Wild Era, Ch 26: Runic Talismans

When morning slanted through the windows of his guild room, Kelin was already awake, circulating his mana as he stressed the speed and efficiency of his meridians.

After a while, his meridians were humming with force and new threads of soulfire were slowly integrating into them, as well as deeper into other parts of his physique.

It was part of the advanced training he’d explained to Yao and Naomi last night. As long as you practiced diligently, it was possible to continually improve.

The exercise he was using now was good for training his meridians to handle a higher mana flow, as well as to promote the development of Soulfire Body Refinement.

When he’d pushed that as far as he could for one morning, he moved on to soul exercises, cycling soul energy in increasingly difficult ways to promote the strength of his soul and the speed of using his soul energy.

Eventually, he was done with that as well.

With the training and the effort of crafting from the day before, a notification appeared.

Due to stressing your body in crafting and training, you have gained 1 Constitution, 1 Intelligence, and 1 Aura.

His body was streaked with sweat, but he nodded in satisfaction as he got cleaned up for the day.

The Constitution improvement was from his body refining, while the Intelligence and Aura were from his mana and soul training, respectively.

After that, he pulled out the three spatial crystals he’d bought the day before and began infusing their energy into his storage space.

Slowly, each crystal disintegrated on his palm and turned to sparkling dust, while the spatial energy inside infused into his spatial pocket, expanding its size and durability.

The space had been about three cubic feet, but after the first crystal it grew to a bit over four feet across in every direction. 

After the second crystal dissolved, the space reached five feet across, and after the third crystal, it expanded to six feet across in every direction.

It had eight times as much space inside as before. 

He was satisfied with the purchase. 

At 60 gold per, each crystal cost almost enough to pay for the kids’ rent at the guild for a year. It was roughly 73 gold per year before his discount. It meant he was looking at nearly three years of guild protection and rent to expand the space.

Despite the cost, it was a critical need.

It was the most secure method he had to carry things around and it was almost impossible for anyone else to access. It was also how he carried things back to the guild to sell. 

If he’d had it earlier, he could have brought back more of the drake parts, as well as the hide from the stone bear.

It would pay for itself over time.

His storage belt could be used as storage for less important things now.

As the remaining spatial dust from the crystals dissolved into the air, he brushed himself off and headed out of the room. 

He wanted to see how the guild’s information gathering had gone.

A message from Captain Sandren was waiting for him when he reached the front desk. A few minutes later, she appeared herself and waved him back to her office.

“I’ve confirmed your report,” she said as soon as the door closed. “You were right. That assassin was from Sarathia. I thought he might have fooled you with a second layer of disguise, but he didn’t. I’m surprised at the degree of information you were able to see on your Analyze ability. That’s usually the domain of more specialized classes.”

She flopped down at her desk, but unlike when she was more relaxed, she didn’t stick her boots on it. This time, she was all purpose.

“There are a few things you might be interested in,” she said as she continued. “The talisman you brought back was confirmed to be of Sarathian make. It was one of the things that helped to identify him. 

“The weapons he had were less identifiable, but the fact that they lacked a clear origin and had no maker’s mark was suggestive on its own. Someone went out of their way to hide where he was from, and there aren’t many who would have a reason to do that.

“That, combined with the tattoos you described and some other information the guild gathered, matches up with a school of Sarathian assassins that we’re aware of. 

“Since the word went out, we’ve identified six more probable agents similar to that one. Two were in Cerith, two in Stormhill, and one each in Noren and Oakfar.”

She pulled a map out of her desk and laid it out on the table, tapping her finger on each of the cities as she spoke. They were other city states in Celadon.

Cerith was to the southeast, Stormhill was to the far north on the edge of the Ocean of Storms, and Noren was to the east near the Sarathian border.

Oakfar was the most surprising, since it was even farther from Sarathia than Highmist, off to the northwest on the other side of the Sirenflow River.

“The pattern is similar to what you saw,” Sandren explained, “with how they seem to attach themselves to an adventuring team and then end up coming back to the guild alone to look for someone else. That type of thing occurs, but it can be hard to tell what happened without more details. Sometimes, there are just sole survivors, whether they’re lucky or cowards. 

“We found them by cross-referencing that pattern across all the guild halls in Celadon, something we wouldn’t have done without your information. Two other ones had bounties on their heads already, like your assassin, which helped. Our spies managed to track them down.

“I also have the report from the team that you met, which returned to Cerith. Their evidence matched yours. The poison drake core they turned in helped to show what’s happening with the dungeons, and since they were the target of one of those agents, it gave us more witnesses.”

“We’ve arrested two of those agents who were still hanging around guild halls. One committed suicide rather than allowing herself to be captured, but we learned from that and got the other one. 

“Four of them are still at large, but we’re on the lookout now. We’ll get them soon enough. We’re not sure which dungeons they were targeting yet, but we’re going to start sending in more teams to scout everything in the area and to clear them if necessary, to make sure that the overflow they planned doesn’t happen. 

“We need to stop that before it wreaks havoc on Celadon’s people and trade routes. Hopefully we can catch it in time. Now that we know it’s coming, we have a pretty good chance. We’ll be keeping a close eye on monster populations and any reports.”

She paused as she pointed at Kelin’s badge. 

“I’ll credit your badge a bit more for that core and for helping with all of this, but you are also welcome to join in the scouting teams for dungeons, or to go on your own. There will be a number of bonus missions for a while until we check every dungeon in the area.

“I’d be happy to help,” Kelin agreed, “especially if some of those dungeons match up with the other list you gave me.”

“Plenty of them do,” Sandren said with a grin. “Those are the ones that are a bit harder to find groups for, so your help will be appreciated. The bonuses will also be better. We’re guessing there’s somewhere between six and twenty dungeons they might have tampered with, but there are nearly two hundred in Celadon alone to check, not to mention the ones on the borders.”

She looked back down at the map and dragged her finger east to Sarathia, where she tapped on the empire’s capital city.

“Sarathia has broken the guild’s regulations by interfering with the dungeons and endangering the public, so they will be sanctioned. Our higher ups are discussing exactly what that will look like, but we’ll hit them where it hurts and possibly cut off some of their own supply lines. 

“We’ll also remove our support for their cities, including our help with maintaining the peace and monster populations, which will make Sarathia a more dangerous place to live for everyone, but we’ll keep our support for the individual people in place as much as we can, as well as independent adventurers. That’s what the guild does.

“It’s thanks to you that we knew about all of this, so I’ve got authorization to increase your reward for that information, along with your share of the poison drake core, since the other team insisted on splitting it with you,” she said. 

Then she held out her hand. 

“Let me see your badge again?”

Kelin passed over his badge and a moment later, 500 guild credits were added to it. That was worth 25 gold, which was a very decent bonus.

“I rounded it up,” Sandren said as she handed it back to him. “Keep up the good work. Jesra will stay up to date on which dungeons we need to check next, so just ask her if you’re planning on choosing one of them. It will be good for more guild credits and rank merit.”

“I’ll do that,” Kelin agreed as he tucked his badge back into his shirt. “I’m going to spend a day or so in the crafting and training rooms, and then I’ll head out again. Will you still be able to keep an eye on the kids for me?”

“It won’t be a problem,” Sandren agreed. “Even if I’m not around, someone will watch over them. They’re guests, after all, and they seem like good kids. It’s always nice to have promising young adventurers around in the classes.”

“Thanks then,” Kelin said as he stood up and shook her hand. “I’ll see you the next time something interesting pops up.”

“I’m sure,” Sandren laughed. “Maybe I’ll even get to go out to one of those dungeons myself, but I’m a bit over-leveled for the area, so things would have to be pretty desperate. Take care now.”

Kelin waved at her and then left her office, closing the door behind him.

He checked in briefly with Jesra about dungeons and then he headed to one of the crafting rooms, where he got to work on the materials he had left.

He had a few dozen drake scales, as well as a couple dozen of the stone bear’s fangs and claws, but the scales were higher quality material, so he started with the bear’s. 

Fangs and claws were offensive weapons by nature, so he chose a type of talisman to match.

He took out one of the fangs first and began to refine it, slowly improving its mana structure, and then he began to engrave a runic pattern into it, covering its surface in lines of mana.

About half an hour later, he was done.

The fang glowed with subtle red runes across its surface, making it like it was lit from within by flames.

Fire Blade Talisman. Common (Average).

[This talisman is designed to release a blade of concentrated Fire mana at a designated target. The size of the arc can be adjusted by the user from wide to narrow, with a maximum width of six feet and a minimum width of six inches. The blade contains ten mana. It is a single-use talisman. Once used, it will disintegrate.]

It was still a basic design for a talisman, but it offered some variety with the Soulfire Bolt ones he’d made.

Pure fire had its place.

He continued to work on the rest of the bear fangs and claws, turning each of them into a Fire Blade talisman. 

It took about half the day, but eventually, he was done and he had a stack of 24. He stored some of them in his storage space and the rest in his spatial belt.

After that, he moved on to the drake scales and began to work again.

Since scales were defensive by nature, he chose another defensive pattern that wasn’t too different from Runic Shield Talismans. 

When he completed the first one, a web of bright golden mana was engraved into the green scale, making it glow like a protective charm. 

He analyzed it to check how it had turned out.

Runic Scale Talisman. Common (Average).

This talisman is designed to create a layered mana shield around the user, which will absorb damage equivalent to fifteen points mana before it expires. Duration: 5 minutes.

He was satisfied with the result. 

The main difference was that the grade of the talisman was slightly higher than before, thanks to the drake scale. It wasn’t enough to get it to the Uncommon tier, but it was on the higher end of Common, and that meant it could hold more mana.

A fifty percent increase over the Runic Shield Talismans was worthwhile, and the layered effect of the talisman’s shield meant that it would get successively better if he stacked multiple talismans on top of one another, just like the layers of a dragon’s scales.

The Runic Shield Talismans could stack, but not as well. Those shields would overlap instead of layering. The density of the shield would increase with multiple talismans, but it would still just be one shield instead of layers.

A layered shield could lose the outer layers and stay intact, which meant that it was better at deflection, while a single shield would shatter under a powerful enough blow, even if it was only hit at an angle.

Structurally, layers were better.

After confirming the concept, he started to work on the remaining talismans, which stressed his mana control and his attention for the rest of the day.

It was deep into the night by the time he finished, but he made it through all of the scales. 

As he stumbled off to his bed to sleep, there were 38 Runic Scale Talismans in his storage.

A notification was also ringing in his mind.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

Your Subclass Ability: Affinity Focus has gained a tier and reached Advanced.

You will now be able to imbue stronger affinities into the items that you craft.

[Affinity Focus allows you to harness sources of natural mana and to imbue them into the items you craft, as well as to enhance your creations with specific affinities or bonuses. At the Advanced tier, you are able to add a 10% bonus to items, such as 10% Improved Mana Regeneration or Fire Efficiency, as long as you have the matching Affinity.]

All of the talismans were based on his Fire and Soul affinities, even the shielding ones, so imbuing those into the talismans was enough that his Affinity Focus finally went up.

It was a 5% improvement over Basic, doubling what he could do.

There was also another notification, one that was more common but no less welcome.

Due to the stressing your mana control while crafting, you have gained 2 Intelligence.

It was up to 456 now, while his Aura was at an even 200.

The improvement to Affinity Focus also meant that he could do an even better job on his next set of clothes.

With that thought on his mind, the exhaustion of that much focused crafting in a row caught up with him and he collapsed into his bed. 

Like always, he dreamed of Irian, but tonight he saw the ancient markets of his old city. In the era when he was born, it had been filled with magical items from one end of the walls to another. 

Runes had drifted in the air, resonating from the weapons and artifacts lying on top of the merchants’ counters, a thousand variations of the elements flowing together...so many of them that the city sang with power.

***

The night passed and when Kelin woke in the morning, he stretched and then started his daily mana cycling and soul training.

Like he’d told Yao and Naomi, it was the basis of everything, and a focus on it led to steady progress.

When he was done, he left a note for the kids and then packed up his gear and headed down to the front desk to check with Jesra.

He had 500 guild credits, so he transferred them all to his account, leaving them for the kids to draw on for their expenses or his own use later. He also added the 15 gold he had left on him, which the guild would hold like a bank.

He only kept about 74 silvers for random expenses.

He didn’t expect anything to go wrong, but if something happened to him, with that account and what he’d already put down for them, the kids would be able to stay here for about seven and a half months. 

Hopefully that would be enough for them to get their classes.

“Be careful as you head out of the city,” Jesra reminded him. “The Wind Hunters are still looking for you. The captain’s warning was sharp, but they’re too much of a gang to just accept it. They’ve been asking about you.

“The guild is keeping all of your information close, so they haven’t gotten anything from us about you or the kids, but they might still be able to track you down and cause trouble if they catch you alone. There’s more than one rogue Seer in the city who could lock onto your location. Try to get a scry-blocking ward if you have the chance.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for them,” Kelin said, nodding at her in thanks.

He was aware of the danger that they posed and as soon as he had the strength, he was going to eliminate the problem permanently. For now, as long as they didn’t come after him with someone over Level 80 or 90, he should be able to manage.

Possibly higher than that, depending on the strength of their souls and how many of them there were, but he would rather not fight for his life if he didn’t have to.

Unfortunately, artifacts that blocked scrying were expensive, even more than spatial bags, and at the moment, he was out of gold. He’d have to get one when the opportunity presented itself.

Crafting one was an option, but not until he was a much higher level. An item crafted by a Level 52 artisan wasn’t going to block a Level 100 or 150 Seer’s sight.

His Soul Shroud could do it, but not until it tiered up some more. Even the current version at the Basic tier had stressed his soul. A higher tier was beyond his abilities for now.

He checked the list of dungeons that Jesra had, picked one that he was interested in, and headed back out of the city.

It was time to make some more progress.

On the way, he kept up a subtle distortion of soul energy in his mana shield that deflected attention away from him. It wouldn’t block everything, but it would go a long way to prevent idle trouble.

Once he was through the city gate, he checked the quest that was recorded in his badge.

River Barrow Chaos Remnant.

Average Level: 55 (50-65).

Elemental Affinities: Water and Earth.

Mana Density: High.

Relative Danger: High.

Rewards: Variable (High). 

A note from the guild was included with this dungeon, something that Jesra had given to him as a gift from the information section, which now saw him with more favor.

[Created from the flow of Water mana from the Sirenflow River and the Earth mana of the plains, the River Barrow Remnant is a gathering place for the undead. It hosts a full complement of skeletal warriors, skeletal mages, barrow wights, and more. 

Given the fear that undead create, as well as the poisonous miasma around them that can paralyze the living, few dare to run this dungeon. It is considered to be one of the most dangerous for its level in the area.

On the most recent clear six months ago, the dungeon boss was recorded as a Death Knight, but it has changed many times. Other registered dungeon bosses have been a Skeletal Lord, a Wailing Banshee, and a Spectral Alchemist.

Should you enter this remnant, tread with caution.]

Kelin whistled a cheerful tune to himself as he headed to the northwest of Highmist, toward the banks of the Sirenflow River in the distance.  

After the traffic from the gates cleared up, he began to jog.

The dungeon was about thirty miles away, so it would take him a few hours to arrive.