Runeblade-Chapter 219B2 : Looting and Leaving, pt. 2

Reading through the descriptions of the reagents that he’d discovered in the shaman’s tent for the second time, Kaius focused on the Least Nature Condensate. It was by far the most valuable of the bunch.

Condensates were rare. Only in the perfect conditions would they manifest, requiring unnatural mana density with an unusual bent to a single affinity—on top of needing something to encourage it all to crystallise, though no one had ever discovered what to his knowledge—something he could easily be mistaken on.

Least ones like he held in his hand were by far the most common—accounting for something ludicrous like ninety-eight in all hundred discoveries. Unfortunately, they were by far the least valuable. Larger condensates had a myriad of uses in alchemy, runework, and large free-cast spells. Ones like the splinter in his palm lacked that potency, and were mostly just used to empower or intensify reactions that made use of their affinity or a closely aligned one. They could still empower spells, but they didn’t have the staying power or ritualistic might of the rarer finds.

Even still, they were expensive—both due to their rarity, and because even if they lacked much of the use of their larger cousins, they were still useful.

Regardless of its value, Kaius thought it was likely they’d hold onto the nature condensate. If he’d stayed the path of a standard Runewright he would have been able to use it as a reagent in any number of potent inscriptions. As it stood, it would still likely have some value to Ianmus—it could be used to potentiate spells of a similar affinity, and Solar was close to both Nature and Light.

Scooping up his spoils, Kaius left the tent to find his team sitting on a clean section of stone far from the smears of spilled blood that splattered the stone—even though the area around the tents was only relatively clean.

“Find anything good? You were in there for a while.” Ianmus asked, looking at him with curiosity.

“Yeah—there was a lot to get through. Found a few things though, including this.” Kaius hucked the affinity crystal towards Ianmus, who jolted before desperately trying not to drop the crystalline shard.

Ianmus scowled at him, though there was no bite to it. He only shot him a grin—even a least condensate wasn’t fragile enough to shatter from being dropped.

“Check it out, you might find it useful. Happy to sell it if not.” Kaius said, nodding towards the shard in Ianmus’s hand.

The mage looked down, focusing on the white and green shard, before his eyes widened. “A shard of Nature? That’s a surprisingly good find—yes, I'll keep it. In a pinch I can use it to empower a spell or speed up my channeling.”

“Even your light beams?” Porkchop asked, tilting his head at the reagent.

“I could, technically, but it would be a waste. The healing and growth aspects of Solar align much closer to Nature, so that is where it would get the most effect—and probably where we would see the most use, if we’re ever in a spot where we need healing without a lengthy channel time.”

Kaius nodded—he’d hoped for that, and it sounded like it would be far more beneficial for them than the hundred or so gold they’d be able to sell it for.

“Can you use it more than once?” he asked, mostly out of curiosity.

Ianmus nodded. “Though not too much more than that. A handful if we’re lucky, two or three if we are not—though the potency will drop each time.”

Satisfied the crystal would be put to good use, Kaius walked over to take a seat with his friends. “What of you two, anything good?”

Porkchop snorted, shaking his head. “I wish—just junk. Best I found was a handful of silver that the warchief had piled up as some sort of decoration.”

That was a moderate disappointment, though he knew that even finding the reagents was a boon—only in the Depths would you ever consistently be showered with rewards.

Though, there was still the stone.

“How about you?” he asked, turning to Ianmus.

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The mage tilted his hand back and forth. “So-so, it’s only a Common Earth-infused stone. From the looks of it, it's quite the vein though, so it could have some bulk value for fortifications.”

“People would lug blocks of stone from here to Deadacre?” Porkchop asked incredulously.

“They probably would have, a year ago. Now, with the beasts, the only ones who’ll even be interested would be the local towns. A few days journey could be worth material for fortifications made from infused stone.” Ianmus replied with a shake of his head.

“Well then, if we’re done here, should we start making tracks? Dawn’s approaching and it would be nice to get away from the stench of offal.” Kaius suggested.

He grinned when he got hurried nods in return, the whole team jumping to their feet.

Deadacre, and Rieker, awaited—it’d be rude to dawdle.

….

The stars were out, clear and bright.

Kaius sat reclined with his back against one of the small trees that dotted the plains of the frontier. Porkchop was next to him, lying on his back and staring up at the sky.

They’d decided to leave Ianmus to sleep in the tent—neither of them feeling particularly tired yet. It’d been an easy day's journey, without any flashes of excitement to burn off their energy.

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After so many years of training, then the ordeal that was the depths, Kaius found it difficult to sleep early without working off some steam. Thankfully the night was young, and he had no issues with spending some time stargazing.

He was jealous of Ianmus’s ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. He’d asked how the man had done it, but all he’d gotten was some half mumbled explanation of ‘sleep being a stone for a sharp mind’—as if that let him in on the secret.

That said, he could understand the fatigue. It had been the better part of a week since they’d left the den of the bogglings—long enough that they’d gotten more than halfway to Deadacre. They’d had a few fights against some ornery beasts, but it was closer to busy work than anything exciting. They’d been weak things, but territorial, and hadn’t been enough to even grant him a skill level.

With the grinding monotony of endless grasses, even he was looking forward to their return, despite his experience at cross country travel. Though, he was worried that they’d been attacked at all—the creatures should have left them well enough alone, considering how much more powerful they were.

At the very least he’d had a lot to think about. Primarily how they were growing, and what their next steps would be. As a team they were on the cusp of their fourth class skill—another significant jump in their capabilities—and Porkchop was right at the precipice of founding his Aspect.

Or so he insisted, though they hadn’t gotten around to talking about his budding insights yet.

Kaius shuffled back, sitting further upright. With the night to themselves, and no worry about breaking the silence thanks to beast-speak, now was actually a pretty good time to ask. He reached out, prodding his brother mentally to get his attention.

Porkchop listed to the side, lazily moving his head to meet his eyes.

“What?” his brother asked.

“Just thought I’d ask you how your Aspect was coming along; you said you were getting close.” he replied.

Porkchop paused, before he rolled back over to continue staring at the sky. “It’s going okay—not as fast as I'd hoped. It feels like I'm right on the edge of it, but there's something that’s in my way.”

Kaius nodded, he could understand that. When Mentis had first started to resonate in his meditations, he’d noticed that every time he’d come close it would feel like the sensation would grow ephemeral and slip away from him. As the system had said—the whole thing was inherently revelatory.

“I’m sure you’ll get there—where are you getting stuck?” he asked, happy to help Porkchop work through it.

“It’s mostly that I don’t know what Corporus is. After your and Ianmus’s experiences, it’s obvious that Mentis has something to do with your mentality, and the way that you think about your goals and challenges in your path,” Porkchop said, reaching up a paw to the sky. “Corporus—the insight’s I’ve had that have resonated with it—feels different. Closer to the physical body. How you take knocks and keep on going. I don’t think I can think my way towards it like you two did, I need to feel it here.” he continued, tapping his chest.

That caught Kaius’s attention. It had been obvious from what the system had told them that Corporus was the Aspect of the body, but he’d been trying to wrap his head around exactly what it was tied to. His brother’s insight that it felt like it was tied to the ability to endure was enlightening. Even if it was just relevant to Porkchop’s personal understanding, it was still a puzzle piece that he could use as a starting point for his own exploration when the time came.

He could understand Porkchop’s frustration though—it seemed like a primal insight that was felt, rather than consciously understood. Though, if anyone was bound to find it, it would be Porkchop. He was more in tune with his body than anyone else Kaius knew.

“What’ve you found so far?” Kaius asked, curious about what Porkchop had discovered.

“That siege was the closest I ever got—honestly, another hour and I think I would’ve had it.” Porkchop started, a faint wisp of annoyance drifting across their bond—though Kaius knew it was only a superficial thing, he doubted Porkchop was really upset that they’d been saved from drowning in boggling guts.

“When my arms felt like lead, when I knew that if I fell, so would everyone else—it felt like a weight. A responsibility I had taken on, and couldn’t remove, not when it was so critical. I knew then, that I would keep standing. Even on stumps, I would endure. I always have. When I can’t escape, I hold. When I can deal with something head on, I act. Burdens are something to be carried, so why complain?” Porkchop said, rolling over to face him.

“But like I said, I don’t think I can think my way there. I know I'm close, every time I think about it Corporus howls up a bloody storm, but it feels like I need to prove it. Prove that I can keep going when my heart screams for rest and my muscles threaten to tear themselves in two. I can feel it in my bones, it’s an aspect tied to action.”

Kaius smiled at his brother. That really did sound like Porkchop—and if Corporus was really tied to action, he had no doubt that his brother would get there soon. Afterall, if there was anything they were good at, it was getting themselves into the kind of trouble that left them half-dead at the end of it.

“If you just need that, I'm sure you’ll get there with our next mission. No doubt we’ll end up fighting something unreasonably tough—I doubt Rieker would go so far as to reinforce his point by making us fight a horde immediately again.” Kaius said, attempting to encourage him.

Porkchop looked down, a decidable expression of uncertainty on his face. “I’m not sure if I have to.” he said, scratching at the dirt.

“Oh?”

“I get the sense that it doesn’t need to be in a fight. I just have to prove myself, to myself. If that makes sense. Waiting for the next mission could take too long—it’s at least another few days to Deadacre, then no doubt we’ll get stuck in some training regime until Rieker think’s we’re suitably ready, and then it’ll take even more time travelling to our next job. For all we know, I’ve only got a week or two to secure that Honour.” Porkchop said, a look of frustration on his face.

Watching Porkchop’s face—feeling the emotions in their bond—he realised that Porkchop was taking the potential loss of the Honour harder than he realised. There was a desperation there, a hunger to move forwards—to not be left behind.

Kaius’s face softened, and he shifted forwards, laying his hand over Porkchop’s paw that was still scratching at the earth.

“We’ll figure it out—you’ve got it in the bag. Do you have any ideas on how to push through? I’ll help in any way I can.”

“I don’t, but…” Porkchop trailed off, averting his eyes as a bubble of guilt and anxiety swelled up to wash over Kaius.

He looked at his brother with surprise, not expecting Porkchop to be feeling guilty of all things. Was he really so worried?

“But what? Everything’s going to be fine.” he said softly.

Porkchop shook his head, before a thread of conviction resolved itself within him and he met Kaius’s eyes.

“It’s not that, I…I want to ask Rieker for help.”

Kaius froze, staring at his brother in shock.