Runeline 2

*Swish* Greenlight shone on Poppy's hand; a green illusion-like claw appeared behind her.

"This is my RuneLine, Grasp of the Undying." She showed Jayce her hand.

"There are a total of 17 confirmed Runeline, there might be more as the Runeline is a mystery itself, even after eons of years, we have had only seen the tip of the iceberg. "

"Wow, it's beautiful." Reality is really different from the game. He can truly feel the power that is emitting from her hand.

"What does that do?" Jayce asks curiously. He doesn't know if the Rune's ability is the same as the game he used to play, after all, this is the real world.

"Hehe, It's a secret!"

Jayce pouted but didn't press the matter, everyone has secrets they want to keep.

"I can tell you this though. The 17 RuneLines are further split into 5 categories." Poppy raised her 5 fingers.

Precision: Improve attack and sustain damage

Domination: Burst damage and target access

Sorcery: Empower abilities and resource manipulation

Resolve: Durability and crow control

Inspiration: Creative tool and rule-bending

"My Grasp of the Undying below to the Resolve category, meaning I have incredible durability during battles." Poppy then points at Soraka.

"Soraka, why don't you show him your RuneLine."

Soraka smiled and nodded. She spread her hands as magic particles rushed into the air. A big book image appeared floating on top of her.

"This is my RuneLine, Unsealed Book, belonging to the inspiration category. Of course, I can't tell you the ability, after all, it's my "secret" *wink*." She winked at Jayce.

"WOW, SUGOI!" His eyes sparkled and drool started to drop out of his mouth.

"Which one is stronger? Yours or hers?"

*bang* A hand chop landed on top of his head.

"OWW! Why did you do that for?"

"Listen, boy, lesson #1, there are no strong abilities in this world, there are only strong people. Abilities are just tools that people wield, it depends on the person's imagination and prowess to make the most out of their abilities." Poppy crossed her arms.

'It was only a question. Damn you big-headed midget' He grumbled and rubbed the bump on his head. Why is she so strong?

"As I mentioned previously, although RuneLine is powerful, it is hard for a person to awake them, it all depends on their luck and fate." She had seen many people who risked their lives to forcefully try to awaken their Rune. She had also seen some geniuses who awoken their Rune from birth.

"So, don't try to risk your life to open your RuneLine, it is, after all, just an ability, a tool. You can still get stronger without the tool."

Jayce just shrugged and didn't care, he already got a guaranteed way to awake his RuneLine, his RuneLine Pill!

"Now, enough of that, NO.MORE.QUESTION! It's time for training." Poppy said.

"Okay, what are we doing?" he asked.

…..

Several hours later.

*PANT PANT PANT*

Jayce who is grasping for air collapsed on the ground.

"I can't move anymore." He spoke with difficulty. Poppy had forced him to run at his max speed. He thought that it was just a short sprint, but the witch made him run nonstop!

*whistle*

"I didn't expect you to have that much stamina. It could compare to a high-level D-ranker." Poppy said, walking toward him while chomping on the watermelon.

Jayce didn't even have the strength to speak, he glances at his stamina.

'1/3845.' IT'S ALMOST EMPTY!

"Clarity." A soft, melancholy voice came from Soraka. Magic Particles rushed through his body.

'2000/3845.'

Jayce found strength again, he stood up with difficulty, glared at the evil midget.

"Let's take a break, we'll continue tomorrow."

"Continue? What am I going to achieve with running? This sounds pointless." Jayce grumbles in a low tone.

"Pointless you said?" Poppy, with her sharp hearing, caught his grumbling. Her smile became more wicked as she turned toward him.

"How about a bet?"

"A bet?"

"Yeah, the loser will owe the winner a favor. How about it?"

Jayce's eyes lit up. Owe a favor? If he manages to win, won't he have an A-ranker do his bidding? But if he loses...

"What's the condition?" he asked.

Poppy then uses her hammer, drawing a circular shape around them. The circle is not that big, around 20 meters in diameter.

"If you manage to land a hit on me, you win. I won't defend myself from your attacks. You have 45 seconds to hit me, or you'll lose, how about it?"

'Mhm' Jayce carefully thought over the challenge. He has to only hit her, and she won't defend, the circle around them is not that big either, she won't be able to run much.

'DING! Player, please choose one of the following options

Accept Poppy's Challenge. Reward: A straw hat.

Accept Poppy Challenge and beat her. Reward: Basic Nen's knowledge.

Refuse Poppy's Challenge. Reward: +50 Defense.

'Wow, a unique challenge!' Jayce exclaimed, these challenges mean that no matter which he chooses, there will still be a reward even if he fails the picked option!

"Deal" he agrees. Since there is an incentive, he would be an imbecile if he doesn't agree! Although he doesn't know what a straw hat is, at least it's a mystery, the +50 strength doesn't attract him as much. Plus, if he wins, he gets double the reward!

They both got into positions. Poppy seems relaxed as she puts her hands behind her head, whistling.

"Ready? Start!"

He then sprints toward her as he punches out. This is his max speed at 3000 points in agility!

The moment his fist approached Poppy, she disappeared!

'Huh, behind me?' Jayce with his 100% in fire proficiency, felt her body heat suddenly appear behind him.

"Too slow," Poppy said, kicking his butt and he fell forward.

'What happened? When did she get there?' He is confused. If even her agility exceeds his, he would still be able to feel her body heatwaves moving along with her, but her heatwave disappeared, and suddenly appeared from his back. It's like teleportation!

'Did she teleport?'

"What was that?" he asks.

"Heh, interest? I thought I heard someone complaining about something being pointless, what happened." She smirked.

'tcch.'

''Gura Gura no mi: Shingen no Ichigeki." Poppy said to attack her, she didn't say anything about using abilities, so he decides to use a distance attack instead!

'Gura-Gura no mi: Shingen no Ichigeki. (Hypocenter attack.)

Description: Vibration will focus on the user's body, releasing the concentrated force toward the target. Dealing 40% True damage.

Cost: 200 Stamina + range (300S/Mile)

He spent 250 stamina on this attack.

'Mhm?' Poppy seeing this, felt confused.

'There it is again. An attack that released Vibration, the thing is those vibrations waved seems to ignore one defense, making it extremely deadly!' She was there, observed Jayce in the distance when he fought against those One eye beings. She saw him use the ability to decimate those creatures. She felt that if those waves hit her, she wouldn't be able to defend it either!

'What a terrible monster this boy is, luckily, he's on our side, otherwise...' Although her inside was in turmoil, her face remained unchanged, with a smirk she disappeared again.

'Again, she disappeared! But how? ABOVE!' Jayce used both of his arms to block the incoming punch from above.

*Puah* The punch seemed to be like a normal one, but Poppy's packed a lot of power, blood reached his throat, but he forced it down.

"10 seconds left!" Soraka shouts.