New World Day 13

I put the three black birds on the metal grate to cook as I sorted out my newfound knowledge of barrier runes. I intended to cook all of the birds and store the remaining six in the refrigerator’s freezer for tomorrow’s dinner. The freezer wasn’t working without power of course, but it remained cooler than any other place in the basement. Cool enough to keep the birds from spoiling for a day’s time without a hitch. Once the birds were situated, I began to lay out the plans for how to use my new skill.

I felt that the barrier runes and their usage had some similarities to computer circuits. There was a central rune that represented the creation of a barrier. Then there were surrounding runes that connected to the central rune to determine the size, intensity, duration, repulsion direction, and activation method for the barrier. There was an additional seventh rune that was used for linking together multiple central runes together to create larger or odd shaped barriers. The barrier could be powered either by my own mana or by putting mana stones in the activation rune.

The runes were the answer to a number of issues that I had run into so far. I could carve the runes into the walls, ceiling and ground of the basement to create a comprehensive barrier to protect my entire hideout. Beyond that, I could create a set of mobile barrier tools to use when I needed to camp outside. That would be essential on my way to Cincinnati to meet up with my family. The knowledge that the System. provided to me gave me a warning that this type of barrier didn’t hide its mana signature which meant that there was the chance that any activation of the barrier could attract some creature or beast that fed on mana or hunted by tracking mana. That fact meant that I couldn’t just have the barrier activated 24/7. I didn’t have enough mana stones to have it running all of the time anyways so that wasn’t much of a problem. What made me ecstatic was that there was the implication that there were barriers that could hide their mana signature, and the fact that the System made mention of a higher rank barrier that could absorb the mana from the surrounding area to power itself.

Those two upgrades were at the top of my mental purchase list as soon as I learned of their potential existence, but a cursory search of the System didn’t turn up any skills that might allow me to acquire them at the moment. I would just need to keep them in mind while I experimented with the knowledge that I had already acquired. I was interested to see what would happen if I made changes to the seven runes that I learned from the System, but those experiments would have to wait until I could find a way to make sure that I was safe in case the altered runes failed in a spectacular fashion. I chose to concentrate on using the basic knowledge that the skill granted me in order to give myself a measure of true protection.

My nose twitched thanks to a strong burning smell. The smell roused from my state of introspection. The three birds were charred black while I wasn’t paying attention. I cut off all of the burnt parts for disposal after I removed the birds from the grate and then put the remaining edible parts on a plate in the freezer. I learnt my lesson after that failure and kept my full attention on the last three birds as I cooked them. The hawk didn’t return to investigate my cooking during the process of cooking these last six birds to my great relief. I doused the fire just enough that it wasn’t a roaring fire any longer and turned my full attention to the barrier runes once the cooked birds were all secure in the freezer.

The barrier runes needed to be carved exactly in order to work properly. The depth of the carving would determine how much mana could run through the runes at one time, and the intent and image I had in my mind as I carved them could help the runes reach a greater strength and efficiency. As such, practice was important. I couldn’t just up and carve a perfect barrier right away just because I had all of the theoretical knowledge. Knowing how to do something like say blacksmithing and actually being able to forge a sword were two very different things. I needed to practice until I could carve the runes without a single mistake before I started work on erecting the barrier for my hideout.

I had the perfect practice material too thanks to my dad’s woodworking. Aside from the cedar planks and scraps that I had used for the fire, there were a lot of pressure treated wood scraps that weren’t suitable to be used for a cooking fire. They remained useful as practice material for my rune carving skills though. The experience of carving the runes on small items such as the wood scraps would serve me well when I created portable barriers in the future. I collected all of the scraps from the workshop and brought them into the back of the garage along with a nice sharp knife and a whetstone. I took the whetstone and worked on my faithful axe before I started practicing my rune carving. I had abused it over the last two weeks, and it needed to be sharpened. The blade had grown dull and there were nicks though no cracks along the blade. I did the best I could with it, but I knew that I would have to find another axe pretty soon at this rate. It was something I would have to keep an eye out for when I went to look for clothing in my neighbor’s houses.

I retrieved the two lanterns from outside and turned my full attention to carving runes into the scraps after I finished sharpening my axe. I carved all night under the light of the smouldering embers of my cook fire, all the next morning, and all afternoon without a single bit of rest. It wasn’t until the sun was setting that I tore myself away from my practice. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by scraps of wood carved with misshapen runes of varying depths. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy before I started, but it proved to be even harder than I expected. It was going to take much more than a single night and day of practice before I was ready to start creating an actual barrier.

Now that my attention was not laser-focused on carving runes, I felt my body protesting in a variety of painful ways. I was hungry, thirsty, and desperately needed to use the restroom. Once I satisfied all of my bodily needs, I was prepared to continue my practice, but when I picked up the knife and started carving again, I began to make all kinds of careless mistakes. I decided that I needed to rest before I continued training of any kind after the third time I cut myself by accident. I piled up all of the scraps to one side in a messy pile and then brought both of the lanterns into the bedroom to rest. I turned on one of them just long enough to get situated before I switched it off and fell sound asleep. It had been a busy but fulfilling day and that sense of fulfillment chased the nightmares away for one night at least.

Endurance increased by 1!

Extremely Stubborn Fool leveled up!

Basic Barrier Runes (Active) (B) * leveled up!

Basic Barrier Runes (Active) (B) * leveled up!

Basic Barrier Runes (Active) (B) * leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 8 48%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 8 20%

Fool (B) LVL 8 96%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 9 31%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 9 49%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 6 68%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 7 15%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 3 71%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 4 81%

Extremely Stubborn Fool ( C ) LVL 3 67%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

*

*

**

*

*

*

*

*

*

**

*****

5

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Spirit

Bonus Points:

135/135

46/46

12 per min (-2.75)

15

10

11

8

28

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist,

Poison Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 8 66%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 5 11%

Minor Regen (Passive) ( C ) LVL 8 41%

Minor Spirit Regen (Passive) ( C ) LVL 2 40%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 78%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 83%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 8 96%

Minor Mana Control ( C ) LVL 5 56%

Greater Mana Vein (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Pain Control (B) LVL 3 77%

Basic Close Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 3 44%

Basic Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 3 59%

Basic Barrier Runes (Active) (B) LVL 4 19%

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*****

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*

*

*