Paint continued to swirl around Nate in complex geometric patterns interspersed with Sigils as he refined the structure for his newest ability. The Sigil for Shape was the most prevalent but Nate had included both Creation and Destruction as well with his Intent forcing them to lean towards the idea of Change. Finally there were Stat-based Sigils throughout. These were the weakest points in the existing runic structure and the first ones he would need to improve. When that time came he would need to modify the structure to support the higher-tier Sigils for the Mental and Magical Stats, but that could wait till he had the appropriate Sigils.

Nate continued to ignore Jemima’s frequent awe-filled glances in his direction as he put the finishing touches on the runic structure and tested the resonance and stability of the various mana fields it should generate. After another half an hour of testing he was finally satisfied that the ability would and could accomplish his goals.

All that was left was to carve the ability into his Divine Vessel. Nate paused for a moment to see how the Challenge was going. Glancing at the last notification from The System told him how far the System Challenge had progressed and his eyes widened slightly.

Wave Number 10: One-hundred Mythics.

Of the demons in the distance, it looked to Nate like almost a third of them were gone. Instead, those same demons of the Fifth Hell were strewn across the red dirt of the valley below. Mangled bodies were left where they had fallen, the corpses still bleeding black ichor onto the ground as their fellow demons attacked Kiri, Wulfgar and Frick. Of the three, only Kiri seemed to be doing fine. His sister was of course covered in the black ichor of the demons.

Nate was calling it ichor rather than blood because he could see how Wulfgar was struggling to make use of the life granting liquid. The battle was slowly wearing down the Bloodborne Executioner and even with his Peak-Grade Divine Artifacts Nate guessed the old warrior only had a few more waves in him. Frick seemed to be suffering from a similar problem. The Undefeated Horde, as Frick liked to call himself, was leaving as many goblin corpses as it was creating demon corpses. The small amount of Divine Energy his Familiar had access to, coupled with the fact that Frick was leaning heavily on Nate’s mana stores, meant that the little blue goblin Spirit was also being worn down. And the Lesser Divines of the Demon Army had yet to enter the fray.

Nate acknowledged that Kiri might be able to handle it on her own, but he didn’t feel like taking that risk. Thankfully, he was confident he had enough time to finish carving his fourth Ability into his Divine Vessel. With a final glance at Jemima to make sure she wasn’t getting any ideas, Nate closed his eyes, focusing on his Divine Vessel as he began to carve the new shape into his form.

There was no pain from the action, but there was strong resistance. His Divine Vessel, built upon the Concepts of Creation, Destruction, and Space, felt like any ever-changing landscape. Destruction and Creation would clash changing the contours and shapes as each sought ascendancy, the space they were contained within flexing and shifting to accommodate the changes wrought before trying to return to a state of stability.

Within that landscape Nate could trace the lines of his other three Abilities. His Conceptual Sight was limited to his head and where its path had been carved flowed a braid of three Concepts. Creation and Destruction wrapped themselves around a core of Space, the two never touching as the braid flowed like a river. Those same braids existed in the other two carved paths. Life Imitates Art and Art Imitates Life were almost mirror images of each other. Almost, but not quite. It felt like one was trying to capture Reality in his art and the other was about turning his art into Reality.

Even with the three Abilities carved into his Vessel, there was room for more. Within those gaps Nate began to overlay his fourth Ability. His skin slowly glowed with golden-blue lines as he began carving a path against the resistance. Destruction fought against him, trying to erase what he had created, change the shape of the lines, and eat into this new pathway. Creation was equally tempestuous, but instead of destroying , it sought to grow the pathway in random directions, adding new Concepts to the formation. The only commonality was that it too tried to force change. Space was almost silent, only occasionally trying to connect random points or change the direction of flow.

Nate lost himself in the feeling of the carving, as though he were painting himself onto Reality, or at least a part of himself. The golden-blue lines slowly covered his entire body like tattoos until he was finally done. The completed pathways were suddenly filled with a new braid and the Concepts inherent to his Vessel finally accepted the new form, bowing before his will.

A notification immediately appeared in his vision as The System detected the changes he had made.

Skill Synergy discovered between your Multi Conceptual Material Shaping (Divine) Skill, Conceptual Runic Mastery (Divine) Skill, Conceptual Amplified Magic (Divine) Skill and Artist’s Desire (Epic Skill). Combine these Skills to gain the Runic Reality (Divine) Skill.
Proceed?

The result was merely a reflection of what he had already done. A change to be made to his Class Core to reflect the changes he had made to his body. Nate took a moment to check that this wouldn’t cost him anything from Kali’Terra, even if he had no intention of using the Class Core Skill and would instead rely on his Ability.

“Will accepting this reduce your debt to me?”

“No,” came the reply in his mind immediately.

With nothing to lose Nate accepted the Skill Synergy offer.

Runic Reality (Divine)
Reality is built upon Concepts, upon Truths. Matter and energy exist but bow to the whims of these Truths. You have grasped this Truth and it has granted you the power to change your Reality. The user of this Skill, with the appropriate Sigils, may reshape matter and energy into new forms. With this knowledge comes power. All Mental and Magical Stats are increased by one hundred percent plus one percent per Skill Level. All Runes created through this Skill have their Magic Power increased by half of the users Intellect and Creativity. The user has surpassed the limit of Intents.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply speed of Material Imbuement by ten. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 6 hours.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply Magic Power provided by four. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 15 seconds.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply Mana Absorption Stat by five. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 1 hour.

Runic Reality 61 > 61

If the Skill was a reflection of the Ability, which it most certainly was, then Nate was pleased with the outcome. With a quick glance at the battlefield he brought up his Status to review the changes that had been made.

With a quick read it was clear that his soaring Creativity Stat was heavily empowering his other Abilities. It once more made him certain that even once he divested himself of his Class Core, that he wanted something to track his capabilities. Sure, he could sit down and write it all out but a tool to measure his Vessel, distribution of Processed Mana, and his Ability development would be priceless to him. He even knew how he would do it, after seeing the various enchanted slates that incorporated the Concept of Knowledge or Information. He just needed to get his hands on one of those Sigils.

But that was a problem for later. Now, it was time to help his team complete the trial. Below, on the battlegrounds that were the small valley, Kiri was finishing off the last of the Mythic-tier Demons. Nearby, both Frick and Wulfgar looked ready to drop. Even before Kiri could kill the last two demons, a new notification flashed in Nate’s vision.

Wave Number 11: One-hundred Mythics, two Lesser Divines.

On Nate’s Regalia, an image of the valley below formed, painted into his robe. It detailed all the corpses, along with Kiri’s night-black Regalia, and Wulfgar’s blood-red version. Frick was there, blue and standing tall as a Chieftain of the Undefeated Horde, even as he seemed ready to fall. Then Nate was standing among them and as the painting changed, Nate rewrote his position in Reality, appearing at Kiri’s side.

His sister didn’t seem surprised, flashing an amused smirk at him.

“Decided to join the fun finally?”

“I thought the other two could do with a break and a chance to recoup some energy. What about you?” replied Nate calmly.

“I’m fine. So far probably breaking-even,” answered Kiri, referencing her Divine Energy stores.

Wulfgar gave a thankful wave as he started trotting up the hill towards Jemima. Frick followed a moment later after collapsing backward onto a horde of Fricklings who bore him away. The remnants of the Undefeated Horde were absorbed back into the Spirit’s body once he caught up to Wulfgar.

“Thanks Boss!”

Kiri didn’t turn to watch them leave, instead focusing on the charging demonic forces. Above even the demonic fliers floated two demons. The Lesser Divines had finally come to play.

“You mind keeping the trash busy?” asked Kiri, her eyes not leaving the two Lesser Divines that floated above the charging horde.

One of the demons looked relatively humanoid, with four purple arms encased in red chitinous armour and a head like that of an insect. The second demon however was purely monstrous, with the appearance of a floating octopus that had far too many arms, the yellow undulating tentacles flashing inside with iridescent colours.

“Fine by me,” answered Nate and for the first time activated his new Ability.

Runic Reality hummed through his Vessel as mana flowed from his reserve and into the braided formation. The ground began to heave, answering the call of mana as Nate reshaped the world. Reinforced pillars of red stone rose out of the ground, lifting a platform above them upon which Nate stood. Swirls of that same red dirt lifted off the ground, turning to stone as runic formations were carved into them. Sigils for Destruction formed beside those for Gravity and Soul while Creation sat beside those for Love, Joy, and Calm.

The rune fort itself was filled with Sigils for Reinforcement, Durability, Empower, and finally Space, as Nate attempted to make the building housing his rune cannons unassailable, at least by anyone or anything below Mythic.

The demons charged on heedless until the first salvo unleashed. Nate walked across the top of the building, placing filled mana gems into slots prepared for them in each of the twenty cannons. Then the runes for Target and Time came online and the cannons began picking targets and launching their payloads. The cannons of Destruction launched balls of pure darkness that erased everything they came into contact with. Gravity Destruction left the horde floating in the air, easy picking for the more advanced Soul Destruction turret that used the Shape Sigil to shoot concentrated beams of mana that erased the Soul Energy of one demon after another.

Meanwhile, the small grouping of rune cannons for Love, Joy, and Calm laid down widespread chaos as the Concepts weakened the rage and wrath filled demons, inhibiting their Skills which were so closely tied to their emotions. The battlefield was chaos as the twenty rune cannons Nate had placed decimated the charging army of Mythic demons. The entire time Nate casually walked back and forth across the roof of his fort, replacing emptied mana gems as needed while keeping an eye on the battle in the sky.

It was the first time Nate was seeing Kiri use her new ability and he had to admit, he was a little impressed. Kiri had apparently decided that she was capable of Enduring Gravity, resisting its pull as she charged through the sky as though she was walking on the ground. Around her feet Nate could sense the subtle expression of Divine Energy as his sister clashed with the two Lesser Divine demons. Clashing with them, and winning. The smile was wiped off his face as a new notification flashed before him.

Wave Number 12: Two-hundred Mythics, four Lesser Divines.

The current wave wasn’t even halfway finished and they were already throwing more at them? Across the battlefield Nate saw a confident smirk form on the face of the Greater Divine Commander. Nate sighed. He was going to have to spend some of his Divine Energy after all.