Learning Magic Runes

His head felt heavy and muddled. Dean shook it hard several times, and the world before his eyes finally grew a little clearer.

Where am I? Dean blinked. Oh, this is my new home. I'm sharing a suite with Kana, Yanxi, and Lamore now!

Once he sorted out his thoughts, Dean realized he had been sleeping facedown on the bed without a blanket over him. But he seemed to have forgotten something very important. What was it?

Sunlight streamed into Dean's room. The morning sun had risen, and it looked like fine weather. As Dean watched the light, he suddenly remembered that he had been studying the spellbook. But where was it?

Where had such a huge book gone? Dean lifted the blanket and found a thin, palm-sized booklet lying on the bed.

Could it be...? Dean had a feeling that this little booklet was the spellbook he had spent all last night studying. But how had it become so small?

Dean also felt as though there was a book inside his head. Unlike this little booklet, it looked the way the spellbook originally had, though in his mind, that thick, enormous spellbook seemed so tiny.

"Hey, Dean, get up, get up! The sun's already risen!" Just as Dean picked up the little spellbook, Kana kicked his door open and shouted, "Uh, you... you're already awake! Well, I just came to wake you up. Early to bed and early to rise keeps you healthy. I'll leave you alone!"

With that, Kana dashed back to her room, remembering to shut Dean's door behind her. Poor Dean had not managed to say a single word before she fled. He felt a bellyful of anger just beginning to flare up, only for Kana's rapid string of actions to force it all back down.

Pink, fluffy pajamas. Dean felt as though he had discovered a new continent, but Kana had left so quickly that he had barely gotten a good look.

"What was she trying to do, coming over so early? Play a prank? Probably, but doesn't she know how loud that kick was? Even if I'd been asleep, it would've startled me awake. How could she pull a prank then?" Dean muttered. Shaking his head, he decided not to dwell on such brain-racking matters.

Dean found an iron chain among his luggage, threaded the little spellbook onto it, and hung it around his neck. Such a precious magic-forged spellbook naturally had to be kept in the safest place.

Dean had thought that Kana's energetic early-morning "visit" might mean the team had something planned, but in fact, nothing had changed. Everything was as usual. Lamore intended to sleep until he woke naturally, claiming that was the only way to preserve his handsome looks, so he certainly would not be waking anytime soon.

Yanxi was already out of her room. Apparently, whenever she had time off, she always spent an entire day at the orphanage, because she had once been one of its children herself. She had left it a year ago to become an adventurer.

If Dean's guess was right, Kana had definitely gone back to sleep, so he went out alone.

The inn was in the center of town. After walking for about half an hour, Dean finally reached Sanderson's little courtyard.

Sanderson's magical servant, Wooden Man, was still sweeping meticulously, but when he saw Dean, he tossed aside the broom and walked over.

"Hehe, my young master, sit over here, over here." Wooden Man led Dean to the little pavilion in the courtyard and seated him. "The old fellow's still sleeping. I don't dare wake him, and you'd best not either, young master."

Wooden Man even took a deliberate look around before whispering in Dean's ear, "The old fellow's getting on in years, and he's grumpy when he wakes up. He hates being woken more than anything. You'd better wait here a while, young master. Would you like something to eat?"

Dean paused. He did not yet know his mentor Sanderson's daily habits, but Wooden Man's explanation had certainly given him an odd little insight.

"I haven't eaten anything this morning, so just bring me an ordinary breakfast! Oh, right, should we prepare my mentor's breakfast too?" Dean rubbed his stomach, feeling rather empty!

"Understood, but the old fellow has some special requirements for breakfast. We'd better wait until he gets up before making his!" Wooden Man shook his head, then went to prepare breakfast!

How convenient, Dean marveled. Having a servant like this to take care of his meals and daily needs would certainly make life much more comfortable. It seemed he ought to get himself a magical servant sometime to improve his life!

With that thought, Dean took off the little spellbook. He still could not open it by hand, but it seemed he could now pour mana into it without any leaking out. That was what the spellbook in his mind told him.

Pouring in mana was just like casting a spell. Dean closed his eyes, and a thread of mana flowed from his fingertip into the spellbook.

To Dean's senses, the spellbook was like a wand. Previously, he had needed to channel his spells through a wand, but now the spellbook could take over all of a wand's functions.

Unlike a wand, however, the spellbook cost Dean ten points of mana—a full ten points—to open. Still, thanks to the spellbook's properties, spells cast through it would cost less mana. Closing it did not consume any mana, either, which left Dean fairly satisfied.

"Little Dean, it looks like you've already learned how to use the spellbook!" Just then, Sanderson's pleased voice rang out. Twenty minutes had slipped by unnoticed during Dean's exploration.

Wooden Man stood to one side, holding steaming rice porridge accompanied by a few side dishes. It was a very ordinary breakfast, and one Dean had not eaten in a long time.

Dean rubbed his slightly empty stomach and said to Sanderson, "Good morning, Mentor. Shall we have breakfast together?" As he spoke, he started to stand, but on the table in front of him, the spellbook had returned to its original enormous size, its cover now open.

"Is this... is this what opening it means?" Dean seemed to understand. So spending those ten points of mana to open the spellbook meant transforming it into a usable state. Its earlier tiny form had been a way of locking it, as well as making it easier to carry.

"Put it away. Let's eat first. Hmm, starting today, we'll learn how to inscribe Magic Runes," Sanderson said as Wooden Man brought breakfast over.

Dean nodded eagerly. He had been longing to inscribe Magic Runes these past few days, wondering when he would finally get to try it himself. Relying solely on the knowledge granted by the Infinite Eye would surely be harder to understand than learning from his mentor.

Once Dean withdrew his magic, the book became a little booklet again, and he hung it around his neck. Sanderson glanced at it without saying anything, but he seemed to have already decided which Magic Runes they would inscribe first.

Runes capable of altering an object's internal spatial structure—Spatial Structure Runes.

(End of chapter)