Jake was in his workshop, looking over some of the items his family risked themselves to earn. Inside Cassius's and Avaron’s sacks and what they were wearing were a few items of interest.

  He got their armor and weapons, as well as a few spare miscellaneous items that they used for different situations. Some of them were well-made and had high-quality Tier 3 materials, but according to the Framework, none really reached the Mythic Grade and instead were merely Epic.

  Odds were, Ophelia would be able to make items like these the moment they reached Tier 3, perhaps even sooner if she had the materials. For now, she would look at the items and learn what she could from them and consider melting them down for reforging and training.

  Jake also found that he had Avaron’s pegasus mount and a few other non-combat mounts, magical items that could be bound to new people to call upon them, having a special value. The mounts had no value to him or his wives, but there was an occasional Hearthtribe member that may be able to use these sorts of mounts, so he would be placing them in the guild store.

  And the two did have some useful jewelry and some spares that they weren’t even wearing in their pouches for different purposes. They were Tier 3 items, but they had some protective items that reduced the effect of curses or debuffs, as well as magical or elemental resistance items they could swap out. Once again, Jake would consider attempts to improve the items and learn from them and potentially wear them once they entered the Third Tier.

  Calix really did just have bits and bobbles inside of his, like he had staged them. Other than the mangled equipment on his body, much like Avaron and Cassius, there wasn’t much for them to gain.

  The biggest find was actually a spare staff Avaron had. It was made of a white, magical wood that felt alive in Jake’s hands. The focus was a bright yellow orb that floated within a ring around the tip, and the tree also coiled around it with three branches, like a claw holding the focus and ring.

  At first, he thought it wasn’t Avaron’s at all and just a trinket he held in his pouch. But upon further inspection, he realized that it was made for him–it wasn’t just a simple drop item he had stored in his inventory. Most importantly, when Jake spotted a series of runes around the ring and on the claws, he realized that this might be one of the most important items he found. Because these runes were blurred in his sight.

  The runes that had gone into making this item were beyond Jake’s own magical understanding, according to the Framework, and it wouldn’t give him the secrets for nothing. It was possible to reverse engineer using such a finding, but it was going to require time, effort, and perhaps even a little bit of risk in order to learn the secrets.

  When he took out the stakes for his initial inspection, he had found the same thing. In order to learn anything from them, he was going to have to work hard. This was the opportunity Jake had earned by defeating these betrayers, and he wasn’t about to waste it. However, the patterns on the stakes were far more complex than the staff, so he was happy he had something to work on first.

  If he had merely bought these items from the market or auction, he’d only be able to use them. Never learn or reverse engineer the how of how they worked, the blurring effect from the Framework even greater. He may not even be able to tell that they were runes at all; he would just shove mana in, and it would do what the item was supposed to do.

  Cultivator items were a little different and less restricted because no matter what, you’d have to reach some higher level of understanding in order to reverse engineer the thing. All items would be about as difficult to remake as the one in front of him, or perhaps more so.

  Runes were merely blurred because if all he’d have to do is write down the runes and use that shape, it wouldn’t be earned at all. Jake would be able to remake the stakes and this staff as long as he had the right materials in mere minutes. And he’d likely be able to make his own runic law in that same amount of time.

  Jake held the staff in front of him and pushed mana into the item. At first, it didn’t react, but as the focus lit up with energy, he felt and saw with his Umbral Gaze a strand trying to connect to his soul.

  The item was required to be bound to use it. But why? Jake brought it over to his workstation, mounting it across his desk with a clamp. He then took the articulating arm microscope that many jewelers might use, but with a magical twist. It had a few settings to alter the spectrum, allowing him to see different wavelengths of energy contained within the item. While his Umbral Gaze could kind of see the same thing, this was a bit easier to tune. And he could use it to show others.

  Sending mana into it, he moved several lenses in and out of the way as he tuned it as he inspected the focus, where the binding appeared to be coming from. And finally, once inside, he did see another minuscule rune formation. Blurred, which led him to believe this was the gold or paydirt he had hoped for, a formation that would help him understand runes more than he did now.

  Because if he had to guess, the runes written on the ring on the outside were not special at all. Why? He was almost certain he already knew what they were. There were all twenty-four Elder Futhark runes written out across it, with a few extras that he thought just might be directly related to the Norse Divine or perhaps meant for some other purpose.

  He realized he could probably use some help, a sounding board to bounce his ideas off of. Nessa likely knew most of the answers, but probing her for them may actually cause problems. Ophelia was more goal-oriented in her focus on learning runes, and Jake was working on what was not really her wheelhouse. That meant he needed to call in someone else.

  Amara appeared in his workshop after a short thirty-minute wait, her mental projection arriving much more quickly than he expected. The magical tome floated in front of the spectral, matronly woman, her glasses perched on her spiritual body and a smile on her face.

  “Thank you for inviting me, Milord. Research is always so exciting.”

  “No problem, and good to see you…almost in person. How are Rhia and Valtor Junior?”

  “They are doing so well. Junior is just about ready to join Conquest activities. He is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, training to become an administrator and leader, as well as strong enough to protect his brethren. Rhia decided to explore Haldrith and is having a good time and is excited about this energy present there. Oh! And she’s with Mysticus and Zorina, if you can believe it. They’re pushing to reach the Second Tier there, and that might be where Junior heads.”

  Jake asked, “In combat? I thought they were against combat.”

  “They decided to help out the little people. It turns out it’s a big struggle for them. And they are interested in the special energy, as it might actually aid them. Haldrith actually has a mixed-tier contest, so those at the First Tier can properly participate.”

  “That’s interesting, in that our Subguilds will likely participate there heavily. Haldrith is the world I was most interested in visiting personally–outside of wartime. I’m not sure where we’re heading next, most of our folks are doing well enough. But we can speed up the contest, especially at Bramvalen or Serthune.”

  “It is good to allow your people to handle these challenges alone for a time, to not become too dependent on you. But your family’s impact is undeniable, and it saves lives. So a balanced touch could be best.”

  “We can definitely use the levels ourselves. Though it’ll feel a bit unfair for us to just roll in and grab all the Dungeon Raid prime instances when we hadn’t influenced the war on these worlds.”

  Amara chuckled. “I think it normally would–if it weren’t you and your family. Many guild leaders do this anyway, and they do not command the levels of respect Clan Hart does among its members. Even if they are struggling for their victories, they know your hands were pushing their backs to make it possible. This is even setting aside how you solved the issue with Radiant Glory. Anyway, what was it you wanted to work on?”

  He brought her over to his workstation, where the staff resided, and explained what he had already found. Showing her with the articulating lens, he zoomed in on the focus.

  There were two central knot patterns on opposing sides, and there were individual links or chains radiating from three directions around the core of the sphere. Within each link were some blurred rune words, and within the space in the knots at the ends were lines of rune words. Like lists.

  Jake had already formed an opinion on it, but he asked for Amara’s expertise. She was here for a reason, after all. “What do you think? Is it risky to bind it to me? The Framework usually protects us from harmful bindings, but this item is in the Third Tier, and Avaron was a betrayer. I don’t sense anything like Tartarus was involved with this, but…”

  “Avaron’s? The idea that the staff is still present means that the covenant cannot be that strong or that deep. Otherwise, the item would have been destroyed when he died. Still, it can’t hurt to be safe. Why not try a proxy binding to reduce the feedback in case you need to break the item? We may learn enough that you could feel comfortable fully binding it.”

  A proxy binding. Something tethered to his spirit that he would establish the connection through. Like a barrier or a buffer to his actual soul, he could sever the binding to the proxy, and the item’s binding to the proxy would merely fade away.

  Jake found an item that fit his desires–a hearth. The item looked like little more than the metal innards of a fireplace without the giant stack of bricks around it: a large metal bowl with a place for fuel for the fire. He pushed in the prerequisite amount of his spirit to make the binding and bound it to himself as Amara watched, the hearth igniting.

  “A hearth, hmm? How appropriate.” Amara smiled.

  He added a few enchantments, an increase in protection against spiritual backlash. Then, through the hearth, he guided a spiritual thread toward the staff and then bound it to him. The focus lit up, and there was a change on the runes within–several of the runic phrases lit up on one knot only, but none of the chainlinks and not the second knot.

  Amara looked on. “Interesting. Only a partial activation. How does it feel?”

  Jake did his best to probe the connection and found a weight had descended. “I feel like… I am being watched. Vaguely.”

  Amara placed her hand on her chin, looking thoughtful as she opened her book. “Hm. Noted. Try casting a spell with it?”

  He nodded and tried feeding mana into the focus or activating the runes around the rings. Nothing happened at first, and it felt like his mana was being rejected. He tried Qi next and a few of his wife’s mana to no effect–before realizing he had an obvious option. He sent Berri’s light mana in, and then the ring lit up, as well as a couple more of the rings and runic phrases inside.

  A simple spell of light was cast, the runes activating without issue. Perhaps it was a little brighter than he expected, but that could be the advanced light focus. Actually, it did appear that the light shot forward in one direction more.

  Amara nodded. “Ah, there we have it. Makes sense. You did say Avaron used light magic, and the focus is…as it is. But still, only half of the phrases on one knot pattern have lit up. The other, not at all.” Amara chuckled at her pun as her eyes then narrowed–not with concern, but recognition. “That’s not rejection; it’s incompletion.”

  She flipped a page in her book, runes rearranging themselves as she looked over some of her diagrams. After a moment, he realized that she was modeling something much like the knot but replacing some of it with Script, the magical latin-like language that she was well-versed in.

  “I think this isn’t a predatory covenant to worry about, Milord. It’s a conditional covenant meant to grant power to the staff’s capabilities. I believe one set of phrases within that first knot that lit up is a witness.” She looked back up at him. “Until the staff knows who is agreeing to the terms, it won’t finish stating or exerting them. The hearth is not complete enough to take on the responsibility of the covenant alone.”

  “A witness. Who?”

  “It could be the Framework or the Nordic Origin, or perhaps both. But I wager if you retract the binding to the hearth, it will let you. Just as it will let you if you bind it straight to yourself. To use and fully benefit from the staff’s power, you must agree to be watched and take on the responsibility of the covenant. Why not try just putting it away first?”

  He found that he was able to just store the item, and the watching feeling went away. As he observed the knot ends to count out the number of runewords, he realized it didn’t appear that there could be many if-then sorts of statements within the knots themselves, and the rings hadn’t fully activated.

  What Amara said felt logical, and the original detail about Avaron’s death not influencing the item meant that the binding shouldn’t be that deep. To find out more, he would definitely need to fully bind it.

  He retracted the binding through the hearth and rebound the item directly. This time, a few more phrases on the end-knot patterns lit up, and as he infused the light mana into the item, there was a lot more activity. Secondly, a fair percentage of his mana was inserted into the item, reserved. Likely, a portion of the cost to use the item’s benefits. He estimated about ten percent of his mana was no longer available.

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  Several of what he assumed were the Elder Futhark runes on the outer ring darkened, while others lit up. Numerous of the chain links lit up on the focus as well, including the second knot in its entirety.

  Amara’s pages in her book were updated to match these changes. Jake had already memorized the changes, but it was nice to see them and track them visually. She said, “Ah, yes. Already we see a lot happening. Why not try casting another spell?”

  As Jake sent light mana into the focus, an odd thing happened. Like he was willing each rune into existence, the runes shot out of the ring and into the formation before activation. To try it out further, he cast ten of the same spell in quick succession, flashes of light filling the room repeatedly. Now, he was also certain–the light spell was forming a beam instead of a large spread.

  Amara’s voice was filled with awe. “Fascinating. I know you are fast, but this capability seems special.”

  “You’re right.”

  If he had to compare it to something, it was like the Qi Runic Stencils that he had made for Fhesiah on her fan and a few other items. By infusing Qi into the formation he produced, assuming she had enough mastery of the dao with that demonic rune, it would produce the desired rune in the air and then produce the effect.

  The problem with the stencils was that she could not combine them into bigger runic formations or join Jake and the rest in Group Runic Casting, limiting what she could accomplish.

  So this was like a stencil that could produce runewords as fast as thought, and they could be combined. He wasn’t sure if they could do group casting, but he thought it was likely.

  Jake wanted it. This capability. It would speed up his casting significantly, and thus his overall power in a fight. He guessed that a part of this binding somehow achieved it as part of the rules. The covenant, or law, he agreed to as he bound it, as well as his mana reserve, or cost.

  He mentioned this to Amara.

  “Interesting. You’re right in that this must be a part of the covenant, and I imagine this power must require some sort of cost–the mana reserve does explain this somewhat. Do you feel anything else?”

  Jake probed the item again with Berri’s light mana, trying to see if he could learn more details from trying anything. He didn’t have much luck, and actually, he felt a sluggishness to his movements as he tried to inspect them.

  Amara said suddenly, “How about…a spell not conducive to light mana, but still possible? An ice spell. This should go without saying, but if you feel feedback, don’t try to force it. We’ll watch the runes and see what happens.”

  Making sure the focus was still under the magnifier, he attempted to create his normal ball of ice. The runes on the ring didn’t light up, and–

  “Ah! A ring went red, along with some words on the knot–an activation of a rule. Likely, a rule that says light spells only, or only these Nordic runes, or you cannot cast at all. I’ll make note of it. Let’s try to see if we can determine all the rules on the chainlinks. Try some more methods of casting.”

  He tried various spells, and it took him a while, but he eventually realized that area spells were largely out or just produced a beam instead. When he picked up the staff and flew a little to move it over to another table, new runes activated.

  It turned out to get the full power out of the staff, both of his feet had to be firmly planted on the ground. In addition, he also learned that converted mana didn’t work–if he tried to convert his mana to light mana, it failed to enter the staff. It only worked for a native light mana caster.

  The other big discovery was that not only did it not allow area-of-effect spells, it turned them into forward-focused spells. Beams. Lances. Also, channeled spells. Jake was actually surprised at the efficacy, the output produced by the weapon.

  Thinking about how Avaron used his spear as a beam weapon and how he could teleport, the restriction of having his feet on the ground and needing to attack in a line was like free power. Jake could see why he chose this rule for granting him just a little more power. This appeared to be like a raid DPS staff of some kind, likely for encounters where it was either too dangerous for him to attack with his spear or just where light spells were more powerful.

  Eventually, he thought he had most of the rings in the chains figured out with Amara’s help. But now he felt a little bit stuck on how they should proceed.

  “So, we know a fair portion of the rules. We know that to use the second knot, which likely has to do with the casting rune ring, the caster must be bound to be watched–a covenant contained within the first knot. To recreate this covenant and the rings, I don’t think I’m that much closer to doing so from learning what is contained on the first knot, let alone precisely what is on these rings.”

  “You don’t? I think I see a sort of commonality among the chains.” She pointed at one set of links, tapping each one at a time. “One chain, the links seem to represent the form, or type of magic. Only light mana allowed, and it cannot be converted. Spells must be cast through the staff, preventing you from using your mana in different ways. The next chain appears to represent the measure, the handling of power. Must be grounded. Must be channeled. It must only be these runes. Lastly, the final chain is the intent–the application. Forward vector only. Offensive spells only. You see?”

  “So you think this covenant at the first knot end is basically saying something along the lines of, ‘Restrict my spells to these laws of three: the form, the measure, and the intent. Pay this price of mana reserve and grant access to the runic ring’?”

  Amara nodded. “Something like this. I think there is certainly a penalty clause on the knot and a requirement to be bound to be watched–this is how it knows your feet are on the ground to cast, for example.”

  Jake let out a breath as he thought about what was next. “So now, the next thing to do is to merely try to recreate it. See if we can make our own covenant. We don’t need to copy it exactly, but I am still unsure how it can provide something superior to the stencils with just a mere covenant. The cost doesn’t appear to be there. If anything, this staff appears to be nearly free power.”

  He wasn’t ignoring that he was reserving ten percent of his mana. It was that this thing nearly broke the rules of conservation in mana with how much power it was granting. With mana, something cannot be gained for nothing. And while the restrictions were significant, the output was just too high. And the speed of forming runes using the ring…it was easy for Jake to imagine it would be a near five times the amount of damage per second for Avaron, and for a higher mana to damage efficiency at that.

  Amara hummed. “Hmm…it does feel a little like that, but these restrictions are pretty significant even for Avaron, if you ask me. He can only use about a third of all runes, and he’s limited to just a handful of spells that he must cast with his feet firmly on the ground to get the full power. For someone who can cast powerful illusions by mere light manipulation, this is a heavy price. Also, don’t forget you have something that Avaron does not.”

  Jake thought for a moment. “Our guild bonuses?”

  “Yes. Did you know that we’ve crossed more than a ten percent bonus to more than four categories on Runic Spells? If we figure this out completely, it should increase further. In a prolonged fight, this will usually mean a strict forty percent increase in our capability to deal damage. Compared to Radiant Glory’s pathetic combined total of thirteen percent, it’s clear to see our superiority from our efforts. Well, if they still existed to be compared to.” She chuckled.

  Jake smiled at their achievement and how proud Amara sounded about their research. “Fair enough. Here we go then.”

  He brought out his easiest means of recreating the item–Pyros. He shaped the head of the staff just like Avaron’s, only with a gleaming red focus instead. Forming the casting ring was simple, and he left three spaces among three sets of runes in the circle, matching the 27 runes or symbols he counted on the staff.

  He then used his hearth mana to begin scribing the knots and the links. “Should I do the same number of links? I was thinking we should keep it simple to start, and three by three should be sufficient.” Avaron’s had nine links of each for numerous rules, and he thought they nearly had them all, but a few were up in the air.

  “We can try just three. Can always add more, yes?”

  “What do you think is actually contained on each individual link? We know a form, measure, or intent rule, but what else? I figure there must be a place detailing a reward for following the rule. I don’t think it’s on the knot ends, as they are not too dense in the number of runewords.”

  Amara thought for a moment. “I think the links likely follow a similar rule of three pattern. Scope of rule, restriction, and reward. On this staff, perhaps the scope is highly repetitive–spells cast by the staff, then it has a rule that says all spells must be cast by the staff anyway. But the rules don’t have to be limited to just one scope. This allows for a lot of conditionals to restrictions or gains.”

  “Makes sense.” The two went back and forth for a time, trying to determine what all was needed on the knot ends, and constructed a few rules for Jake to benefit. Of course, fire mana only for the form made sense for him, and he chose restrictions to only accept a series of runes. He made a total of nine rules.

  Of course, Jake hadn’t failed to notice just how similar this whole idea was to his Technique he had learned so long ago: Runebound. But as he tried to inspect the runes in his aperture in his mind to try to glean any kind of insight, he realized just how much it was obfuscated from him. This entire time, he was presented with a sort of interface to interact with the Technique by the Framework, and a very similar layout could be present, just hidden from him.

  He had configured his many resonant states in a rather similar way, he realized. A restriction and a reward, and a scope for when those restrictions and rewards were applied: individual resonant states. Perhaps, from being able to recreate this covenant in its entirety, he would be able to see the true covenant knots or bindings and could make even more complex rules and benefits.

  So now, Jake thought he had the bare bones for the covenant in the first knot, which established the legitimacy of the covenant. Accepting being watched, the restrictions contained in the knots, the cost of reserving some of his mana, and the punishment for not following the covenant–spiritual feedback. He reasoned that he could link them using the Script grammar for linking the circles, as he wasn’t aware of the right symbolism for making the rules of three and more.

  In the second knot was a placeholder for a link to the caster ring and another placeholder that was an anchor, the second knot being the activation of the casting, the result of the restrictions and rewards. Using Script and Amara’s help, he recreated what he thought was a replacement covenant for the things he couldn’t complete currently with runes.

  It took several failures until he got something mostly working. The casting ring still didn’t work how he wanted, but he certainly got the restrictions and rewards working to increase his overall power with Pyros in this form. He also didn’t have this…watching feeling as he cast spells, the rings lighting up as they were applied.

  Amara eventually said, “We have narrowed things down quite well. I do believe some of your laws, the chainlinks, are not fully activating–without a true watcher to confirm the restrictions, scope, and reward, they can’t be activated. We picked The Framework in Script to watch, but perhaps this isn’t enough. We need something Norse.”

  Jake nodded. “So let’s try with at least replacing the Watcher Script, and we can try a few Norse-themed anchors to link everything up instead of our Script method. We have Nordic knots and tons of spirals and chains throughout their faith. There’s also the Yggdrasil, the Yggdrasil Roots symbol, the spirals representing branches, and many more.”

  “And for laws and covenants, there is also Tyr and his symbolism. We can try a few, but a lot of these may need the perfect combination to be successful.”

  Jake sighed. “Thankfully, I can run through several combinations of them pretty quickly, erasing and re-scribing on Pyros here.”

  He tried numerous combinations, including several that sent a spiritual backlash to him. Thankfully, Jake’s spirit was more than durable enough to manage the feedback thanks to all the tempering he had done, even though the item was in the Third Tier.

  Eventually, he managed to get the feeling of being watched once more as he activated the staff. The chainlinks also lit up in a more meaningful way as he cast a few spells, the power of his spells enhanced. “This is pretty good. But still no casting ring activation, or at least not a full one. Either my rules I made don’t gather enough power to activate, or we’re missing something.”

  Amara double-checked the pattern Jake had made, comparing it to the blurred runes within the many formations on the staff, and overlaid the two. “I do think we have a few things missing on that second knot, and maybe one on the first. So you had used the Yggdrasil root knot on the second knot and the spirals, which represent the Yggdrasil branches to connect to the three chains of rules, on the first knot. I think we won’t have much choice but to attempt to have Mysticus and Zorina divine what’s left.”

  “I could…maybe brute force it like I did? How many symbols are there?”

  Amara chuckled, and then a managram with over a thousand symbols appeared. Of course, Jake recognized many of them, but there were tons that he was pretty sure were associated with individual gods, mythical artifacts, and more. “Knock yourself out, Milord. But I noticed the backlash hitting you a few times there–is it worth the risk, the damage? You may even harm your special item. Why not allow them to assist in this?”

  “You’re right. I have plenty of other things to work on.”

  Amara smiled. “We learned a lot today. You can already form a reliable covenant with an item, only sacrificing a portion of your mana pool for a grant of significant conditional power. And your Technique as you described it, you may actually be ready to improve upon it with what you already know. Of course, I will also share what we learned today with our research teams, and you never know. Maybe someone will find the missing puzzle piece for you, even without Mysticus or Zorina’s help.”

  It was true. Jake did pretty much have most of what he needed to model an upgrade to his Resonant States, assuming he was correct in that it was all obfuscated from him. Once he had the last missing pieces, he’d be ready to swap them out and add a few percent gain to his power at the minimum and make more complex rules and gains at a maximum.

  By mastering these details, his guild would gain an increased bonus just like the ones they already had. And they would be able to make their own special casting items or weapons, armor, or so on, that could achieve special things.

  And the stakes, while they were more complex with their area version of the law and covenant, he would be a step closer to unraveling those as well. He thought a lesser version of the law may go well toward a sort of anti-planar being tool, but he wasn’t holding his breath on that. Understanding more rune metamagic would certainly help him in the long run, however.

  “Thanks for your help today, Amara. We got a lot done.”

  “No problem at all, Milord. Do not hesitate to call me if you need anything. We are busy at the HQ, but unraveling secrets is of great personal interest. I do believe we are ahead of all guilds in this Tier, even the native guilds who had hundreds of years prior to the Framework’s arrival. Our mixed-Origin approach has gotten quite a few bonuses that others would never see and sped up our research, as the parallels have revealed more secrets to magic.”

  “It’s certainly important. Let’s do all we can so that when we enter the Third Tier, it’s from the strongest position. And that our subguilds we leave behind have all the advantages they can have.”

  “The legacy subguilds will be strong. Well-equipped and well-trained. They’ll continue making a large impact long after we’ve moved on. You know, they’ve nearly claimed a few Tier 1 worlds. Despite Radiant Glory’s allies needling them. In the coming decades, how many Tier 1 and Tier 2 worlds they save will be dramatic.”

  “I knew they were getting close. We’ve got a great track record so far.”

  “No doubt, this impact was a large reason why they approved your noble rank. Your Territory will grow to respectable levels in no time at all.”

  Jake couldn’t help but feel a bit weird about this–that his subguild’s contribution would lead to him owning more worlds. In a sense, decisions he made three years ago, before their guild’s grace period ended, through their hard work and nearly none of his own efforts, would contribute to his ownership.

  They also fed resources and recruits up the chain, seasoned veterans ready to join their stronger guilds once they either maxed out on contribution or moved on. It was the way the game was set up.

  “It’s always great to know that our people are successful and making a big impact all over the Sector. We’ll have to do our best to capitalize on their wins during the War Trial.”

  “No doubt about that, Milord. Knowing your plans has lit a fire under many to reach the peak and be ready. You’ll have no shortage of capable allies at the coming events.”

  There was still a long way to go, but Jake would do everything he could to make himself and his allies ready.