Nate ran his fingers over the detailed drawing that lay in front of him. His earlier rendition had been the first sketch. A guide he could use as he created a set of runes to be carved into Britt’s bones. The runes would be capable of enhancing his girlfriend, making her stronger, faster and more durable. But, of course, he wasn’t completely selfless and if he was going to alter his girlfriend in such a way, why not do something similar for Kiri and himself.

  The drawing of his own body was the one he was currently reviewing as he considered his options. In some ways, he was the most challenging of the three. Britt and Kiri both needed physical enhancement since that was how they fought. It was a simple step to enhance the body to be better by runecrafting the actual body. On the other hand, he was split between mental and magical Stats. That was more difficult. The easiest choice would be to just enhance his physical defences.

  Improving the tier of the bones would be a necessary first step, but the rune carving came with an additional problem. Runes were activated by mana, with the quality of the rune dictating how much mana was required. The result was that the runes needed to be able to be turned on and off. Easy enough for him, with his high Mana Control Stat. Less so for Kiri and Britt who lacked such investment. He had a solution for that problem as well. A solution that was twofold and wouldn’t see them being forced to use their limited mana reserves on their rune-carved bones.

  He tried not to smile at the thought. Quietly, he was more than a little pleased with himself and the idea he had come up with. Not only should it resolve the problem but it aligned perfectly with his planned path forward and he was expecting he would get an Achievement once he had actually proven it was possible. The idea was simple. He would create a separate spatial space within them that performed one task. It would store mana.

  The idea had come from thinking about mana gems. They were basically just hunks of rock with defined crystalline structures that were perfect for attracting and storing mana. It helped that you could even hollow them out and put runes in them to concentrate and store the mana. But ultimately, they were just space to stick mana you wanted to keep for later. So why not create his own space just for that? Furthermore, he could apply a rune that would slowly give any mana stored an affinity. Meaning, he could make the mana interact with the runes carved into their bones even more efficiently.

  For Britt and Kiri, the spatial space needed to be relatively simple, but for his own, with his spatial Skills and affinity, he could get far more creative. The icing on the cake was it would mean using his spatial Skills with other Concepts, hopefully pushing his Secondary Class and his Embodiment towards his goal of achieving a perfect Conceptual Embodiment.

  The project would be mana-intensive and he briefly considered if he should start stealing more mana from the Capital’s mana pipelines. Right now, he was probably syphoning off one percent of the daily flow for that branch. His estimate contained a small amount of guesswork but he was reasonably confident that the true value was in that ballpark. The war with Asmuisil could be used to explain any changes if he decided to double the amount he was stealing, especially if he focused on one of the southern or eastern pipelines as those were the ones in the direction of Asmuisil. Increasing the amount of mana stolen increased the risk of discovery, but it also increased the speed of his and Kiri’s progress. In the end, that was more important. A little additional risk was acceptable.

  “Frick, can you move the mana collection location today to the southern pipeline? I’ll come by as we’re going to increase the amount of mana we’re taking,” he sent mentally to his Familiar.

  “You got it, Boss! Operation Mana Bandit is a go! Deploying goblin-saboteurs!” Frick replied quickly.

  “Make it larger. We’ll cover three times as much area and see how that impacts the rate of mana capture.”

  Frick’s cackle in his mind was confirmation that his Familiar would get the job done. It would likely take him a few hours, though. The little blue goblin spirit had been steadily improving and while his Skill with runes wasn’t quite at Nate’s level yet, it had vastly improved over the past month. Nate suspected Frick had gotten a new Skill that let him better apply Nate’s own Skills. He knew that Frick would tell him when he was ready and not before then. As Frick’s antics went, keeping a secret for a surprise reveal was definitely on the less annoying side so Nate wasn’t going to push the issue.

  Looking back at his proposed designs, he considered the spatially expanded space. It would require a significant amount of mana up-front to create such a space, but after it was created it should remain stable. Mana would be required to access the space through an aperture, similar to his spatial storage ring, but there shouldn’t be any other expenditures.

  His plans brought him to his first hurdle. He didn’t have a Skill for creating spatially expanded areas. He had the option in his Realmwalker Secondary Class, but he had ignored the Spatial Expansion Skill in favour of Space Is All Around You. He didn’t regret that decision, but it did mean he needed to come at this project from a different angle. He was going to have to substitute a Skill with runes. In some ways, he was happy about being forced to take the runic approach, since it should help his Embodiment development. On the other hand, it meant the project would take longer, be more expensive in terms of mana usage and he was likely going to have to perform multiple iterations to get it right. Fortunately, he had a Grandmaster-tier Space Sigil. With a put-upon smile on his face, he got to work on the rune design. One step at a time, he reminded himself, his pencil already scratching away at the paper.

  *************

  Nate came downstairs a few hours later after hearing the sound of Luc’s voice. The time spent planning had earned him some headway on his spatially expanded spaces project but there was more to be done before he was satisfied. Seeing his mentor was just the kind of diversion he needed, though.

  “They couldn’t pay for the bracers fast enough,” crowed Luc as he reclined in one of Kiri’s chairs.

  Nate had no idea when she had found the time to furnish the main entry, but it looked like some kind of medieval welcome room with comfortable chairs and couches, a few tables that had snacks and drinks on them and a mammoth desk behind which Kiri sat. The desk was covered in loose sheafs of paper and Kiri was currently holding one in her hand reading over it.

  “There are things listed here that we didn’t send you with,” Kiri commented.

  “House Desmarais made a donation to the Artist’s Emporium,” replied Luc with a smirk.

  Kiri tapped her lips in thought as Nate watched, “Alright. Are you sure you want to include it in the returns? You earned it yourself so it falls outside of our agreement.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’m happy for it to be returned in full,” said Luc with a nod. “Though, I wouldn’t be opposed to the additional funds being used to increase my stake in the business.”

  Kiri laughed before glancing at Nate and raising an eyebrow questioningly. He shrugged in response. Kiri knew how to manage the business and as far as he was concerned, if she wanted to grant Luc a greater stake in the business for the additional investment, that was her decision to make. She had already been using funds to purchase Uncommon and Rare materials for Nate. Anything to save him time and mana in terms of tiering-up materials. He also knew she had been buying a couple of Skill Orbs he had suggested in the hopes of getting a set that could synergise into a lesser form of his Conceptual Material Skill. The hope was that Jacque, or some of the trainees they intended to bring on, could begin assisting in the workflow.

  Nate watched as Kiri pulled out a fresh piece of paper and started scribbling notes on it quickly.

  “What are you doing?” asked Luc, leaning forward.

  “Calculating how much additional stake I can grant you based on an estimate of how much the additional funds are going to impact our current plans and timelines.”

  Luc looked confused and Nate wondered if his sister had been using some of the funds to buy Stat Orbs of Intellect for herself. Either way, he was just grateful that she was handling the business side of things and leaving him free to create. She really hadn’t been joking when she said she was going to contribute by managing everything for him. Lucky. That is how he felt about having her in his life.

  “Two percent additional stake,” Kiri stated, looking up. “Nate and I will share the losses evenly between us.”

  “I’m happy with that,” replied Luc, rubbing his hands together as though he could already feel the wealth flowing towards him.

  Before the conversation could continue, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Nate waited as Luc went to check who it was.

  “Some old guy with silver eyes and three kids,” stated Luc as he returned, looking between the two questionably.

  “The ‘students’ you were after?” asked Kiri with a glance at Nate.

  “Yeah, that should be Cutter. Want me to see if the kids are suitable?” he asked.

  “No, leave that with me and Jacque, since he will be handling most of their instruction.”

  “Wait, we’re expanding? Getting more workers in? Kids…wait, you’re going to try and get them a Runecrafter Class, right?!” Luc slowly got more animated and excited as he went on. “This is perfect! Let me know what you need from me!”

  Kiri glanced at Nate and he took the hint, explaining his plans “We’ll likely want to get them some high-end Achievements. I can help them get some solid Achievements related to runecrafting but every bit helps. Think you can get them into an Epic Dungeon or capture some level twenty-one monster for them to kill? We’re hoping to get them an Epic-tier Class to start. Even though I suspect the runecrafting achievements will be higher-tier, I don’t think they’ll be enough on their own.”

  “I’ll handle it,” promised Luc firmly.

  “Alright. Anything else?” asked Nate.

  “No, we’ll handle this,” promised Kiri. “Dinner tonight?”

  “Coralie and Britt?” Nate retorted, curious if they were inviting their partners.

  “No, just you and I. We haven’t had a chance to relax and chat in forever,” replied Kiri.

  “What about me?” interjected Luc, trying to pull a hurt facial expression.

  “If we want to see you, we’ll come by the Den afterwards,” responded Kiri.

  “It was good to see you, Luc,” added Nate. “Maybe we can do some training soon?”

  “You got it, kid,” replied Luc with a grin.

  With the plans for the rest of the day handled, Nate walked up the stairs and back to his work room. He still needed to check on Frick’s moving of the mana theft location and his spatial project had plenty of work left to do before he would be happy with it. At least he had a nice dinner to look forward to. Without him noticing it, he had started to live that life of comfort and creation he had been hoping for ever since he came to Galle.

  *************

  Nate stared out towards the ocean from one of the best restaurants in the Capital. The restaurant was clearly designed to cater towards the Nobility, with the rooftop divided into booths that came with privacy enchantments. Nate had taken it a step further and added his own privacy rune to the mix. The runecrafted cube wasn’t foolproof, but then, from what he had seen, nothing in this universe was. However, the added protections should at least warn them if they were being listened in on and his Conceptual Insight skill and sphere of awareness hadn’t noticed any other listening devices, so they were probably safe.

  The remains of their dinner still decorated the table with some sort of crustacean’s cracked open shell wafting the smell of a sweet and salty meat over the pair of them. The drinks had been just as good and he was certain they had been alchemically created as the flavour shifted based on how much of the liquid remained. Tiny bells that would call a server waited for their attention if they desired some dessert to cap off the exquisite meal. Coupled with the view, it was the kind of life he had always hoped for.

  “So goooood,” Kiri said, rubbing her stomach as she reclined in her chair.

  “Is Coralie going to be annoyed that you didn’t invite her?” asked Nate with a cheeky grin.

  “I told her we were going out for dinner. I didn’t say where,” responded Kiri, waggling her eyebrows. “What about Britt?”

  “I haven’t spoken to her since this morning. Will probably use the same line you did.”

  “So much for friends with benefits, eh? I could’ve warned you, but it’s the kind of thing you usually need to learn for yourself. Casual never stays casual. It either blows up in your face or it gets serious.”

  Nate nodded his agreement. He had intended to stay unentangled and look at where that had gotten him. The thought of Britt triggered some melancholy in him and it was clear from Kiri’s expression that his body language or facial expression had betrayed him.

  “Worried it can’t last?” she asked.

  “I just don’t see how she can keep up. Even with my plans for helping her improve…it won’t be enough to bridge the gap. They’ll make her better. Better than her peers. Probably even competitive with some of the Lesser Nobility, but the difference in Skill Tiers is so much harder to bridge. It just feels like it’s a stop-gap measure and I am delaying the inevitable.”

  Voicing his worries felt good and Kiri shuffled her chair closer to him so they could sit side by side and stare out towards the ocean. With their heightened Perception, the darkness wasn’t enough to impede their view of the waves and their gentle swell.

  “I’m the same,” Kiri confessed. “Coralie’s in a better position than Britt. She’s a tier higher and she’s been given far more than Britt because of her mother. But even with all the interventions by Prefect Allais and the fact that she is advancing in levels slightly faster than I am because of her lower tier Classes…it still feels like the gap just keeps getting wider and wider. I’m okay with that. It means I can protect her. But will she be okay with that? What happens once we’ve reached Platinum.”

  Kiri paused, then lowered her voice, “What happens when we unlock our Tertiary Class? If we evolve up a tier…whatever that means…it could change everything. Not just for us, but for those around us. It worries me. I’m not used to the uncertainty, you know?”

  He did know. He put an arm around his sister to comfort her and perhaps to comfort himself. Kiri was a decisive individual. She made a decision then followed through with it unerringly. No matter the consequences. He could see how the uncertainty in their future and in her relationship would plague her thoughts.

  They sat in silence together for a few minutes before Kiri quietly whispered, “When we fought the Golds…when I died and was reborn…I felt something.”

  Nate glanced at his sister and best friend and let his face ask the question rather than using his voice.

  Kiri understood immediately and answered his unasked question, “I was Reborn and I felt…more real? It’s hard to describe. But it didn’t feel like it had anything to do with my Class Core.”

  Nate looked back out towards the waves and considered the information. Maybe it was nothing, but he suspected it might be their first hint at what lay beyond the Mythic Tier. He would just need to figure out what it meant.

  Discord Channel

  Patreon with up to 20 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad.