Chapter 172: A Simple Belt

Kael looked at the final Rune in his arsenal, the rune that he hasn’t used yet. He turned it over in his palm, feeling its shape and weight like that alone could tell him how it wanted to be used. The others had practically announced themselves the moment he understood their rules, Fire was obvious, Anchor was a leash, Darkness was a hole in reality, Excise was a scalpel. Momentum… Momentum just sat there like a smug little promise.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t picture a clean moment to test it without risking embarrassment or a broken neck. The Tower loved punishing “curiosity” the same way it punished “greed”, fast and painfully.

It wouldn’t matter much to use this rune with darkness or with the fire rune, he thought. If anything, it sounded like the kind of rune that made everything more dangerous by making it faster. Faster was only good when you had control, and Kael had already learned he didn’t own control in this place; he rented it.

“It’ll be completely useless to use here. Accelerating the speed of projectiles might be helpful, but both the fireball and this… Darkness ball? No, Dark Stain? I guess is the more appropriate name, are already pretty fast. How can I use momentum?”

He stared at the rune and then at his gauntlets like the answer might be carved into the metal. Projectiles already launched like cannon shots when Heft was involved.

Darkness already behaved like it had a mind of its own. Making either one “more momentum” sounded like the Tower’s idea of a joke: Congratulations, you have successfully accelerated your own death.

He thought for a second to create boots and use it then, but.

The idea came fast because it was simple: movement rune goes on feet. Then the next thought arrived and killed it.

“Euh, I only have one rune, and two legs, that won’t work.” He kicked his legs up from the chair, letting his boots swing for a moment as if his own body was helping him do the math. One leg boosted and the other normal would turn running into a lopsided disaster. Best-case scenario he’d trip. Worst-case scenario he’d trip at the wrong time and become a headline for nobody.

“Do I make a chain between them?” the thought appeared in his mind, both boots, linked like the gauntlets, with the rune fitted onto them. And a chain linking the two.

He pictured it immediately: two boots connected, the rune centralized, motion shared across both. Then his imagination helpfully supplied the rest, him catching the chain on a protruding beam, his legs yanked out from under him, his face introduced to concrete at high speed.

“Nah, that’s stupid, one protruding rock, beam, or anything, and I’ll literally get sent flying or smash my head first into the dirt,” he refused to try the idea.

The Tower didn’t need to kill you with monsters. It could kill you with your own inventions if you got cocky enough.

“Hmm…” he leaned on his chair, letting the thought settle into something less reckless. “A belt? That might work, a centralized rune…”

A belt wasn’t elegant, but it was stable. Center mass. Close to the body. Less likely to snag. If momentum wanted to accelerate movement, then putting it near the body’s core made more sense than sticking it on an extremity. And if it ended up being something he had to toggle, a belt was easy to reach, at least in theory.

Since he didn’t have much material to make boots with, and only some leather straps and a piece of Atrax metal left. He decided, why not?

He laid what he had out on the table: strips of leather, a few offcuts that still smelled faintly like treated hide, and one remaining piece of Atrax metal that caught the light with a dull, predatory sheen. The room was quiet except for the small sounds of his work, leather sliding, his gauntlet tapping the table, his breath steadying as he settled into that familiar crafting headspace.

He didn’t need finesse for the strap itself, just something that would wrap, hold, and not tear. The socket was the real work. He took Brokk’s hammer in hand and tapped with deliberate rhythm, not striking like a blacksmith, but nudging material into obedience the way this Tower tool liked. The metal softened without heat, reshaped without protest, forming a clean pentagonal cavity that matched the rune’s geometry.

He tested the fit by hovering the rune over it, then seating it just enough to feel the edges lock. It slid in with a satisfying click that made him exhale through his nose. One small victory.

He then added seams to his pants for the belt to go through and tightened it.

That part was pure practicality. He didn’t want the belt slipping or riding up at the worst time. He threaded it through, cinched it snug at his waist, and checked how it sat when he shifted his hips. The new leather creaked slightly as it settled into shape.

It was quick, fast, and efficient.

And once he equipped it.

[System Error… Cannot identify new item.]

[Calibrating…]

[You have created an unconventional caster item.]

[Please set the type and name of the new item.]

Kael just stared at the screen for a beat, the way a man stared at a bill he didn’t remember ordering. The Tower’s “calibrating” always carried that faint threat of we don’t know what you did, but we’re deciding whether to allow it.

“…” That was similar to what happened when he created the gauntlets. But again, he didn’t receive any new stats. He already did this before, after all. The system wasn’t impressed; it was just… adjusting, like he was a problem it couldn’t ignore anymore.

“Utility Belt,” Kael named the item.

He didn’t overthink the name. Overthinking names was how you got attached. He wanted function, not romance.

[Utility Belt registered]

[Utility Belt]

No inherent bonuses.

[1 Rune Slot] currently holding [Rune Momentum- ᚠᚩᚱᚦᚷᚪᚾᚷ]

Lore:

An innovative creation by Kael Ardent. Unknown of purpose or goal.

A belt that can carry a rune.

“That’s rather simple…” Kale thought.

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