Chapter 124 - Learn A Bit, Train A Lot (1/2)

Of course, she has spoken the thought out so that Laz ended up hearing her, but he was very confused.

*Runes?*

It was hard for Vivi to hold in her excitement as she made her way over to Reggie who was getting consolation from Dee and Leona. As much as Dee hated her ability, she now knew that Reggie's was useless, at least as far as they knew. As for the reason why they had not shown each other before? This was because Leona had said it was dangerous and also because they had gotten it at different times, Reggie being the last one.

As she came up to him, she smacked his leg with her paw, causing him to 'yelp' in pain as he looked down. Seeing Vivi there, he was wondering what had hit him since it felt like something really hard, which wasn't something he could imagine Vivi doing. While looking down, Vivi used her paw to point at the two light discs as though she wanted to take a closer look. Thinking that she was amused by them and astounded at her intelligence, Reggie directed one of them to float down to her while she started to use her paw to mess with it.

*I thought so...* She finally said when she was done.

*Thought what?* Laz asked back as he saw her make the disc float away.

She finally explained it like this. The disc was basically a blank slate that he could write runes on. When asked what that meant, she explained that there were two types of writing that had a basic means of power, Sanskrit and Runic. Since the discs Reggie was able to produce were blank and didn't have anything else on them, he was basically using the Wyrd rune without knowing it. The effect? Unknown. But if Vivi had to guess, she would guess that because it affects the flow of fate, that it was the reason Reggie had made contact with Laz. It had guided him to Laz. If Reggie was able to not only learn each rune and what they mean but then incorporate them, he could use a wide variety of abilities, kind of like a mix and match. As far as what effect they would have, that would depend on the combination. First and foremost though, he should start simple and practice a lot.

When Laz asked what the difference was between Runes and Sanskrit, Vivi could only reply that she knew about Runes but not about Sanskrit. Based on her feelings though, Runes were more powerful, but less complex. You could do far more with Sanskrit, but that also meant it was far easier to make a mistake, but since she didn't have memories of it, this was only the feelings she got. Runes, due to being simple, were much faster as well. It was basically power versus precision.

Dee had been trying to cheer up Reggie since he still thought his ability was to making moving flashlights with only Leona staring at Laz. She watched how he looked at Vivi and how Vivi was looking at him. It looked like a conversation without words which captured her interest, making her wonder a bit more about what this weird guy was hiding. He seemed to know a lot and was able to answer all their questions. He also came off as being very mature which at first made her think he was older than her, but at other times she wondered if that was really the case. Either way, since he was useful, she would keep interacting with him. As it was, his knowledge and training was exactly what she had been looking for. She didn't know what was going to happen with that annoying guy but felt that things would happen soon.

As Dee and Reggie continued to chat, Laz had walked over and patted him on the shoulder making Reggie think he was trying to make him feel better. Hence, when he heard the next words out of Laz's mouth, his jaw practically hit the floor.

”Well, congratulations Reggie. In this game of ability surprise, looks like you got the most powerful one,” Laz said with a serious face.

”Huh?”

”What?”

”How?”

No one really had a clear response, just questions. If it wasn't for Laz's serious face, they would have thought he was being a smart ass.

”Yeah, I figured this. Ok Reggie, I want you to look at something and try picturing it as forming on the disc, ok?”

”Umm, sure?”

Laz used a stick and drew an M shape on the ground as he was instructed to by Vivi.

”Ehwaz, movement. Try to picture it,” Laz reminded him.

Reggie went a little blank thinking of the M shape since that was all it looked like, an M. He didn't think it seemed special. But as he thought about it, he also remembered the word Laz said, Ehwaz. As he did both things at the same time, suddenly, one of the disc light up and a dark yellow M appeared on it.

”Woah, strange...”

”Hey... does this mean you can write things? Like, is this a spiritual text message?”

Dee's thoughts were rather unique about the event while Reggie, having been the one to do it and felt it, felt like his energy drained out quite a bit as the rune appeared. Leona was just looking on but not saying a word, an indifferent expression on her face while her mind was working overtime. It didn't escape her notice that Laz once again was turning to Vivi while sometimes nodding as though he understood.

”So... what does this do?” Reggie asked after examining the disc.

”Hmm... I'm not totally sure, so let's try out a test. I want you to run forward as fast as you can.” Laz suggested. In truth, he heard from Vivi that it should increase his movement speed, but wheither that meant his hand speed, reaction time or running speed, she wasn't clear. Therefore the best option was just to try it out.

”No problem.” Reggie got into a crouch and took a position like a professional. Without any warning though, he shot forward as a speed that was even faster than what Laz had shown.

”AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.” Reggie's echoing screams seemed to fill the forested area as he disappeared out of sight, leaving the other three behind with different expressions.

”Will... he be alright?” Leona finally asked to break the silence.

”That's kind of hard to answer,” Laz replied back with a rather dumbfounded look. Even Vivi seemed surprised by how it worked. Leona immediately shot Laz a cold glance which caused him to need to follow up.

”So, if he were to stop suddenly or hit something, he might be in for a world of hurt, but the rune shouldn't have just made him faster. It should have also increased his reaction time meaning it's unlikely for him to hit something. This all depends on if he has enough energy though and how he uses it. If he slowly lets off the gas, he should slow down so to speak. If he just suddenly cuts off the power, then it would cause him to basically return to his normal running speed and probably cause him to fall over. I guess this whole thing is just up to chance.” Laz finally shrugged his shoulders as though he had no idea what would happen. Leona continued with her cold gaze until the finally caught sight of something speeding back their way. As it go closer, it started to slow down, allowing everyone to take a breath and relax. It seemed as though Reggie had figured out a bit on how to control it.

”WOW, THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME.” Reggie came to a stop in front of the group while grasping for breath.

”And that's only the basics of that rune. You can also use it to move stuff other than yourself. You can also use it on other people. What I mean to say is that there is far more to learn about what that rune can do besides just make you run fast,” Laz followed up with the words that Vivi had told him.

Although he was just hearing a few uses from Laz, he started to get some ideas from even these vague hints. Now that he had experienced it for himself, Reggie understood what Laz meant by he had the most powerful ability.

”Heh, even I'm a bit jealous of that,” Laz couldn't help but to be in awe of Reggie's ability. Even though he had several strong points of his own including the black flame, he could tell instantly how useful the ability to use runes would be.

*It's not like you can't you know,* Vivi's soft voice chimed in.

*What's that now?* Laz asked back.