Over the following week, Earon had redrawn the Zap rune many times. Sometimes his changes weakened it, other times he strengthened it. But most importantly, the practice had been immensely useful, not only gaining him 2 more points in rune crafting but also greatly improving his understanding of it. Not to mention, he had increased Zap to level 3.

Training had brought up new issues, however. He didn’t seem to be able to channel his zap through weapons and was starting to believe he never would be able to. It made sense since his class seemed to be focused on channeling magic through his body, instead of weapons and items like enchanters. Why would he be able to both, if they couldn’t?

This meant that he would need to switch up his fighting style, much to his dismay. It seemed brawling would be his focus after all, and Earon began practicing it and combining his clumsy techniques with zap.

The golems made great practice and were much better for skill gains than static targets. However, they weren’t life-and-death battles, and the gains reflected that. Still, at his level, he was able to reach level 4 in brawling after a couple of weeks of training, and with it hit level 9.

***

Warlock – Level 9

***Skills & Abilities***

Polearms (10)

Navigator (4)

Arcane knowledge (6)

Rune Crafting (Body Transmutation) (4)

Mana Sense (5)

Riding(2)

Survivalist(3)

Block(6)

Resistance(2)

Physical Resistance(2)

Brawling(4)

Tracking(2)

Dark Sight(8)

Stealth(3)

Throwing(5)

Channel Mana(3)

***Spells***

Magic resistance (7)

Zap (3)

***

Life had been a whirlwind since leaving the Rye, and Earon was filled with pride upon opening his status screen.

It wasn't much, and breaking through the foundling stage was considered the beginning by most, but he was proud nonetheless.

Having a spear had been a good start since it was a melee weapon but also had extra reach. Now that Earon's tactics were being forced to change, he realized that he needed another attack.

He just wasn't good enough to rely on hand-to-hand combat. If he was to stand a chance against near peers, he would need a means of attacking from afar. It would be difficult, as range, like any additional attributes, generally made spells harder to cast. And Earon didn't have the luxury of waiting until he became a master. No, he would need something effective yet simple. And so, he got to work searching through the endless tomes made available to him.

There was a magic arrow, arcane ball, and a few others, but they were all fairly complicated spells, and often took decades to learn well. Earon didn’t need to master them of course, but he still wanted to return to the surface as fast as possible and felt that such difficult spells would be too much of a setback.

It was then that came across another training spell that perked his interest.

Featherweight; despite its name, the featherweight spell can be used to both increase and decrease the weight of an object. Due to the ease of casting and the great degree to which the spell can be altered through concentration, tampering with its ability to alter weight, it is considered one of the best mana control training spells for young magicians.

Immediately Earon perked up and continued reading. It appeared that featherweight was widely used among magicians. Not only was it used for training, but it was a popular utility spell, however, when it came to combat, it was considered non-viable. The problem was, between its casting time, the concentration required to use it, and its effectiveness, it was hard to use practically in combat. Magicians learned far more powerful spells by the time they could master featherweight well enough to use it in a pinch, and so, they never did.

But Earon had an idea. He didn't cast spells, at least not in the traditional sense. He was much like an enchanter, applying runes to body parts and using them to channel his mana and spontaneously cast spells. Unlike apprentice magicians, who would struggle to not just cast, but use this spell effectively in the heat of battle, Earon could summon it in an instant, thanks to his unique casting style. The trade-off, of course, was that he was limited by the number of spells he could use, and by the number of party parts he had, and Earon figured having an attack spell placed somewhere inconvenient, wouldn't be of a lot of use.

With that thought, he wondered. If he could use weight control in the heat of battle, maybe he could elevate this simple training spell to something much more. After all, it had the advantage of being easy to learn, unlike most other spells he had come across.

Earon picked up a paperweight from beside him, felt the weight in his hand, and threw it across the room. Maybe he wouldn't have to wait too long to develop an effective range attack, after all.

Another two weeks went by as Earon developed his new rune, getting a host of new skills and ability upgrades in the process. Most notably his arcane knowledge shot up 4 points, whilst throwing and brawling trailed with one each. He also unlocked the spell Featherweight.

It was a crude rune on his palm, a feather surrounded by a circle of runic symbols. It didn't look like anything a master, or anyone even close to being one would create, but Earon could feel the hum of mana pulsating through it, and that was enough for him.

Returning to the hall Trudels had set up for training, Earon picked up a small rock from the ground and bounced it in his hand. He had practiced his throwing with the golem down range many times over the last couple of weeks. But this time he had a confident smirk painted across his face.

"Are you ready, Mr. Rocks?" Earon said to the indifferent golem, who stood perfectly still as he recoiled into a throwing stance,

Earon dropped his front foot and lent into the arch of his throw as he released the rock, timing his release of mana into the rock just as it was about to leave his fingers.

The rock flung forward, then dropped. It was spectactically uneventful. Earon had been too slow, and the rune had activated after the rock had already left his hand.

He tried again but was too fast, and the extra weight entered the rock before it left his hand and weakened his throw, sending the rock tumbling down just beyond his feet.

Earon wasn't dissuaded though. He continued practicing his throws one after another for hours, only forced to take a break as his mana reserves depleted and he fell to the ground.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Waving a leafy trig with a repugnant, stale odor, Trudels's grinning face greeted Earon as he awoke on the cold, hard, stone floor.

"My head," Earon groaned as he rubbed his throbbing skull.

"Drink this," Trudels said, passing the still-prone Earon a cup of hot tea.

"Wait a minute," Earon pushed out his arms and eased himself up. "What is this anyway?"

"Troll urine and demonfly blood. It'll soothe your head in moments."

"Yeah, but..." Earon drifted off as he eyed the suspiciously dark tea.

"Just drink up and don't think so much. Down here, you need to make use of what's available. You don't even want to know what kinds of meats I've been feeding you."

Earon shuddered and grimaced but drank the tea.

"Good, good." Trudels grinned. "And next time, take it easy. You know, exhausting your mana supply is no good. It can have long-term effects on a caster. You need to be careful, if you plan on doing this for a while."

Earon nodded.

The next day, he got back to work after a hearty meal of sausages and eggs - which lingered in Earon's thoughts, thanks you Trudels admission the previous day.

It wasn't just getting the timing right that Earon was having difficulty with, he also couldn’t increase the weight by too much, yet. But he figured if he managed to get the timing down, that wouldn't matter too much.

Half the day went by with failure after failure before Earon finally managed to hit the sweet spot. Weight filled the rock just as it slipped from his fingers, and it immediately showed as the tiny projectile propelled through the air at a speed that looked completely out of place.

It missed, of course, he had been focusing too much on regulating the rune to aim properly.

As Earon continued to throw his overweight rocks down the range and toward the golem, he quickly reached a point where about one in three were successfully thrown with the added power of his rune behind them.

He still struggled with aiming, but as the weight control became more natural, his throws became less errant and more on target, even hitting the unmoving golem occasionally.

“I’m impressed,” Trudels said, nodding as he waddled toward Earon. “But if you want to build a foundation before you return to the surface, you need to fight real fights.”

Earon nodded slowly, "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

“Pfft, nonsense." Trudels waved dismissively. "You'll waste away waiting to be ready. And besides, you told me how much you have already achieved, being constantly thrown into danger. Do you think mastering spells and mana control is any different? The golems, I'll have them fight at twenty percent.”

“Twenty percent?” Earon’s brows rose.

“I’ll set the golems to lethal, but at only twenty percent strength, think you can handle that?”

"No?"

"Oh, don't be so modest." Trudels snapped his finger and the golem creaked into action as it turned toward Earon.

He grimaced but went along with it, charging forward. As he dashed, Earon flicked out pebbles, one after another, some harmlessly bouncing off the golem, whilst others smashed into it with surprising power. Not that either seemed to bother the construct all too much.

Hoping his target was distracted enough, Earon dove forward to land one of his zaps, but suddenly the body of stone swung around, leading with a fist of rock pummeling toward Earon's face.

Trudels snapped his fingers again and the golem froze. "Well, maybe it was a little early. Perhaps ten percent would be more appropriate."

"Yeah," Earon agreed, slowly nodding as he eyed the stone fist only inches from his face.

Training fights continued for two weeks.

Unfortunately, not every battle could be halted before Earon took a hit, and Trudels had spent much of the following weeks healing Earon. It was a bitter-sweet cycle, but Earon achieved not just skill points, but combat prowess, fighting against the much stronger golems.

He had also tried fighting with a shield Trudels had lying around since he already had some practice with them. Unfortunately, it seemed to get in the way of using the runes on both hands. Since his end goal was to master his rune magic, Earon decided he would have to discard the use of shields and rely on dodging. Luckily, he unlocked dodge not long later, and as he worked it into his combat, and found himself gaining points at an impressive rate.

Still, he had a long way to go and was determined to beat one of the golems at twenty percent before leaving.

It helped that chatting with Trudels had become one of Earon’s favorite pastimes, and he found himself feeling like he would miss the old man when he finally left.

Beyond combat training, Earon was also eager to practice using his featherweight spell on other items, including reducing weight.

Things that were already light, like sheets of paper, Earon could make float, or reduce the weight of a bookshelf and then move it to block a passage. The possibilities seemed vast, and Earon was increasingly happy with his decision to focus on learning the spell.

Earon also wanted to learn another spell, potentially something for a leg or foot, but Trudels advised against it. He explained that concentrating on so many different runes would likely be difficult at Earon’s level, even if he was picking extremely easy spells.

What if using the other spells ended up draining the mana from his spell resistance rune? Earon might end up getting himself blown to pieces over a simple mistake.

It had taken Trudels hundreds of years to control his army of golems after all, and even now, he was only capable of so much because of the mana vein. For Earon, with limited time and no intention to sit around in some mana-rich cavern, the way he managed his runes would be infinitely more important.

Over a dinner of sausages, mash, and gravy, Trudels piped up. “Your training is coming along nicely.”

“It hasn’t been easy.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Trudels nodded. “But you will need more than just combat skills. You don’t belong to any circles or covenants, and because of that, you will find access to arcane materials beyond difficult. Of course, I don’t expect you to get your head around all of it. But you will need to know the basics.” Trudels took a mouthful of mash and washed it down with an ale. “What about cantrips, how much do you know about them?”

Earon’s thoughts flashed back to the book on cantrips he had taken from the library, but he had been so absorbed in learning new spells and rune crafting that he had entirely forgotten to read it. “Nothing,” he shook his head.

Sighing, Trudels gulped down his ale. “Every caster needs to know about cantrips, yet many don’t. Not that it's their fault, they often miss out on the training, especially if they gained their class as a specialty, like say a paladin.”

Earon nodded along.

“You see, any caster can use cantrips if they know the words and have the reagents. They are not normal spells, nor are they connected to class, and don’t require years to master. You are simply channeling your mana into the reagents using special magical words.”

Earon remembered Master Rudis at that point, how he had invigorated them with a few words and an odd assortment of dried herbs and miscellaneous items Earon couldn’t place, which then dissipated in thin air. It had been a cantrip.

“Our spells and class abilities are at the core of who we are as casters, but cantrips are what round us out. Provide utility to the caster, and allow us to do so much. They are the reason you see casters carrying around spellbooks, lists of all their cantrips, and these books can be worth fortunes since they cannot be simply copied.”

“They can’t be copied, why not?”

“Because of the magic imbued in them. I should explain. You see, cantrips are created by rune crafters as well – Arcane Scribes. The words and reagents can change, depending on who created the cantrip. What is important, is the scroll, whether it is independent or part of a spell book. The words are just a means of unlocking the power within, whilst the reagents provide an extra source of energy, in combination with your mana and whatever residual mana is in the page itself. Due to the nature of cantrips, they can provide many uses. It is not so different from magical items, which need powerful cores to hold the mana that is channeled into them. A famous example is a dragon heart, which can be used to create immensely powerful magical items, on par with powerful casters. Cantrips on the other hand can be created with a magically infused quill and nothing else. Most of which are just ordinary quills which an arcane scribe has channeled their mana into.”

“So, with cantrips, I'll be able to cast all kinds of magic, as long as I have the scrolls and reagents?”

“Kind of, they are without a doubt limited in power, which is why they are generally not used for combat. But they will fill out your capabilities.” Trudels took another spoonful of mash. “I recommend you get to reading that book you took out. Then go through arcane history, the schools of magic, magical items and cores, and anything else you find of interest. And then, maybe, you’ll be ready to head back up there.” He said, eyeing the ceiling as he bounced his bushy brows.

"Yeah," Earon strained as his thoughts swirled through the endless books held in the library.