The attribute points were invested in Wisdom. Since his class hadn't changed majorly, there was no need to change the distribution either. He would maintain the ratios, with 10 points going into Intelligence, Perception, and Constitution each, and 20 points for Wisdom for every 50 points.

"I need to look into some actual armor now," Lev announced as he entered Alec's bubble. His barrier armor settled into its passive state, both invisible and intangible. "Hopefully something that protects my face and eyes."

Suppressing a shudder at the memory of his face disintegrating from his own blast while facing the warg, he glanced at Orianna. She seemed better than her subdued state before, but her gentle smile's sadness was obvious now.

Lev took his place next to her and softly grabbed her right hand to put it on his head. Her smile became lighter as she ran her hand through his hair, something that never failed to cheer up both of them.

"Right," Lev began, ignoring the both kind and exasperated looks from the other two. "Mana manipulation is through the roof. I don't have the words to explain fully. My Wisdom Boost also increases it by an insane degree, and when combined with all the additional bonuses for many types inside my barriers, there is literally zero resistance when moving around fire or lightning inside the armor. The only time I actually have to do something is when shaping the fireball or the bolt…. damn. I'm now slightly scared of the class' potential ceiling."

"It is an incredible class," Alec agreed. "Nothing we have ever seen, except perhaps Hakim's current class, ever comes close."

"Really?" Lev remarked and hmm'd, before remembering something. "Not even Drakys' class? He has something none of the Exalted have, if I remember correctly."

"Much of his power comes from the runes he has collected," Orianna explained. "The same ones you now use regularly. His class skills are impressive, no doubt, but they don't hold a candle to his talent and expertise."

"Huh…" Lev digested that and shrugged. None of that mattered to him, anyway. "So, what now?"

They shared a glance. "Weren't you deciding that?" Sherron questioned.

Lev looked at her flatly. "I was dragged to the Dreadwoods, of all places."

"To the safe outskirts that you could've explored as a new Adept," she rolled her eyes. "Except the random spider, I guess. Not sure where that came from."

"Yeah," Lev drawled. "Precisely that."

"We can return for now," Alec suggested. "There are probably a lot of runes you want to check out now that you've evolved."

"And to prepare whatever I want to say to Beatrice… Actually, do I even have to hide anything? She knows I attract calamities left and right."

"Not really," Sherron replied, unconcerned. "Just don't speak of the core. Mutations are no mystery, even if most people don't know of them. It's the rarity that makes hunters forget about them."

"Rest too," Orianna added. "Please."

****

Back at Sherron's mansion, Lev was left alone with some silent understanding by the other three. He didn't mind, for there really was a lot on his mind.

Primarily, the fact that he hadn't just survived but also became exponentially stronger was still setting in. A small part of him wondered if it was a dream, one conjured and endlessly stretched by a dying brain.

Those thoughts passed quickly. Beyond the initial shock, he had fought tooth and nail, sacrificing his frail body to get some guaranteed damage in. None of it would've mattered had Sherron's presence not distracted the mutating warg for a brief instant. Lev was moments away from blowing himself up in one last-ditch effort, but that chance let him convert the suicidal attack into a finishing blow.

It irked him to no end.

The weakness, the hopeless scenario, and the random encounter in general. None of it should've happened, but it was becoming a constant. Lev was angry, more so than he thought himself capable of feeling.

Only, there was no outlet. He could go and kill monsters, gain all the levels, become stronger than anyone imagined… then what? Something was leading monsters to him under the nose of The System. His Seen title even said so.

Not to mention, there were actual gods out there. Was the source of his misery one such being? Or was the creature weaker or, Monarch forbid, beyond even them? Too many questions swirled in his mind, both effectively making him stop caring about them due to the lack of answers and hating himself for his ignorance.

Then there was the matter of his outburst. Lev rolled around on the bed he was lying on, before burying his face in one of the pillows. Orianna was the last person he wanted to worry with his burdens, yet he had gone and done exactly that.

Stupid, stupid, STUPID! She was already so quiet in the bubble…

He had made a massive blunder, or at least it felt that way. Having never spent time with any parents or siblings in either of his lives, Orianna was the closest he had to both of them. It didn't matter that they weren't related in any way. He had seen the joy in her eyes when she treated him like a little brother she probably never had, and Lev would turn the universe upside down to keep it that way.

Happy thoughts now, brain… he sighed and brought out the rune collection, thanking Monarch once again for keeping the ring intact. Let's find some more treasures.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The thin thread binding the Master portion of the formations was easy to pull off. If anything, it seemed to be waiting to be pulled and slid off without any trouble. With a big smile, Lev leafed through the new section to check how many pages there were.

His grin grew even further before it froze. At the end, there was yet another closed-off section, except it seemed to be merely folded instead of locked. Curious, he scanned the note on top.

"I know you just evolved and can't hold in all the power, but hold your horses-"

Lev burst out laughing. "Damn… you… ahaha… stop predicting everything…"

It took a few moments to bring himself under control, at which point he read the rest.

"There is only a single rune behind this folded page. Just one. It is a risk just to learn of its existence, and that goes for both of us. The amount of willpower you need to look at it aside, it will change how you view runes forever.

"Once again, I will not stop you because I still can't stop thinking about it. Maybe you will make use of it because I never could."

Excitement slowly dimmed until it vanished. A single rune was… trapped in that section, one that even Drakys couldn't make use of. Lev was beyond wary, but his interest was piqued far too much. Knowing that he was allowed to look at it sealed the deal.

Turning the page over, he slowly unraveled the folded page. It quickly ballooned to four times the size, and revealed… nothing, except a single small note.

"Place the book on a flat surface facing upwards, and put some mana into the page."

… This keeps becoming more and more terrifying for a single rune.

With a deep breath to hype himself up, Lev put the collection on the bed and stepped off it. A small stream of mana left his hand and neared the opened page, at which point it was immediately absorbed. Feeling a small buffer, he channeled more mana into it. Reaching a threshold, he felt a click in the page before a hologram appeared.

Lev jumped back with a scream and tumbled to the floor, clawing at his closed eyelids as needles dug into his brain. The horrifying sensation continued for a few seconds before it died down. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

What the actual fuck is that monstrosity? Lev blinked back the hints of what he had seen, clearing his mind with a lot of difficulty. That's a fucking rune? A RUNE!?

… But he really wanted to look at it again. It was unlike anything he had witnessed before, and curiosity burned far too bright to back out now. Slowly, keeping his head close to the floor, he rose until the very top of the rune became visible over the bed's edge.

Pain lanced through his eyes into his brain again. Powering through, he continued looking at the… mess of twisting and turning lines, trying to make sense of it. Nothing stood out, so he gradually rose a little higher.

The problem with his previous approach stood out not long after. Like all runes, his mind tried to understand their meaning at a glance. Whatever was on the bed remained far, far beyond his ability to decipher, which had almost knocked him out.

It took conscious effort to prevent that. Lev lay back down on the cold floor again and focused on actively ignoring the rune's meaning, which jumped out to him in all its majestic glory.

Feeling ready again, Lev took another deep breath and rose slowly. A net of obscure lines of conjured lights revealed itself. Seeing that he was in the clear due to lack of pain, he stood up and gazed at the entire rune.

It was gigantic. The entire thing was a massive three-dimensional web of lines that contorted in directions he couldn't understand fully, not because of some mental incapability, but because the rune was so detailed that his Perception failed to take it all in. No matter how he tried, looking at the full rune was like seeing a blurry image as his brain refused to put it into focus.

When nothing changed for several moments, Lev changed his approach and got on the bed. Inching closer, he circled the hologram. It was wider than his arm at the largest point, which was concerning.

Shaking his head, he put the mind-numbing complexity out of his head and started scanning the corners of the runes, his face a mere inch from the optical illusion.

Hmm, hmm… none of it makes any sense, Lev chuckled distractedly, fully engrossed in the miracle in front of him. Minutes passed in awed silence as he slowly started learning the rune for his general skill, gradually taking in all of the lines making up its form.

Minutes turned into hours, and several of them passed as Lev's mind felt like it was on fire. Almost all of it had been observed deeply enough already, but the final top corner was still left. Mustering all his willpower and resolve, he powered through, not giving up so close to the end.

As the final portion of the rune was finished, impressions streamed into his mind, born of the general skill that had just completed absorbing the titanic rune.

Mana. That was the first thing that made itself known. To simply power the rune, a ridiculous amount of mana was required, perhaps even more than his current pool. Regardless, the activation was merely the easy part.

Lev tumbled to the floor, paralysed as his head impacted the stone floor while his legs remained on the bed. The rune was barely beginning to make its impressions. Mana types joined in, creating a beautiful harmony of flavors that went over Lev's head, all except two of them.

Fire and lightning stood out, an integral part of the rune. Many more types were included in there, but Lev couldn't have made sense of them, no matter how much he wanted to. The sheer experience required was utterly absurd, as even he could only tell that those two elements were included. Nothing beyond them could be felt.

After that, came the actual effects of the rune. Body enhancement was its primary function, but there were several more of them. Only the first was decipherable, and that alone was enough to arrest Lev's breath.

The rune was so unfathomably potent, it outclassed everything Lev had ever experienced in his life, barring the moonlight from the Goddess. Even if a dozen Exalted body enhancement classes were arrayed together, they would still lose out against the singular rune in comparison.

Impressions continued to assault his mind as the rune tried to overtake his mind. The attempt was laughable in how easily it was resisted. Little wonder, as it wasn't expecting to be gazed at by a sentient being. Feeling that Lev wasn't some monster who had stumbled upon its great existence, the rune pulled back and assimilated with the general skill and no longer put pressure on his mind.

A relieved sigh echoed in the room as the rune's overwhelming depth finally finished making itself known. Lev didn't know how long had passed in the haze of the rune's jumbled influence, but the hologram was blinking now. It was running out of fuel, one that he had refilled not long before he finished learning the rune.

In his short experience, each full refill lasted for half an hour. The mana emptying out meant Lev had been inebriated for nearly twenty minutes, during which time had passed in a blink.

Damn, Lev thought weakly and climbed back on the bed. That sucked so much.

As the hologram winked out, so did Lev's consciousness. His thoughts were dominated by a single message as he fell asleep, one that echoed in his mind as his eyes drooped. The rune didn't get absorbed before telling him its name, which reverberated in his mind like a deafening crescendo.

Arcane Supremacy

****

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