Chapter 7: Wise Wisdom II

“Oh I almost forgot this…” Dan reached under the table and brought a long old chest. “Here this is for you, I’ve no use for it anymore.” Dan said and offered.

I slowly opened the dusty old chest, and what revealed to me is a weird looking sword with its long sickle shaped blade and short handle, the blades color is pure red while its guard is colored in black, on the center of the guard is a familiar design just like the one used by the elite golden guards, it has an empty slot and the handle wrapped with brown leather.

I then started to analyze the information of the said item to know more about it.

Khopesh Of Crit

Slotted Weapon

Standard Grade (I)

Aspect: 35% Crit Chance

“Khopesh Of Crit…” I said while inspecting the weapon and its information.

“You read it right, get weirded by it all you want but that sword is a very special one.” Dan said with a grin. “That sword was said to have come from the lands where sand never ends, and as you read earlier it has the words Slotted, Standard and Aspect which you will understand later as I tell you all about the finale.” Dan said.

“Thank you so much, Dan.” I said with a smile.

“No problem, and don’t worry I’ve really no use for it considering that I’m not a wielding type anyway.” Dan said with a thumbs up. “Okay, now listen very closely Svend, what I’m about to tell you is very important and the main focal point of what you will train for, but before that I must tell you what the Runes Of Power truly are and what its history, you see Ru’Nesia itself is made of magic, the air we breathe, the animals that roam, the creatures or beings that exist and the people that live, we are all made of magic, it surrounds us and our daily lives revolves around it, it’s the very reason for our existence and without it this world will plunge into nothingness. The Runes Of Power is the great gift of this world that is scattered throughout the whole continent, this power takes form as a gem stone with a rune symbol, but it is distinguishable because of its many colors that defends on its power or purpose, do you remember how I summoned different elements from Magic Circles?” Dan explained and asked.

“Yes, you were summoning it up the air, on your hands and even on the ground.” I replied.

“They are called Runic Powers or in short Spells, those powers that you saw came from inside me, by using the magic that surrounds us it activates the magic from within, and that’s why I’m able to release such elements on the surface world, Spells can be summoned with or without Magic Circles, but if you do summon it with one it can be much more potent than without, not only that as you saw me do it, Magic Circles can appear on its users hand, above and below.” Dan said.

“Amazing, but when you said that it came from inside you, what do you exactly mean?” I asked.

“You see there is one way to use a Rune Of Power, and that is by absorbing the Rune itself with our bodies, which is connected about on the two skills that I’m about to tell you right now. The Art Of Imbuing, and the Art Of Unleashing, both are useful and an advantage for a player to be able to survive in this world, first about its origins, Imbuing magic was invented by the Barbarians, they combine a rune from within them and transfer its power to their weapons or tools and be able to pierce open holes inside a mountain, by making manmade caves as their homes, now if you think of it, its near impossible for a regular weapon to somehow penetrate or even scratch a very thick and hard surface of a mountain, but with the help of a Rune Of Power it is possible, Imbuing basically is combining your runic power from within and transferring it inside a weapon or item making the runes power take effect with the item, with this technique you can summon runic powers but not in the form of Spells but instead in a form of a Slash, and what I mean by that is when a player holding an imbued weapon strikes the air in front, the imbued weapon emits a visible slash of magical energy that goes forward, a Slash won’t stop from traveling until it hits a surface. Also it deals Magical Piercing Damage which is great against heavy armored individuals, and this specific technique is the only counter against them, because it’s piercing damage can penetrate and damage even the thickest and heaviest of metal, do you remember how the elite golden guards looked like?” Dan explained and asked.

“Yes, they wore large heavy pieces of armor.” I replied.

“Spells from Magic Circles wont much affect them, it’s because some heavy armors are made to be extremely resistant against Elements, and the worst case of it some can even imbue their own armor to become even more durable, but with an imbued weapon you can dismember heavy armor bit by bit until its wearer is vulnerable enough to take down.” Dan explained.

“But what of the case of Lennard, how did you even managed to damage him without using a slash and just spells.” I asked shortly.

“It’s because he wears regular armor without a helmet which makes his body or head easy and exposed from any attacks, that’s why he got burned and from any impact he suffers, even my ice spell easily froze him because of his thin metal armor, the trainees were easy to handle but an armored enemy can be also beaten by logic even if I didn’t use Imbuing, and considering that his armor is not the heavy type I’m assuming that he doesn’t want to sacrifice his speed for defense that’s why he probably wore a lighter armor, but one thing is certain and that is heavy armor may resist spells, but the wearers movements are slowed down and limited, though it may sound convenient and useful there are still three limitations in using this technique, the first one is only elemental powers like water, wind, fire and ice can be imbued into a slotted item, now the second one will clear and explain why you haven’t seen me use this technique on the previous battle, and that’s because the sword you gave me isn’t slotted, in Imbuing you can only combine a Rune Of Power in slotted items such as amulets, armors and weapons but if your item isn’t the slotted type then it’s not combinable with a rune, it’s like forcing to imbue a wooden stick when you know it’s pointless, but of course whether a weapon is slotted or not I’d rather not have empty hands, so I commend you for throwing me that one, and the third one is unlike with Spells, in this technique you can’t magically defend yourself unless you block with the weapon or dodge an attack yourself, in short Imbuing is only reliant on offense which makes it a one sided technique.” Dan explained in full detail.

Once again I held the sword to look at it closer, analyze its detail, power and structure.

Khopesh Of Crit

Slotted Weapon

Standard Grade (I)

Aspect: 35% Crit Chance

“So this is what you call a slotted weapon…” I said in awe.

“Yes, and as you can see it has the word Grade, it’s because there are two types of slotted Items, first one is the Graded and the second is Non Graded, in Graded Items there are three levels called Standard Grade (I), Elite Grade (II) and the Legend Grade (III), the higher the grade is, the stronger an item can be, also graded items has its own magical Aspect and that’s a small advantage bonus for any player, but whether its Graded or not even Slotted, all kinds of items can be upgraded once by going to a Blacksmith and requesting for an enhancement (+) of the said item, and by upgrading it can increase the Aspect power by ten percent (10%) if your item has one, now that’s all about how items work and its purpose in this world, with the Art Of Imbuing.” Dan said.

“Art Of Imbuing…” I said to myself. “But if it has that many limitations, then why learn it if I can just focus and train my close combat skills?” I asked.

“Anyone can hold a weapon, but not everyone can control Magic.” Dan said with the biggest smile he can show.

As I looked at him, I felt this joy and greatness emitting from him, as if he’s telling me Magic is the only path that I should embrace.

“Now on the second skill, the Art Of Unleashing, the origins of this technique can be traced back to the Elves, they’ve already mastered it even when Magic Circles wasn’t a thing back then, basically the Elves invented the concept of Unleashing or you could say releasing Spells, but the grand wizards of this world perfected it by developing what is now known as Magic Circles, now unlike in Imbuing this technique is a bit tricky and harder to execute, and that’s because you need to use the worldly magic that surrounds us just to activate and release a spell, I know for myself that it’s easier said than done but just so you know it is the imagination of the player itself that makes this concept a bit quicker to grasp, which means the stronger your imagination is, the easier it is to handle and Unleash, you don’t even need to have the sharpest of mind or the clearest of imagery, but as long as your heart and mind is one with your body, this technique execution will be easy.” Dan explained.

“So in Imbuing I can just control it without the help of magic by equipping a rune inside from my head, while in Unleashing the worldly magic is needed to activate it from within.” I said.

You have now been increased to Level: 3 (New)

“Exactly, and the thing is our body itself is like a Slotted Item already, once we absorb a Rune Of Power it will never comeback as a physical object, but instead it will stay inside of us until death, a rune for two skills, both Imbuing and Unleashing.” Dan revealed and explained.

“So once it’s inside, you can just transfer its runic power back and forth with Imbuing or Unleashing.” I said as I tried to imagine it.

“Yes, but what makes this technique great and better than the other one is that you can use all types of runes, whether it’s elemental, neutral, beneficial or not, it can be activated and released in the Art Of Unleashing, also it has great offensive and defensive capabilities which makes it a very versatile skill to possess, its only issue as you know is against heavy armor wearers and the limitations will defend and vary on the Player.” Dan said.

“Oh I see, so it will defend on the user’s energy, ability and capability whether how long it will last and handle.” I said.

“Yes, and for its combat there are two ways of how you can defeat another user, the first one is you can overwhelm them if your magic prowess is stronger or by making your magic circle bigger than theirs, and the second one you can counter other elements with your own set of elements just like fire can die out because of water but both of them can be frozen by ice.” Dan explained shortly.

“Just like when Lennard used water to counter your inferno.” I said.

“You can also use it to defend, like when he summoned an ice wall to block me from coming closer, or when I summoned strong wind to blow him away.” Dan said.

“Amazing, now I’m definitely interested in Magic, I want to master it!” I said in excitement.

“You know there is a secret part in unleashing…” He rubbed his chin. “Called the Wizardry Secret Art, now what it does is makes your magic circles even bigger, tripling the power or size of your spells which automatically makes your magic prowess stronger than before in a short time, however its limit is only one to five minutes defending on the users energy and stamina, meaning this is an enhancement technique for Unleashing.” Dan revealed.

“Um, you will teach me that also?” I asked.

“No because you haven’t proven yourself in training and especially to me yet, and I’m not sure if you’re capable enough for it.” Dan said frankly.

“Then we should get into it, I want to learn it also!” I said.

“Hahaha!” Dan laughed. “But before that let me show you this…” Dan said as he stood up.

He walked to the closet and came back holding something in his hands, and as he opened his palms, what revealed is a glowing red gem stone with a fire symbol at its middle.

“This is called the Rune Of Fire, you will need this if you have to master both of the skills, in short you’ll have to absorb this rune to be able to start learning them.” Dan said and offered.

He then gave it to me with no hesitation, I held it with my palms like my future will defend on it.

You received a Rune Of Fire from Dan (A Level: 100 Player)

“Can you give me any ideas about what will my training be?” I asked while analyzing the rune gem.

“You will train here for three months at my courtyard inside one of the rooms, it’s built for magical activities especially for training something of runic origin, the first month will be about Imbuing while the second is about Unleashing, lastly on the third month we’re focusing on your physical abilities, enhancing and polishing your natural skills, Wizardry Secret Art will be activated once a player mastered both the art of Imbuing and Unleashing, and at the start of activation its only at ten percent (10%) because you still have to max it until one hundred percent (100%) to be able to actually use it like any skill.” Dan explained.

“Okay got it!” I gave Dan a thumbs up, implying I’m ready on what’s to come. ”Let’s go mentor, we should not waste any more time!” I said in full excitement.

“Ha buffoon!” Dan laughed and gave a signal to follow him. “Now, let the training for greatness commence!” Dan said.

TO BE CONTINUED...