After almost an entire day, Mack woke up.

Mack raised himself from the dried blood beneath him and looked at his left hand.

“The perks of being a freak.”

His body now had a strong regenerative ability. And his hand had already completely healed. Looking at his hand he guessed that if he didn’t suffer a fatal injury, his body would completely heal after some time.

Mack knew that this change in his body was also the reason he could not go on the normal path of a warlock. He deviated from his ancestor initial plan the moment his body adapted to that enormous Essence saturation level in the previous gates.

It gave him a super healing ability and a strong body but also made a thousand times header to manipulate Essence. .

The first stage of a warlock was to use Essence in his body and surroundings to flow to specific parts of the body and reinforce it. Doing a saturation process for a few seconds or minutes depending on the desired effect of the person doing it.

But Mack’s body was already entirely like this.

He could barely move a bit o Essence to the runes on his hand to activate the runes.

The explosion itself was because of wrong runes used in conjunct. Mack would need to try a few mores now.

“What should I do now?”

Mack had now to figure a better way to test. He could not keep exploding all the time.

What if an explosion injured his heart somehow? Or his brain? He could not take such high risks.

Mack pondered over the problem for a few minutes. And concluded that the real problem was his knowledge of the runes. He knew the runic language but only the basic. Only for communication. Read and write. Not those advanced runes that could influence Essence. He didn’t even know how to talk in runic language.

But then he remembered something. Something very, very important.

The Arcane Legacy, or, the bookie girl.

[I know what you thinking. And yes, I can give you. But please, stop referring to me as ‘bookie girl’. I’m an Arcane Legacy]

“If you give me what I want. I promise to no call you bookie girl anymore.”

[As I said. I can give you. But the problem lies in the format again. I can’t give you items. Only Information.]

Mack pondered. He could ask her to create some music files and put them on his mask so he could listen. But was a hard process. Runes were visual things. Imagine describe a rune format thru talking.

“The eyes!”

“Can you do it?”

[I can. But you will lose information again. The nanobots database in your eyes works the same as the one in the mask. A precise space to fit only the information needed]

“I guessed. Remove information about Earth and all common items. They are not that important. But prioritize the items or food that can’t harm me.”

[You want to keep information about venoms and dangerous food, is it?]

“Bingo. How good is to talk with smart a ‘person’? I don’t even have to explain it all.”

[Done]

“Wait. Why didn’t hurt my eyes this time?”

[The pain the first time was only because the nanobots attached themself with your synapses nerves. This time I only needed to change its database and a few lines of code in the AI responsible for image recognition]

“Thanks again.”

[It’s my duty. No need for thanks]

This…Arcane Legacy… was a very strict ‘person’ in Mack’s opinion. But was also a very effective one. If she could do, she would do, and no questions asked. Mack liked people like that, direct, and to the point.

Mack stopped thinking in the Arcane personality and gazed at his own hand.

Looking at the runes tattooed in his left hand, information started to appear in Mack’s eyes.

(Ry – Compression)

(Tuk – Key)

(??? – ???)

(??? -???)

“Why I can’t see the information on these 2 runes?”

[That is restricted information. Those runes were designed by your ancestor and also are part of what make possible for you and me to interact]

“If is that so. When I damaged them before with the explosion, you could not read my mind?”

[I could. That tattoo was not responsible for that, and also, the tattoos now are only for the eye to see. I can’t explain too much but think of this as a benefit of your warlock blood.]

“When I will have the answers for that?”

[If by miracle you survive pass the nine gates of Hel floor and still don’t learn. Then I have the obligation to tell you everything you want]

“I see. Warlock blood again”

[But I will give you a hint. Look at your left hand with more attention]

“My left hand?”

[…]

Mack looked back at his own hand, only to see the same information again. Nothing changed.

He looked more closely. Searched for anything weird, but everything was fine.

But a few seconds later….

“Don’t tell me!”

Mack saw a thin and small scar that was barely visible to the eye.

(Sur – Conversion)

(Pari – Stop)

(Si – If)

He saw the same runes he did before the explosion.

But the weird part was… his body was supposed to heal that! How could they still be there?

“Fuck! Did I make a big mistake? Are this what you talking about? Am I doomed?”

[By luck you did not connect them properly. You just drew them without connecting. So you can say you had luck]

“Fuck! Is this ‘the warlock blood’ thing you were talking about? They will never disappear?”

[Indeed]

Mack could not believe. Is his blood the most sought after product on all the dimensions? Mack was a newbie in all this, but he could figure the implications of he what he saw.

He was not a genius, but even a dumb person could figure the importance of something like this.

Runes that stayed functional forever? Only waiting to be activated?

[Since you figured that. I am now allowed to tell you something more.]

[Warlock blood is the only Essence conduit know to this date that can be multi-layered. Once you activate a runic circuit for the first time, a new one can be created on top of that. And if the matrixes are designed properly they can interact with each other. But only if they are designed as such.]

“Eh?!”

Mack could not believe what he heard. If his blood acted as conduit. And the runes like a programming language. Then …

“Am I a human computer motherboard?”

[A very expensive one]

“Did you learn how to make jokes? This is not funny.”

But in reality, a new light was shed on Mack prospects.

After his first test yesterday he knew warlock blood was special and knew the runes affected the behavior of Essence.

But now…..