Runeblade-Chapter 182B2 : Mistakes, pt. 4

Having told them of his plans for them, Rieker placed his Bloodstone shard on the centre of the table with almost reverent care.

“Now, to get the formalities out of the way, I’ll go first.” he said, grabbing his knife off the desk.

It was short, less than a handspan in length, but to Kaius it had all the tells of a masterwork. Fine hammer patterns flanking the spine of the blade, with a dense scrawl of script on the flat of the knife. Rieker was swift, drawing its honed edge over his thumb.

Red blood welled.

“They’re deceptively simple to use, the Bloodstones.” Rieker explained. “A little soul infused mana in your blood -”

He pressed his thumb to the shard of stone, which drank it in like parched soil. As it did so, the bloody glow within pulsed with growing intensity. “-and then you speak the words of your oath.”

Rieker paused for just a moment, letting more of his blood seep into the strange natural artefact.

“I, Rieker, swear that I shall take any knowledge you all share with me today and in the future, as it pertains to your secrets, statuses, and history, to my grave without being spread—unless given your express consent in the absence of manipulation. I swear to never attempt to cut your life short, through action or subterfuge, unless in self defence.” the guildmaster whispered.

The shard of Bloodstone reacted, flaring in red light. Something within it pulsed. Not mana, but some other kind of energy Kaius could just barely sense. As the wave washed over him, he knew that the man's oath had been binding.

Rieker sighed in relief as his oath took, leaning back in his chair as he mopped at his glistening forehead. “Glad that's over—gives me the willies every time I have to do it.”

“Is it painful?” Porkchop asked, cocking his head at the man.

“No,” Rieker shook his head. “But it feels like someones tickling your soul—rather uncomfortable, all things considered.”

Kaius looked at the Bloodstone with curiosity, but when he tried to analyse the strange object the system refused to share. It seemed that whatever it was, it was too high of a tier for him to peer into its secrets with his current strength.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. The Bloodstones were legendary, and tightly controlled as the sacred heritage of the Hiwiann. However Rieker had gotten ahold of one, it had to be quite the story.

With his own oath complete, the guildmaster led them through the ones he wanted them to make. Like Ianmus had said it would be, the oath was rather loose in what it required of them. An oath to defend the guild in moments of need, and to keep the secrets they learned to themselves—both those from the aspects program, and any other secrets that were shared with them due to their membership.

Even the defensive pact was generous in its terms. It only required them to defend the guild to the best of their reasonable ability—no fighting to the death, or sacrificing all other obligations.

As soon as they were done with it, Rieker carefully picked up the stone shard, and deposited it into the velvet lined box that had originally housed it. A moment later, the box vanished - most likely into the spatial storage that a guildmaster would be certain to have.

“Right! Now that that’s done, come with me. It’s time to head to my sparring grounds.” Rieker said with a clap, commanding their attention as he stood from his seat.

They followed him dutifully as he led them through the unadorned door that barred their entrance deeper into the guildmaster’s quarters.

Kaius felt his heart lurch as they stepped through. It wasn’t every day that you got to see how someone of Rieker’s stature lived.

Unfortunately, they only got to see a bare thirty strides of hallway adorned by the trophies of past battles—everything from scraps of scale to stuffed heads mounted on the wall—before he took them through another door and into a steep spiral staircase.

Walking down, Kaius was surprised to see no landings, and no exits. They just kept walking down, and down, and down. With nothing but plain cobble and a wardlight every quarter turn, it was incredibly difficult to tell how far they had walked.

Only that it was far deeper than the ground floor of the guildhall, the minutes bleeding as the monotonous descent continued.

Some time later, they reached the bottom. An empty foyer, showing only an inscribed steel door that was barred tight.

Rieker stopped before it, turning to them.

“Through here is the guildmaster’s practice hall. Every guild has one, and they are universally built to withstand the rigours of a high tier-three battle. Do not worry about going all out—we’re deep beneath the city right now, and no one will notice a thing.” the guildmaster explained, laying his hand on the thick slab of steel masquerading as a door.

They nodded. It made sense to Kaius, even if he had never taken the time to think through the specifics of catering to a high tiered person's practice requirements. Afterall, people in Riekers position needed to grow their skills as much as anyone, and his job meant that he couldn’t well just up and leave for an extended delve without significant notice and planning.

After all, it would be all too easy for someone to notice his absence and capitalise on it - even if just politically.

Rieker pulled out his own guild emblem. It was solid gold, and far more ornate than his own - though, Kaius had little clue if that was the case for all Gold members, or if the extra embellishment was due to his position.

As Rieker pressed the emblem against the door, Kaius heard the deep groaning rattle of locks disengaging, and saw the flare of unknowable inscriptions activating.

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With a final thunk, the steel slab popped open, revealing an empty well of blackness.

A moment later wardlights engaged, and the training hall was revealed.

Kaius took in the sight with wide eyes, hearing Ianmus gasp behind him. The place was immense. Easily fifteen-hundred strides in depth and width, with a ceiling that loomed far overhead.

Titanic wardlights decorated the roof, illuminating the monolithic stone slabs that had been used in the room's construction. Made of some off blue rock, each one looked like it had a year's worth of inscribing work carved into their surfaces.

“It’s rather impressive, isn’t it?” Rieker said, stepping into the hall with his arms out swept. “Welcome to my abode! I like it much more than the stuffy old office upstairs, at least.”

As they filed into the hall, Kaius noticed two things. The first was that there was a rather conspicuous metal box sitting at the far end of the room covered in cloth. Though it was hard to judge the size of it due to the distances and scale involved, it was easily twice his height on every edge.

The second was that the wall behind him was absolutely covered in an armoury’s worth of arms and armour. Each and every one looked like it was something that would cost a noble’s estate—the kind of weapons forged for use by someone who would shatter mortal weapons with a swing.

Strolling to the wall, Rieker pulled down a one-handed warhammer. It was an odd thing, with a head the size of a brick—without his obvious strength, it would have been unbalanced and useless.

In the guildmaster’s hands, it may as well have been made from wood. The warhammer blurred in his hands as he spun through a stream of stances and swings.

“Good enough.” Rieker said with a nod of satisfaction, before he returned to them.

“Now, before we have our little tussle, I want to see you in action,” he explained. “To do that, you’re going to need to fight something of an appropriate level. I do not qualify. Luckily, I had a little time last night after Ro informed me of your little overachievement.”

Rieker waved his hammer towards the cloth covered box at the far end of the room. A great gale howled from its tip, whipping winds launching across the open space. Cloth flapped, and a deep, angry growl echoed out from beneath its cover.

A moment later the wind grew too much, and the cloth was ripped free. What Kaius had thought a box was revealed to be a cage, and within it a beast.

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Hunchbacked and heavily muscled, a hound-like creature prowled within. Deep red, the colour of burning coals, with a row of bristles down its spine, it stared at their little group with frustrated rage as it paced back and forth along the edge of its cage.

Kaius didn’t miss the small puffs of smoke that left its nostrils with every breath.

“That, at least from what I heard of your previous mission, should challenge you nicely.” Rieker said with a wild smile. “I look forward to seeing how the three of you perform.”

Kaius frowned at the guildmaster, while both Porkchop and Ianmus stared at him in naked shock.

Flicking back to the beast in the cage, Kaius analysed it. While he wasn’t opposed to a live fight—after all, it would likely get him his next class skill if it was a real challenge—he still wanted to see what they were working with.

Infernus Hound - Level 87:

Beast, Brawler

Eyes widening in shock, Kaius read the description of the beast twice over. Level eighty-seven? How the hells had the guildmaster managed to find it? Let alone smuggle it back into the city and into the guild with no one being the wiser? In a single night no less.

Still, as he dismissed the notification and locked eyes with the snarling hound, Kaius felt himself starting to grin.

He’d been worried that it would take them weeks to get access to their next good fight, and here was some lovely guild official serving him one on a silver platter. How could he say no?

“Hah!” Rieker laughed. Kaius looked over to find the man watching him closely, an unhidden grin plastered on his face.

“That’s what I like to see! A bit of fire, a bit of zeal!” the guildmaster continued.

“How did you manage it?” Kaius asked in genuine curiosity. “Smuggling a level eighty-seven into a city is no small feat.”

Ianmus whipped over to him, brows raised in shock as he flicked between Kaius and the infernus hound.

Rieker ignored the startled mage’s reaction.

“Oh, a little of this, and a little of that.” he replied with an amused twinkle in his eye. “Reaching the blasted thing was the most annoying bit, but it's not the first time I've picked up something special to see how a team acts in the field.”

Kaius nodded, though he did wish that the guildmaster would be a little more open about it. In the end, he could understand why he was not. Afterall, any back channels that Rieker held into the city would have to be politically…delicate. Not the sort of thing any seasoned figure of his stature would share with a greenhorn like himself.

“Well, we can do it. The spider was only a little lower level, and it was an Elite.” Kaius said with confidence. He knew his team—they could handle this.

“Well—said spider was an illusion based ambusher out of its element, but yes. I was hoping for something a bit tougher, but it was the best I could do on short notice.” Rieker replied, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s more than okay! I thought I would have to wait weeks for my next class skill!” Porkchop said, kneading the stone ground with his claws. Clearly, Kaius’s bond brother was growing restless.

Rieker grinned back at the meles, before he addressed them as a group.

“Now for the disclaimers. This is still a training exercise, so I will not let anyone die—however—you best fight like you might, as I wont be stepping in for anything short of it.” he said, fixing them with a stern stare.

The sheer presence he commanded was enough to straighten Kaius’s spine as he listened to the guildmaster’s words intently.

“I need to see how you actually battle, not what you do in a controlled spar against someone of far greater strength.” he continued. “So hold nothing back. No stratagem, no skill, and no ability. I have already given you my oath, so if you can handedly put it into the ground - do so.”

The guildmaster watched them closely, scanning their determined faces, until he apparently found enough in their expressions to satisfy him.

Nodding to himself, Rieker stepped to the side, giving them an uninterrupted view of the infernus hound.

“Good luck!” he said, clicking his fingers.

The cage that held their challenge opened.