"Activate overdrive."
[ Activating Overdrive mode...]
The runes in August's body lit up with a golden hue. Some runes covered the core inside his body, creating a shield of golden runes. The surrounding mana gathered around him, swirling into a vortex before being absorbed into his body, condensing into purer mana than his own. The remaining mana traveled throughout his body, strengthening it through the runes.
"Now this is what I call a good feature," August laughed in excitement as he punched the air, his body surging with double the strength he previously had. "So this is what rank 2 mana feels like," he mused, bringing mana from his fingers to swirl around his hand.
My mana feels purer than before,' he thought. 'It's as if the previous mana stored in the core was fog, now it's mist condensed in the core.' Observing the mana inside his core, he then brought out his Shadowstrike blade and used shadow aura, coating the blade with shadow aura.
'Hehe, it's not draining much. Before, I could maintain the shadow aura for one minute before draining my core completely, but now I could maintain it for 10 to 15 minutes,' August smiled ear to ear, drowning in his own happiness. He stopped injecting mana into the blade, letting the shadow aura dissipate completely.
'I've got a brilliant idea: why not make use of the remaining 9 minutes in rune smithing?' August thought, opening his inventory to bring out a knife imbued with a sharpness rune and a normal spare knife.
'Huff,' he readied himself, closing his eyes. With precision, he moved his mana to his eyes, covering them. If he made a mistake, his eyesight might be gone. His eyes started itching slightly before the sensation calmed down. When he opened them, he saw mana moving around him, forming into a humanoid shape on the floor. 'It must be an adventurer,' he thought.
Using mana vision is a practice most awakeners adopt at rank 2, given their better control over mana. Though August could have used it earlier due to his rune body, he hadn't had the opportunity
'Now, let's see,' he directed his eyes at the two knives on the table, seeing runes on the enchanted one. "Whoa," he gasped. There were five different runes: one on the handle, three on the blade, and one on the tip, all connected with lines.
'Let's try the same enchantment on the normal knife,' he decided, sitting down and concentrating. He drew mana to his index finger, letting it flow like ink from a pen.
'First, the sharpness rune,' he thought, moving his finger to write rune glyphs in the air. As he finished, the glyphs glowed and engraved themselves into the blade.
'Yes, it's working,' August celebrated inwardly, quickly moving on. Aurora, nearby, watched with big eyes like a child seeing something they didn't understand.
'Now, the initial binding rune,' he wrote quickly. The Initial Binding Rune is essential to anchor the sharpness rune's magical effect to the weapon. It transferred from the air to the blade, engraving itself near the sharpness rune.
'Next, the sustaining rune,' he thought, inscribing it to maintain the sharpness rune's effect. It circled the sharpness rune, glowing as it engraved itself.
Then inscribed the activation rune, it allows the wielder to activate the rune system by channeling mana. It glowed and engraved on the hilt.
Finally, he wrote the final binding rune to complete the process, ensuring the effect was stable and secure. It engraved on the tip of the blade.
'Now, the mana channels,' August began to draw lines to facilitate mana flow between runes. As the last stroke was inscribed, the runic symbols shimmered with a vibrant, ethereal light. The blade responded with a resonant hum, signaling the system was fully integrated and active.
August quickly used the inspect feature on the newly enchanted knife.
[ Sharp knife ]
Rank: 0
Grade: standard
Enchantments: Sharpness ]
"Hehe, even on my first try, I created a standard-grade one," he giggled at his achievement.
[ Host, it's only a zero-rank equipment. You'll know what real rune smithing is when you try making ranked equipment. ]
"System, you're such a boomer," August muttered.
[ I am here to show the host reality so the host doesn't turn into an arrogant brat. ]
"Tsk," August clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Let's try adding one more rune," he said, starting to write a new rune, ignoring the system.
[ Host, it's only a normal material knife. It's going to break if you add one more rune. ]
"Don't worry, I know that. It's just my curiosity to see what's going to happen," he replied, engraving a fire rune on the knife.
At first, nothing happened, but after five seconds, the knife started heating up. August stepped back, ensuring he was out of range. Aurora, sensing danger, also took a step back.
The knife exploded, scattering bits of metal around the room.
"Hehe, it really exploded," August smiled, then glanced at Aurora with an apologetic look. "Sorry if it scared you."
"Hiss," Aurora hissed defensively, as if to say she wasn't scared.
"Haha, that's my Aurora," August chuckled, patting her. "You should go inside the beast space to rest," he said, opening the beast space for her.
After letting Aurora go inside, he went to pick up a piece of metal but stumbled and fell to the floor. "Fuck! Ouch!"
[ Your activation period of Overdrive has ended. ]
[ Sigh... What am I supposed to do with this host now? ]
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