The party awoke to Frank's tired voice, as he had the last watch that night. As they stirred from their uneasy sleep, the grand hall, the place they called home now lit by a flickering fire. With bleary eyes, they gathered around, their faces worn by fatigue, and reluctantly accepted their morning meal - the last of the enigmatic monster meat they had hunted yesterday.
Frank chewed on a dry bite and winced. "Tastes like desperation," he mumbled, a touch of humor in his voice despite the grim circumstances.
Diana, always the practical one, glanced around their surroundings. "Tastes like survival rather. Also we're out of food again, and going to that pond to get water is still dangerous." she stated plainly, concern etching lines on his face.
"We could try the hole, see what is beyond it, we would be going one level below ground, maybe there is more water there." Mia, tiredly added.
"Sounds logical," Frank grunted. "But what about food? We can't keep hunting forever, it's dangerous. As is cooking by the way. We need something more reliable."
"What?" Diana snorted. "We only saw monsters and nothing else. And the light situation is weird, the perpetual dusk would be a problem for any plants."
Hector nodded, his eyes reflecting his weariness. "At least we have the grand hall, it seems secure. Let's finish eating, get ready and start moving. Time to go out again." The group fell into a solemn silence as they checked their weapons and clothes.
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Mia watched as Hector, his dark hair plastered to his sweat-drenched forehead, leaned on the makeshift table they made from a flat stone, and said. "We'll have a better chance of finding resources if we split up into pairs," he suggested, his brown eyes flicking from one friend to another.
Frank burst into laughter, his gray eyes dancing with amusement as he clapped Hector on the shoulder. "You're right, mate," he agreed, grinning widely. "We'll certainly cover more ground with our dead bodies strewn about. Shaggy approves."
"Frank!" Mia scolded, her green eyes flashing with annoyance. "This is serious."
"I know, dead serious," Frank conceded, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "I just think we need to be realistic about our chances out there. We walked around together all this time for a reason."
"The situation changed, your Shadow Dance got better," Diana chimed in, her blue eyes cold as she glanced at Frank. "You could probably outrun anything out there now easier than any of us."
Mia nodded thoughtfully, her mind racing with images of the two monster types they had encountered so far - the apparently more common centipede beasts, and the tall one on the first day, all deadly in their own way. She realized that they needed to approach their situation not only as friends but also as survivors.
"Are you suggesting I should go alone? Again?" Frank asked, incredulous. He shuddered. Mia was not surprised, walking these buildings alone was impossible for her, and Frank has already done that more than once.
"It's the best course of action, " Mia said quietly, avoiding Franks eyes "we don't know what's below ground at all."
Frank watched her with fear and anger clear on his face "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Frank growled, as he stood up from the makeshift table they had gathered around. "I'll go scout the area and see if I can find anything useful about water or food sources. I only got really close to dying last time so maybe it will work out this time too" He almost spat.
Mia glanced at him, noticing there was a lot of anger and something even darker than that in his eyes. She could tell that their recent encounters had unearthed a side of him she didn't know. "I'm sorry Frank, be careful down there." She said, ashamed to be sending her friend into danger, but not enough to propose a different plan.
Frank stood there a while, then he sighed deeply and his demeanor did a total one eighty, back to his usual joking self."Of course, Mia, I'm always careful" he replied. The thing she saw in his eyes before was gone now. "I wouldn't want to disappoint you guys by dying." He said as he winked and smiled at her.
As Frank picked up his daggers and disappeared into the hole, Mia turned her attention to the others. Eager to move on from the previous talk. "While Frank is scouting, let's see what we can do to make this place more livable."
"Great idea," Hector agreed, "Maybe we can fashion a cover for the hole so it's less visible from below."
Diana nodded "Yeah and organizing the space we have would be nice."
"Let's get to work," Mia encouraged, rolling up her sleeves "let's clean this place up first."
Besides the large room they had a smaller one with the hole and three more. Entrances on each of the walls of the hole room. Up till now they were sleeping in the big room, that was where the makeshift table was and the fire pit they've built. There had to be some cracks in the ceiling since the smoke didn't seem to linger in the room.
Hector and Mia started gathering all the debris from their hideout in one of the side rooms, and segregated it into three piles, rubble, wood and rags. Hector wanted to drop the rubble through the hole but Mia told him it would make escaping through it more dangerous. During the work, they also fashioned a simple shelving unit in the room from discarded pieces of wood, providing a place to store any potential supplies.
As sweat beaded on her forehead and her muscles ached from the physical labor, Mia couldn't help but let her thoughts drift back to their conversation earlier. A surge of guilt and self-doubt washed over her. She knew that sending him out alone was a risky decision, one that could potentially end his life. A thousand doubts flooded her mind, she didn't want to be making decisions like that. She clenched her fists, her eyes flickering with turmoil as she questioned her own judgment. Did she make the right call? Should she have accompanied him instead, even if it meant exposing herself to danger? Mia's heart fluttered with anxiety as she anxiously awaited Frank's return, praying that her decision would not lead to devastating consequences. The weight of her choice settled heavily on her shoulders.
"Hey," Hector called out softly, interrupting her thoughts as he put down another piece of debris . "Frank will be OK, he's capable now and better off in that situation than any of us."
Mia looked at him with gratitude, appreciating his reassurance. "You're right," she replied firmly, she needed to believe Frank was OK, even if it was only for her own sake.
When they finished moving all the rubble Mia was exhausted but she knew she wouldn’t fall asleep till Frank was back. With a tired sigh, she tried to find something useful to do. She thought they could use a rope, in movies they always needed a rope at some point, right?
She gathered torn and tattered rags from the storage room as they called it now. She fumbled, her fingers struggling to weave them together into anything resembling a functional rope. Twisting and tangling the fabric, she tied knot after knot, trying to make something usable. Despite her best efforts, the haphazard creation in her hands looked more like a jumbled mess than a rope. Her lack of experience and survival skills was clear, and she noticed something more interesting anyway, Diana seemed to be getting ready to do something.
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Diana had tasted the exhilaration of wielding the magic, of manipulating the very forces of the world, and it left her yearning for more. It felt like she found something she was missing her whole life, a path to actual individual power.
Diana began by checking her current mana reserves. She focused on the symbol on her hand, and noted down the exact amount she had at her disposal. It was the first step.
DIANA ROGERS
CLASS: ENCHANTRESS
LVL. 1
STR: 5
DEX: 5
INT: 10
WIL: 8
HP: 50/50
MP: 50/80 (30 RESERVED)
SKILLS:
- HEALING RUNE LVL. 1: CONJURE A RUNE THAT SPEEDS UP THE BODY'S NATURAL RECOVERY.
- EXPLOSIVE RUNE LVL. 3: CONJURE EXPLOSIVE TRAP THAT ACTIVATES WHEN ENEMIES APPROACH OR WHEN YOU WILL IT.
- SLOWING RUNE LVL. 2: CONJURE AN SLOWING TRAP THAT ACTIVATES WHEN ENEMIES APPROACH OR WHEN YOU WILL IT.
- LIGHT RUNE LVL. 1: CONJURE A RUNE THAT GLOWS A SOFT WHITE LIGHT, DISPEL IT WITH A THOUGHT.
PASSIVES:
- ENCHANTMENT LVL. 1: IMBUE SOME OF YOUR MANA INTO A WEAPON PERMANENTLY TO MAKE IT STRONGER. YOU CAN RETURN THE MANA WITH A 5 MINUTE RITUAL.
- SENSE MAGIC LVL. 1: SENSE THE MAGIC IN ITEMS AND PEOPLE AROUND YOU.
With her mana reserves established, Diana selected a simple spell for her initial test: the Light Rune. She cast it quickly on the nearby floor. She knew that the rune would give the same amount of light for about four hours and then start flickering for about 30 minutes before it went out completely. She checked her sheet again.
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MP: 45/80 (30 RESERVED)
So five mana, it seemed reasonable. She tried to cast it on clothes and skin before but it didn't work, she wanted to know why. She cast the spell on a piece of fabric that was flat on the ground and the rune worked. However, when she moved it and the material crumpled a bit the rune quickly lost its power. She saw, with her Sense Magic skill, that the mana was escaping the rune. So the issue was that the rune changed shape as the fabric moved. That opened possibilities, runes that others could dispel for her and she probably could cast spells onto armor.
That left casting directly onto her skin. She focused her Sense Magic skill on her forearm and started trying to cast the Light Rune. The spell lost cohesion as it got near to her skin, some internal magic field interfering with her ability? Would require further testing.
She also figured out that she had to be able to see the surface she was trying to cast onto and that her range was about five meters for all spells.
Diana decided to test the Explosive Rune next. With practiced ease, she raised her hand, fingers moving gracefully through the air as if tracing an invisible pattern. The rune appeared before her, its presence still a source of wonder as it crackled with latent power. She cast it on the floor then activated it, and a controlled explosion erupted, sending a mild shockwave through the room. Diana observed the result with a measured interest, she checked her mana again.
MP: 27/80 (30 RESERVED)
She decided she needed to decrease the number of variables, her mana regeneration rate so far was unknown. Diana waited till her mana was full before casting the Explosive Rune again, just to make sure of the exact cost.
MP: 40/80 (30 RESERVED)
The cost was actually ten. Now for the Slowing Rune. After about a minute she checked her mana to see it was full then she cast the spell.
MP: 30/80 (40 RESERVED)
Now that was weird. She dispelled the Slowing rune and opened her character sheet, the reserved mana was back down to thirty. It seemed like the spell cost her twenty mana and reserved ten while it was waiting to be triggered.
Diana noticed that Mia was no longer working on her rope and was just observing her. “Mia, could you come over? I need to test something.” Diana cast the Slowing Rune again.
Mia looked relieved to have an excuse to leave the abominable attempt at a rope behind, she stood and went over to Diana “What are you doing anyway, i saw you checking your character sheet and casting spells at the floor?” Mia asked.
“Testing. I thought about that time Frank ran into my spell to see how it worked. Since this is the first real downtime where I can cast spells without worry that I might need the mana right away, I decided to do some tests of my own.” Diana explained.
“So what do you need me to do?” Mia asked looking at the slowing rune “I'm not running into that.” she added.
“You don't have to, just trigger it while i watch my character sheet” Diana said. Mia was rather shaken by sending Frank away, Diana herself didn't understand the other woman's guilt, it was the best choice they had given the circumstances. Of course she was worried about Frank too but she was able to distance herself from that.
Mia nodded and walked towards the rune, visibly hesitating before triggering the trap. Diana sighed, it was just a slowing rune, Mia should be able to recognize the shape she saw it often enough. Finally she stepped into it and managed not to fall down.
Diana kept her eyes on her mana levels, the instant Mia triggered the trap, her reserved mana dropped back to thirty. Worry creased Diana's brow as she contemplated the implications. It seemed that placing a rune, even without activation, had an ongoing cost to her mana reserves. This was a critical revelation. When laying the traps while hunting she knew she couldn't cover the whole place in runes, this was the reason.
So that would mean…” she mumbled to herself as she cast the explosive rune this time not triggering it right away. “Yup, reserved is at thirty five.”
“So what did you learn?” Mia asked.
“Looks like, as a rule of thumb, my runes decrease my maximum mana the same way enchanting weapons does, and it's usually half the mana cost of the spell that gets reserved.”
“Neat, you got any other tests in mind?” Mia asked, all but jumping in place from excitement. Diana could understand that, this magic system was a real rush to research.
“Yeah i wanted to check my mana regen and cast times” Diana responded pulling her phone out and turning it on for the first time in days. Still no reception, obviously as they were deep inside a building. She started the stopwatch app and handed the phone to Mia.
“I will cast Explosive Rune twice and activate it right away, first time like i normally do and the second time i will try to rush it, I want you to measure how much time it takes, ready for the first one?” Mia nodded her finger above the “Start” button.
As the first line of Diana’s rune appeared Mia tapped the screen, once the rune exploded with a thump she tapped it again.
“Four point oh eight.seconds,” Mia said. Getting ready to repeat the process. They did the second test “Four point eleven”
“Even slower, huh? Probably a measuring error. Seems like it’s static like in a video game. I tried moving faster but my hands wouldn't really listen to me” Diana said, deep in thought.
"I don't like it, its weird that you don't have full control over your hands." Mia said, disturbed.
Diana shrugged “Its both good and bad i guess, i won't be able to cast it faster if we're in a rush, but on the other hand if I'm wounded i won’t cast it slower. I hope”
“Let's try the slowing rune next.” Diana said as she clapped her hands “So many tests to do!”
Turned out her cast time for the slow rune was around five seconds, not so bad compared to almost twice the expenditure of mana. Afterwards they checked the Light Rune and it was around a second. Intrigued by this discovery, Diana delved deeper into her experiments.
With everything she found out in mind, Diana tried another experiment, one that involved measuring her mana regeneration rate. She took her phone back from Mia. Her fingers hovered over the start button, ready to time her mana regeneration process.
Diana drew several Light Runes and allowed it to glow for a brief moment before dispelling them. Her mana pool decreased to zero as expected, and then she set the stopwatch in motion.
She waited patiently, her eyes locked on her mana reserves, as the seconds ticked by. Her mana regenerated slowly, inching its way back up. It was a painstaking process, but she knew that understanding her regeneration rate was essential.
After what felt like an eternity, her mana reserves finally reached their maximum capacity once more. Diana stopped the stopwatch, seeing it had taken sixty tho seconds for her mana to fully regenerate.
Some quick calculations later she knew her mana regeneration was about zero point eight per second, which suspiciously correlated with her wisdom score of eight.
Diana realized that there was another aspect she needed to explore: if the size of the rune mattered. If she didn’t try to change anything the Explosive Rune was about the size of her thumb. She could make it larger but it seemed to diffuse the explosion over the larger area. Same mana expenditure, same effect, it made sense in a real-world physics kind of way.
The Slowing Rune was similar, if she increased the area, the effect was lessened, at least according to her willing guinea pig, Mia. The smallest she could make the rune circle was about three feet across, the largest around fifteen feet.
Drawing from her previous experiments, Diana decided to take a step further in her exploration of enchantments. She remembered the effect her spells had on the big monster on the first day. She meticulously tried to recreate the circumstances of creating that explosion. Diana cast the two runes on a stone then threw it toward a nearby wall. Expecting a spectacular display of light and a controlled explosion. However, as the stone struck the wall, the runes fizzled out, their magical energies dissipating into nothingness. Diana frowned.
Yet, instead of disappointment, a spark of excitement lit up her eyes. She felt like she was onto something. The runes had interacted with each other, and this unexpected result opened up a new realm of possibilities.This time the result wasn’t exactly spectacular but she knew other outcomes were possible. With each experiment, Diana's understanding of enchantments deepened, and even failures like this one felt like steps closer to mastering the art of magic.
Diana's determination was unwavering as she continued to experiment with the interaction between the Light Rune and the Explosive Rune. With each attempt, she adjusted the placement of the runes, and altered their sizes. Some combinations fizzled out, some triggered separately, a couple of times the runes activated without her input, fortunately her hands weren’t anywhere close.
With that, revelation finding the right combination turned into a more dangerous puzzle with countless variables, but that didn't deter her. The challenge only fueled her desire to understand the magic even further. Diana was driven by the belief that, in their nightmarish world, mastering this skill could be the key to survival.
After countless trials and adjustments, Diana's perseverance finally paid off. With precise placement, she managed to successfully combine the Light Rune and the Explosive Rune on a small stone. As she activated the enchantment, the stone emitted a dazzling explosion of energy, exactly the same as before.
YOU HAVE LEARNED A NEW SKILL, COMBINING RUNES.
YOU HAVE LEARNED A NEW SKILL, RUNE WORD: DAZZLE
This discovery gave her a heady rush. Another step on her path to strength. As her skills grew, so did her ambitions, and Diana was willing to do whatever it took to become powerful.
Diana couldn't help but smile. Just as she turned she noticed a figure climbing from the hole. She started preparing her spells but stopped as Frank's familiar voice called out. "Hey, folks, what’s with all that noise?! " His cheerful tone contrasted sharply with his looks, he seemed wounded.