Rune Stones

Living up to their name, these stones fall from defeated Magic Beasts and lock away the dead creature's own distinctive ability. By breaking the stone a Hunter can take that skill for themselves, and once their value became common knowledge, the stones grew into highly sought commodities that grant their holder a decisive advantage on the battlefield.

Thanks to the System, Sung Jinwoo holds a privilege no ordinary Hunter shares. Off Kang Taeshik he managed to pull a Rune Stone, despite the fact that Taeshik was no Magic Beast at all but a target he had been assigned to defeat; he then collected Ruler's Hands from Igris and Shadow Exchange from Baran as additional mission spoils. A limit exists, though, on how many skills one body can carry. Woo Jinchul, who held onto his memories once the world was wound back by the Cup of Reincarnation, leaned on his foreknowledge to stockpile skills as a substitute for lacking S-Rank status, only to begin dying because even an A-Rank cannot contain them all.

A few particular stones are worth singling out. The one from Kang Taeshik bestowed Stealth, allowing its user to merge with the environment and erase every trace of their presence, physical and magical alike. Igris' stone offered Ruler's Hands, sometimes rendered Dominator's Touch, a telekinetic gift later shown to be a weaker version of the Rulers' Ruler's Authority. Baran's contained Shadow Exchange, which trades the user's position with a shadow over any distance. Kamish's gave Dragon's Fear, a mana-charged roar that hurls anyone weaker than the user, allies among them, into terror and despair.