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Hypothesis proven, I planned for the next phase. Which would last for generations.

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5 weeks later

Matt relaxed his shoulders as he studied the girl across from him. His feet were shoulder-width apart, his balance slightly forward. His right hand held the guandao in a loose grip, sensing eager anticipation radiating up through the handle. The weapon was ready for a fight, and a shiver of impatience echoed through Matt.

Narrowing his eyes, he went over his plan again in his mind. I need to be fast. Faster than ever before. She will rush forward immediately to interrupt me, so I need to draw as much of the Rune as I can before moving to intercept her charge. Then I need to move the fight away from the partial Rune so she can’t disturb it with her feet, and try to finish it later.

Ten strides away, his opponent was calmly studying him. Charlotte was thin as a reed, with long, black hair and sharp eyes that never missed anything. Matt eyed the staff she was holding in her left hand with trepidation; this was the first time he had seen it. Charlotte had found it in the Arcstone Dungeon only a few days previously, but it had quickly become the talk of the city. Far better than any other weapon or item that had been found inside the mysterious dungeon, the staff was said to focus the power of the one wielding it, whatever that power might be.

And even without that focus, Charlotte was a formidable foe. After eight duels, Matt had yet to score a win, and now he suspected it was too late. Her Starlight essence had been powerful from the beginning and had continued to grow rapidly with every day she practised. At level five, Charlotte had both experience and pure power fueled by her Legendary Radiant Avenger class, and her main combat skill was as if made for the focus staff. A beam of light so intense that it both blinded foes and pierced through armour and flesh, she had become a sought after team member for challenging the most difficult dungeons.

The stands were half filled with people, most of whom Matt didn’t recognise. Talking, laughing, cheering and jeering, most were watching the square raised platform in the middle of the arena where Matt and Charlotte were facing each other. Centred in a large oval of sand, the platform was the focal point of tiered seating that rose on all sides in concentric circles.

The arena itself was the key building in the north-western part of Sanctuary, surrounded by small market stalls and shops where the growing city’s weapon and armour makers were plying their trade. The Arena rose out of the cave floor as if carved directly from the mountain itself. Rather than featuring the bricks and stones of the surrounding buildings, the Arena’s exterior was entirely smooth, the stone polished to a gleam with light crystals set into the stone all around the building. During the fights inside the sand oval, the colour of the lights would match the ongoing fight: bright yellow to announce the start of a match, intense orange to signal an ongoing fight and a deep red to show when a bout was over.

Charlotte bowed to him, and as she straightened, Matt saw the gleam in her eyes when she smiled. Thank fuck we walked through the Bull Door, Matt thought to himself as nervousness shot down his back.

There were three doors into the Arena for participants. The one on the left was the Falcon Door, or The Portal of Swift Wings for Battle Under the Auspices of the Falcon, as the full inscription above the door read. Anyone walking through the Falcon Door would find themselves fighting waves of monsters, much like in a dungeon.

The middle door was the Bull Door, or The Portal That Leads to Honourable Combat as Conducted Under the Auspices of the Bull. Fighters walking through this door would enter an arena where they could spar and fight without fear of permanent injury or death. Any attack which might lead to a traumatic injury or mortal danger was dampened by thick essence threads, and any injuries were healed when the combatant left the Arena.

The door on the right earned the nickname Door of Death. Where the other stone gateways were a dull grey, the Portal for the Glory of the Heavens to Find Resolution Under the Auspices of the Empty Vessel was carved from a red-black stone. Like with the Bull Door, participants would find themselves in an arena prepared for duelling. The exception was that there was no magic to prevent injury or death. If you were injured, you were injured. If you were killed, you were dead.

“Ready?” the woman standing just outside the platform asked. Glydia was a large woman, clad in thick leather armour. The bustling city of Sanctuary was quickly becoming a place of super humans, where hundreds of men and women worked day and night to improve themselves. Many would spend the nights and mornings in the dungeons, and then visit the Arena in the afternoon to settle bets or disagreements, or simply to test themselves against others. With the growing popularity of the Arena, scheduling fights and maintaining order was a full-time job, and Mia had made Glydia Mistress of the Arena.

Matt nodded to Glydia, “Ready,” and tensed up when Charlotte indicated her own readiness. He felt a pang of embarrassment at what was sure to be a humiliating loss. He had seen the looks of pity from others as he passed them on the street. That’s Matt. He didn’t get a class, or any skills. He was even the first one to look at the patterned ceiling!

The energy radiating from his core filled his body, and the guandao sent him a burst of reassurance. His growing knowledge of Runes was already helping the city; some of his designs were inscribed into the armour and shields of the very people who pitied him. They could have their superhuman strength and speed. As long as it helped Sanctuary. He was himself, and he had his own goals. It was rare these days to find him outside his study, away from Verdant and his books. And if he exited the company of those old and dusty tomes, he spent his time working on cultivation; either practising the Forms, or meditating in his room.

Some days he missed the first days. Exploring the cave with Mia, Thor, Pete and Vic had been a special experience. It was different now; Sanctuary was bustling with more people joining every day, even if the stream of new settlers had begun to slow down now. Mia had no time for anything else than the city; running council meetings and meeting with the various factions that were springing up across the cave. Politics had always been a vague and abstract concept to Matt, but he had given up on understanding the network of interests that was slowly extending through their community. Fortunately, it seemed like Mia enjoyed it.

Thor was even more reclusive, and Matt hadn’t seen him in more than a week. He had occupied a large room in the Council Palace, where he brought in large stacks of books from the library and was working on his Big Project: trying to understand the System. A large ledger held information about every single inhabitant of Sanctuary; their class and skills and attributes. Every surface of the room was covered in sheets of paper with Thor’s notes on the System.

Vic… Vic had still not returned, and Matt shook his head to clear out the wave of worry that rolled in and looked up at Charlotte, meeting her eyes and dropping down to the basic stance. She smiled mischievously back, and Matt noticed her forearm flexing as she gripped the focus staff tightly, shuffling her feet to get ready for Glydia to shout for them to start.

Even through his slight shiver of fear, Matt smiled back, happy to see the changes in the woman.

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When she had arrived only a few weeks earlier, she had been a frightened, skittish little creature. Matt had been on welcome crew rotation and had held his hand out to lead her over to a place on the floor under the patterned ceiling. With a look of panic, she had pulled her hand back and looked like she was ready to make a run for it. Matt had dropped his hand to his side and taken a step back, and when she stepped forward to find her place on the floor, there was a hint of something else behind her fear.

Seeing the threads reach down for her had been just as miraculous as the first time, and after it was over, she had simply stared at him as an ethereal smile grew on her face. There had been a second of pure happiness before she rearranged her features back into open suspicion.

And now, she had found a purpose. The light that had been lit that day had kept increasing, and now it was burning with an intense fire. Something dangerous drove the woman.

He closed his eyes again and pictured the Rune of Warp, remembering the adjustments he had discussed with Verdant for this fight. In its normal configuration, Warp would pull on essence from the vicinity and change them. Ice could be made into grass, hope could be made into steel.

The version he was trying to recall now should, in theory, capture starlight–well, any light really–and transform it into darkness, which could be expelled harmlessly away from them. Matt’s plan was to draw the Rune in the sand in front of him as Charlotte cast her Starlight skill to block her main skill. He had practised again and again until he could draw the basic shape in only a few seconds, but still he feared it would be too slow. Drawing Runes as part of fighting was a different game than sitting quietly in his laboratory with all the time in the world.

“Fight.” Matt was ready when Glydia shouted, and a split second later, the end of his guandao was tracing a pattern in the sand. A double spiral connected with the blocky capacitor which would– He cast a quick look up, expecting to see Charlotte charging towards him. His surprise at seeing her calmly standing there jolted his concentration, and he almost made a mess of one of the input gates.

Confusion grew as she let him complete the symbol, and then the next. And as he drew the last line to see the Rune shimmer with potential, he looked up to see Charlotte watching him with a wry smile.

“Are you ready?” She asked, smirking.

What’s going on? Confused, Matt nodded and hunkered lower to the ground behind the newly made Rune. Touching his finger to one part, he activated the Rune which threw up a wall of intricate patterns between himself and Charlotte.

She nodded once, raised her staff, and sent a blast towards him that pierced straight through the Rune. The beam struck his chest and threw him backwards, and the world went black.

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“Grmph,” Matt said and blinked against the bright light as he sat up from where he had been lying in the recovery room. His chest was tingling with phantom pain; even as the devastating potential of Charlotte’s attack had been stopped by the Arena’s magic, his body remembered a split second of pain and trauma.

“Sorry about that,” Charlotte said with an awkward expression.

“Don’t be,” Matt said. “That attack was… incredible. I’ve tested that Rune against other light-based attacks, and even the strongest of them could barely warm my skin. How much of that was you, and how much was the staff?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she said. “Since getting the staff, I’ve been using it continuously, and it’s such a boost I’ve been getting more powerful every day. Even without the staff, I’m far stronger than I was when I got it. I’m not sure that I would have gotten through the Rune without it, though.”

“It’s damned impressive,” Matt said and rubbed his tingling chest.

“Thanks for the fight, Matt.” She said, “It’s been difficult getting anyone to duel me, and I know you’d rather spend time with your books. You are probably on your way back to them now, if I am not mistaken?”

“If only.” He smiled at her. “If I don’t turn up to the council meeting today, Mia will have my hide.”

“What happens there anyway? Why do you need to be there?” Charlotte asked as they turned to walk towards the centre of Sanctuary. It was the middle of the day, and the Council Palace could be seen looming above everything else. “Can’t Mia just… decide stuff on her own?”

“She could. With the city constructs protecting her, she’s pretty unassailable in the city, and whatever she decides is backed by the full force of the City Laws. But she doesn’t want to… In the beginning, she needed the council. Everything was… It was a lot for her, and… And now, well, I won’t pretend to understand politics, but it makes sense to build consensus. If she just runs roughshod over people, there’s no way we will be ready when Pete is ready with his assault plans. I just wish…” Matt drew a hand through his hair. “I just wish she could get rid of Shawn from the council. He’s such an ass.”

“Why doesn’t she just kick him off the council, then?” Charlotte asked.

“I’ve asked the same thing,” Matt answered, his eyes taking in all the changes that were rapidly occurring in Sanctuary. Only a few weeks ago, the street they were traversing was mostly empty. The houses near the Central Garden had been occupied first, then the area by the Market Square. Now the new inhabitants were extending out towards other sectors, and the Arena area was quickly becoming one of the more popular areas in the city.

“And?” Charlotte said.

“Oh, right. And she said she can’t just kick out people who disagree with her, which makes sense. But then Shawn doesn’t just disagree with her, he’s actively trying to undermine her authority.” Matt’s voice rose at the end, the anger and frustration he felt at Mia having to deal with that jerk had been bottled up for a long time. He had wanted to do something, and so had Vic, but Mia had convinced them to just leave it.

“At least she banned weapons from the Council,” Matt murmured as he felt dread and nervousness at the prospect of having to sit through another meeting.

“Yeah,” Charlotte said. “Terrence is getting disturbingly good with that sword. I heard he’s level six now.”

“Seven,” Matt said. “They did a run through the Falcon Gate this morning before our fight. And he wouldn’t stop boasting about it.”

“You want me to join you?” She asked. They were approaching the garden, and Matt smiled at the sense of calm he felt when they entered the immaculate space.

“No,” Matt said. “He’s really just an annoyance. I don’t think he’ll actually do anything. Thanks, though. Hopefully, he will be too busy with this idea they have of a tournament, whatever that may be, to stir up more shit. Glydia is even joining us today.”

“I heard about that,” Charlotte said, “And honestly, it sounds like fun. And it will get me more duels,” she added with a ferocious grin.

“Fun, sure,” Matt said. “But we don’t have time for fun. People should be… I don’t know. They should be getting stronger, ok. Like you? What we have here is so fragile. They need to run dungeons. We don’t have time for a tournament.”

“I know. And I understand. But you also need to understand that people are stressed, Matt.” Charlotte grew serious for a moment. “What we have here is great, sure, but… There’s a dangerous undercurrent. Haven’t you noticed? We can’t just give them a new life, and then order them to spend all their time just… training. People need to do other things as well.”

“I guess,” Matt said without conviction in his voice.

“Speaking of fun. Want to join us for dinner?” She asked. “Some of us are hitting up the Oxtail tonight. Violet is performing, and I hear John got hold of some venison.”

Matt considered it for a moment, but his thoughts went to his laboratory and his notebooks. He had been trying to combine the Rune of Absorption with the Rune of Consistency for several days, his theory being that in combining the two he could make a Rune which would not just absorb essence, but store it. But the number of capacitors he needed just wouldn’t fit in the framework for the Consistency rune. However, just before the fight with Charlotte, he’d had a minor epiphany. The clue was to keep the balance between the capacitor bays constant, and if he added a Rune with no apparent function other than to add a larger frame, that should–

“Matt,” Charlotte smiled. “You’re doing it again.”

“Oh. Sorry. No, sorry. Maybe tomorrow?”

Matt caught a flicker of disappointment on Charlotte’s face before she brightened up again. She paused for a moment before looking at him with those piercing blue eyes. “Sure, Matt. Good luck in there, ok?”

“Yep,” he said distractedly, as he looked up at the entrance to the Council Building. “I’ll need it.”