Chapter 242: New Toys
The three runes in his hands were... heavy in a way that had nothing to do with physical weight.
Kael rolled them slightly between his fingers, feeling the faint, almost electric resistance of etched mana-bound metal against his gauntlets.
Unfortunately, all support runes.
That realization lingered for half a breath longer than expected. Not disappointment exactly, Kael had stopped expecting clean, perfect outcomes from anything involving loot or fate, but there was a brief flicker of assessment in his mind. Damage runes would’ve been straightforward. Flashy. Easy to measure.
But support? Support meant nuance. Timing. Survival margins.
His grip tightened slightly as that thought settled in properly. The runes weren’t immediately satisfying in a "hit harder, break faster" sense, but something about them felt... flexible. Like tools that would only reveal their worth when everything else was already going wrong.
Kael exhaled slowly through his nose, letting the noise of the room fade just a little into the background.
[You have obtained the following Runes:
{ᚪᚳᚣᚱᛋᛁᚪᚾ, Execrate Rune}
{ᚪᚾᛞᚠᚣᚱᛋᛏ, Second Wind Rune}
{ᚠᛁᚾᛞᚹᚪᚳ, Exploit Weakness Rune}
The system window hovered in his vision with its usual detached clarity, indifferent to how valuable, or dangerous, these things might become in the hands of the person reading it. His
Kael inspected the first rune.
***
[Execrate- Rare Rune]
Marks Target with instability (Needs direct contact)
Amplification of flaws or existing damage.
Slightly increase Mana Drain on afflicted targets.
Negative effects:
-Increased internal energy consumption-
Lore
That which is blemished need only be touched once more.
***
Kael lingered on the word contact for a moment longer than the rest. Not ideal in many situations. Not flexible. But brutally honest in design.
His thumb brushed the rune’s edge unconsciously as if testing the concept already. A faint prickle answered back, like the rune was aware of being considered.
Still... anything already weakened becoming worse? That wasn’t just support. That was controlled collapse.
***
[Second Wind- Rare Rune]
For 10 seconds Revitalizes self, allowing the use of unlimited energy.
Pain Suppression.
Cons
For each second passing during [Second Wind] increases recovery time upon end of activation.
Lore
When the body yields, breath remembers.
***
Kael’s jaw tightened slightly as he read that one. Ten seconds sounded short until you understood what "unlimited energy" implied. Ten seconds of breaking every internal limiter at once.
He could almost feel it just imagining it, muscles refusing to acknowledge fatigue, lungs ignoring burn, joints temporarily forgetting they were supposed to hurt.
And then the aftermath.
That recovery clause sat in his mind like a silent warning label nobody had bothered to make big enough.
***
[Exploit Weakness - Rare Rune]
Weakness Highlight.
Increases damage dealt of all ailments and elements upon contact with a weakness.
Cons
Highlighted Weakness only appears for a small period of time. Damaging beyond the highlighted period of time does not result in increased damage or bonus damage.
LoreAll things break.Wisdom lies only in knowing where.
***
Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly at that one.
Timing-based. Precision-based. Not raw strength, but punishment for hesitation. A rune that rewarded observation and punished greed.
His fingers flexed once around it, as if testing invisible alignment.
Then he stopped reading and let the silence settle again.
Kael gripped the runes, and looked at Andre, "These are crazy good runes."
Andre was still where he had been, posture relaxed in that way that suggested he trusted absolutely nothing in the world to suddenly become interesting without warning. The lighting around him was warm and slightly uneven, casting soft shadows across his expression.
"Hope ye like em, lad, couldn’t find any use for em myself. They ain’t worth selling either."
Kael’s grip adjusted again, more secure now. The weight of ownership settling in properly.
"Thanks, I’ll make good use of them," Kael began socketing the runes in his gauntlets.
The metal of his gear responded with faint mechanical clicks and subtle magical resonance as he aligned each rune slot. There was a brief resistance each time, like the system itself was acknowledging integration.
He placed [Execrate] on the left gauntlet. Right next to [Excise].
A small pulse of alignment energy flickered between the two runes as they settled, like two concepts acknowledging each other’s existence and deciding not to interfere.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter much where [Execrate] was placed, as it was a rune that needed direct contact to function. Using long-range projectiles wouldn’t help much in applying it, but a fist to the face would mark his target.
Kael flexed the left hand experimentally. The rune responded with a faint internal "pressure," like something waiting to be triggered by impact rather than intention.
Exploit weakness went to the right fist, where he is more confident in his punches.
There was a subtle satisfaction in that placement. Right hand for execution. Left hand for setup. Clean division. No unnecessary complexity.
Left fist marks, and right fist destroys. Simple as that.
His eyes lingered on his knuckles for a second longer than necessary, as if imagining impact points already.
As for second wind.
It was a general rune. And didn’t need to be applied on any ’fists’ for it to be usable.
So, the answer was simple, right next to the [Momentum] rune, Kael placed the [Second Wind] rune.
The socket accepted it with a deeper hum than the others, like the system recognized the pairing as something structurally significant.
It’s the best place for it, if he needed to press momentum and needed to run a bit more, he could press Second wind next to it, though the cost would probably be incredible strain on his muscles.
Kael paused for half a second longer, feeling the implications settle in his body already, like anticipation alone was enough to simulate exhaustion.
Well, that would be the case only if it were old Kael.
The Kael that trained hard in the mountain could definitely survive running on Momentum much longer.
That thought didn’t come with arrogance. More like quiet accounting. A recalibration of limits that used to exist.
[Synergies with runes [Execrate] [Exploit Weakness] remain unchanged.]
The system line felt almost dismissive. Like confirming that reality was still behaving as expected.
"Hell yeah! It didn’t ruin the synergies." Kael said.
His voice carried a brief edge of relief that he didn’t bother hiding.
"Of course it wouldn’t," Andre said, "Those Runes got no say in what others runes do, they apply only to yer fists."
Andre’s tone had that rough, practical certainty of someone who had seen too many people overcomplicate simple systems and pay for it later.
Kael nodded slowly, absorbing it.
"Ah, I see. Good then," Kael finished the last of the drink, burning his throat this time didn’t feel as bad. Almost refreshing.
The heat slid down his throat like controlled damage, still unpleasant, but familiar enough now that his body didn’t resist it as strongly.
His shoulders loosened slightly as he set the empty drink aside.
"I’ll have to head out then," Kael said.
The room beyond their immediate table felt louder now that he was preparing to leave,.
"Don’t die," Andre said.
There was no dramatization in it. Just blunt statistical preference.
"Of course," Kael replied as he felt more energetic this time. And far more prepared for the climb.
The energy wasn’t excitement exactly. More like readiness being reinstalled into his system.
Kael soon left after bidding Andre goodbye, and his first destination while the sun almost fully set was the information guild; he already had the pamphlet that they sold. And during his stay in the mountain he read through some of it.
The streets outside carried the fading heat of the day, stone surfaces slowly releasing warmth into the cooling air. Shadows stretched longer between buildings, and lanterns began to glow with uneven timing.
Some information, however, was missing. It only stated that he needed to gear up, join a guild, and find missions and companions, stuff that was honestly worthless information.
Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly at the memory of it. Each line had felt intentionally hollow, like someone describing a storm as "wet wind."
Kael realized that the ’newbie’ pamphlet was basically a scam.
And the real information was probably more expensive.
That conclusion didn’t surprise him. It simply slotted into place with everything else he had learned about systems like this.
He didn’t hear anything in that piece of paper that needed him to obtain a Torch of Vanitas, or anything. So, having been informed by his master, the bartender and then confirmed by Andre means that it was very important.
The absence of that detail felt more meaningful than anything the pamphlet actually contained.
Soon, he arrived at the location of the guild.
The building stood out with deliberate authority, cleaner stonework, sharper lighting, and the constant flow of people who either knew exactly where they were going or were trying very hard to pretend they did.
The man selling the masks was still there, with dozens of clients, while the man selling torches was standing with a bored expression on his face.
The contrast between the two vendors was almost comedic if you ignored what they represented. One surrounded by constant motion, the other by stillness.
"No sales?" Kael asked as he approached the man.
His footsteps slowed slightly as he got closer, registering the fatigue in the vendor’s posture.
"Ah, yeah, slow day... what can you do..."
The vendor didn’t even fully straighten. Just acknowledged existence with practiced resignation.
"Looks like not many are interested in the torches," Kael said.
The torch rack behind him sat untouched, its items reflecting faint ambient light like dormant warnings.
"Not like they have a choice, anyone who climbs needs one or two." The vendor said.
Kael’s gaze flicked briefly over the torches again, recalculating value versus necessity.
"But why are you not selling?" Kael asked.
The question came more out of analysis than curiosity.
"Because most don’t climb, they’ve given up." The vendor replied.
That answer landed heavier than expected, not emotionally, but structurally, like a fact that explained too many other facts at once.
"How much for a torch?" Kael asked.
His tone stayed steady, but his attention sharpened.
"Oh, just two cores," a glint appeared on the vendor’s face.
The shift in expression was immediate and practiced, like a switch flipped behind the eyes.
"For something that’s supposed to save your life, two cores is very cheap."
"Look at that idiot, buying a Vanitas torch at sub floor 10." Someone said.
The voice came from nearby, casual, amused, aimed like a stone thrown without commitment.
A couple of adventurers who were standing next to the mask vendor were interested in the only person buying a torch. Or more like laughing at him.
Their attention wasn’t subtle. It pooled around Kael like ambient pressure, testing reaction speed rather than dignity.
"Don’t listen to them, man, although the chances of ending up in a Vanitas Floor on sub ten floors are almost zero, it’s not nonexistent. It happened before."
The vendor’s voice cut through the noise with reluctant honesty.
Kael thought for a second. Two cores weren’t much. But he still didn’t understand the use of the torch.
His fingers hovered near the counter edge, not committing yet.
"Care to explain what a Vanitas Floor is?" Kael asked.
The question changed the atmosphere slightly. A few nearby voices quieted just enough to listen.
"Ah, are you a newbie? With that build? No shot..." the man said.
His eyes scanned Kael with quick, dismissive appraisal.
"Fresh out of the newbie reception area."
A faint pause followed, like the idea had to be recalculated.
"But you don’t need this torch, you’re not even a guild member... how will you even climb, they won’t allow you to go beyond the first boss..."
The statement hung there, heavy with assumed certainty, like a rule of nature rather than policy.
"I got my ways, just explain,"
Kael didn’t shift his stance. Didn’t step back. Just waited, still and deliberate, like a pressure system refusing to move.
"Fine. Then, listen carefully..."
