Elaine sat on a park bench, fire burning above her hands. The park was a small section of the large plaza that the Guild resided in. She had preferred practicing in the privacy of her dorm, but "concerns" about using fire magic inside had been raised, and she'd been forced to relocate. But that was fine—true genius was often underappreciated in its time.

She chuckled at her own joke before choking it down, glancing around to see if anyone had seen her laughing to herself with fire above her palm like a lunatic. No one was looking in her direction, thankfully.

She returned her focus to the sputtering runes above her outstretched hand. Well, "runes" was perhaps generous. The fire roughly resembled squiggles that could be runes, but they could also be…wriggling worms or something. Keeping fire corralled was tough!

Actually, the limiting factor wasn't the fire itself, but her own mana. She had a decent mana capacity when it came to casting spells, but such intricate workings as these runes taxed her capacity in addition to her mental energy. She thought it similar to how a woodcutter might be able to chop several trees down in a day, yet still run out of energy carving even a simple spoon

She'd been working on the runes nearly nonstop since returning from the job involving the undead. Even when she went to eat or have fun with her new party members, she found herself distracted, always considering new ways to attempt the runes.

Her party with Rowena and Gareth was more or less formal now. That ended up being the case for most students, actually. She wasn't sure if the school intended for it to be the case, but nearly all parties that shadowed adventurers came back with a desire to remain party members. Whether that was due to bonding over shared trauma, familiarity, or something else, she didn't know, but it definitely affected her too.

They'd met a couple times in the few days since the job shadow to practice, discuss tactics, and generally just spend time together. It was ironic, just a week ago, Elaine would've considered this tremendous progress toward her adventurer goals. Now, she couldn't help but be disappointed.

Whenever they'd discuss tactics or practice their party roles, she felt held back by relying solely on her concoctions and fire magic. She felt like there was a whole new world of magic just past her fingertips—if only she could grasp it!

Fwoosh.

Elaine's trailing thoughts snapped back to the fire above her palm, where a simple script now burned the air around it.

ᚱᛖᚲᚺ

Reach

She…she did it! She hadn't even been considering what runes she was making! It was slightly frustrating that it happened unconsciously after she'd been burning her mental energy for days trying, but it worked!

New Skill: Fire Runes acquired!

Congratulations! By grace of the Eidolon, a fragment of a fragment of a Truth has been Revealed to you!

Elaine stared at the notification, speechless. What did any of that mean?! She shook her head, the final line could be considered later. For now, she had Fire Runes!

She held a hand in front of her, palm up, and a script appeared above it for a brief second.

ᛚᛁᚷᚺᛏ

Light

The runes disappeared after just a split second, replaced by a bright yellow sphere. It was incorporeal, she could tell, only meant to create light—nothing else.

Elaine smiled with satisfaction. Based on this single test, she could infer what the Fire Runes were capable of, but she had a bit more experimenting to do. She held her other hand out, and a different script appeared over it briefly.

ᚹᚨᛏᛖᚱ

Water

The runes again disappeared, quickly replaced by a ball of water that was about half the size of the sphere of glowing light she still held in her other hand. She also noted a distinct drain, as if someone had taken a spoon and scooped energy straight from her body.

Her thoughts were clear—one more test.

The water and light disappeared from her hands, and she joined them in front of her—left palm facing the ground, right palm braced against the back of it. A script appeared over her left palm.

ᛚᛁᚷᚺᛏᚾᛁᛜ

Lightning

The runes disappeared, and there was a loud pop followed by the sizzling of grass. Elaine barely noticed as she collapsed to her knees. If the runes for water had taken a spoonful of her energy, this script had bucketed her energy away. She caught herself on the ground with her hands, her face now just an arm's length from the small patch of smoking grass.

Despite feeling like she'd just run for hours, she wore a satisfied smile. She'd made lightning—just a little—but still!

She hadn't even used a lightning spell. She'd made it from runes! That was incredible!

Based on her testing, what Julia had said seemed largely correct, though to an even greater degree. Of course, Julia had been telling her about Mana Runes, and what Elaine had were Fire Runes, so the difference made sense.

The most obvious difference between Rune Magic (that was what she was going to call it) was the small increase in casting time (compared to other magic) where one needed to form the runes themselves. It was minor in the case of her simple scripts, but she could imagine a spell requiring sentences of runes also requiring a substantial amount of casting time.

Julia had also said that it was generally more efficient to learn the actual magic, but runes could substitute in a pinch. This seemed especially true for her Fire Runes. Magical effects that are natural to fire seemed to be quite efficient. Her light script had cost her so little mana that she scarcely even felt it.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

However, conjuring a sphere of water that was half the size had required a noticeable amount of mana, and the lightning had taken what felt like an entire day's worth of energy from her. She felt like she could go to bed right now, despite it not quite being midday yet.

So, the additional considerations with Fire Runes were the increased casting time to actually form the runes, as well as the cost of the magical effect, which depended on how native the effect was to fire already. Those were…extremely manageable considerations for a magic that would effectively allow her to cast any spell she could dream of.

Elaine rocked backward and sat on her haunches, staring at the ground with a smile that refused to leave.

She had a great deal of testing to do.

Completely absorbed in her own thoughts, she was startled by a sudden voice from behind.

"Elaine, would you come with me, please? The Vice Master has summoned you," a messenger she vaguely recognized asked.

Elaine stood up straight, attempting to mask her surprise in the motion.

"Summoned me? What for?" she questioned.

"I don't know. I'm just an administrative messenger. I was told to find you, so I did," the man said with a shrug. She recalled seeing him running about the Guild Hall, always going this way and that in a hurry, so she thought he was probably telling the truth and didn't know anything else.

"Okay…" she hesitantly agreed, following behind him.

They walked through the Entryhall, and Elaine noted that things looked normal. A few layabouts were at the bar, some particularly-late risers were perusing the remaining jobs on the board, and no one seemed in any particular hurry. That was a relief—not that it meant she wasn't in trouble, but at least the trouble she might be in wasn't world-ending or anything.

As they approached the Vice Master's office, the door opened and Gareth walked out. Elaine sent him an inquisitive look, but he merely shrugged and walked past her. That was…fine? At the very least, he didn't look like he'd been expelled or anything.

Despite that light reassurance, Elaine's heart began to beat faster. She could also feel her palms becoming sweaty and hoped she wouldn't have to shake the Vice Master's hand. What would he think of her sweaty palms?!

The messenger knocked on the office door before opening it and ushering her inside, closing it behind her—not entering himself.

She saw the Vice Master along with another man seated opposite each other on couches positioned perpendicular to the fireplace that was the focus of the little sitting area. The Vice Master was sitting in a formal-but-relaxed position, which made Elaine feel better, but the other man was someone she didn't recognize.

He had a strange combination of long brown hair with a receding hairline, his long forehead glinting with the reflection of the firelight. He wore a single, circular eyepiece made of some clear crystal that seemed to sparkle in her periphery, but looked otherwise inert when gazed upon directly.

He had a gaudy robe that covered his body completely, even obscuring his hands, and Elaine knew immediately that he was important—or he thought himself important, at least.

"Ah, Elaine. Thank you so much for joining us. Please, have a seat," the Vice Master said with a warm smile. He motioned to the chair opposite the fireplace, at the head of the little table that sat in the middle of all the furniture. This effectively placed her between this man and the Vice Master, though the two were still directly facing each other, with her off to their sides.

"Allow me to introduce Lord Rivlaven," the Vice Master introduced, gesturing to the man across from him.

The man smiled at her, and Elaine went completely rigid, only managing a polite nod—or what she hoped was polite. This man was one of the city's Lords?! Why was he here—why was she meeting him?!

"Lord Rivlaven has come to ask some questions about your recent job shadowing. However, do note that adventurers are not obligated to share details about their jobs to anyone save the Guild, and the Guild decides how that information is disseminated externally.

"You are, of course, permitted to speak as freely as you wish about jobs you have undertaken. The only exception is if the Guild has specifically requested you to keep certain details private, which has not happened for this specific job.

"Basically, you are entitled to speak as much or little as you wish about your own Guild business. I am here to make sure you do not feel pressured to speak if you do not wish. I am sure Lord Rivlaven understands that his position and status places pressure on people, even if it is not his intention," the Vice Master said, sending a pointed look to the man.

"Indeed! It is certainly not my intention to upset or pressure promising future adventurers!" he exclaimed with a loud chuckle. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, Miss Elaine, would you give me a rundown of what happened while on your job shadow?"

Elaine sent an uncertain look toward the Vice Master, but she received a simple shrug in response—what did that mean?! She resolved to be honest but vague.

"Um—yes. We were sent out to find a couple villagers that had gone missing over the past few days…or was it weeks they'd been missing…" she trailed off, trying to remember the details—she'd been so excited at the time that many specifics of the job had fled her mind.

"How did that go? It did not proceed as expected, I understand," the Lord said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, um…we were attacked by a bunch of creatures that I hadn't ever seen or heard of before. They were frightening," she explained.

"I am very sorry you experienced that, my dear. What happened to those creatures? How did you make it out unharmed?" he prompted.

Elaine brightened.

"Oh, the fog! The yellow eyes in the fog—it was so cool—" she started, but a scratching noise cut her rant off short. The Lord had begun scratching something into a book that he seemed to have acquired from nowhere.

"Oh, do not mind me. I am simply taking notes. This old memory is not as good as it used to be, you see," he chuckled, smiling at Elaine. She didn't know why, but whenever he smiled, she felt…icky.

She glanced over at the Vice Master, who shook his head at her.

"You are not obligated to say anything. And do recall that you were not on the job alone. Anything you reveal could be something that someone else would wish to remain secret. Adventurers often keep trump cards and abilities hidden for their own safety," the Vice Master explained.

Elaine nodded at him before turning back to the Lord.

"Anyway, the adventurer parties managed to hold the creatures off before Julia wiped them all out. It was very impressive, but I don't understand everything that happened, honestly. There was a lot of magic that felt like it should be impossible…" she said, again trailing off.

"I see. That is…something. Is there anything more that you can say?" he asked. He sent her what she thought was a pleading look, but his eyes never changed. They didn't shift when he smiled, when he frowned, or even with this current, pleading look—they were constant, as though no expression ever reached them.

"That's all I really remember. It was exciting, but the danger has made my memory fuzzy. I'm sorry," she said, the Vice Master nodding to her.

"Thank you for your explanation, Elaine. You can leave now," he said with a smile.

Elaine smiled back and nodded, grateful for the dismissal. She saw that the Lord's attention had left her the moment he realized she wasn't going to say anything else. He was scribbling in that book of his once again, as if both she and the Vice Master had left the room.

What was that about? she thought as she closed the office door behind her.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.