In order for my idea to work, I was going to need to learn how to carve runes. I was confident I would be able to, given enough time. Unfortunately time was not on my side. I had already finished off the last of my water, and my supply of food was dwindling quickly as well.
Even though I would be able to replenish my water, I had no such option for food. I needed to escape before starvation could claim me.
It took me a little bit to dig through the codex to find how to work with runes. My mana form recall didn’t offer much help, so I had to use some very exact terms when looking for information.
Upon requesting a memory of an apprentice learning to craft runes, I found my answer. I was once more shown a blurry memory. The only clear things were the apprentice’s hands, a small wooden stylus, and a small patch of dirt. With careful strokes, the apprentice traced out a simple symbol in the dirt. They then traced out the symbol again and again, slowly supplying mana to a mana form taking shape inside the grooves in the dirt.
I found the process somewhat similar to making a sigil. The largest difference was the anchoring component. Not only was it a very different mana from, but the way I would need to apply it was different as well.
There was a thin layer of dirt on the floor I would probably be able to use. I didn’t have a stylus like the one from the memory, but I figured that my knife would be a suitable replacement.
I was going to need to spend a fairly sizable amount of mana while learning, so it was going to have to wait until I mastered my water gathering spell. Runes wouldn't be of much help to me if I passed out from lack of water.
At that thought, I once more cast the water gathering spell. Unlike my previous attempts, I was able to condense a blob of water the size of my first. To my embarrassment, I hadn’t been prepared for such a success and failed to catch most of it before it splashed down onto the floor.
The waste was disheartening, but I was still happy with the success of the spell. If I could manage a similar amount of water a few times each day, I would be able to get by without problems.
As I waited for my mana pool to refill a bit, I worked at tracing out a basic rune in the dirt with my knife. I was fairly sure I was doing it right, but I was going to need more mana before I could test.
I opened up my interface again.
Name: Kyo —-----
Class: Novice Mage
(2/10, 73%)
Mana Pool: 6/100
Codex: 72.46%
Boons:
System Initiate: 10
Novice Mage: 2
Environmental Conditions: Unchanged
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MR:242
TPEL:15
My boons were still integrating extremely quickly, but my mana pool wasn’t refilling as fast as normal. Evidently, the system needed to use a significant amount of mana to provide me with new boons. With some experimentation, I found that I could disable and enable the modified integration rates from environmental conditions.
I was fairly close to my next boon, so I decided to leave them all on for the moment. Once my improved mana sight finished integrating, I was going to need all of the mana I could get in order for my plan to work.
Rather than drain my mana pool further, I decided to get some rest. With some trepidation, I deactivated dream study. I couldn’t afford further fatigue.
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I was trapped in a stone box. I could hear things stomping and skittering about outside. As I tried to figure out how to get out, the box started to shrink around me. The walls slowly drew closer and closer, giving no hope of escape. I was forced to my knees as the ceiling pressed down on me from above. Just as I was about to be crushed, the dream ended.
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As I awoke, I was greeted by the flashing symbol of a new boon.
Physical enhancement: improved concentration
Strengthens the user’s mental concentration. Physical enhancement level: 5
Physical enhancement: improved information processing
Strengthens the user’s mental processing capabilities. Physical enhancement level: 5
Codex: Mana form implementation
Enables the system to automatically craft simple mana forms when prompted by the user.
Mana pool expansion
Increases the amount of mana a user has available in their mana pool.
Minor boon
Minor boons available:
Physical enhancement: Improved mana control
Physical enhancement: improved mana perception
Yet another boon that I did not like the implications of. Being able to think faster and solve more challenging problems sounded nice, but I wasn’t sure if it would be worth having the system mess with my head for it.
I selected the mana pool expansion and disabled the accelerated integration that I could. I was going to need the extra mana if I wanted to escape.
Thirsty, I started weaving together my water gathering spell. Observing the mana, I found the difference in my mana perception was almost staggering. It was similar to having a stronger version of my mana sense spell active at all times. I was easily able to maintain the spell long enough to refill my water skin.
Relieved that my water situation was taken care of, I set to work learning runes. It took me at least a two-mark before I managed to get a single rune of light working. The illumination was a welcome change from the dismal darkness surrounding me.
For the next day, I struggled to learn all of the runes I was going to need. Beyond the heat and light runes, I also needed runes that would direct the magic only in the direction I wanted it to go.
With the amount of heat I was planning on generating, I really didn’t want to get caught in the effects of the magic.
Some of the other runes I worked on were meant for rapidly gathering all of the available mana in a small area. There was only so much mana that it would be able to harvest from the air in such a limited space, but that was not going to be a problem.
The last components I needed were some runes to transfer mana from my collectors, a control rune to dictate when the collectors should activate, and some runes of invisible force. The force runes were meant to both contain the effects of the magic, as well as add a little bit more kick to the final result.
After another day of hunger filled study, I was certain that I would be able to use the runes I needed.
The only things left to do were draw the array, take shelter, and give Valgrix the Devourer a very nasty surprise.