His mana core kept almost breaking, but he managed to keep it running with his own willpower, and the pain was getting to the point where he could barely keep track of anything around him, He could feel the rune starting to devour his flesh in its pursuit of mana, seeking to tear apart his very body for the mana that it contained. However, Jonathan started to desperately offload his Divinity into the world around him, trying to head off his rune’s source of fuel. A few moments later, the rune cut off and Jonathan was left there, gasping, as Edgar floated them away.

Luckily the rune had been pointed away from the duo, with Jonathan's body protecting Edgar, or else the flying spell would have been interrupted by it. As it was, they were in the sky with no obstacles for the moment, and a raging Granath hurling curses at them from the citadel. The worm kept sending more and more earth spears after them, but they were too far away now, and they only landed in the city, dealing more damage. The tower started to charge up another strike, but it was too late, and the two men quickly dropped to the ground, far enough away from the center of the city to run the rest of the way out. As they landed in the middle of a street, the people around them scattered, likely seeing them as heralds of the destruction that Granath had caused earlier. That was just fine for them.

“What in Malaraxia’s spear was that?” Edgar exclaimed, using the name of some god unfamiliar to Jonathan in his oath.

“Something that I should have practiced with first,” Jonathan replied, not wanting to give away too much to Edgar. He trusted the man, but there things that he could not trust anyone else, no matter how close they were to him., In the future, he would hopefully look back on that decision with a sense of pride in himself for resisting the urge.

Edgar shook his head in amazement, and the two men started to run out of the city, trying to get their headings. Seeing as none of them had actually seen the city on the way in, they had to rely on what they had seen during their brief time in the air to get out.

The entire city was on alert and barely a moment later, alarms started to ring across the entire place, with soldiers bursting out of garrisons across the entire city. Mages floated through the sky in hot pursuit, but none of them were fast enough to catch up with the running speed of the two men. As they ran, Jonathan inspected his notifications.

You have learned the Rune of Consumption!

This rune, powered by Divinity, will draw upon its conceptual nature to devour all mana within its radius of effect, and deliver it into whatever medium the rune is inscribed upon. You can upgrade this rune to devour more substances by furthering your understanding of it.The radius, and the power of the rune, depends on the amount of Divinity placed into it.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

There were a few more notifications too, all of which were skill notifications. First up was one for his runecrafting skill.

You have reached Apprentice Rank 3 with Runecrafting!

You have furthered your understanding of the runes by adding yet another one to your arsenal, and actually surviving the effects of an untrammeled, untested rune. You showed you mettle by plucking a rune out of a skill matrix and bringing it into the outside world without any sort of preparation. Such skills are impressive, but also highly dangerous.

+10 to Intelligence +5 to Wisdom

You have access to a skill!

Rune Savant:Legendary

You have greater control over all runes that you make, as well as their effects. Runes will do less damage to you if you are caught in their area of effect, and will be more effective overall. This skill also increases the rate at which you can learn new runes.

Accept?

Y/N

The skill was a no brainer, and Jonathan instantly hit yes, delivering yet another Legendary skill into his tank. After runecrafting was one for Truesight.

You have reached Apprentice Rank 1 with Truesight!

In refining your ability to sense runes, you have managed to pluck one straight out of a skill matrix, almost killing yourself in the process. You have shown that your talent for seizing upon new and unfamiliar runes is dangerously potent. Be sure not to kill yourself in the process.

+10 to Wisdom, +5 to Intelligence

There was no skill option here, but Jonathan didn't really need one in any case. Hearing a shout, he briefly closed his interface, spotting a small group of guards heading their way. Jonathan started to direct the overflow of mana in his core towards his hands, coating them with a thick layer of condensed mana that he shaped into twin swords of light.

As the soldiers approached, he burst forwards, and slashed out with the swords, expelling the excess mana. Two crescents of energy erupted out of his hands, bisecting the nearby soldiers with their potency. Jonathan kept running, with Edgar following in his wake. The next notification was actually relevant to what he had just done, one for his mana manipulation abilities.

You have reached Apprentice Rank 5 with Mana Manipulation!

His efforts to keep his core in check, as well as smaller bonuses that had piled up over the last few days, had left him with quite a bit of progress towards the next tier of mastery. Finally, there was notification for his control over the Void.

You have reached 5% Mastery over the element of Void!

Jonathan quickly closed his interface, and focused on running. With all of his Dexterity, he was quite good at it. However, the city just kept on going, for dozens, or perhaps even hundreds of miles, and even at his speed, it would take some time to get out. There was no question of them staying in the city, such a decision was a death sentence. They need to level up and reach Tier 2 before they could even think of coming back, which meant that they need to head towards the Rim, the edge of this world where the strongest beasts lived. Nowhere else would they find the necessary essence to achieve their goals.

Edgar had been unable to regain his lost equipment, but Jonathan had told the man about the dungeon, where he could gain something even better than his old equipment. That would be their first stop when they left this place and the trip would hopefully be quicker than before.