The breeze coming from the window blows away the dust gathered in it, causing Morgus to sneeze and break the silence that possessed the store when Skelones introduced himself, leaving us without knowing how to react, except for Mazurka who apparently already had seen him before "I still think Skullcrab suits you more, these tiny hands you have at the front reminds me of crabs."

"Its what I could do, this body required little adaptation and we didn't have enough pieces to rebuild him, it’s not as simple as it looks…" Varia says.

"It's a body, right? Better than having none. I think I used to be a toaster in my past life." Skelones says. A toaster huh? I had no idea they had those here.

"Oh my. Anyway... Kali, you should make an arm for yourself, to increase productivity. I will leave some books about Rune powered limbs and you can count on me to help with the parts you can't make." Varia says.

Can I really make myself an arm? I mean, there is so much that can be done with rune enchanting but how far can it go? Anyway, we need to get this store running in a few hours, so I better start helping…

It’s all done. Dust is gone, stands are set and the Items are somewhat organized. Today, Morgus is going to tend the clients, and Mazurka is going to do something with Varia. The craftsman has arrived too, he is a teenage boy who is learning from Varia as an apprentice. Skelones is also going to help us here so we should be able to run this store easily.

“Well, we are ready to open. I am going to the warehouse and organize my workplace, can you handle everything here?” I say to Morgus. The tall man simply nodded. Perhaps it's his way of being mysterious... or perhaps he just likes to nod, who knows? I think this air of mystery surrounding him may be useful to attract customers, we should get him some mysterious-looking clothes to match the vibe.

The inside of the warehouse is a complete mess, I have to hold my nose with my hand to avoid sneezing until I get used to the dust here. Piles and Piles of crates all over the place... The sunlight coming from the window high on the wall only makes it clearer the place needs some cleaning, with all the dust particles reflecting the light.

“Can you guys help me clean this up?” I say to Skelones and Gleen so we can start cleaning the place as soon as possible.

After sweeping the floor, moving boxes to the garbage outside, and sneezing a lot, we finish our task. Now, Its time for the real work to start.

“Hey, how does it work, enchanting something with the Rune of Light?” I ask.

“Well, nothing is created from nothing, so you need light to use an artifact of light. Luckily, this city is full of it, even at night.” Skelones says.

“What about Creation Rune?” I say.

“It just changes matter through the use of mana, it's like creating a dish instantly, but you are going to need ingredients,” Skelones says.

“So Runes works like the alphabet of mana. A person can use a rune to command mana to do something and that can be almost anything giving the correct amount of mana used, right? How much it can change? Can it turn mercury into gold?” I say.

“hmm, there are limitations. Creating fire is easy, mana will just change some gas in the air to be very combustible and ignite it. With water, the Creation Rune will need a Liquid Rune along with water rune, which literally means ‘Create Liquid Water’ and works by taking the humidity of the air and condensing it to a liquid, but if you want ice, you will need a Solid Rune instead. You could say the translation we have of the rune is not accurate to the true meaning of it as it does not create anything.” Skelones says.

“But what is the purpose of a Solid or Liquid Rune if it needs creation to be useful?” I ask

“Liquid Water and Solid Water are different things, you need to be specific with the Runes you use. Solid, Liquid, Gas, etc... they are basically a modifier to another Rune, didn’t you said you learned about Bolt, Explosion and Aura? You can’t use these alone.” Skelones says.

It does make sense. Runes have their own kind of grammar, apparently and as far as I know, they fall into two categories, I will just call them Core Runes and Modifiers Runes for now.

If I got Abilities to show up on their own menu, can I also do that with Runes categories? I think I can…

Runes Current willpower: 87 Mana: 0/0 Core Runes Attuned: 1/1 Modifier Runes: 3 Core Runes Electricity 85% Space 23% Light Level 1 Time 5% Wave 45% Arcane Level 2 Modifier Runes Bolt 100% Explosion 100% Aura 100% Gather 35%

Yes, much better now. Oh, I should ask Skelones about this attunement thing.

“What about attunement? What does being able to attune to only one rune changes for me if I can even copy runes I don’t have full affinity?” I ask.

“Usually, mages have to attune to cast spells with a Rune. What changes for you is the same thing that changes for mages. If you want to cast a spell, you need to attune first. Try using the mana from the myhrite ring to cast a spell you are not attuned to and see how that goes. But yeah, enchanting does not require attunement.” Skelones says.

So I should attune to what would provide me a better utility when casting spells. Thing is, I am horrible at casting spells, last time I got almost no result, even with the mana from the rings. This conversation with Skelones is being really fruitful and all that, but I need to start working, so I rummage through the supplies provided by Varia and decide to grab a metallic sphere that fits nicely in my hand. “Perfect.” I say. Gleen seems afraid to take part in our conversation and is just watching us in the corner of the room, could it be he is just shy? I hope we can get along.

“Hm… Gleen, what exactly do you do? Can you cast spells?” I ask the boy.

“I uh… I am good at crafting stuff, I have these gloves that can melt and shape silver, copper, and a few other metals.” The boy says, a little nervous but showing a little more confidence than before, at least.

“Hey, doesn’t these sound like upgraded versions of the gloves you have, Skelones?” I say.

Skelones laugh a little and respond to my comment “Yes, Varia made them for me quite some time ago.”

Alright, back to the sphere. “I need something to inscribe this.” I say. Gleen goes to the box of supplies and grabs a tool that reminds me of a pen.

“Its cuts with water.” Gleen says.

I take a look at the tool, the lack of buttons means it probably work using enchantments. I hold it and activate the thing with my thoughts, causing a tiny blade made of water to appear at the tip. The water seems to be circulating, going in and out of the device flawlessly. Oh, I could have scanned it, how did I forget that?

Name: High-pressure water cutter Description: A complex runic structure allows this Artifact to use water with high pressure with some kind of abrasive to cut through hard surfaces.

“Hey… This might be the most complex Artifact I ever saw. Varia did this? And wants me to invent stuff?” I say.

“This is an ancient Artifact. Varia found a crate full of them and became rich.” Skelones says. Well, that explains it then.

I get the sphere and place it in a device I hadn't seen before, but Gleen told me it is used for holding things tightly in place to work with them. I then grab the water pen and activate the blade, slowly bringing in contact with the sphere, which quickly is cut by it. I draw the Light rune on it, using the symbol I see in my mind when thinking about Light. I won't be using any modifiers, as I want to see how the pure light rune will behave. Finishing the process, I scan the result.

Name: Light Orb (Silver) Description: Inscribed with the Rune of Light, this silver orb can control Light around it. Charges: 0/10

I charge the Artifact with my ring for a minute until its full.

“Alright, I want some light source to test it… Gleen, could you open this window just a little bit more?” I say to him, pointing to the wooden window that was closed high in the wall. The boy grabs a stair and climbs up, opening the thing a little, causing a slim beam of light to come from it.

I hold the orb and think of the light from the window making a curve to the left. The orb vibrates a little as I pay attention to the illuminated area from the beam of light, slowly shifting to the left.

“I knew it. I am now a Lightbender!” I proclaim. Skelones and Gleen both look at each other, confused by my statement. “It used up three charges for that… There is clearly something I am missing to make it optimal.” I say.

“You know how many charges it has? Cool.” Gleen says.

“Yeah, Its huh… One of my magical powers, you see.” I say.

“I think Crystals or gems would be a better material. Also, Keep in mind the more specific the Runes are, the less energy it will require.” Skelones says.

“I see, Let's try to reflect the light instead of bending it.” I say, holding the orb and imagining the light as if it was reflected by a mirror directed to the right. The light took a sharp turn to the right, Using one charge initially and another one for each second when active. I put the Orb at the table and grab an unenchanted silver orb. This time I will use my Temporary Mark with the Bolt modifier to see what happens.

I hold the Orb, and use my imagination to visualize the Light Bolt Rune on it, activating the Ability.

Name: Laser Orb (Silver) (Temporary) Description: This Artifact Is capable of using Light from the environment, redirecting it into a burst of concentrated Light, capable of heating the target a little. Charges: 10/10

“Gleen, go grab some empty crate and position it there, please.” I say to the boy, he quickly finishes the task I gave him and gets behind me, afraid of what may happen. I hold the Orb, careful to not have my hand in front of it and activate the Artifact, focusing on hitting the crate with my mind. Light faded from the room for a millisecond then a quick beam of light came out of the orb, so strong that it was visible on air, different from those laser beams kids used to play with back on… before the whole end of the world thing. The crate was immediately caught on fire from the heat, damage was done. I don’t think it would do much damage to a person but maybe to something flammable it could be destructive.

“AHHH EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BURN! HELP! FIIIREEE!” Gleen screams maniacally. Morgus burst into the warehouse with his eye wide open as he looks back and forth at the burning crate and to me, he actually got worried by that?. Quickly he uses his dark magic to evolve the flames on the crate, erasing them from existence and making everything back to normal.

“Gleen, what the hell was that? It's not like the fire would spread. Calm down, man.” I say. Skelones starts laughing loudly at the situation and Morgus quietly gets back at the store as if nothing had ever happened. The boy is so embarrassed by the situation that he can’t keep himself from looking down to the floor, afraid of eye contact and I can see he is shaking a little bit too.

“It’s fine, really, you were just worried about everyone’s safety, right? Anyway, we got some results and I will need to do more research…” I say and go back to more testing, inscribing, and burning crates, making Gleen sweat cold every time I tested some Artifact.

Experimenting brought varied results with lots of possible uses of enchantments. Adding the explosion modifier made basically a flashbang grenade which actually made Gleen cry, yelling he was blind and I DID warn him not to look directly at it. Light Aura was a really useful one too, it made the Artifact shine light while active, If I can tune it correctly with an equivalent mana gathering rune it would run forever, an infinite lamp! The only issue is it requires the will of a person to activate it, So it would work more like a lantern… Actually, It would work exactly like the Light-crystal I had! Oh, I also mixed Arcane with Light and Bolt and got Arcane beam, which had the same overall damage of an Arcane bolt but focused on a small point. I don’t know the exact reason it worked but I think the photons which are the particles of light are able to carry the Arcane energy with them, delivering it along with heat. Does that mean Arcane is a form of energy, like thermal, kinetic, or electromagnetism? Maybe whatever happened that changed the world back then caused Mana or Arcane to become something natural to the universe, changing the laws of physics and the way things work.

“So, I had this idea of a self-sustaining lantern… with enough gathering capacity, it would provide light forever.” I say to Skelones, explaining to him my theory.

“It's a great idea, but there is only so much of the same enchantment that you can put on an object. Your ring, for example. You made each capable of holding 50 charges, right? I don’t think you will be able to make something with more than 50 charges, at least not as you are right now. Things will get more unstable the more power they have, especially if you just use the same rune over and over. And even if someone had different Artifacts made to gather mana, there is also a limit of how many of them you can activate at the same time. Most people can only concentrate on one, and using many will take a toll of your mind, remind that.” Skelones says.

“I never thought of that… I am constantly using the ring and I am fine while activating one other Artifact… I wonder what my actual limit is?” I say.

“I D-don’t think you should try to find out.” Gleen says.

“Yeah… It's been enough for today, anyway. We should rest, I will see how Morgus is doing.” I say, leaving for the store.

A client was talking to Morgus and by the look of their eyes, they seem to be quite enchanted by the whole mystery magical shop theme that Varia aimed to get.

“And a love potion, would it be possible?” Asked the young Vurti with big Green eyes, clearly in some unrequited love.

“Perhaps.” Morgus says. It is almost like he knows exactly what to say in order to remain mysterious... I never expected him to act his job that well. I wonder what Mazurka has been up to?

“Ohh, A true mage walked mysteriously here! Was that teleportation?” The Vurti asks me.

“The secrets of the Arcane can not be revealed by the naked eye, only the Glasses Of Arcane Sight can show the hidden magic of the world!” I say, pointing to the Artifact we have on sale. I think the Mask and hood might have played a part with convincing, the Vurti seems eager to spend his money now.

After the client walks away from the store with a lighter purse and wearing the Magical Glasses, I go talk with my mysterious co-worker.

“So, you have that Artifact that showed time with you?” I ask.

“Yes. It's two hours until Midnight.” He says.

“How was your first day of work by the way? Mine was exciting.” I say.

“It was… Odd. I am fine doing it for now but I am going to miss traveling soon." He says.

"I understand. It's a nice change of pace for me, working here. Fighting and running constantly was turning me into someone cold, you know? I took their lives as if it was nothing…" I say.

"Your mana color is still blue, though it got to purple back at the prison. You should be fine." Morgus says.

"Mana color… I heard about that. How does it work?" I say.

"The mana you use to cast spells or to use Artifacts is touched by you. Your actions leave marks on you, and when you interact with mana, it changes accordingly. Blue is mana in its natural state. Purple is found naturally too, but it is mostly caused by people with both some good and some evil in them. Your desire to kill the guards and to save the prisoners caused mana around you to turn purple, but not anyone would see that. Finally, red mana is either the pure intent to kill or something found around people who did a lot of killing recently, even without bad intentions. The other colors are more complex." Morgus says.

"Thanks. I don't think I ever saw you talk that much, you should do it more often!" I say.

"I got bored working." He says.

Morgus tend to some more clients with my help until we finish our shift. Skelones says he is going to stay in the store and guard it in case someone breaks in, and he assured me he can deal with trouble, he has defensive mechanisms for that. Gleen goes to his place while I and Morgus get back to the tavern, walking through the green-lighted streets, full of droids, Vurti, and some humans as well. There isn't much noise, though, and I think the wood from the houses help with isolating the sounds, so all I hear are footsteps, people chatting and some instrumental music coming from the tavern.

As I enter the tavern I notice the place is quite full, contrasting with how it was before. A bearded guy is playing the lute, a long-haired woman playing flute and a vurti playing some weird instrument I never saw, but it seems mechanical and percussive. Tons of people are dancing, sitting on the chairs chatting with each other and drinking quite a lot and everyone seems happy, they may be commemorating something. There are intricate green drawings on the walls that show what I assume to be the funding of the city, as they show Vurtis making the houses, droids coming soon after bringing the artificial plants, and finally two groups of humans building walls and bringing commerce to the city.

"Kali! You are finally here, let's party!" Mazurka says. Apparently, she was responsible for organizing the party for Varia, it clearly worked out well.

It's good to celebrate, we have to enjoy those happy moments and cherish them so they never go away. I have been through a lot and I don't know if things will work this time, but tonight… tonight I will party.