Chapter 298: The Art of Rune Crafting
’The absorption of life force does not necessarily mean the targets will die. The Rune carvings are categorized as a Fourth Grade Magical Glyph, so those in and above S Rank will be able to withstand the attack with minimal damage. But the rune can also be calibrated so that it only takes enough lifeforce to weaken all the targets. This will weaken the Rune Glyph and make it act as a Fifth Grade Glyph instead, so it does not kill any of the targets, and so long as the lifeforce it takes is not consumed to activate a spell, the glyph can be reversed and the lifeforce it takes will be returned after the battle is over.’
Jason hummed. So that means they could attack the city without worrying about killing all the civilians, so long as they don’t use the lifeforce that they absorb to attack someone else. Jason didn’t plan to use the lifeforce in the first place since he had enough mana for any spell he wanted to cast, so this would work in his favour. But Jason was curious about something...
’How many grades are there in Magical Runes?’
The Lich took on a lecturing tone unconsciously as it answered Jason. Azrael had once been a researcher at a large magical institute and he had learned and taught about magic for years before he became the Immortal Lich, so he was in his element whenever he was talking about magic runes or spells!
’There are six known grades in the world of Rune Crafting, with the sixth being the weakest and the first being the strongest. Each grade consists of a more complicated combination of Runic Glyphs and symbols that would allow you to create a specific Rune Foundation to carry out increasingly taxing magical feats. But you should keep in mind that the grade of a Magical Rune does not necessarily determine how effective the Runic carving will be. There are various other factors like the materials used, the potency of mana input, as well as the class of the runic crafter that also determine how effective a rune will be. Rune Crafters are graded based on how powerful they are, from Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue classes. A First Grade Magical Rune Glyph created by a Red Class Rune Crafter will always lose out to a Third or Fourth Grade Magical Rune Glyph that was created by an Orange or Yellow Class Rune Crafter since there is a significant gap in their experience and magic potency.’
Jason nodded along as he digested all that information. So, Rune Crafters were divided through the colors of the rainbow, just like Gates, and the Runes that they carve are divided from First Grade to Sixth Grade. Jason already knew that there were various forms of magic in the Primordial Expanse, so he wasn’t surprised by the fact that there was an entire magical system revolving around runes and glyphs. But Jason was surprised that a Fourth Grade rune would be capable of taking out an S Rank. If the Fourth Grade was that strong, then just how powerful would the First Grade Rune be?
Azrael came in with another explanation.
’No Rune Crafter has ever managed to create a First Grade Rune Glyph as far as I know. The highest recorded Rune Glyph was a Second Grade Rune known as the World Ender Rune, which was used to erase three parallel worlds from existence. It was created by a mysterious Blue Class Rune Crafter known only as Lyrnx. But the rune masters in my world theorize that based on the differences in power between runes, a First Grade Rune will have enough power to take out an entire army of Primordials.’
’Wow.’
Jason could only react in this way after hearing what Azrael just said. Knowing that a simple rune could take out an army of creatures that were seen as the most dangerous beings in the Primordial Expanse made Jason respect the entire art of Rune Crafting a lot more. Jason had already been thinking about ways to improve his power, so he could reach a level that would allow him to stand up to the Primordials, and he decided that taking up Runes and Rune Crafting was one of the things he would do. Jason had a teacher here who knew more about Runes than almost anyone else in the Primordial Expanse, and he also had the system that would allow him to learn at a speed that was faster than almost anyone else!
Thinking about runes suddenly brought Jason back to the weapons that he had found in the Lich’s body after their fight, and Jason pulled out the [Death’s Mirage] from his Alternate Dimension and looked at the sword hilt closely. Jason turned it over, and Gina spoke from the side when she saw it.
"Is that a sword? What happened to the blade?"
"It doesn’t have one. I need to do a ritual before I can use it properly."
Jason’s answer didn’t really clear things up for Gina, and Gina eyed the sword hilt suspiciously once she heard the word ritual! Like most people on Earth, the term ritual immediately made Gina think about something occult or evil, and Jason chuckled when he saw the look of distrust on Gina’s face! Jason had the exact same expression when the system told him that he needed to perform a ritual to use the sword, and he had to change his mindset to realise that a ritual was not something only done by cults.
Jason had been planning to wait until after he was done with the fight against Radagan before he performed the rituals for the sword, but after learning about how powerful the people on Radagan were, Jason decided that it might be best to have something that would give him an edge in any fight. Jason was strong, but the weapons in his arsenal weren’t strong enough to match his strength. Jason needed a weapon that wouldn’t break or bend even when facing off against an SSS Rank opponent, and this sword was Jason’s best option.
——
New Mission: Perform Your First Runic Ritual
The user has discovered the magical art of Rune Crafting and has gained a skilled teacher who can guide him on his path. In order to pass this mission, the user must perform his first Runic Ritual and form a binding contract with the magical artefact [Death’s Mirage]
Rewards
+10,000 Free Kill Points
The user will gain the Title [Red Class Rune Crafter]
The user will gain the Unique skill [Rune Analysis]
——
Jason read over the new mission from the system and he gained an excited grin! Jason knew that the system was always going to be there to help him get stronger, so he didn’t know if it would also help him through this new form of magic, but he was glad that it could! The most important reward from the three he saw up there was the [Rune Analysis] skill that he would gain, and since it was a unique skill, Jason was already sure that it would be really useful! Jason immediately spoke to Azrael.
’How long will it take to perform the binding ritual for this sword?’
Azrael answered that it wouldn’t take too long. Drawing the runes and putting in the mana would only take about thirty minutes since Azrael would be doing it himself, and after five minutes of constant incantation, the binding would be complete! Jason let out a small sigh as he decided that he would carry out the ritual. But first, Jason had to organize all the things he was going to do in the coming war. Azrael was going to use the [Soul Drain] rune to siphon a lot of power from the people in the main city and then Jason’s subordinates were going to attack the towns around the city to try to split up the Generals. Jason knew that a drawn-out battle would be to his advantage, so he would try to kill two or three of the Generals first so that he could resurrect them and then use them to take on the other Generals.
Once Jason was sure that his legion could deal with th Generals, Jason was going to head towards the Soverign himself. The Soverign was very powerful, and Jason knew that none of his subordinates would be able to handle him at all. If Jason allowed the Soverign to join the battle, then he could turn the entire tide in favour of the Radagan army, so it would be best if Jason handled that himself.