The rest of the evening was spent away from town practicing with Fireball. Despite both being ranged projectiles, the spell was vastly different from Stone Shot in terms of how fast it travelled, how wind affected it, and how much damage it could do. It had already proved itself to be immensely effective against swarms of monsters, such as those birds back in the sky fragment. But before he started hurling it around more regularly, Vin wanted to ensure he knew exactly where the spell would end up landing, and what it would do. Both of those factors changed depending on the amount of mana he dumped into it with Runic Recalibration, which meant the only way he could learn was through practice. Helping Witherson test out the sturdiness of her structures the other day had been good practice, but not nearly enough to make him comfortable casting it with allies nearby.

While he was capable of surviving blowing himself up, the same couldn't be said for his friends.

Well, most of them. Alka was something of a unique case.

Speaking of Alka, Vin had asked around and confirmed that Alka and her Slayers were still over in the infernals' new fragment, no doubt waiting for Tiffany before making the journey back to Terra. There had been a slow but steady trickle of combat classes returning to Terra over the past couple of days as more and more people inevitably flunked out of her insanely tough Slayer training, but like she had suspected, far more were managing to hang in there than with the previous batch.

The poor souls.

When the sun started going down and even Vin's massive mana pool grew low, he decided to call it a night and head back to town. As he walked, he looked at his interface, deciding it was finally time to think about doing something about a few points that had been growing in number recently. He'd placed his three newest points from the last level up into endurance, focus, and magic in order to keep them all nice and balanced, but those weren't the only points he had to think about.

Vinnie Stone

Adventurer of the Arcane: Lvl 42

Titles: Human Vessel (Lesser), Common Ally (Minor), Generalist Mage, Epic Monster Slayer, Spell Weaver

Exp. 870,060/903,000

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 26

Endurance: 64

Vigor: 25

Focus: 64

Magic: 64

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 5

Passive Points: 0

Class Ability: Beyond the Veil

Vows/Boons: Vow of Benevolence/Grace of Gods (Boon)

Capstone: Runic Recalibration, Flexible Formations

Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot, Distance Runner, Threat Detection, Iron Mind, Mana Well, Artifact Extraordinaire, Magical Adept

Skills: Tracking lvl 12, Runecraft lvl 20, Introspection lvl 18, Dungeoneering lvl 12, Total Resistance lvl 12, Running lvl 17, Cartography lvl 7, Drawing lvl 8, Swimming lvl 14

Tier 0 Spells: Sense Stone (earth), Sense Life (life), Sense Magic (neutral), Sense Curse (curse), Sense Air (air), Sense Dimensions (spatial), Sense Vibrations (vibration), Sense Death (death), Sense Fire (fire), Sense Water (water), Sense Soul (soul), Sense Gravity (gravity)

Tier 1 Spells: Renewal (life), Entangle (nature), Replenish (nature), Light (light), Summon Stone (earth), Concealment (neutral), Familiar Pheromones (nature), Whispering Wind (air), Create Water (water), Isolate Dimension (spatial), Tremorsense (vibration), Decay (death), Neutralize Poison (life), Detect Truth (soul), Create Flame (fire), Enhance Gravity (gravity), Create Air (air), Slow Fall (air), Protection from Fire (fire), Extinguish (fire)

Tier 2 Spells: Stone Shot (earth), Stone Wall (earth), Stone Shape (earth), Stone Furniture (earth), False Life (death), Dimensional Sheath (spatial), Aqua Sphere (water), Redirect Gravity (gravity), Fireball (fire), Create Cloud (air), Magic Lock (spatial)

As of this point, Vin was officially up to five skill points just lying around collecting dust in his interface. Not only that, he would continue to get more every other level, other than the levels which granted a Capstone. Originally, the thought of using any of his skill points to manually level up his skills had seemed like a massive waste, seeing as he could get the exact same results by putting in a few hours of hard work and dedicated practice. But that was before the revelation that a person was only allowed to have ten skills in total. Now that he'd filled up nine of his ten slots, he only needed to devote a single one of his many points for that final skill, or two if it was a general skill. After that, he really only had two options. Devote his remaining skill points to evolving skills that hit the level 20 cap and had an evolution available, or use them to force their levels to go up.

He'd been excited to push Runecraft up to level 20, but after finally hitting that benchmark, he'd grown worried that level 20 might be as far as the skill grew. The System hadn't offered him an option to evolve the already evolved skill a second time, and even after creating a brand-new spell and working quite rigorously on his magic, it hadn't leveled up again. Vin knew he'd sound crazy if he told anyone, but it almost felt as if the skill itself was waiting for something.

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Vin stared at what was arguably his most used skill, teetering back and forth on what he was about to do. He wasn't one to second guess himself and spend hours agonizing over a decision, but he also didn't want to waste any of his limited points allotted by the System. In the end, it was the thought of how much more easily messing around with runic formations the Runecraft skill made things with every level that pushed him to finally go for it. With only one final moment of hesitation, Vin focused on Runecraft and attempted to manually level the skill using one of his five points.

At first, the effort seemed almost... difficult. As if he were attempting something that the System hadn't been quite ready for, and it was only now snapping awake, looking around in confusion as it tried to figure out what was going on. But the strange sensation wasn't exactly bad, so Vin didn't stop what he was doing. Continuing to push against that invisible barrier, Vin strained ever so slightly, until finally, he felt an almost intangible pop, and he received the notification he'd been waiting for.

Runecraft increased to lvl 21!

Vin actually missed a step as he read over the notification, his eyes going wide as he realized manually leveling the skill had actually worked. He hadn't received any experience for doing so, which was more than fair, but the skill had gone up nonetheless. Excited, he quickly dropped another two points into it. Unlike with his previous level up, increasing the skill further was as easy as breathing, and he eagerly watched as two more of his skill points vanished and the skill ticked up twice more in quick succession.

Runecraft increased to lvl 22!

Runecraft increased to lvl 23!

He was tempted to drop all five of his open skill points into Runecraft right then and there to bring it up to a nice round level 25, but common sense prevailed at the last moment. He still had an empty skill slot waiting for him to fill up at some point, and he also had high hopes that Introspection, the evolved form of Meditation, would be able to be evolved again once it hit the level 20 cap once more. Holding onto his final two skill points seemed like the safe thing to do, and he'd have more soon enough. Spending all his points now would be reckless and foolhardy.

That said…

There was something about his Runecraft skill that sang to him, as if taunting him and whispering that it was nearing completion and just needed a little more help. These strange, infrequent sensations had begun shortly after he'd prestiged to level 40, and while he wasn't certain if it was just his new class or if they were tied to his Beyond the Veil ability, he was quickly growing to trust in them. He'd made quite a number of arcane discoveries this way, and he hadn't been led astray so far.

Before he could change his mind, Vin dumped his final two skill points into Runecraft as well, holding his breath as he read over the notifications.

Runecraft increased to lvl 24!

Runecraft increased to lvl 25!

That quiet, subtle voice in the back of his mind vanished the moment he leveled up the skill, and Vin frowned. If he'd just been played by the System, he was going to give the Gods a piece of his-

Vin gasped and fell to his knees as the world seemed to explode into runic formations. For one brief, beautiful moment, everything around him was reduced to runes. The grass billowing in the wind. The sun shining down from up high. Even his own hands and the air he breathed. All of it was wild magic given structure by beings far beyond his comprehension, and while he couldn't make heads or tails of anything he was witnessing, for the first time in his life, he saw what the universe truly was.

Chaos incarnate, brought to heel by the power of runes.

Just as quickly as it had come, the vision vanished, and Vin found himself twitching on the ground in the fetal position. Slowly, he pushed himself up into a more comfortable sitting position, blinking and rubbing his eyes as he tried to center himself once more.

During that brief, chaotic moment where he peered behind the Godly curtain, even he had been converted to runes. The sensation of not having a physical body and understanding that his entire body was technically made up of magic at the smallest level was more than a little concerning, to say the least.

Once he'd somewhat collected himself, he peered at his two newest notifications.

Runecraft evolved to Manacraft!

Grand Arcane Discovery! 25,000 exp gained.

Shaking his head, Vin struggled back to his feet and wobbled in place for a moment. He almost had to relearn what it meant to have legs again after that vision, and not even the revelation that his skill had in fact evolved a second time was enough to bring a smile to his face. He felt almost ill in a way, down to his very core, as if his flesh and blood didn't truly feel like his own anymore.

Like it was some fake imitation that had been formed without his permission.

Something to be corrected rather than used.

His own mana pool, largely depleted after his Fireball practice, sang to him, as if reaching out to an old friend it had finally caught a glimpse of after countless years. He couldn't shake the sensation that his very own mana, something he'd grown immensely proud of and always looked forward to increasing, had awoken somehow. The hunger he felt from within his own core sent a chill down his spine, almost as if it were a wild beast raging against the confines of his core, desperate to free the mana making up the rest of his body that had been bound and locked up via the wicked runes.

Why is it every time I make one of these 'grand' arcane discoveries, I immediately wish I hadn't?

With an unintentional moan, Vin forced himself to continue forward, barely even noting his surroundings as he staggered back toward town. He briefly noted the concerned looks on the guards' faces manning Terra's front gate, but neither of them were quite brave enough to stop him as he trudged into town. Somehow, he managed to make it all the way back to his apartment without collapsing, but he didn't quite make it those last few feet to his bed.

Total Resistance increased to lvl 13! 2,600 exp gained.

Not even his resistance skill was powerful enough to fight off whatever was happening to him, though it did buy him time to get out of the public eye and make it somewhere safe. Vin closed the apartment door and made it a few feet toward the common room, before his body finally gave out and he collapsed hard to the ground, banging his head on the way down. He heard a door open somewhere and the sounds of someone calling out his name, but sound itself didn't seem to be working correctly anymore, almost as if it were being half-converted into runes, and his eardrums didn't know what to do with the information.

"Lumel?" he tried to mutter, struggling and failing to lift his head as the mana making up his very muscles rebelled against the control he'd always had over them. No matter how hard he tried, his body refused to listen to his commands, and his vision swam. The world was deconstructed once more, turning into a mixture of colors and runes as the mana trapped not within, but as his body, attempted to break free of its restraints.

The last thing he saw before darkness saved him from the runic assault was a flash of gold washing everything away.

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