Chapter 8: Entering Eryndor

Talon didn’t reach Eryndor until the next day. Even with the Ring of Vitality keeping his stamina up, he still had to rest a couple of times. Thankfully, he didn’t encounter any threats during the journey. There was a good chance that Eren’s massive attacks had chased away all the predators within a kilometer radius, but he couldn't be sure.

Eryndor was a large town protected by five-meter-tall stone walls. Guards patrolled the walls, and a few ballistas were mounted for defense. The town gate, made of oak wood, was only shut during bandit raids and at night. Since Talon arrived just before noon, the gates were still open. 

Outside the town, open fields stretched out, with farmers busy planting crops. Talon stood just behind the tree line, watching the farmers go about their business. After what happened to him, it would be foolish to appear openly in town. If anyone recognized him, the Verdant Brothers would soon hear about it, even if they weren’t currently in town.

‘Risky, too risky,’ he thought.

He decided to wait until nightfall to find a way to sneak into town. In the meantime, he stepped deeper into the forest without drawing attention to himself.

---

Talon climbed a tree and settled in to wait for the day to pass. He reflected on the last few hours, finding it all too fantastical to believe. To confirm that everything wasn’t a dream, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness inward.

His inner world now existed, a space within every person but never this clear or open. He could see his inner world like a small void within his mind or body. No one knew much about where the inner world was exactly. It was said to be a person’s subconscious, but even the Awakened adventurers he had asked over the years couldn’t give a concrete answer.

In his inner world, a core floated with incomprehensible patterns on it, one of which was alit.

‘Is this what they call runes?’ he wondered. He didn’t know what else they could be, even though he had never seen them before.

He opened his eyes and thought of the book he bought on runes.

‘System.’

The translucent screen appeared in front of him again. He clicked inventory with a thought, and the items available in his personal space were listed. Apart from the bronze door and stone podium, everything else was counted as part of his inventory. He chose the book, Introduction to Runes and Quintessence, and it appeared in his grasp immediately, without fanfare.

‘The system is truly magical,’ he thought with a satisfied smile.

---

According to the book, runes are esoteric manifestations of the laws of the world. Once a person awakens, they gain a core with inactive rune patterns on it. This is how people first came in contact with runes. Different combinations of runes are called Rune Patterns, which can bring about different effects. These runes on the core are seen as the runic representation of the type of power the person awakened.

Rune patterns are elegant rune arrangements that bring about specific effects. Mastering how to create rune patterns is the foundation for creating magical weapons. Runes are used to connect with mana. The wrong rune arrangement can be catastrophic, so people have tried hard to make comprehensive collections of runes, called Canons.

Canons contain collections of runes that have been studied. There are three levels of canons: Preliminary, Advanced, and Peak. Preliminary Canons cover 1,024 basic runes. Advanced Canons cover 1,024 basic runes and 720 advanced runes. Peak Canons cover 1,024 basic runes, 720 advanced runes, and 360 great runes. Canons are rare and often held as secret knowledge by groups and organizations. The author even noted a few worlds where ruling classes controlled their subordinates with promises of giving them a canon to help them grow stronger.

The book soon dived into more complex topics about halos, inner worlds, mana, quintessence, and so on, which confused Talon even with his sharp mind. He closed the book to digest everything he had read. He now knew why one of the runes on his core was alit.

When a person becomes Awakened, they gain a core that holds mana, which powers all their abilities. The core patterns need to be activated for a person to get stronger. The more runes on the core that are activated, the stronger the person. Those who have not activated up to half of the total pattern are at the Preliminary Stage of the Awakened level. Those who have activated at least half are at the Advanced Stage. Someone like Eren, who stood at the Peak Stage of the Awakened level, had activated all the patterns on his core. Such a person was definitely a powerhouse in small regions like Eryndor.

This made Talon understand that fighting any of these guys was suicidal. All he needed to do was enter the town, get his sister out, and escape before they realized he had survived.

He looked up to see that the sun was already setting.

‘It’s almost time,’ he thought.

He climbed down from the tree and made his way back to town. Talon circled around the town from behind the tree lines. There was an open field of about 100 meters from the tree line to the town walls. If he dared rush out of the woods, the guards on the walls would definitely see him. At best, this would blow his cover. At worst, they might think he was a bandit and shoot him down with the mounted crossbows.

After finding a blind spot on the west wall, he ran with all his strength towards the town wall. At 50 yards, he stopped and circled back towards the northern side. Since the sun was already setting, the farmers were heading back into town. He simply entered along with them.

Talon wasn’t sure whether it was because bandits and monsters rarely came around these parts, but none of the guards paid much attention to those entering and leaving the town gate. Apart from being a bit alert about the forest, they didn’t really pay attention to who entered the town. Talon successfully entered the town. The moment he found an alley, he slipped into it and disappeared into the depths of the town.

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The Holy Mother Church is one of the two major religions in the Kingdom of Aurumia, the other being the Sky Path. Apart from private orphanages, most orphanages were established across the kingdom by the Holy Mother Church. This made them highly loved by the people for their meritorious and righteous deeds. Talon, in particular, didn’t feel that way towards them at all. 

As he stood in front of the orphanage’s gate, he felt nothing but discontent.