[Congratulations for becoming the first ever Runic Mage!]

Felix, feeling both trepidation and excitement, reopened his status, and saw an additional line, right above his profession. He expanded it.

[Runic Mage: One of the most esoteric and unique Mage Classes, it was made with uniquely extreme restraints in mind. A Runic Mage is unable to use traditional active Spells, but in exchange earns a perfect affinity to Runic Magic.]

Felix was… not exactly sure of what to feel. A part of him was a little mad the class had suddenly deprived him of any possibility of using normal magic, as it was bound to still have some use.

Even if the cost was outrageous, normal spells should be easy to learn, and could help in a pinch. Now though, since the only way for him to perform was Runic Magic, then it meant he would have to create every Spell he would come to use.

After all, the System itself had confirmed it to him, he was the first ever Runic Mage, meaning that he would have to come up with all the Spells himself. Not to mention, Felix hadn’t even found how to make a Spell with Runes yet.

At the same time though, Felix felt like there had to be a silver lining. Following the law of equivalent exchange, for the system to put such a restriction on him, what he got in exchange should be incredible.

So while Felix didn’t know what this ‘perfect affinity’ to Runic Magic was, he was sure it was going to help at some point.

And even if it didn’t, so be it. Although potentially useful, Felix’s goal in making Runic Magic was not to use conventional magic anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Hopefully.

After that, Felix intended on continuing his experimentation to hopefully find out more about his Runic Mage perks and play around a bit with his new powers, but then Chris arrived.

Felix showed him his success by manifesting a Rune in mid air, one that stabilized the air just so that it would linger a few extra seconds, and apparently blowing his mind.

Chris remained staring for a good thirty seconds, before Felix asked, "So, what do you think?"

Chris blinked, still staring above Felix’s head as he asked, "Runefather… This-this can’t be!"

Felix looked up, although he couldn’t see his own ID, and asked, "That’s what you are fussing about? What about me totally kicking ass and carving a Rune into the air?"

Chris placed his hands on his face as he muttered, "I taught a Runefather. A fucking Runefather."

Felix was about to ask, when Chris suddenly got on one knee, and proclaimed loudly, "I am honored to have worked with the Runefather! This shall be passed on to my family for ten generations as the greatest honor we ever received!"

Felix froze for a second, before forcefully grabbing Chris’ shoulder and pulling him to his knees as he exclaimed, "Wow, wow! Calm down! It’s fine, I’m not some big shot undercover or anything!"

Chris maintained a reverential face for a couple of seconds, before he failed to control himself, his lip twitching. From there, the dam broke as Chris started laughing uncontrollably.

"Should have seen your face!"

Understanding he had been fooled, a part of Felix felt like punching Chris in the gut, but he held himself back as he asked as calmly as he could, "Is my Title a big deal then?"

Chris’ laughter subsided as he nodded, and explained, "Yep, big deal indeed. You are more or less the equivalent of a Duke in any Human Kingdom, and a figure of respect in most realms."

"Just because I have Runefather written in my ID? You do know us Otherworlders chose our ID, right? What stops someone from putting a Title within their base ID?"

Chris shook his head and replied, "That would be a very bad idea. Any real title will have a certain unique flair to it when reading it, so the fakes are easily recognizable. And things would end up pretty badly for them, depending on what ID they faked. For example, faking to be a King would result in being hunted in pretty much every part of the world."

Felix nodded, while asking, "Anyway, when I managed to make my first Rune in the air, I didn’t only get the Title, I also got a skill upgrade for ‘Deep Meditation’, becoming ‘Inner Mastery’, a B Rank Skill. I also got a Class and a Profession."

Chris scratched his brown beard as he mumbled, "’Inner Mastery’ huh… Your Class is Runic Mage? What does it do? I never heard of it."

"That was to be expected, the System congratulated me for being the first to get it. And seeing the description, it was probably created with my condition in mind. It stops me from using any conventional active Spells…"

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Chris interrupted, "Did the system use these words?"

Felix shrugged and replied while looking at his Status, "My bad, TRADITIONAL spells. Does it make a difference?"

"It does. That’s quite the restriction, more so than you realize. You must have gotten something great in exchange then."

Felix once again shrugged, "Perfect affinity for Runic Magic. Any idea of what that is?"

"Doesn’t ring any bells, but I’m only a small Runesmith in a small village. For the System to call it perfect, it must be something. Well, I’m sure you will find out. Now, what about that Profession?"

"Rune Master. Sounds good, but if it is like a Runesmith and is detrimental, then I might as well not pick."

However, as he said that, Chris’ eyes seemed to start shining as he repeated, "Rune Master? You sure?"

Felix nodded, and Chris pressed on, "Then accept it!"

"Mind telling me about it first?"

"I don’t know the Profession per se, I’ll give you that, but I’m pretty sure of what it does. You might have noticed I only spoke of Runesmiths when speaking of people who mastered the Art of Runes. Be it for those who do Enchantment or Warding.

"There is a good reason for that. It is because while quite a lot has been found about Warding, those who master it will enough to be recognized by the System are very rare, and because Enchanting comes easier to people in general, pretty much everyone who studies Runes do so through Enchanting and Smithing, becoming Runesmiths.

"For those few who managed to master not only Enchanting but Warding too, and that without having gotten the Runesmith Profession, they may get the Profession of Rune Expert. A master naturally being higher than an expert, your Profession most probably is a better version of Rune Expert."

Felix tilted his head and asked, "What does Rune Expert do then? Any drawbacks?"

Chris nodded and replied, "Rune Expert grants a great boost to both Enchanting and Warding, and helps evolve them. Many of the discoveries in the Runic World were made by Rune Experts."

Chris was clearly excited, but Felix still felt doubts, which he expressed.

"Yet after thousands of years of development, I am the first person to ever use Runic Magic."

Chris shook his head, "That’s not just a problem of creativity, you are not the first to have thought of this idea. Far from it, actually. I myself tried my hand at it, in my younger days. But you have to understand that despite how easy it came to you, to anyone else, it is next to impossible."

"You’re exaggerating. I got it done in under three weeks. Even with my Curse, it can’t be that bad."

Chris snorted disdainfully, "Downplaying yourself. Remember that your Curse doesn’t give you additional comprehension, it boosts your own comprehension. My guess is that your talent was already frightening to begin with, and your Curse only made it more absurd. Besides, you don’t even understand how absurd what you did in these three weeks was."

"Enlighten me then."

Chris shrugged, "Fine. Speaking on a purely Runesmith level, although your practical skills with Forging are still rather raw because of your Level, I would like to remind you that you are wearing a set of Semi-Fine armor and have a Fine weapon. More absurd though is your theoretical knowledge. Knowing all 102432 Runes is Master Level, and playing with them the way you are in your Inner World is Grandmaster Level. You still have some things to learn, but from what I recall, the youngest Grandmaster Runesmith in the world is 43 years old."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed. But I’m not here to stroke your ego. The point I’m trying to make, is that the Rune Master Profession would be of immense help to you, as it would help you not only with your Class, but also develop your skill with Runes."

Felix frowned, as despite all of Chris’ arguments, which he felt were good, he still…

"Didn’t you say there was a Grandmaster above Master level?"

Chris was stumped for a second, before he snorted, "What, a Profession and a Class that no one ever had before isn’t enough for you? You want to be a Rune Grandmaster? Why the hell not go all the way up to Rune Legend then?"

Chris was jesting, but the moment he saw the way Felix’s eyes brightened when he heard ‘Rune Legend’, he knew he screwed up.

"Wait, you…"

"REFUSE!"

[You have refused the ‘Rune Master’ Profession.]

There was silence, and then Chris grabbed two fistfuls of air as he almost wailed, "Why would you do that!? A Rune Expert needs mastery over two different fields in Runes, and Rune Master three… You already made up the third one! What do you expect, to make up an entire two more Sub-Paths of Magic?!"

Felix shrugged and replied, "Well, I already have some more ideas of how Runes could be used. Besides, I never really tried my hand at Warding, what tells you I have mastery over it?"

Chris rolled his eyes and replied, "Of course you do! Although you made up a new Sub-Path, your base was Warding. Actually, you haven’t actually made up the new Sub-Path yet, as all you are doing for now is Warding on air. What the System recognized is the potential of your discovery."

Felix threw his head back and said, "It’s fine, I didn’t need it until now, and I won’t need it in the future. Besides, my main path comes as a Runic Mage. Speaking of which…"

Felix did not get to finish his sentence though as the ground suddenly started shaking.

Grabbing the nearby railing for support, Felix asked in alarm, "Earthquake?"

Chris, who had managed to keep his equilibrium without holding onto anything, said with a frown, "We don’t have earthquakes around here…"

As he said that, the ground shook even harder than before, and this time, they both heard an explosion. A second later, Felix felt a wave of Mana wash over him, but it wasn’t normal Mana. It felt strange, it felt wrong. Tainted.

Meanwhile, Chris’ eyes bulged as he exclaimed, "That’s no damn earthquake, it’s a fucking Dark Bomb!"