The entire conversation with Mikella brought a relief to his heart he didn’t think he needed. He knew that Mikella would be fine, at least in some form. However, that still didn’t stop him from imagining the worst things happening to her and everyone else.

Clara was here with him, in a way, so that was fine. But that didn’t stop him from worrying how Mikella would act. But that call made everything a lot smoother.

And as soon as he was done conveying his situation and figuring out the plans from here, the rune stone in his hand crumbled to dust and released him from his worries.

Now, he should be getting out there to head to the rendezvous point at the fortress, where they could meet up with the rest of the soldiers–however, he found himself instead speaking to a rather animated angel in disguise.

“The mere idea of carving runes into your flesh was ingenious, if I say so myself. Not only have you managed to mirror your stats to increase your combat capabilities, you even managed to find a new way to make combat with your Runist Class. Though I’m afraid you’re only scratching the surface of what you can truly bring out.”

He listened intently to the ever powerful angel in disguise, using Clara as her vessel as she continued talking. She was speaking in a way like a lecturer would to her student, which was strange after seeing that a man twice the age of the lecturer was the student.

Then again, this was an angel who had supposedly transcended beyond the Grandmaster stage, or at least that’s what he thought, and that stage was considered incredibly powerful, way beyond even the Journeymen around them.

So rather than question the strange reality he found himself in, he listened intently to the little angel as she explained, adding in some questions of his own.

“What do you mean? I know I’m only doing half way with this, but I only intend to stay as a Support Mage rather than spread myself thin.”

Zeke thought she was talking about him not going all out as a fighter despite having Kinetic Perception and Unarmed Mastery. That was because he never intended to be a full-blown fighter. However, Zoan only shook her head.

“It is expected of you to think like that, but your thinking is too small. You realize that your fighting style is heavily affected by your Unarmed Mastery, correct? But it is only affected–it did not stem from it. You can choose to form it however you wish, rather than following the normal predicted path. In fact, had you not done that already with your Runecraft skill? Had it not evolved into a certain way after you created your rune tattoos?”

Zeke paused for a second there. Now that he thought about it, skills are heavily affected by how you grow them. For Mikella, her weapon mastery skills always rose in the way they would naturally grow.

But his Runecraft skill evolved into Battle Runecraft, an unnatural form of progression for a Runist, especially for a crafting class. That was due to him wanting to use his runes for battle rather than just strictly for support and everyday use.

So doesn’t that mean he can also evolve his other skills to perform the way he wanted them to be?

“You’re right, but… is that even possible? I know Kinetic Perception can’t evolve more than it should, but can you really make Unarmed Mastery magic-focused? I even get Strength stats when I level it up.”

“When a skill levels, it attains the attributes the skill requires to make it work. But when it evolves, it becomes a different skill, does it not? Isn’t it natural, then, that the skill would require different kinds of attributes to make it work?”

“Oh…” Zeke pondered on that. That was actually a good point.

“Then again, I still suggest keeping your attributes balanced. Your lowest attribute must be at least one-fourth of your highest attribute, and everything else in between. Or you will find yourself suffering from attribute sickness.”

“I read about that,” Zeke frowned. “That’s when you focus too heavily on one attribute and ignoring the rest, right?”

Zoan nodded. “Precisely. For your current state, unless you advance to Journeymen and take a form that can allow you to ignore such things, keep doing what you’re doing.”

Zeke also read about how if one advances to Journeymen, one can change their form, or how their body is reconstructed. It was such a far away concept that Zeke had no plans on thinking about any countermeasures, so he decided to follow his usual stat build as he intended.

Now that he thought about it, he reached Level 50 in his class, didn’t he? He had his own final skill choice left. Making sure to remember this time, he pulled it up to find the future skill for his last class skill for his Expert stage.

The skill choices were, in a sense, very variable. He could tell how useful each skill choice was in a certain situation, but he couldn’t help but think that one skill would be bad in another situation, and vice versa.

One of them was Rune Vision, which is an interesting skill. it allowed him to view runes in a different sense, even viewing it from different dimensions. He had a feeling that this skill is useful to help learn more runes, rather than improve his current runes.

Another skill was something that was probably what he might choose from the description alone.

> Class Skill: Rune Copycat

> A true Runist is not afraid to learn from their predecessors. So surely they should not be afraid to copy them outright. Allows the Runist to leave a trace behind the original rune, repeating the same casted rune at a quarter of the mana cost. The potency is decreased based on the initial mana cost for the copied rune. The skill increases the potency of the copied rune according to the level of the skill and the current Spirit stat.

He chose the skill immediately, already his Parallel Thought exploded with the possibilities this skill would help him with. He could basically double the initial rune cast or even, possibly, double his rune buffs.

After all, the runes on his flesh never vanished unlike his barriers. Wouldn’t that mean he could basically recreate copies of said rune buffs and double his output? He needed to do more experiments on that as not even his Parallel Thought could help at the current moment.

“But I suppose this is enough for now,” Zoan eventually said, and Zeke’s thoughts vanished as he noticed the slight exhaustion emanating from her aura. It wasn’t shown, but Zeke could somehow feel that something of hers was weakening. “I don’t have enough time, so I shall tell you something important. I didn’t just head back into the tower in Clara’s body to fix the situation that had occurred there. I also came for something that Clara needed to survive.”

Zeke’s eyes widened. His heart hammered before speaking out. “Something to survive? What do you mean?”

“A handy… tool, of sorts, to ensure you keep your focus on where it matters–your own survival. For that, it’s necessary to get something that would aid Clara in her life here, shouldn’t she?”

Before Zoan could explain further, she raised her tiny hand up, palm facing upwards. A small shimmer of light shone on top of the palm, then it transformed into a small ball made of pure white light.

The light twisted and contorted, and Zeke could sense something forming. Something… alive. It wasn’t just mana or any other source of energy–it was all three important energies forming together. Magical, kinetic, and even life. Each one is formed into a complex array, small enough to fit into one’s hand, and Zeke had to use his Recovery to see the rest as the senses of the energy faded into a small being currently shaped from Clara’s hand.

It was easy to manipulate mana, but to manipulate kinetic energy in such a way was something even Mikella can’t do so easily. And that was disregarding using life energy just as easily, which was impossible for them at the moment. Then there was controlling all energies at once.

But beyond all that, what made Zeke gawk at the thing in shock was that she wasn’t just making some tool.

Is she… creating something into life?

Zeke could barely understand what was happening, the idea of forming life this easily without procreation, any kind of pregnancy, or even through the form of an egg. This was life being created right in front of his eyes in just a few seconds. Eventually the light faded away and out came a small creature nestled into Clara’s hand.

The creature looked absurdly pink, just a few bits of fur on its skin, and it was big enough to fit entirely into Clara’s hand. It twitched, making Zeke flinch back to find that the creature suddenly flashed sharp bat-like naked wings up into the air.

It raised its small head, opening its small, but already fanged mouth wide. Then… it chirped.

Well, maybe not a chirp, but a fusion of a chirp and a screech, forming into some form of noise that felt like a yawn to Zeke’s ears.

It opened its small beady eyes, displaying bright orbs of tiny black. It tilted its small head after seeing Zeke, then turned to face Zoan. It chirped/screeched at her, then carressed itself into her hand again. Eventually, it went back to sleep.

“That’s… a bat?” Zeke muttered, narrowing his eyes at the strange creature.

“A Vesper Fledermaus, known for its flight and paralyzing properties,” Zoan said with ease, actually sounding interested from the sound of her words.

She’s really into this lecturing mode, Zeke thought, making sure to keep that to himself to hear some more interesting facts from Zoan. Eventually he realized what she meant from them.

“Wait, it can paralyze? It’s a baby paralyzer then? Isn’t that super dangerous for Clara to have?”

The terrible moment of the soldier dying because of the paralyzer flashed in his mind. No matter how strong you are, if you’re not careful, a random paralyzer can come in and ruin your momentum, and perhaps even take your life if you’re unlucky.

“Its purpose,” Zoan responded, still carrying the now sleeping bat in her hand. “Its entire being is to protect its young master. As for why I had to take it from that tower–well, even things from our side can get complicated. Let’s just say that things don’t always go to plan.”

“Things don’t always go to plan…”

Zeke scoffed. Zoan clearly noticed that and tilted her head in an intimidating fashion.

“Is there something you like to say to me?”

“Plenty,” Zeke spat out. “Because it sounds like all of you don’t have a clue on what’s going on either.”

Zeke crossed his arms, letting his emotions lay bare. He needed to get this off his chest while he had the chance. He managed to get along with the angel for now, but in the end, she was one of the people who brought them here against their will.

She was one of the people that let the otherworlders they met other than themselves to die in this tower. And she even said that it was unfortunate.

“Just tell me one thing, Zoan–Do you even know what the gods are planning?”

Despite her response to their lives, and how she treated them–it was clear that she was just another tool like the rest of them. He could think of a lot of things as to why an angel has to play coy with them like this and just expect them to follow her orders without really thinking.

But perhaps it was more complicated than that. Considering she said that things don’t go to plan, then all the more obvious that not everything is within the gods’ purview.

That got Zoan to stare at Zeke in a way that made him freeze. It wasn’t a death glare, to say. It was more of a glare that sent shivers to his very soul. She then spoke, her words cold and bereft of the usual lecturing tone.

“What the gods are planning is nothing a mortal like you need to comprehend. And I suggest not speaking of them in that matter of tone of yours in front of me ever again. Are we clear?”

Her words were like cold water showering Zeke’s frustration down to a mere trickle. It didn’t matter whether he was right or not–he took it too far.

If he’s not careful, he’ll end up suffering for something. And if that happens, it would end up impacting both Mikella and Clara. In the end, he just didn’t know the mental state of a freaking angel enough to understand what the gods’ end goal is.

“Fine,” Zeke eventually said, sounding adamant, but he knew when to give up. “So, if you’re done–what about Clara?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“This was the one thing I needed to do,” Zoan said. “So my mission here is done. I need to return as my energy is running low.”

Zeke noticed that her usual presence became weaker and weaker the more they spoke. Perhaps that was also another reason why Zoan put a clamp down on Zeke asking questions about the gods.

“Make sure you survive,” Zoan said, finality in her voice. “And don’t do anything foolish.”

“Considering I’m in this situation because of you guys, I can’t make any promises.”

Sure, he knew when to give up on asking questions. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to talk smack to her.

Zoan narrowed her eyes at him, and him to her. He didn’t care that he was pissing off an angel. If there’s anything he learned while he was in this world, you have to have a strong backbone to survive. And since he was constantly near Mikella this whole time, she was starting to rub off on him every now and then.

Somehow, that actually got Zoan to look less displeased. Not happy, just less displeased. Zoan then closed her eyes and the stillness of her facial expression disappeared. Soon her eyes opened, and the look of an innocent but confused expression took over her.

“Huh…?” Clara said, almost drowsily. “Where… huh?”

“Clara!”

Zeke knelt down, holding her shoulders tight. Clara’s eyes widened, then a smile broke apart her confused face.

“Bobo!” Clara called out, but when she was just about to hug him, she realized that her hand contained the creature Zoan held. She looked at the thing. “Ew, what is this? Poop?”

The supposed ‘poop’ opened its eyes and chirped at her, surprising her with a yelp.

“Ah! The poop is alive!”

Clara immediately tried to throw the bat away, but it refused to move. Rather, it was stuck to her hand like glue, and Clara continued to scream in shrieks.

“Aaah! The poop is trying to eat me!”

“Clara, stop! That’s not poop!” Zeke shouted, worried for the baby bat. “It’s an animal! A baby!”

Once the baby word was mentioned, Clara immediately stopped. Guilt took over as she looked back at her hand again, but realized that the bat didn’t even look mildly displeased.

Rather, it looked like it had fun, chirping with its head bobbing up and down.

“It’s… a… bat?” Clara tilted her head. “It looks… naked.”

“That’s because it was just born,” Zeke explained, though even he felt a little off saying it like that. He literally just saw it being born right in front of his eyes, after all. “It has no fur yet. But it’s… well, it’s Zoan’s gift for you.”

According to his Recovery, the bat seemed young and weak, but it was utterly affectionate to Clara, seeing it nuzzle its head against the palm of her hand.

“Zoan’s gift?” Her eyes perked up. “Aww, that’s so cool! Hey little batty…” Clara scratched its little head, and it in return nuzzled back to her. “Hehe, it’s cute!”

Zeke let out a breath. He wasn’t really sure how to explain this, but at least Clara didn’t dislike the bat. Soon, the bat outstretched its wings, giving Clara a yelp before it crawled up around her forearm, then her shoulder.

It quickly placed herself behind her back, its suddenly new claws stitching themselves straight to the back of her dress. Zeke was worried that the bat might suddenly bite and infect her, but rather than doing anything else, it just sat there on her back, its head resting against it as it just snored softly.

“Huh? What’s going on? I can’t see it!” Clara tried to look, but all she did was spin herself around like a dog catching its tail. Zeke stopped her before she got too dizzy to keep going.

“It’s sleeping right now, but it’s… well, it’s going to protect you,” Zeke tried to explain. “Maybe not now, but when it grows up.”

“Ooh…” Clara nodded. “Okay! Umm… where’s Sissy?”

“Sissy is lost, somewhere,” Zeke explained. Then again, he was lost too, but he had to save face at some point.

“Ooh, she always does that,” Clara huffed. “She’s always scatterbrained. Let’s find her then!”

Zeke chuckled. This was what he needed, Clara acting normal and not looking down on him like he was some ant. “Couldn’t agree with you more. Yeah, let’s go and–”

Zeke’s ears perked up. His senses flared as he could hear several footsteps approaching them. From the sounds of their armor clinking and their weapons already drawn, he feared that they weren’t Zacharia’s unit.

“Hey! Look over there!” A voice shouted.

“Are those the townies we’re supposed to look for?”

“Anyone not wearing Bastion colors is the enemy!!”

Zeke narrowed his eyes, turning around as Clara immediately hid behind his leg. Five soldiers ran up to him, their weapons drawn, each either a sword, spear, or axe in hand. They gathered around in front of him, with one of them approaching Zeke with his sword raised right at him.

“Where are the rest of your allies? Tell us where they are and we might let you live,” He spoke candidly, then stared at the child behind his leg. “And we’ll make sure nothing happens to that little girl.”

Bullshit, Zeke thought. He could still remember the bastard that tried to kill innocent children during the time when the town was attacked. “And if I don’t say it? You’re gonna kill both of us?”

The soldier scoffed at him, turning to each other with snide grins. At first he was confused at this reaction, but then took a look at himself.

He was wearing basic clothed robes, tied up at the ends of the hems to be better suited for movement. There were some scratches and holes there, not really created with the best materials. To them, wearing their impressive colored leather and metal armor, he looked more like a beggar than a fighter.

“Don’t act cocky, Expert Runist,” The lead spat out. Clearly he used Identify on Zeke to get this confidence. “Do you really think you can take on us Journeymen on your own? With a child at your side?”

Zeke widened his eyes. He certainly didn’t think they were all Journeymen. But his Identify showed that they were in fact above Level 60, each one at differing numbers from low to high, the lead being the highest at level 67.

But somehow they felt… hollow. He wasn’t sure why. All his perception based skills flared to see, and he could barely feel anything like a Journeyman. If he were to say anything, they looked mismatched, their energies going all over the place as though they themselves were confused.

Is that even a thing? Zeke thought. I heard from Cloud that there are cases where people can jump ahead into further stages with alternative means, but that’s a quick way to die young.

“Hey! Answer us, mage!” The lead shouted, causing Clara to scream. “Unless you want us to show you what happens when a brat sees blood!”

That stopped Zeke entirely. His thinking process halted after hearing those words. They really never planned on letting Clara go.

No, they were murderers, ready to kill anyone–even a child, if it meant fulfilling their mission. If that’s the case, then why does Zeke have to play by the rules?

If they want a fight, they’ll have a fight. Zeke moved his hand, causing the so-called Journeymen to flinch and brandish their weapons.

Clara backed away, knowing the gesture he was making as a small dome of turquoise light surrounded her. She yelled out to him, cupping the sides of her mouth.

“Get ‘em, Bobo!”

That cheer was enough to make him grin. He’ll pretend to be a warrior if it would make her feel safe. The soldiers scoffed, even laughed at him as Zeke took on his stance.

“The hell this idiot is doin’?” One of the soldiers remarked.

“This guy actually thinks he can take all three of us,” Another laughed. “Let’s just kill him and get it over with.”

“Hold on, he’s a Runist,” The lead countered. “You know how rare those things are. I say let’s just get him and bring him to the Lord. He’ll definitely reward us for this.”

“Ooh, yeah! Good point!”

Zeke tuned out their conversation, not caring that they had the energy to talk like that in front of him.

Instead, he focused on himself, at his stance and form for battle. He was fighting for a good while now back at the tower, and he recognized that there were still a few kinks in his Unarmed Mastery.

But hearing Zoan talk about how one can adjust their skill to their needs, he decided to go at his own pace. He let his body relax rather than tense up, feeling the stress reduce considerably despite the stakes.

“Oh, you think you can act like a hero, townie?!” One of the soldiers shouted, coming up to Zeke himself, brandishing his long sword. “Count yourself lucky you’re a Runist, otherwise I’d would’ve taught you the real horrors of war!”

He launched at Zeke, his form proper and balanced. He didn’t seem like he was about to kill him, but his swing didn’t show it, ready to cripple Zeke. Perhaps he might even use a skill to make sure he wouldn’t try anything thanks to his show of his barrier skill.

But Zeke didn’t bother. With a twist of his wrist, Zeke batted away the sword with ease, knocking it away using the flat of the swinging blade. The soldier gasped in alarm before Zeke called forth his rune buffs.

> High Rune of Strength has been activated.

>

> High Rune of Dexterity has been activated.

>

> High Rune of Endurance has been activated.

At that moment, Parallel Thought reminded him of using his new Rune Copycat. After flaring the skill, he received new notifications, surprising him.

> Rune Copycat has been activated.

>

> Current Runes available: Rune of Strength, Rune of Dexterity, Rune of Endurance.

>

> Choose one of the current runes.

He deflated after seeing that he could only replicate one rune at a time. He felt that he could go for more, but at this current skill level, it would only decrease the potency too far, or destabilize all at once. Still, it was better than nothing as he chose the Rune of Dexterity, actually copying the current rune at a quarter of its price and power. His speed increased even further as he struck.

He pounced straight at the staggered soldier, his right hook slamming against his head and crushing it fully.

The extra speed increased the velocity of his already empowered strike, crushing the confident soldier’s face into a bloody pulp. Zeke felt bone crack, and something important popped and squished into mush as blood exploded from his face. He might have actually crushed his brain, killing him instantly.

The now corpse fell, his face no longer recognized by his shocked allies. To them, this single beggar-looking Expert Runist just punched a Journeyman soldier to death.

And he wasn’t done. Zeke took advantage of their confusion and chased after the remaining soldiers. They tried to run away, including their supposed leader, but Zeke used his barrier not to protect, but to trap them into his area.

Zeke leapt forward, his body moving faster and his mastery skill taking advantage of that. He dealt two more blows in quick succession, one fist across one soldier’s head, and a roundhouse kick at the other. Both heads were smashed and their bodies were launched across the area.

“What the hell is this freak?!” One of the two soldiers shouted in alarm. “How did he kill them so damn quickly!?”

“Stop bitching and take him down!”

The leader shouted, brandishing his blade and swiping at Zeke.

The lackey followed up with a diagonal axe swing, but Zeke’s torso diverted slightly, trying to realize Zoan’s words into his skill by infusing both mana and stamina into his movements. But it was harder than it looked. Still, he managed to dodge the axe swing easily.

When the lead tried to swing his blade at his blind side, he twisted his shoulder, his wrist hitting the leader’s backhand and delivered a palm strike at his chin, causing him to get launched in the air thanks to the current buffs on hand.

The axe man, however, managed to slash at Zeke’s right thigh, leaving a deep gash that gushed out blood profusely.

“Bobo!” Clara shouted in alarm.

“Take that, fucker!” The lackey mocked. “No more tricks!”

“What trick?”

The axeman lackey widened from Zeke standing upright, just ignoring the deep gash on his leg. It looked slightly limped, but it wasn’t really anything to worry about, not to him.

“H-How, I just–”

Zeke punched the lackey’s head faster than he could even react, and another bombastic show of blood ensued again. The lackey’s body fell over, his axe still in hand.

Zeke breathed heavily. Thanks to his Endurance boosted by his runes, he didn’t lacked stamina. But the effort still drained him mentally. He looked back at his now bloody hands, his knuckles scratched and bruised.

He took more lives again. That should have put him into a mental spiral, but his body and mind were too disjointed to think straight. He still felt adrenaline coursing through his veins, and his mind wasn’t really derailing as he figured it should.

“Bobo!”

Zeke’s heart nearly dropped when he turned to find the leader soldier, still alive, approaching Clara. Zeke was too engrossed in fighting to realize that the lead was still alive.

“Clara!”

He shouted, the leader soldier crushing the barrier that was supposed to handle such a thing. The soldier must have used some sort of skill, at least to try and take out the barrier.

“Fuck this,” The lead soldier extended his hand, fully ready to grab Clara.

Zeke rushed ahead, but before he could do anything, a long spiked tail appeared out of Clara’s back and jabbed through the lead soldier’s chest.

It pierced through the armor with ease. The soldier coughed, his jaw locked tight as his eyes widened in alarm and realization.

“W-What did you…”

Before the soldier could say more, his body turned limp as he fell over, Clara stepping out of the way as the soldier gasped for air, or at least tried to. His body shivered, but it didn’t move at all as he struggled to move.

Zeke watched in awe as the tail that attacked the soldier shrunk in size, then slowly recoiled back to its original position. He could see the bat, with its eyes closed, hiding the tail beneath its tiny body and returned to its peaceful resting.

“...Well, shit,” Now Zeke understood what Zoan meant, and why she wanted it for Clara.

“Yay!” Clara shouted, her arms outstretched high. “That was so cool! And the bad guy’s not even hurt! Nice job, Brucey!”

Clara wanted to pat the bat for good work, but her short arms can’t reach the bat, and soon let it be. She still smiled, running towards the bloody Zeke but kept a good distance away.

“Are you okay?” Clara asked, worry in her voice.

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry. I’m totally fine.”

He would’ve said all the blood wasn’t his, but considering he just showed himself killing four men in front of a eleven year old girl, that probably wasn’t the best idea. Instead, he turned to the bat, smiling. For a single moment, Zeke messed up and could’ve had Clara hurt, but the bat took over instead.

Which got him to understand what Clara just said earlier.

“Brucey?”

“Yeah! Brucey!” Clara nodded ecstatically.

It only took Zeke a moment to realize the meaning behind that name.

“You mean Bruce Wayne?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Clara nodded even more than before, if it was possible.

Zeke could only chuckle. “Alright, a kickass name for a kickass bat. I like it.”

Zeke moved ahead to the now paralyzed soldier. Now that he couldn’t move, he placed a barrier so tightly against his body to the ground, there was no way he could get out even if he had the skills to break it.

“What are you gonna do?” Clara asked, not completely fazed by what just happened. Zeke smiled warmly at her, knowing full well that Clara had the wherewithal to understand that things like this would occur in this merciless world.

“I’m gonna ask some questions.”

After a moment, Clara caught Zeke’s meaning and nodded profusely. She turned around, knowing that the next moment would be adults only.

Zeke was proud that Clara is such a smart girl. But his face twisted into a frown as he glared at the now frightened leader, his eyes looking up with tears brimming.

“Now…” Zeke growled. For this man who tried to hurt Clara, there was no mercy in his eyes. “Tell me what you know.”