Chris had often been told he had squandered away his talent. That he could have become so much more, and that he should be ashamed to have made the decisions he had made.

And he had been haunted by these comments for years, gnawing at his mind every day as he doubted his own decisions.

But that was a long time ago. Today, Chris was proud to say he was happy with his life. Yes, he was only Level 12, and not Level 200 or even higher.

What he did have though, was a beautiful wife, and wonderful children. Did that make him a failure? He did not believe so.

Still, despite telling himself that, less than a month ago, Chris still harbored some regrets. Until he met Odin.

Chris himself had been hailed as a great talent among Runesmiths, and had he continued leveling, many believed he could have become a Grandmaster Runesmith.

But if he was a genius, then Chris didn’t know how to classify Odin. He wasn’t simply a prodigy, the speed at which he learned Smithing and Runes was inhuman.

Chris had been learning Runes for twenty years now, and although he hadn’t raised his proficiency anywhere beyond the Journeyman Level because of a lack of levels, Chris theoretical knowledge was at the Master level.

These were quite the achievements, as the ranks for Runesmiths were: Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, Grandmaster, and Legend.

Runesmith was already an advanced profession that went beyond mere Blacksmiths, so a Master Runesmith, even only in theoretical knowledge, was among the top of humanity. Any Master Runesmith could call themselves an expert without any shame.

As for why Chris was so sure he had the level of a Master in theoretical knowledge? Because the main requirement for this level is to know every Rune and their derivations.

Considering there were 102432 Runes in total, counting every Runes and their derivations, even reading them all would take most people several hours.

So to be able to draw them all and understand what they did? This wasn’t just something that took time, most Runesmiths would die without learning all the runes.

Now, how long did it take Odin to master the Runic Alphabet? One week.

And Odin didn’t just stop there, Chris had learned of his crazy mental exercise that consisted in drawing every Rune and its variations in his Inner World. And do so in less than an hour.

Anyway, Odin was a monster of a man, but Chris did not feel any envy. Instead, he felt genuinely happy. Maybe he had squandered away his talent, maybe not.

But in any case, he knew for certain that had he not made the choices he had made, he wouldn’t have met Odin, he wouldn’t have taught the young man.

And considering the Curse he had received, they certainly would have never met.

So yes, Chris was happy, because his talent hadn’t been wasted. Instead, it had been used to foster an even more monstrous one.

However, it was only when he returned to his workshop in the morning of his 21st day teaching Odin that Chris realized how much of a monster his student was.

--

"I did it! I fucking did it!"

The moment Felix saw Chris come back to the forge, not only did he realize he had spent the entire night in the forge, he also couldn’t help but shout these words.

Chris tilted his head, so Felix smiled smugly as he focused, and drew out a Rune in front of him.

The rune was of a very pale blue, because of the minuscule amount of Mana that had been used. However, it was complete, and the shape was perfect, so instead of disappearing instantly like it always did when Felix failed, it stayed for a little longer.

The Mana in the surroundings stirred as it moved toward the Rune, pumping it with Mana as it quickly turned into an intense blue.

Chris, with his experience, easily recognized the Rune. It had the function of ‘Stasis’, and so that’s exactly what it caused.

The air around the Rune condensed, and although to the naked eye nothing changed, the air actually stilled for a moment, allowing the Rune to exist for a little longer.

Atop the stairs, Chris stood frozen, his eyes wide as he stared at the floating Rune. After five seconds though, the Rune dimmed in power, and the air was returned to its normal state, causing the Rune to fade away.

However, no matter how many times he blinked, Chris could still see it.

The beauty of it!

Felix coughed slightly, allowing Chris to break out of his stupor, but as he was about to say something, he found the words stuck in his throat as his eyes laid upon Felix’s name.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[Runefather Odin, Level 1, Runic Mage]

Seeing Chris’ eyes wander above his head, Felix naturally understood why he acted like that, so he rubbed the back of his head and started explaining himself.

--

Some time before Chris’ return to his forge, Felix was yet again trying to form a Rune with his Mana.

However, as his MP started running low, and he only had a few tries left, he felt something change. Like a click, as if something had just been unlocked.

Felix received a first notification from the system, but he did not even register it as he entered a state of focus, and drew out one of the variants of the ‘cold’ Rune.

As he directed his Mana out of his body, Felix felt a greater control over it than he ever did, and time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Felix shaped his Mana into the Rune.

And unlike his every other try, the Rune did not immediately fade away. Instead, the light blue Rune started lighting up as Felix felt a wave of cold pass through him, coming from the Rune.

Felix did not get to study it in detail though as it only lingered for an instant, before disappearing, like other Runes.

For a moment, Felix’s brain lagged, as he wondered whether what had happened was real. Was it his brain hallucinating from the long hours of effort?

But then, the System crushed any fear Felix felt.

[Congratulations! For showing unprecedented talent in the Art of Runes and creating your very own Path of Magic, you have been rewarded with the Title ‘Runefather’!]

[Due to your achievements, you may receive the class of ‘Runic Mage’. Do you wish to take it as your Class?]

[Due to your achievements, you may receive the profession of ‘Rune Master’. Do you wish to take it as your Profession?]

[‘Deep Meditation (C)’ → ‘Inner Mastery (B)’]

Felix felt a little light headed as he blinked several times, before he suddenly started laughing.

It started as a chuckle, but before long he was fully laughing, his voice resonating in the forge.

It took him a couple of minutes to calm down as he started by checking his Status, and the changes that were brought.

Name: Odin

Level: 1

Title: Runefather, Otherworlder

Profession: N/A

HP: 170/170

MP: 600/600

Vitality: 17

Spirit: 60

Strength: 16

Agility: 16

Intelligence: 60

Faith: 5

Free AP: 0

Skills: [Expand]

Equipment: [Expand]

If any other player were to see Felix’s stats, they would probably be tearing their hair apart. His Physical Stats alone were already way above average for a Level 1, and while his Faith was still pitifully low, his Intelligence and Spirit were simply off the charts.

And Felix also had an idea of where it might come from, as he looked at his Titles in more detail.

[Otherworlder (Common): Inhabitant of another world.]

[Runefather (Mythical): You have managed to create an entirely new Sub-Path of Magic, using Runes in an unprecedented way. Pure Intelligence and Pure Spirit doubled.]

Felix didn’t know the Rarity Ranks above Fine, but be it from the name or the effects, he could tell that Mythical was high. Really high.

This was an unexpected but welcomed surprise, which certainly could help with his Curse. Of course, 5 times the Mana consumption compared to others was still too high for it to be viable in any way, but for Felix’s current path, it was only a bonus.

Stats weren’t simply numbers either, as the boost in Intelligence and Spirit wouldn’t simply grow Felix’s Mana, it would also help his mental capabilities, which were admittedly quite high already. But be it Mana Manipulation or his speed of processing information, it would all get improved.

The only part Felix didn’t get was the ‘Pure’ adjective before his Stats, but he figured it could only be a good thing, so he passed on to his new skill.

[Inner Mastery]

[Rating: B]

[Effect: Allows the user to use some of the power of their Inner World through their flesh. Mana Regeneration increased by 25%.]

Felix didn’t need to be an expect to understand a B Rank Skill was way above anything he should have at Level 1, but he had gotten it through his own efforts.

As for its effects, even now, Felix could feel them. Felix didn’t know exactly how everything worked, but his control over his Mana and his ability to concentrate had always been leagues ahead in his Inner World, compared to his physical state.

Now, although the difference was still there, Felix could feel like some sorts of chains he hadn’t even known had been there had been removed, and everything seemed to have become easier. Another important point was the Mana Regeneration increase, as Felix could feel that it wasn’t only for when he was in meditation, but was active at all times.

An excited grin on his face, Felix willed for his Mana to move, and in the next instant, the ‘Fire’ Rune appeared in front of him, brightening up in an instant as a small flame flickered into existence, before disappearing along with the Rune.

As for Felix, he was left with a huge grin. Forming the first Rune had been extremely hard, and had needed his entire focus, as well as dozens of hours of failure. This time though, with the boosts he just received and the experience he had, Felix managed to form the Rune without breaking a sweat.

One thing to note was that Felix had used a little more Mana than he anticipated, meaning he could work a little more on his Mana Manipulation with the doubling of his magical stats, but even with such a huge change the difference had been minimal.

If he had to quantify it, he had used 1.5 worth of Mana instead of only 1. Seemingly inconsequential, but with Felix’s Curse that meant 15 Mana instead of 10, and while manageable, Felix strove for perfection, so to say.

While looking at his Status, Felix also noticed a new icon on his Titles, and clicking on it, Felix discovered he could actually modify his name to fit his title.

And so for no other reason than because he found it cool, Felix chose to do so, before finally looking at the two other notifications he had received.

One was about the ‘Runic Mage’ Class, and the other the ‘Rune Master’ Profession.

Felix already knew what he had to know about Classes and Profession, and it was exactly what caused his hesitation, more so about his Profession than his Class.

While providing advantages, Felix also knew that a Profession, and maybe a Class, could also restrict the player. The Class sounded appealing to Felix, as it could probably help him shape his fighting style around Runes, but the Profession seemed unnecessary.

Unfortunately, Felix couldn’t get any information about the Class and Profession from the System, so it would be a bit of a gamble.

After some thinking, Felix decided not to answer the Profession Prompt right away, and accepted the Class Prompt.

[Congratulations for becoming the first ever Runic Mage!]