Chapter 132 : Chapter 132

Chapter 132. Ancient Rune?

"That's it! I'll take this one. How much for everything?"

Fulan didn’t know much about horse breeds, but she was proficient in the Alteration School of magic.

In her eyes, the horse in front of her seemed very healthy, and theoretically, it could withstand several rounds of enhancement.

Of course, although she was itching to try a modification, she would have to wait until she entered Antir. It would be too dangerous to perform such operations within the Alliance’s territory.

Allen handed her a booklet and said, "Honored Mage, here are the instructions for using this horse."

For knights, mercenaries, and other rough types, they might love and cherish their horses, but they often failed to take proper care of them.

No matter how much you told them, they would end up treating the horses the same old way.

Mages, on the other hand, were different. When you told them something, they actually listened.

After starting his business catering to mages, Shane had specially printed a batch of booklets to teach proper horse care.

"Altogether, it’s five gold coins... I won’t charge you the extra change," Shane chuckled as he waived the small difference.

Fulan used Mage Hand to take five gold coins from her pouch. Shane took them, weighed them in his hand, and smiled brightly.

"Thank you, honored Mage... I’ll have Allen escort you."

---

Fulan rode the black horse slowly along a path that looked like a road but was actually quite difficult to traverse.

The path was overgrown with weeds, and only the spots where no plants had grown showed faint traces of footprints and wagon tracks.

The entire road was full of potholes, with large craters here and there, making it impossible for the horse to go very fast.

Meanwhile, Fulan also began examining the short sword she had just acquired. The runes on it intrigued her greatly.

She gently traced the markings on the short sword, channeling some magical energy. After a brief flash, the sword's body began to gather ice elements.

After closely observing it, Fulan understood the intricacy of the rune and why the mercenary had said it sometimes failed to activate.

Generally, runes have a cooldown period, and after being used, they need some time to recharge.

This recharge time could range from five seconds to two minutes depending on the rune type. Some runes even fail temporarily if overused, requiring up to two hours to recharge.

For example, the rune on Fulan’s longsword, "Weight," can be activated during attacks to significantly increase the sword’s mass, delivering powerful damage. However, after activation, the rune has a cooldown period of five seconds.

She also applied a permanent rune, "Fortified," to her longsword to make it more resistant to damage.

This rune doesn’t consume energy unless the sword strikes a tough object. If the sword is hit with an attack beyond its limit, the rune either enters cooldown or is damaged.

The rune on the short sword she was currently holding, however, was different. Based on her observations, the effect of this rune seemed to add frost damage during attacks and had a chance to freeze the attacked area.

Fulan had previously considered adding similar runes, such as "Frost" and "Freeze," to her longsword. But for the effect she was seeing on the short sword, she would need to apply both runes to achieve a similar result.

This was because the gathering of ice elements for an attack and freezing the target with ice elements were two distinct effects.

The former had a small chance of causing the latter, but the probability was very low, so two separate runes were needed to enhance the effect.

But the rune on the short sword seemed to contain both effects, and Fulan even sensed something else in it.

Fulan increased the flow of her mental power, and the runes started to glow blue.

At the same time, Fulan could feel the ice elements gathering, surpassing even the basic ice magic spell "Cone of Cold."

Her enhanced mental power allowed her to infuse far more strength into the rune, improving its effects beyond what the mercenary had experienced.

It felt as though the rune contained a progress bar. As she poured her mental power into it, the bar slowly filled.

"Could this be an ancient rune?" Fulan wondered to herself.

This weapon seemed to align with the combat style of rune warriors. Only those who understood runes could infuse their mental energy into them, and only those with great mental power could fill the progress bar.

Fulan felt that this rune might indeed be an ancient one, capable of producing a power far beyond the runes she had learned.

"How is it that this simple mental imprint can gather elements more effectively than an apprentice-level mage can manage?" Fulan thought, astonished.

It seemed her higher mental power was enabling her to gather more elements, but this also meant that the rune's potential was extremely high.

At that moment, several wolf howls echoed from the distant grass. It was a signal that a wolf pack was gathering.

"Again? Why are there so many magical creatures outside the City of Apprentices?" Fulan muttered as she hastened her mental infusion, preparing herself for the confrontation.

It was unclear whether it was the large number of mercenaries around the City of Apprentices or the abundance of magical creatures in the wilderness, but since her departure in the morning, Fulan had encountered two waves of monster attacks by the afternoon.

This would be the third wave, and once again, it was a pack of wild wolves, their bodies pitch black, with not much of value on them except for their foul-smelling meat.

Her black horse, however, was unhurried, moving forward at a relaxed pace, knowing that its master would handle everything.

If the first two waves had made the horse a bit nervous, recalling the times when it had been chased by these creatures, and made it struggle to maintain its footing while trying to sprint away...

Now, it was completely relaxed, casually glancing at the wolves before continuing forward.

The wolf pack charged through the grass, trampling it and creating a mess. The tall grass tangled as they ran.

They didn’t attack immediately, seemingly observing whether the prey would flee.

If the prey ran at the sight of them, they would give chase without hesitation, devouring the flesh to satisfy their hunger.

But if the prey stood its ground, they would hesitate, gauging their hunger. If they were truly hungry, they would attack regardless of the circumstances.

When the pack was about ten meters away from Fulan, they scattered and surrounded her, moving with her and her horse.

Fulan sensed that the progress bar on the sword had filled completely, and the short sword emitted a faint blue glow.

She casually tossed the sword toward one of the larger wolves.

The wolf nimbly dodged, causing the sword to land in the ground. It was about to howl loudly to rally its companions to attack, but it felt the intense cold emanating from the sword stuck in the earth.