2024-05-28 18:11:14Talon didn’t reach Eryndor until the next day. Even with the Ring of Vitality keeping his stamina up, he still had to rest a couple of times. Thankfully, he didn’t encounter any threats during the journey. There was a good chance that Eren’s massive attacks had chased away all the predators within a kilometer radius, but he couldn't be sure.
Eryndor was a large town protected by five-meter-tall stone walls. Guards patrolled the walls, and a few ballistas were mounted for defense. The town gate, made of oak wood, was only shut during bandit raids and at night. Since Talon arrived just before noon, the gates were still open.
Outside the town, open fields stretched out, with farmers busy planting crops. Talon stood just behind the tree line, watching the farmers go about their business. After what happened to him, it would be foolish to appear openly in town. If anyone recognized him, the Verdant Brothers would soon hear about it, even if they weren’t currently in town.
‘Risky, too risky,’ he thought.
He decided to wait until nightfall to find a way to sneak into town. In the meantime, he stepped deeper into the forest without drawing attention to himself.
---
Talon climbed a tree and settled in to wait for the day to pass. He reflected on the last few hours, finding it all too fantastical to believe. To confirm that everything wasn’t a dream, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness inward.
His inner world now existed, a space within every person but never this clear or open. He could see his inner world like a small void within his mind or body. No one knew much about where the inner world was exactly. It was said to be a person’s subconscious, but even the Awakened adventurers he had asked over the years couldn’t give a concrete answer.
In his inner world, a core floated with incomprehensible patterns on it, one of which was alit.
‘Is this what they call runes?’ he wondered. He didn’t know what else they could be, even though he had never seen them before.
He opened his eyes and thought of the book he bought on runes.
‘System.’
The translucent screen appeared in front of him again. He clicked inventory with a thought, and the items available in his personal space were listed. Apart from the bronze door and stone podium, everything else was counted as part of his inventory. He chose the book, Introduction to Runes and Quintessence, and it appeared in his grasp immediately, without fanfare.
‘The system is truly magical,’ he thought with a satisfied smile.
---
According to the book, runes are esoteric manifestations of the laws of the world. Once a person awakens, they gain a core with inactive rune patterns on it. This is how people first came in contact with runes. Different combinations of runes are called Rune Patterns, which can bring about different effects. These runes on the core are seen as the runic representation of the type of power the person awakened.
Rune patterns are elegant rune arrangements that bring about specific effects. Mastering how to create rune patterns is the foundation for creating magical weapons. Runes are used to connect with mana. The wrong rune arrangement can be catastrophic, so people have tried hard to make comprehensive collections of runes, called Canons.
Canons contain collections of runes that have been studied. There are three levels of canons: Preliminary, Advanced, and Peak. Preliminary Canons cover 1,024 basic runes. Advanced Canons cover 1,024 basic runes and 720 advanced runes. Peak Canons cover 1,024 basic runes, 720 advanced runes, and 360 great runes. Canons are rare and often held as secret knowledge by groups and organizations. The author even noted a few worlds where ruling classes controlled their subordinates with promises of giving them a canon to help them grow stronger.
The book soon dived into more complex topics about halos, inner worlds, mana, quintessence, and so on, which confused Talon even with his sharp mind. He closed the book to digest everything he had read. He now knew why one of the runes on his core was alit.
When a person becomes Awakened, they gain a core that holds mana, which powers all their abilities. The core patterns need to be activated for a person to get stronger. The more runes on the core that are activated, the stronger the person. Those who have not activated up to half of the total pattern are at the Preliminary Stage of the Awakened level. Those who have activated at least half are at the Advanced Stage. Someone like Eren, who stood at the Peak Stage of the Awakened level, had activated all the patterns on his core. Such a person was definitely a powerhouse in small regions like Eryndor.
This made Talon understand that fighting any of these guys was suicidal. All he needed to do was enter the town, get his sister out, and escape before they realized he had survived.
He looked up to see that the sun was already setting.
‘It’s almost time,’ he thought.
He climbed down from the tree and made his way back to town. Talon circled around the town from behind the tree lines. There was an open field of about 100 meters from the tree line to the town walls. If he dared rush out of the woods, the guards on the walls would definitely see him. At best, this would blow his cover. At worst, they might think he was a bandit and shoot him down with the mounted crossbows.
After finding a blind spot on the west wall, he ran with all his strength towards the town wall. At 50 yards, he stopped and circled back towards the northern side. Since the sun was already setting, the farmers were heading back into town. He simply entered along with them.
Talon wasn’t sure whether it was because bandits and monsters rarely came around these parts, but none of the guards paid much attention to those entering and leaving the town gate. Apart from being a bit alert about the forest, they didn’t really pay attention to who entered the town. Talon successfully entered the town. The moment he found an alley, he slipped into it and disappeared into the depths of the town.
---
The Holy Mother Church is one of the two major religions in the Kingdom of Aurumia, the other being the Sky Path. Apart from private orphanages, most orphanages were established across the kingdom by the Holy Mother Church. This made them highly loved by the people for their meritorious and righteous deeds. Talon, in particular, didn’t feel that way towards them at all.
As he stood in front of the orphanage’s gate, he felt nothing but discontent.
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Chapter 103: Avoiding Debt
After nearly an hour of running, the forest finally opened up into a small clearing. Talon slowed to a stop, his chest rising and falling as he caught sight of figures ahead. He blinked in disbelief. Magnus. Renard. Xara. Raeve. Brythan. All of them—elites of the Blue Devil Guild, and apart from Brythan, they were all at the Warrior level. A cluster of carriages and horses rested just off the path, their reins tied loosely to trees. Clearly, they had been waiting here for some time. Talon’s surprise showed on his face. Magnus noticed immediately, his sharp eyes catching the flicker of confusion. “You’re wondering how I knew you’d come this way,” Magnus said calmly. “It’s my other Profession—Discerning Mage. I foresaw we would cross paths here if I waited long enough.” Talon’s brows drew together. Something about Magnus felt… different. Stronger, heavier, like standing near a mountain. His curiosity rose instinctively, and before he realized it, he had cast his gaze inward toward
Chapter 102: Meeting Familiar Faces
By now, Talon had stripped the tiger of its value like a merchant intent on squeezing every last copper from a trade. Bones, claws, sinew, even fragments of hardened marrow—nothing escaped his practiced hands. The forest floor around them looked more like a butcher’s yard than a monster’s den. He moved with surprising patience, his black blade occasionally flashing as he sliced through tendon or carved neat lines along the hide. When at last he stood upright, his arms dusted with dried blood, the pelt folded carefully over his shoulder, he exhaled in satisfaction. “That should do it. Between this and the core, we’ve got something worth a decent pile of coins.” Reaching into his pack, he drew out a folded pamphlet—creased from repeated use, its inked pages a hunter’s crude guide to the region’s notable beasts. He ran his eyes over it, tapping a fingertip against the section detailing Warrior-level monsters. His expression hardened, a spark of ambition flickering behind his gaze.
Chapter 101: My Life Wasn't Mine
Talon stared at the dead Redbone Tiger for a long moment, then glanced into the shadows between the trees. “If we work together, we can kill warrior-level monsters,” he said suddenly. “Why don’t we hunt a few more?” As he said it, the logic clicked for him. That was why hunters teamed up. Alone, most adventurers hit their limits and had to avoid anything too strong. With a partner you doubled your chances, cut the danger, and increased the reward. It was simply more efficient. Veyra let out a low groan—half annoyance, half resignation. “Fine,” she said. “But if we meet something with weirder tricks than that tiger, you take the lead. I’ve got enough to worry about.” She wasn’t exaggerating. Underneath her calm, she was still fighting the blood-forged shackles that lived inside her soul. Every fight chipped at those chains and left her unable to use her racial powers fully. On top of that, her level had been forced down to Warrior, which l
Chapter 100: Warrior Level Monster Core
Talon slid down the rough bark of a tree and let himself drop to the ground, the weight of fatigue pressing down on every bone and muscle. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. The Redbone Tiger lay sprawled in the clearing, its once fearsome body now nothing more than a broken carcass. Its lifeless eyes glared at nothing, jaw slack, tongue hanging out like a discarded banner of defeat. Across from it, Veyra stood unsteadily, her figure pale even for a vampire. Her right femur jutted grotesquely from her thigh, the bone piercing through torn flesh. Dozens of jagged bone shards stuck out from her torso and arms, tiny spikes that pulsed faintly with residual aura. A normal person would have been dead ten times over, but Veyra’s physiology was a strange, stubborn thing. Already, the shards were being pushed back out as her body began knitting together torn muscle and sealing ruptured veins. Still, the sight was gr
Chapter 99: Facing the Redbone Tiger
The fight with the Redbone Tiger quickly settled into a rhythm of danger and restraint. Veyra, despite being at the peak stage of the Warrior level, found her strength strangely muted before the Tiger’s bone-control ability. In theory, her higher cultivation should have allowed her to brush off such tricks as if swatting a fly. But in practice, she discovered that the beast’s manipulation pressed against her body like invisible chains, constantly tugging at her frame and bones, demanding a portion of her concentration simply to remain unharmed. She could resist it, yes, but not with the same effortless mastery Talon displayed. For her, every forward step came with the fear of her own ribs suddenly splintering against her will.So she took a cautious stance, eyes sharp, shoulders tense. She played the spectator’s role, orbiting the battlefield rather than diving headlong into it, searching for the opening that would never come freely. Her strength was shackled not by la
Chapter 98: The Redbone Tiger
They moved through the forest in silence, still running on leftover adrenaline from their last fight with the Bulwark Team. Their steps were careful now, breaths steady, senses sharp. The path to the Ironwood Plains stretched ahead like a tunnel of fading light and rustling leaves. Two kilometers from the previous battlefield, the trees thinned, and the quiet grew heavier—the kind of silence that meant something dangerous was nearby. Talon stopped suddenly, his senses catching something. Veyra froze beside him, recognizing the way his body tensed. He didn’t look around. Instead, his focus shifted into the Mental Plane, as naturally as slipping a hand into a pocket. There in the Firmament, a new light burned bright and fierce. “Warrior Level,” he said quietly. He could easily recognize the threat level based on the size of the 'Mental Star'. Veyra sniffed the air, her instincts sharp. “Smells like iron and old bone,” she muttere
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