Forged Destiny [Book 4: Ch. 17; Book 5: Ch. 6; Book 8: Ch. 2]

The drawstring loosened, spilling out three little pieces of metal that clinked onto the wood-panelled floor.

I knelt and picked them up, cradling the small fragments – barely an inch across and tall – in the palm of my hand. The metal was smooth in the centre and rough on the edges where I'd hewn the tiny plates free. I turned one over in my hand, revealing the small rune carved into the other side. There were three of them, and each had been forged into the armour I'd chosen. I couldn't make runes in armour myself sadly, my Skill didn't allow it, but I'd come up with a different idea, even if it was a little crazy.

—Forged Destiny [Book 4: Ch. 17]



Why have one rune when I could have a choice of three – or, in time – thirty? It also helped that since these weren't made by me, they could technically be far stronger than my weapon runes were. This one, which I'd made up the name `Cold Steel` for, increased both my Constitution and added some kind of ensnaring ice effect to whatever struck my armour.

—Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 6]



"No `Rune of Kill Raven`?"

"I wish! I'm trying to find something that'll impede her on a scaling amount. Like a percentage. If I can half her speed, for instance, or even just take a quarter off…"

"It's a big difference for someone like her. I understand. Any luck so far?"

"Some. I haven't found one that does exactly what I want, but the Rune of Col- I gave Ruby a Rune in Vacuo," I explained, leaving out questions of why and Ruby's Class. "It slows people down when they hit her. I've not found anything like that which works on a weapon."

"Have you tried it on a weapon?"

"Yeah. Didn't work."

"Hm. Runes are specific to armour and weapons then."

"Seems it." I waved my hands as I spoke, getting into a topic I was genuinely interested in. "But that's the thing, the Runes are a language. I couldn't learn it before because I didn't have anything to go on, but with Oobleck's notes combined with my Runesight, I want to see if I can learn how to read and write it."

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 2]