The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1131: Spread The Word

Over the next few minutes, dozens of messages were sent back to Bara, describing the situation at the Darklight Host Guild House.

But it was the message about the man who was willing to teach Master Smiths how to use the lost art of the Dwarven Runeforge that garnered the most attention. They had seen a few Runic items in the city already, either purchased from Drodh, or shipped by merchants and brought by travellers.

But the weapons that were going around were mostly Commander Rank ones. The common items that the Guild House kept in stock, not the sort of masterpiece that they were looking for.

However, having seen them was enough to let everyone know that there was a chance that this was a real offer.

The question was ’who is willing to relocate to learn it’?

Dwarven Master Smiths were usually over a hundred years old, and had long-lasting ties to their home forge, which had usually been in their family for many generations. The only ones who would be willing to go would be a disgraced master, who wouldn’t qualify for the task of certifying Journeymen, or someone from a family with more than one recognized Master.

There were some of those in Bara, but few enough that The Sculptor’s Guild leader wasn’t sure that they would get a volunteer without spreading the message all over the Dragon Isles.

There were plenty of other Dwarven Nations with Master Smiths.

But favours were best done close to home.

The staff that Opal had created for the workshop village continually refilled the drinks and food as the Sculptor argued animatedly with his System Interface, looking for someone to do the job and weeding out members of his Guild who he didn’t trust unsupervised.

”I have a team of Sculptors coming, and the Master is an Earth Mage, so he can help with your Guild’s Material Shortages. The cost won’t be low, but I am sure that we can work that into the contract.” He finally announced.

Karl smiled. ”That will work wonderfully. The standard contract has profit sharing in it, and clauses for additional work, including raw material creation. If it needs to be amended, just let me know.”

A copy was sent through the System Interface, and Karl waited for everyone to read it and decide if they would sign.

The whole process was highly entertaining to Slate, as he had never seen a worker’s Guild simply accept a contract before. He hadn’t read Karl’s offer, but it was clearly more generous than the counteroffer that the Guild Leader had prepared, as he hadn’t even brought it out.

Ashbringer’s voice was followed by the sound of many stomping feet, and then the Demonic Grandmaster Smith led a large group of Dwarves into the tavern.

”Ooh, isn’t this place swanky? And Fox kin barmaids? How do ye’ expect any of the apprentices to get to work on time?” An old Dwarf with a bald head and thinning beard demanded.

”That’s not really our concern, is it? Keeping Apprentices in line is the job of the masters. If they can’t handle their ale or a pretty lady, you can just keep them in the forge. There are cots.” Ashbringer explained.

Petros and the Sculptor’s Guild Leader both looked confused when they saw this group. They weren’t the Sculptors that he had called for.

”Karl, these fine gentlemen are from the Blacksmith’s Association in Zindab. Someone informed them that there was a chance to obtain Dwarven Runecrafting here, and they came right over to negotiate.” Ashbringer explained.

Slate Petros gave the smug group of aging Dwarves a confused look. ”How did you learn about the opening so quickly? I wasn’t going to put it up on the open board until tomorrow.”

The Totem Ranked Dwarf standing beside Ashbringer smirked. ”I have my connections.”

The two Dwarves glared at each other, and then Sapphire walked in with Bobby and Jo behind her.

The Drodh city leaders were definitely doing some day drinking today with all these ranking visitors just showing up in the city unannounced.

Or, they might have just decided to ignore whatever went on at the Darklight Host Guild House.

”Oh, everyone is here. Guild Master, we had some questions about an item that I wanted to make, but it looks like everyone is here already.” The Blue Dragon announced.

”Oh, you know these fine gentlemen?” Karl asked.

”That might be an overly generous description. But yes, I know them. I taught both of the young masters Petros primary school.”

She gestured to the old man beside Ashbringer and to Slate, who smiled gently at her.

”Teacher Sapphire. I see that you have found a new target for your curiosity. Did the Darklight Host promise you a new skill to get you out of the Library?” Petros asked.

”Didn’t just offer. He already taught it to me. I’m closer to recovering a lost art of the Dwarves than either of you, and I can’t even use it when I do.” She gloated.

The balding old man snorted in amusement, then shook his head.

”Hassan Petros, Master Dwarven Smith from Zindab. Formerly of Bara. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Guild Leader Karl. Is that Ale that I smell?”

Karl gestured to the table. ”Come and eat. There is plenty of food ready. We have Sculptors from the Guild coming, but it seems we might not need to wait for smiths.”

Slate raised his hand to stop them. ”Before we get started, when did you move to Drodh, teacher? I could have sworn that you were in Zilaz, looking for knowledge with the Mythic Dungeon teams.”

Sapphire nodded. ”I still live there, but the Darklight Host has locations in both cities and a portal between them, so I came here with my questions. It’s not a big thing, Shaman. I will be back home in an hour or two.

Perhaps closer to two. The young apprentices here are most interesting.”

Karl smiled back at the dragon. ”At least the chaos of the Guild House didn’t put you off your desire to work with us. They really are a great bunch, and we’ve got a whole new workshop made here.

If you want to relocate the workers from the Alliance Manor, there is much more room here. It’s loud, though, so it might be wise to have the Runecrafters stay there, while the sculptors work here.”

Sapphire waved her hand dismissively. ”We will work it all out. I memorized all two hundred and ninety-six thousand possible compound runes last night, and I’ve got a fairly good grasp on them, but I came across an item that you made, and the outcome had no bearing on the actual instructions in the runes.”

She held up her handwritten copy of the runes, and Karl laughed. ”Read it in Dwarven, not Runic. It’s a poem. Of sorts.”