The Lone Wanderer

‘Draw any three runes 300 times in total, in under 6000 rits, with at least a 95% success rate. Each individual rune has to be drawn at least 50 times.’

‘Shit.’

Percy only knew the concealment and pocket runes, but the latter didn’t even work without space mana, nor had he practiced them much.

The book on the concealment runes that Gabe had lent him had contained other variants besides the “general” one he was using. Though most of those involved specific mana types that he didn’t have access to. For example, there was a variant that needed fire and air mana – emulating the light affinity – which turned an object dim. Supposedly, that was the cornerstone of more complex enchantments to even turn something translucent. There were even some variants using fire or water that could be used to hide an object’s heat signature – achieving the same result via different principles.

In any case, most of that had been useless for him, either because he lacked the corresponding affinities, or because the effects didn’t particularly interest him. If he wanted to get through this wave, he’d have to learn some new enchantments.

‘It’s not so bad… That was my goal in coming here in the first place. But I suppose I’ll have to adjust my schedule slightly.’

“Cube. Abort the challenge. Also, tell me if you have any runes for preserving souls. User ID: WANDERER.”

“Challenge aborted. Wave failed.”

“Authorization granted. Evaluating request…”

Of course, he already knew he’d be hard pressed to find any enchantments for storing mana directly. As he’d learned a long time ago, a mortal’s mana was much more difficult to preserve for an extended period of time. Maybe there was a way to compress a lot of mortal mana into divine mana, but even if there was, he very much doubted he’d be able to draw a rune capable of withstanding such a process.

In other words, his only option was to take a step back and look for a way to delay a soul from deteriorating. That way, they could gather a lot more food for Micky to eat at once, giving him a ton of mana in one go.

“Evaluation complete. There are 4568 books, 14531 research logs, 72 encyclopaedias and 485736 news reports that mention “rune”, “preserve” and “soul”. Part of the selection is restricted for your grade. Only 4287 books, 3765 research logs, 20 encyclopaedias and 267890 news reports are available for purchase. Total cost: 475399 credits. Current balance: 90.”

“Geez. It’s even worse than the last time. Ok… Leave only mentions of standalone runes that can be drawn by beginners below Yellow. Filter out any runes not in the Vault’s language. No point in learning those if I plan on learning magiscript in the future. Leave only runes that need the soul affinity – I imagine those will be more effective for the job.”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. There are 8 books, 4 research logs, 1 encyclopaedias and 367 news reports available for purchase. Total cost: 1007 credits. Current balance: 90.”

‘Hmmm… Maybe I’d be better served buying some sort of index of beginner runes rather than trying to look for them one at a time?’

At the end of the day, Percy had no clue how he was meant to navigate the database. The gods certainly haven’t made it particularly intuitive.

“What’s the title of the encyclopaedia?”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. The encyclopaedia is titled ‘10000 magiscript runes for beginners’. The encyclopaedia is valued at 200 credits. Current balance: 90.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

‘I’ll be damned! That sounds exactly like the kind of thing I need!’

Percy’s avian heart skipped a beat, though there were still a few issues to solve. And not just the fact he couldn’t afford the book quite yet.

“How deeply does the encyclopaedia delve into each rune? Is there enough material there to learn them?”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. The encyclopaedia lists the runes, their requirements, a few of the most common variants, and their function. The preamble notes ‘…this encyclopaedia is mostly meant to be used as an index of common runes, not a teaching aide…’”

Creasing his brow, Percy doused his bubbling enthusiasm. As he had expected, this was too good to be true. Gabe had lent him an entire book on just the topic of concealment runes alone. Buying detailed information on 10000 runes with a measly 200 credits was, frankly, impossible.

‘The encyclopaedia is still going to be useful for me later on. I should get it as soon as I can. For now, I’ll have to focus on the runes I want.’

“Cube, are the remaining 8 books all focused on specific runes?”

“Evaluating request…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Evaluation complete. The 8 books are titled ‘Preservation rune, Vol. 1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 16, 19, 20’ respectively. Each delves into different variants of the ‘preservation’ rune. These include the variants that meet the previous search criteria. Total cost: 80 credits. Current balance: 90.”

“Ok. Does any one of the tomes include variants suitable for preserving living souls, dead souls, mana constructs and perishable objects?”

Percy’s query wasn’t random. One part of his goal was to preserve a few corpses for Micky to eat, but he also hoped to learn a rune he could use to patch his clones’ souls more effectively. That might allow him to extend his trips even further. As for the last part – well, preservation runes were widely used. It would be nice to learn a variant suitable for his Soul Harvester, or something to keep food fresh for longer.

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. Volumes 5, 9 and 20 meet all the search criteria. Total cost: 30 credits. Current balance: 90.”

Percy couldn’t help but grin. He was certain he’d find what he was looking for somewhere in these three books, and the price was already affordable. Of course, he could try narrowing it down some more to save a few more credits, but he’d rather browse through the options and pick the most effective variant to learn.

“Is there any discount for somebody’s first purchase? Or a free tutorial for beginners? How are kids with no credits meant to delve into the challenges in the first place?”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. User is eligible for ‘beginner’s bundle’. ‘Beginner’s bundle’ contains: 30 portions of sizian meat, allowance of 50 credits to be spent on reading material.”

“Seriously? How come I wasn’t informed of this? Was I supposed to just guess it exists?”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. All users are automatically notified about the ‘beginner’s bundle’ upon awakening their core. User’s core has already awakened. User should have been informed already.”

Percy tried to roll his eyes again, only to be reminded his host couldn’t do that. He wasn’t sure if Metatron was deliberately being a prick, or if he had genuinely forgotten to mention this, but he was inching towards the former. Either way, this was good news.

“Leave the sizian meat for now.”

He didn’t know if he could sell it back to the cube for credits, but he might need it in the future if one of his clones ended up in need of a quick snack.

“Use my allowance to purchase those three books. I’m also looking for a ‘control’ rune that is compatible with ‘pocket’ runes and spatial amulets. It must be usable with space mana, but I’d like a variant that can also be drawn with other types for broader applications.”

Naturally, this rune was mostly for Nesha, though Percy wouldn’t mind something he could use himself. It would enrich his arsenal, not only to get him through this challenge, but to hopefully allow him to craft more intricate enchantments in the future.

“Confirmed. Deducting credits. New balance: 90. Additional allowance: 20. Delivery in 6 rits.”

“Evaluating request…”

Percy picked up the books from the hole, before the cube assessed his second request.

“Evaluation complete. There are 4 books that meet the previous search criteria. They are titled ‘Control rune, Vol. 7, 8, 18, 21’ respectively. Each book contains at least one variant that is compatible with space mana, pocket runes, spatial amulets, and general applications. Total cost: 40 credits. Current balance: 90. Additional allowance: 20.”

Percy sighed. This was going to be a lot of reading, and he only had two weeks to get through it before it was time to resume the challenges. Still, it couldn’t be helped. The concealment rune had already made him stronger, and the new ones promised to do the same.

“Do it. Use the allowance first.”

If he finished all his tasks in time, there was one more thing he hoped to get by the end of his trip. He had no idea if they even had anything like that, or if he’d have enough credits for it, but it would qualitatively improve his kit if he managed to get his hands on it.

Suddenly, he had a strange thought.

‘Huh. Navigating the cube’s database is a bit of a pain, but I’d never imagined shopping would be so much fun...’