Arthur pulled out Cyrpus' lesson cube. He hadn't used it in over two days, which was more than enough time for a full recharge. Vira and Viktor were staring at him intently, like he was a fascinating science experiment. He kind of was. Arthur cleared his throat awkwardly.

  "There's nothing to see here. Just make sure you don't do any funny business, and I'll be out in a few minutes."

  The two of them nodded, but didn't stop staring at him. Arthur sighed. There was no helping creepy old people.

  Getting into a comfortable cross-legged position against one of the now non-fiery pillars, Arthur prepared his consciousness to enter the cube. He could have easily done so elsewhere or had Wovan stand guard, but he had something different in mind. Just as Link allowed him to share senses with his soul splinter, the same held true in reverse. Before entering the orb, he ordered one of Wovan's many bodies to keep an eye on things. What would Vira and Viktor say when they thought he wasn't aware of things? It would mean entering the lesson cube with his eyes wide open like a maniac, but sometimes you had to sacrifice your dignity in life.

  Feeling the unfamiliar sensation of another observer in his head, Arthur channelled his ether into the cube and let his consciousness fade away. This time, he wasn't stunned into melancholic silence at the sight of his old classroom, though he did take a moment to take it all in. Finally, his eyes fell on the ancient elven professor, who remained exactly the same, still standing before his magical blackboard.

  "Originator Arthur Ward," Cyprus said, smiling widely, "You've changed much since I last saw you. How long has it been? One year? Two? I trust you've been keeping up with your runecraft in that time."

  "One year," Arthur repeated, taken aback. "What makes you think that? It's been less than three days."

  For the first time since he'd met him, the ancient elven professor looked shocked. He hadn't reacted like this even when he'd found out that Arthur was an Originator. It didn't take Cyprus long to collect himself. "I seem to have severely underestimated you then. You've changed significantly. Your soul has received the kind of tempering that takes months if not years. And I can see you've lost a part of it too. Those two days must have been an adventure indeed."

  Arthur smiled. "An adventure isn't exactly how I would describe it, though I can't deny they were interesting."

  Arthur then went on to give Cyprus a quick rundown of events, starting with his battle against Esmerald that had interrupted their last lesson and finishing with the imminent threat that Shylo represented, omitting Wovan's part in the story altogether. Some would accuse him of wasting time, but the five minutes he'd spent unloading the insanity the last fifty hours had been was worth its weight in gold. Sometimes, taking a step back and just talking was the best thing you could do.

  "I must say, Arthur Ward. Your life is more astounding than the stories the great bards of my world would weave. Felling a Wyvern, meeting the natives of a fallen world, surviving an assassination attempt, only to find out that the world was going to end, and topping it all off by meeting the remnant spirit of an ancient dragon."

  "If your life were a story, Arthur, I would call it a terrible one, simply because of how improbable it was. More excitement than most would see in a century crammed into two days. Let's have at it then. Please summon the rune you want to carve into your bones. We've little enough time as it is, and dragons aren't known for their patience."

  "Is that it?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you'd react a little more strongly than that. We're talking about carving runes into my bones here."

  Cyprus chuckled. "The novelty of such techniques fades a little when you've lived as long as I have. While I've never seen it done with dragon's blood before, inscribing runes onto your bones is hardly a new concept. The craft was old when I was young, and I was young a very, very long time ago. Now, enough dawdling. Let us see if a dragon can live up to his race's fabled reputation."

  Arthur would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. He'd known that Cyprus knew practically everything there was to know about rune scribing, but a little more surprise wouldn't have hurt. Concentrating on the space in front of him, Arthur perfectly recreated the runes Viktor had shown him, down to the exact shade of colour his flames had been. Cyprus didn't say anything at first, focusing intently on the runes that had been summoned.

  Two minutes later, and Cyprus still hadn't said anything, though the wrinkles on his face were a little more pronounced with how deeply he was frowning. Arthur was getting a little worried now. Finally, after nearly five minutes had passed, the professor made a sound. He sighed loudly.

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  "I guess I'll have to take it back. Consider me damn well impressed." He rubbed his temples as if nursing a headache. "This runework is incredible. Ambitious on a level most would consider insane. It violates some of the first rules you learn about runework, though I guess it being inked with dragon's blood makes the impossible plausible."

  "So, what does it do? Is it safe?"

  "To answer your second question first, no. No, it is certainly not safe. No human or elven skeleton could ever hope to support such a rune. The weight of it would crush them. Even the most durable elven warriors I knew in life would avoid this rune like the plague."

  "And if a human theoretically came along who could endure this, then..."

  "Then they wouldn't be human. An impossible scenario, I would say, but today has taught me to avoid throwing the word around so easily. Should such a human or elf come along, then..." Cyprus paused for a long moment. "I don't say this lightly, but yes. It would be safe."

  Arthur grinned and felt a weight lift off his shoulders. It seemed he hadn't realised how much he'd wanted this bone carving to succeed. That and it was nice knowing his allies weren't planning to double-cross him. "Onto the first question, then. What exactly does the rune do?"

  "Now that is far easier to answer," Cyprus began. "For starters, it'll make your skeleton far more durable, though it'll come with a significant weight increase. It will also apply your skeleton's physical defence against any mental and spiritual attacks made against you, which will make you about 250% more durable in those regards. You'll also be far less susceptible to corruption and any other negative effects caused by enemy domains and territories."

  "That's the most important stuff on the defensive side. Now onto the offensive. The rune will basically turn your skeleton into a giant battery, one that is charged by every force, magical and mundane, that acts against your body, from the strongest of spells to the gravity that keeps you grounded. The charging speed is obviously affected by the strength of said forces acting against you."

  "Things get interesting when we see what a charged skeleton will let you do. Since the rune is based on a fire dragon's blood, it'll basically let you use a knock-off version of the fire affinity using your skeleton's charge. The rune is also open to growth; four more dragon's blood of differing affinities, one for each limb."

  Cyprus smiled. "The best news for last. It'll grant you a very basic fire concept and make progression down that path significantly easier." The old elf looked at the floating rune again and whistled. "This is some of the best work I've seen, though it's practically useless. It's like designing a spell that'll cost a trillion ether. Absurdly powerful, but one that no one will ever be able to use."

  This was a lot to take in. The rune was so much more powerful than he'd expected. If anything, Viktor had been humble in his bragging. Arthur had spent fifteen minutes in the cube already, which left him forty-five to work with.

  "Do you know any way to improve it?"

  Cyprus smiled sadly and shook his head no. "Maybe if you give me a month or more to work with, but I don't think you have that kind of time."

  Arthur chuckled. Wasn't that the story of his life? Never enough time. He carried on talking with the professor for a while, going over additional details and fleshing out what the carving process would most probably entail. With half an hour left on the clock, Arthur decided he'd spent long enough in here. Viktor wouldn't be patient much longer. Saying his goodbyes, Arthur returned to the waking world. He felt the burden of responsibility settle on him. Should he fail on Haadran and die, Cyprus' lesson cube would self-destruct, a failsafe installed to prevent it falling into corrupted hands.

  Arthur quickly reviewed everything Wovan had seen while he was away, but nothing was amiss. It turned out that Vira had just bombarded the ancient dragon with all the questions about realms he'd refused to answer before. The only time his name had come up in the conversation was when she'd called him a lecherous bugger for staring so brazenly at her. In his defence, she'd done the same. His eyes were as dry as the desert outside, so he used ether to summon some water into them before getting to his feet. Viktor noticed he was awake first.

  "So then, dragon eater. What did your teacher have to say about my craft?" The remnant spirit sounded unbelievably smug, but Arthur couldn't blame him.

  "He said it was adequate," Arthur lied. "Incredibly novel but useless since it would be impossible to actually use."

  "Adequate," the dragon snorted in indignation. "Well, his criticisms aren't wrong exactly, but who's the true fool. I've found the patient who can survive my treatments." The dragon continued to ramble about how great he was before Vira thankfully intervened.

  "Time is ticking. The average level of monsters attacking us has risen by eight, and we've lost twelve men already. Our defensive efforts aren't sustainable. Let us begin and get it over and done with."

  "I have two conditions," Arthur said.

  Vira's eye twitched. "We're giving you a gift empires would war over, and you have conditions!"

  "You're giving me a gift no one can accept but me," Arthur corrected. "And let's not pretend this isn't as much for you as it is for me."

  Vira looked like she was about to retort, but Viktor stopped her.

  "Speak, Arthur Ward. What are your demands?"

  "The first one is simple. I will remain awake throughout the entire procedure. I trust you, but not that much. No sedatives or magical sleep inducement."

  "A naive and foolish demand," Viktor replied, "but acceptable. You can remain awake until the pain becomes too much and you ask for unconsciousness."

  Arthur smiled. It seemed the denizens of Haadran were still underestimating him.

  "My second condition is even simpler. Viktor's blood and everything else will be prepared in this," Arthur said, summoning his soulbound cauldron. "And I'll be adding a few drops of my blood to the mix."

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