Two whole months had now passed since Daemon first stepped foot into the Berlin Magic Academy. In that time, the commoner orphan had systematically turned his environment into a perpetual testing ground, securing his financial future through calculated craftsmanship and expanding his physical and magical cores through high-stress, secretive training. While the instructors remained convinced of his strategic mediocrity in combat, Daemon had achieved a critical, intellectual breakthrough that would fundamentally alter his approach to magical technology.
His long hours spent in the Runic Library, fueled by the stable income generated from his limited weapon commissions, finally yielded the insight he had been pursuing. Daemon had initially treated runes as a complex, fixed programming language, believing the limits of their function were dictated solely by the complexity of the inscription and the inherent properties of the magical medium. However, through exhaustive comparison of advanced, esoteric runic schematics and historical texts—many of which were heavily redacted or considered purely theoretical by the Academy—Daemon arrived at a dazzling realization.
He discovered that the established, limiting parameters of runic magic were not inherent to the magic itself, but were simply the conceptual constraints imposed by the human smiths and enchanters who designed them. The runic system was far more flexible and receptive than the Academy taught. Daemon realized that the only true limiting factor to a rune's power, complexity, and unique function was the user's imagination. If the user could perfectly conceptualize the energy transfer and functional outcome, the runes could be inscribed to execute it, provided enough raw energy was channeled. The "laws" of runic enchantment were merely suggestions based on generations of limited thinking.
For his inaugural, proof-of-concept runic canvas, Daemon chose a simple, practical medium: a thick, but flexible leather glove. This material was cheap, easy to replace if the experiment failed catastrophically, and non-metallic, reducing the risk of accidental electrical feedback.
After careful consideration and multiple discarded calculations, Daemon chose to inscribe a Lightning Rune onto the glove. He spent an entire afternoon meticulously carving the complex, precise symbols into the leather, infusing them with a small, sustained measure of his own aetherial energy to lock the matrix in place. He did not opt for a straightforward projectile rune—that would be simple and easily replicated. Instead, he conceptualized a far more intricate, functional mechanism.
The way his rune was designed to work was internal and systemic: once magical energy was channeled into the glove, the etched matrix would draw in the ambient aether, instantly converting it into focused lightning energy. The gloves would not expel this energy; instead, they would immediately light up, surrounded by a tight, crackling field of pure lightning energy. This energy became a part of the glove itself, contained and controlled by the runic matrix, rather than being released as a projectile or bolt.
Daemon's invention, which he internally dubbed the Static Discharger, became his new obsession. He used the glove countless times on the Academy's training dummies, sending the focused electrical charge into the tough, straw-stuffed forms. The effect was immediate and stunningly effective: the lightning energy, concentrated into the glove's surface, could be used for powerful punching attacks, the kinetic force amplified by the concussive power of the contained electrical field. It also served as a devastating last-resort taser, instantly overloading and paralyzing any target it came into direct contact with.
He found the gloves to be surprisingly durable, holding up to the constant electrical discharge and repeated impact. However, Daemon remained stubbornly unsatisfied with his work. The current design was good, a breakthrough by Academy standards, but it was not perfect. He observed that the lightning field bled energy too quickly after channeling ceased, and the leather, while surviving, required excessive channeling to activate the effect. He knew the principle was sound—the limitation lay in the efficiency of the matrix itself, and his ultimate goal was a rune that could be instantly activated with minimal energy expenditure. He had proved the limitless potential of the runes; now he just had to perfect the execution.