Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

low, nice and easy,” I whispered to myself. With measured precision, energy slowly entered the manasteel and flowed towards the blood rune. All of my focus was trained on the symbol, echoing the word in my mind over and over again.

To my amazement, the blood began to bubble and steam, and a dark crimson flicker sprouted from the center. It rippled out slowly across the face of the blade, creeping down towards the hilt. “Holy shit!” I exclaimed in pure shock. “There is no way I figured this out on the first try! I can’t believe it’s working as well as—” My excitement was dashed as a sharp pain burned into my fingers. In my premature celebration, I had failed to notice the flames hadn’t stopped at the hilt and had spread down to my sword hand.

“Fuck!” Cursing, I threw down the sword and shook my hand rapidly to kill the flames. As soon as the grip left my hand, the fire flickered out, and the blade returned to its normal light blue color. Unfortunately, the pain didn’t subside as quickly, and I spent the next five minutes blowing on my first-degree burns. “Well,” I hissed out through clenched teeth, “I suppose this is still a victory. A small victory.”

While cradling my burned hand, I pondered on how to proceed. “I’m sure the wizards of this world don’t have to constantly worry about setting their hands on fire every time they cast a spell. Although, they’re incanting something, which implies a greater degree of specificity than just ‘fire’. All of my enhancements apply to my entire being, so I guess it makes sense the fire was trying to spread…” I shuddered. “No more single rune tests.”

Wincing, I pressed on my cut thumb, drawing a fresh well of blood. I drew a new fire rune in the same place as the first, which had mostly bubbled away after my first evocation. Afterwards, I paused for a moment to consider my next move. “How do I make magic more specific? I could just...focus harder, I suppose, but I’ve never had to keep enhancements contained before.” Dragging my thumb down below the fire rune, I made the symbol for “blade”. I smiled, satisfied with myself. “This can’t possibly go wrong,” I mocked at myself.

With my new runes in place, I moved my mana down the length of the sword again, this time attempting to activate both runes at once. The drain on my energy told me I had succeeded, which both exhilarated and scared me. The two runes flashed as expected, but this time, the fire rippled out from the entire blade at once. Gritting my teeth, I held the blade as far from myself as possible, ready to drop it at the first sign of the fire spreading too far.

However, the fire never passed the hilt of the sword. It glowed a deep crimson, setting shadows to dance on the wall behind me as the flames licked up and down the blade’s face. Even with the weapon held at arm’s length, the heat was impressive on my hand and face. “Oh yeah. Yeah, this is what I’m talking about!” I swung the blade in a quick arc, the blistered skin of my sword hand forgotten in my excitement. It hissed and crackled as it cut through the air, but the blaze didn’t waver for an instant.

“Okay, let’s open it up and see what we can do!” I increased the flow of mana down my arm, adding fuel to the crimson flame. It swelled substantially, now leaping in bright arcs from the sharp edges. The light now completely illuminated the cell, and a red glow spilled out into the hallway past the iron bars. An unstoppable grin curled my lips as I moved the sword up and down before me. The heat was beginning to hurt my hand, but I couldn’t stop now.

“Final test! Fifty percent throttle for two seconds, then cut power!” I extended the blade out straight, pointing through the bars of my cell towards the empty one across from me. “Three...two...one…GO!” Power surged all over my body, tingling my extremities with an energy I hadn’t felt in years. When the mana reached the blade, it roared to life with a snarling crack. Scarlet flame burst out in all directions before me, sending me staggering backwards. I closed my eyes against the flash as I struggled to maintain the constant stream of vicious flames.

When the heat became too much, I cut off my mana reserves to the sword. Although the fire had been much more intense this time around, it blinked out just as quickly. Surprisingly, I found the manasteel blade still cool to the touch, as if I hadn’t been burning my hand only moments before. The same couldn’t be said for the iron bars of my cell, however. They were glowing a dim orange where the sword had been pointed, steaming angrily in the damp atmosphere of the prison.

“That...was incredible.” I fell back onto my cot with my hands shaking, whether from exertion or excitement I couldn’t tell. It had been years since my mana had been drawn on this heavily, and I certainly had never used so much at one time before. The feeling in my body was electric; it was like a runner’s high, but for my mana channels instead of my muscles. With the code seemingly cracked, I could see the possibilities multiplying in my mind; magic was finally a viable option, and the only limitations were my imagination and my vocabulary.

“So, where do I go from here?” I asked myself aloud, lying down on the lumpy old mattress. “If I can channel magic through my sword with a rune, there’s no reason to believe it wouldn’t work for any element I can think of. It might be beneficial at some point to make a list and start testing them eventually, but maybe I should switch gears and explore new ground.” Lying my sword down next