Time is a precious commodity, and he was unwilling to squander it on perceiving someone’s circumstances. And resorting to indiscriminate killing will forever contradict his principles.
In his quest to conceal the rune and eliminate the obstacle obstructing his path, Tetsu yearned for a cloak—a magical cloak of invisibility capable of shrouding every rune he conjured.
Tetsu peers at his hand, placing it on a tree trunk and then shifting it toward the sky. As he shifts, his hand morphs from looking like a bark into a transparent cloud.
[DING! Unlocked Sian rune- Conceal Rune. Commandment: HiSiu. Level: Warrior. Rarity: Epic.]
Ecstatic, Tetsu couldn’t contain his excitement. “Oh! I can fucking kiss you right now,” he declared, casting a look of almost amorous appreciation toward the system screen, an expression so intense that even the system itself seemed to recoil.
Tetsu remained unperturbed by the reaction, as it was yet another skill that appeared with little to no effort, courtesy of the incubation grounds’ generous bestowal of abilities.
He desired the rune to stay invisible, and when it came to invisibility, he already had [Leech Over] to draw inspiration from. During the solitary months stranded in this forsaken world, he sketched over a million runes, even more so in his head, striving to unravel their intricacies and design new symbols for survival.
Each rune bore the imprint of his meticulous craftsmanship, intertwined with his will and imbued with intent, rendering them an intrinsic part of himself, which helped cover the rune with the skill [Leech Over]. It did not differ from covering a limb that was forty meters away.
After the initial breakthrough, the system took care of the integration process. It appeared that the skill melded with the rune, determining the invisibility of the rune based on its rarity and level. This heightened the mental strain on Tetsu, yet it remained well within his capacity to handle.
In a perfect world, he aimed to persist in his progression towards the next breakthrough. The presence of an invisible shield failed to dispel the doubt instilled by the girl in his heart. She posited a theory suggesting the ability to trace energy, similar to his tracking of life force but for mana, and to follow the mana string back to its source.
Tetsu conjectured that his capacity to sense life force stemmed from the Crimsonfea fangs, speculating about others with analogous constitutions who could perceive or discern mana.
For anyone else, this situation would be considered as good as it gets, but for him, this world was the epitome of perfection, so he propelled himself towards the next bottleneck without hesitation.
If they possess the ability to detect the direction of the rune, Tetsu wondered: why not devise another rune capable of deflecting the first?
The initial rune could serve as either a mirror or a trampoline for subsequent runes, rendering his location untraceable. Even if someone managed to pinpoint him, deploying a few more trampoline or mirror runes would lead them on a convoluted hunt, allowing him to wear them down.
In theory, this seemed simpler, but the daunting task of unraveling this rune posed a significant risk to his access to the Muse verse—the realm where ideas materialize. With a sense of reluctance, he followed Kile’s suggestion and deferred this idea for future exploration, opting instead to pursue a similar concept.
Enamored by the notion of bouncing runes, Tetsu vowed to revisit that experiment later. But for now, his focus shifted to the application of sticking runes. This concept involved one rune overlaying itself onto another, and as opponents traversed these runes, the initial one affixed the upper rune onto them, akin to a spy planting a bug.
It took ten minutes of intense concentration and brushing aside two system messages before Tetsu managed to make any inroads. From that point onward, the system took charge and granted him a passing grade and a new skill as a certificate.
Sadly, this was another example of why Tetsu felt like being the back peddle of luck. He had [Overlay] which is an overpowered skill, yet it was of no use to him while creating this rune. What made it even worse was that he couldn't fathom why the skill had failed him in achieving his objective.
[Ding! Unlocked Sian rune - Passive: Superimpose. Commandment: Simp | Atta | DisAp. Level: Warrior. Rarity: Epic.]
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“See... you don’t have to be a jerk to level up,” Tetsu remarked, patting himself on the back.
Just by observing others, Tetsu gleaned numerous insights, each awaiting further examination, along with three new runes obtained from the warriors of the runic magic school. He speculated that “Sian” might be a student in a hypothetical institution dedicated to teaching runic magic. While uncertain of its existence, he harbored a fervent hope that such a school existed within the multiverse. If not, he resolved to establish one himself. After all, he needed to find a means of sustenance in this new reality, and creating a magic school would enable him to fulfill every child’s fantasy of attending such an institution.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” Tetsu chuckled, as he lowered himself down and floated back up.
Rather than applying runes directly to his target, Tetsu devised a new approach. He placed ethereal runes along their path, which would latch onto them once they stepped into the designated area.
The process of crafting two superimposed runes, infusing them with a concealment skill, and establishing a connection proved to be a daunting task. It not only taxed his mental faculties but also heightened his fatigue levels. To circumvent this issue, Tetsu opted to create the rune on the soldier’s path. Given that people rarely inspect the soles of their shoes, and even if they did, the lower rune would have dissipated long before any attempt to trace it back to him. It boiled down to timing and positioning, which, in comparison, proved to be a more manageable task.
The rune [Mark] functioned similarly to the RR skill but without the overt drawbacks. Small needles materialized, which he hoped were only visible to him, their length and color indicating the target’s power and distance.
The battle below almost reached its conclusion. If it wasn’t for Tetsu’s interference, they would have won long ago. Yet the elongated battle helped Tetsu gain a lot of invaluable insights, which is a huge win and an acceptable trade-off. For him, that is.
While none of them could spot the rune on their feet, Tetsu hid behind the trunk, tracking them with his supposed third eye, while checking his missed notifications.
[Ding! Sense & perspective have increased by two points. Sense: 33. Perspective: 84.]
Tetsu continued to tinker with his most significant workaround, refining the personal AI screen provided to him to better facilitate his training. Ideally, he wished for the system to determine which aspect influenced the increase in each stat. This way, he could focus on specific training to better comprehend and improve the stats and their growth.
However, unsurprisingly, the system proved to be even more obstinate than Saint. It interpreted sarcastic hints literally and disrupted the foundational structure. Rather than digging himself into a deeper hole, Tetsu retrained the AI from scratch.
He approached the task methodically, providing one prompt at a time to train the Omni AI to meet his specific requirements. The “sense” stat, in particular, encompassed all senses, extending beyond the conventional six. Each time a hidden sense was activated or an existing sense was heightened, the corresponding number would increment by one. In theory, this stat could either remain unused or become the most potent weapon in one’s arsenal.
By stacking the notifications based on their chronological order, Tetsu deduced which actions correlated with increases in specific stats. While the process proved intricate, after thorough analysis sessions, he deciphered most of the hidden features.
For instance, most of his runes were activated through his eyes. With consistent use, or one might say abuse, Tetsu’s visual prowess advanced to the next level. He discerned minute details from greater distances, witnessed rapid actions in slow motion, and even had the option to extend his vision range at the cost of clarity.
This newfound ability enabled him to scout beyond conventional limits. Moreover, by adding the rune [Mark], a new sense associated with spatial awareness was unlocked.
Tetsu arrived at this deduction by eliminating other senses that showed no improvement while considering the concurrent increase in his perspective.
“Hey, Maeve,” Tetsu greeted with a smile as his system flickered to life mid-flight, displaying the countdown. “Twenty-seven days gone,” he noted, then proceeded to issue another set of instructions. “Each Stat gets its own notification bar.”
The system blinked twice in acknowledgment, though truthfully, Tetsu compelled the response by intruding and modifying the settings. Seeking more interactive engagement, he swiftly dismissed and summoned the screen, creating the illusion of a flicker.
“Superimpose notifications if they happen at the same time,” Tetsu requested, awaiting the subsequent blink before adding, “Time stamps based on the countdown... Order based on time.”
The final modification might require some time to implement, but for now, Tetsu was satisfied with what he had achieved—a realization of yet another childhood fantasy. While it might be the most basic version of Jarvis, Tetsu couldn’t have asked for anything more. Who’s to say Maeve wouldn’t evolve? She might even surpass the omnipotent Jarvis.
Tetsu borrowed the name from his first crush, confident that the likelihood of them ever meeting was slim to none. With the command “Hey Maeve” set to open the timer, it served not only for obvious reasons but also as a practice routine.
Tetsu attempted to utter the word “hey” for a year, but it never escaped his throat. Maeve must have thought he was mute, were it not for Kile, who did little to dispel the illusion, if anything, he shattered it further. Before, at least, Tetsu was merely silent, but after... he shuddered at the memory.
“I am going to kill that jerk,” Tetsu muttered as he trailed the squad, observing their roundabout route to their base.
“Smart,” Tetsu acknowledged with a smile, choosing a different path to intercept them. “But I am smarter,” he added, his grin widening, causing his fangs to descend. “I’m not engaging with any of them, and since when have you shown interest in lower-level targets?” Tetsu paused, glancing back at the squad. “Wait! Did I misjudge? Are they formidable opponents?” With the fangs retracting, Tetsu shrugged and concealed himself in the crown of a tree, practicing his ability to sense life force.
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