I couldn’t fall asleep. The confrontation with the guards was still too fresh in my memory, and not even Elincia’s presence beside me could ease my restless mind. The clash with the young guards had been a minor incident compared to my fight against Raudhan Kiln or Kellaren, but I couldn’t help but feel we were walking directly into a trap.

My mission remained the same: keep the kids away from the army. However, a part of me started to doubt my methods. Participating in the tournament was the right decision in the short run. Given the political situation of the kingdom, having a powerful patron would alleviate the burden on our shoulders. Sir Janus had the support of the previous Marquis and managed to get into the Imperial Academy. That much was true. However, entering the public stage might not be the smartest decision in the long run. Once we started meddling with the affairs of the nobility, there was no turning back.

Political favors had to be paid one way or another.

Elincia softly snored in the bed, her arms and legs splayed like a starfish and her expression as peaceful as a sleeping cat. I wondered if Elincia was desensitized to danger or if the Guard had so much power that tonight’s events were something normal. One way or another, I couldn’t picture myself sleeping soundly after the incident.

I slipped out of bed without making a noise and collected my notes about runeweaving from the desk. Elincia had a keen ear, even when she slept, but [Light Footed] again came in handy. I wasn’t going to fall asleep any time soon. Despite my body being tired, my mind was restless, so I decided to spend the last strands of mana practicing runeweaving. I grabbed my journal and a bunch of paper and walked to the kitchen.

Everything would have been easier if the System Avatar had used his powers to guide me instead of writing sassy prompts. But it seemed that was too much to ask. He took things too slowly for someone claiming to be worried about corruption and the eventual System's destruction.

“Not to sound ungrateful,” I muttered, just in case.

I entered the kitchen and sat in front of the windows. If someone tried to enter the orphanage by jumping over the wall, I would see them. Mister Lowell had been almost prescient at the moment of erecting an almost three-meter tall wall made of solid stone. I put my materials over the table without bothering to fuel the light stones. Instead of outright enchanting, I opened my journal on an empty page and wrote down what I believed to be the ideal equipment to survive in the Farlands. Enchanting was a medium. Surviving was the goal.

“Let’s start with equipment,” I said as I made an effort to remember my father’s hunting gear. He always talked about how good boots were king of any hunting apparel. Other hunters said the orange vests, but after wearing uncomfortable shoes for a long time, I tended to believe my father better.

I wrote down ‘hardened boots’, ‘invisibility cloak’, and ‘thermic blanket’ when I suddenly remembered the existence of the enchanted blanket Chieftain Alton had given us when we met in the Farlands. There was yet another enchanted item at the orphanage. The blanket was stored in one of the classroom’s wardrobes.

I believed the three runes on the light stone were ‘light’, ‘gradual’, and ‘recharge’. I wrote ‘Blanket of Warmth’ and then ‘fire’, ‘gradual’, and ‘permanent’ with a big question mark. My stomach tingled with expectation. Given that the blanket worked similarly but with heat instead of light, I expected to decipher two extra runes at least.

In less than a minute, I retrieved the blanket from the classroom and spread the fabric over the table. I grinned. Just as I expected, the blanket had only three runes. And only one of them was the same as the second rune in the light stone. ‘Gradual’.

“That’s a bingo!” I whispered to myself.

That added ‘gradual’ to the pool of runes I knew.

Before continuing with the experiment, I ripped a piece of paper and took it to the stove. The rune that kept the blanket warm had to be ‘fire’ or ‘warmth’. In case it was ‘fire’, I was better off taking some precautions.

I tested the two remaining runes from the blanket, imprinting them on the piece of paper. The first one didn’t produce any effect; that had to be the rune that powered the blanket’s enchantment. By the process of elimination, the second rune had to be ‘fire’. I imprinted it. The paper instantly caught fire and singed the hair on the back of my hand.

Excitement crept up my spine and I let out an involuntary laughter.

Knowing the rune for ‘fire’ was a giant leap. From self-warming tents and blankets to fireball-throwing wands, the fire rune had to be one of the best runes for both utility and offense. I had to remind myself that it was a dangerous one, too. If I didn’t want to burn the manor to the foundations, I needed to be extra careful.

I already knew two of the three runes of the blanket: ‘fire’ and ‘gradual’. The third one must be related to the method by which the blanket gathered the mana to remain functional. I looked at my notes. ‘Permanent’ was an option if the enchanter poured industrial amounts of mana inside the blanket at the moment of creation, but as much as I examined the item, I couldn’t sense such a reserve. Even compared to the light stones, the warmth blanket seemed less powerful. Maybe ‘permanent’ wasn’t the rune in question. Maybe the blanket slowly gathered mana from the user or the environment.

I put the blanket over my shoulders and examined the enchanted threads to no avail. I couldn’t detect any movement of mana. Maybe it had a hidden mana pool? That would be overengineering a simple enchanted item. Maybe the blanket wasn’t using enough mana to detect any movement. I needed a colder environment.

I opened the window and exited the manor with the blanket over my shoulders. The freezing wind hit my face, and I made sure to close the window behind me to keep the kitchen warm. Then, I walked to the big stump and sat with my eyes closed. Minutes passed, but nothing changed. I could see the runes clear as day, but any sign of mana moving eluded me. I was having trouble focusing.

Mana was easier to detect and control in a state of deep concentration, so I closed my eyes and fought against my consciousness to keep my thoughts at bay. The events of the night didn’t make it easy. A convoluted map of names and faces appeared in front of my eyes. One of them was the culprit behind today’s failed raid.

I sighed. Having a family was hard.

Suddenly, the kitchen window slammed open, and Loki, in its dog form, leaped into the backyard. The Changeling shone like a lighthouse in the middle of the night. Bright runes completely covered its body. I had to shut down my mana vision and open my eyes.

“Damn beast!” Loki said as it snuggled to my side. It has been a while since we were the two of us alone.

“Thanks for flash-banging me,” I grunted.

I had to blink repeatedly to focus on the dog’s features. Sensing the cold night, Loki turned into a twister of darkness and landed on my lap, turning into a mouse. Then, the changeling scurried inside the warm blanket and hid inside my chest pocket.

When I got my powers, and for a brief moment, I was able to see weak runes on everything, from inanimate items to humans. However, after that initial surge of detection, the runes disappeared. No living creature shined as brightly as Loki did.

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“Who are you really?” I asked as I opened the blanket and spied on the creature.

“Loki!” Loki replied.

Not only had its shape changed, but also the runes on its body. I wondered what would happen if Loki mimicked one of the enchanted items. I got to my feet and jumped into the kitchen through the window. The name [Light Footed] fell short in comparison to the actual abilities the trait gave me. Even without thinking about it, I could move with the precision and agility of a cat. It felt great.

“Hey, buddy. Can you turn into this?” I said, holding the light stone in front of Loki.

Loki buried deeper into my pocket.

“Come on, pal, I’m stuck and need your help. Bad guys are coming after us, and I can only help the kids if I get this runeweaving thing going,” I said. “Don’t do it for me, do it for the kids. For Shu.”

Loki opened one eye and looked at me with a suspicious expression, or as suspicious as a rat could look. Finally, the Changeling sighed and jumped out of my pocket. After examining the light stone for a moment, Loki turned into a swirl of darkness just to fall heavily over the table, turning into a perfect copy of the stone.

I checked Loki’s runes. Just as I expected, there were more than the three runes of the light stone. Whatever mechanism Loki used to transform was a hundred times more complex than any enchanted object I’ve seen. Yet, upon further examination, I caught a glimpse of the three-rune string I was looking for. Light-gradual-recharge.

I shut down my mana sense and quickly copied the surrounding runes. At least that way, I would know where to look. Maybe I could even learn a ‘mimic’ rune.

“You are the best, Loki!” I scratched the surface of the stone.

“Loki!” Loki angrily squeaked, transforming back into a rat.

I was petting the wrong rock, but it was Loki’s fault for moving.

“I’m sorry, pal. You are just that good at transforming,” I laughed. Sleep was starting to catch up to me, but I wanted to continue working. With a little bit of experimentation, I could use Loki as a rune finder.

“Damn beast!” Loki replied, offended.

“Hey! You have been repeating that since we met. I know you have been listening to the kids talk. You can talk freely to me if you want,” I said.

“In your dreams!” Loki replied, mimicking Shu’s voice.

I scratched my chin. Changelings were still a mystery to me. If Loki could look into my memories, why did he refuse to produce fluent speech? That wasn’t even the greatest mystery of all, nor the most pressing. Loki’s ability to change seemed to be tied to rune usage. Looking carefully, one could even think he was made purely of runes.

The mission the System Avatar had given me resonated in my mind. Learn how to use the runes, edit the code of the System, and fix the Corruption. Any reckless change in the code could render the System useless, and yet, I was in front of a creature that wrote and rewrote runes freely. Wasn’t that a dangerous design choice? The creator of the System was probably too smart to overlook something as outrageous as that. Unless Changelings weren’t part of the masterplan designed by the creator.

“Loki? I’m starting to think you are some sort of bug,” I said.

“You are a damn bugger!” Loki angrily replied.

Runic or biological, the creature had a temper.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant,” I quickly said.

Despite my apologies, Loki jumped to the floor and left the kitchen with an annoyed expression.

“Well, my mana pool is half depleted. It’s not a lot that I can do right now even if I knew all the runes,” I muttered to myself as I wrote down some ideas in my journal.

Combining ‘fire,’ ‘gradual,’ and ‘recharge,’ I could make self-warming clothing that only heated when required. Trekking with hot underwear on didn’t seem very comfortable to me. During a snowstorm, on the other hand, warm socks sounded like a great idea.

The other new combination I could try was ‘light’, ‘gradual’, and ‘permanent’. However, I didn’t want to use the ‘permanent’ rune until I knew how it worked. If the energy used by the Blanket of Warmth came from the Fountain, using that particular rune could be dangerous. Useful but dangerous.

Elincia would be mad if I unleashed unfathomable cosmic energies inside the kitchen.

That didn’t stop me from theorizing about applications. The combination of ‘light’, ‘gradual’, and ‘permanent’ would produce an object that shone constantly. Something like a beacon? Carrying a lit beacon in the pocket didn’t seem practical at all. But what about something smaller, like pebbles? The tale of Hansel and Gretel instantly popped into my mind. Small light pebbles might work as a good way to mark a dark path.

If I could only figure out how the blanket got its energy.

“Screw it, Robert, you have to focus,” I reprimanded myself. The faster I mastered the runeweaving art, the earlier the orphanage would reap the benefits.

I took a deep breath and slapped my face until my cheeks burned. Then I focused on the Blanket of Warmth. Screw Kellaren. Screw Raudhan Kiln. Screw Holst. There was no time to feel insecure, just time to work, work, and keep working. Suddenly, my consciousness detached from my body, and I felt as if I was floating. The blanket’s fabric extended in front of me like a desert of high dunes and deep valleys.

Then, I realized I was looking in the wrong place. The blanket wasn’t as fully enchanted as the light stones were. The blanket was woven with a mix of normal wool and enchanted threads. The first threads were opaque lines under my mana vision, while the latter were bright red highways of burning magic. Only one of the four threads was enchanted. Smart. Using solely enchanted threads would make the blanket too hot.

My consciousness zoomed into the enchanted threads, searching for any trace of mana movement. Then I noticed it. Slowly, almost gently, the fibers absorbed blue mana particles from the environment and transformed them into red, fire mana.

I remembered I had to breathe. With a deep breath, I was brought back to the present. For an instant, my hands feel weird, as if they weren’t actually part of me. My head took a moment to adjust to the size of my body.

“Trippy,” I muttered as I fought to keep the contents of my stomach inside.

Trippy and enlightening. The third rune wasn’t ‘permanent’ but ‘absorption’. I cross-checked my notes and found almost the same rune in the Aias Sword. The blanket absorbed mana from the environment, while the sword most probably absorbed mana from monsters.

Fatigue was beginning to win over me, but I wanted to perform an experiment before wrapping things up. With the [Headmaster] title, half of the remaining Corruption had disappeared, leaving me with considerable mana available. It was probably enough for a couple of enchantments. I exited through the window and grabbed a bunch of white pebbles from an empty flower pot.

I sat back at the table and put a single pebble in the palm of my hand. Then, I carved the runes using mana. The process felt natural after enchanting paper with the light rune a hundred times. Light. Gradual. Absorption. Unlike drawing or writing, there was no skill involved in the operation, just willpower. It felt like the System interpreted and translated my thoughts into runes.

A faint blue gleam lit the surface of the pebble. I held my breath, waiting for the enchantment to fade away. A minute passed. Then two. I expected a sudden System prompt popping in front of my eyes, but nothing happened. I examined the pebble. The runes show no sign of wearing out. The enchantment worked.

“Why stop with one?” I asked myself.

The enchantment process stopped automatically when the runes absorbed enough mana, and I calculated I had enough for a couple more tries. I made a mental note to create a standardized unit for mana, but that would have to wait until I had a good idea of how to do it.

I grabbed the second pebble and applied the enchantment. About a third of my mana pool was absorbed by the runes. This time, however, the pebble turned to be violet. I smiled, enjoying the success.

“Green next?” I asked as I grabbed the next pebble.

A cold shiver took over my body as my mana reserve came dangerously close to empty so I put the blanket over my shoulders. The process of runeweaving was even more mana-intensive than my mana shield, which made me wonder how complex pieces like the Aias Sword were made. I would have to start inquiring.

I focused back on the pebble and carved the runes on the surface. After a moment, the pebble glowed with a green hue. I just needed to learn the ‘discharge’ and the ‘activation’ rune, and I would have a magical flash grenade or a flare.

I tried to focus on the paper but my eyes started to close and I slowly faded into sleep.