'I am so screwed,' Nero mumbled under his breath, for what was maybe a hundredth time.
'We are going to extort money from a Noble, and the only way it could be possible is by blackmailing him, but the damm governer is third Rank ascendant, and he would take my head off before giving me a penny,' Nero thought, imagining the worst of outcome.
'You sure we can not just find some valuable item or, hell, even sell valuable information that you know and earn the money we need for your plans,' Nero asked, and Draven was quick to answer.
'Sure we can, but extorting money from the governor serves more than a single purpose,' Draven said, his explanation as vague as ever, leaving him with questions, but Neor kept silent, knowing he would learn the truth soon enough.
Nero quickly found a hotel and rented a room. As told, he laid out all the items he bought cleanly on the floor, removing all his clothing and leaving on only his underwear, which he was also told to remove, but he decided otherwise.
"You can do it yourself," Nero said as he entered his consciousness space, only to receive a cold look from Draven as his form dissipated away.
'I don't remember being this childish,' Draven thought as he felt the comfort of a physical body, taking a moment to stretch his limbs before sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"Nero, listen to my explanations and burn them to memory," Draven said, and Nero perked his ears, already watching intently, eagerly waiting to see how the old man planned to transform the common items into magic artifacts.
"The runes are a universal language, consisting of countless words which, if combined and written correctly, could recreate any phenomena of reality, with the exception of death, since nothing can change the ultimate truth of life."
"The runes are what give life to magic circles and could be used to create Arrays and magic Inscription on items, and while very similar in structure, all three aspects serve a different purpose."
"All three aspects of magic are divided into seven Ranks, the same as the planetary Ranks of Asention, known from first circle to seven circle magic spell, array or inscription."
"Their structure follows a consistent pattern, with the number of outer circles representing the rank, as a first-circle spell consists of a single outer and inner circle with an arrangement of basic runes."
"A second-circle spell would have two outer circles, and inside each of those, two smaller circles, and similarly, a third-circle spell contains three outer circles, and within each of those, three more circles."
"This pattern continues all the way to the seventh-circle spells, which would have seven outer circles, each containing seven inner circles, so in total having fifty-six circles," Draven said and, after a short pause, continued.
"As I said before, while similar in structure, spells, arrays, and inscription have a very different nature, as magic spells are temporary and easier to draw, being very less complicated in structure and needing much simpler runes,"
"The arrays are different, being both temporary and permanent, and while they could only be created by an individual own mana, unlike spells, they could be maintained and used using external sources, like the world or the mana crystals,"
"Similarly, the inscriptions are both temporary and permanent and could be used and maintained using worldly mana."
"This much context should be enough for you to understand when I write inscriptions on these items,"
"So, do you have questions before I begin," Draven asked, and since he was already familiar with the magic spell system, it was easy to understand everything.
"No, I am good," Nero replied and instantly turned silent as a flood of information, with tens of hundreds of strange symbols, each of their meaning, and how they could be combined and written.
Nero was given a large sum of information that would have taken even a genius months of effort to learn, but he learned all of it in no more than a few seconds.
'This damm headache- - - -, I feel like my head is going to burst open,' Nero mumbled the moment he regained his sense, slowly understanding the new intel at the forefront of his thoughts.
"Runes are a very complex language, and I gave you the understanding of the common two hundred words, enough for you to learn magic spells and arrays of up to third Rank," Draven said, his cold and distant voice bringing Nero back to his senses.
Nero took a moment to get comfortable, realizing that he was given a wealth of information that others would take months, if not years, to learn, and now confirming that he could get things so easily, he could not help but ask a question, bugging him from the moment his older self.
"I was wondering if you could teach me spells and skills just by sharing your knowledge and experience," Nero asked with a sheepish smile, already thinking of what he would say next.
"I can, but I will not, not even if I am in danger of forgetting everything," Draven replied and continued, "I will give you knowledge, but you will forge your own experiences," Draven said, crushing all of Nero's greedy hopes.
"I need you to grow stronger than me when I was at my peak, and I will give you all the tools to achieve it, but purge the thought of ever becoming a burden to me from your mind,"
"Because the day I feel that you will not achieve my vision is the day I will end our lives, and that is a promise," Draven said, his voice cold and calm but laced with an intensity that sent shivers down Nero's spine.
"Now get your head straight and watch and listen closely," Draven said as he picked up the rune pen in his right hand and the dark mask in his left hand.
"The magic items are divided into seven categories, from common and rare to mythical and Anchient, with each item quality depending on its material, craftsmanship, and runic inscription inscribed on it."
"It is the inscriptions that grant weapons and artifacts abilities, ranging from simple enhanced durability and mana conductivity to more complex ones like elemental resistance, enhancement, and Mana recovery,"
"I will be inscribing a low quality, third Rank minor spatial distortion inscription on the mask that would prevent anyone from seeing your face with mana sense or any special vision,"
"I will be doing the same to the cloaths and the robe while also additionally inscribing the inscription of Space veil on the cloak and Mana repulsion on the suit," Draven said as he began to write the runes on the mask.
The crystal tip glowed brightly as concentrated mana surged through it, leaving a thin trail in its wake. Draven drew three flawless circles stacked in a triangle, their edges perfectly smooth and separated by the smallest of gaps.
He followed by creating three circles inside each circle, but unlike the outside ones, these inner circles partially overlapped at their edges. The intersections created intricate, shared spaces where no circle appeared to be on top, each blending into the others seamlessly.
"All inscriptions are divided into three parts, the core, the demand, and the maintainer."
"The core is what describes the nature of the inscription, demand is what the inscription is designed to achieve, and lastly, the maintainer is what allows the inscription to use external mana to maintain its structure."
"You will begin by selecting whether your inscription is temporary or permanent, and by permanent, it does not mean eternal, it means that it would last for days, months to years, and centuries."
"After that, you will begin in the center of all three overlapping circles, writing the core, words like Ephemeral, Transient, and Provisional, words that would dictate how long the inscription would last," Draven said as he wrote the first rune, appearing like a mix of word E and J.
"The core is the start, and following it, you need to pick words that complete your desired result and have enough section left to write the maintaining words,"
"In a third-rank inscription, you are left with eighteen sections after using three sections for the core, and you need to fill each one with either a single letter or word, and you can not use both, otherwise it would simply not work,"
"The same will happen if your command is incorrect, not complete, or a single section is left empty, while the strength of your inscription would depend on the choice of your words," Draven said as he began to write one character in each section, each one meeting the other to make a word and eventually a sentence.
Nero heard the explanation and saw the result, and while he understood little of everything, he made sure to focus on memorizing everything so he could experiment and learn from it later.