Wayland used the same incantation as before, but the cost was nearly triple his usual magical energy.
In other words, this wasn't a Rank One 'Cause' level magecraft anymore. It had effectively ascended to a Rank Two 'First-born' level spell.
As the weapon manifested, it felt heavy and cold to the touch--far more 'real' than any of his previous projections.
He performed a practiced spear flourish.
The air around him hissed with the sheer velocity of the move.
Wayland's physical strength hadn't changed, and the added weight of the spear felt slightly unfamiliar and cumbersome. He would need time to adjust.
After dissipating the weapon, Wayland focused on his second reward from the ruins.
[Innate Skill: Crow-speak (EX). You are a crow, and a crow is you. As a human, you can easily blend in with a murder of crows without detection.]
He'd spent a lot of time thinking about it and had come to the conclusion that the most practical use for this skill was to find a crow and turn it into a familiar.
But he didn't have a Sharingan.
Other people looked so cool when they commanded their bird minions. He'd even thought about how he might look using his new skill, but all he could do was shake his head.
There was nothing 'cool' about it. It just made him look like a total dork.
Returning to the task at hand, Wayland began his practice of modern Rune magic.
Now that he'd reached the Rank of First-born, his thirty Rank One spells were no longer sufficient. He needed to master Rank Two magecraft. Following the principles in The Fundamentals of Modern Rune Theory, he selected ten Rank Two spells as his initial targets.
The first was 'Thurisaz.' In Touko Aozaki's reconstructed Rune system, this was the third rune, sequence 1-3. Its meaning was 'Constraint,' and it represented active defense and the regeneration of power.
It possessed both offensive and defensive properties.
He raised his right hand, and the 'Spear Cage' of his inner world manifested. His magical energy flowed smoothly, and a magical circle expanded with a resonant hum.
A vertical line and two forty-five-degree angles etched themselves into the air in a faint, shimmering Rune. With a flick of his wrist, a pale yellow band of energy lanced out like a snake, winding itself tightly around a target dummy in the plaza.
The dummy was instantly crushed. The straw binding it gave way with a series of sharp cracks, revealing the wooden post beneath. Even the wood was left with deep, jagged gouge marks.
[Modern Rune: Constraint (5/100)]
Wayland estimated that with his current reserves, he could cast the spell about twenty times before running dry.
He let out a sigh of relief. Thank god for the system. Without its help, his natural aptitude for magecraft would have slowed his progress to a crawl.
After practicing until his reserves were spent, Wayland returned to his room.
He had the entire weekend ahead of him to continue his training.
["Congratulations, Master, on mastering your first Rank Two modern Rune. As a result, the first sub-task of your second Main Quest branch has been unlocked. Please review it."]
[Sub-Task 1: The Rank Two Specialist]
[Task Description: Master, you have reached the Rank of First-born. To match your new standing, you must master at least twenty different modern Runes of the same rank.]
[Time Limit: Unlimited]
[Reward: The Second Primordial Rune]
[Current Progress: 1/20]
Wayland was taken back, but mostly he was delighted. The second branch of his main quest was finally opening up. If it didn't, he'd probably be a grandfather by the time he managed to collect all eighteen Primordial Runes.
Still, mastering twenty Rank Two modern Runes was a daunting task. Even with the system's assistance, it took him about a day to fully grasp a new spell. At that rate, he was looking at twenty days of uninterrupted study. Between his classes and his duties at the Department of Policies, it would likely take much longer.
The realization hit him like a cold bucket of water--his dream of mastering every Primordial Rune before the start of the Fifth Holy Grail War was growing more distant.
He couldn't afford to waste a single second. It had already been a month since his reincarnation, and that meant he had only three months left before the war began.
He thought about the masters and servants who would be competing.
And if he were unlucky enough to end up in the Heaven's Feel timeline with the blackened version of Sakura Matou...
He'd be dead meat.
The only truly reliable plan he had at the moment was to somehow enlist the help of Marbury Animusphere, the Lord of the Animusphere family, and use the Ring of Solomon to summon Dr. Roman.
But there was no way the old man would just hand over such a priceless relic.
Wayland's current strength wouldn't allow him to simply take a Holy Relic from a Lord. After all, not every Lord was a lovable eccentric like Waver Velvet--someone with the talent of a Lord but lacking the raw power to back it up.
They were all ancient monsters and master manipulators. Wayland, with his limited experience and meager power, wouldn't last a second in their games--or more likely, they wouldn't even deign to notice him.
Time was against him.
He threw himself back into his studies.
Late on Saturday afternoon, Wayland's phone rang.
"Hello? Wayland? What are you up to?" It was Elena's voice.
"Practicing."
"Dedicated as always," she said with a light chuckle. "I'm calling because I have some news. The Captain wants to see you in her office tomorrow morning."
"Is something wrong?"
Wayland was surprised. They'd only just returned from the ruins. Was she already assigning him another mission?
Talk about overwork. Even a 996 schedule gave you some breathing room, but the Department of Policies seemed to be a '24/7 on call' kind of operation.
"She didn't get into details. But at least one of the topics will be the rewards for the mission. You did a lot of the heavy lifting, after all. Between this and the incident with Seiji Asagami, you've accumulated enough points to trade for something substantial--maybe some cursed bodies or a standardized Mystic Code."
"That sounds promising."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]