Hildelith smirked at the new tome of insight in her grasp. It was one she had eyed after finally buying the first two she had initially set her sights on. Both were not serving her well in the system-generated dungeons due to not completely mastering or not even mastering them at all. Still, the new insight was more of an utility for what she needed to happen next than it was a necessity. Embers of the spark and Titan's step with her previous insights had more than made her a walking, undying, formidable offensive tank.
It didn't help that Golem Armor kept earning experience as she used it, or that Titan's steps seemed to go well with the juggernaut-like skill even if it never activated. Something about it was just lethal to enemies.
It would have been also more disadvantageous if her Ember's of spark made the entire aura expanse of her like a smoldering volcano pit when activated. Alas, the insight was a tricky one.
Crossed with Divine Purity, Earthen Grace, and her new gear made by the coalition of Denners, Two-9, and Two-2, Hildelith had struck fear into the hearts of the system-generated dungeon creatures.
Her thoughts at how useful the tome would be in her plans made her smile without ceasing. But first, she had to understand its effects just as she was slowly understanding the others.
It was a hard task trying to master so many insights. Making a firm decision to not use any other insight until she was at least fifty percent proficient with at least two of her current insights Hilde inhaled before wrapping the tome with her will.
[Source Eternal]
The three that roll continuously. That are one in the faces of the other. The [Mellifluent], Unbeholden, yet calm. The [Immortal Frost], wild and untethered. The [Unbound Mists], free yet seeks guide.
It amazed me how the stages of one element were bound into one insight. But it honestly made sense when thinking about it. Understanding all three states of the given element could increase proficiency in controlling it.
Still, I was bothered by one thing. Most games had classes. As did this game. It was evident from the classes I had set up for sale in the divine store. With gods able to only choose one and not all I wondered how exactly was I able to learn different elemental and none elemental insights.
[Embers of the Flame]
Heat, warmth, energy. Given life, a boisterous inferno, the cull, and the ebb of destruction.
[Titan's Step]
The true incarnate. The glorious embodiment of existence and will.
Now that I possessed three elemental insights and two non-elemental there were still options to buy more tomes. It made me curious as to how exactly any of it would work.
There was the option that this was a race to learn as much about the insights as possible.
It was also an option that buying and using too many was a trap. A lure to put one into a state of scattered learning. Instead of focusing on mastering one insight, the creators would split their minds amongst many, and then when important it would fail them due to their shared attention amongst many.
But still, I doubted the second option, mostly because of how earthen grace and divine purity had worked in the Tower. If combat helped to speed up proficiency then it scratched out the second option.
Which meant this was a race to master and become proficient in whichever insight one got.
"The price tags for the tomes wouldn't necessarily show their difficulty or importance. " I muttered as I observed divine purity in the tome selection.
I just sighed before focusing back on Source Eternal, my eyes closing as I went on to sense the energy within me. The insight was straightforward yet staged.
First was the knowledge for Mellifleunt. It was easier to glean as in a way it felt like her divine purity. A large trickle of liquid within my bones. It was a rush, rolling around fast like a downhill stream.
I found myself chanting the description of Mellifluent while attempting to grasp at the rush of waves within me. The words proved to be literal. Water was not beholden, a master of itself. Unwilling to be tamed or controlled. Yet it was calm.
I felt its movement sweeping around following the different paths that were noted and unblocked.
Source water didn't wish to be stopped, it didn't want to be withheld. But It was calm. Approving to be guided. Coaxed about in a flow but not ordered. My eyes shot open as my will went to work. No, it wasn't just will. I realized that while will was indeed working to bring out the energy. It was not creating it. I looked deeper into myself searching for tbe hidden reaction going on.
Insight made clear how exactly to use energy but up till now there was no source of the very energy. Divine purity came from my divinity, earthen grace used the masses around me. Embers of the spark, Titan's step, and now source eternal picked on something I didn't understand.
While using Embers of the spark and Titan's step I kept looking to see what connected or made each specific energy. But I kept missing it. It was hard to see anything when Titan's step was used since the thing flashed on and off like a faulty appliance. Though I was certain it still had an effect. This made it hard to detect the direction the energy came from. Embers had just been weird to visualize since it just refused to obey my thoughts.
Now with Meliifluent, I could trace it. The rushing stream of energy within me left a distinct path that the others hadn't or I had not noticed. Like a cord leading back to the beginning.
Slowly I followed it. Feeling about with her will she mentally held the string and pulled herself along the rope following while still making sure to keep the energy activated.
The journey was long and frustrating. At times the cord flickered off eliciting a grumble of annoyance from me since I started afresh. At times the cord grew so thin I had to slowly navigate it to stop it from erupting.
It was painfully slow but alas I succeeded. A buzz in my mind almost made me lose focus but I concentrated on what I was seeing.
The end of the cord stopped at what I saw as a weirdly shaped rune. It was a white triangle with runes of three colors at its three points.
The first rune that the cord slipped into was of eight dark blue tentacles. The next rune was an ice-blue snowflake. Then there was the last rune made of wavy lines.
My will refocused on the Rune of the Meliifluent as new questions hammered my mind.
What was a rune doing within my body? Was it powered by my will? Were all tomes just runes attached within creator gods when used? Did this mean that gods too could use the tomes? What were the requirements?
I sighed as I kept focusing trying to learn anything new from this rune. After everything, I just sighed and looked away to scan the other runes. It was just as unsuccessful. Finally, I withdrew my will and while making sure to still stay tethered to the Mellifluent cord I spread my awareness.
It was only now I realized that the runes were in what looked like a vast dark cavern. The light from the triangle only illuminated the direct space I noted. No matter how I tried I couldn't push past the darkness. Grumbling I gave up and focused on prodding the cord.
Finally, after various few minutes, I withdrew my will until I was back at a point where the rushing stream passed my palms.
Then I prodded at the cord just like I did with it within the dark rune cavern. That's what I'm calling the place now.
Which each poke I noticed a sliver of energy leave the cord and filter out of my palm.
'So that's how it works'.
I tried more and more. Poking more until I created a huge hole in my cord.
'Embers didn't work like this or did I not notice it' I frowned as I kept poking creating a moderate finger-sized hole in the core.
The escaping energy was grabbed by my will none was left out before I focused and sealed tbe hole in the core trapping the escaping energy. The already captured energy fought me harshly and unrelentingly, not liking that I had stopped it. Until I corrected my actions. Instead of stopping it, I urged it to another side. There was no hesitation as the energy rushed in the direction shown. I kept directing it to flow from one side to the other until the energy was now swirling in my palms like a spinneret.
I opened my eyes slowly, careful to not release the swirling energy from my grasp. The sight of a large ball of water rotating in a clockwise direction over my outstretched right hand made me smile.
The system seemed to agree with me on the success of this as a list of notifications appeared in my mind.
[You have Unlocked Dome Rune of the Source Eternal]
[Finding Done runes will increase mastery of insights and as such proficiency by 10%]
[Mastery of Mellifleunce increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Eternal Frost increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Unbound Mists increased by 5%]
[You have increased proficiency of Mellifluent by 10%]
[You have unlocked Water Creation]
"That's a whole lot more than what I got while learning how to use Divine purity".
Enamored I slowly increased the pace of the revolving water ball.
Which each test I made on the ball I realized different things about the water. It could be guided, instructed, and told where to go, but never stopped. Motion was its very state of being. Like a racial perk, it could not be changed or gone against.
I poured my will into the ball of water in my palm. Right now I wasn't interested in studying its attack potency. I was more interested in finding out how it related to the other two runes.
Searching intently I slipped through several tinier water balls within it. Which each ball I went past I realized something different about the water.
The balls were uncontrolled, ever in motion. My attempts to move the water ball were moving them and in turn moving the water ball.
I willed the balls to react swiftly. Instead of pushing all in a particular direction, I had them enter a frenzied haphazard motion of inconclusive direction.
Slowly I noted that while the balls were obedient to my will I was slowly losing control. The balls moved faster and faster, striking each other and then rebounding harshly to hit the membrane of the water ball they were all cooped in.
I watched both with sight and will as the chaos increased. The water ball shook and quivered as the internal onslaught grew.
Slowly the signs of chaos reached outside as the ball began simmering and bubbling. I pushed the balls to continue eager to see what would happen.
The pop that came surprised me. The water blew up into white steam that warmed the air. The feeling was quick to shift, my will spread even denser as I tried to keep a hold of this exposed steam. It was harder than I thought and I could only watch as its hold drifted from my grasp.
" Oh well. Nothing comes easy".
With this discovery though about the Dome runes I quickly turned my attention to the other insights.
"Would my proficiency go up from finding their dome runes too"?