Rune: The Magical Symbols
Runes are essentially magical symbols based on the ancient language of the gods.
Each rune acts as a medium, allowing its user to borrow the power of various laws. However, no one truly knows the primary source of the runes' power.
In the past, there were people in this world who tried to research the runes, and some even managed to gather information. But all such information remained incomplete and full of gaps.
Before the current era, in ancient times, Rune Masters were exceedingly rare. There was no innate talent or special trait directly related to runes.
To use these symbols, one had to learn the ancient language of the gods and, importantly, must not be a devotee of any religion.
The first requirement for becoming a Rune Master — learning the language of the gods — was incredibly difficult. This language, much like a specific unique language from Daniel's past life, consisted of more than 729 million characters.
Moreover, different characters existed for each word and meaning. Without a predisposition toward science, knowledge, or even archaeology, mastering this language was nearly impossible.
Thus, Rune Masters were rare and incredibly valuable. Daniel still remembered how churches were willing to pay billions of riels to hire even one of them.
In Daniel's world, he proposed this concept after being inspired by a novel. His goal was to put forth a great idea, and within three to five years, it became widely adopted.
After the corruption beasts attacked, all humans awakened a talent bestowed by the Mother System, gaining supernatural powers.
According to the Mother System, these powers stemmed from the laws. Even Daniel himself wasn't entirely sure what the laws truly were.
However, by sheer chance, he and his friends discovered an ancient tomb containing a method to decipher the language of the gods.
After decoding the inscriptions, they learned how to create magical symbols using this language, giving birth to the idea of runes. That was when Daniel proposed the concept of rune magic.
"Damn it, Rune Masters are so expensive," said Daniel as he strolled through a beautiful garden alongside Athena.
"Unfortunately, there's no way around it. We really need one of them," Athena replied, holding her fiancé's hand with a frustrated tone.
Sigh "Maybe I should just learn the language of the gods myself," Daniel's eyes glimmered with an idea. Despite being the one to propose the concept of runes, he had never learned the gods' language due to its difficulty.
"But then you'd spend less time with me, and I won't allow that," Athena said firmly.
"Don't be mad, my lady. Instead of spending 18 hours a day with you, I'd only spend 12 hours," Daniel teased.
"No, absolutely not!"
"Are you sure? This way, you'd get more rest." Daniel was addicted to training and becoming stronger. But this obsession stemmed from fear — the fear of the same fate that befell the protagonist and his world in the novel happening to him and his loved ones.
"I want to stand by your side as the strongest woman in the world when you become the strongest man," Athena said, her eyes shining with determination.
Daniel stopped and looked into her beautiful eyes. He could see endless love within them. Leaning in slightly, he kissed her lips.
Athena didn't resist and returned his kiss.
"Well, I don't want to upset my lady. How about this? Instead of learning the gods' language, let's invent something that allows us to use runes without knowing the language," Daniel suggested with shameless confidence, blatantly stealing the idea from his favorite novel.
"Something like what?" Athena asked as she walked beside him, her cheeks flushed.
"Runes themselves act as a medium. So why not create another medium to channel runes?" Daniel smiled.
"But how? The concept of runes is still in its infancy, and it hasn't developed much yet. How can we suddenly create a tool to use them?"
"Let's first think about what the tool should look like," Daniel proposed.
"A pen, maybe?" Athena pondered for a moment before suggesting.
"Brilliant! Since runes are essentially symbols, they need to be drawn on the target area for activation," Daniel exclaimed.
"To create such a tool, we can use the Creation Authority. We'll just need the help of the leader of the Awakened Organization," he explained.
"But that's not enough," Athena added. She agreed that the Creation Authority could forge a pen capable of creating or channeling runes, but for that to work, the person with the Creation Authority would also need to learn the gods' language. Otherwise, the so-called Rune Pen would face limitations.
"That's not necessarily true. We could engrave all the gods' language characters onto the pen itself. Of course, we'd have to make them extremely small and layer them on top of each other," Daniel said.
In the novel, such a method was exceedingly complex. But in this world, where the profession of Rune Masters was still primitive and limited, there would be no issues. Unlike the novel, where runes could summon armies of the undead, here, even creating a simple teleportation portal was a daunting challenge.
At most, only ten to fifteen runes had been discovered on Earth. Meanwhile, in the novel, there were millions of them.
"That might work, but doesn't that mean you'd still have to learn the gods' language?" Athena frowned, thinking the outcome would remain the same.
"No, we could just ask that girl for help," Daniel suggested.
"Absolutely not! I'd rather we both learn the gods' language together!" Athena firmly rejected the idea, her mind immediately conjuring an image of someone she didn't want involved.
"But—" Daniel started to explain, only for Athena to bite him out of frustration.
"Hmm? another dream…?" Daniel slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in the same room he had woken up in every morning for the past ten years.
"Young Lord, are you well?" Augustus, seated in a chair beside him, asked.
"How long was I asleep?" Daniel's mind felt sharper and clearer than ever before. Even his vision had improved slightly.
The strength he felt in his muscles had multiplied. He now had complete confidence that no one in his age group could rival him.
"One full day," Augustus replied.
"You stayed here the whole time?" Daniel glanced at him.
Augustus merely nodded.
"Thank you," Daniel said briefly before shifting his attention to his own body. Just as he had suspected, his physical and mental capabilities had drastically improved.
'Five days remain. I should be able to push this body to its limits within that time,' he thought. Although he hadn't yet reached his peak, he was confident in his potential for further growth.
Afterward, he got out of bed, took a shower, ate breakfast, and finally convinced Augustus to let him resume training.
As before, he etched rune symbols onto his body, and Augustus infused his mana into Daniel's form.
This routine continued for five days until Daniel had to stop his training to travel to The Vorhelm family's main estate.
"Young Master, it's time to leave," Augustus announced as he entered the training room. Looking at the small monster in front of him, he couldn't help but be impressed.