66. tier 6 rune and moments before advancement.

The runes that the spirit grabbed exploded; his hand contained the explosion, but not without a cost. His armor had suffered minor damage. The part of the armor that covered his right hand had cracked slightly.

The spirit's eyes flashed, and multiple spirit crystals emerged from his body and fused into the armor, after which the armor repaired itself.

The spirit then gazed intensely at the runes one by one. A second later, his eyes flickered and the runes started to divide into multiple groups.

Runes such as strength, speed, and defenses were in one group.

Runes such as wind, fire, and earth were in another.

Multiple random runes just couldn't fuse together; there needed to be some kind of compatibility.

The spirit's eyes pulse brightly, then it grabbed the rune of speed with its right hand and the rune of strength with its left hand. He then brought them together. Soon the two made contact with each other,

ding!