The monstrous stat remained on my stat sheet, slowly inching up, yet it hadn’t done anything. Something about it inching closer to ten percent worried me. I knew that technically I was still more human than monster, but why did it keep track?

  What was the point of it? Did it really matter if I even did get rid of it?

  Every time I leveled my claws or body skill, it increased. It had to mean something. Something big enough that it was on my stat sheet to begin with.

  Messing with either of those skills didn’t make sense. At least not right now, given I didn’t have anything to fight, and I had other problems to solve with my profession throwing my stats out of whack. Not getting more mental skills controlling others was way more important than my beastial skills.

  I shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the runes in front of me. I didn’t need to solve the mystery surrounding my monstrosity right now. It lingered in the back of my mind, but I resisted and started sketching, forcing myself to focus on runes.

  I had to be careful to not smear each line. The charcoal wasn’t the best medium to draw with, and I wished for a pen. Just one, to make runes with. Maybe the marketplace in the dungeon had something I could get after all of this was dealt with.

  The more I sketched the runes and focused on what I was feeling, the more it felt like the archway was completely functional, just appearing to be broken. Finally, I drew the last one I was certain was its own rune, and not a combination of ones I’d seen before.

  Unable to help myself, I touched the wall with a finger.

  [Do you want to enter the Runic Challenge? Available levels: Apprentice. Closed levels: Journeymen, Master.]

  I almost said yes, but pulled back from the notification. Leaping to my feet I hurried back to the bunkroom.

  “Alpha!” Dengu paced in the hallway. “Everyone is sleeping.”

  I slowed to a stop and let out a sigh before replying, “The archway at the end of the hall leads to a challenge for my profession. I’m going to do it, but didn’t want to leave without telling anyone.”

  “Smart.” Dengu nodded, going back to his pacing. “Happy hunting.”

  Feeling better about my choice, I rushed back and accepted the notification.

  I appeared in a room with light coming in from several mushrooms overhead. A small campfire sat in the center, still glowing. Sitting spaces circled the fire.

  “Ah a new applicant,” said a voice from behind me.

  I twisted about and found the head of a massive creature staring at me from above. Giant, yellow slitted eyes stared at me. Nothing else was visible from the darkened area around them.

  “You are a strange one.” The head tilted to the fire. “But sit, and let’s discuss the challenge.”

  I didn’t know what to say and so did as instructed. The warmth from the fire felt good. “What is this place?”

  “This is the Apprentice Runic Challenge. You cannot try any of the others until you earn the right.” The eyes didn’t blink.

  “What is the challenge?” I asked, looking around.

  “You need to use Runes to survive. You can take the challenge as many times as you need to. Each time you will start here.”

  I studied the room around me, but nothing stood out. It was very plain. Stone walls stretched in all directions. I didn’t really know what else to ask. Survive by using Runes didn’t feel complicated. At least, not yet.

  The being chuckled. “Good luck, strange one.”

  The campfire vanished, along with the massive eyes. An archway appeared in the wall with a rune on the front.

  I climbed to my feet and moved closer to study the rune.

  Easy.

  It was the same rune used for the barrows. I placed my hand on it and sent energy into the rune to open the way. The door vanished, revealing a tunnel beyond it.

  A shiver went up my spine, and I reached to grab my knife. My hand met empty air. I frantically patted the rest of my belt and tried to access my inventory for my backup Stormlash knife. It wouldn’t let me access anything.

  “I should have asked more questions,” I grumped under my breath. I let out a sigh and triggered my aura vision to see what else was ahead.

  Runes glowed along the tunnel floor, spaced apart at regular intervals. Nothing else roamed the tunnel as far as I could reach.

  I touched the first rune, which was way over my head. This one I didn’t know, yet it repeated along the tunnel, almost where you’d put a light source.

  Going with my guess, I slowly pushed a little energy into it, thinking of light.

  It glowed for a moment, and then the rest of them glowed, creating a line down the tunnel. The tunnel suddenly shortened, leaving only one glowing rune to provide light.

  Not that I needed too much light to show me the way.

  Another door appeared, glowing with runes.

  Taking a deep breath, I got to work, studying the second rune behind the normal rune for an opening. It reminded me of the lock on the tower, and I concentrated on that.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  One after another, challenges presented themselves, and one after another, I studied and passed each.

  Locks, lights, warmth, directions, all things that were useful for someone to know. Each new rune I sketched into the book.

  Everything went fine until the first trap. I sent energy into the rune and it blew up in my face, dust and rocks tumbling everywhere. Then I appeared next to the campfire.

  “What did you learn?” asked the deep voice. The eyes were back.

  “Look for damn traps…”

  He chuckled again and vanished.

  [Do you want to try again?]

  Yes. That was a given. Again and again I pushed my way through the runes, starting over at the beginning each time I made a mistake. The trap rune wasn’t hard to figure out, but the next one that stumped me involved a dirty stone.

  The stone rested in the center of a table, covered in mud. I spent way too long searching the room for any runes. Nothing appeared.

  The mud covered rock wasn’t any help. I rubbed some of the dirt off it, hoping to find the rune. Still nothing.

  Once the rock was cleaned, and there was still nothing, I found myself back at the campfire.

  “Stuck, are you?”

  Those freaking eyes.

  “Yes, I don’t understand the muddy rock…” I stared up at the glowing eyes. “What is the goal?”

  “Why did you fail?” he asked, in a curious voice.

  I thought back to what finally caused me to get booted from the challenge. “I cleaned the rock.”

  “What do you need to use to…” He hadn’t even finished the questions before I swore.

  “I need a dang cleaning rune…” I twisted about and headed to where the archway normally stood before I’d even finished speaking.

  This time I took my time trying to figure out a cleaning rune. There were some built into my clothes that I’d gotten from the marketplace.

  When I finally pushed a rune into the muddy rock and all the mud flaked away, I jumped into the air multiple times.

  The next challenge was the same. No runes to help me, instead I needed to figure out what rune to use to pass the challenge. Yet, the words from the eyes lingered. I needed to survive, and none of these challenges felt like surviving.

  Situations using the runes from earlier in the challenge came up, like the rune for light. I had to remember it and correctly inscribe it on the side of the wall. All I had to use was a sharp rock to carve with.

  I tried to use the charcoal, but it wouldn’t hold the inscription. The carving cracked as I filled it with energy and found myself back at the campfire. Frustration pulsed inside me, but I took a deep breath to calm myself.

  “You charge head-first into each challenge presented without asking questions.”

  My hands tightened into fists, but I let out a sigh. “I didn’t realize I could ask you questions.”

  “Most applicants discuss what they learned from failed attempts. You focus on testing and trying again.”

  “I’m not used to having access to others when learning how to use my skills,” I replied honestly with a shrug, after relaxing my shoulders. It wasn’t his fault I’d been on my own in most cases. “Most of my learning has come from dangerous situations with only myself or my friends to count on.”

  “You speak the truth, yet you must be learning from another…” A rustle came from the darkness, like the creature shifted its weight.

  I shook my head trying not to think of him, even though I still carried his body in my inventory. “I learned the skill from an Apprentice who died. I only have his notes and what I know of other magics from a different world. I have no teacher.”

  A weight settled on me for a few moments where I felt like I couldn’t move. Like I was back in the tube, with the sedative still in my system.

  “Hmmmm… again you speak the truth.” The eyes started, unblinking, which didn’t feel normal. “You are close to the last test for apprenticeship. Yet you have no tools, relying on what is around you to function.”

  “The runic apprentices that I knew used paint or tattooed runes, but I’ve been carving them into things.” I wasn’t really sure why I was explaining myself to this being, but Noseen said I shouldn’t be rude to anyone, and they were trying to figure me out in a helpful way.

  “Carving is the ancient way. Your runes have more power and lasting ability then those painted.”

  “Yeah, I don’t have any paint,” I said with a chuckle. “All I need is my knife, or a rock in this case.”

  “Yes, yes, since you cannot use a knife in the challenge… Again, making do with what you have.”

  This time I looked directly up into its eyes. He wanted questions after all. “Do you have a better suggestion on tools I could use, then?”

  A hint of teeth stretching into a smile appeared under the bright eyes. The creature chuckled as an object appeared on the floor near my foot.

  Pointed, almost like a spike made completely out of metal, it gleamed in the faint light.

  [Carving tool.]

  “Good luck.” The eyes vanished, as the archway appeared yet again.

  I picked up the spike and my fingers tingled at the contact. As I approached the door I smiled, ready to see how fast I could get back to where I was. Each challenge fell even faster than before, especially when I needed to carve a rune.

  The light rune took seconds, the carving tool slicing easily into the rock surface.

  Then things shifted, and my heartbeat sped up.

  Instead of another door, the tunnel ended at an opening. I stretched my senses out beyond me, and this time I felt other creatures in the cavern beyond.

  I crept to the opening.

  [Final challenge: You must create a permanent light source to hold back the shadows.]

  After blinking several times, I could make out shapes of various rocks, and the weird creatures darting around the massive cavern. They reminded me of the boss I’d fought in the dungeon back in Lakeside Landing.

  If that was the case, light might be the only thing that hurt it. Yet, I couldn’t use any weapons but Runes.

  I almost chuckled, but resisted making any sound as I came up with a plan. First, I needed to understand the area I needed to make the light source in.

  Using my stealth, I stepped into the cavern, yet I almost stumbled on a cracked rock. My balance felt off, wrong.

  It dawned on me as the first screech came. My stealth hadn’t worked.

  Fuck.

  I scrambled around on the ground until I found a flat rock. The rune flared to life just as the first creature reached me.

  Screams echoed all around me as two of the creatures turned into dust. Yet, I didn’t get a notification for it. They weren’t regular kills, meaning this was all part of the challenge.

  The rune then flickered, almost going out, but somehow remained lit very dimly. I scrambled, searching for a better location and rock to use for my permanent light source.

  Something glimmered in the center of the cavern and I rushed in that direction, dodging around various boulders.

  Creatures scattered all around the cavern before the light could reach them.

  A translucent stone sat in the center of the cavern with a wide open circle surrounding it. It almost looked like the crystal from Lenna’s world, but wasn’t.

  [Quartz.]

  The light flickered again, and I searched for more stones to carve with temporary light runes. Once I found five more, I skidded to the side of the quartz, almost dropping my find.

  A mass of the creatures gathered behind boulders just out of sight, but they remained on my radar. Then, suddenly, they all rushed toward me.