For a moment you consider just attacking them, along with the enemies you know wait for you in the graveyard ahead. Then you decided against that, as well as the brief thought in the back of your head to just run past everything.

As tempting as it was to just attack, it was beginning to get late and as easy as just attacking everything may be it'd also be rather tiring. Mentally, if not also physically.

So instead you crouched down and began to do something you hadn't done for a while.

You sneaked around on the ground.

And as it turns out, despite the differences in body shape and movement, sneaking around was more or less exactly the same. Enough so that you were more or less free to do whatever as you sneak through the places on your way to the main academy.

Though not before you manage to spot a glint from the corner of your eyes while going through the graveyard past, what you knew to be, the church of the cuckoo. The glint which you discovered to be a crystal, hidden in one of those wooden balls pushed by the insect, when you quickly went to grab it.

… honestly, you weren't even surprised at finding another crystal in these lands. Instead, you just put it into your bag of holding and moved on.

[Spectral lance ash of war] gained

But regardless, after putting the lumpy grey crystal into your bag, you continued sneaking. Sneaking past the rotten strays, the marionette's, and the occasional sorcerer until finally you reached the waterwheel lift described to you by Lansseax.

Then you looked around for a moment and were struck with a thought.

Should you look around for more things?

The answer to which was no, as you quickly hopped onto the lift and continued away from the wet cave-like grounds upwards.

Then you walked into the only building there, into a room filled with books on the floor and lightly glowing crystals in one corner.

All denoting that you were finally past the cuckoo church area and in the academy proper.

However, instead of going forward, as you'd been told to, you instead decided to look around the area.

Because if you remembered what you were told correctly there should be a lot of useful things here, "teaching aids" as Lansseax called them…

Except no, not really. Because no matter how much you went around like a shadow, no matter what corners you searched, you only managed to find a single book.

Which you couldn't actually understand, because despite knowing the basics of how to read the words on the actual book were little more than random lines to you.

Still, something was something, and so you put the book into your bag as you made your way back onto track.

You'll admit, at this point you really did not feel like sneaking around anymore.

While yes, it was letting you go through the place without tiring yourself mentally from fighting, it was also not something you made the sword in your hand for.

So, standing up, you walk confidentially through the door into what should be the main stairwell… and were met with every human in the stairwell turning towards you.

And what you discovered was that the magic they used was one that constantly closed in on you. Also the fact that you were far faster, and that the humans here were no more resistant, to a large and sharp object, than any other humans out there. Despite their weird appearance.

You did like the fact that some of them left behind their weapons, even as they faded away into blue motes.

[2 Lazuli Glintstone Swords] gained

Anyways, you fought through all the enemies, including a weird pot with arms, until eventually you came up to a wall that… seemed to be made of golden fog?

Despite being solid as well.

But you did have the feeling that you could push through it…

However, instead of pushing through the golden fog you instead decided to explore around first.

Because you wanted to find something good in your search, especially now that all the enemies were dead and not distracting you. So you began searching.

And only really managed to find a scroll on a dead body in one of the side rooms.

Which was still good, at least you assumed since you understood nothing on the scroll, but it wasn't as great as you'd expected.

But, as you were returning back to the fog wall, something managed to catch your attention from the corner of your eyes. One of the walls on the way to the fog wall had just wavered.

A single touch was all it took for the wall to fade away, revealing a passage behind it that you, of course, walked through.

At the end of which was a chest containing another scroll, except this one immediately sank into your hand when you touched it. Then you suddenly knew how to cast the comet spell.

Along with the basics of glintstone sorceries… somehow.

[Glintstone sorcery [1]] magic added

[Comet spell] spell added to glintstone sorcery

With that discovery, even if it was objectively worse than the lightning bolts you'd been taught by Lansseax, you decided that it was finally time to go through that fog wall.

So, walking up to the wall and placing your hands on it, you begin pushing.

And slowly, you find yourself sinking through it until, eventually, you push through and find yourself in a room much like the rooms you'd come from, as far as books on the floor and such are concerned. Except this room was bigger and lined with chair box… things along the sides.

Oh, and there was a large, compared to your current size, wolf charging you with a glowing sword in its mouth.

So of course you met the charge with one of your own, digging into the knowledge in your head to pull on the ability for the occasion.

Sword dance, was the name the information gave you, and using it you found yourself dashing forward so hard the ground beneath your feet cracked. It almost felt like you were inside water, with how fast you were going.

Abruptly, you slammed your foot into the ground, dodging the glowing blade that nearly grazed your head. But the force of your sudden stop didn't go to waste, instead it travelled down into the blade you held. Something which caused it to emit an ominous screech as it sliced upward through the wolf chest.

But you weren't finished with just that as, using the momentum from your swing, your body twirled around, leaving a light green line in the air as you delivered another swift slash to the wolf's torso.

This time though, the momentum was used up. Leaving you with sword extended forward.

Which the wolf apparently took for an opening, and for its incorrect judgement it got your sword's edge slammed directly onto its face. Leaving it with only one eye.

…which, more than anything, seemed to make it more angry. With it letting out a howl that carried a palpable sensation of pure rage.

Then it charged at you with such speed that you barely knew that it was on attack was brutal with its movements fast and as deadly as they could be, considering you wouldn't die from just these attacks. Your stomach was sliced by a burning blade, your arm tendon ripped out, and your eye plucked out in a flurry of sharp claws. There was no time to react, but even if you had it wouldn't have mattered.

Because as it turned out your blood, while seemingly not as deadly as the blood in your true form, was still deadly enough to finish off the wolf. Causing it to just… slump down and begin to fade away into golden motes.

All that was left of it being a necklace made of gold, with a black stone in the centre.

Something you picked up and put into your pouch… after most of the muscles in your stomach area knit together and let you stay stood up.

And as you stood in the room, fully healed, you couldn't help but frown as you looked at your sword, which was barely holding together. Your mind going back to the sword in the wolf's mouth, the one that was clearly magic with how it disappeared.

… and you realised that you could probably make that, if you dedicated some time to it.

[Memory stone gained]

[+25 to making a magic sword forming spell]

[Your blood only does damage if you are less than 40% HP in human form]

Of course, trying to make a spell to create an indestructible magic sword was something you'd do later. But that didn't mean you were going to replace your current sword.

Which you did as, after a short burst of concentration, another sword was in your hands as you walked out, albeit this one was noticeably more fragile than the previous one.

[Causality: 8/10]

Though that didn't stop you from finding and killing anything that moved with it. Ranging from some puppet looking things, more sorcerer, and even a weird large metal thing that was roaming the courtyard you'd walked into.

Among those things you killed, the sorcerers were the only one's that left anything behind when they were killed. That being a sword, though it was more like a knife for you with how small it was.

[Noble's Slender Sword] gained

What's more, to improve your time in this section of the academy, is that you found one of those expensive flowers hidden away to the side, as well as another golden tree with a seed. Both of which you put into your pouch, having to take a moment to rip out the second one.

[1 Golden tree, 1 Golden seed,1 Trina's lily] gained

Anyways, with the courtyard cleared of enemies, you returned down the path Lansseax had mapped out for you. You effortlessly vaulted over the comically large ball that rolled into your path, amused by how slow it was. But still, you pressed on with swiftness, feeling more and more mentally tired.

And then you stopped as a well armoured human blocked your way.

For a moment you just stop, looking down at the silent human and the human looked up at you.

Then it charged at you, to which you just slapped it aside with casual ease.

Oh sure, it tried to block your attack with the shield it had. But you were not only significantly stronger but your sword was also far bigger, and thus heavier, leading to the human getting embedded into the wall.

And then fading into blue motes, the single attack apparently having killed it… which was rather anti-climactic.

Still, you collected the shield, that was the only thing the human left upon fading away, and then once again made your way down the route given to you.

[Carian Knight's Shield] gained

Which eventually led you to an elevator and, once you went up it, a large door.

Beyond which should be the next great rune…

Well, there was no point in wasting any time and so, after forming another sword, you just opened the door and stepped in.

Or at least you did one of those things.

That being entering through the door, because the sword you made… well, it was less sword and more just a bunch of metal chips. Which just sort of flowed through your hands and made a pile on the floor…

Moving on, you stepped through the door into what appeared to be a library, still holding the frailer sword.

"Godwyn? Ah, art thou here to meet thy newest sibling," and then a woman, who surprisingly enough seemed to be taller than you in your human form, suddenly starting talking to you, at least you thought so from the way she was looking directly at you, "come, come. Radagon told me you wanted to meet your half siblings."

Instead of immediately attacking her though, you decided to just walk up to her and see what she wanted. Due mostly in part to the fact that you didn't sense any hostilities in her emotions.

Though, as you walk past the towering bookshelves, you begin to hear the quiet sound of shuffling from behind the shelves. Before suddenly it's revealed to you what the sounds were from. That being humans, who slowly crawl out of their hiding places on all four as you get closer and closer to the woman in the centre.

But you ignored them, at least after noting that they were non-hostile, and instead just kept walking till you reached her.

"Ah, it has been so long since thy visited us Godwyn. We had though thou had forgotten us," she said to you, stroking what appeared to be a glowing golden egg in her hands as she talked, before holding out the glowing egg for you to grab, "here, look. Thy newest siblings, triplets this time."

You just held the egg thing, extremely confused. Because you understood the words she was saying, but you struggled to understand their meaning.

So instead you just examined the thing she'd given you, wondering if it was edible, even as she kept speaking to you.

"Even Ranni was beginning to miss thee, though we were sure to assure our sweetings thou shall be arriving soon. As thou always didst," she continued speaking, even as you realised that there was something in the object she gave you and thus began looking closer, "though we art sure thy must have been busy helping Radagon on his trip to Leyndell."

Slowly you tune out her voice as you look even deeper into the thing, interest growing as the shapes come into focus for you.

Only for that interest to then immediately die as you saw that the thing inside just seemed to be three of some sort of… half formed human thing, missing chunks of their body.

They actually look like the human woman before you too.

"Ah, I see thou have met our sweetings," now that you'd seen what it was, her voice once again became audible to you as you stopped tuning her out, "Radagon was so happy to show us our latest child, how beautiful they were. He even said we could make as many as we wanted when he went to the capital as replacement."

Wait, now that you look closer at the actual surface of the thing… is that another great rune?

Huh, yes it is… do you just… reach out and…

*woosh*

As your fingers brushed against the great rune, a gust of wind enveloped you. The power of the rune surged through your body, and confirming your assumption that this was, in fact, the great rune.

[Status addon detected]

[Integrating]

[Great rune of the unborn] gained

Then you're left holding a, now significantly duller, egg-like thing. It didn't really seem all that impressive anymore… and it doesn't seem to able to be put into your pouch?

You remember the merchant saying you could put anything non-living into it…

You give the thing another close look, shaking it to see if it's alive.

"What a silly man he can be sometimes, why would we need to replace something? We haven't lost anything," your attention turns back to the woman, who was still talking, then back to the object in your hand.

"Oh, thou art returning them to us? Ah, we suppose thou art going back to help Radagon," she says as you hand the thing back to her, "be sure to tell him to return home quickly, we and his children miss him very much."

Yeah, you think that she might… not exactly know what's happening outside this place.


Great Rune of the Unborn

Allows you to be reborn better and respec ER levels through Rennala

Mutation and evolution cheat both gain a +20

Non-standard great rune (doesn't count to active great rune count)


Seeing as you go the great rune now you… didn't really have anything to do here anymore.

Wait, no. You did have something to do, that being explore around for some more for good things. Whether those good things be for eating or otherwise doesn't exactly matter.

And you knew the exact place to start, it being the only place you hadn't killed any enemies in at all.

Of course, your journey there was relatively easy, what with you having killed all the enemies on the way, but you did manage to find a weird glowing white metal on the way there. A lick of which showed that it tasted delicious.

[Sombre smithing stone [4]] Gained

So, after popping the metal into your bag, you found yourself at the start of the graveyard. Then you began killing every enemy you saw, going back the way you came.

Until you were once again back at the lift.

Yet, this time, you didn't decide to just go up, you had time after all, instead you decided to go past it and explore some more.

Though, you'd barely walked a bit past the lifts, that a random human appeared in a haze of purple sparks. Or at least, what you assumed was a human.

Because, while the figure before me seemed to have the vague shape of a human, its slender proportions and protruding bones were unlike anything you'd had ever seen on a person. And you also very much doubted humans had that sickly glow emanating from their eyes, or the skin that seemed to be made of stone.

It was also walking towards you with a menacing aura and its sword sparking with the same purple lightning that it appeared in, it's intentions clear. So it didn't really matter.

The fight that occurred afterwards… well, you won it.

In so far as you killed the enemy after repeatedly getting hit in the face repeatedly with its sword, and even run through the stomach on one occasion, more than enough to kill most things.

Really, it was the repeated spells it used to pull you in that let it beat you up as badly as it did… which really made the fact that, when you killed it, you got the spell it was using in the form of another one of those scrolls.

The one's that instantly let you learn the spell, Gravity well in this case.

And you even got the shad of it's sword, which didn't fade away. What's more is that, with this, you wiped out most of the enemies in the entire academy.

If you remembered right.

[Meteorite sword shard] gained

[Gravity magic] added

[Pull] category added to gravity magic

[Gravity well] spell added to spell list

OF course, now that there were no enemies really left for you to fight, or at least there wasn't a large group of weak enemies, you could really only search through the academy for things.

Which also didn't quite go as well as you thought it would, as you got distracted for a bit trying to find something that you saw in the corner of your vision.

Which actually turned out to be a bit of crystal stuck to the corner of your human forms eye.

Still, after you wiped off the tiny glowing crystal, you truly began your search of the academy courtyard… and you found a glowing piece of dried meat.

The only reason you put it into your bag was because the part of the desiccated meat that split, showing the actual flesh, was glowing.

[Spellproof Dried Liver] gained

You made sure to wipe your hands on the walls thoroughly afterwards, they were weirdly sticky from touching that meat.

Which was more annoying than anything.

Obviously you weren't satisfied with the single scrap of meat, no matter how much it glowed.

Which is why you continued onwards while searching for things, something that wasn't nearly as successful as you'd hoped. With you only finding a couple of shrubs and such while wandering around.

At least until you arrived at the library again, which you decided to enter just because you were getting annoyed. Which… well, it got you something at least.

"Ah, Godwyn. Thou hast returned to us, good," because when you entered the room the weird lady in the centre sent a book floating, in a bubble, towards you, "we are sorry to have to ask this of thee, but could thou return this journal to Radagon. We found this in our possession, and we have not the faintest idea how he could forget such a thing. Really, what was he thinking, forgetting such an important book he has been working on for so long?"

Then she just kept talking at you about how dangerous the primeval current is and why you shouldn't tamper with it. How the amber of the cosmos could devour you if you did.

You just sort of… accepted the situation. Eventually just taking the book as what you found this time and walking out of the library.

"Treaties on glintstone sorceries and the primeval current, by Radagon of the golden order," was what the title said when you read it, before putting it into your pouch.

And with that last addition to your pouch you'd had enough for the day.

You were more than ready to go back to your den and sleep, something you got straight to doing by heading directly back to the entrance. Of course, a couple of enemies, that you'd apparently missed while killing everything, chose to jump out at you from the shadows at that time. But, not only were they unable to even cause you any harm, you were more than happy to kill them.

But regardless, you made your way out of the academy quickly enough and, once you were out, you got back to your den just as quickly.

And as you sink into the comfort of your den, the fatigue slowly draining from your body, you can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction wash over you. Your mind replaying the events of the day, as your consciousness slowly fades.

[Runes: 256,208]