"Interesting," said Fallon, glancing at her rune. "You're only a Journeyman currently."

He said it as a statement but Beth still replied, "Yes, Journeyman[3]."

"A better start than some," Zane said, taking his sphere of runes and flicking it to the side, where it shot out the doorway of the room before exploding into a dazzling array of lights and sounds, a refreshing wind smelling of mint and chamomile washing back through the room.

"How'd you do that?" asked Blood with a frown.

"With ease," Zane replied, some amusement in his voice.

"That's not what I meant," Blood muttered grumpily, slouching in her chair.

"Well, let me explain it like this," he said, forming a single rune over his hand, though in comparison to Beth, it was a master painter versus a child with finger paints. "Here were have two ideas, or perhaps three. The first idea is that runes are the manifestation of magic; they give form and direction to mana. Anything can be done with magic. Anything. Runes are the true language of magic, and they represent, in a viewable, readable, arrangeable form the physical element of magic.

"Before going further with that, let me offer an example. We all have skills, ones that we use to perform certain actions; some skills may buff you, some may heal you or others, some may create a specific type of attack. But I ask you; how does a skill actually work? What are the mechanics that allow a skill to do what it does?" he said to them, looking at them all, even Mortaine.

"Well, it's a certain way to move mana," Beth started.

"A certain way of moving mana how? Something specific," he said, interrupting her, causing them all to frown, though Mortaine, it seemed, was much more aware of where Zane was going with this little lecture than the others.

"Well, it's, like, a pattern-" Beth began again.

"A pattern, you say?" Zane said, snapping his fingers and pointing at her. "A specific pattern? As in, a very specific way in which the mana moves, in a precise arrangement, in a precise order and timing?"

"I don't get it," Beth said.

"I do," said Sera. When they all looked at her, she explained, "You're saying that what we're doing with skills are runes."

"Hmm, close," he said, holding up his right hand with the forefinger and thumb a little space apart. "Close, close, but not quite. What I'm saying is that what a skill does, at low level, is a crude imitation of a set of runes. The way the mana flows through your body, and/or the air around you, creates a set of pseudo-runes, sometimes that set being two such pseudo-runes and no more, that creates a magic effect. These aren't, exactly, runes like I have hovering over my hand right now. It is, for lack of a much better term, its own branch of rune language that simplifies some things. Come, watch."

He stood up and moved to the center of the room, gesturing them to stay seated but to look at him. "I said I'd demonstrate, and I will," he said. "What skills do you have? What's something you've got that isn't too hard to imitate, eh?"

"I had Monstrous Blow, but I just upgraded it," Beth said tentatively. "That might be easy, depending on what you're thinking."

"Of course," Zane said, making a gesture that caused a group of runes to appear in front of him. At another gesture, a training dummy appeared, something that was some combination of mechanical contrivance and magic work. "I don't have Monstrous Blows, just to explain, but I can do the exact same thing."

Zane then created a complex array of runes, which he made hover in front of himself for a few moments before the runes entered his body. His arms and torso visibly swelled with power and strength before he lashed out, using his arm as the sword and his hand as the cutting section of the blade. The dummy moved into a guard posture as Zane struck, the blow knocking it off its feet and slamming it into the ground with a thunderous report, many pieces cracking and breaking, though the floor itself remained, strangely enough, entirely untouched.

"You see," Zane said, making the dummy disappear and walking back over to them, "any effect that a skill can create or any affect to a body or such can be done with runes."

"Why wouldn't you just learn runes, then?" Beth said.

"Why indeed," Fallon interjected. "There are several good reasons. First, the study of runes is time-consuming, and while you are focused on such a course, you are really not gaining much immediate power. That is also a problem as you are not undergoing rebirths and extending your lifespan in any meaningful way. It would do you no good to study runes for fifty years only to be seventy with a lifespan of roughly a hundred years and barely any time to do anything before your body is too decayed and sunk in senescence to properly fight."

"Speed is also a problem," Mortaine added. "While Zane makes this look easy, and fast, it is neither. When you used the skill Monstrous Blow, you could enhance your physical body with the skill in but a few fractions of a second. Until you have a vast and deep mastery of runes, it would take you far longer to do the same thing and, as you are aware, even a tenth of a second can be the line between life and death in a combat situation."

"Mana efficiency is your third problem," Zane continued after resuming his seat. "What I just did mimicked a Gold[0] use of Monstrous Blow, but I likely used close to double the mana to cast it that you would have when your skill was at that level. And that's with me being very skilled with runes, having studied them for many millennia; a novice would do even worse and it could be dangerous. Putting too much or too little mana into a complex sequence of runes leads to less than pleasant results. I suppose, if creating a massive explosion that blows up everybody, yourself included, is your goal, then it's just fine. But if you want to use a bit of finesse, then that wouldn't exactly be a good thing. Which also means mana control and manipulation are very important to doing things with runes."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"But spell casters will use runes," Beth interjected. "My youngest sister started as an Early Sorceress and she uses runes to cast sometimes. Though, I don't know what class she is now."

Fallon waved a hand dismissively, saying, "Of course, she used runes. She used one or two very basic or elementary runes to help channel her mana, likely to help it shift into a specific element. But she was not constructing entire skill forms, or even entire spell forms, using just runes. The runes were just basic assistances in helping her get the desired result. If you think back to it, I would wager that even her fastest casts took more time than you could use something like Monstrous Blow in, and that after she practiced a while."

"Well, that's true," Beth said. "She liked to shoot lightning from her fingertip, which she got pretty good at, but even that took up to a second to build up. She used a kind of frost orb attack to start a fight a lot, when the beasts weren't looking at her, and that took something like five seconds to cast."

"Exactly," said Fallon. "I'm not saying this is not useful, nor am I saying that you can't do what we were just discussing and use runes to do the same things as skills. I am especially not saying that you can't use runes for spell forms, for that is one area where you can separate a skilled caster from an unskilled. If you see your youngest sister using complex arrays of runes to cast spells, including multiple spells at once, she is actually on the correct path. You want to use runes for more complex spell forms, but I don't want to lecture too far down that branch, seeing how I don't think any of the three of you are casting complex spells."

"I mean, it could be useful," Beth said, glancing at the others.

"Well, a very brief explanation," Fallon said. "A proficient spell caster is someone who will cast multiple spells at once. The way they will do this, however, is by building multiple rune structures at once in sequence. What that means is they will build a structure that will make a massive fireball and, before that is finished, they will start building a structure for an ice lance. It makes many casters' biggest weakness the few seconds, at most, it takes them to begin their spell chains. Second to that is if they are casting a spell chain and get interrupted somehow, but it's much the same thing, as the period of starting a spell chain is when they're vulnerable. Of course, there are fast-cast spells and other things that a caster can use to cover that gap, and many will also make use of things like enchanted gear or consumables to cover the gaps or downtime in their casting windows."

"That makes sense," Beth said, seeing Sera and Blood both nodding.

"Anyway, back to what I was saying," said Zane. "Runes are a manifestation of magic, we've covered that. Next, runes imprint your mana on the space around you to create magic. This is an important point; when I explained that I was imprinting my will onto the base fabric of this dimension, I was explaining something important. Runes bind to what you draw them on, and I was not merely drawing them on the air. The substrate matters for it affects everything that those runes do and even how they function. Carving runes into steel produces a different effect, even if extremely minimal, than carving them in copper. Like I said, this is a more advanced theory, and you needn't worry about all its intricacies for a long time, but you should keep in mind that the substrate matters. I assure you, though it might not be relevant right now, but the difference between me forming the runes in the air and me forming the runes imprinted into the dimensional fabric matter."

"This is something Enchanters learn early, but it becomes increasingly important for everyone," Fallon mentioned. "The true significance, however, doesn't really come up until you get very advanced with rune usage. For ninety-nine percent of people, there really would be no difference between 'making the runes in the air' or 'making the runes carved into the dimensional fabric.' But to people who are trying to reach new heights of power and magic, the differences are fundamental, and overwhelming."

"Finally," Zane took back over, "the last thing I want to explain is that magic can do anything. Note, I do not say mana; at high levels, making a distinction is important. Mana is the source of energy that permeates everything and what we use to create magic. Magic is a series of effects based off a manipulation of mana. Runes, when studied properly and combined skillfully, can create any magical effect. Need to open a door? Need to create an explosion? Warp across the universe? Transform lead into gold?

"I'm not going to tell you any one thing is easy, or practical, or even possible for some. People have strange notions and odd limits. But runes are the way you manipulate the universe, and it's very important, at higher levels of power, to understand them. It's important to have a foundation in this now, even if it's not something you use for decades or centuries. I can, in fact, give you another demonstration of runes. Come."

He stood again and gesture for them to follow before leading them out into a hallway, which lead to a series of hallways and rooms. He led them into a room that contained a series of different objects in cases and on shelves, a plethora of items of all types on display. There were weapons, armor pieces, consumables such as potions and elixirs, and even strange items that were plates for arrays. The group was suitably impressed, at least Beth and Blood and Sera were, though Beth thought Sera might have seen such rooms before, coming from the clan she did. The dragon girl did, however, still look rather impressed, and Beth got a feeling she wasn't faking it. They explored the room for a few minutes, just looking over everything that was displayed within before Beth wandered to the far side of the sizeable space.

A set of pure white armor, seemingly all of one piece, caught her attention. It stood displayed in what appeared to be a glass case, though Beth got the sense it wasn't glass. The suit stood tall, taller than her by at least a handful of inches, with a ridge along the top of the helmet, two horns that looked expertly sculpted extending back from the forehead, and a fully closed faceplate. The rest of the suit appeared to be made of thousands of small, interlocked scales, though the form was also distinct, the effect of pseudo-muscle and golden accents quite striking.

Zane walked up next to her and made a gesture, the glass case disappearing. Beth took a step forward and placed her hands on the chest plate, leaning forward to examine the suit until her nose almost touched the metal. She was slightly startled when Zane's hand appeared next to hers on the armor, the man staring at the suit with a faraway look in his eyes, seemingly seeing a time and place galaxies away.

"I-I don't…how did this…what-?" Beth stuttered, not able to comprehend what she was seeing.

"It was made by…an old friend of mine. She was perhaps the greatest creator and inventor that has ever lived. She…well, she died, many years ago now, returned to the wheel. I have seen her reborn, her soul singing again before she again returned to that endless cycle. Even now, she lives again, though she remembers not. I could…approach her, but too much time has passed. Too many memories lost. Too much grief," he said.

"And she made this?" Beth asked.

"It is the greatest work she ever made," he explained. "The metal alone that it is made from is so rare and precious it's of incalculable value. To get even a fist-sized piece would be the stuff of legends, as it doesn't ever appear in the 'normal' universe."

He turned to look at her, his eyes glowing with passion as he described the suit. "You must understand what I mean here; even very high-tier dungeons, things that have multiple dimensions and powerful traps, as well as beasts and monsters beyond your imagining, would rarely give you a fingernail-sized piece of the metal. You have to journey far, going to places more dangerous than you can dream, forgotten realms and shattered stars and forbidden zones, places where ancient leviathans slumber and mad Sovereigns roam wild, to even get a few ounces of the material.

"It is entirely made from that metal, Ordraxium, sometimes called 'White Adamantine,' though it is not adamantine, not even related to it. The craftsmanship is far, far beyond even Divine level, as she remade the metal at the atomic level, to the extent of even carving formations into the individual atoms before arranging those atoms within greater formation patterns. I do not understand all of it, but it is the work of a lifetime, the magnum opus of the most talented craftsperson to have ever drawn breath. Just the effects I know of from donning the suit are a quadrupling of all stats, halving of resource costs, a partial reflection of damage of any type to the attacker, a continuous heal of the user with the equivalent of a passive Mithril-level regeneration power, and an effect that makes your Presence cost no stamina to use. Beyond that, it has multiple active abilities that are enough to crack apart a high-tier world, plus some hidden secrets that are always present in her works. Oh, and of course, minus all that, the metal itself, combined with her forging techniques, is so strong that a level one thousand beast couldn't even scratch the paint."

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