I'm almost edging it.
Chapter 65: Spell Weaving (IV)
Ember arched his eyebrows. "You know how to fix it?"
"I may not be a crafter," Dawn said, "but I know a thing or two about runes. If it isn't too badly damaged or doesn't require reforging, I might be able to repair it. No promises, though."
Her words were enough for Ember to hand over his bracelet. Although her words may sometimes come across as bragging if they came from anyone else's lips, for Dawn, they seemed entirely natural, nothing too extraordinary.
"Thank you."
She sat down beside him and began scanning the artifact with her Mana Perception. "The damage is quite extensive," she said to his dismay. "Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be beyond my capability just yet." She looked up, hesitating. "It'll only be a temporary fix, though, and I fear it will likely cost you more to repair it later."
"Do it," he said after making a mental calculation. Even if the repair cost half the price of the artifact alone, it would still be too nerve-wracking to go into battle without a protective ward. And from the look of how far they had delved into the Goblin Lair, it did not seem like he would get out of here without a few more fights.
Resting the bracelet on her knee, Dawn wasted no time in bringing out a pen and paper. She scribbled down notes of various hieroglyphic runes in strings of arrangement. After cross-referencing with the bracelet, she didn't seem to like what she had scribbled. So, she scrapped the entire page and began anew.
Ember watched, transfixed.
"You should continue with your practice," she said, sparing him a glance. "Like I said, I'm no expert. It will take me a while to finish it."
For about an hour, she scribbled and contemplated the design as more scrap paper joined the stony floor. It was perhaps on her eighth or ninth page that she was content with what she had created and began forming the runes. A number of mana strings came into existence from her fingertips. There were twenty-seven, to be exact.
Ember paused in his spell work, captivated by the gleaming, silvery threads drawing thin rune letters in empty air. Under Dawn's meticulous control, the letters arranged into a string of formation, one more joining at every turn until she held out the bracelet, imbuing and marking the chain of runic script into it.
Ember completely forgot the task she had left him, his attention fixed on her. Even if she failed to repair it completely, the display alone had stunned him.
It took only a couple of minutes for her to finish, as a sweet smile blossomed on her lips, her dimple showing. "It came out better than I imagined."
Her gaze turned towards him, and the smile turned crooked, her eyebrows arching. "Didn't I tell you to work on the spell?"
"Is there anything you aren't proficient in?" Ember asked instead.
"Hmm." Dawn hummed in contemplation. She tilted her head. "There isn't, really, now that I think about it. Well... I'm pretty poor at swordsmanship."
"And definitely not a master at feigning humility," he mumbled under his breath.
She eyed him. "You said something?"
She heard him, but found inspecting the ward took precedence over arguing. Under her guidance, a shield formed around her. It was not as translucent as before, and there was a flickering oscillation across its surface, but it was working.
Dawn handed it to him. "By the way, the essence cell in it is a complete bust, which had actually damaged the scripts. You'll have to supply your own mana to use it."
"That's better than nothing." In fact, it's far better than nothing.
If not for the busted ward, he wouldn't have a horrible scar on his chest from the assassin's blade.
Wearing the bracelet on his wrist, he hesitated for a moment to ask, "Are runes harder to learn compared to spells?"
"It's hard to say, but there are definitely more mages than there are artisans." She pinched the bridge of her nose; it was already pink from her earlier scratching during her scribbling. "It depends on the type of runes and spell, I guess. Some spells can be more difficult to weave, while some runes come more naturally, and vice versa."
Ember tilted his head. "Would you say a spellcaster will have an easier time with runes?"
"Perhaps," she replied after a thought. "I'd say spellcasters are more likely to have a talent for runes than artisans are to have a talent for casting. Runes are, after all, another school of magic. Skill-wise, the barrier to entry for runes is much higher, even though the requirements for both paths can be mutually inclusive. This is why the number of artisans is still lower than mages."
Seeing him deep in thought, she added, "For most Ascendants, it is advisable not to study deep into runes before they have gained a class. It takes a ridiculous amount of work and a bucketload of coins to amount to anything in this path. Even someone born into the most affluent family doesn't have the right amount of time to learn more than the basics of rune magic or smithing before their Trial."
"Is that the case for you as well?"
Dawn acknowledged with a hum.
He couldn't help but let out a silent sigh. Here he thought he could become independent and support his family, learning a few runes. But the reality was far more complex than his idle wishes. It also explained why artifacts cost so much.
However, his curiosity about runes hadn't diminished in the least.
"Are the runes used for crafting and spellcasting the same?"
"They are... similar," Dawn said, tilting her head. Unlike any other instance, she didn't seem completely confident in her answer. "They are not identical, per se. Two different kinds of scripts can result in a similar outcome, while identical runes can more or less conjure up similar outputs. There needn't be a huge gulf in the difference.
As far as I know, the disparity lies in the crafter's or caster's interpretation of the runes,as all runes came from the demons, while we humans merely have adapted them to our needs. It is kind of like how you could cast the same spell in various ways."
"Runes came from demons?" His eyes widened sharply. It was news to him.
"Apparently so. From what I have heard, runes originated from the true names of the six descendants of the Abyss. Not only runes, even bloodlines—which have become one of our civilisation's most vital abilities for passing down our teachings to future generations—also came from them."
Ember stared at her, speechless.
"Don't think of demons as a nuisance like those goblins," she added, summing up his disbelief. "There are still many descendants of those demon progenitors living on the other side and vying for our realms. Now that all the gods are gone, it is only with the blood and lives of our people that we manage to impede them."
"Gods?" Ember said with barely masked disbelief. "You mean the people who have reached beyond Gold rank?"
Dawn shot him a curious glance, then shrugged. "If that's how you interpret it..."
He shook his head, straightening his back. "I didn't believe you to be so... pious, religious? I'm not sure if I got the correct adjective."
"I am neither of those," she said in a low growl, a little too aggressively. She stood up, stretching her back and neck. "Why am I talking about irrelevant stuff with you when you should be training?"
Ember quickly shut whatever was lingering at the tip of his tongue and continued with the practice. Elementary telekinesis was quite easier to learn, at least for the system to register it in his status. His control over the pebble was still wonky at best, but that didn't stop the system from listing it as an achievement.
While it was another story for Mana Bolt. It was more of an offensive spell than kinetic push. And as it turned out, the time it required to conjure up a mana bolt was more as well. But having already tamed it himself, Dawn only needed to show him the correct way for him to figure it out.
[Spell learned: Mana Bolt (Tier I)]
"That left just one more spell," Ember said, heaving a breath. He couldn't really believe it. Just a day ago, he was helpless, imagining himself bowing his back to the Oberons for someone to take him as their apprentice, and now he was on the precipice of making it on his own. Of course, it was not without help.
Ember gazed up at the teen.
"I can get you started with Haste right away," Dawn said, right on cue, "though it will require us to get out of this narrow creek."
With every passing moment, you seem to owe her more and more for all the kindness she had shown him.
It had been half a day since they had taken shelter in the creek. Now that both of them required more of their prowess, the small rupture in the wall was becoming suffocating for both of them.
"Just remember, I don't see you succeeding in it in a short amount of time."