The Ruined Death Knight

[You acquired a Normal Rune of Force]

Staring at the notification, Danzel soon turned disappointed.

"It isn´t the one I wanted..." He grumbled to himself.

Not only did it feel rather bitter his chance to get an undead rune was technically 35% better though the help of two talents of his, the [Master of Himself] and [Undead Carver]. But the fact that such runes could perform better than the normal runes was also a big downer.

Alas, luck as of late wasn´t on his side.

"Sigh~whatever...if it´s at the rare quality then it´s bound to be good." Mumbling so to himself, he tapped at the window to read through the runes description.

Reading through it, he glanced to the side where the boxes with various equipment lied there.

"Hmm, an armor-type rune, huh? Has been a while since I draw one of those..."

Processing the information in his head, he quickly cast [Mana Arms] to bring him a chest plate to the table.

`Mhhm, let´s try it out first´

As he was about to head right into carving the rune, he suddenly remember something.

Turning around, he glanced at the four people looking at him with a hollow gaze.

"What are you guys doing here..?"

With a frown showing on their faces, Edward, representing the four guys replied.

"We were ordered to be your guards and supervise you in case something happens..." Edward said with a tone that would make others think that there was nothing else to disguise.

But Danzel wasn´t having that.

"Sounds great, but I simply don´t care. You can very well guard me outside the door of all I care. One thing is for sure, I ain´t going to work any time soon with eyes behind my neck."

"Sir, we were ordered to-"

"I don´t care of what that guy Hanson or whatever told you bunch, but my statement isn´t a choice, but an ultimatum. Now leave."

As if what Danzel said stuck a nerve on one of the guards, he scoffed at Danzel.

"Hey, don´t start getting too cocky, you-" Before the guard could continue, he suddenly came to a halt.

Putting his mask away, Danzel standed up with his hand holding the scarab to his side.

Showing them the height difference that he had and also his skull face with eerie dark green flames like eyes.

"You should know by now, what my true nature is. Just seeing your four faces makes me want to slice your throats at the spot. You who are bound by the frailty of flesh wouldn't understand how such thoughts would one distract from doing one's work, and a delicate one that is runesmithing."

Drawing his sword out, the four of them instinctively put their hand in their own weapon.

"It wasn´t a request of me, but a warning to avoid needless bloodshed."

Hearing his words, the four of them stared at each other with a frown on their face.

Moving his hand away from the hilt of his sword, Edward bowed slightly.

"I...we apologize. As you wish, we will stand behind the door."

The three other guards wanted to express their disagreement, especially the one that talked back to Danzel.

But after seeing Edward seriously looking at them they could only suck their opinions back to their throats as they made their way outside.

Seeing the door closing, Danze shooking his head around while activating [Rune Vision].

***

In certain training grounds under a building.

Where in the middle was a flat arena and everywhere else were training equipment for all kinds of training one's body.

Sitting nearby the equipment was a small girl having her hair tied in a ponytail style that stared in the arena with a bitter smile on her face.

In the directions where she was starting was a tall man with two dark gauntlets around his back.

Standing tall on his ground, Hanson had an amused smile on his face as he started at two boys charging at him.

One of the boys threw a punch while the other moved on his back and tried to kick Hanson's leg.

"You two movements are too predictable." Commending at the boy's effort, with only minimal movement Hanson grabbed the boy who threw a punch at him at his arm and pushed it at the other kid.

Making those two crash with each other.

"Ugh...Marcus, you are on top of me..."

"Sorry, Kayn..."

Moving to the side, the two boys, Kayn and Marcus stared at the ceiling, trying to catch their breath from all the training that had become their daily routine around two weeks ago.

Where they met their mentor and an undead.

The three of them, Kayn and Anna in particular remember the fight between those two figures, both with amazement and fear.

The sheer speed that those two clashes with each other could be barely be seen by Kayns eyes.

While Kayned fear came from their throwing aura.

Anna feared the aftermath of this all.

As she barely heard the context of those two and their deal, she feared that she and her family will be silenced.

When she was thinking of ways to escape with her family, the unexpected happend.

'I see potential in you three. If you were to work for me I promise you the safety of you all'

Having no other choice, they accepted Hanson's proposal.

They expected the days of experimenting on their body will once again repeat themselves.

Only to later to know that they will experience something much worse.

'Well, more like the boys'

Flipping the next page of the book that she was holding, she hummed on her own while her brothers were sweating buckets on the ground.

"I guess that's will be it for today. I got some affairs to take part in, so you two take a bath and eat your lunch to restore your lost nutrients. I will be back in around an hour or two. Once I am back we will continue your training."

"Ugh..."

"I feel like dying..."

Hearing the grows out of the two, Hanson shook his head while going out of the training grounds.

Seeing a young maiden greet his view, he subconsciously put up a smile.

"What is it Amatha?"

"Sir, the items that you requested have been prepared according to your orders, here"

Opening a small box with a ring in it, Hanson took it by his hands while nodding in approval.

"You did we'll Amatha, you should be expecting a bonus this month.

Hearing that, a surprised look appeared on her face.

"Thank you very much!"

Waving her off with a smile, Hanson walked through a wall without any hint of him remaining.

To be more precise, he went in the shadows of the wall and is traveling at immense speed through the shadows.

Arriving at the area where many merchants traded with each other, Hanson went into a certain building.

'Tch, those guys aren't taking it seriously...' Passing through the four guards guarding the building unnoticed in the shadows.

Entering the door that the guards were guarding, he looked at certain undead starting at a broken blade.

'What is he doing?' Hanson thought as he observed the broken blade.

Trying to get nearer to get a better look, he halted in surprise.

As the undead had turned around to face him!

'...'

Sighing internally, Hanson stepped out of the shadows.

"How did you know that I was there?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Danzel got up.

"Gut feeling."

'You don't even have guts..' Complaining internally, Hanson throws a small ring at Danzel.

"Here, what you asked."

"Mhmm..."

Putting the ring in his finger, Danzel grinned to himself.

"With that done... Have you managed to make any new runed contracts from the weeks?"

"Contracts? Ah, yeah there are over there. You can pick them up." Pointing at a box near the table, Danzel focused on the ring that he just got, completely ignoring Hanson.

Not minding his attitude, he went to pick the contracts.

Only to notice some runes in the chest plates lying there too.

"Hey, what are the runes in those armors?"

"Those? Well...you could say that they are a prototype of more advanced runes."

Intrigued by 'more progress' Hanson inspected the armor closer.

"What are they capable of?"

"The runes effect are-"

...

Explaining the rune's effect, Hanson's eyes widen up in surprise.

"Is what you said really true?" Hanson asked, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Is there any point for me to lie? You can easily find out if what I said is true or not by just testing it."

"Just don't forget that's a prototype and not the real thing. Turning it as good as I said would take...some amount of time."

Nodding solely, Hanson stared at Danzel.

"How much time will you need?"

"Ehm...if you supply me with more chestplates then I might manage it in around two to three weeks."

Putting the chest plates into his own storage ring, Hanson was slowly going into the shadows.

"Consider the supply to be done and focus on making as many of those runes as possible in the next two weeks.