His mouth felt dry, he had to gulp and let go of a breath that he didn't know he was holding. It was here, the price he had to pay for this power. The price he had to pay for the abilities he gained from the legacy. A legacy quest. The concept was simple. How did a legacy owner specify what they wanted to be achieved? Through legacy quests. If the legacy receiver failed to do the quest, their legacy would be gone.
"I don't know why you have asked for information about this particular person, Arthur." Si continued speaking. "However, it's best for you to not get involved. This thing reeks of danger, and you have no reason to butt in." He warned, but Arthur couldn't hear what he was saying.
"Can you tell me their next whereabouts?" He interjected. Si gave him the stare of someone who's warning has just been ignored. He sighed and sent Arthur a location and time. His ability didn't only work on the present, so this much was easy to obtain.
"Arthur…"
"I know, Si. I'll be careful. This is just something I need to do." Arthur saw that Si was about to warn him again, so he quickly said and ended the call. Alone with his quest now, Arthur proceeded to read the rest of the messages.
[Learn the Enders' goal and stop them from achieving it.]
The Enders… Was the black being Arthur saw near the tower one of them? Were they the mastermind behind whatever is going to happen?
'A weapon of mass destruction…'
This was bad. If these creatures were a part of the reason Jizo wanted him to stop the Era of Yore from coming back, it spelled doom. He had no idea how Tyrin would fit into such a grand scheme, but he was his only lead right now to learn of the Enders' goal.
Arthur rested his hand on his left chest, his heart was beating rapidly. He was nervous, scared, and excited. He hated that he couldn't get stronger right now due to his evolution, but he could train. He sat on the couch, crossed-legged, as he began his mana-control training just like Master Ronin taught him. It was past midnight that Arthur decided to sleep.
***
Morning of the next, Arthur wore his workshop attire and left his room. He was glad that he had agreed to Emma's invitation since he realized he would be needed to learn a new rune. It might sound rude to ask her to share some of their runes databases, but Arthur will see how it goes since he didn't want to go unprepared.
"Sure, I doubt you'll get any studying done right before the competition though," Emma said as she sliced the egg with her knife and ate it. "Your skill level would represent us in the competition, don't worry about our support." She chewed on her food. "There will also be a monetary award depending on your rank in the competition."
"There's no need," Arthur waved his hand. "You have already done so much for me."
"The minimum is a million Yalveran dollars…"
"Only the selfish turn down the generous," Arthur's face turned serious. "I can't turn such generosity down."
"Pft, hahaha!" Emma laughed heartily at his change in character and Arthur laughed as well. They finished their breakfast before heading toward the workshop.
On the way, Emma told him he could access the virtual library once he was there. He'd be able to learn about any basic-tier rune he wanted, but only one. This worked for the rest of the apprentices since no one needed to research more than one rune per day unless they were Runes Masters.
Being more familiar with the workshop today, Arthur chatted with some people and Roy before heading with Emma toward a dome-shaped building. It was highly guarded and Emma used her card to let them in. Inside, there were many virtual cabinets with some furniture and refreshments.
"Can I see the real rune at work later?"
"Sure, just call me when you're done studying here and I'll take you to the laboratory," Emma said and left Arthur sat in one of the cabinets and logged in with the guest card Emma gave him. The scenery changed and he found himself in the middle of an empty room.
A holographic list appeared in front of him, containing all the basic tier runes he could choose from. Once he did choose, he wouldn't be able to learn something different. Arthur's purpose in coming here is to prepare to follow Tyrin and find out his motives. He didn't need any combat rune but one suited for information gathering.
After searching through the list, Arthur felt his heart ooze with greed. He wanted them all. They contained elemental runes, reinforcement runes, healing-related runes, summoning runes, daily-life runes, boosting runes, force runes, and even runes that had peculiar functions like invisibility, poisoning, and paralysis. They varied so much that Arthur felt like he would be invincible if he learned them all.
However, these were merely basic tier runes. They had a lower function than runes of higher tiers. Ones that would drain the world of light and light the darkest abysses. Others that brought down lighting or create castles out of nothing. However, all of these were out of reach right now. What he needed was a practical rune for spying.
He narrowed down the list to four runes. One of them was invisibility, but he had to stay still and it could be seen by powerful awakeners. Another one was the rune Roy used Stealth. He could move while using it but even he could see through it. The last two were similar, Eavesdrop and Seeing Eye. The first allowed you to hear sounds around the rune after you activate it, the latter allowed you to see things like a hidden camera. They were both perfect but Arthur had limited time to learn only one. He picked the Eavesdrop and started learning it immediately.
"Warning," Arthur read before his selection was finalized. "Cons include the difficulty of inscribing, others might detect the flow of mana on the artifact, and it could be found." There were other warnings about this rune was unsuitable for practical use since it was difficult to inscribe yet needed to be a one-time use since they would have to destroy the evidence. Even more, it might get detected because the mana flow could be sensed. Others were law-related as the use of this rune, if found, could cause legal complications.
Arthur dismissed the warnings on after the other as he had no such problems if he learned the rune. He could use it instantly and only have it as a temporary rune without a medium. If someone could find it, that means Arthur messed with the wrong person.
Arthur started learning the lines, the function, how it worked, the mana waves involved, the distance and how it traveled, how it would be inscribed, and everything related to the rune in great detail. As he did, his legacy was slowly learning the rune as well. He spent the morning and into the afternoon learning it. The information provided allowed him to hasten his learning speed and there was also the fact that this was a basic-tier rune.
Arthur called Emma and she came to pick him up and guided him toward the laboratory. It was a separate building where runes were tested. The Runes Researchers had to take out an artifact, a genuine one, and show how it worked to Arthur. After a lengthy study of the rune as well, Arthur finally learned it by the time the sun had set.
[Eavesdrop-I: Transmit soundwaves around the rune to the user in a 30-meters radius.]
Since this was the first tier of the rune, Arthur was sure that it would be much more powerful when evolved. If at some point, he could have these runes eavesdrop for him miles away, he would have his spying network.
"Dinner?" Emma asked, but Arthur shook his head.
"I've already wasted a lot of time. I need to go," Arthur planned to only stay here until noon, but his calculations were wrong. "I'll be late to come back, see you tomorrow."
"What, is it a woman?" Emma had her hand covering her face as she made a 'Hoho' laugh with an 'I knew it' stare. "Ouch!" Arthur flicked her head and started heading outside. She followed after him in mock-anger stomping her feet.
The car gave them a ride back to the hotel where Arthur wore something less conspicuous than his workshop attire. Since the capital was so big, he had to order a taxi toward the district the meeting would be. It was scheduled to be at 6 PM today in a bar at a lower-district.
Arthur left the taxi the moment he reached the district and traveled on foot. He found the bar using the location Si had sent him and started wandering around the surroundings. After finding nothing wrong, he headed into the bar before it was 6 PM.