Back when he was a child, Felix dreamt of becoming a mage. Growing up, he had to face reality and stash away the dream, but Epoch only reignited the passion, only to be destroyed once again.

However, as it turned out, there was a path of magic still available to him. Runes, of course.

'Basics for Runes' perfectly introduced magic to someone like Felix, who had never interacted with magic before. The entire first chapter actually had nothing to do with Runes, but instead introduced magic.

Thankfully, the system of magic within Echo wasn't too alien to Felix, and had similarities to fictitious ones he had read about in novels or seen in movies.

Magic was a generic term, and one of the basic notions was that for magic to be, Mana had to be manipulated. As for Mana, it was a mystical energy that permeated the entire world, including living beings.

Those living beings could use this energy through Magic, which had several paths.

Physical classes, like Swordsmen or Knights, to quote a few, used their body to influence mana, and these were called Techniques. As for mages, they directly influenced mana itself with their mind, and these were Spells.

There was also a third category of magic, Scriptures, which interacted with Faith. But in any case, to do magic, one had to manipulate the Mana they had in their bodies.

Runes… were slightly different. Runic Magic was the art of using mana from the world. To do so, the user would have to draw out certain characters, Runes, which would influence the world.

Each Rune has a function, and functions make for an 'Effect'. For example, make something cold, or sharper. An effect can be a singular function, but it can also be a set of functions.

This particular Path of Magic was quite unique as the user did not even need to use mana themselves, as the Runes could be drawn with certain inherently magical materials, like the blood of some strong beings.

However, among the four Paths of Magic, Runic Magic was the least mastered, because of how complex it was.

Through the work of generations of Runesmiths though, they had managed to make out a Runic Alphabet, classifying every Rune they had found and how the world's mana would react to them.

Each rune, on their own, had a singular function, and so for a good Enchantment, the Runesmith would need to find which runes to use, and arrange them in a proper formation.

It sounded simple, but the Runic Alphabet had thousands of Runes, and it was even possible to merge two runes into one for altered effects, so there were tens of thousands of possible Runes.

Moreover, once finding which Runes are to be used for a particular effect, they can't be placed in any random order, nor can they be arranged blindly.

Still, despite everything, this particular field of study turned out to be very interesting for Felix, because he could see a path for himself. A way for him to use magic.

Not simply Enchantment, that is, but proper offensive magic. To become a mage.

According to the book, Runic Magic was used for two purposes: Enchantment, and Warding.

Enchantment was about giving a particular item magical properties, while Warding was about giving magical properties to an area. And it was precisely this second area of runes that gave Felix an idea.

"Say, Chris, are you good at Warding?"

Chris, who was in the middle of forging a blade, still took the time to reply, "I know a thing or two, why?"

"The book mostly speaks of Warding as something you do on solid land… but do you think it would be possible to do it on something that isn't solid?"

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Chris stopped for a moment, before saying, "On water you mean? Interesting question. Technically, yes, it would be possible. However, because water is in constant movement, you would first have to stabilize it."

Felix smiled and said, "I wasn't speaking of water. But if it is possible on water, do you think it would be possible on air?"

This time, Chris completely stopped what he was doing, turning to look at Felix with a strange face.

"You sure have weird ideas. The concept is interesting, but I hardly see how it could be done. The reason Runes are set on solid matter is because it won't move, so the Runes won't be disrupted. If you decide to work with water, you will have to set a first temporary set of Runes to stop any movement from the water, and then add another definitive set of runes with the intended effect, as well as a stronger stabilizing effect."

"Why make two sets of runes? Why not directly set the second one?"

Chris snorted as he returned to his hammering, "The stronger the effect, the longer placing the Enchantment will be. It would already require a particularly skilled Runesmith to place the first rune fast enough so the water won't wash it away before they could finish, and even then, it would have to be particularly calm water."

Understanding the issue, Felix asked, "So because air is more volatile than water, it would be impossible for a Runesmith to set the Enchantment fast enough."

Chris nodded, "Yep. Best hope with water is actually to use some sort of impression technique for the first Enchantment."

Felix was already familiar with impression techniques, as they were explained in the book. They actually took the concept of printing.

Using a tool similar to a stamp, the Runesmith would carve a particular set of runes on the stamp, then use it to 'stamp' down something, placing the rune on it.

This may sound like a cheat, but it had severe drawbacks. First, only a particular kind of ink could be used for these stamps to work, which was expensive, and even then, any Enchantment would not only be temporary, but also much weaker than the real deal.

Chris continued, "And while there are certain stamps made to work on water, you can't stamp something on air itself. So it means the only medium that can be used to place Runes on air is your mana."

"Oh."

Felix started really understanding how weird his idea must have sounded to Chris. Among all the materials that could be used to make Runes, Mana was one of the best, as with any other material, the mana conductivity would be hampered by the impurities.

But if the Runesmith drew the Rune with their own Mana, then it would be 100% conductive, making for the best enchants.

However, it was also the hardest medium to draw runes with. If he used magical ink, all Felix would have to do was to physically draw the runes. According to the book, the most widespread technique for Enchantment was to carve out the runes into the item.

Whatever the technique, all that was needed was control over one's body, something everyone inherently mastered.

But things were different with mana. Mana hardly responded to physical movement, so for a Runesmith to draw a Rune with their mana, they would have to mentally control their mana to form the shape of a rune, before placing it on the intended area of effect.

For even experienced Runesmiths, to draw a Rune with mana, they would usually slowly draw it rune per rune, taking several minutes for each rune.

Now, back to Felix's idea, the only way for a Runesmith to draw a Rune on the air would be to use mana, as it didn't have any mass, and to draw the Rune fast enough so that it wouldn't be disrupted by the movement of the air.

But the air being even more volatile than water, the speed of execution needed is so high that one might as well say that the Runesmith would need to be instantaneous.

A major challenge, to say the least. So no one had ever tried.

This made Felix smile.

Was this going to deter him? Absolutely not. If anything, it only made him more determined to carry it out.

Why? Because what other choice did he have?

Reading the book hadn't simply taught Felix about Magic, it also made him understand how screwed he was with his Innate Skill.

Mana was the core of everything within Epoch. Whatever path he decided to follow, he would need to use Mana. Even if he decided to go full fighter, and his skill allowed him to learn the art of battle faster than anyone else, which he doubted, and he became supremely skilled, skill alone would only take him so far.

Again, whatever path it was that he chose, he would need to rely on Mana at some point, and that point would be when he would get screwed.

But he saw hope in the Path of Runes. As ludicrous as his idea was, if he actually managed to carry it out, then his Innate Skill wouldn't be a problem anymore. After all, Runes mainly relied on the world's mana, and even if he would need to expend some mana to draw the Runes, the cost would be abysmal compared to the mana needed to use an actual spell.

Less than a tenth of the mana he would need anyway.

Moreover, although he wasn't completely sure what his Innate Skill improved, he believed it would help with him learning this new magic.

"Say I wanted to learn more about Mana Manipulation, would you happen to know about any expert I could go to learn under?"

Chris frowned and warned, "You shouldn't squander your talent by following an idea you had on a spur. You are the most talented pupil I have ever seen, it would pain me to see you waste your talent."

Felix tried to reason with him, "Didn't you say that creativity was important to a Runesmith? What if this was it? The fruit of my creativity?"

Chris shook his head and replied, "Even if you want to do it, now is not the time. You should go level up, grow stronger, learn more about the world and Runes, and only then carry out this foolish idea."

Sighing, Felix saw this was leading nowhere. So he decided to take out his trump card, and revealed the contents of his Innate Skill to the older man.

Once he did, Chris remained oddly quiet for a while. Felix kept quiet too, waiting for him to say something.

Eventually, Chris said, "I knew there was something strange about you, but this… this could be problematic indeed. More so than you think. Damn."

Felix showed a helpless smile and said, "See? I can't simply let go of Magic and grow strong."

Chris did not seem amused though, as he said in a grave voice, "No, you don't understand. As you are now, you won't ever get beyond Level 50."

"What?"

Chris shook his head, "You will die if you try to reach Level 51 and get into Tier 1. Fuck, which God did you piss off? That's no Innate Skill, that's a damn curse!"

Felix was surprised by how upset Chris was, but what surprised him even more was the notification that followed.

[Innate Skill 'Hyperactive Spirit' has evolved to 'Curse of ?']

Alarmed, Felix immediately went to check his status, and his skill.

[Curse of ?]

[Rating: Innate Curse]

[Effect: Comprehension massively boosted, Mana consumption increased by ten times]

The skill's effect hadn't changed, but the name had, and the Rating had become Innate Curse.

Felix was… confused. For the System to change his skill description, did that mean he was actually cursed? But how, he had spawned with the skill, and everyone had an Innate Skill. What was his actual Innate Skill then, or did he even have one?

What the hell was happening?