It was about an hour before the others returned, riding out from the portal. They seemed happy so that was a good sign. I walked up to them after they stopped.

"Well, how did the shopping go?"

Martin turned to me, "Oh hey, Paul, it went well. This place really does have everything."

"I don't see any items, so I assume you guys bought storage rings?"

"Yep, for the price, they were worth it. Got us three mana generators as well, plus a few other things. You ready to head back, we want to get these mana engines installed as soon as possible?"

"No, I have to stay for the night, one of my purchases takes some time to complete."

"Well, you're more than welcome to come back to Arman, another able body is always welcome."

The other two nodded.

"You know, I think I just might. I'll see you guys in a few days. I plan to explore the area a bit before heading back."

"Alright, Paul, stay safe," Martin said with a grin.

"You three as well."

The three rode off towards the desert. At least without me, they would make better time. I hopped on Bella and meandered around Biloxi until I found a hotel. It wasn't much, just a single floor economy style hotel. After paying the attendant five credits I took my room key and headed across the parking lot.

The room wasn't much to talk about. It sported a dated eighties-style motif with a coin-operated bed. The room still stank of old cigarette smoke and body odor mixed with strong cleaning chemicals.

I plopped down on the bed, the springs giving a tired squeak as they groaned under my weight.

Fiona chose that time to materialize. "Why not stay somewhere nicer?"

"I don't have to worry about Bella wrecking as much in here. Speaking of," I pulled Bella out of her crate. She wandered around the room sniffing at stuff. Eventually, she found a comfortable spot to lay down. Her sharp claws not adding any improvements to the carpet. 'Oh well, It needed to be replaced anyway.'

"Fair enough, I'm going to float around and explore. See you in the morning."

I nodded at Fiona as she faded from view. I pulled out the basic staff I purchased and set them on the bed. After pulling the old coffee table closer I got to work figuring out what runes I wanted to place on my new weapons.

While looking through my books I found something interesting. I was surprised this was the only book that covered the subject. Turns out reversed runes had a completely different meaning or meanings. I wondered if this would apply to the runes I got from the Kin as well. I pulled out my bucket of scrap metal. I needed to get some more, it came in quite handy for testing one-offs.

I carved the rune in reverse on the plate, making sure it's effect was tied to the plate. After I finished, I checked my results. The plate shrank and I smiled. I could make my staff-slash-mace if I wanted to now.

After flipping through books I chose to go with an interlocking knot design. At first glance, it appeared to be one continuous knot but upon closer inspection, it was two knots locked together. This should allow me to get the dual effects I was after.

After I threw my first failed attempt across the room I had to rethink my choice in design. Carving on a flat piece was easy but having to carve the design on a tube was a bit more of a challenge. I could simply just mirror the design on the opposite side but that felt lazy to me. Instead, I came up with a triple linked knot that wrapped around the circumference, linking in an unbroken chain all the way down the staff.

Now I needed to think of the runes I wanted. Elemental was off the table, I could do that with Imbue. Added damage was a possibility but with the added weight of the material, Vorgot was crafting I wasn't sure that was needed either. I had to think about what I wasn't able to do.

One thing that came to mind was my lack of ability to harm the specters that attacked me. A rune that could help with that would be nice.

'Too bad Fiona wasn't here, if she were I could test a sample plate with her.'

I searched through the runes and picked out a few that might give me the effect I wanted. I had to reuse some of the plates I had already carved runes into for testing purposes. I chose the reverse raido rune for its death meaning, laguz for life energy, and perth for hidden things. Somehow the act of carving or my intent solidified the desired meaning into the runes. At least that was my assumption, otherwise, each set of runes would have wildly different effects.

My first attempt was a bust, the piece laying across the room where I had tossed it. My fingers were still black from where they touched the metal. My combination had turned the plate into something able to suck the life force directly out of anything it touched. Good to know but extremely dangerous. I waited for my fingers to heal from Rejuvenate before I walked over to the plate of death. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth before I put it into my ring, making sure not to touch it again.

I changed up the order of the runes, finally getting a result.

Runic metal plate: Spiritual Siphon, Incorporeal beings are unaffected by damage as they have no physical body, this set of runes allows you to pull out their life force, effectively causing them damage

'Yeah... I wasn't going to test this on Fiona.'

That covers one weakness I had. Now, I could add another effect to my staff or increase the first effect. I came across another interesting combination of runes, deciding to test those out.

Runic metal plate: Blinding Pain, these runes cause 2 seconds of blindness as well as searing pain.

I tested the effect by slicing my arm. That was a mistake. After my vision returned I found myself lying on the floor. I quickly healed the cut and stood up. That was definitely an effect I was going to add. It did require mana to activate though so I needed to find a control rune. I certainly didn't want it activating every time I touched something, it would drain my mana way too quickly.

I settled on uruz, which had two distinct designs, the one I chose looked like an angled doorway and stood for gateway. The other one inguz stood for work. I added these to the Blinding Pain runes. When I tested it again it didn't activate or pull mana from me. I fed some mana into the rune and cut myself a third time. This time the effect activated. I was prepared for it now and managed to not fall on the floor.

When the pain faded away I started carving the design into my staff. Spiritual Siphon, Blinding Pain, and the shrink effect. I had to add separate activation runes for the shrink and a touch rune to make sure I wouldn't accidentally activate it while I powered the other rune. The work took me most of the night to finish. The lack of sleep didn't bother me, I had gotten used to going a few days without adequate sleep at this point.

I looked at the finished wooden staff in my hand.

Shrinking Staff

Quality: Average

Damage as Staff: 8-12 bludgeoning/spiritual siphoning x1.5 critical damage

Damage as Mace: 5-7 bludgeoning/spiritual siphoning x1.05 critical damage

A simple wooden staff engraved with runic enchantments to cause blindness, pain, and strike out at the ethereal. A separate enchantment allows the staff to shrink down to half its length.

'Not the most impressive weapon in the world.' I would need to add the shrinking runes to one of the capped ends when I got my other staff.

I noticed the weight of the staff didn't change when it shrunk. I practiced with the staff for a bit, getting a feel for it and causing it to shrink and extend as I moved through fighting forms. The effect wasn't instantaneous, but in a little over a second the staff could shrink from its full length. Since the shrink rune activated through mana when I stopped powering it, the staff shot back to its previous size much quicker than it shrank. So much so, that I felt the recoil in my arms.

My practice was interrupted by a screeching noise. I looked over to see the teleportation scrambler vibrating and pulsing. I ran over and turned it off before I woke the whole complex. As soon as the device shut down I heard something fall against the door. I stored my test staff and pulled out my war staff. I activated a few buffs and wrenched the door open.

Groaning on the ground was one of the men from this morning, he must have tried to teleport into my room and the device incapacitated him. I looked around and saw nobody, I dragged the man inside and closed the door. I didn't know what the man wanted, and I didn't care. Before he recovered I pressed my hand to his neck and cast Calcifying Strike.

His eyes went wide as he struggled to breathe. At one point he reached for his sword. I kicked his hand out of the way.

The whole time Bella just watched on in boredom. Even the screeching of the item had only been enough for her to be alert for trouble. Now that she saw I had it well in hand she lay back down.

After the man blacked out, I cleansed the ability. Sure, I could have let him suffocate to death but to what purpose. That would bring scrutiny on me if he told anyone where he had gone. If I didn't need to come back to this city for the Bazaar I might think differently but it was this man's lucky day. I stuffed him into Bella's storage crate, which got a hiss of approval from the beast.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, wait here."

I opened my door and looked around again to make sure it was clear. Slipping out unnoticed I walked a few blocks until I found a nice smelly dumpster. I unloaded the unconscious man into the bin and shut the lid. 'Maybe now he would think twice about breaking into people's rooms.'

With that business done, I headed back to my room to sleep for a few hours.

***

"Gran are you sure this is safe," Monique said, fidgeting while her gran drew a blood circle on the ground.

"Hush child, your Gran knows best."

Monique had told her Gran about the spirit she encountered the previous night. Her Gran was a Spirit Binder and could bind spirits to her will. It was a risky spell though and required blood. Gran was too old to provide her own so Monique had to supply the blood, or so Gran had told her.

The whole ritual made the hairs on her neck stand up and sent a shiver down her spine. She fidgeted again and wanted to ask her Gran a second time if it was safe but chose not to anger the woman.

Gran finished the bloody spell circle. Her foolish granddaughter had given her pureblood to power the ritual. Pureblood was needed to bind higher-level spirits. It wouldn't kill the poor thing but it would leave her in a state of weakness for a few days. That was fine with Gran.

"Hear me spirits of beyond. I call forth the specter that haunts this town. Come forth and be bound to my will!"

The magical circle glowed a brilliant crimson color before a mist-like barrier sprang into being. Inside floated an apparition of death. Gran smiled.

"Gran! Tha- That's not the one I saw."

"Hush child, it matters not, it haunted this town so now it is mine to command."

The apparition floating inside the shield tried to reach through the barrier and claw at Gran. It let out an awful wail that was muted by the spell. A large sword appeared in its hand as it hacked at the barrier in rage.

"Settle spirit, you are bound to me and will submit to my will!" Gran said, strain in her voice. The spirit should have been weakened significantly by the pureblood, how was it still so strong.

"Child, are you still pure?" she asked in a demanding tone.

Monique shied away from her Gran's accusatory voice.

Gran's eyes went wide in horror. "Foolish child, you have doomed us!"

Just then the apparition carved a chunk of floor out. A hideous smile twisted its dead features as its sword cleaved through the spell form, causing the barrier to dissipate.

It was impossible to tell who's scream was more chilling, the undead creatures, or her Gran's. Monique ran, she ran as fast as she could. Her efforts were in vain as a ghostly hand plunged through her chest. The pain wasn't physical but the coldness of death spread through her body as it hit the ground.

The apparition pulled the soul from the dying body, devouring the life essence held within. The husk rose from the ground to seek that which it had lost. The creature screamed in delight as it sensed other sources nearby. Screams echoed in the night as the creature moved through the town, gorging on the essence of life.