364 Runes

Michael wasn't all that bothered by the Civil War, to be honest, he had other things to keep focused on. Speaking of which...

Michael laid on the floor of the room that was hidden in the Middens underneath the College of Winterhold. A large ritual circle had been inscribed into the ground with a mixture of chalk and Tiffania's blood.

Michael was completely naked of course, neither he nor Tiffania wanted to risk anything going wrong, which meant removing any potential problems before they became such.

This was a project Tiffania had been working on even before she'd summoned Megumin... Familiar Runes, the things that granted seemingly random powers depending on what was written. After much trial and effort, a few exploded Skeevers, and even more that'd died not long after acquiring strange abilities, she'd finally become able to create Void Runes.

Of course, this did have some problems, the first being that she couldn't choose what runes would be granted. Meaning that the abilities that would be gained could vary wildly. Another interesting fact was that Tiffania could not grant Runes that were designed by Brimir.

Examples of this were Michael's Gandalfr, Megumin's Lifdrasir, and even Sheffield's Miodaitnir.

Additionally, Tiffania's runes were far less refined than the ones Brimir had created. They were far, far longer and all in all less powerful overall. This could be attributed to her inexperience with the art, but there could also be other factors at play.

Regardless, today Michael would be getting his second set of Runes.

The start of the ritual requires Tiffania to essentially recreate the Familiar Summoning Ritual. This had been altered, of course, as if she attempted the regular version, Megumin might be harmed, removed, and replaced by someone else. Her runes would be moved, and since the Lifdrasir runes were connected to her life force, it could potentially be deadly.

The ritual was pretty complicated, and Michael suspected that most of it would need to be fine-tuned in future since bits seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever.

After an hour, the ritual circle lights up, bathing the room in blinding white. Then, the sensation of burning overtakes Michael's body. Causing far, far more pain than when he'd acquired Gandalfr.

Fortunately, he'd grown up since then, and his [Pain Resistance] skill stops him from having to experience the brunt of it.

A minute later, the light subsides, revealing the long line of runes burned into Michael's chest, just below his collarbone. They weren't really legible, with even Tiffania struggling to translate them... Luckily, the Book of Legends allowed them to see exactly what they were.

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Name : Michael Tahlin

Rank : Legend

Stats :

Strength : 45 > 65

Agility : 78.2 > 121.4

Intelligence : 52 > 71

Birthsign : The Mage

Familiar : Darth, Dark Monolith Parasite

Abilities :

[The Mage] : Enables user to learn all magic-based skills 20% faster.

[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.

[Vanntalfdir] : Enables user to walk on liquids as if they were solid surfaces, can be activated at will but continuously drains mana to function.

[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.

[Novice Mana Manipulation] > [Adept Mana Manipulation] : Allows user more control over his magic, spells, and some abilities. Mana efficiency and control of power is increased.

[Pain Tolerence] : Allows user to endure great amounts of pain with little to no negative effects as a result.

[Apprentice basic Swordsmanship(Two handed swords/One handed swords)] : Determines how skilful the user is when handling swords.

[Apprentice basic Dagger techniques(Single edge, curved, straight, double edge.)] > [Adept basic Dagger techniques(Single edge, curved, straight, double edge.)] : Determines how skilful the user is when handling daggers.

[Desensitized] : Things of a violent or shocking nature fail to draw a reaction like they used to. Emotions are dulled somewhat and user is more easily able to think and rationalize in high stress situations.

Affinities :

[Lesser Water Affinity], [Fire Affinity], [Lesser Lightning Afffinity] > [Lesser Space Affinity], [Lesser Darkness Affinity], [Ice Affinity]

Spirits :

Commoner Tier :

Shadow Shaman : Lvl MAX

Slark : Lvl MAX

Riki : Lvl MAX

Hero Tier :

Anti-Mage : Lvl MAX

Lina : Lvl MAX

Winter Wyvern : Lvl MAX

Legend Tier :

Rubick : Lvl 5 > 17

Magic :

Tamrielic

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Huh, water walking? Not bad, but not all that useful either.

He allows the Book of Legends to dematerialise and groans as he gets to his feet, he cracks his back and almost stumbles over his own feet as Tiffania runs over to support him with her body.

"Are you alright!? Can you stand!? Is anything hurting!?" she babbles, looking terrified that something might've gone wrong.

He shakes his head, "I mean, everything hurts, but that;'s how I felt when I got Gandalfr... I doubt this is any different. Ugh... The Runes are called Vanntalfdir, they should let me walk on water... Which is probably why my legs are so sore." he mutters.

Tiffania bites her lip and waves her hand, Telekinetically dragging a chair over for Michael to sit in. "Are you... Not happy?"

"Of course I'm happy! It worked!... And I got a cool tattoo outta it." he chuckles, looking down at the runes on his chest. He didn't care either way to be honest, but if it made Tiffania feel better, the runes were perfect.

She smiles and hugs him, "I'm glad... I was really worried about this... I only tested it on one other person..."

Michael crooks a brow, "You mean the guy that exploded?" he asks, remembering the time he was called by the Arch-Mage to investigate an explosion that'd occurred in the Midden...

She nods, "Yes, but that only failed because he wasn't a Familiar... Only Void Familiars can have Runes. I checked over a hundred times to make sure it would work!"

He slowly nods, "Well, I'm still alive so, good job..." he pauses, "Any idea if I could get another?... You know, without exploding?"

Tiffania shakes her head, "No... I'll need to work on it more, the pain you felt was worse than before, right?" she asks and he nods, "It will continue getting worse with every Rune until your body can't stand it. Let me test it more before we give you more, okay?"

"You're the boss, 'Master'." he grins, as she was technically his master now that she'd given him some Runes.

She playfully slaps his arm, "Mou! I told you before! Don't call me that!"

He shrugs, "Hey, I just wanted to know if leather and ball gags were your thing... Being a Dom seems like something a 'Master' would be into-"

*Slap!*

"Alright, alright! I'll stop." he chuckles as she bombards him with slaps.