~~~Lee~~~
...
...
"How's he doing?"
"He's alive, and I don't know how."
"But you healed him. There's no damage, right?"
"You saw him, Alejandro. He was... he was a damn skeleton! I don't even know what I healed! What if I healed him wrong?"
...
...
"Any change?"
"Nothing..."
...
...
"I'll stay with him. You should take a break."
"There must be something I'm missing... if I just keep..."
"You need to rest. You're too tired to think straight. Sleep, and try again tomorrow."
"...okay."
...
...
The voices didn't bother him. They were far away. It was the system messages that finally made enough noise to drag Lee from the comforting darkness. They were too close to ignore.
Rune Scribe has reached the threshold of Level 10
Evolution Available. Upgrade to (Basic) Available.
He could remember something... a moment of terrible pain... and loss... raging mana... someone screaming... but it was all so hazy. He remembered running around, but it all felt like a dream... people had been dying... had died. He had died... hadn't he? Was he a ghost?
Evolution?
Rune Scribe (Uncommon)
Through language; power.
The basic Skill of any Runic, used to Inscribe the Rune language into items and structures using a mix of Liquid Mana and the user's Soul.
Skill Level Effects (Basic):
+2% Effective Intelligence
-2% Soul Cost
Evolution:
Rune Artist (Rare)
Language is art. Art is of the Soul. Soul is power.
Inscribing a Rune is much more than drawing a mere symbol. This skill allows the user to touch upon their Soul for more than simply structure. Imbue intent more easily into every Rune.
Skill Level Effects (Basic):
+2% Effective Intelligence
+2% Soul Intent
-2% Soul Cost
It sounded... pretty. Lee liked that.
Class Skill Evolved: Rune Artist (Rare) - Level 10 (Basic)
There were other notifications, but most of them were old and unimportant now. Messages that reminded him of something terrible.
Mana Mind was still active. He knew people moved around him, saw them come and go, but like everything else, it wasn't important. A distant thing, happening to someone else.
Lee didn't want to come back. He didn't want to leave the darkness. Pain waited for him out there. Pain, sorrow, fear, so many bad things. He didn't want it. Here in the dark, it was safe.
...
...
...
"You should wake up, Uncle Lee. Mama and Papa are worried."
The far away voice sounded sad... Lee remembered it from another life... he looked closer...
Trait Earned: [Runic Resonance]
That one hurt. No... he didn't want to see it...
[Runic Resonance]
You have tapped into the resonance of your Soul and used it to bind a Rune irrevocably into your flesh. The Rune will draw from your mana pool to sustain itself. Destruction of the Rune will permanently damage your Soul.
Effects:
Resonance(Unbreakable)
Runed Skeletal Structure
Lee fled back into the dark.
...
...
"Don't worry, Lee. I'll keep this place standing while you rest. We'll be stronger than ever when you get back..."
I know him...
Trait Earned: [Runic Augmentation]
Noooo!
[Runic Augmentation]
You have forcibly altered a set Rune without removing it or destroying it and have done so without the proper Class Skill. It will be easier to do it again.
Effects:
+100% Augmentation Effect
Lee ran from the pain.
...
...
"I still can't find anything wrong... he should be awake... it's all my fault..."
The sorrow... Why is she sad?
Debuff: [Mental Fracture]
Screaming! Pain! Dying! NOOO!
[Mental Fracture](Permanent)
A portion of your brain was destroyed and resulted in permanent mental fracturing during reconstruction.
Effects:
-50% All Mind Attributes
-50% Cognition Stability
-50% Cognition Speed
no... please no…
...
...
"Nothing's attacked us yet, Lee. But we're staying ready. I can't wait for you to see what we've built..."
...
...
"Despierta perezoso, bueno para nada, vago!"
"Maria!"
"Lo siento. Pensé que podría funcionar."
She sounded angry... but what was she saying? Was that Spanish? He wanted to learn Spanish, didn't he? To talk to... someone... but something was wrong... damaged...
Who am I?
Who are you?
...
...
"You know... I couldn't believe it when Alejandro told me what happened to you. I saw the explosion... I can't imagine many who didn't..."
"Sorry I missed the fight... but if it makes you feel better, I've been hunting the shit stain responsible for that attack ever since I found out what they were doing down there."
"It's bad, Lee. They're using ritual sacrifice to power those spells... all led by a cowardly little shit hiding behind a damn army... Don't worry about him striking at your fort. I almost nabbed him the last time he tried to set up the ritual... anyway... I've got him running scared... and if you don't wake up soon, I'm going to steal your kill."
"Happy? I talked to him."
"Thank you, Jake."
...
...
Resisted: [Soul Spike]
The message was so loud... it reminded him of someone...
Stanley. He knew that name.
Caffeine. That one too. They mattered. They needed him. He needed them…
I need you... please help me...
But they couldn't help him. They were in trouble... they needed help.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Resisted: [Soul Spike]
No!
Something was happening. Something bad. He needed to help... needed to wake up... he needed to leave the dark.
More messages kept screaming at him. But worse than that... Stanley was hurting... afraid... running for his life...
Wake up... I have to wake up...
Danger.
Wake up!
Lee could feel something under his hand. Could feel it with both his hand and Mana Mind. It was bright... full of power.
+0.1 All Base Attributes
+0.1 Strength
+0.1 Vitality
...
On and on, the messages flashed through his mind while power trickled into his body. Much of that power seemed to vanish inside him, going somewhere he couldn't perceive, while the rest infused into different pieces of him, making them ever so slightly better...
He sat up and opened his eyes when the last message faded. He sat there blinking at the strange surroundings for an unknown amount of time... until a rune passed through his Mana Mind on the floor below. Runes...
Lee climbed from the bed. He was in Alejandro's apartment... he'd been here before...
He was walking before he knew where he was going, his feet carrying him to the stairs while he tried to decide what to do... he couldn't think... just knew he needed to do... something.
"Lee!" a voice shouted when he entered the garage, and he stared at the woman as she approached.
"May... you're May..."
"Are you... okay?" She touched his arm while staring at him. She looked worried... Then she yelled over her shoulder, "Get Alejandro!"
"Runes," Lee said, staring at her face. Her eyes were so bright... "I need to make... runes."
"Sure..." May reached over and plucked up a sword from a table. "Here."
Lee stared at the blade. It was shiny... smooth, and... sharp. No... not sharp enough. He needed to make it sharper, stronger. His finger touched the blade, and liquid power flowed through his veins and into the weapon. Become strong... become sharp. It did.
"Another." Someone took the blade and handed him another. Lee drew his runes. "Another."
A few more blades became strong and sharp before another hand fell on him. "Lee! Are you..."
Worried eyes stared into his own when Lee looked up. "Alejandro." He knew him... cared about him... protected him from... NO!
"Runes," Lee said. "I have to make runes. I have to make runes. Let me make... runes... please..."
"I will, Lee. I'll let you make all of them, but... are you okay? Can we help you?"
More hands touched him, warm green light flooding in with the contact. It felt nice... but it reminded him of... "Runes! I need runes!"
Another sword appeared in his hands. Good. Runes. Lee let his hands pour power into the metal while voices threatened him from nearby.
"I can't find anything different... but something is clearly wrong! What do we do?"
"Give him what he wants... for now. God knows we need more enchanted gear. But just... keep trying?"
"I will..."
She touched him, and Lee flinched away. "No light..."
"Okay... I won't do it again, Lee."
"Thank... you... just runes... broken..." He flinched away from that thought. He wasn't broken... He was dead! Dead! DEAD! D...
A hand squeezed his shoulder. "Whatever you need, Lee, you just say it. I'm going to get the guard moving through here so you can enchant everything. Does that work?"
"Yes," Lee whispered. "Runes. I need to make runes. I have to help them... but I can't... I need runes... I need runes... I need runes..." He pulled at the liquid fire inside him, letting it fill his mind with power. Power was good. He needed more! More power! It burned, but it wasn't enough. More p...
"They're coming, Lee. They're coming. Just hang in there."
More swords came, and Lee made them strong and sharp.
Armor came too. So much armor. It was good, and Lee poured his fire into the metal. He told it to be strong, to protect... It had to protect! Had to shield!
He forced the liquid fire into the metal until it groaned and begged him to stop... then he demanded it take more. It would take more. It had to.
IT HAD TO PROTECT!
More armor came, and he forced all of it to protect.
His fire dimmed... and he pulled more from above every time it did. There was enough of the liquid fire up there to make all the armor protect... to make all the swords cut...
You have been conscripted into the Dungeon: [Greenfield Fort's Last Stand]
Invaders are coming! Join your allies and prepare your defenses! Fight!
Rewards will be granted based on Contributions to the Defense or the Assault once the Invaders have been Defeated or Driven Out or when all Defenders are Defeated.
Lee frowned at the message. It was bad. He knew it from... before. It meant he needed to fight.
The others knew the same thing, and there was a lot of shouting and running. Lee had a new concern bubbling up in his mind. "My armor... and where is my sword?"
No one listened, so Lee went to the woman making the stuff. "Where is my..." Then he remembered where it was and flinched away from the memory. "I... I need... new armor."
"You're in no state to fight, Lee." Dennis, that was Dennis... he made bananas... didn't he? "Your runes are enough. Let the others..."
"I have to fight," Lee said. "I have to fight or I will... I have to fight or they will... die... too."
"You can't..."
"I will fight!" Lee screamed at the man. "I can't let them fight alone! I can't let them... DIE!" There was a sword on the table, and Lee dragged it into his hand while his mind screamed at the pain.
Skill Level Up: [Mana Mind]
The sword was bad... not sharp. Lee poured liquid fire into it and made it be sharp. Made it Cut. Then he headed for the ramp...
"Shit... Wait! Lee, wait! Let May make you some armor first!"
"I don't need it," Lee told them, not slowing. "I am already..."
"You can fight better with it! You can protect better with armor!"
Lee paused. That was true...
"May, help me get this off. He can use mine!"
"Dennis... damn it! Fine."
"Hurry up," Lee said. "They are fighting. I need to fight." He could hear it... could hear them screaming... dying... he had to...
Hands tugged him to a halt when he tried to leave, and Lee held back his attack when they slapped pieces of metal onto him. May tried to use her magic to change the metal, but the runes blocked her. Lee pulled his fire back. "Fix it."
The fire roiled pleasantly through his veins until she pushed the helmet over his head. Then Lee forced the fire back in and demanded it to protect.
Plates over his chest and back followed, and Lee stopped them when they tried to cover his legs. "I don't need it."
They tried to hold him back, but Lee pulled on the liquid fire inside until his skin burned their hands and forced them to let go.
Then he ran to join the war.
A wall loomed before him, and Lee jumped to the top. There he found the alien creature Mana Mind had already seen.
It was taller than him, with long pointy ears and sharp needle-like teeth. Like an elf... It, too, wore armor and held a sword, both magic, and both weak imitations of what they should be.
The elf had just finished cutting a man's throat when Lee arrived beside them, and the blood splashed into his eyes, forcing him to close them as it turned on him. It was a fast creature... and Lee didn't even try to block as it swung for his own neck.
Instead, he thrust his own sword straight into the elf's breastplate as its own blade cut into his neck and tried to decapitate him.
Lee's sword went true, plunging into the monster's heart. Meanwhile, its blow nearly knocked him over when the sword slammed into his spine and utterly failed to do anything. It was a weak weapon. It could not cut.
Maria appeared before he pulled the blade free, taking away the dying man from the wall. She came back as Lee faced the next elf, now bounding toward him. This one went for his legs, while Maria slapped a hand across his neck.
She stopped the bleeding as Lee lowered his stance in time to catch the sword on his thigh. It also failed to cut, and Lee showed the monster what a sword should do when he cut sideways all the way through its breastplate and chest.
Maria hit his leg, too, stopping the bleeding. She didn't need to, but it would help him walk better, at least. She vanished before the next elf jumped up... and Lee chopped down on it. He cut through the blocking sword, the helmet, and the skull beneath.
Another elf charged from further down the wall, a beheaded defender in his wake... the elf was carrying one of Lee's swords... he'd stolen it...
Lee couldn't see with his eyes still closed, but Mana Mind saw everything. He saw the dead and dying all around him... They were losing... His runes weren't enough...
I failed... Lee felt the weight settling onto him. Failure. He hadn't done enough. They would all die... all of his friends... because the monsters were too strong. Because he was too weak...
They should all... BURN!
Lee lifted his hand to the charging monster...
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
Debuff: [Soul Strain]
That message rang through his mind like the tolling of a cathedral bell.
Stanley...
The sword slammed into his hand, ringing against his bones in a grinding competition between his own runes... Lee's hand closed around the blade. "This one's mine!"
He saw alien eyes widen inside an alien helmet... right before his own sword plunged horizontally through both of them and the skull behind.
It fell from his sword while another alien blade stabbed just below his backplate and burst out of his stomach. The pain was excruciating, but it all went somewhere else... went to the other part of him... the dead part...
Lee spun as the blade withdrew in a gush of blood, and he cut the elf in half through its own stomach.
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
That message hurt more than any of his physical wounds... it resounded in his mind with ominous finality. Doom. The onrushing end.
It wasn't the last one either. More of the same message came through as he fought his way along the wall. He cut elves down whenever they appeared, helped his allies whenever he could, and kept hunting for more things to cut.
Not everyone was dying to the elves... some of his people put up a fight, leveraging their runes to great effect against the weaker magic of the elves. Alejandro moved around a lot, blurring in and killing the elves before vanishing again.
Despite the inferiority of the elves weapons and armor, their magic still took a toll on his runes. Lee dumped more power into them as he went, his own and any others he got close enough to.
Then he found the different elf.
It came onto the wall with two others beside it, and they immediately cut down the defenders in reach. They did it almost casually... effortlessly.
Lee charged, swinging hard at anything he could reach. He didn't care about their armor or weapons; they were all trash... though this trio had a brighter level of trash than the rest.
His sword never got a chance to test itself against them. Every swing met only air as they danced like snakes around his strikes. Meanwhile, only the middle elf fought back, and its return blows never touched his armor. Each of their attacks struck out like vipers for his exposed flesh, and each one hit true.
Eyes, neck, arms, his sides, and all up and down his legs. The elf took Lee apart by one slash and thrust at a time. Lee's bones kept him alive despite everything. None of the strikes aiming for vital organs made it through, and he used the advantage to its utmost.
Lee ignored every attack and just pushed closer and closer to the elf until he finally snagged its breastplate with one hand. He grinned through the blood filling his mouth and only wished he could see the monster's face as his sword punched through the armor into its...
Debuff: [Soul Laceration]
He didn't want to stop killing the elf. But that one hurt too much to ignore. It hurt so much that even his Mana Mind dimmed as he fell down… down…
Buff: [Improved Regeneration]
Lee dimly saw Alejandro kick an elf off the wall while his shield slammed into another's face. Then Maria dragged him away. "No... I... have to... fight..."
Saira was there, and she filled him with her green life. No... His vision returned, muscles stitched back together, and new strength flooded in.
Maria vanished, leaving him behind with that terrible light. "Stop..."
"I will not let you die!"
I'm already dead. I can't die again...
An elf landed beside Saira, sword swinging down on her head.
Lee reached his hand up and caught the blade. He held on as it tried to retract, free hand fumbling for his own sword... Where is it!?
The elf let go when Alejandro appeared, swinging for its head. It spun away from the attack while pulling another sword from its waist, and then pounced back in with a stabbing thrust that took Alejandro in the leg. The elf dodged sideways around the shield slam, and thrust at Saira again.
Lee was on his feet by then, and he shoved her aside to charge the elf. He threw his sword and came in behind it to grab the elf's breastplate with both hands. Then he dragged it closer and went in with his teeth... Lee screamed as he did. Not in pain or fear... but in rage. He wanted nothing more than to rip this thing apart, and with his teeth if he had to.
He never got the bite.
The elf twisted free and spun him around, using Lee as a shield against Alejandro while he pulled a knife with his free hand and plunged it between Lee's ribs.
Oh... Strength drained from Lee as the knife came out and went back in again. That wasn't good.
Alejandro and Maria both appeared beside him, their real weapons forcing the elf to retreat or die. Then Alejandro shoved Lee away. "Get him out of here!"
Strangers grabbed onto him, dragging him away... inside the building...
Maria appeared next to Alejandro when the elf attacked, her knife only cutting a line on its cheek as it swayed aside.
"Give me that one, and you all live," the elf said while jumping back a step. He said it in perfect English. While pointing his sword directly at Lee.
Everything slowed after those words. Even the hands dragging Lee away paused... but Alejandro broke the moment by kicking the elf between the legs.
It howled.
Lee's view of the battle receded as they dragged him away, his Mana Mind not far behind. The last thing he saw was Maria and Alejandro fighting against the elf... and losing...