Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice (Actually, it's just the Barrow)

“It looks like a giant cock.”

“Well, it’s supposed to be a Statue of Freya.”

“Well, it doesn’t. It looks like a giant cock.”

John sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. While, yes, Talia was right that the old weathered statue did indeed look overly phallic, it was not helping them in the slightest to comment how the statue of sex and love was thematically worn away to something more R rated.

“So what does Mo-... Frida’s book say to do at cock mountain?”

“Please don’t call it that.”

“What would you prefer? The Stiff Statue? Penis Point? The Rock Hard Member of Beowulf? I can do these all day.”

“No, you can’t and won’t.”

“That sounds like a challenge. The Stone Shlong, Beowulf’s Boomstick, his hardest magic wand, the-”

John decided to cut her off at that point, covering her mouth with his free hand before any more terrible names could be thought of for the cock rock.

...Damn it.

John took in a slow breath before slowly removing his hand from her mouth. “Look, even if it is the Sedimentary Sex Pistol, that is not the important thing to focus on.”

“Nice one.”

“Thank you. What is important is that Frida’s notes said we were supposed to go through the door behind the statue, but the head from the statue is blocking our way.”

Talia made her way over to the head, pushing against it, but it remained firm and unmoved. Despite a second, more enthusiastic attempt to move the head, it still stayed in place. She turned to John. “We could try using the Uruz rune again. Just like with the hammer.”

“I’m not sure,” John said, walking over to Talia’s side and rapping his fist against the head. “The hammers were supposed to move, we just needed to be stronger for them. This thing has been here for a long ass time, and is not going to easily move. Even with our strength amplified, I don’t think it would be enough.”

“It might. Doesn’t your rune double or triple our strength or something?”

John was about to answer no, but he wasn’t sure. It had been a while since he read the description, and it could be worth a quick check. He was about to pull up his character sheet to check the rune’s information, when he remembered about an item he got when he first got his runic magic: The Runic Glossary. That would probably have a lot more information on the rune than the quick description in the skills bar, akin to how the index in most MMOs would have more information on the things you encountered and did rather than what could fit in a normal pop up. With that said, he quickly opened up his inventory and pulled the Glossary out, and he noted it looked a little different than it had last time. It was still a leather bound notebook, with the title and John’s name printed in gold leaf. However, this time around it seemed a bit thicker than when he first got it, and he could sense something was different about the book in general. ‘Maybe magic?’ he wondered to himself before slowly opening it. After a few turns of pages, he found the rune in question.

The page was made of browned paper, reminding John of what the US Constitution was made of. Albeit, he figured this paper was thicker and more resistant to damage than the 200 year old founding document. In the top center of the page was the rune, along with a smaller version of the rune to the right of the larger one. The smaller one had arrows showing how to properly write the rune. Beneath these images was the information that John was looking for.

Uruz: (U Auroch, a wild Ox)
"Brede challenged Erik, saying he was much stronger than the young mage. Erik suggested a rock throwing contest to prove which was stronger, muscle or magic. Brede threw the largest boulder on the island halfway across the lake, its splash causing many fish to be flung into the air. Erik then proceeded to use his magic to throw the rest of the island."

This rune signifies physical strength and speed, untamed potential. In this form, it is intended for use on warriors, as the rune will amplify their existent strength and speed. When inscribed on a person, it will have their attacks deal extra damage based on their own Strength and the caster’s Intelligence rounded down.
Damage Boost= 15% Target Strength + 5% Caster Intelligence

“Well, on the plus side, I now know how exactly to calculate how much the Uruz rune will improve my attacks.” John turned toward Talia, a deadpan expression across his face. “Unfortunately, I have no idea how much this rune will help outside of combat, or even if it will work outside of combat.”

“Oh come on, it has got to. Let me see.” Talia pushed her way closer to John and took a look at the page. She read through it, snickering slightly at the short story, and gave a small huff of frustration after reaching the end. “Charming. So the rune that is made to improve our strength might not even increase our actual strength.”

John gave a shrug. “I wish I knew if it did or not, but I have no idea.”

“We could try and see if something happens.”

John thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “I am a bit nervous to go heavy on the runes outside of combat. My mana regeneration is kinda low right now, and runes are expensive.”

Talia gave a frustrated pout before she started to pace. Her hand stroked her chin as she looked down, walking in small circles for a minute or two. John shared her frustration; while he had some potions, he knew that was all he had. He didn’t want to waste his mana on a rune if, say, something boss-like was waiting in another room. Two Uruz would be a third of his mana, and he had already dipped into his mana while using Firebite on the draugr earlier. He knew that if push came to shove, he could always escape a bad encounter by using Aki to escape the barrier. However, he was not sure if Talia would come with him and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to return. Finding this world was luck, as it had been a critical success. Who was to say that he would be able to find it again if he left.

That dug up another tangent that John was nervous to question out loud. In the description, it stated that Aki created illusion barriers. John had figured that “illusion barrier” was the fancy way of saying it created video game dungeons for him to explore. After all, the real world was not exactly designed for things like XP farming or grand quests, so the ability for him to create worlds for that was much appreciated. However, this world clearly had history and lore, living people within it, and interactions with the real world. Or, at least, lore related to interactions with the real world. He couldn’t prove or disprove that his skill created this world from nothing more than magic and that these memories and this rich intricate history was just created as a means to immerse John in the lore of this barrier.

Or, there was the possibility that he did not create this world, and had merely pulled at one of the branches of Yggdrasil and his rune just bridged the gap between the two worlds. But he could not be sure. It was like the philosophy problems they had once discussed in class a month ago, that one cannot prove nor disprove that you are a brain in a vat or you are the only being in existence, and that you prove that you are real because “I think, therefore I am.” is a logical statement. However, you can never prove others think in the same way that you do, or that this is all some elaborate dream within a conscious created to avoid the reality of the situation, whatever that situation may be.

Dr. Parton had said that this was the issue in dismissing solipsism, despite some of the other members of the class being bullheaded and saying they can disprove it easily. They had been wrong, of course, but even now John could not prove the reality of the world he was in any more than what he considered the real world, with this world having a higher possibility of not being real.

It was then that John realized two things. Firstly, Talia was staring at him. Secondly, he should be in school right now.

John held up a finger to tell Talia to wait a moment before quickly fishing his phone out of his pocket and opening up his school email. There, at the very top, was a pair of emails from his teachers. The first one was from Mrs. Wentworth, and the second more recent email was from Mr. Enkleman. He figured the more relevant one would be from the actual witch, so he pulled up Wentworth’s email.

Dear Mr. Newman,

I am glad you accepted my offer to do some extracurricular learning. While I understand it will be harder for you to catch up on your schoolwork while you apprentice with my brother, I shall speak with your teachers to see what can be done. I am glad your mother was so on board with it, despite your not telling her. She said you had spent the previous night with a friend, and I would have preferred you discussed your apprenticeship with her in person. I understand the need for social outings.

See me first thing when you return to Springfield. We will have much to discuss and I am eager to see what you have learned.

-Mrs. Wentworth.

‘Wonderful. At least that takes care of why I’m not at school.’ John knew to read between the lines on this email, as he was sure an email talking about their deal and the magic John was using would probably have gotten flagged by one of the school’s censors. There had been a scandal a couple years ago when they first included the email servers for the school about a group of boys turning it into a porn sharing service, usually of the fellow students. The worst part about this was that one of the teachers had been part of this porn sharing ring, thus creating the need for much more surveillance on the emails.

John was surprised to see that Enkleman had emailed him as well, considering that none of his other teachers had done so. He opened up the email and was even more confused by its contents.

Mr. Newman,

Wentworth told me about the situation. See me after you talk to her when you get back.

Be careful.

-Dr. David Enkleman

The first surprising thing was the fact that Enkleman’s first name was David. That… that was just weird for John. Did he go by that name outside of school? Was there someone that actually looked at that mummy of a man and called him David? Or even Dave? The man who was regarded as the best substitute for Niquill by both the students and the teachers had a name like Dave? John had always figured it was something crazy, like Ziggorath or Humdiddalus, not… Dave.

Then there was the actual meat of the email. John knew that Wentworth must have known about the whole “Smite me if you reveal yourself to non magics” thing that Gaia seemed to have, so she wouldn’t have told Enkleman about John’s magic. But the way that he said “be careful” and how he called it “the situation” gave John pause. Did he know? If so, would that mean he was also magic? Or was he somehow not magic but still roped into all this? Or was he just being a weird ass old man? But if he was, why tell John to be careful? This teacher gave no shits about the students, and yet he not only told John to be careful, he did so in an email which John was pretty sure was invented about 500 years after Enkleman, and thus something that Enkleman didn’t like in the slightest.

While Wentworth’s email relaxed him a bit, Enkleman’s just created more and more questions. He shook his head and looked back to Talia, figuring he could think more on these questions later. She tapped her foot impatiently until John finally nodded.

“Is there a problem, John? Most people would be smart enough not to put their girlfriend on hold while they browse their phone.”

John gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, just had to check my email to see if I was in trouble with my school.”

Talia’s eyes grew wide. “Shit, yeah. You would still have school. Are you-”

“No no, I’m fine. The teacher I told you about, the magic one, she covered for me.”

Talia gave a sigh of relief. “Good.” Then her smile returned to her face as her energy began to rise. “Oh right! I figured out a solution to our problem!”

“You found out a way to move the head?”

“Oh. Um, no. Well, maybe. I dunno. But I did figure out a way that we can find out if the Uruz rune works to increase our strength without you using a lot of mana.”

John crossed his arms but gave a playful smile. “Okay. How?”

Talia gave him a wide smile before spreading her arms wide. “Teach me to cast it.”

A beat or two of silence between them before John asked a simple, “What?”

“Teach. Me. Teach me to use runic magic.” She lowered her arms and walked to John. “Before you came along and revived it, the chosen priests of the gods would teach the other mages how to use it. Your Gamer powers would probably speed things up, so just teach me to use it.”

John held his hand in front of him and backed away from her. “Talia, I barely understand how I do it. All I know is that I focus on channeling my mana, write a symbol, and then poof. Instant rune. Everyone that I’ve talked to has shown me that that is not how runic magic is cast for people not like me.”

“Well, maybe you use the newest form of the magic. Like the newest update for a game. Gaia has determined that runic magic will be done John-style, and you gotta start teaching it at some point.”

John was about to reject her notion, but then he gave it a bit more thought. Maybe Talia was right about this. It would then make more sense why John had a glossary to begin with, and if he could teach people how to use Nordic runic magic, then the branch of magic wouldn’t die along with him after his eventual passing.

John turned back to Talia and gave her a small nod. “Okay, we will try. Come stand next to me and put your finger in the air.”

Talia quickly moved to his side, giving a smile that was full of childlike enthusiasm. “Okay, got it. Finger. Air. Next?”

John smiled, amused by her antics. “Okay, next think about what it is like when you cast a spell. How you can feel the mana flowing through your body. But then think beyond that, how you can feel it even now sitting inside of you. How you can feel the dull throb and presence of your mana.”

Talia closed her eyes, allowing John some time to really admire how beautiful she was without him thinking he was weird for looking at her. Her breathing began to slow, her body relaxing as it swayed a bit back and forth. “I… I can feel it. It feels warm and strong…”

John nodded. “Now, focus on that mana. Picture it pushing through your body, like breath being pushed through your lungs. Envision it being pushed out through your body, and it will do so.”

Talia nodded, giving a small happy sigh after a few minutes. “I had forgotten how good it feels to let your mana loose.”

“You’ve done this before?”

Talia nodded, keeping her eyes closed. “When we first use magic, this is an exercise in utilizing mana.”

John smiled and continued. “Next, I want you to concentrate that mana at the tip of your finger while telling yourself over and over, “Uruz. The Rune of Strength.” Do not stop chanting that to yourself, as it will allow for your rune to have form.”

Talia stayed silent, but John could see her lips move as she silently chanted to herself over and over.

“And now… we write.” John took her hand and softly traced her pointer finger along the back of her palm, drawing out the Uruz rune. Unliked when he drew runes, which would glow orange, hers glowed a bright yellow. John was surprised to see that it was actually working, his grin growing as they completed the rune. He let go of her hand, causing her to open her eyes and match John’s expression at what she managed to accomplish. Just as the rune was about to fully activate, a small sparking noise went off and the rune fizzled out.

“W-what happened?”

“I… I don’t know,” John stammered out. He then noticed that he had a notification on his visual hub. He figured that would explain it, and opened it up

Achievement Unlocked
Didn’t even need a diploma!
Start to teach someone how to use magic. Will they bring in an apple for you now?
+1 Intelligence
+1 Wisdom
+1 Charisma
Lesson Progression

20% Uruz Taught
Daily Attempts Exhausted

“Well, I have some good news and some bad news.”

Talia sighed. “Let me guess. You can’t teach runes.”

“Actually, that relates to the good news. The good news is that I CAN teach you to use runes. The bad news is that you need four more lessons apparently to get to use them.”

Talia’s face lit up. “R-really? Then let’s get going! Another lesson!”

“Can’t. Also turns out I have daily attempts to teach you, and I’m out of them.”

Talia sighed and slumped against the head. “Well, we can’t afford to remove the head with strength runes. What do we do?”

John looked around, rubbing his chin in thought before gesturing over to one of the walls. He hadn’t noticed up till then, but one of the arms of the statue had fallen and caused a small hole just big enough for them to squeeze through. It looked to go through another hall. “That could be a way forward. More than likely it is a hall that connects to the main hall, and we should be able to find a way through there.”

Talia looked over and shrugged before drawing her sword.