Ezra went back to training and three days melted away quickly.
"What did you find out?"
"For one, I do not have the expertise to solve your problem"
"Hmm" Ezra huffed, but Bard quickly added…
"But I do know someone that does"
"He's a Master rune smith. He says runes could be used to augment those things"
"Ok" Ezra nodded.
"But he says he'd have to come and see you personally before he can give any claims of certainty"
Upon receiving Bard's words, Ezra's expression crumpled.
"I won't allow anyone to work on my body"
"This person is a close acquaintance. I can vouch for him"
"It's not that. I just can't allow it"
Upon Ezra's firm rejection, Bard chose not to push any further.
Meanwhile, Ezra's brain whirred, revising Bard's words.
"How sure is this person that runes can help me?"
"Very sure"
"Then-"
Ezra thought his next words carefully.
"-call him over, but instead of checking my body, I'll have him teach me runes. Surely that can be arranged"
While not in his initial plan, if learning about runes helped him achieve his aim, then why not?
After all, the cores he recently implemented were modeled after a mage's magic circuit.
Bard rubbed his beard.
"I cannot answer that, I'll have to ask him"
"And how long will that take?"
"A few hours"
"In that case, I'll be back later" said Ezra, and heads back to his cultivation chamber.
For the next few hours, he stopped cultivating to practice dual wielding.
Returning to Bard's office after four hours, he receives - what he deemed to be - the first good news of the day.
The runesmith said yes - after a LOT of persuasion from Bard of course - and he would arrive in ten days.
Ten days passed by and Ezra stood in front of his new rune teacher.
He was a man, short and a bit flabby, with short brown hair and wrinkles all over his face.
Held in his hands was a box, making Ezra wonder…
'Why isn't he using a space ring?'
A pair of gold rimmed glasses sat on his nose as his small eyes stared through Ezra.
Unmoved, Ezra gave an uninterested look, one the man registered. He pulled out his glasses, leaving only his green eyes, and began speaking…
"So…prince Ezra. Bard told me a lot about you. But, might I ask, why do you want to study runes?"
"I find it to be an interesting course of study. Does that suffice?" he said with a blank look.
The man's look didn't give a very good impression, but Ezra had long learned to not judge in haste.
The man nodded.
"Yes. I only fear that such little desires might fail you. The path of runes is not a smooth one. So…are you really ready to learn runes, for the only mistake one can make on a path apart from not starting, is not finishing. So, your highness, are you ready to go all in? I do not need my time wasted"
Ezra maintained his blank look.
"I wouldn't have you here if I was joking"
He nodded.
'Like Bard said, his demeanor defies that of a child. Things might just get interesting'
"We begin tomorrow. The path of runes is rough and perilous, but it leads to beautiful places and grants amazing rewards"
The man's eyes shined as Ezra said…
"What do I call you?"
"Gregar. Mr. Gregar"
After a lengthy argument, Gregar didn't join Ezra in the underground chambers, but had Bard assign him a personal workplace.
As the Head Alchemist, this was easy.
Under the guise of furthering his mastery on a project with Bard, he would teach Ezra.
—--------------------
By the end of the day, everything was set, and the next day saw Ezra begin his first lesson.
Upon entering Gregor's domain, he found multiple apparatus' ranging from scrolls to Gold-rank artifacts.
Gregor's echoing voice broke him out of his inquisitive state.
"Tell me, what do you know about Runes?"
The first lesson had begun.
"Nothing yet-" replied Ezra.
Gregar frowned as Ezra continued.
"-but I'm ready to learn about them"
With a huff, he took a pimp of weed from his pipe and blew.
"Runes are a language our ancestors first used to introduce magic into the world, establishing simple tasks of bringing about sparks which resulted in fire" he started.
"Time has seen its uses expand. Now, it's used in every part of our lives, and will continue to be used. To cut things short, Runes are words of magic power, capable of all uses"
'It's not much different from what I already knew…good' Ezra thought to himself.
"All uses huh...you can fly with it?"
Gregar threw down a carpet, one rugged and dusty.
Stepping on it, it lit up with blue light as he infused mana into it.
Seconds later, it began to float.
"Does this answer your question?"
Ezra nodded.
"Never underestimate the power of Runes, for without it, many things would cease to exist"
"Now, the study of Runes is a delicate subject and must be treated as such"
"Pick up that brush" he pointed.
Having done so, Gregor got off the carpet, sucked it into his space ring and presented Ezra with a case with ink.
"Dip it in"
Doing so, Ezra recognized it and muttered…
"Berse Ink"
"Oh? You know it?"
"Yes. Mana techniques are written with it"
"Good" he pulled out a brush of his own and dipped it in the ink.
Pulling out a brown parchment, he made a zigzag and ended with a fairly large circle.
"Watch" he said, infusing tiny specks of mana into it.
"This is the Rune 'burn'. It has the effect of, well, burning"
Like chicken in oil, the parchment sizzled as it burned to ash.
"It's part of the basics, fairly easy to do"
Gregor handed him a bundle of parches of his own.
"Now, for your first task, let's see you do the same. You saw what I did, yes?"
Once Ezra took the bundle, Gregor left.
"Don't call me until you succeed"
Ezra looked at himself, then at the brush and the parches in his palm, and shrugged.
He shifted Gregor's items to make space, took his shirt off to avoid getting it stained, and got right into it.
Handling a brush would've been far tougher if he hadn't mastered it while copying the mana technique in the royal vault.
With deft hands, Ezra went at it. His increased mental capabilities allowed him to visualize the rune.
To make things tougher for himself, he began his mindless cultivation.
That is, cultivating physique and elements while drawing a rune.
He could maintain cultivation after swirling and spinning, but not if he did it continuously.
This fatal flaw crawled to the surface as his movements slowed to a crawl.
Making precise hand movements and subsequently infusing the right amount of mana into the ink while cultivating was unbelievably hard.
In ten minutes, he was sweating all over.
Ezra didn't let up, and instead, invested more effort…and it paid off.
After an hour, Ezra could move his hand faster. Progress was miniscule, but Ezra took his chances.
An unknown amount of minutes passed by and one third of the parchments were wasted, but Ezra's smile only stretched.
As the parchments decreased, Ezra's concentration and focus got better, producing different results.
Some burnt a bit but not completely, some burnt too fast, some burnt but the heat died out.
Many others burnt him.
Like that the practiced, until, after an unknown amount of time, the rune was written perfectly.
Ezra stood and no amount of sweat and burns could cleanse the exhilaration in his smile.
Infusing specks of mana, the parchment sizzled and turned to ashes.
He turned around, ready to call Mr. Gregor in excitement, but shivered instead as a chilly voice came alive beside his ears.
"I'll be damned, you succeeded"
Mr. Gregor had been watching all along, looking from behind and above Ezra's shoulder.
"Y-yes, I did" Ezra stuttered, alarms ringing in his mind.
'I didn't feel his presence even once!'
Then, the feeling Mr. Gregor was giving off was too different from what he normally gave off.
'Underestimating Masters, I must have gone crazy'
"Good work. That's all for today, get some sleep"
"Huh? What do you-"
"It's sundown"
Ezra's eyes widened and he looked around. His surroundings were a mess, littered with ashes and wasted parchments.
"Leave it"
Without a word, he put the intact parchments, which weren't more than ten, and the ink brush into his space ring, and left.
All the while, Ezra's fears compounded as he wondered…
'Did he find out about the Mindless Cultivation technique?!'
Multiple thoughts and assumptions popped up, threatening to drown Ezra.
He shoves his fears aside, choosing to meditate and cultivate to calm himself before sleeping thereafter.
Worrying too much never helped anybody.
The next day saw him arrive earlier than before to receive Gregor's teaching.
While surprised, Gregor said nothing, instead handing Ezra another rune to write.
The same thing happened for the next eight days. Only after did Gregor delve into more complex runes, and after a month Ezra began learning rune combinations.
As things got tougher, so did Ezra grow.
His perspective widened as did his knowledge.
In no time, he began dealing with more complex runes. And then, he learned to decipher them.
Of course, to make sure he didn't get side tracked, he studied only runes that would help increase his fighting prowess.
And these Runes numbered thirty-five.
He never confronted Gregor about whether his cultivation method had been discovered, and Mr. Gregor didn't make any inquisition.
Then, on a day like any other, Ezra was working fervently when he felt something on his finger.
Looking closely, it came from within a space ring, the one of Diamond-rank.
