“Amazing,” Earon mumbled with wide eyes as Trudels led him through the massive library, its shelves of books taller than the streets of Caedstad.

“There’s a thousand tips and tricks for crafting runes amongst these books, perhaps you’ll find something that helps you.”

“I’m not sure where to start.”

“Neither am I,” Trudels scratched his head. “Anyhoo, I’ll bring breakfast by in an hour or so. Bacon, eggs, sausages, porridge, and beans; I hope it’ll be to your taste.”

Earon nodded excitedly. His stomach was already rumbling at the thought. Focusing on reading was going to be difficult.

The shelves seemed to be endless, and Earon started collecting any books that sounded interesting to him.

Books on casters, cantrips, runes, magical beasts, and mana weaving piled over a cluttered table with a soft, red velvet top.

Hobbling back into the library came Trudels, trailed by a golem that was bent in half, walking as if it were a table and covered in a dozen plates topped by an assortment of hot food.

Staring down a table of contents, Earon's attention drifted toward the meal.

“Come on, can’t work on an empty stomach.”

Earon needed no convincing and jumped up from his chair in an instant.

“Hash browns!” His eyes widened. They were a bitter-sweet memory, an old favorite his mother used to make when he was little. When things got worse and her strength faded, she stopped making them, and Earon never took up the mantle.

“Not a bad selection,” Trudels said, eyeing the books over Earon’s shoulder as they ate. “Should be a good place to start.”

“The world’s going to pass me by,” Earon sighed.

Trudels looked around. “Some might tell you that's what it means to be a caster. And who am I to say otherwise, secluding myself for hundreds of years to master my art? But it doesn’t have to be, and you don’t need to master every aspect of it. But you will need to know the basics. Read the books on rune crafting, and then I’ll show you how I craft mine. Hopefully, that will inspire you to create your own.”

The moment food was cleared, Earon dove straight into the books on runes. As Trudels alluded to, the book was mostly about enchanters. However, he did learn of a spell strikingly similar to the one on his chest. A very powerful rune used to provide armor with magical resistance. Only a single enchanter had been known to cast the spell, one Yengil Saadri, an ancient master who served the Emperor of Saner, and gained a position almost equal to him in the process.

Earon’s attention was piqued when he found a section about theoretical enchantment. It seemed enchanters had an issue with how much mana they could impart on a rune, and as the rune faded, so did the mana. There was a lot of skill involved in the actual crafting of the rune because of this, and the more imperfections, the more mana that would be lost. Not that this mattered for most, since any magical item generally held great value, and most would be beyond happy to have anything magical.

The theory went on to explain that if the bond between the enchanter's mana, and the rune could be maintained, it may be possible to impart far greater power to the item. This was supported by the fact that magical items worn by enchanters, particularly the ones that enchanted the items themselves, were of far greater power.

Unfortunately, the book made no mention of warlocks, nor any other class that had body transmutation as a form of rune crafting; though Earon expected as much.

Trudels stopped by to select a bunch of other rune crafting books for Earon, planting them down on his table, and waddled off silently.

Two full days went by and Earon started to feel like he’d go crazy just reading every day. He did however gain 3 full points in arcane knowledge, which seemed astronomical. However, when considering how rare the knowledge at his fingertips was, combined with his low skill level, it made a lot of sense. Simply living around so many magical items had also increased his mana sense by a point, and Earon started to understand why the Spiral Mages were so determined to live where they did.

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During their meals, Trudels explained that a mana vein ran through his expansive home, which was why he chose it, and how he lived so long.

Whilst Trudels wasn’t a particularly strong combatant himself, he had a literal army of golems marching about his compound, and the monsters of the Scarworld had given up trying to invade his space many years ago.

However, without the mana vein, he would be capable of far less. It gave him near-limitless energy to craft runes and build new golems whenever they were needed, making an assault extremely costly. This was indicative of casters who controlled powerful mana sources, and the reason the Spiral Mages clung to their tower.

Trudels explained that for the elders, every minute away from their mana-rich towers and sanctums would cost them years of their life expectancy. It was why older, and more powerful casters rarely traveled the roads. In their mana-rich homes, they were beyond powerful, but the longer they spent away from them, the weaker they became.

So, whilst Trudels might be able to build himself a near-impregnable fortress, if he tried to take his army of golems on a mission of conquest, they would quickly lose power, and become a shadow of what they currently were.

This was also part of the reason magical items never flooded the market. Younger, weaker enchanters might be found in cities, but as they grew, they either aged and died without creating much of a legacy, or they left for seclusion to find somewhere rich in mana to grow old and powerful.

These same limits to power would no doubt affect Earon as well, but he likely had fifty years before he would need to worry about it.

Once Earon had finished with the books, Trudels began showing him how he crafted runes. However, there was one problem, you needed to have some knowledge of the spell you intended to turn into a rune before you could turn it into one.

Whilst Trudels couldn’t cast the spells outright that he turned into runes, he had studied them all extensively. Animate, was of course the crux of what he did, but without additional spells, his golem would be rather useless.

And this went doubly so for enchanters, who generally had a far greater arsenal of spells at their command. Which seemed important, since Earon was starting to believe that he had far more in common with the enchanter class than the animator.

So, Earon went around collecting books again. He would need to learn about spells as much as he could.

An entire week flew by in a blink, gaining Earon points in both mana sense and arcane knowledge.

It was a simple spell that he settled on, one that young mages used when practicing their magic, Zap. From what Earon had read, the apprentices he had met way back in Ryewood would have likely known the spell, but chosen not to rely on it due to its less-than-lethal effect – their crossbows being far more deadly.

It seemed like a perfect place to start, and Earon learned everything there was to know about the spell.

He also learned about mana channeling and spent every evening after his brain had been stuffed too full of knowledge, trying to focus on his mana. After two days he unlocked the ability, Channel Mana, and rose it to 3 by week's end, no doubt greatly assisted by his environment.

He would need to be able to channel mana if he planned on crafting any runes, and it was generally considered the first ability any caster learned, with many unlocking it during childhood before they even earned a class.

Focusing on his mana, Earon trained his senses on the bonds of mana that flowed through the runes. With the images of runes he had studied in his head, he began to understand how he might write his own.

After hundreds of practice sessions, Earon was finally ready. He held the vision in his mind of how the rune would look and began writing it on his left palm whilst channeling his mana. He drew squares and bolts of lightning, bordered by runes he didn't even know existed until they flowed from the magical quill provided by Trudels.

The feeling was instinctual, and he found himself drawing something quite different from what he had imagined. Strokes came together as white filled his eyes and within moments the shapes had taken the form of runes. A lightning bolt filled the center of his palm, surrounded by runic markings that hummed to life with a light blue glow.

Immediately he felt energy flowing through his palm. Earon stretched his fingers and stared down in awe.

***

Ability upgraded – Rune Crafting (body transmutation) Progression; 2-3.

Spell unlocked – Zap (Active) Channel your mana to zap things.

***

Earon hadn’t thought about learning spells, and for some reason didn’t think he would need to as a rune crafter. It made sense though, and he figured his runes would get stronger as the spells did.

“Ready to test it out?” Came Trudels merry voice, and Earon turned to see him standing in the doorway not far from him.

They made their way down to a large, open hall, and Trudels beckoned over several smaller golems.

He then nodded toward Earon, who stretched and readied himself.

Earon wasn’t sure what he was meant to do but shrugged away any self-doubt and charged forward.

The golem remained motionless as he flung his hand out and slammed his palm against its chest.

It wasn’t much, a crackle of energy, a pop, and a blackened mark where he had landed the blow; but Earon used magic.

What’s more, it didn’t seem to have affected his first rune, the magical resistance one. Meaning that his theory was correct, he could apply different runes to different body parts.