The top floor of the Grand Rune Hall stretched in elegant silence, golden light filtering through crystalline windows.

Selena Valcrest sat behind her obsidian desk, fingers drumming against the polished surface as footsteps echoed in the corridor beyond.

The heavy doors swung open. Liora Kane entered with quick, precise steps, her B-Rank badge catching the ambient glow from the runic arrays lining the walls.

“Master.” She bowed, then placed a scroll on the desk with reverent care.

“The rumors in the district are true. I verified them myself.” Liora’s voice carried barely contained excitement. “A stall is selling a Legendary scroll.”

Selena’s golden tattoos flickered, responding to her heightened attention. She gestured for Liora to continue.

“The owner swore it came from a boy, though he did not know his name. I confirmed the rune is genuine.”

Selena raised her hand, golden runes pulsing faintly along her skin as she lifted the scroll. The parchment felt ordinary beneath her fingers, but the symbols etched into its surface made her breath catch.

Her eyes narrowed as the pattern unfolded before her gaze. Gravity Snare, written in flawless Language of Mana script.

Recognition struck her. Not many knew the truth, but she did. She was the one who had deciphered the fragmentary gravity symbols from Volume III, spending months combining scattered pieces into a working pattern.

She had created the skill books herself. She had distributed them across the Organization’s libraries and training halls.

And now someone else had inscribed the same spell. Perfectly.

Her tattoos pulsed brighter, golden light reflecting across the chamber’s surfaces. Among humanity, only seven other Rune Masters existed, and none of them possessed gravity affinity.

She alone had carried that burden. She alone understood the crushing weight of gravitational forces translated into runic script.

Yet this scroll bore no flaw, no hesitation marks, no signs of struggle. A seamless match to her own creation, except transformed into a one-time use format.

She lowered the scroll slowly, her fingers tracing its edges. “Whoever made this is not ordinary.”

Liora shifted her weight, waiting for orders. The silence stretched between them.

Selena turned toward the chamber’s communication array. “Send words, I need a records search immediately.”

Within moments, another disciple materialized through the hall’s transport runes. His robes bore the silver threading of the Information Division.

“Cross-check the Organization’s records, look for gravity affinity users. Narrow the search to youths, as the stall owner claimed.”

The man bowed and vanished in a shimmer of silver light. Liora remained standing at attention, her posture rigid with anticipation.

Minutes crawled by. Selena’s tattoos dimmed to their usual faint glow, but her mind raced through possibilities.

The silver-robed disciple reappeared, shaking his head. “No matches, Master Valcrest. Gravity affinity remains exceptionally rare.”

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“Those few documented users are scattered across distant outposts,” he continued. “None fit the age description provided.”

Liora frowned with confusion. She stepped forward.

“I’ll return to the stall owner. Perhaps he remembers additional details.”

Selena nodded once. “Do it. Press him for everything.”

Liora departed. The chamber fell silent again, leaving Selena alone with the impossible scroll.

She spread it flat on her desk, studying each symbol with the intensity of a master craftsman examining a rival’s work. The precision was flawless, the mana channels perfectly aligned.

Time passed unmeasured until Liora’s return. She carried a crystalline slate in her hand, its surface glowing with recorded information.

“The point transaction record,” Liora announced, setting the device before her master. “His identification was logged during the sale.”

Selena’s gaze fell on the displayed name. Her heart skipped a beat as she read the simple inscription.

“Adrian Blackwood.”

She whispered it once, testing the sound against her lips. The name carried weight, recognition blooming in her mind.

She knew of him. Elara’s son, the prodigy with Echo affinity who had supposedly awakened at SSS-Rank.

“Echo,” she murmured, her voice barely audible. “An affinity that copies others.”

Her mind raced. Echo could replicate gravity affinity. Records showed he had been using Gravity Snare since the Academy.

In theory, this was possible. In practice… a sixteen-year-old, days into the Rune Division, producing a Legendary rune scroll?

She leaned back in her chair, her golden tattoos dimming to a steady glow as she processed the implications.

“Unbelievable…” The word escaped her lips.

But it was undeniable. She was the greatest Rune Master alive, and she could connect the dots.

Liora remained motionless, waiting for her master’s judgment. The crystalline slate continued to display Adrian’s name.

“Master?” Liora’s voice carried careful uncertainty. “What are your orders?”

Selena’s jaw tightened. This wasn’t something she could ignore.

The Board of Defenders would need to hear of this.

…

Meanwhile, in his suite, Adrian reclined against silk cushions.

His device displayed his updated point balance, 8,000 points from a single work.

The Organization’s digital library beckoned from the screen’s corner. Volume I: 2000 points. Volume II: 5000 points. Volume III: 10,000 points.

Humanity possessed only these three fragments of the language. Without hesitation, Adrian purchased both the first and second volumes.

Digital pages unfolded across the screen, symbols glowing with faint luminescence. The Language of Mana stretched before him in its purest form.

He began with Volume I.

Basic runes bloomed across the display. light, heat, barrier, storage. The grammar of mana, explained stroke by stroke through careful diagrams.

For most scholars, this represented a lifetime of dedicated study. For Adrian, the Source translated each symbol effortlessly, as natural as reading his mother tongue.

Knowledge flowed into his consciousness. The fundamental building blocks of runic language arranged themselves in perfect clarity within his mind.

He moved to Volume II without pause. His breath stilled as elemental symbols blossomed before him: fire, water, lightning, earth, ice.

Healing and restoration runes followed, their intricate patterns revealing the delicate balance between destruction and renewal. Array diagrams showed how multiple affinities could combine into devastating combat applications.

The Source responded to each new symbol with eager recognition. Adrian felt his mana capacity expanding, his core deepening with each page absorbed.

His body hummed with newfound power coursing through his meridians. His reserves doubled, then tripled, he could now sustain Starbreaker dozens of times without collapse.

He activated his pseudo-manifestation experimentally. White-grey mist wrapped around his arm, denser and heavier than ever before.

The ethereal energy pulsed with contained potential. He spread it across his entire body, watching as it endured ten full minutes before finally dissipating.

On his arm alone, the manifestation held for nearly an hour. Stronger, sharper, more alive than any previous attempt.

He exhaled slowly, processing the transformation rippling through his enhanced physique. He didn’t yet know how strong this made him, only that C-Rank monsters no longer felt impossibly distant.

Perhaps, if truly pushed to his limits, he could crush one already. The thought carried no arrogance, merely calm assessment of his growing capabilities.

He closed the volumes, golden light from the screen fading to leave the chamber in comfortable shadows. Outside his window, the Rune District still buzzed with activity from his morning’s disruption.

In the Grand Rune Hall’s highest tower, Selena Valcrest weighed the implications of a revelation she could not ignore. But within his quiet sanctuary, Adrian sat composed and centered.

To him, this represented only the beginning of what was possible.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep