The Runesmith

Chapter 677: First Lesson.

“It’s not finished yet, but it has everything you will need for now.”

Roland said as he walked through the chamber. It was about the size of a modern classroom, though only one student would be learning in it. In the middle stood a single desk and chair. On top were the scrolls and magic ink Millie would need to raise her level even further. While she had managed to gain a few levels in just one night, her progress would slow now, as he also wanted her to focus on other things, such as acquiring titles and improving her skill levels.

“Master… what are those?”

“Those are golems. They are different from the ones Master Hasim uses, but they work in a similar way. Don’t worry about them. They are just putting a few things in order.”

Around the chamber, several small spider golems moved between books, scrolls, and other materials he had transported from another section of his workshop.

“Oh… they look rather cute!”

“Cute?”

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at one spider golem passing by. He had designed them with low battery requirements and precise movement in mind. Their multiple legs gave them better balance than humanoid variants, and their clamp-like appendages were enough to carry items.

Roland watched as one of the small constructs scuttled past Millie’s boots, carrying a bundle of neatly rolled parchment. Its metal legs clicked softly against the floor, each movement precise and deliberate.

“Cute…”

She repeated herself, her eyes almost beaming with interest, but soon her gaze shifted to another figure that entered through a side door.

“Oh, another golem? This one looks different.”

As she spoke, another voice resounded from nearby, one sounding somewhat stiff.

“Master Wayland, here are the last of the skill books.”

“Put them on the shelf for now, Sebastian.”

“As you wish.”

It was Sebastian, in the form of a humanoid golem. His clothes resembled those of a true butler and concealed his doll-like joints. Lucille, who had made him her project, had not been able to work on his body lately, so his face was still somewhat stiff and robotic, though far more expressive than that of ordinary golems.

“This is Sebastian. He is what mages call an artificial tower spirit. Do you know why they call them that?”

“Um… not really…”

Millie shook her head. She had no idea, which was not surprising. As the daughter of a blacksmith, it was natural for her not to know much about magic. However, if she was to become his apprentice, she would need to learn far more than how to copy runes onto parchment.

“They are called that because they mimic the functions of true spirits, creatures of immense magical power with the ability to manage magical forces. If you have any questions when I am not here, Sebastian will probably be able to answer them, so make good use of him. Now, here…”

“This is?”

Millie’s eyes darted to Roland’s palm. There lay another bracelet, thicker than the one she had received two days ago in the dungeon.

“An enhanced version of the previous bracelet. It will allow you to perform your scribing more efficiently than before, and it has other functions as well.”

The girl continued to nod at Roland’s explanations. After speaking so much within the Institute, he had become more comfortable talking at length than he used to be. He was also more at ease around younger people, and with his clear voice and careful pronunciation, Millie listened like a proper student.

“It will regulate the mana flow around your hands and stabilize the ink. You will waste less energy and make fewer mistakes. Now put it on.”

He handed it to Millie, who looked at the old bracelet she was wearing and seemed a little apprehensive about taking it off.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, just… this bracelet.”

“Keep it if you want to.”

“I can?”

“Of course.”

Roland was not sure what the girl was thinking, but perhaps she liked the bracelet or considered it precious because it was the first thing he had given her. To him, it was nothing special, and if things went well, making another exactly like it would not be difficult for his new apprentice.

“I put it on, Master!”

Millie removed the old bracelet and slipped on the larger one. Even though he called it a bracelet, it covered almost half of her forearm and resembled an armguard more than a piece of jewelry. He had made it larger on purpose, fitting in some dummy runes and leaving extra space for future adjustments, knowing his apprentice would progress rather quickly.

“Just like before, you do not need to do anything. Once you start scribing and activate your skills, the bracelet will supply you with mana. This one does not need me to recharge it. Instead, use that device.”

He pointed to a corner of the room, where a rune covered pillar stood embedded in the floor. Faint lines of light pulsed across its surface, and in the center was a small opening.

“That is a mana charging station. Just place the bracelet inside, and it will restore it to full capacity in a couple of minutes.”

Millie leaned slightly to the side, trying to get a better look at the device. The faint glow reflected in her eyes, but soon dimmed.

“For now, there is not much in here, but first you need to get through these.”

While Millie was still looking at the pillar, Roland slammed a stack of books onto the table in the middle of the room.

“These are?”

“Knowledge. You will read through all of them.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. What you need now is knowledge, along with new titles and skills, but I am unsure which ones you can achieve. First, go through all of these, and once you are done, I will get you more.”

“M... more?”

Millie’s expression shifted from excitement to disbelief as she stared at the stack. It was not one or two books. There were close to twenty. Some were thin manuals, others thick tomes bound in worn leather, each filled with tightly packed text and diagrams.

Roland knew how to gain most tier one titles. Some required reading difficult books and understanding them, and Millie would need to work through several tomes to achieve that. Others were skill books, some related to magic, others to crafting. He was unsure how many the girl had tried to obtain in the past, but tier one skill books were cheap and easy to acquire, so he did not worry about the cost.

The next class Millie received was very important. He himself had been given the Runic Scribe class, and it had allowed him to later obtain Runic Blacksmith, something most people did not even know existed. He hoped a similar class would appear for her, one focused on crafting in some way.

“Master, this might take a while.”

“It will, but it is not as if you have anything better to do, my apprentice. Your job is to come here five times a week and spend seven hours scribing and learning. You will have weekends off, along with homework to take care of. You will not need to work at the inn anymore, so you should have enough time to learn.”

“Five times a week for seven hours?”

Roland saw that the reaction to this was rather mild, and he understood why. Millie was used to working most of the time without taking many breaks. Seven hours did not feel like much to people who had to work twelve or more. Most labored all day and only rested when the sun went down. However, she would have many books to study, so even when she was not here, there would still be something for her to learn. He wanted her to do much of it on her own, as a test to see if she would strive to better herself without being ordered to.

“You need to learn new rune schematics for the scrolls. The one you are using is not very effective for gaining levels, so when you are finished today, read through this.”

He handed Millie a thick notebook. It was one of his earliest works, condensed into the simplest guide he could manage. It contained his knowledge of tier one runes and the patterns he had discovered when he was first learning.

“I am your master, Millie, but I am also a very busy person. I will come back to check on you from time to time, but most of what you learn will come through your own effort. Show me that you are worth the time I am investing in you.”

The words hung in the air. He did not want to be too harsh with her, but she needed to understand that she was here to learn and prove herself. To some, it might have seemed cruel to place so much responsibility on a fifteen year old, as her family’s future was tied to her success. They had been given a home for free and jobs. She probably knew that if she failed to prove her worth, they would be cast out.

“Yes, Master. I will not disappoint you.”

Her eyes held something beyond simple determination. It was not just the eagerness of a student trying to impress her teacher, but also a desire to change. A hunger rarely seen, yet his new apprentice seemed to possess it.

“Good. For now, I want you to try copying this set of runes onto the scrolls. You do not need to understand them yet. Focus on scribing and pushing your levels higher.”

Millie nodded and moved to the table with the scrolls. Sebastian laid out the rune diagrams, and soon she was at work while Roland watched from behind.

‘First I need to see what skills she can learn through leveling up.’

Roland thought to himself as he analyzed his new apprentice. The skills she gained through leveling would allow him to deduce other compatible skills she lacked. The ascension trials opened paths to new classes through titles, achievements, skills, and the levels those skills had reached. He knew she would likely reach level twenty five quickly, but they would still wait and gather as many bonuses as possible before attempting her second class.

Some time passed, and for the time being he remained with the girl to help her settle in. From time to time she paused to ask a few questions about the runes, and he helped her adjust her seating position and the way she held the pen. He also noticed she possessed a useful skill.

Basic Copy Writing

Active Skill

Allows the user to copy any previously seen writing or diagram. The quality of the copy depends on skill level.

It was a simple skill, but one that allowed her to learn runic diagrams quickly. Through it, she could produce new rune scrolls soon after watching him scribe them before her eyes. It sped up both the scribing process and her rate of gaining new levels, though he was not sure relying on this skill alone was a good idea, as it kept her from learning the process on her own.

“Good, continue like this. I’ll see you later.”

“Yes, Master.”

After around two hours, he finally decided to resume his own work and left her with Sebastian. Her curriculum was now entirely in his hands, and after seeing her work, he had some idea of how to approach it.

‘Now then, I should get to work too. Let’s check the egg first.’

He took the elevator down and moved to the egg contamination chamber. The potentially draconic egg was still there on the pedestal, slowly absorbing the divine mana he gathered from Agni.

‘A capricious egg. It will not accept the emulated mana.’

It was quite a conundrum and not an easy one to solve. Even though he had managed to recreate the wavelength to over ninety nine percent accuracy, it still rejected the artificial source, as if it could sense the difference on a deeper level.

Roland stood in silence before the screen displaying the egg, his eyes fixed on the faint pulses of light moving across its surface. The shell shimmered with a subtle glow, and he was now certain the mana was affecting it. The color was slowly beginning to shift, and small golden patches had started to appear. Whatever he was doing was having an effect, and likely on the being inside as well.

‘This is going to take a while, but I still do not know what will hatch.’

Even with his various magical scanners, he was unable to peer through the eggshell. Whatever material it was made from resisted all magical scanning, and he feared that increasing the intensity might harm the living being inside.

“Sebastian, keep monitoring the egg and notify me if any changes occur.”

“Yes, Master Wayland.”

Roland turned off the monitor he had been observing. It was finally time to shift his focus away from the super dungeon’s third ring and turn instead to research and crafting. He had acquired the plans for the high quality golems the dwarf master was using and needed to study them all, then adapt them to the new technological marvel he was trying to create.

“Open the hangar, Sebastian.”

Another facility had been built into the lowest and most secretive level of his workshop. He kept Sebastian’s core there, along with the teleportation gate, and now it was time to store his large-scale golem. Though he was not sure that was the right name for it, as it was more a runic machine centered on mana phantom reactions than a true golem.

The moment he entered, the echo rang loudly through the chamber. The space had been built to house a massive construct, one nearly ten meters tall. Arion had sent him the full updated specifications for the machine he was to produce. There were no weight restrictions, but it had to stand between eight and ten meters in height.

The competition itself was a showcase of large magical golems fighting, a spectacle meant to entertain mages and nobles. Yet that was only the surface of it. The true meaning behind the bout was a contest between craftsmen. Whoever won was deemed superior and granted opportunities within the kingdom, including commissions to assemble war golems the royal family would use to defend the capital or deploy to the border.

‘If it were any other time, I would probably settle for second or third place to avoid standing out, but this time I have to win.’

As he walked toward a framework being assembled by spider golems and flotation cubes, he thought back to his deal with the Headmistress. If he claimed victory, everything would be forgotten, and he would no longer have to attend the institute as a teacher. For that to happen, he first needed to help the students achieve victory over the rival school.

At the moment, the frame held nothing beyond a few platforms surrounding it, which he could step onto and use to move around the structure. These platforms were powered by heavy golemic arms, allowing him to circle the creation that would eventually stand at its center.

“Let’s see…”

There was not much else in the chamber. The empty framework occupied the middle, while a large blackboard stood off to one side. Around it, chalk floated through the air, sketching with the aid of his mage hand spell. It traced prototype designs for the golem he would build and the possible variations it might take.

On the ground lay rolls of paper containing earlier models from when he first took on the project. They were unfinished or discarded variants, abandoned because he could not decide on a final direction. But now, with Hasim’s old dwarven knowledge before him, he could finally move forward and build it.

From within his spatial rune, he withdrew a thick old book filled with the personal notes of the dwarven runesmith. It was a copy Hasim had prepared beforehand, likely intended for one of his apprentices once they had proven themselves. Yet now it had passed to him, along with strict instructions to destroy it once he was finished. If he failed to do so, the contract would inflict a debilitating effect on him until he complied. He had no time to waste.

There wasn’t much time to learn, but for someone like him, who had studied the institute books and experimented on his own, this was not difficult. Even if he destroyed the book, the knowledge would already be etched into his mind, and once there, it would never leave.

“Let’s get to it then…”

Like his apprentice, he began reading. The pages were dense, far denser than anything the institute had provided. Each line carried layered meaning, runic language woven with personal annotations that assumed a level of understanding most craftsmen would never reach. Roland’s eyes moved quickly, scanning, dissecting, memorizing.

‘So this is how the dwarves fixed the mana wastage issue… interesting, this was well worth it…’

A faint spark of realization flashed through his mind as he compared one diagram to his earlier designs. The dwarves were titans of the craft for a reason, and he still had much to learn. Yet with this knowledge, he was closer than ever to becoming a true grandmaster. All that remained now was to keep learning and apply this newly gained knowledge.