The Runic Artist

Nate walked with Luc into the Nobles District. The guards had held them up for a moment until Luc flashed his Platinum Badge. That was enough for them to leave the pair alone, though the expression on their faces said they weren’t happy about doing so.

The first thing he noticed was the mana concentration. The Slums were bordering on a mana desert, while the Merchants District had a slightly higher concentration, likely meant to assist in powering simple enchantments and tools. But in the Nobles District it was higher again, and the effects showed. For one, there was greenery that not only looked healthy and well watered, but he could even tell the plants were of the Uncommon tier. He doubted you’d find that anywhere else in the city. They’d have been harvested for some form of crafting or another. It hinted at a sense of decadence, and it was only the first sign. The people were dressed better and far more frequently veiled. There were also less of them.

His sphere of awareness roamed over the area, his Obfuscated Mana Soul Engraving assisting him in keeping most from noticing. He was also trying to add a finite control to the skill. It was one area he had considered trying to evolve it when it finally reached level forty-one and hopefully would keep his options open. He also had another idea for it, but he didn’t need to be around others to test that one out.

In his sphere he noted that those who didn’t have their Class Cores veiled were invariably the hired help and some well-to-do shop owners. There were plenty of shops here on the outskirts of the District. The shops, from what he could tell at a glance, seemed to cater to the needs of the wealthy and the nobility. Restaurants, at least two alchemists, another two enchanters, clothing, and jewellery stores. All high-brow and noticeably expensive. That wasn’t to say the qualities didn’t deserve such prices. Through his sphere he sensed that the meat on a plate in front of an older gentleman was in fact of the rare tier and the garnish, a small sprig smaller than his little finger, was epic tier.

The other thing he noticed was that Luc and he garnered a few glances, but less than he had expected. He suspected his robe went a long way to making him look like he fit in. He sensed more than one attempt at identification rebuffed by the enchantment in the robe and that was more than enough for many to believe he belonged.

Luc suffered even less, many of the looks seeming to be those of recognition rather than curiosity. Being one of only a couple dozen platinums in Etrua likely made Luc a member of a very short list of people who would be relevant to the wealthy.

Luc steered them towards one of the stores, the outside panelled in a rich dark wood, with huge glass windows displaying a number of enchanted items. His sphere informed him that the glass was enchanted, as Runic Knowledge whispered to him the Concepts of Durability and Reinforcement.

Pushing open the door there was the sound of a singing bird's trill, or at least that is what he assumed it was. Glancing up he marvelled at the simple enchantment. It served no other purpose, as far as he could tell, beyond a little marketing and being beautiful. His senses roved over it to understand how the enchanter had achieved the result. It ended up being brilliant in its simplicity. As far as he could tell, they had simply used a number of small gems, imbued with the Concept of Sound, and what he guessed was a form of Intent to get the right note. The enchantment, when triggered, played them in a sequence by flowing mana from one side of the enchantment to the other. It made him smile and he glanced back down to see Luc staring at him with a smirk.

“If you’re done daydreaming?” his mentor asked in amusement.

“Sorry,” he muttered which just made Luc shake his head while laughing softly.

“Evindal was right. An artist, through and through. I take you to the shop of one of Etrua’s premier Enchanters, filled with enchanted weapons, armours and tools, and what do you look at? The doorbell,” Luc winked at him to take the sting out of his words as Frick joined in on the joke, laughing at him mentally.

It was hard to argue though. His sphere could cover most of the shop, and while Runic Knowledge whispered of all the different Concepts at play within the myriad enchantments, he couldn’t find a single Sigil. It made him wonder if the craft of Enchanting had originally risen out of a desire to conceal the Sigils you used from your competition or enemies? Still, even without knowing the Sigils involved, this store was a source of inspiration.

He sensed a cloak that would draw an observer's attention to the wearer's face. Useful if you wanted to be admired, though he considered it could also be used by an assassin to help keep people's attention away from their hands. Then there was a clock which seemed to release a wave of joy at set intervals. It reminded him a little of his graffiti and he promised to go visit his artwork and see what had become of it, and the mana-gem he’d placed in the fountain.

One of the staff interrupted his musing, approaching them with a smile.

“Welcome to the Lambert Emporium, how might I be of assistance today sirs?” asked the young man.

“We’ve got an appointment with Caroline,” replied Luc, flashing his Platinum badge.

The assistant nodded quickly and vanished, likely informing Caroline they were present.

He went back to wandering through the store while they waited, going over his plan in his head. Initially he would offer a trade, though not for anything of import. He was thinking Durability and Reinforcement could be useful and getting them at the Journeyman tier would be enough. The question was, what he would offer in return. He had quite a few in the Master tier that he would be willing to give up. Mostly because they were more focused around shaping effects, like Tunnel, Enclosed or Bridge. Sigils he had taken from Arikanvil’s space station, which thinking it over now, knowing that Arikanvil was truly a Divinity, made his usage of only Legendary tier runes, a bit of an obvious sign that the God didn’t specialise in runes. It also showed how you could gain Skills from outside of your Classes’ areas of expertise and still get them to a usable level. He was getting sidetracked again though. The initial goal was to offer a trade, with the hope of finding where Caroline kept her Sigils. His goal was then to steal the Sigil for mislead or something similar. Whatever would work with his planned rune to return a fake Class and levels. That was where Frick came in, and the only reason his Familiar wasn’t labouring away in the inn as punishment for interrupting Kiri’s date.

His best friend had fumed over it a little this morning at breakfast and the only reason Frick wasn’t being punished more for his, as he put it, goblin-love-assistance, was because Coralie hadn’t seemed to mind that much and had agreed to a second date. If Nate was being honest, he was a little surprised that Kiri hadn’t already taken Coralie to bed. Taking things slow wasn’t her usual style, which made Frick’s interference even more frustrating.

He had to cut off that line of thought though as he felt a woman approach. As the woman he was assuming was Caroline approached, he felt his eyes drawn towards her hair. It was the second time he’d seen an interesting hair colour on someone, the women's purple hair and vibrant eyes were very eye-catching. But that wasn’t why he was staring. Runic Knowledge was tingling again and it took him a moment to realise that her hair and eyes were giving off the Concept of Illusion.

She clearly noticed him staring and flashed a smile as she approached the pair, “Perceptive one, aren’t you. Is this him then, Luc?”

“This is him,” Luc replied, admiring an enchanted dagger.

Caroline responded by giving Nate a once-over.

“Besides the robe, you don’t look like much. But looks can clearly be deceiving,” she said, referring to her hair and eyes, he assumed. “They’d have to be, if you really were one of the top two from the Adventurer’s Guild Tournament. And to do so while being a hybrid crafter? Even more impressive. So, you’re an Enchanter?”

Nate glanced at Luc who gave him a small nod, “Runecaster, actually.”

“Runecaster…” Caroline replied, tapping her lip thoughtfully. It let Nate notice that her nail polish was purple as well, and also an illusion. Clearly a theme. Maybe she changed it every day?

“It’s not a class I have heard of, how does it work?” Caroline asked curiously.

“It lets me use Sigils to create temporary enchantments,” he replied calmly, using the lie they’d decided to go with.

“Ah! So that is why you wear Sigils openly on your robe? It’s a storage device of some sort. Interesting. Is that really a Crafting Class though? It sounds more like a knowledge-based combat Class.”

“More of a misunderstanding by the Adventurer’s Guild,” explained Luc, having moved onto a metal bolt that felt like the Concept of Penetration.

“I see, I see. And so you come to me, not for Enchanted equipment, but to seek some more Sigils to add to your growing repertoire?” Caroline asked, though the glint of avarice in her eyes said she knew she’d figured them out. That was fine though. After all, he did want to trade.

“Exactly,” he replied with a smile. “I’m interested in a few Sigils I think you have. Reinforcement and Durability were the ones I had hoped to trade for, but seeing your eyes, hair and nails…I am wondering if you’d be willing to part with Illusion as well?”

Caroline gave a wily smile, “What makes you think I know the Sigil for Illusion? Maybe it’s just the Sigil for ‘purple’.”

Nate just stared at her calmly with a raised eyebrow.

After a moment Caroline laughed, “Okay, even more perceptive than I thought. Say I do possess copies of those three Sigils, what quality would you want and what can you offer me in trade?”

The trade might’ve given him pause if his goal was to eventually sell his own runecrafted equipment and become a direct competitor with Caroline. He wouldn’t though. That sounded time-consuming, would slow his growth, and was something he was less able to farm out to Frick. He’d sell the materials instead, which made whatever he offered her of less value to him than to her. That wasn’t to say he didn’t intend to try and get a good deal. It just meant giving her something that could vastly improve her business didn’t really worry him.

“I’d like Master tier quality for all three, if you know them,” he replied deadpan, knowing how outlandish his ask was.

Caroline narrowed her eyes as she stared at him thoughtfully, “You think very highly of both yourself and me, apparently…”

She trailed off, clearly thinking through her options before she spun and motioned for them both to follow her.

Entering her office and workshop let him get a quick sense of her wards and he had to admit they were impressive. Less than the restricted section of the Guild Library but on par with the Rare and Epic tier Guild vault.

Sitting down Caroline stared at him with a hard look in her eyes before glancing at Luc.

“Can he even work with such high-quality Sigils? Or is he just testing me?” she asked in a tone reeking of annoyance.

“He can,” replied Luc casually, wandering around the room and looking at the various workpieces. Surprisingly he didn’t touch any of them, which Nate thought was less about being polite and more a fear of what might happen if he did.

Caroline snorted a little in response before looking back at Nate and taking a moment to judge him again, “Say you can work with Master tier Sigils, what can you offer me in return?”

“You first,” Nate replied calmly as his sphere checked over the room and catalogued three new Sigils.

Joy Sigil (Quality: Apprentice)

Sound Sigil (Quality: Apprentice)

Smell Sigil (Quality: Apprentice)

Unsurprisingly the schematics left out only detailed Apprentice quality Sigils. Still, useful to him and perhaps Sigils he could improve on when he had the time.

She stared back at him a moment before growling in irritation, clearly not used to being challenged.

“I could do Journeyman quality for Reinforcement and Durability,” she paused for a moment, thinking before inclining her head. “And a Master quality Illusion Sigil. Now, what would I get in return?”

Nate paused, thinking through his options. He had a few. He doubted she would accept some shaping type Sigils, even at Master quality, for the requested Sigils. So he wasn’t about to admit to knowing them as that would just raise the number of questions she had. He’d also prefer to give her Sigils that wouldn’t be able to be used against him, or if they were, that he had counters for. After all, the things she created were mostly purchased by the Nobility and he’d seen enough weapons in her store to know she was not above making things that caused harm. He could offer a selection of Journeyman Sigils, but that led to other problems. If Caroline knew any of them he would’ve revealed his knowledge, more importantly the breadth of his knowledge. Then he’d need to offer more, assuming she would take the deal. She could argue a Master Sigil was worth more than two Journeyman Sigils and it’d be hard for him to disagree. The other option was, he could offer her a Master Sigil, one that was more useful than Illusion. It would mean revealing less overall knowledge, but also showing her that he already knew Master tier Sigils.

If it wasn’t for the short amount of time till the University induction he wouldn’t have felt like he was over a barrel to make a deal. But, based on what he’d sensed of her office and workspace, if she kept her Sigils and blueprints anywhere, it was on her person. Raiding her office wasn’t going to work. So, the question was, which Sigil to offer her. The only three he suspected she would accept would be Mana, Power or Barrier. The first two would likely make her significantly wealthier than she already was. Barrier though, now that would likely be worth it. She’d suddenly be able to make the best defensive enchantments in the Capital, outside of himself of course, but he could get around that if he was ever faced with such.

“I’ll offer a Master Sigil for Barrier in trade,” he stated confidently.

He could see the sparks ignite in her purple eyes as she leaned forward hungrily.

“Say that again.”