“How does this work?” Heath asked. “I’ve never heard of ‘latent runes’ before. And I’ve been in a lot of groups.”

  Thomas looked over, but Mel held up a hand. “I’ve got this, champ.”

  Rolling his eyes, Thomas went back to what he was doing.

  “So there’s, like, two different types of runes. Prime, which is the stuff you see prompts about, and latent, which you don’t.”

  “Why—”

  Mel raised a finger to halt him. “Hush.”

  Hearing his name, her familiar materialized in a sinuous line of smoke and ash rising from her forearm.

  Heath screamed and pointed at the ruby eyed creature flicking its tongue enquiringly at Mel.

  Mel reached out and stroked his smooth scales. “Oh, not you sweetie. You’re absolutely perfect in every way. Go back to sleep.”

  Heath stared. “What is that?”

  “A perfect little boy. Now focus up, Heath.”

  Shaken, Heath tried to forget about the snake materializing from Mel’s arm, but it was clear he had questions.

  “Latent runes don’t do anything until you make them work for you,” Mel explained. “Imagine them like…food. You like food. Everybody loves food.”

  Thomas groaned. He knew where Mel was going with this.

  “Except Thomas there,” Mel added. “He probably would eat nutrition bricks if they made them. So, latent runes are food, yeah? But instead of your body just doing its thing, you gotta manually digest them. You know what happens if you keep eating and you don’t digest?”

  “You throw up?” Heath asked.

  “Gold star! Meditation is like digestion.”

  Heath furrowed his brow. “Your stomach just breaks down the food, the actual digestion happens after the chyme passed through—”

  Mel leaned forward and pinched Heath’s lips shut. “No interrupting, okay?”

  Heath nodded.

  Wiping her hand on Heath’s shoulder, Mel continued, “Digesting the ‘food’—which are the runes—you can strengthen your body. Just like when you’re done digesting, you’ll know you’ve run out of latent runes because you’ll feel empty and hollowed out like an all-nighter on the can after you order Taco Bell.”

  Thomas was stifling a scream by biting his fist while Gwen, red-faced, was silently laughing and patting his back soothingly.

  “I’ve never felt like throwing up before,” Heath said. “So I must not have gained too many latent runes!”

  “Well, you don’t really feel it I think,” Mel said. “But if you follow along with me, you’ll dump out all those runes and feel refreshed and delightfully hollow.”

  Excited despite the graphic explanation, Heath followed Mel’s instructions for meditation and drawing out the latent runes to the letter.

  After a few moments, Heath started to snore.

  It wasn’t an uncommon reaction to people meditating for the first time, so she let him sleep. It was a little freaky that he kept his eyes wide open, but if Mel shut her eyes, she didn’t notice.

  The moment Mel tapped into her latent reserves, she knew something was different.

  Normally, she could draw from the latent runes easily. They practically wanted to be drawn out to join the greater wellspring of her power. These were different. It was like something was blocking the pipe, admitting only a trickle.

  Mel focused, sweat beading on her brow. She pulled harder on the latent power within herself until the blockage dissolved and the flow increased.

  At first she thought she had removed some sort of impurity, but the runes kept coming faster and faster. What had once taken a couple of hours to achieve finished in less than half that time. The runes flowed faster and faster until it felt like they were catching fire in her veins.

  An emerald green aura of flames flickered to life on Mel’s skin. She could see them through the backs of her eyelids.

  The flames danced, taking on a life of their own. The embers swept into the air, enveloping Mel in a tapestry of emerald stardust.

  In that crystallizing moment, her vision pulled outside of her body. She watched herself from behind as the Anchor Rune of the World Serpent hung over her head, joined by the emerald flames.

  Mel snapped back into her body. Power flowed through her veins as if they had been widened. The amount of mana she could access at any moment was drastically increased. She suddenly realized how little mana she actually had.

  Rank Up!

  You advance to High Copper.

  You awaken greater stores of health, mana, and stamina, along with resilience against lower ranked aspects, imprints, skills, magic, and auras.

  Class Evolution!

  Your class has evolved to [Witchblade].

  [Witchblade]

  Few have the stomach to stay up close and personal with the most fearsome monsters the multiverse has to offer. Fewer yet have the talent to wither their opponents from the inside out. Witchblades possess a uniquely fearsome combination of magical and physical finesse, striking to trigger magical afflictions, then dancing out of the way before their opponent can retaliate. With high mobility, they keep their foes on the defensive, preventing them from dealing with the rot that destroys them from within.

  Focus: Agility & Arcane | Afflictions and Magical Damage | Offense | Red, Blue, and Yellow Chroma

  Traits

  [Calamity Specialist], [Novice Alchemy Knowledge], [Initiate Ritual Magic Knowledge], [Conserve Mana]

  [Calamity Specialist]

  (Class Skill)

  (Copper, Trait)

  Poisoners and assassins would be toothless without poisons and afflictions to destroy their enemies from within. Countless hours of using afflictions have given you a unique edge compared to the uninitiated.

  Imprint: Poisons and afflictions are more effective up to one rank above your own. You have greater resistance to poisons and afflictions up to one rank above your own.

  [Novice Alchemy Knowledge]

  (Class Skill)

  (Copper, Trait)

  The fundamental knowledge of alchemical practices, a customary foundation for all witches. Mixing and concocting potions, poisons, and elixirs are now within your grasp. Learning recipes and ingredient familiarity are essential to success.

  Imprint: Grants the ability to create alchemical concoctions of G-Tier and below.

  [Initiate Ritual Knowledge]

  (Class Skill)

  (Copper, Trait)

  Standard magical knowledge and training detailing the proper way to cast ritual magic.

  Imprint: Grants the ability to cast ritual magic of F-Tier and below.

  [Conserve Mana]

  (Class Skill)

  (Copper, Trait)

  Efficient use of mana, though considered a key component of warfare, is often overlooked when mana potions come into play. You have kept up the practice of conservation by always seeking new ways to be more efficient with the resources you have at your disposal.

  Imprint: Mana cost for all skills and effects is reduced.

  The influx of knowledge from disparate sources was immense, but nothing Mel couldn’t handle in stride. What at first felt like a jumble of disconnected things blended and wove together into Mel’s evolved class, Witchblade.

  Sounds way cooler than Mystic, that’s for sure.

  Suddenly, a lot of things that Thomas had told her and tried to teach her over the last week clicked. She understood why he drew the ritual frames the way he did, and how it was significantly more efficient than her own.

  That was to say nothing of the poisons she suddenly understood how to create, which were disturbingly similar to making medicine.

  I do remember Deklin was fond of saying the only difference between poison and medicine was dosage.

  Mel chuckled to herself.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Of course, he usually meant that in reference to drinking.

  She had never considered dabbling in alchemy on any professional level. She was trying to work on something in her own time, but she wasn’t getting anywhere.

  Deklin was the mixologist, the one who was interested in that nerdy alchemy stuff, not her. Now she had a chance to not only understand what was so fascinating about alchemy, but it slowly dawned on her just where she was going wrong with her potion attempts.

  I wonder where Deklin is now? Probably kicking back on a beach somewhere, relaxing and having the time of his life.

  She wished he was here, but then again, she wished things made more sense. Why was she here? What happened to her on Aldim?

  Despite what Askara said, she felt the goddess was wrong. She did fit in here. She wasn’t displaced. Memory loss wasn’t an uncommon side effect of spells, especially Grand Invocations.

  Some things don’t add up though, you can’t ignore that, a small voice tried to explain. The voice was right. She couldn’t ignore the mounting discrepancies, but she could ignore the voice inside her.

  She couldn’t remember some of the Magi. Why would she have forgotten a friend like Gwen when she remembered Deklin?

  One was here. The other was not.

  Gwen cared enough to search for her. She felt a surge of resentment that Deklin hadn’t done the same. Weren’t they practically family?

  It’s not like you’ve been able to find him, Mel’s thoughts spun back at her.

  She remembered Sylvie, Hal, and Komachi as well. Then again, there were so many damn Komachis out there that it could have been any one of them, so that didn’t really prove anything.

  Over the course of her years as a Magi, she had met no less than five different Komachis. One of them was a cat, for crying out loud! Most were pobuls, though she was pretty sure one was a shapeshifter.

  It wouldn’t have surprised her to find that Komachi herself was the lynchpin holding all of reality together.

  Mel opened her eyes finally, watching the fading auras of both Gwen and Thomas flicker out. One was as pale as moonlight, the other like the golden light of dawn.

  So I wasn’t the only one.

  [Mel Harper]

  Race: Human

  Rating: [#19] Exile (G-League) [1 st Echelon]

  Class: Witchblade

  Rank: High Copper

  Next Rank: Iron (63%)

  [==Attributes==]

  Strength [Divine Aspect]: Copper (Grade 5)

  Agility [Mist Aspect]: Copper (Grade 9)

  Vigor [Blood Aspect]: Copper (Grade 7)

  Sense [Serpent Aspect]: Copper (Grade 7)

  Arcane [Omen Aspect]: Copper (Grade 5)

  [==Aspects==]

  [Divine Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 5)

  ? [Tempest Heart] (Grade 5)

  [Mist Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 9)

  ? [Hidden Mist] (Grade 9)

  [Blood Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 7)

  ? [Sanguine Coat] (Grade 8)

  [Serpent Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 7)

  ? [Gaze of the Serpent] (Grade 8)

  ? [Avatar of Askara] (Grade 4)

  [Omen Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 5)

  ? [Omen Mark] (Grade 5)

  ? [Bane of Tartarus] (Grade 6)

  [==Knowledge & Traits==]

  Class: [Light Armor Knowledge], [Novice Basic Weapon Knowledge], [Novice Ritual Magic Knowledge], [Mana Hardening], [Initiate Bladed Weapons Knowledge], [Calamity Specialist], [Novice Alchemy Knowledge], [Initiate Ritual Magic Knowledge], [Conserve Mana]

  Spells: [Armament Scrap Ritual (G-Tier)]

  Combat Arts: [Quickstep], [Shinobi Parry]

  [==Titles & Blessings==]

  Titles: [Boss Rash (Legendary)], [Bloodseeker (Legendary)], [Blood Tax (Legendary)], [Vessel of Anguish (Rare)], [Eye for Talent (Legendary)]

  Blessings: [Blessing of the Hunt (Uncommon)]

  That single kill had propelled her several spots in the ratings, all the way to #19. Her attributes were coming along nicely. All the focus on her agility was paying off. It was nearly Grade 10. Not only did it greatly enhance her speed and reflexes, but her [Hidden Mist] was as effortless as breathing.

  She could control it and spread it across an area that was orders of magnitude larger than when she first gained the skill.

  Unable to resist the temptation, Mel looked at the Emporium.

  [Copper Emporium Core Items]

  (Battle Points: 7,520)

  Mel stared at the amount. Quality trumps quantity every damn time apparently. Wow.

  Gwen eagerly took out an unfamiliar ceramic box of colorful powders and got to work mixing in a bone from the plateau beast. Crackling frost spread down her arms, a sign that she was working aspected mana into the powders.

  Mana streamed off the Norse-like sigils Gwen painted onto exposed parts of her skin that her armor didn’t cover. The sigils glowed richly with Red chromatic mana, then faded to a typical tattoo likeness.

  Class Skill: [Chromatic War Paint (Red)]

  Mel narrowed her gaze at the prompt, then at Gwen. “What’s that?”

  She could feel that Gwen and Thomas were both High Copper like her. It was a smaller jump in power than going from Mundane to Copper, but it was more significant than she would have thought.

  It was hard not to ask what their new classes were, but if they were going to play it cool, she could too.

  “My new class skill!” Gwen said in excitement while studying the ceramic box. “It invokes greater amounts of chromatic energy from Deeds into an armor effect.”

  “So you just get more Deeds straight up, eh?”

  “Nah, [Chromatic War Paint] doesn’t work like that.” Gwen glanced over, brows lifting. “It enhances the tinge potency of what I’ve already accrued, making the color a bit more effective and giving me extra defenses. Maybe I can use war paint on other Magi too when I’m more proficient.”

  “Can you directly paint it on my armor?” Mel asked, eyeing the sleeves of her [Heathen’s Cuirass].

  “No, I don’t think so. Probably only skin,” Gwen said. “Some of our theories were right. About Chroma, I mean. Red being offensive, Blue being defensive, and whatnot. Though it’s still more complex than that.”

  “I still have no idea what Deeds are,” Mel admitted.

  “Really?” Gwen shut the box and put it away into her inventory. “Well, I think Deeds reflect your accomplishments, categorized into hues of Chroma. The most important thing is that the more Deeds you earn, the more your Deeds boost runes of experience gain from all sources! ”

  Mel thought about that, then looked closer at her [Shardrune Quests] trait. “So you must get Deeds from stuff beyond just quests,” Mel thought aloud. “Deeds are clearly the driver of enhanced rune gain, and quests grant Deeds upon completion, but that can’t be all from quests.”

  [Shardrune Quests]

  (Orange/Trait)

  Reveals personalized quests manifested from events, conflict, and actions. Modified by fate, souls, Deeds, rank, and chroma. Completed quests earn Deeds that magnify runes of experience gained.

  Gwen nodded in agreement. “I suspect Deeds make you stronger in certain ways too, augment what loot you find sometimes, and probably function like reputation from certain Worldshards.”

  Heath was still snoring loudly, but there was a cloth sack over his head.

  “Your doing?” Mel asked, tilting her head toward Heath.

  Gwen cringed. “He was snoring with his eyes open . That boy ain’t right.”

  Mel leaned back and looked up at the stars. Shit, that late already?

  “Would be cool if we could see our Deeds.” Somehow Mel felt that would go against the spirit of Deeds.

  “Maybe in the Library,” Gwen said. “Though I wonder if I’d be welcome.”

  “Man, I’d love it if they had a proper Library here. Wisdom’s domain would welcome Magi,” Mel said with certainty. “I doubt we’d find a way into the Library from here though.”

  Gwen looked up at the stars, studying the constellations. Or maybe searching for the moon.

  Thomas sighed and opened his eyes, his shoulders slumped as if a great weight was pressed to them. He breathed in deeply and straightened his back, squaring his shoulders once more. “That was illuminating.”

  They both turned to him.

  He looked at them. “I see you both received a similar bump in power. Did you get new classes as well?”

  “Witchblade.”

  “Berserker!”

  Thomas nodded. “Warmage.”

  They spent the rest of the night comparing notes about their class evolutions and the differences between them. Each of them, even Thomas’ Warmage, was drastically changed from what they were before.

  The basic classes simply couldn’t compare.

  Each of them kept their original class skills. Mel also noticed rather belatedly that her Mystic class skills had advanced to Copper from Mundane. Berserker gained new weaponry knowledge and greater reserves of health and stamina, while Warmage deepened its access to ritual spells and its depth of mana.

  It struck Mel as particularly interesting that each of their evolutions fit them so well. It was hard to tell whether that was intentional or if it was something unique to the three of them.

  Mel’s skills deepened her use of afflictions, adding in the ability to make poisons and potions into her kit on top of increasing their effectiveness. While her alchemy knowledge was one tier below what she needed to augment her [Fanged Flask], she was on the right path.

  Mel was eager to train and improve her alchemical knowledge. Both to find a potion that would help Gwen and to augment her flask.

  Likewise, Gwen’s hyper aggressive fighting style had shaped her Brawler class into the unstoppable slaughter machine that was Berserker. She not only gained a heightened ability to use more complex weapons, but her skills revolved heavily around trading blows and coming out on top.

  Where Witchblade used its enhanced speed to avoid getting hit entirely, Berserker relied upon taking punishment to catapult itself to new heights of power. Despite Defender being a class oriented around protecting others, it couldn’t touch Berserker’s capability to stay standing while holding an enemy’s focus.

  Meanwhile, Warmage gained the enviable skill to change the size and spread of any skill or spell. That alone made Warmage a worthy upgrade in Mel’s eyes. If she could give her [Sanguine Coat] to her allies? That would be bonkers.

  While Mel’s Witchblade used mana more efficiently, Warmage deepened its reserves and increased the rate at which it recovered mana from all sources.

  Mel wasn’t the only one who had gained a boatload of Battle Points. Each of them had gained an enormous amount, well more than they could have earned in a day spent killing strong monsters.

  They were so preoccupied with their new classes that it wasn’t until the camp filled with gonging bells–Thomas’ warding spell alerting them to intruders–that they realized they were under attack.