(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

Kaius stood up from the cold stone floor of the hunting compound, wincing as his leg protested at the movement. After nearly an hour and a half of waiting, it had mostly healed, and hopefully it wouldn’t take more than another quarter hour or so until it was done.

Still, he didn’t exactly plan on sitting on his ass if he could walk around fine now. He would just have to be a little gentle with it in the meantime. The offending limb still itched terribly, no matter the incredible benefits of the natural healing, it was a decidedly uncomfortable process. Especially when you could feel each individual shard of bone realigning and fusing.

Shaking off the memories, he walked over to the cold corpse of the Butcher and nudged it with his foot, nodding in satisfaction as the limp meat stayed dead. Just in case. Wiping his sword on its ratty clothes, he sheathed it at his hip.

Turning to face the store room that sat by the wall of the cave, he looked at its lock, wondering where the key would be. Probably the lodge proper, seeing as that had been where the Butcher had been enthroned. He’d heard stories of treasure being guarded by particularly strong denizens of the Depths, and if a classed up Champion didn’t count, he didn’t know what would.

He limped towards the large stone and wood building where he had first encountered the massive undead, the torches inside filling its hall with an orange flickering light.

As he crossed the threshold, he inspected the seat where the Butcher had sat. Up close it was even worse than the quick glance he had gotten earlier. Nearly as tall as he was, it was perhaps more accurately described as a throne than a chair. Though if it was to be a throne, its monarch had been a gruesome one indeed.

Rotting uncured furs coated the seat, damp secretions leaving an imprint where the Butcher had lounged. The sight, and the images it brought to mind, made Kaius wince. Turning his attention away from the nauseating sight, Kaius explored the massive hearth behind the seat that stretched across the head of the hall.

It was dusty, with low glimmering coals slumbering inside. He’d missed it entirely on his first look, captivated by the threat the Champion had presented to him. Above its mantle a great deer skull was mounted, larger than any of the many thousands he had seen in his years living in the forest. He looked at its rack in awe, it must have been a truly impressive specimen in life, if it had ever truly lived.

Finally tearing his gaze away from the ornament, he scoured the mantle top, where a glint of firelight on metal caught his attention. A key. Overly large and crudely wrought. Hopefully it would be what he was looking for.

Kaius snatched it up and hurried his way outside of the building as fast as he was able. Returning to the chained storehouse he grabbed at the thick padlock that held the door shut fast, interesting the key with a slight tremble. He jiggled it briefly as it got stuck.

The lock clicked, the joyous sound sparking a short laugh of success as he popped it open. Chains rattled as he hurried to weave them out from the doors latch. He cast them aside, the links clattering as they hit the stone floor of the cave.

Barely containing his excitement, Kaius worked the latch and threw open the door to reveal a dark room. The only light entered through the open doorway, drenching the interior in shadow. He took a furtive step forward. Hidden sconces burst into flame as he crossed the threshold.

Their flickering light revealed a lone plinth at the back of the room, topped by what looked to be some sort of strange rectangular belt bag. Kaius approached quickly, snatching it up and turning it over in his hands to inspect it closely.

Perhaps two handspans wide and half that deep, it was an interesting thing. Made of some sort of hardened leather that held firm in his hand. He wrapped it with one knuckle, a soft knock resonating through its interior. It was a dark burnt umber in colour, a lighter trim capping its edges. The bottom four corners were capped off in brass, while it was held closed by a sturdy buckle of the same material. Kaius turned it over, revealing a back with three loops along its top edge to thread it on to his belt.

He furrowed his brow quizzically. All in all, Kaius was a little disappointed. A bag wasn’t exactly what you expected when you risked life and limb for a reward. He shrugged. In the end, at least it was something.

He fumbled with the buckle for a moment, before pulling it open. A glitter of yellow and silver metal immediately caught his attention. There, to the left of the bag was five pieces of silver and a single yellow disk sat in a jumbled pile. Impossibly round, each face was embossed with an incredibly complex swirling pattern. He pulled them out, feeling the cold metal as he rolled them around his hands.

Depths-coin. Impossible to doctor or forge, thanks to some minor magic imbued into them during their spawning. They were practically a universal currency, and often the yardstick against which all others were measured. A bit too rare to be adopted as a primary measure of wealth, and they only came in two denominations which hampered their use outside of large purchases.

Kaius grinned. A much more satisfying reward, he thought. He’d just found room and board for a year, if what he remembered of the prices that Hastur had paid at The Stout Oak was correct. Though, he supposed that with Three Fields being a frontier village it was probably more reasonably priced than most.

He dropped the coins back into the waist pouch one by one, enjoying the satisfying clink as the coins impacted each other. His attention turned to the other contents of the bag. The coins, nice as they were to find, were clearly not the intended goods to be stored. The interior of the bag was divided into 8 rectangular segments, one of which had held the coins. Of the others, four were occupied by tight fitting squarish glass bottles, their clear exteriors revealing a softly shimmering burnt orange liquid.

Potions, in a conveniently standard bottle shape if from what he could see at a quick inspection. He pulled one free, surprised at how easily it slid out despite how firmly wedged it had looked. Unfortunately, much like the bag itself he had no real way of knowing what these did. At least, not yet.

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Luckily, he did have something he could do. Uncorking the potion, Kaius brought the bottle to his nose and breathed in deep. It smelled of spicy lilacs and sunshine - somehow that was possible, bloody alchemy. Herbalism, something he hadn’t had much chance to use in the Depths, came to life. The notes and scents of the potion swirled through his mind, bringing with it notions of growth, of life surviving despite the efforts of an uncaring world, of a stubborn weed handing on on a destitute cliff.

“Probably some kind of restorative, though of what type and function I have no idea. Most likely not Mana.” He mumbled to himself, before corking the bottle again and returning it to the waist pouch. He planned on holding them in reserve, unwilling to potentially waste a powerful brew when he did not need to.

If there was an emergency he would risk it, but otherwise they would stay locked tight.

Kaius buckled the potion bag closed, before taking the time to thread it on to his belt. It sat on his right hip, opposite his sword. It was surprisingly comfortable, despite its hardened exterior he could barely tell it was there outside of a comfortable and balanced weight.

It was time for him to return to camp. Excitement bubbled in him at the thought of his next merge. It was always something he had celebrated with his father, another successful step on his preparations for a class.

Kaius left the shadowed hunters lodge, his almost healing leg not enough to hamper the pep in his step. Stepping past the bodies of lesser undead he dipped back down to the forest trail, spending a few minutes to locate the marked tree where he had stashed his pack.

Collecting his belongings he returned to the edge of the treeline. He decided he would follow the cavern wall back in the direction of his original entrance to the glade. The lighter vegetation would speed up his journey considerably, and he did still need to properly scout the massive underground environment.

“May as well see if there’s anything interesting on the way.” He murmured to himself, setting off at a brisk pace.

Kaius stepped into the ruined church, a sigh of relief slipping out as he settled into the closest thing to safety he had found in the Depths. He walked over to the still slightly smouldering coals of the hearth before dumping on another log to stoke the flames. While the cavern itself was a fairly consistent tepid temperature, the draughty stone interior of the building was far more pleasant with a source of heat.

He slung off his pack, depositing it by the rest of his gear that he left behind when he set off for his scouting expedition. A slight grumble escaped him as he eyed the light mist of blood that covered the side of his pack.

His way back had been relatively uneventful, at least if you compared it to the excitement of assaulting an undead compound and defeating a Champion. He’d spotted a few more tunnels shooting off into the cavern walls of the underground glad, though thankfully they had been completely undefended. He would be leaving those well enough alone for now.

Biomes were great sprawling things, often with more than a few large environs like the one he found himself in. Otherwise, they were often made up of dozens or hundreds of twisting tunnels and smaller rooms. He had no intention of getting himself into a grand exploration until he had plummed this main cavern for all it was worth, though thanks to Orienteering he wasn’t too worried about getting lost.

The stain on his pack had come from a particularly enterprising trio of dog-like creatures who had stalked him for some time. Luckily for him, they had picked up his trail a few hours into his journey so he had been fully recovered before he was forced into another confrontation.

He looked down to his pants, sighing as he saw the great rents where the beasts had latched on to his leg. The same one that the Butcher had shattered in its grip.

“Had some bad luck today, haven’t you friend?” He sighed, shaking the offending limb.

The tear in his clothes annoyed him, even if the leather reinforcement had helped to prevent worse wounds, having stray material flap around in the breeze was distracting and uncomfortable. Luckily both the tear on his trousers, and the cuts on his tunic should repair themselves by morning.

Watching as the fire roared back to life Kaius took a seat in front of the hearth. He felt the radiating heat warm him, sinking into his bones. Slow, steady breaths resonated through him, his heart slowing to match the rate of his respiration. Slow inhale. Hold. Slow exhale. Hold.

The meditative repetition of it continued as he lost himself in the reaches of his mind, his eyes closing as he dove into his soul-space. He was ready. Ready for his next step.

His mind drifted to Tracking, its nodule in his centre emanating a thousand sights, uncountable impulses. Disturbed earth, a stray fibre, a scratched trunk. A million million ways to see a forgotten passing, to see trails left in time, waiting to be unearthed. Most were still inaccessible to him, the skill needing to grow further, but they were ready and waiting.

He moved to the next nodule that orbited the fire of his soul. Sneak. Shadowed nights and hidden scents. Eyes passing by unawares. Of hiding. Of Stalking. Half foreign instincts washed over him as he tasted its depths.

He reached out with his will, feeling both centres of power. They were easy to link, threading a thin line of comprehension and personal understanding between them. A glowing wire that he spun from the burning conflagration of his soul. The two shards seemed to resonate, a growing attraction trying to pull their energies together.

He clamped down on the motion with the full weight of his mind, halting the merge in its tracks. He knew if he allowed it to continue they would create Stalking, a lesser and relatively well known merge. If that happened his goal would be permanently out of reach, his plans ruined.

Kaius’s focus wavered for a moment, unused to flexing his mind in such a fashion. The two skills wavered, fighting back against him in an effort to move together. He grabbed at them like a vice, forcibly stabilising them again. It was the first time having to do such a thing, his first two mergers not having another valid outcome to contend with.

He wasn’t worried. He’d spent months of practice in guided meditation with his father, as much as they could squeeze into their usual fireside rituals. Not just on the mental skill needed to hold the merge stable, but the understanding of the ultimate result. The mindset and comprehension needed to link so many disparate parts. This, at least, he’d had practice with.

Once he threaded in another, he wouldn’t need to worry. He just had to get over this next hurdle.

His metered breaths continued as he settled into the measured tension of holding the skills in place. Once he felt ready, he reached for the next one.

As soon as he split his focus, Tracking and Sneak wavered again. Sweat beaded on his now furrowed brow. The third thin thread of power reaching out from his soul slowed, undirected without his focus to push it forward.

He gritted his teeth, inching it forward as he tried his best to hold the first two skills steady.

They rattled precipitously, screaming against his hold on them, professing their desire to merge into a new form.

His soul touched the third skill.