Come in Threes, Walk on Water, One-Man Army (+20%), Internal Injuries (D-Rank), I Bow to No One (slight), Elemental Resistances (10%), Beauty Sleep, Inspirational Growth, Party Interface, Killing Spree, Life of the Party

Racial Growth—Progress

Troblins—Level 5—4/300—Current Bonus = 20%

Giant Horned Lizards—Level 3—13/50—Current Bonus = 10%

Barbed Swamp Snakes—Level 2—8/10—Current Bonus = 5%

Lizardmen—Level 4—58/150—Current Bonus = 15%

Hydras—Level 1—1/2—Current Bonus = 0%

All in all, Hiral couldn’t complain about the progress he’d made since he’d come to the surface. Not only had he finally gotten a class, but also nine runes, a handful of other active abilities, including Foundational Split, and a whole slew of passive abilities. It kind of irked him how the PIM used three different ways to measure the value of his abilities—Percentage and Rank is easy enough, but ‘slightly’? What does that even mean?—but the fact there was a value at all suggested they were all upgradable.

His stats were a little imbalanced, with everything going into Dex and Atn, but that was what he’d needed to beat the Troblin Lord, and he’d reflexively done the same thing with his first level of D-Rank points. Still, it was pretty impressive how his Dex…

Hiral paused while he looked at his status window. The math for his Dex didn’t make sense. Since when did 20+32=58? He scratched his head, closed his status window, and then reopened it to see if anything changed.

Nope, still fifty-eight.

With no obvious answer, Hiral walked up to the Asylum interface and waved his hand over the crystal, prompting Dr. Benza to predictably appear.

“Help,” Hiral said, and the doctor’s image shifted. “Dr. Benza, my status window is saying something strange about my dexterity. The numbers don’t add up. Can you explain it?”

“Accessing PIM,” Dr. Benza said. “Access complete. Perceived discrepancy likely arises from your high base dexterity, which is naturally in the realm of D-Rank. For each ten points of a base attribute beyond the initial ten, a twenty percent bonus is given to the PIM-based stats. This transforms your thirty-two allocated points into a final result of thirty-eight from your PIM.”

“Oh, wow,” Hiral said. “So, if I can get one more point in my attunement, I’ll get that twenty percent bonus there as well?”

“That is correct,” Dr. Benza said.

“Overpowered!” Yanily said, joining Hiral beside the interface. “Seriously. Who did you bribe to get all the good stuff?”

“Says the guy who should be getting ten percent to all his stats just for standing beside me,” Hiral said.

“Uh…” Yanily said, his eyes glazing over as he presumably looked at his status window. “Yeah, that is pretty nice. I thought I felt smarter.”

“It’s all in your head,” Left said, joining the two.

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m… oooooooh,” Yanily said. “Smarter. It’s all in my head. I see what you did there.” He winked at Left.

“Ten percent on top of a small number is still a small number,” Nivian added, coming out of the kitchen.

“No need to pick on him,” Seena said, coming into the Asylum lobby with Wule and Seeyela. “Guessing everybody is ready?"

"Yeah," Nivian said. “These rings are great. I just tested it, and the stew comes out without spilling! But, are we sure about…”

“I’m sorry I’m not going with you,” Cal’s voice said from the living area, and the healer stepped sheepishly into the lobby. “I… I would just slow you down.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Wule said. “Are you sure…?”

“I am,” she said, a bit more strength in her voice. “I can’t go back out there yet.”

“It’ll be lonely here,” Wule said, worry for his friend obvious.

“Not so lonely,” Cal said, and her fingers tightened around the hand mirror she held at her side.

Mirror of Memories… Maybe that’s what it does? Shows her images of her memories? Of the people she’s lost? I don’t know if that’s kind or cruel.

“You could…” Wule started.

“No,” Cal said, shaking her head. “Thank you for caring. For worrying about me. But this is my decision. I’m staying. You need to go, though. Favela needs you.” As she said this, she looked at Seeyela. From the glance that passed between them, this wasn’t the first time they’d had the conversation. Sᴇaʀᴄh the NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“I understand,” Wule said. “We’ll miss you, and we’ll come pick you up when the city comes around again. You better be ready.”

“I will.”

“You can use the globe Dr. Benza creates to monitor the island’s progress,” Left said.

“Yes. I’ll be waiting for you all,” Cal said, forcing herself to smile. “Stay safe. Please. I don’t want to see you in…” She cut off, her eyes darting down to her hand. “I don’t want to see you hurt,” she amended. “Come back safe.”

“I’ll make sure of it this time,” Nivian said. “No matter what it takes. I won’t let anything happen to them.”

“I know you won’t,” Cal said, looking at each of the party members. Then she abruptly turned and vanished back into the living area. The soft click of a distant door closing told them all where she’d gone.

“Is she really going to be okay?” Wule asked.

“We have to trust she’ll be,” Seena said. “We’ve got enough on our plates now. Left, you know where we’re going?”

“Sort of?” the double said with a shrug. “There should be a Disc of Passage waiting for us back where we first arrived to take us to the next zone, but there’s no data on what we’ll find in the zone itself. I spoke with Wule, and he confirmed the area is too far away from the EnSath River for him to have any information on it.”

“So, we’re going in blind?” Yanily asked.

“Nothing different from the dungeons,” Hiral said. “We’ve got this.”

“He’s right; we do,” Seena said. “Recap, in case anybody”—she looked specifically at Yanily—“wasn’t listening before. We’re going to this D-Rank zone to clear the three dungeons and get to the next Asylum as quickly as possible. No farming for experience there. Once we’re through to the zone after that, also D-Rank, we’ll either move right to the jump point or start clearing dungeons there. All depends on time.

“Our secondary goal is, of course, to try and get a class evolution for at least one of us. If we can do that, Dr. Benza will hopefully give us some information on the threat to Fallen Reach and our islands. If we can’t, and we get to the second zone with time to spare… Hiral, I want to try to use that rest bonus ability you got to get you to C-Rank. It’s a long shot, to say the least, but it’s the best backup plan I could come up with.”

Hiral nodded. “I did some testing with Beauty Sleep when we were looping in the Troblin Throne. Seems I need two hours of good rest—which is kind of subjective, if you ask me—to get one hour of bonus experience. However, if we can find a good farm spot with constant enemies, between that and Killing Spree, I could see the experience really racking up.”

“Overpowered,” Yanily mumbled predictably.

“Can’t argue with you this time, given the right circumstances,” Hiral said. “The bonus won’t amount to much while we’re traveling, but if we find a spot to set up camp and hunt from there, it could be impressive.”

“Hopefully we won’t need to get you to C-Rank, but it’s good to have the option,” Seena said. “One last thing. The Enemy.”

As soon as she said the words, a tension ran through Hiral’s shoulders along with the mental image of a glowing grin. That thing that had taken over Picoli was still out there, but it was way back where they’d started. In a few hours, they’d be thousands of miles away from it. No, it was a problem to deal with—maybe—when they came back for Cal. The bigger question was whether or not there were more of them out there.

“By the looks on your faces, I can see you’re all thinking the same thing I am,” Seena said. “We still know next to nothing about this so-called Enemy. Not what they look like or what they want.”

“They can fly, they’re invisible, and they really want us dead,” Yanily said. “I think that honestly sums up all the important stuff.”

“They can also… infest or possess people… or something like that,” Hiral said. “And they can use the same runes I do.”

“Yes,” Seena said, “they’re dangerous. But it also seems like they only come out when the rain is the worst. We move when it’s light; we hide when it’s heavy. As long as we’re careful, we should be able to avoid them.”

“Any chance there are more like… like Picoli?” Wule asked.

Seena shrugged. “From the map, the zone we’re going to isn’t close to the river, which should also mean none of our people would’ve been lost there. I think the odds of it are low, but we’ll keep an eye out.”

“Even if we do run into one, we’re all D-Rank now, with new equipment and abilities,” Nivian said. “We can do this.”

“We can,” Seena agreed. “Let’s go.”

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