Chapter 14: Permanent Rune

After replenishing his mana, Arthur kept hunting in the same pattern. He hunted 7 more furred monsters and that made him level up once and gave him only 5 points of agility. Counting the three he hunted earlier, he hunted 10 monsters this day. After absorbing the eighth, however, the monsters stopped giving him any agility points. It seems he has already absorbed the essence of these monsters and he needed to hunt others if he wanted to keep getting stronger. At the end of the day, with his credit balance increasing $900 for selling 9 mana cores, Arthur's stats looked like this.

[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]

[Level: 4 (22%)]

[Strength: 15]

[Agility: 21]

[Stamina: 14]

[Perception: 10]

[Mana: 4/4]

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (2%), Useable Runes: 5]

[Skills: None]

[Stats Points: 0]

The weird thing is that his strength increased after he went through the process of hunting and resting. He was reminded that he can get stronger without relying on his legacy. As for his agility, it has broken past the 20 points mark and Arthur could feel like the world moved a fraction slower than before. Well, he was the one being able to move faster than before.

The reason why Arthur kept one mana core is that he wanted to try the other part of his ability, permanent runes. He wanted to use the mana core as a medium of energy. He was excited at the prospect of increasing his stats permanently and he raced back home to test it. His first day at the academy was tomorrow and he wanted to increase his stats in case he faced any problems. After all, he would be meeting people who awakened since they were 15. They had three full years to learn how to control their ability or their mana.

As he got home, Arthur went to his room after he had an early dinner and decided to use the rest of the night reading his curriculum and experimenting with his ability. As he closed the door, he grabbed the mana core from his pocket and sat on the bed. He then used his ability to imprint a [Strength-I] rune but he stopped before he did that. If his hunch was right, he needed to fuse the rune with the mana core.

Grabbing the core with his right, a faint red rune symbol appeared in his left. Arthur moved his hands as they neared, fusing the two. With the vibration of both the rune and the core, the rune started moving as if it came to life and started fusing with the core before breaking down and starting to circulate the core. The core then turned ethereal as if it has abandoned its physical form in return for something greater.

[Permanent Rune: Strength-I has been created. Increases Strength stat by 5. Cannot be used on the same person more than once.]

Arthur was thrilled at his success as he thought he would fail. He knew the mana core from an unranked monster was of very little purity, almost being a normal crystal. However, it appears that since this was a basic rune, that was enough for it to turn into a permanent rune. Arthur hesitated no longer as he slammed the rune into his chest as he felt the power rush through him. He opened his stats and saw that his strength was now 20 as well. As the feeling coursed through him filling with power almost a third of what he originally had, he felt almost invincible. However, the feeling then faded as he started getting used to it. He calmed down and remembered he was still only a fish in the wide ocean.

[Strength has increased by 5.]

After he mediated and got used to his new strength, he started testing something else. Would a permanent and temporary rune conflict with each other? As he created the [Strength-I] rune using mana, his strength rose to 25 before returning to normal ten minutes later. This time, Arthur didn't feel the excitement. Only a heavy sense of responsibility.

"Why did you give this strength to me, Jizo?" He said looking at the mirror.

***

The milk tasted sweeter than usual. Amelia frowned as she looked at the milk pack she was drinking. It was her favorite strawberry yogurt, and she drank it more than once per day. Yet today the taste was a bit different, not that she hated a change in routine.

"You'll burn a hole in it if you keep staring like that." A voice tried to break her focus but she didn't even listen.

A hand grabbed the milk she was holding and lifted. A redhead boy with blue eyes was examining the milk to see if there was anything noteworthy. Amelia tried to take the milk back but he easily evaded her hand.

"What do you want, Markus?" Amelia's tone was cold, but that's how she was raised. She subconsciously took her parents' demeanor as she grew up to be another ice-expression person. That's the name people called her family, the Icy Family. None of them were capable of showing emotions even if they feel it.

Knowing her personality quite well, Markus handed her the milk as he finally got her attention before saying. "I heard we'd be receiving a new student today. A transfer at this time directly placed to A-Class, what kind of student did we get?" Markus's eyes easily told his anticipation as he usually found the routine their academy lived to be boring.

"I don't know nor do I care. If he has the ability, it doesn't matter. If he doesn't have it, then he just used his connections and that's a bigger reason that it doesn't matter." Amelia's logic made Markus speechless as he looked for an answer. It was then that a student came in shouting.

"There's a fight near the school gate!" The class was surprised, then confused. Another student who was sitting down answered. "So? Fights are a common thing. We're not middle schoolers anymore." The rest of the class had the same thoughts.

"I know! But the person fighting is wearing the sash for A-Class, but he's not someone we know!" As soon as these words left his mouth, the class stood up and went to the windows. As Markus was the first to dash to the windows, he was able to see two figures surrounded by people. One of the figures wore a blue sash on his uniform, meaning that was the infamous transfer student.

He couldn't hear them so he activated his ability and his ears elongated as his irises dilated. He was soon able to hear what was going on. He also recognized the person facing the transfer student, someone he knew from B-Class, Isaac, known him as a low-level bully.

"How about we both walk away? I don't want any problems on my first day here." The transfer student said, and only then did Markus see one more detail. It was someone sitting on the ground behind the transfer student. A thin C-Class student with glasses having a nosebleed.

"I never saw you here before, you must be new here? Do you have no idea who I am? Just because you're A-Class…" Isaac said as he was reading the lines of a manga villain. Markus laughed audibly and the others looked at him with confusion. It seems the transfer student was also amazed at this as he looked around to make sure he wasn't being pranked.

"Really? Are you a six-years-old? Let's just drop this dude. You were the one who started it."

Markus was starting to like this guy more by the second. He was level-headed and mature unlike most kids here. However, Isaac boiled with rage as he activated his ability and dashed forward. His skin turned red and hardened as he struck with his fist.

The transfer student was taken aback by the sudden attack. It seems he wasn't expecting the opponent to suddenly use his ability. However, Markus could see that he regained his calm and sent a fist to meet the first of Isaac. It was then that a white glow flashed over the transfer student's skin that only Markus could see thanks to his ability. The two fists met as the forces canceled each other. Isaac rebounded and the transfer student sent a kick to his ankle knocking him down. The transfer student than picked up the C-Class student and fled the scene.