The Runesmith

Chapter 697: Secluded Training.

The heavy reinforced doors of the training chamber slid open with a hiss. Inside, the air was cool thanks to the filtration system that had been installed recently. A lone figure stood in the doorway, one that had previously been almost invisible to the naked eye.

‘Itʼs always fascinating to see these spaces once you step inside.’

Roland entered the training chamber beneath the institute. There had been little room to build below the structure, but thanks to spatial magic, the area was many times larger than it appeared from the outside. What should have been a chamber of roughly a hundred square meters had been expanded into a space several football fields across, providing more than enough room for students to practice their magic.

As he stepped forward, the space around him unfolded into a vast expanse. In the distance, he spotted Oxian standing over a deactivated puppet. Its head rested in his large hand after being punched clean off. The young man was trying to reattach it, but each attempt ended the same way, with the head slipping free and falling back to the ground.

”Professor...”

Elian was the first to notice Rolandʼs arrival. He immediately straightened his posture and tried to look presentable despite being out of breath. The other teenagers quickly followed suit, abandoning their post-battle squabbles. Oxian discreetly kicked the detached puppet head beneath a nearby bench that had appeared once the illusory scenery vanished.

Without the illusion magic, the surrounding space was almost entirely empty. Enchanted symbols covered every surface. The room itself was one enormous runic construct, designed to generate solid illusions that recreated terrain, rocks, and scenery. The assembled puppets then simulated monsters and other hostile opponents.

With everything deactivated, the chamber resembled a massive hangar. The spatial enchantment remained active at all times and formed the foundation of the entire structure. The illusion magic had been layered on top of it after the space was expanded. If the spatial enchantment were ever removed, the chamber would collapse back into its original dimensions, and the illusion arrays would have to be forged again from scratch. Maintaining the facility required a constant supply of magical energy.

Roland walked forward, his footsteps echoing through the vast chamber. He stopped a few paces from the group. His expression remained hidden behind his helmet, but his tone made his mood clear. He was not pleased.

”Oxian Goodwill. The purpose of a tank in a five-man squad is to control the battlefield and maintain proper spacing while preventing enemies from reaching the backline. It is not to engage in a glorious duel with the first target that catches your eye.”

”But Professor... I, uh...”

Oxian grumbled and crossed his massive arms. Whatever eloquence he possessed seemed to vanish the moment the battle ended. Either he could not properly express his reasoning, or he simply did not know how to defend himself before a professor of Rolandʼs caliber.

”You what? You left Elian exposed and unable to finish his chant.”

”...”

Oxian glared at Elian when Roland mentioned him. He said nothing, but his irritation was obvious. Roland suspected he blamed the other student for failing to complete the spell. There had still been enough time to cast it, but Elian had panicked. His chanting had also been painfully slow, riddled with hesitations and repeated stumbles over the words.

“And Elian Plomyk.”

Roland turned his attention to the other young man, who visibly flinched when Roland looked at him.

“Your role as the primary DPS is useless if you cannot maintain your composure. A battle will never provide a sterile, quiet environment for you to chant your spells. If a single stray mana bolt causes you to fumble your words and stutter, then you are a liability to this entire team.”

“I apologize, Deputy Professor…”

Elian muttered, looking down at his boots.

“The pressure... When the illusions intensify, it feels like everything is happening so fast. I cannot seem to keep the incantations straight in my head.”

Roland did not offer any immediate comfort. He was aware that these youths needed personalized training. Instead of forcing them to work as a group from the beginning, they first needed to understand their individual roles within the team. Oxian needed to feel as though he was losing ground whenever he allowed someone to slip past him, while Elian needed proper concentration and chanting exercises in mentally taxing situations.

“Yes, we will have to give all of you special training... but first, Leron Vaugrenard, come out and stop hiding.”

Leron finally revealed himself. For some reason, he had been lying flat on the ground and had concealed himself perfectly within the scenery using illusion magic. The young man clearly knew he had made a mistake, and instead of apologizing, he had hidden away as though Roland would somehow forget about him.

“Just get over here... The only one among you who did an adequate job is Selphie Astarel. Lucienne Arden, you also need to learn how to protect yourself. You are the main tracker, but knowing how to respond to attacks is something every mage should be capable of doing.”

“Y-yes, Deputy Professor.”

Even though she was his sister, he could not treat her differently. In fact, he had to be stricter to ensure she would not become a target during the actual competition.

“Lucienne was just surprised. I am sure she will do better next time, Deputy Professor.”

Selphie defended her new friend, even though she was the only one who had avoided a scolding. Her large hat continued to slip lower as she stared at him with pleading eyes, making Roland wonder if he was the villain in this situation.

“Just gather together and stay here for now. We will start your special training right here and now.”

Roland pointed to the spot where the five students were to assemble. Fortunately, thanks to his reputation, they followed his orders without question. At least they did when he was present.

“Arion, remove the safety guards on this training chamber and give me full control.”

Through his helmet, he communicated with Arion and the Runic Department staff in the control room. The feline professor nodded, and after making a few adjustments to the runic operating system, the runes throughout the chamber began to shimmer.

“I have transferred all control to you, Deputy Professor. What are you planning to do?”

Arion was clearly curious.

“Just watch and see. This chamber has many features that people do not know about. You can even use them like this.”

Roland had spent a great deal of time researching within this institute and had personally helped build its monitoring system. As a result, he probably understood how everything worked in greater detail than many of the mages who had spent half their lives teaching here.

“What is the Professor doing?”

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Elian asked in a whisper to both Lucienne and Selphie.

“I don’t know... but this amount of mana is tremendous!”

Selphie’s hat almost slipped off her head again as she sensed a massive concentration of mana surrounding their teacher’s armored figure. Even Oxian swallowed hard as he stood there gawking. Before them, the entire room began reacting without anything being visibly activated. It was as if the mana Roland was releasing was affecting every rune in the chamber. Some of them even seemed to shift and rearrange themselves.

‘Illusion magic is quite handy in situations like this.’

The chamber began to transform, dividing itself into four separate sections. No machinery moved. The change was accomplished entirely through illusion magic. Although most people believed illusions only affected the mind, skilled practitioners could solidify them into tangible constructs capable of creating real environments.

There were even legends of fourth and fifth-tier mages who could create entire pocket realms through illusion magic, worlds that were indistinguishable from reality. What Roland was doing here was far less complex. He was simply creating smaller training areas within the chamber to give the troublemakers a proper environment to practice in.

Shimmering walls of hardened illusion magic rose from the floor, dividing the massive hangar into four distinct, isolated zones. At first, light fractured through the semi-transparent barriers, but they soon solidified into rocky partitions.

The illusions were not particularly durable. They resembled ordinary stone and could be broken by basic first-tier spells. However, when made thick enough, they served as effective barriers for young mages like these.

“Oh, the puppets. They’re fixing themselves... is that also the power of a rune mage?”

While the others focused on the newly formed training rooms, Selphie noticed something else. The white puppet that had lost its head was repairing itself, and it was clearly being restored through their professor’s mana. Before long, the puppets gathered together and began moving into the smaller chambers that had appeared.

“That should be enough.”

It took around five minutes for all the chambers to fully form. Each entrance was sealed off and fitted with what appeared to be an iron door. The students were clearly captivated by the massive spell that had transformed the entire area. For Roland, however, the feat was relatively simple. He was drawing not only on his own mana but also on the power of the institute itself.

The institute was practically a magical power plant, sustained by numerous methods of generating mana. If Roland ever wanted to rival its output through technology alone, he would probably need to build a nuclear power plant.

“Elian Plomyk.”

“Ah, yes, Professor!”

“Come with me.”

Elian was first. Selphie gave him a pat on the back while Lucienne simply smiled.

“Yes, sir!”

The two entered the first chamber. Once inside, Elian looked around in confusion, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to learn there. The room contained a circle in the center, walls lined with openings of various shapes and sizes, and several wooden practice dummies wearing robes at the far end.

“This is your training room. Stand in the middle and do not leave that circle. Once you get used to that space, it will begin to shrink. Why don’t you give it a try? Cast one of your spells and hit one of those practice dummies.”

“Of course, Professor.”

Elian did not ask for an explanation and simply carried out the orders. Not only did he struggle to focus, but he was also surprisingly timid when it came to listening to his professors and rarely asked too many questions.

The young mage stepped into the center of the marked circle, his hands trembling slightly. Roland waited for him to begin chanting, and as soon as the boyʼs mana started taking shape into a spell, he activated the roomʼs primary function.

One of the holes in the wall began to glow. Without warning, just as Elian was about to complete the spell, a small ball of blue energy shot toward him. It moved quickly and, with no chance to react, struck him in the shoulder. A brief jolt of energy ran through his body. The pain was mild, but the numbing effect instantly disrupted the spellcasting process.

“Your primary flaw is your lack of spatial awareness and your inability to concentrate while moving or under pressure. This chamber will fix that.”

Roland gestured toward the holes lining the walls and ceiling.

“Each of these openings contains a spell construct capable of targeting you with harmless but painful numbing jolts. Their frequency and speed will increase as you improve, until you can successfully cast without interruption. Your task is to destroy the target dummies as quickly as possible. If you step outside this circle, you will immediately fail the exercise, and it will reset.”

Elian looked at the dozens of openings surrounding him, his face growing slightly pale.

“B-but how do I know where the spell will come from, Deputy Professor? W-what should I do?”

“Feel the mana as the spell forms. Once you can sense it, you will know where the attack is coming from. After that, avoiding it should be easy.”

“Easy…”

Elian looked deeply uncomfortable as he stared at the countless holes in the walls. An attack could come from any direction and at any point during his casting. It was a difficult training method, but Roland did not have time for the boy to progress through the instituteʼs standard curriculum. There was little time left, and this was one of the fastest ways to improve his skills short of fighting real opponents.

“Now then, begin your training. Iʼll go tend to your teammates.”

“Professor? Youʼre leaving?”

“Of course. Stay in here for the next hour and focus on hitting the dummies. You are not allowed to leave before then.”

“But…”

The boy looked frightened, but Roland paid it little mind as he closed the door behind him. The chamber would not harm the youth. He simply needed to frighten him enough to ensure he took the training seriously. If Elian was struck too many times, the program would automatically shut down. It had also been designed to prevent actual injury, producing only a brief sensation of paralysis rather than any real damage.

ʼI suppose this would also be a good way to build resistance to paralysis...ʼ

Roland considered this as he approached the main troublemaker, Oxian. The youth was taller than Roland himself, but his face still revealed his lack of experience.

“Oxian Goodwill, come with me. Your room is the next one.”

Oxian followed Roland into the second chamber without resisting or saying anything. The young man was quite heavy-footed. With each step he took, his boots clanked against the floor. Even now, he was using some sort of body-enhancing spell that surrounded him with a layer of rock.

The chamber they arrived in was much longer than the one used by the previous youth. At the far end stood three wooden puppets that looked quite fragile. Along the sides were several other puppets, some designed for close combat and others capable of launching ranged attacks.

“Your training is simple.”

Roland gestured toward the wooden golemic puppets at the end of the chamber.

“You must escort those wooden puppets from the end of the room back to the entrance. However, the moment you approach them, the combat puppets will begin attacking. Some will focus on you, while others will target the people behind you. If any of those three wooden puppets are injured, you will fail.”

Oxian nodded, seemingly confident in his abilities. The scenario appeared simple, but it would likely prove challenging. He would need to match the pace of those he was protecting, something he had always struggled with.

“Begin.”

Roland watched as Oxian strode toward the puppets with a confident glint in his eye. It seemed he wanted to clear this test on his first attempt to prove himself, but just as Roland expected, he rushed in.

Oxian charged ahead, the rocky armor around his limbs grinding together with a heavy scraping sound. He reached the three wooden puppets at the far end of the chamber and turned to face the attackers. The constructs began shuffling forward with slow, awkward steps that mimicked human movement.

The moment they crossed a certain threshold into the main corridor, the opposing combat puppets sprang to life. One charged directly at Oxian and, as he had done many times before, he immediately focused on driving it back with all his strength. The golemic puppet was sent flying, but in the process, one of the wooden puppets behind him stumbled and was struck by a simple mana bolt cast by one of the mage puppets.

“You fail. Start from the beginning.”

Roland spoke as everything in the chamber came to an immediate halt. The puppets returned to their starting positions.

“You could have intercepted that spell with your body, Oxian, but once again, you focused too much on your direct opponent. Stay here as long as necessary, but you must understand that a tankʼs priority is protection, not destruction. You have two hours to get those constructs safely across.”

Oxian grunted and cracked his knuckles as the reality of the task began to sink in. Leaving the stubborn youth to his repetitive trials, Roland exited the second chamber and headed toward the third door, where the remaining students were waiting.

“Leron Vaugrenard. This one is for you. Come with me.”

The young man nodded as the third door swung open. Leronʼs main problem was target priority and a lack of awareness when his teammates were struggling. His role was to support the primary damage dealer while introducing an element of unpredictability to the battlefield.

It was a highly flexible position that allowed him to defend, attack, or operate independently when necessary. The problem was that he only wanted to do one thing: conceal himself and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. In a team-based scenario, however, that opportunity was not always available.