He continued to fight alongside Edgar for a few more hours, but his mind was not present with his body. Instead, he was stuck in a journey of his own, trying to parse some semblance of a Pathway skill out of the corridors of his own mind. Generally, such skills were already present within one’s mind, but they just needed acknowledgement in order to be quantified. The question was, what did he have to do with Runecrafting that was not already part of that skill?

As he absently fired off projectiles, he was suddenly reminded of his Void’s Reach skill, which was empowered by his runic might. However, it was different than his Runecrafting abilities in a way, because rather than manifesting its effect upon the outside world, it served to empower something that was on a far more conceptual level.

He summoned the roiling ball of darkness that was the skill, and studied it. Edgar gave him a few glares as he struggled against the monsters, but Jonathan paid him no heed. With his recent levels, the man was in no danger from the nest of monsters that they had found. With his evasion abilities, the wind mage was more than able to survive. Meanwhile, any monsters that came near Jonathan were quickly turned to drifting ash on the wind.

He sank into a trance, trying to see how his runes interacted with his skills in a way that was not simply an extension of Runecrafting. Eventually, he made the connection. Runecrafting was the process of shaping runes to direct power into the world, whereas what he was doing was more of a form of augmentation of an already existing energy pattern. Resonances began to form throughout his body and mind, and it all snapped into place.

You have gained a new Pathway skill!

Runic Augmentation: Apprentice 4

Using runes to add to the power of skills, which are already highly complicated runic arrays, is an exercise in almost foolhardy danger. However, if done correctly, the rewards can be immense.

Bonuses: +10 to Intelligence, +5 to Wisdom

Jonathan closed the notification, and helped Edgar clear out the last few monsters, netting the mage another level. Jonathan was still left bereft however.

As he contemplated the path ahead of him, he realized how much power there was to gain in the path of combining Pathway skills. He needed to find as many as he could, in order to create something greater. He needed to start using other weapons than just his fists.

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If he could find two other Pathway skills related to blunt weapons, then he could probably upgrade them to some sort of blunt weapon mastery skill that would both provide greater boosts, and allow him some more versatility. Eventually, he could create a skill that would allow him to wield all weapons.

Putting aside his dreams of power for now, he took Edgar back to the small town, and took Hushar with him after the timer ran down. During the waiting time, he sparred with the Uthraki, training his Martial Arts skill. Because of their comparatively lower power, they were a lot easier to transport with the token. The town had begun to change slightly as the Uthraki got to work, using their mastery over stone to make the houses and city even more defensible. The muck that ran through the streets was gone, replaced with polished obsidian walkways crossing Mire.

Before leaving, Jonathan asked Hushar to fashion him two weapons out of his stone molding abilities, a club, and a mace. The club was purposefully crude so as to be differentiated from the mace, while the mace was refined, and symmetrical. Hopefully the difference in handling would allow the System to classify them as different weapon types.

Upon entering Tartarus, Jonathan had affixed the mace to a strap on his back, and held the club in a two handed grip. Although it was made out of solid, Tier 2 stone, he would need to be careful so as to avoid breaking it. His goal here was to learn Pathway skills, rather than use the weapons to fight. The longer his enemies survived, the more experience he would gain.

“I would be careful with those weapons, lord,” Hushar said. “I made them as strong as possible, but they might splinter if you use them with too much strength.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jonathan replied. “I have a different goal here. Also, you don’t need to call me ‘lord” here. We’re not with anyone else.”

As they walked through Tartarus, Jonathan got a feel for his club, swinging it by his side as he walked. It was quite unevenly weighted, but that hardly mattered, given his strength. It was light enough for him to swing with consummate ease.

They were out of the slot canyons by then, and into a series of hills made from cooled lava. The volcanic rock had left strange shapes on the protrusions, knobs of gnarled rock and patches of glassy smoothness. The area continued for a few dozen miles, and Jonathan could sense monsters roaming around.

“Right. Here we are. I’ll go ahead and kite some monsters for you to fight,” Jonathan said.

“Kite?” Hushar asked.

“Oh, right. I mean draw in a group of monsters away from the main bulk of the herd. So it’s easier to kill them.”

“Huh. That might explain why I did not know the term. That is not a tactic that I have ever used.”

Jonathan simply nodded and padded along ahead of the Uthraki, leaving him in the shadow of one of the hills. As he went, he gripped his club tightly, ready to get to work. Although it was a crude weapon, he had an instinctive knowledge of how to use it, both from martial experience and common sense. It was an incredibly simple weapon, and it didn’t really need any technique, at least to acquire the skill he wanted.