(TPOR) Chapter 135: A Rukh Rank Who Uses Runes (Patreon)

Thoughts and contemplations. They weren’t the most difficult things to do, at least not for Zed. In fact, he’d say he did it a lot and liked it. Now, however, he wasn’t so sure he liked it. For one, his thoughts weren’t so friendly right now.

He stared at Chris. She had a cocky grin on her face, fueled by the assurance that she could not lose. Thinking on everything, he couldn’t hold it against her. She was powerful. Despite her rank in the group when Jason had still been around, Zed had no doubt she was the better part of the group. In the forest he’d seen it too, the way she fought, the way she moved. Her arsenal of spells.

Thinking of it reminded him that he didn’t know what her specialization was. Once upon a time Ash had been unwilling to share it, claiming it was not her secret to tell. Now, he had a feeling she didn’t know it either. He would wager that no one in the group knew Chris’ specialization except Chris herself.

“I’m waiting, Bloodbath.”

Zed extricated himself from his thoughts. He knew his answer to her question. It was without debate or second guesses. Sparring against Chris would test him, show him what exactly he had now become, what he was capable of ata category 3. He wanted to face her. Abed had been a Rukh rank mage and he had won that fight.

Not true, he thought. Bloodwrath won that fight. If you do this, you’ll have to fight her yourself.

The thought wasn’t really a wake up call. He knew this already. Fighting her and having [Bloodwrath] activated wouldn’t just defeat his purpose of facing her, it would most likely get him into trouble. There was little doubt that the skill was the reason Daniel had suspected he was a Blood mage. Judging from the way the Olympian had tested him for only that specialization, Zed was certain he didn’t want to be mistaken for a Blood mage.

“You know what, I think I—”

“No.” Festus said the word with particular disinterest. “There will be no purpose to you facing him.”

Zed and Chris turned to him, mouths agape. “What?!”

They’re united confusion drew the eyes of everyone from Festus back to them.

“Why not?” Zed asked.

Festus looked at him as if he’d just asked the dumbest question.

“Oh,” Zed remembered. “You just said it. My bad. But—and I’m being very practical here—fighting mean girl over there will be of very good use to me.”

Chris placed her hands on her hips in mild amusement. “How so?” she asked.

Zed wagged a cautionary finger at her. “I’m not trying to convince you, love. I’m talking to my beloved rune teacher. I’ll be with you shortly.”

Chris scowled. “Did he just call me love?”

“No,” Zed answered before anyone else could, his voice gentle as a breeze without winter’s chill. “Anyhoo,” he continued, turning back to Festus, “she casts way more spells than the others put together. I once saw her cast lightning so yellow I thought she was playing with strings of influx gold. It was like watching a sunflower bleed.”

Kid turned, looked around. “Am I the only one who has no idea what he’s talking about.”

Jennifer patted him gently on the arm. She was a quiet reassurance in his sea of confusion. Just then, the door to their room opened and Ash stepped in. Her eyes were slightly reddened. It threatened to puffer in the way eyes do when a person has held back their tears for too long. She hadn’t cried yet.

Was it that bad to lose? Zed wondered. He’d assumed that from Oliver’s thorough defeat Ash would’ve understood the Olympians were a different breed of mages. Had she still looked down on Ronda despite that.

He noticed a silence had filled the room and he was staring at Ash. Everyone’s attention was on Ash as well, not because of who she was or how she looked. It was clearly out of a curiosity of what could possibly have shut Zed up. He had unwillingly made her the centre of attention.

Ronda walked in behind her, barely half a second after.

She paused, a deer in headlights, and looked around, eyes meeting each member of the room. Finally, it settled on Kid the way a child’s lands on a familiar face when they walk into a quagmire such as this.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Zed was talking about killing a sunflower,” Kid answered. Ronda opened her mouth, a clear question on her lips and he cut her off with a raised hand. “Don’t ask why. I’m very sure I have no idea.”

Beside him, Jennifer sighed. “He was being poetic,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing and Kid was being intentionally dense.

Slowly, attention slipped away from Ash. It spread across the room in an easy pull. No one was focused on anyone anymore. They breathed easily, waiting for what would come next. Zed had given his defense, no matter how relatively empty, on why he would be better off sparring against Chris.

A small silence stretched. It was contemplative, thoughtful. It was the silence of a father mulling over the sanity of a child’s decision.

Zed broke it.

“I also want to try something new.”

Festus’ gaze narrowed on him. “Something new?”

“Uhuh. I noticed something with Eitri’s magic portal and want to see if it was just me seeing things.”

“The squiggles?” Festus asked, eyes still narrowed.

“You remember that?” Zed asked, genuinely surprised. He’d waylaid his own words the moment he’d said it then, discarded them as unimportant, hallucinations seen by a hallucinator. That Festus still remembered was testament to how much attention the man paid.

Festus nodded.

“Alright,” he said finally. “I had intended to have you face Eitri—”

“You wanted me to face a Rukh rank who uses runes?” Zed interrupted.

“Yes,” Festus confirmed. “It would’ve been useful for you. You could’ve seen runes that would help your development. But your argument is sound. I, too, am curious about what you want to confirm.”

Zed’s lips slipped into a frown. “You don’t think I saw squiggles.”

“No.”

Zed nodded. It seemed clear as day that his spar with Chris would not be hindered. As such, he turned, gave Chris an amiable smile in passing, and made for the door.

“Did he just call me love?” Chris asked no one once more.

She was met without an answer.

…………………………

The training room seemed much different from how it had been when he’d walked into it just moments ago. Zed stood at its center, taking it all in. It was a wide room, almost unnecessarily so. If he hadn’t known that it was mages going head to head in here, he would’ve wondered what they needed all the space for. Despite that, he still wondered. The Olympians were full of attribute mages, which meant no spellforms and spells. No long distance attacks. Attribute mages, from what he had learnt so far, sacrificed mana affinities of any kind for superior bodies. With his new knowledge of people’s attributes such as Ronda and Lenny, he wondered if he had perhaps drawn the short straw on the attribute allocation.

Ronda had clairvoyance and puppet master, but attributes worked hand in hand to make her a formidable foe on any battlefield. Lenny had Iron body and Poison blood. It gave him survivability, the kind that could get someone else killed. Apart from [Regenerate] what else did Zed have? He had [Hypersensitivity] which was meant to make him more aware of everything. He had [Equilibrium] which had more of a subtler effect on him, subtle enough that he rarely saw its impact.

Now that he thought about it, Zed realized he hadn’t seen his personal information in a while. Even the numbers of his attributes were becoming alien to him. He couldn’t pinpoint what was what.

With a resigned sigh, he turned his attention away from the rest of the training room. Let’s see what we’ve got.

He pulled up his personal information easily, like blinking. An array of information came to life in front of him. he stared at it with a frown on his face. It looked a lot.

Melchizedek Nyborn

· Specie: Human (Mana blessed).

· Category: 3/3.

· Rank: Beta (category 3).

· Exp to Category 1 (Rukh) 839/5000.

Skills

· [Bloodwrath (Mana, blood)].

· [Bloodlust (Aura)].

· [Force (Rune)].

· [Force shield (Rune)].

Titles

· None.

Attributes

· [Equilibrium] (Physical, mana).

· [Regeneration] (Physical, mana).

· [Hypersensitivity] (Physical, mana).

· [Bone density] (Physical)

Affiliations

· None.

Aptitude

· Strength: 51.

· Agility: 40.

· Speed: 36.

· Mana: 77.

· Will: 31(-4).

· You have received 5 [Aptitude points].

· You have 10 Unallocated [Aptitude points].

· Extra [Aptitude points] will be gained at each category.

· You will gain 5 [Aptitude points] on evolving to the next category.