The top floor of the Grand Rune Hall stretched in elegant silence, golden light filtering through crystalline windows.
Selena Valcrest sat behind her obsidian desk, fingers drumming against the polished surface as footsteps echoed in the corridor beyond.
The heavy doors swung open. Liora Kane entered with quick, precise steps, her B-Rank badge catching the ambient glow from the runic arrays lining the walls.
"Master." She bowed, then placed a scroll on the desk with reverent care.
"The rumors in the district are true. I verified them myself." Liora's voice carried barely contained excitent. "A stall is selling a Legendary scroll."
Selena's golden tattoos flickered, responding to her heightened attention. She gestured for Liora to continue.
"The owner swore it ca from a boy, though he did not know his na. I confird the rune is genuine."
Selena raised her hand, golden runes pulsing faintly along her skin as she lifted the scroll. The parchnt felt ordinary beneath her fingers, but the symbols etched into its surface made her breath catch.
Her eyes narrowed as the pattern unfolded before her gaze. Gravity Snare, written in flawless Language of Mana script.
Recognition struck her. Not many knew the truth, but she did. She was the one who had deciphered the fragntary gravity symbols from Volu III, spending months combining scattered pieces into a working pattern.
She had created the skill books herself. She had distributed them across the Organization's libraries and training halls.
And now soone else had inscribed the sa spell. Perfectly.
Her tattoos pulsed brighter, golden light reflecting across the chamber's surfaces. Among humanity, only seven other Rune Masters existed, and none of them possessed gravity affinity.
She alone had carried that burden. She alone understood the crushing weight of gravitational forces translated into runic script.
Yet this scroll bore no flaw, no hesitation marks, no signs of struggle. A seamless match to her own creation, except transford into a one-ti use format.
She lowered the scroll slowly, her fingers tracing its edges. "Whoever made this is not ordinary."
Liora shifted her weight, waiting for orders. The silence stretched between them.
Selena turned toward the chamber's communication array. "Send words, I need a records search imdiately."
Within monts, another disciple materialized through the hall's transport runes. His robes bore the silver threading of the Information Division.
"Cross-check the Organization's records, look for gravity affinity users. Narrow the search to youths, as the stall owner claid."
The man bowed and vanished in a shimr of silver light. Liora remained standing at attention, her posture rigid with anticipation.
Minutes crawled by. Selena's tattoos dimd to their usual faint glow, but her mind raced through possibilities.
The silver-robed disciple reappeared, shaking his head. "No matches, Master Valcrest. Gravity affinity remains exceptionally rare."
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"Those few docunted users are scattered across distant outposts," he continued. "None fit the age description provided."
Liora frowned with confusion. She stepped forward.
"I'll return to the stall owner. Perhaps he rembers additional details."
Selena nodded once. "Do it. Press him for everything."
Liora departed. The chamber fell silent again, leaving Selena alone with the impossible scroll.
She spread it flat on her desk, studying each symbol with the intensity of a master craftsman examining a rival's work. The precision was flawless, the mana channels perfectly aligned.
Ti passed unasured until Liora's return. She carried a crystalline slate in her hand, its surface glowing with recorded information.
"The point transaction record," Liora announced, setting the device before her master. "His identification was logged during the sale."
Selena's gaze fell on the displayed na. Her heart skipped a beat as she read the simple inscription.
"Adrian Blackwood."
She whispered it once, testing the sound against her lips. The na carried weight, recognition blooming in her mind.
She knew of him. Elara's son, the prodigy with Echo affinity who had supposedly awakened at SSS-Rank.
"Echo," she murmured, her voice barely audible. "An affinity that copies others."
Her mind raced. Echo could replicate gravity affinity. Records showed he had been using Gravity Snare since the Academy.
In theory, this was possible. In practice… a sixteen-year-old, days into the Rune Division, producing a Legendary rune scroll?
She leaned back in her chair, her golden tattoos dimming to a steady glow as she processed the implications.
"Unbelievable…" The word escaped her lips.
But it was undeniable. She was the greatest Rune Master alive, and she could connect the dots.
Liora remained motionless, waiting for her master's judgnt. The crystalline slate continued to display Adrian's na.
"Master?" Liora's voice carried careful uncertainty. "What are your orders?"
Selena's jaw tightened. This wasn't sothing she could ignore.
The Board of Defenders would need to hear of this.
...
anwhile, in his suite, Adrian reclined against silk cushions.
His device displayed his updated point balance, 8,000 points from a single work.
The Organization's digital library beckoned from the screen's corner. Volu I: 2000 points. Volu II: 5000 points. Volu III: 10,000 points.
Humanity possessed only these three fragnts of the language. Without hesitation, Adrian purchased both the first and second volus.
Digital pages unfolded across the screen, symbols glowing with faint luminescence. The Language of Mana stretched before him in its purest form.
He began with Volu I.
Basic runes blood across the display. light, heat, barrier, storage. The grammar of mana, explained stroke by stroke through careful diagrams.
For most scholars, this represented a lifeti of dedicated study. For Adrian, the Source translated each symbol effortlessly, as natural as reading his mother tongue.
Knowledge flowed into his consciousness. The fundantal building blocks of runic language arranged themselves in perfect clarity within his mind.
He moved to Volu II without pause. His breath stilled as elental symbols blossod before him: fire, water, lightning, earth, ice.
Healing and restoration runes followed, their intricate patterns revealing the delicate balance between destruction and renewal. Array diagrams showed how multiple affinities could combine into devastating combat applications.
The Source responded to each new symbol with eager recognition. Adrian felt his mana capacity expanding, his core deepening with each page absorbed.
His body humd with newfound power coursing through his ridians. His reserves doubled, then tripled, he could now sustain Starbreaker dozens of tis without collapse.
He activated his pseudo-manifestation experintally. White-grey mist wrapped around his arm, denser and heavier than ever before.
The ethereal energy pulsed with contained potential. He spread it across his entire body, watching as it endured ten full minutes before finally dissipating.
On his arm alone, the manifestation held for nearly an hour. Stronger, sharper, more alive than any previous attempt.
He exhaled slowly, processing the transformation rippling through his enhanced physique. He didn't yet know how strong this made him, only that C-Rank monsters no longer felt impossibly distant.
Perhaps, if truly pushed to his limits, he could crush one already. The thought carried no arrogance, rely calm assessnt of his growing capabilities.
He closed the volus, golden light from the screen fading to leave the chamber in comfortable shadows. Outside his window, the Rune District still buzzed with activity from his morning's disruption.
In the Grand Rune Hall's highest tower, Selena Valcrest weighed the implications of a revelation she could not ignore. But within his quiet sanctuary, Adrian sat composed and centered.
To him, this represented only the beginning of what was possible.
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