17 RUNE MASTER

'He agreed.' Camron thought happily.

"Thank you, Alex. This might sound a bit absurd but you are now the only friend I have, Apart from Evan that is."

'A first for me though. Be gentle with me.' Alex sarcastically said in his head.

"Should I say thank you or congratulations?" He said while smiling at his sarcasm.

"You don't need to say anything. I am satisfied with just being your friend."

'Is this guy really naïve or just stupid and too trusting? Does he think that we would be friends just because he asked?' Alex questioned in his mind.

"Alex, don't you have a surname?"

'I should punch his throat at this moment, right? No, he is stronger than me. I should avoid using my bloodline suppression abilities, don't want the horses to pass out again.' Alex was not sure of how to handle Camron.

"I do not have one." He answered coldly, as he still stared outside the window, watching as they passed by the trees of the forest.

"Meaning you don't have a family?" Camron asked the obvious.

"I don't have any. They.." He stopped halfway through. He turned his attention from the window and looked at Camron with a look of uncertainty.

'Why in the hell am I telling this retard the truth!?'

Alex turned his attention back to the window and continued to stare out the window. He put a hand under his jaw and acted like he wasn't having a conversation with Camron.

'I seem to have hit the wrong spot. A kid like him is without a family. He has a strong bloodline but weak cultivation. His family must have been attacked by enemies that were stronger than they were. And he must have escaped and got lost in the forest. His real name might not be Alexander too.'

Camron started to sympathize with his made-up conclusions. He chooses to change the subject.

"The name of the Sect we are going to is called Severance. The severance Academy, you can call it an organization or a sect, but it is an Academy. You seem to be in luck. The lowest realm of cultivation they would accept as disciples is the Origin realm, but you would only be a lowly orange badge student upon entry."

"An orange?" Alex misunderstood him.

"That's how the academy grades their pupils. The grades are as follow;

Origin realm cultivators are known as orange badge students. You would be given an orange-colored badge.

Nascent realm cultivators are known as brown badge students.

Early-stage Disaster realm cultivators are blue badge students.

Late-stage Disaster realm cultivators, red badge students.

Early-stage Nirvana realm cultivators are black badge students.

There is only a handful of black badge students in the Academy. Not everyone can be that talented." Camron explained in detail.

"I have a feeling that you would like to keep matters about your bloodline a secret to avoid your enemies. So you won't be using it to get accepted into the academy, would you?" He added.

"And I have an elder sister in the academy already. The eldest daughter of the Avanti family. She is a red badge now, so you don't need to worry about anyone trying to bully you in the academy. As we are friends now, I would have your back, and you would have mine too." Camron proudly mentioned his elder sister's achievement.

'My enemies? What is this retard talking about again? What enemies, I have no enemies, yet. Well apart from Camilla and the fourth Dragnel brother. One of them is even a one-sided relationship. Me? have your back? You are better off with a duck having your back. Anyone that tries to do anything unfavorable to me will be killed by me in due time.

But the retard is right about one thing, I want to keep this bloodline thing under the rug for a bit. After all, Daemon said that its powers could end me too. I would like to avoid dying on the spot like those animals in the forest.'

Alex shifted his gaze to look at Camron.

"Thank you I guess." He looked uncertain.

'Is this another sincere or mocking thanks' Camron thought.

"Do they accept nonpareils?" He asked.

"Of course they do, everyone would accept talents like that because they stronger than their peers and they are rare gems."

"Then I am indeed very lucky." He said with an arrogant smile on his face.

"Don't tell me you are a nonpareil!" He said as he wore a look of doubt on his face.

"I am, I am a talent that is rarely seen, is that hard to believe?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I mean no. I mean what were the odds that I would meet a nonpareil on the side of the road. What weapon Dao do you cultivate?"

"I am able to cultivate all weapons."

'Is he messing with me? All weapons. Does he know what it means to even cultivate a single weapon?'

Camron frowned at Alex. He stopped talking and started thinking. Alex saw his reaction and chuckled.

"You find it hard to believe right. I also found it hard to believe when I found out. That is just how much of a talent I am."

Alex boasted arrogantly and pushed his chest out a bit, adding more air to his already arrogant demeanor.

'This guy is bipolar and arrogant.' He thought as he stared at Alex.

Camron still had a frown on his face, but he gave Alex a slow nod as if saying that he understood. He continued to speak;

"They also accept Alchemists, Runemasters, and forge masters. Most Runemasters are forge masters though. Alchemists are majorly fire elemental cultivators, they…"

Alex zoned out after hearing Camron say the word 'rune'. He had that feeling of when a person forgets something and they were about to remember what it was. He closed his eyes and part of the knowledge he inherited from Daemon surfaced in his mind.

What he was seeing in his mind now, was like an introduction to what runes were. he read in his mind;

'Runes are inscriptions that hold basic Rule bending laws. For example. If I draw the inscription for flames and invoke it, as long as I am able to successfully invoke it then flames will come to being. When several inscriptions of different shapes, forms, and properties are combined, they could be used to do a lot of things that QI cultivators cannot.'

'Runes can be used to predict the future, protect a person against misfortune, imbue objects with different qualities, and conjure curses.

There are nine stages in the mastery of runes, they are;

RAETIC RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

VENETIC RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

ETRUSCAN RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

ANGLO RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

SAXON RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

STAVLOSA RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

HALSINGE RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

DALECARIAN RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

FUTHARK RUNES MASTERY STAGE.

Mastering runes are almost like cultivating a weapon Dao. They both draw their abilities from the Rule bending powers and the will or life force of an individual.

The difference between runemasters and weapon Dao cultivators is that runemasters are more versatile with the Rule bending powers. They are not limited to just one basic rule-bending power.'

'Runemasters at the Raetic and Venetic stage use equipment to make inscriptions on objects, with the price of expending their life force. From the Etruscan stage, the runemaster would be able to make inscriptions with their blood or use their life force to create visible inscriptions on the air.

From the Stavlosa stage, a runemaster would not need to write the inscription out. The primal names of the inscriptions can be called fort on.

Like reciting a spell. It is very rare to see rune masters battle, mostly because they would have to sacrifice their life force in accordance with the magnitude of rule-bending power they are trying to use. The majority of them choose to be forge masters that imbue inscriptions on their creations.'

After going through the little information that became clear in his mind, he raised his right index finger and started to write in the air.

To Camron, it looked like Alex had lost his mind.

"Alex, are you okay?"

Alex stayed silent, repeating the same pattern, flow, and cadence he had been using when he started to write in the air. He closed his eyes and continued to write in the air.

A few seconds later.

"Enforce!" Alex said.

The glass on the window of the carriage started to change, it looked like it was thickening. A few seconds after, the glass looked like ice. It was as sturdy as metal now.

Camron seems to have lost control of the muscles in his jaw. His mouth was wide open as he stared at Alex in amazement and shock, the two emotions simultaneously present on his face.

"You are an Etruscan runemaster!!?" He asked with his shocked and amazed expression still present on his face.

Alex smiled and said;

"I guess I am." He said proudly.

Alex felt part of his strength being zapped away after he spoke. He started to pant.

'Is this what it feels like to have your life force deplete? I feel like I have aged several years.' Alex closed his eye and tried to calm down.