Nate continued to look over Kiri’s soul energy as he considered her proposal. Engraving some sort of Class Core concealing rune onto her soul was either madness or genius. It would mean that she would never need to worry about losing an Enchanted or Runic item they used to conceal her Class. He had to consider that was a possibility in the Capital. Out here on the fringes of the Kingdom, theft and competition seemed a lot less prevalent. Helmfirth was a small community and most of the people seemed to band together rather than try and climb over each other to secure a better position for themselves. He doubted that would be the case where there were more people.

Ignoring the fact that he was yet to meet an actual Noble, except for maybe Garnet who he’d only seen at a distance, the regular folk of the Capital would likely be more willing to engage in thievery and other underhanded tactics to get ahead. It was true in society on Earth and he thought it would be at least as bad in the Capital of the Kingdom of Etrua. Maybe even worse. He’d have to consider antitheft mechanisms in the future. But he was getting off track again. His thoughts always wandered off in random directions. One thing at a time.

“So, I make a new and improved class concealing rune based on the sigils in this,” he said, grabbing at the amulet hanging around his neck. “Then we see if you can engrave it onto your own soul with your Soul Engraving skill?”

Kiri grinned and shook her head as she replied, “Close. I don’t just want to engrave it onto my own soul.”

A moment later the Skill description appeared before the three of them as Kiri shared it.

Soul Engraving (Rare)

Those who utilise Soul Magic understand that the soul and the body are inextricably linked. This Skill utilises that fact to engrave spells, powers or skills onto the soul. Enhancing them beyond the norm or allowing them to utilise abilities from other paths. Number of Engravings a soul can support is equal to total Classes. The Soulshade gains one additional engraving per ten Skill Levels. Mana cost varies based on Engraving. Engraving lasts for a number of Days equal to Willpower / 3.

He read over it twice to make sure he was understanding it correctly. Frick piped up before he could say it though.

“It doesn’t say you can only use it on yourself! You could Engrave Nate’s soul as well! Looks like you’ll end up getting a few more than everyone else though,” Frick said as the little Familiar floated above the bed.

“Exactly!” Kiri said excitedly. “We can pick another rune that would be good for Nate. Maybe we could engrave your Barrier rune onto your soul! I wonder if that would make it better?! Anyway, what do you think, Nate?”

Tilting his head he gave the idea serious consideration. If it worked, it would allow him to potentially conceal his Class Core permanently . The ability to hide that information was priceless. Even just glancing at Luc’s Classes had given him an idea of what the man's combat capabilities might be. Obviously they’d have to periodically renew the Engraving but that wasn’t such a bad thing because it also meant they could change the Engravings.

On the other hand, how did the actual Soul Engraving work? The Skill said mana cost varied based on the engraving. Was that referring to the cost to apply a soul engraving with the skill or did it mean the upkeep to keep the engraving active? He felt it had to be the second, as even the enchanted amulet he wore used a small amount of mana to keep itself active. Which meant a poorly crafted rune, assuming they could engrave one into the soul energy, could become an incredible drain on their mana.

“I think it’s a great idea but that we should start with either a simpler rune, or at least, one that is really mana efficient,” he explained. “If there is a mana upkeep cost then we don’t want it exceeding yours, or my I guess, rate of mana absorption. So rather than starting with a complicated rune we should test it with a simple one. Also, I doubt I can use Imbue Intent on it so it would need to be a complete rune. By that I mean it should function without needing guidance beyond the rune itself. Am I making sense?”

“Not at all!” Kiri joked. “Okay, I followed most of it. Got any ideas for a test rune then?”

Frick floated around, big ears flapping as Nate took a moment to think about his options. He didn’t like most of them as many of the Sigils he knew were for guiding shape or release patterns. The others could cause problems. Like the Sigil for Heat. What if it heated Kiri up and she cooked from the inside? Going through, there was one Sigil that stood out as a strong contender. Strongest. Damn pun. He didn’t see how that Sigil would be able to cause any harm if they couldn’t control the Engraving.

“Okay. I’ve got an idea. Can you sense how the Skill works so we can figure out how to give you the rune I have in mind?” he asked.

With Eyes of the Runic Artist active he could see Kiri’s soul energy start to flow through her body until her hands were coated in the thin white energy. Deactivating the skill for a moment let him see that the energy wasn’t actually visible for others. Reactivating the skill, he watched as Kiri spent a moment experimenting with the Engraving skill.

“I think it’s kinda like that skill you used to have that let you copy runes. I think I can just pick something and copy it. I wonder if that means I could copy a skill from a Skill Orb without using it? Anyway, let's give it a whirl! How long will it take you to cook up this rune?” Kiri asked, flashing her trademark grin.

Nate sighed and spun up the quickest rune of his life using Runic Creation. It was just the Strongest Sigil in concentric circles and he didn’t need the identification capabilities of his Eyes of the Runic Artist to know it was only Apprentice grade. Even that rating was only being driven by the Master rank of the Sigil. The moment he was done he realised he hadn’t grabbed anything to copy it onto and ended up imbuing it into his robe instead.

Kiri stepped over towards him and placed her hand on the rune. Through his eyes, he watched as the rune took form inside her soul energy, floating up to drift near her Class Core. It looked like it was a perfect copy of the rune he had created.

“How does it feel?” he asked as he continued to watch. It didn’t look like the Engraved rune was doing anything.

“I don’t feel any different, but it’s showing up on my Status as a Status Effect. I can feel it. What do you reckon?” Kiri countered as she stood up and flexed her hands a little as if trying to elicit a response.

“Give it some mana,” he replied.

His eyes instantly picked up as mana flowed from Kiri’s reserve to the rune. A second later she was laughing in delight.

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“It adds ten percent to my strength while it’s getting mana! That wasn’t a good rune right? It looked super basic!” she yelled, probably loud enough for her parents to hear her.

“Yeah, it was a pretty crappy rune but I wanted to go with something simple for the first try. Ten percent is good for a rune that rough. Doesn’t look like the mana drain is too much either, though that could just be the fact that it is a weaker rune. Either way it’s good to know that it won’t constantly drain your mana or soul energy,” he said, staring at her with his rainbow eyes. “That’s what it looks like to me anyway. Does it feel like it’s draining you at all?”

Kiri shook her head and then grinned at him, “Want to see all my other Skills?”

Nate laughed and agreed, getting up to follow Kiri outside. What followed started out as a demonstration that quickly morphed into some playful sparring with Kiri trying to land a strike on him with her wooden practice daggers while he blocked her with his barriers and teleported around the yard. She kept from using her Skills too much which is how he found out that she had to replenish soul energy by hunting and so couldn’t go all out for no reason.

At some point Jorge joined them and started putting them both through their paces, the older man casually fighting Kiri in the melee as he launched small rocks at Nate who kept dancing around the yard, mostly using No Steps Necessary. Afternoon quickly became evening and after an enjoyable dinner Nate decided it would be better to work on the Class Concealment rune back at the Oaken Ring. After agreeing with Kiri to meet her back at her place on the morrow, he set out through the grassy fields, the moon hanging overhead.

Frick floated in the air above him, looking over Firth forest with Nate’s Eyes of the Runic Artist active.

“Yeah, boss, it’s like you thought. The mana flows have changed over that side of town. The Dungeon must’ve been the cause. Means we can find more Dungeons in the future right? Because I am soooo bummed out that Kiri got to fight goblins and we didn’t. My people…my archenemies…it would’ve been perfect!” Frick’s voice echoed in his mind.

“There will be a next time. Won’t be long before we outgrow the Common and Uncommon Dungeons though,” Nate paused a moment preparing to continue when Frick’s voice echoed back quickly.

“Barrier up, boss. Something just exited the forest to your left. It’s coming straight at you,” Frick’s voice sounded worried.

Nate didn’t need to be told twice. His first Barrier rune was up, enclosing him in a sphere as he reinforced it repeatedly. As he prepared his defences, he activated Eyes of the Runic Artist and Spatial Awareness. Frick floated down to join him. He didn’t need the Spirit’s whisper, as Frick hid inside of their Familiar Contract, to see the person approach him quickly, eating up the distance between them.

They paused for a moment to stare at each other, standing knee deep in the grass. Nate used the time to assess everything he could about the person, ready for an attack as they’d clearly come straight at him. They were the only ones standing out here and he was about halfway between Kiri’s house and the Gates of Helmfirth. The person cocked their head slightly and the action looked slightly odd, as though it was contrived, or maybe a facsimile of how someone would normally indicate they were thinking.

The person was of average height, with black hair that hung straight down to their shoulders. They looked pale, but that could’ve been a trick of the moonlight. These weren’t the things that concerned Nate though. With his Eyes of the Runic Artist active he could see the energies flowing inside of them and there were some oddities. For one, their Class Core was enveloped in mana so dense, he couldn’t see beneath it to tell what their Classes were. The second, was an angry-looking red energy that seemed to flow in them alongside their mana.

“All this, for a child?” they said. Nate heard the meaning, but due to extensive experience in splitting his attention with the Divine Translation spell he also heard the words. They were not the same language the people of Helmfirth spoke.

Nate debated responding, but he’d been warned against revealing the extent of the Divine Translation spell. Instead he pressed his lips together, preparing for a fight. He could only go off their mana reserve, which seemed a little larger than his but not to the extent that he doubted his ability to fight, or more likely, flee.

“At least you have a spine. Die well then child, so that I might be rewarded,” came its voice in its harsh language.

A pale red light started leaking out of the dark haired person and Nate visibly blanched. He didn’t know what it was doing exactly but he felt his Spatial Awareness shrinking as the red light continued to creep out through the grass surrounding them both. His sense of space was gone except for his sphere of awareness around himself.

“There. No running child. Now, finally, I get to feed properly,” came the harsh words from the creature. Because then and there, Nate decided whatever it was that was facing him, it wasn’t a person. The red energy that had flowed into the creature's Skill was definitely not mana. That was the last thought Nate had time for as the creature suddenly enveloped their hands in claws of red-streaked golden light before launching itself at him.

Nate tried to flee, mana flowing to No Steps Necessary as he tried to move towards the gates of Helmfirth. Instead of traversing the hundred metres he should’ve covered, he found he’d only moved five metres in that direction.

“Fuck, some sort of spatial lock?” he thought at Frick.

“I dunno, Boss!” screamed Frick in his mind as the creature came at him.

Nate started flicking Barriers out in response, blocking each swing of the creature's arms. Each strike of the golden light ate away at the barriers and he was constantly having to flood mana into the rune to refresh them. It wasn’t just the strikes. The creature was fast, but with his sphere of awareness he could handle that. The strikes weren’t incredibly powerful either.

No, there was something about the claws of light the creature was using that were making his barriers break down faster than they should have. A buzzing in the back of his mind told him he was onto something as another flurry of attacks from the creature were stymied by a flicker of small barriers. He followed up the successful defence with a couple of spears of earth which the creature deftly dodged.

The creature pulled back for a moment, stalking through the grass around him like an animal as Nate shifted each time to keep his eyes on the thing. His mind whirred as he considered his options. While he thought through the best method to fight the creature, he activated his Life Drain rune, targeting his opponent. He felt it take hold for a moment but fade quickly. It had felt different to Torian, who had shrugged the rune off. It felt like it had been destroyed…maybe eaten, rather than rebuffed.

The moment of distraction was enough for the creature to launch another flurry of attacks with its claws which were turned away by his barriers. He was feeling more relaxed, starting to get into the flow of the battle when a spear of the red and gold light flashed up from the creature's foot and speared him through his right shoulder. He screamed in pain as his instincts told him to move.

No Steps Necessary carried him five metres backwards as he narrowly avoided being decapitated by a swing of the creature's claws. Looking down at his wound with his Eyes of the Runic Artist he could see the flesh dissolving around where the light had struck. No, not dissolving…being consumed, somehow. He could feel his skills going wild as his eyes flicked back to the creature's claws.

“Devouring…” he whispered as his eyes finally recognised what lay at the heart of that fell light, not hearing his own voice imitating the harsh language of the creature.

“So you do understand me? Interesting. You are young to recognise its nature. Yes, little human, you have perceived correctly. I am Xalvoloth, wielder of the Devouring Light.”

“Boss, that’s a fucking demon!” Frick screamed frantically in his mind.

He was so unbelievably screwed.