"So you wanted my help with something?" "Nope." "What!?" "I'm kidding. But I do need your strong muscles to help me find some books!"
Looking at her overly athletic figure, Ran couldn't help but wonder how many books she could deadlift. Couple hundred, he thought. But then he remembered her kicking him into the wall that got pulverized and shuddered. More like a couple thousand!
As they walked towards the Academy Library, they drew quite the amount of attention from everyone.
"Oi, look at the fella over there. Reckon he's burnin' up? It's quite hot outside today, isn't it? I'm mean, look at him. He's covering up his face and everything." "Who cares about him, look, isn't that the Rage Queen!?" "Oh s**t! Quick, scatter!" Upon seeing Ann, everyone ran away with their hands flailing everywhere like a pack of deer running away from a wolf.
Ran looked up at Ann, with a puzzled look, though she didn't see his expression. "Ah, don't worry about such things. They all just have sticks up their as**s! It's good that you're back though."
Once they entered, they flashed their tokens at the librarian before searching around. Ran finally needed to create his own rune formation. While he had some idea about how to tackle this issue, what really mattered right now was that he didn't die from asphyxiation in his sleep! Thus that was his first priority.
While most people would make their rune formation to reinforce their sigils or their bodies, Ran decided his sigil can wait. But… it's never too late to read up on ideas in which he can make himself stronger right? That's what they were here for. But while searching for books that were about reflective sigils, they checked the entire library and didn't find any! How can they not find even one on reflective powers!? Was it that rare!?
Looking outside, the suns were beginning to set. Just like that, they had spent an entire day just to look for a stupid book! Putting his hands on his face, Ran questioned why he was even here. Did he need to be here? Probably not… but that wouldn't be fun now would it?
But before they could leave, something happened.
Rumble. A rumble was heard as the sound of footsteps grew closer and closer. Looking over, they saw… Fluffy! Again! "Meor!" And she was hungry. "Fluffy, what are you doing here? How'd you find me?" Ran turned his head sideways in confusion. "Meor, meor meor." "You ate all the fish!? And now there's none left?" Ran palmed his face in angst. If he used her as a pillow then, with the amount of fat she accumulated, would he just sink into her infinitely; with no way to leave? These were his current thoughts.
Thinking about sinking into an ever-warm, rumbly abyss, he thought it would be quite the comfortable experience. Wait! It's not comfortable… definitely not. He exclaimed to himself.
Turning to Ann helplessly, he said, "why don't you go on ahead while I get her some fish. Or would you rather come with us?" Ann thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I have something to do. Just don't give her too much or she might not fit into the door anymore." The both of them burst into laughter while Fluffy just stood there, with her head down. Staring at the tiled floor, she vowed to remember such transgressions! Kuku, just wait until later tonight, I'll be releasing gas all over your faces! Kukuku.
***
"Meor!" "What do you mean the fish here isn't fresh!? You want fresh fish!? Ugh…" Apologizing to the fisherman, they left his shop and went to a more natural place.
***
"See. Look at all of those fresh fish! Oh what a sight to behold. You know I kind of want some fresh fish as well." Looking at the river in front of them, they could see some fish jump out every once in a while.
Fluffy stared intently at the river before making eye contact with Ran. "Meor…" I… I can't swim, she said nervously. "Well there's only one way to learn how, right Fluffy?" Picking her up with one arm, he casually tossed her into the river.
Splash. "Meor!" "Haha, don't be silly, Fluffy. Just cause you're a cat doesn't mean you can't learn to swim."
Taking off his clothes, he joined her and jumped into the river.
Underwater, the river was actually deeper than he anticipated, being about 100 feet deep. Looking around, his eyes were able to see clear as day. Fortunately, there was hardly anything dangerous in this part of the river as it is too shallow to support more deadly fish. So most fish here were ordinary or at most, rank 9. Upon entering, the surrounding fish blew bubbles before scattering. They were utterly horrified by the existence that just entered.
"Oh no you dont."
Boom! The surrounding water exploded and drenched a couple that were enjoying some alone time. Ran shot off like a torpedo and instantly captured the nearest fish between his teeth. For some reason he kind of liked the feeling of having something live between his teeth struggle to survive. And not only that, he seemed to be even faster and more sensitive in this water than he did in his dreams.
He took his finger and slipped it through the skull and stabbed the brain like it was mud; immediately killing it. He then placed it into his pendant that hooked itself around his neck. Like this, Ran became the hunter and most feared existence this side of the river has ever seen.
After about 10 minutes of massacring the local ecosystem, a couple gurgles appeared out of nowhere. Looking towards that area, Ran saw Fluffy again. Apparently, she had started to get the hang of swimming as he saw her frantically swimming away from something. Wait… swimming from something!?
Looking behind her, he saw something he had never seen before. A whirlpool! Big whirlpool! About 2 miles wide, it actually only took about a fifth of the actual width of the river. One has to know that on the other side of the river are actually mountains. The Yellow Mountains!
Fluffy tried to swim away from its pull, but she couldn't and slowly but surely drew closer and closer. In a bout of panic, she shouted for help, but ended up filling her lungs with water; causing her to choke and be completely drawn in with no chance of retaliation.
Ran hurriedly caught her, completely ignored the pull, and dragged her back to the road where he proceeded to slap her awake.
Cough cough. "Meor!" How dare you, cough, slap the almighty Fluffy!?!
After making sure she was okay, he gazed back at the river. The vortex seemed unperturbed and just continued spinning. Its spin was exceedingly quick and a fish that was dragged in was sucked into its center; before being sent jetting downwards towards the bottom of the river bed like a rocket..
Curious, he picked up a nearby rock and threw it towards the vortex.
Crush. The rock was dragged to the center before being crushed into pieces by the opposing currents of the vortex. The lightest pieces were sent flying outwards by the speed of the vortex while some of the more denser pieces were pulled into The river bed.
Flash. That was the non-existent sound his eyes made as he was caught in a sudden inspiration.
"Say, why don't we head back home?" He patted her head as he gave her a fish. Gobbling it up, she Meored in indignance as she dried herself off. Ran put his clothes back on and they headed back home.
As he headed home, an intense red-pink light would flicker in his eyes every now and again; like a broken light bulb. Not that Ran noticed though.
Hold on a minute. Before we move on to the scene change, can we just recognize the fact that Ran ruined a couples alone time!? They were really enjoying themselves too. how could the MC just do that to two perfectly innocent people!? He's the MC gosh dangit! He's supposed to be righteous! All who say we should punish him, say I. Good, you all said I. I'm proud that you guys stood up for what's right.
***
Knock knock. "Aya, who is it? Hold on a sec, I'm not wearing any clothes!" Hearing such dirty words, Rans mouth twitched. Shaking his head, he suddenly smelled something. Like a dog, his nose twitched before he unknowingly grew closer to the space between the door and the wall.
Sniff sniff. His mouth watered as he smelled something delicious. Ann was cooking! Haha, just in time too! Ran laughed out loud as the door creaked open.
"Hey, I was-" before she could finish her greeting, Ran passed her and ran straight into the kitchen. There, a big boiling pot of red liquid was waiting for him.
Hey, big boy, come and eat me right up. Aah, I've been waiting for this all night, mmmph. Said the Pot. It definitely wasn't me, the Author, personifying Rans desires onto the Pot. Pssh, who do you think I am? I got a reputation to uphold!
Grabbing a wooden ladle, he tasted some of the red liquid.
Aah, taste me more~ Yes just like that, f**k! Gosh dangit, Pot, your ruining my rep. Shut up!!!
Slurp. As the red liquid traveled through his throat, a scorching heat literally burned his throat. It swelled up slightly in pain, but Ran kept on slurping. The red liquid didn't seem to travel down his throat and instead went upwards. It traveled to his brain and stimulated his nerves like drugs. It was slapping his brain causing it to be more stimulated as it pumped out piles and piles of dopamine. Of course, this is all metaphorical, except for the burning the throat and dopamine part. His throat healed rapidly too.
That's right, it was a spicy hotpot. This was Rans favorite dish as well as Ann's signature and unique creation.
Tap. A brown hand tapped his shoulder. Looking behind his shoulder, he saw a punch heading straight for his face. It was no ordinary fist either. She had her index finger jutting outwards. She was planning to jab him! "Fool! You have some nerve eating a girl's food without greeting them first!"
Suddenly his body moved on it's own as it swiftly summoned his sword and used its teeth to just barely hook itself to Ann's index fingers knuckle. Luckily, her hands were thinner than the space between the teeth so it fit snugly inside. He stole her momentum, twirled his sword which caused her to swivel. Facing her back, he grabbed her waist, pulled her into his embrace and fed her a scoop of hotpot.
"Hmm, needs some more seasoning."
Oh, a threesome? Aah, so suddenly! How did you guys know it was my favorite!?! Sigh, just ignore her folks, Pot is just kinker tonight. It's the spice, I swear! I swear! Please wait, don't close out of the chapter!
Phew, thanks for not leaving me. What kind of Author would I be if I didn't have any readers!? sniff, thanks.
Sitting around an enchanted orb of light, the three enjoyed their meals. Ran was cross legged with his eyes closed; seemingly in thought. Ann silently watched him while Fluffy just chomped on her fish.
Stupid companion, limiting my fish to only five a day… you shall rue the day when I transform! This isn't even my final form! ROAR!!! Im… so hungry. As Fluffy was secretly planning her revenge, Ran furrowed his ginger eyebrows.
At first, he pictured the scene of the whirlpool in his mind and went through his memories of runes. As a relatively educated (at least compared to common folk) individual, he had memorized all 1,000 known runes that his family had taught him. But as he was visualizing how to simulate a vortex using runes to suit his own purpose, it was suddenly shoved out of his mind. Poof, gone.
Yes, just like that! It was kicked out of his mind like a trash bag that was starting to stink up the house. Instead, a familiar set of inscriptions appeared in its place. In fact, it was these inscriptions that had thrown out the visualization in his mind! It was those special runes from the room in the cave.
Upon seeing them suddenly appear in his mind, a set of information spilled outwards and he knew what these runes were for. It was for the vortex! What, did these runes think themselves superior to the other ones that they disdained even the mere presence of such inferior products of man? Yes, actually… but that's not the point.
They truly were superior, as Ran himself could feel it. This combination of runes creates a vortex infinitely better than anything Ran could make himself with normal runes. But how did they come about? Basically, how the f**k did they get here? Did they summon themselves upon Ran thinking about runes?
But this was different. Ran could feel it. His soul could feel it. It was almost like an instinct, telling him to trust in these runes. That they were going to change his life forever. Not just Ran, even Ann sensed that something was off. She could hear her own heart pumping faster and time seemed to slow down, though it was just a feeling.
Opening his eyes, he made eye contact with Ann and he nodded his head. She nodded back before heading to her room to fetch something. Upon returning, in her hand were two blue sticks inside a small vase. These were meditative sticks that were specifically enchanted to help one enter the best and deepest state of mind. While, technically, you can do so without these, they still help a lot in getting into and maintaining that state of mind. Thus, not only are these incredibly popular, they are also incredibly cheap! This was a huge way for Enchanters and Enchantress' (as well as some smiths) to make money.
The two sticks had bulges on the tip and upon popping them with his fingers, they lit on fire. Soon, Ran saw some blue smoke filling up the room. He closed his eyes and cleared his head of all thoughts except one. The soul.
Within thirty seconds, his awareness of the outside world was stripped to a null and he grew a bit groggy. Entering a trance, his one thought of his soul grew clearer and stronger until… woosh. Ran found himself in a familiar yet unfamiliar place. His mind was no longer groggy and instead was exceptionally clear.
Taking a look at his own soul, he was simply astounded! Flabbergasted! Shocked! Shook! Whatever other word that means surprised. His soul was like white-pink galaxy with shimmery lights of all colors shining. Not to mention a good portion of it was now red-pink and they mixed together in a marbled pattern.
But he cant get distracted now. Feeling around he found that his soul juice just sort of swam freely all over the place in his soul. The soul isn't like the human body where there are organs and veins that move blood around. In fact, the soul could be said to be empty, hollow. Well, that's just for simpletons. The reality is that for however ethereal and incorporeal it is, the soul is an extremely dense and viscous object that is completely solid all the way through. Its viscosity was actually about the same as gelatin; bouncy and squishy, with a little bit of stickiness.
After the first step of getting into the trance is the next step, gathering all the soul juice into one place. This step wasn't too hard and only a little bit of effort was needed to move it. After Ran did that lays the third step.
Looking at the sphere of squishy, sticky liquid, Ran gulped. The third step could be considered the hardest step and some talent is needed to survive as well. This one step combined with the necessary knowledge needed is what bars most common people to become fully-fledged Sigil Workers.
Wanna guess what the third step is? Too late. The third step was to set that b***h on fire! That's right people. Wanna know how that feels like? Ever felt what rope burn felt like? Yeah, just multiply that by a few thousand folds, factor in your consciousness, and you just got yourself one hell of a time.
He closed his already closed eyes for a second before accepting reality. Then, the sticky sphere started to slowly spin. But not in just one direction. It could be said that the sphere was metaphorically split up into a million pieces and every individual piece would spin in every possible direction.
Once they made contact with each other, they would stick and stretch each other over and over again as they spun. The more contact they made, the more they would stick and stretch. It became increasingly hard to keep it spinning, but instead of slowing down, they started speeding up.
They started spinning so fast that some pieces would inadvertently fly off before coming back again. It got to a point where the white-pink sphere slowly started to glow red in some places. Haha, that's the power of friction! Face it you sticky ba***rd, you're no match for the might that is FRICTION!!!
Hahahaha! More. More! MORE!!! The red glow quickly started to spread throughout the sphere until it could no longer hold on.
Spark. The first spark flew out before spreading into the most magnificent fire one could ever witness.
Haha, told you you can't handle the power! What… what's that? I can't hear you spherey boi, why don't you speak louder over those roaring flames? Huh? You can't? Haha, thought so.
Uh, sorry about that earlier. I-I don't know what came over me I-its… its power was more than I could ever imagine… I-I-I-I…
Ran however couldn't enjoy the white-pink flames as he felt something that couldn't be described with words. It wasn't quite the same as when he destroyed the darkness in his mind. Not to mention he only felt that much pain for about half a second before becoming unconscious. This, however, was different. It was continuous. He felt like… no it wasn't even a feeling.
If there was something to compare it to, it would be like dying and seeing the light. As you walk towards the light, you find yourself estranged from everything else. Your only goal was to walk forward and reach that light. Life. Hope. Safety. That's what the light represents. The thing that every living sought to achieve is in that light. However, the only thing you find is a loop of everlasting darkness; the light so close, yet so far.
Ran was seemingly caught in this "loop" and he felt as if he was slowly starting to lose himself. As the flames continued to burn the sphere, an image slowly started to resurface in his mind. The runes! He exclaimed. He had almost forgotten about them. This was the reason he was doing this in the first place. How could he forget about them?
Looking ahead, the light still seemed to be close but forever far away. Then, it dawned on him. "Who cares about some stupid light." Poof, the light disappeared. Now there was only darkness. "And who cares about some stupid a** darkness!" This time, the darkness did not disappear. Instead, Ran started glowing white. It expanded explosively outwards until only the original scene was left.
Looking at the burning sphere in front of him, he thought, what a nice view.