OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 338: Runes & Spells

***

Sometime later...

[You've embarrassed your master with that performance, boy.]

[You know I don't like to agree with this old bastard, but he's right, you fucked up bad.]

[I get it! I get it! Stop crowding me!]

Arthur sat in the back of the class, talking to his systems telepathically as he continued to look up at empty space.

What his eyes saw was far from that, however.

A Japanese salesman, wearing a suit and reflecting glasses, stood next to an old man who looked like he came straight out of a cultivation novel with long flowing white hair and a similarly long beard that reached below his waist-a beard that would put Ragnar's, Emir's, and Raymond's to shame a hundred times over.

[I understand you being weak, you've never trained before meeting us, which is bad sure, but that doesn't matter...]

The old man didn't relent, scolding him while stroking his beard.

[Especially not now!]

Pushing his glasses up his nose, the dull salesman agreed:

[Right. What matters is how you disgraced us with that low blow. Or at least your attempt at one.]

Snickering, the old man added:

[Though I don't know much of this world, I can be sure that it holds the same values as mine. And I've never seen a man kill another by aiming at their goddamn BALLS!]

[Mhm, I can't see how you and Emir are the same age...]

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Ah... Arthur accidentally spoke out loud, causing the entire class to stare daggers at him, especially the 'named,' who looked like they wanted to kill him.

"...Were you talking to someone?"

The kid twitched and paused for a second, still processing what happened. Then he looked back at their bearded professor, his head lowering as he nodded at him.

"Y-Yes... I'm sorry."

"It's fine, just don't do it again and turn off your terminal, yeah?"

"I will."

Arthur let out a sigh while deflating into his seat, trying to hide from the embarrassment and drown out their voices, but eventually...

He failed.

Why? Well, their professor, Ragnar interfered once again.

Right, he was the one who was currently teaching them.

Runes were introduced to them today, while he wasn't the one responsible for the intricacies of that specialization, he was tasked with giving a very light introduction.

And even though it was just an introduction, most of the students grew confused.

Not because of how tough it was to understand, which it was, but because it didn't relate to them or their path.

So thinking that Arthur was adamant on not listening to his lecture, he grew annoyed, throwing a metal coin at the kid's head, snapping him straight.

"Focus!"

"S-Sorry Sir!"

The students next to Arthur clicked their tongues as he sat upright, finally looking to be focusing on the lesson.

And he did focus indeed. But it was a struggle. The two 'reincarnates' didn't stop yapping, scolding him for reacting that way, so to switch their attention to something else, he asked:

[Old man, you mentioned your world before, right? Murim or something. You too ancient salesman, Japan from another dimension?]

His plan worked.

The two went on and on about their fabricated worlds, and Arthur could finally focus on Ragnar's words without their insistent shouting.

"So to emphasize, you NEED to gain the Runeweaver aspect by UNLOCKING the Beholding Eyes ability. This would enable you to SEE Runes. Now, of course, anyone can see Runes but to SEE them is different."

"We don't see only the symbol, the glyph, or whatever you call it, but we see the Path lines within them... Think of it like this: Our bodies, which are essentially conduits, contain thousands of paths, yet we don't use all of them, only a certain number to form an ability."

"The Arcane, the language of the Arcanists, houses many letters, or Runes as we call them, but we can't just write down all of the Runes, input our Aether, and expect a proper result, an ability to form. No, it'll only cause everything to backfire, maybe even explode."

"We need to keep the result in mind while choosing the 'letters,' only then can we expect to conjure something proper. Many simply memorize the 'words,' but if you do that, then you wouldn't know how to tweak the ability for more specific uses, how to apply it to different objects, and so on."

Ragnar gave his class a moment to breathe and then snapped his fingers, causing a hologram to materialize. One that showcased Runes for increased strength and speed.

{Strength-000000000} freёnovelkiss.com

{Speed - 00000}

"Now look... The wording is important-strength and speed-both about the body, while it could be used on most things as it's a general inscription, it's still only best for the body."

As he talked, the hologram added another two inscriptions.

{Velocity - 00000000}

{Power - 000000}

"On a gun for example, you can use something like Velocity or Power. It technically does the same thing, increasing the speed and strength, but in a much more efficient way, even for cars as well, instead of speed, Acceleration would do better."

Scanning the students for a moment, he nodded his head, then turned off the hologram and said:

"Now why did I explain all of that? Well, besides the fact that it was something you should know, it was to introduce this..."

He stepped away from the holoscreen, took the staff on his deck, and showed it to the class. "A staff, why use one when our bodies are and will always be the best conduits to ever exist?" For the first time since the class started, Ragnar's question was not a rhetorical one or one that he would answer himself, and the students caught on to that late, allowing a second or two for only Sofia to raise her hand.

Ragnar picked her to answer, and she stood up, ignoring the grumbling students around her:

"Because it's more specialized."

He nodded.

"Correct! Ten AUC for you."

Her bored expression didn't change at that unexpected reward, and she quietly sat back down,

as if all that he taught was nothing she didn't know.

Even if it was true, which it was, to act that way was rude, but unlike Emir, Ragnar wasn't harsh on the kids, so he ignored her and moved on:

"We spell weavers don't really need a staff, but it helps us perform more complicated spells. As I said, our bodies act as conduits far better than any staff, Arcanist or Technomancer can

create but because of that, it's harder to cast spells with many Paths."

"Staffs like the one I hold streamline the process for a single category of spells. So they're only useful in a certain element or a certain line structure, unlike our bodies, which can handle all. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule with overpowered staffs, but those are Holy Relics, and those are the exception, not the rule."

"Remember, the more specific the inscription the better the result, after all, there are millions of combinations in the Paths, Arcane language, and-"

Ragnar paused just before ending his lesson, his eyes stuck on a certain student in the back of

the class.

It was Arthur.

The kid was staring at his watch, looking excited, as if he was dying to see the class end.

That ticked off Ragnar.

"ARTHUR! MINUS TEN AUC!"

And he immediately gave him a penalty, causing him to flinch and look up in shock while

inwardly questioning:

'WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO?!'

***

While Arthur fought the battle of his life, Emir was enjoying a battle of his own.

Looking at the students fight so clumsily made him cringe a little, but it still lit up his urge to

fight.

And fight he did.

He had a Material Type monster in his left grip, its neck twisted as he kept punching its face

in, causing blood to spurt out in loads, splashing out and landing on the pool of crimson

beneath them.

"WILL YOU SURRENDER?!"

Like a loan shark demanding his money, he kept repeating this question for what felt like a

million times in the past hour.

"A-Alright! I will, I will, just stop... please."

The monster finally relented, accepting his defeat, but Emir didn't let go of its neck, wanting

to punch it one more time for good measure.

But just as he pulled his right arm back like a spring, about to unleash death...

Ring Ring Ring~

His terminal rang out.