There was not a library on base.

After a morning run and PT session with a few other trainees, Kaiden cleaned up, then set off on a mission of his own. He asked around for a library, hoping that Camp Thorne had one tucked away somewhere. But to his dismay, it didn’t. He wasn’t sure if military bases on Aterra just didn’t have libraries. He wasn’t even sure if that was normal on Earth. He wondered if libraries as a whole were just rare on this planet. He wouldn’t exactly be surprised with nations trying to hoard their knowledge.

At least no one laughed or asked if he’d fallen and hit his head for thinking a library might be a normal resource. And thankfully, no one had thrown out some comment about libraries only being for nobles either.

For a moment, he thought about heading back to the quartermaster. Maybe Sergeant Rendall would let him browse a few ability tomes, just to study the symbols inside the pages. The ridiculousness of that idea hit him instantly, though, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey, Sergeant, can I just check out your tomes real quick? I swear I won’t absorb any abilities or anything…”

Yeah, that’d go over well.

It was time for his backup plan—one he could actually try alone now that he had his new class and abilities. Heading out of the barracks, Kaiden found himself wandering back to the stump where his platoon typically gathered. As expected, it was completely deserted. Without any scheduled training today, nobody had a reason to be here, which made it the perfect place for some uninterrupted practice.

He’d asked Davick to join him earlier, but Davick had been practically vibrating with excitement over the chance to visit the smithy. Apparently, the forges here were open to anyone who knew how to work them, and Davick had jumped at the chance to get back in front of a fire and anvil. “Been way too long,” he’d said with a gleam in his eye, and Kaiden hadn’t tried to stop him. Private, corporal, sergeant, colonel—it didn’t matter. If you needed to repair your gear for the dungeon and the forge was open then you were more than welcome to use it. Davick’s skills were better put to use there, and Kaiden didn’t mind the solitude this time.

Standing alone in front of the stump, Kaiden took a final look around to ensure the coast was clear. Satisfied, he sat down and took a steadying breath. Lifting one hand, he called up his new Healing Touch, letting his mana trickle out as a soft, green glow illuminated his palm. He pressed his hand against the stump, directing a gentle pulse of healing energy into it. Nothing happened, as he’d guessed.

Then he activated his Arcane Vision.

The green glow separated into swirling pulses of text that floated between his hand and the stump. They looked like runes or logographic scripts. He was captivated by their shapes and movements. The symbols reminded him of the characters he'd seen in the Mindforge tome—strange and complex, each line imbued with its own energy.

They seemed familiar, yet indecipherable. There had to be thousands of these symbols, possibly even more. His mind thought back to certain video games back on Earth where spells and enchantments were crafted from a combination of different runes. The difference being back there, he could easily look up what a particular rune meant. Here woever, if only he could make it to a library, he might have a chance of understanding even a handful of these symbols. No—runes. That’s what he’d call them from now on. After all, he was in a fantasy world now, and “runes” felt fitting.

After a few minutes, he paused, letting his mana replenish, while a thought slowly took shape in his mind. Magic was made of these runes, that much was clear, and his Arcane Vision allowed him to see them. However, this was already known about the ability. For now, it could help him spot magic traps in dungeons which wouldn’t help him with the first dungeon, but in a future dungeon, spotting traps might be the difference between life and death.

Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more here, something deeper in the ability he just hadn’t reached yet. Perhaps he just needed to reach a higher level to get some added benefits and usage out of it.

He activated his Healing Touch and Arcane Vision once more, watching as the runes reappeared, swirling faintly between his hand and the stump. They reminded him of Chinese characters, a logographic language he’d seen often enough back on Earth, even though he couldn’t read it. He remembered that Chinese speakers memorized thousands of these characters, an idea that had always struck him as a little overwhelming. He was a huge fan of the simplicity of alphabets instead. Having to memorize 26 characters over a few thousand sounded pretty ideal. yet here he was, for some reason deciding to commit some runes to memory one by one like some ancient scholar.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

With a chuckle, he chose a rune that looked simple enough—two vertical lines joined by a curling hook—and began tracing its shape in his mind, letting Mindforge etch it deep into his memory. He started spotting it every time it appeared, picking it out with practiced ease. As he repeated this process, he found himself falling into a rhythm: tracing, memorizing, then taking short breaks to let his mana recover before resuming his study. By the end of the session, he’d memorized a couple dozen runes and felt confident in both recognizing and mentally tracing each one.

His goal was to level up his Arcane Vision quickly and for that he needed to use it. While doing so, he might as well level his Mindforge ability by memorizing as many runes a possible. It was the perfect two birds scenario. He already knew that Healing Touch wouldn’t level up by using it on a dead stump, however, but he was okay with that.

He was in the middle of a break, mentally reviewing a rune he’d just memorized, when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Meditating, huh?"

The voice was casual, almost amused. Kaiden looked up, startled. “Liana?”

She gave a shy smile and took a seat beside him. "Hey. Kaiden, right?"

He nodded. He hadn’t spoken with many people in his platoon outside of Davick and his team, but thanks to his sharpened memory, he’d managed to learn everyone’s names. Liana Drever was the mousy girl he remembered from their first training session on dungeon types. Short and slim, with large brown eyes that had a constant spark of curiosity and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. If it weren’t for the unflattering military uniform and the reserved posture, Kaiden thought, she’d definitely be considered cute.

“What are you doing out here alone?” she asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn’t take you for the meditating type."

Kaiden scratched his head, laughing softly. "Not exactly meditating... more like thinking."

"About what?"

He paused, debating how much to say, but then decided to change the subject. “How bout you? What are you doin’ all the way out here on our off day?”

Liana looked thoughtful for a moment. “I was thinking about practicing my on aim against some trees,” she said, glancing around the clearing. “Figured this spot would do.”

Kaiden raised an eyebrow. “Got a grudge against these trees?”

She laughed softly. “Quite the opposite, actually. My abilities… actually help them.” She extended a hand, and a small ball of water shot from her palm, gently splashing against the bark of a nearby tree.

“Oh,” Kaiden replied, watching as the droplets dripped down the trunk.

Liana sighed, deflating. “I’m supposed to be a Caster in a dungeon, but how am I supposed to defeat anything with a splash of water?”

Kaiden chuckled without thinking. “Yeah, that’s a good point…” But then he caught himself, realizing how rude he’d sounded. Had that been rude? He definitely hadn’t meant it to be.

Liana didn’t seem offended, her attention lingering on her weak ability. “Oh, I get it. You came out here to use your ability over and over to level it up. Might not be deadly at level 1, but there’s always level 2.”

Liana’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “That’s… actually true!” she said, as if it were news to her.

Kaiden’s expression shifted to a smirk. “Wait, don’t tell me leveling it up didn’t even cross your mind, and you just came out here to water some trees.”

Liana tried to laugh it off, giving him a little shrug and an innocent grin. But her face gave her away completely, and Kaiden just shook his head, chuckling. “Alright, fine, it didn’t exactly occur to me that leveling it up could make it stronger.” She cleared her throat. “But don’t mind me—I’ll just, uh, keep doing my thing over here.”

“Actually, that reminds me. Can I ask a favor?”

Liana eyed him warily. “What kind of favor?”

“I just want to observe your abilities with my Arcane Vision. It lets me see mana and magic as it’s used,” Kaiden explained. “It’ll help me level this ability too.”

She shrugged. “Sure, doesn’t bother me.”

With renewed enthusiasm, she raised her hand, summoning more water blasts toward the trees.

Kaiden activated Arcane Vision, watching as her mana flowed and crystallized into runes before the blasts hit their marks. After a few moments, a few runes began to catch his eye. There! he thought, noticing a few familiar ones he’d seen from Healing Touch scattered among new symbols he hadn’t seen.

Completely different abilities, yet a few shared pieces. It wasn't completely surprising, but a nice observation. He made a mental note to try observing Cure Poison the same way.

He still had no idea what it all meant or if it would prove useful later on down the road, but he wasn’t concerned about that right now. What he wanted was to make sure he could properly level up his ability. The secret of the runes could come later if at all.

They passed the rest of the afternoon practicing until the sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the field. Liana stretched, looking satisfied. “Alright, that’s it for me,” she said, brushing her hands off. “You sticking around?”

Kaiden shook his head. “Nah, I’m starving. Time for some chow,” he replied, heading toward the mess hall. Liana fell into step beside him, and they chatted lightly along the way.

“So… you excited for tomorrow?” Liana asked after a moment.

Kaiden shrugged. “I mean, as excited as one can get for another training day, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess if all you care about is training, then it doesn’t matter who’s leading it.”

Kaiden glanced at her, feeling like he’d missed something. “Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“About the new instructor,” Liana said, giving him a quizzical look. “You didn’t hear?”

“Sure didn’t. What new instructor?” Kaiden said, his interest piqued.

“Oh,” she said, looking slightly surprised. “News broke this morning—Sergeant Boran’s being replaced. We’re getting a new instructor.”

“What!?”