B4 Chapter 476: Runewrights, Finale

Standing deep in the bowels of the governor’s manor, Kaius locked eyes with the grey-bearded runewrights. While he could have taken the outburst as rude, he wasn’t enough of a fool to do so — no matter how much the chamberlain, Fyfen, looked like he wanted to keel over in embarrassment.

Tradesmen — even ones as specialised and knowledgeable as runewrights — weren’t exactly known for their highly polished etiquette. Besides, he’d probably react the same in their shoes. It wasn’t often some too-strong youngster turned up with runes carved into their bloody face, let alone ones that were so clearly completely foreign and complex.

“The system calls it a glyph — they’re specialised body formations,” Kaius said with an easy grin.

The runewright named Garth snorted. “Body formations my bloody arse — things are so bloody titchy that there’s only four documented methods of keeping them reliably stable. That has none of them. By the dead ground beneath my feet, it doesn’t even have any Simenoan to keep it stable!”

One of the other runewrights nodded. “Aye. It’s interfacing with your mana all wrong too. Too static, too dense — not flowing right, and I can’t see any evidence of passive effects. There’s always a tell. Always.”

The runewrights seemed to have almost forgotten he was there, focused entirely on the mysteries of the inscription visible on his face. Kaius was having the time of his life, grinning wildly at just how stumped the old men were.

The second runewright who had spoken paused for a moment, giving him a sheepish smile. He tugged at one of the braided lengths of his beard. “Runewright Manthea — though most call me Manthe. You’ve already got Garth’s name, and the quiet one is Lorne.”

Kaius politely inclined his head. “A pleasure to meet you, Runewright Manthe. Fyfen’s already introduced me, but I suppose you could call me Glyphbinder Kaius.”

His words had the desired effect. The runewright, Garth, scowled again. “What does that even mean? Come on, man. This is cruel. Don’t give it to yourself.”

Kaius laughed. As much as he wanted to keep teasing them, they were here to do an important job — though he did intend to savour every moment of his telling.

“Like I said, the system calls them glyphs. Glyphbinding is the art of inscribing and using them, much like a runewright inscribes through normal formations.”

He tapped the central part of the glyph on his temple, the permanent formation where just under a dozen spells coiled off its edges. “It’s for spellcasting — the central array and controller that is permanent and bound to me, with additional formations, one for each cast of a spell.”

All three of the runewrights frowned. They’d made an assumption — one Kaius had thought was likely, and one that was utterly incorrect. He grinned.

“But… why?” the runewright — Lorne — said. “It must be astonishingly inefficient. Why go through all that effort when you could just learn to cast like a normal mage? You’re more flexible. Stronger. Easier. Hells, the channelling time would be much faster too. I get that — probably means you can focus more of your skills on fighting armoured as you are — but what’s the point? It’s not like you could channel up close anyway.”

There it was. That fundamental reason he had pursued this in the first place — and something that Kaius very much enjoyed explaining, their misconceptions.

Even Fyfen, standing politely to the side while they got acquainted, was looking at him with curiosity.

Seeing his wide grin, the runewrights narrowed their eyes.

“Because,” Kaius paused, drawing the moment out, “I don’t need to channel.”

All of the effort went into their inscription. “And when I wish to cast, I simply will it so. Hence why they have so much mana tied up in them. They sequester a portion of my pool.”

“Impossible!” Garth spluttered, nearly stamping his foot. “Your tugging on our beards — trying to make fools of us! You can’t simply violate one of the most basic rules of spellcasting, no matter how complex those runes look!”

Ah. Vindication was a sweet thing. It wasn’t often that somebody was told by a seasoned professional of their craft that they’d managed to do the impossible — especially not with so much vehemence.

He’d witnessed disbelief before, of course. Ianmus most of all. But Ianmus was a mage, not a runewright. There were certain subtleties to the art they just couldn’t appreciate in the way that they deserved.

“Not impossible. Just ruinously complex. I can show you, if you would like. Most of my spells have a more combat-centred focus, but Eirnith is visible, and its spells are harmless, in a sense.”

“You are serious, then? This is no bluff?” Manthe said, incredulous, the formation at their feet forgotten as he circled round the edge of the room to approach Kaius, his eyes drilling into Eirnith the entire time.

“I’m serious,” Kaius replied. “One of my Eirnith spells is Compel Obsession. It forces a target’s attention to something of my choosing. I largely use it for distractions in battle to create openings. But if you would like, I can use it on you and set your attention to the glyph — though, at this point, I’m not sure if you would notice much difference.” He gave the man a teasing grin.

“Please. You’re a Silver of repute with the guild. You say it is not harmful, then it is not harmful. Besides, I must experience this for myself.”

Before Kaius could respond, he heard a polite cough behind him — the chamberlain, Fyfen.

“I beg your pardon, but is this most appropriate? I understand that this is novel, but the city formation needs inspection.”

Garth waved the man off immediately. “Bah. If he’s managed that, then we will have this tuned in no time. Even if he’s a bumbling fool and knows nothing of the formation itself, we’ve already derived its function while you were fetching him. We need a bit more magical oomph to find the flaws where the runes have degraded. If he’s telling the truth, then I have no doubt he’ll have the stats and skills to do that. We’ll have this thing fixed in a few hours.”

The chamberlain shot Kaius a questioning look, to which he gave the man a nod. If that’s all they needed him for, it was something he was more than confident in. His mental stats were outsized, and he had a good mana manipulation skill that was far more suited for internal work, for obvious reasons. He’d had experience teasing out formations that were far more complex and finely wrought than this one — albeit perhaps not quite so large.

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Fyfen sighed in relief. “In which case, I’ll leave you to your work and your demonstration. I have far more matters to attend to.” The man nodded at the other runewrights. “I’ve already left you with an artefact to notify me once you are done. I’ll come to lead you out of these chambers and secure them behind you.”

“Go with the gods, chamberlain,” Garth said as the man abruptly left, hurrying down the halls and out of sight.

As soon as he rounded the corner, all three of the old men snapped back to Kaius, drilling him with their eyes.

“This Compel Obsession. Show us. I need to see it with my own eyes,” Garth hissed.

“All of you?” Kaius questioned.

Their only responses were a simultaneous nod.

“Well, all right then,” Kaius said.

Taking a breath, he reached for the bound mana in his glyph. Targeting each of the elderly runewrights, he drove his will into Compel Obsession, urging the men to focus on the glyphs on his temples and the individual inscriptions of the spells he had cast as they burned away.