The Runesmith

“Agni, why are you still sulking?”

“Wooorf…”

Roland managed to return to his secret underground lair after almost a week of grinding. He had lost himself in the leveling-up phase due to how fast he was progressing. It only took a few days to get ten whole levels. While this rapid pace was also quickly declining he could see himself achieving level hundred fifty in under a month.

‘Could probably do it faster if I could just focus on leveling up…’

One of the reasons that he couldn’t just continue leveling until he got closer to the monster’s levels was his job. He had gained a couple of responsibilities that could not be ignored. The cannon that he created also needed to be repaired, it was mostly scrapped metal that would be thrown into the smelter now.

“Hey, boss you’re back, made it out in one piece I see.”

Bernir greeted him the moment he returned. There was a special indicator signaling if someone was going down the tunnel. A light would go off in his own workshop as well as in Bernir’s. If it was green then it meant that it was him but if it was read then it was an enemy. His assistant had a few options of defending himself and also video footage via a few golemic eyes that were spread out in the tunnel.

“I see that you brought the whole backlog in already?”

Roland nodded at the greeting but instantly knew that it was work-related. He could see some brand new weapons and armor pieces that needed runes inscribed. There were also some old ones that needed to be repaired.

“Hm? Hasn’t the number increased since last time?”

“Aye, so you’ve noticed? I think it's because of those cultists, everyone is on edge. The adventurers are spending a lot more coin to get the best weapons available.”

He nodded again as this was a plausible reason. With the real danger of monsters appearing even inside the growing city everyone was preparing for the worst. Thanks to this, businesses were booming and it was not only the people that made armaments that were getting rich.

The city was evolving into something bigger. Arthur Valerian was certainly using this opportunity to grow his influence. With a cult around the city, he could implement martial law and veto a lot of decisions. Getting the help of merchant investors was now easier, pumping gold into training more guards and building larger walls was a given.

‘If people see that Albrook is largely unaffected by the infection, then more money and people will flow in…’

“The city lord also sent more of those shiny crystals, he wants you to create more of those boxes and also other weapons, wait a moment I’ll be right back.”

It was a bit much to take in right after he was back, but he was also in an agreement with the city lord. If he asked for something he needed to prioritize the request. The money was also good and the dwarves were taken care of.

It was in his interest to cultivate this relationship as it would allow him to leave in peace as long as Arthur stayed in power. There was a need to not let him get replaced at least not before he actually had enough personal power to live without worries.

“That’s a lot of longswords…”

“Aye, it will probably take some time even for you boss but this isn’t all…”

Bernir returned after a minute with a barrel filled with longswords and quickly departed to bring in more items. There were spears and also shields that were in need of runic inscriptions. This was quite the large order that he was given right after he returned from the dungeon. It seemed that his leveling drive would need to be placed on the backburner yet again.

Roland grabbed one of the swords that were delivered to examine it. It was a good blade made by someone that knew what they were doing. The inclusion of Brightiron was interesting as this metal was usually included in weapons that paladins used. By itself, it wasn’t very resistant but in small doses, it would enhance divine spells.

“Does he want me to inscribe divine runes on these?”

“Aye boss, here is the order in detail.”

After going through the letter he confirmed his theory. All of these weapons were supposed to get divine runes. The main one would be the lesser divine smite spell. It was a more powerful variant of the smite evil spell that packed in more holy energy. It would probably be very effective against the abyssal creatures that were a potential threat.

‘He even included a rune schematic for all of the divine runes…’

“Well boss, I’ll leave you to it.”

While going through the paperwork he lazily waved his hand towards Bernir that left. The shields would be given the hallowed ground spell. This created an area of divine energy around the caster that produced several benefitting effects for people in it.

Roland wasn’t sure how these wide-range buffing spells worked. For some reason, it would automatically pick up the people that the caster considered as friendly and give the effect to them. It was as if a hidden party system was at play here that was similar to the one that distributed experience.

‘His really investing into this, did he find some loyal knights or something?’

It was interesting to see the noble with no real power trying to gain it. Not much time had passed since Arthur got here but he was quickly building up a power base. Some of the corrupt officials had been removed and replaced already.

‘I wonder what he really wants?’

Roland couldn’t truly trust Arthur Valerian. He had already seen firsthand how most nobles were. They were always working from some kind of angle while engaging with others. It was rare to see them interacting with anyone if there wasn’t something they could gain in return.

It was all about making connections and gaining power, things like family or friends never mattered. If they could use the people that were closest to them to gain that higher rank they mostly would.

“I should eat something first… taking a four-hour nap should be enough…”

After placing the longsword down he glanced back to his own status screen. There he could see his high level of one hundred of forty. This coupled with his prestige class stat multiplier made him believe that he would have no competition in his level range.

The levels weren’t the only thing that he had received. At level six of his tier 2 Runic Engineer class, he finally gained another skill. Then further down the road when he reached the fifteenth level he gained yet another one.

This was an interesting skill and the name was also peculiar. In this world devoid of modern machines this term wasn’t used. Instead of machines that ran on electricity or steam, people used magic. Thus they mostly referred to them as magical constructs or golemic products.

‘Was that class really affected by my previous life or is this something that others could also gain?’

He wasn’t sure but most of the crafting classes went with the usual game terms. While pondering the naming scheme of his new class he glanced towards his other skill.

It seemed that this class was really poised to make him into a factory worker. This one implied that he would be able to assemble all his gadgets at a quicker pace. As with all the others skills that were gained by leveling up he somewhat knew how to activate it.

‘One skill lets me craft things faster and the other one will randomly increase the Sub-ranks?’

If he understood this correctly then there was a chance of creating a high-level sword when normally it would only be an intermediate one. Then there was also the addition of bonus stats. Roland had heard of rare weapons and armor that had flat increases in basic stats that didn’t require buffing spells. It was quite rare to find a craftsman with a skill that could create this effect.

‘I guess it was worthwhile to get this class for this skill alone but there are at least ten more levels left…’

His current level was hundred forty and while glancing on this status screen he was conflicted. Tier 3 would become unlocked within the next ten levels and leveling up to it would be easy. With the current rate and even the added workload, he could see himself reaching it within a month or two. But would it be wise to change classes before finishing Runic Engineer?

Twenty-five levels of it would be gone and couldn’t be recovered. It was impossible to regain an old class once it was changed. Tier 2 classes always gave out a skill when they were maxed out at fifty and he would clearly lose out on it. After seeing the two new skills he was certain that this class would improve his manufacturing capabilities by a lot.

‘These skills aren’t rune specific either, can they work on runes too?’

Some skills worked in mysterious ways but this would probably be too much of a cheat. It was possible for him to insert many tiny runes into weapons without taking up much space. If each of them could get a +1 to a random stat then his items would get overpowered fast. It was probably limited to actual finished products but he would need to get some tests done first.

His Endurance managed to go past 200 points which also rewarded him with another nice bonus reward. Now he was only missing 3 of the bonus achievements as only his Strenght, Agility, and Vitality were lagging behind.

“Hm… is there something else I need…”

The mule golem was to the side while he didn’t even feel like unloading the materials that were inside. It was filled with various ores that needed to be processed but that could be left up to Bernir. He was one of the few people that also knew about the secret chamber in the dungeon. Roland didn’t explain it throughout but it was obvious that he was getting them from within the dungeon.

‘First I’ll take a small break and then start with those divine runes…’

While thinking about resting and then his next task a problem arose. The problem was big and covered in ruby mane.

“Agni… spit it out!”

“Awooo…”

His wolf had been denied high-quality mana stones for a while now. Roland even noticed that he didn’t really want to eat any that belonged to a tier 1 monster. It was as if he knew that they wouldn’t help him with his next evolution anymore.

The tier 3 stones that were dropped by the skeletons could also not be taken back. His cannon had to kind of blast through them as they were in the monster’s weak spot. Then even if parts of it survived they would be scattered in all directions. With the added danger of potential death when getting closer for the time being he abandoned the thought of getting any.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going, spit out that crystal, that’s not even a mana stone Agni!”

Agni had devoured an empyrean crystal that had been delivered by Bernir. It was something provided by Arthur and it was needed for the divine boxes that he was making. The moment that Roland noticed it he could already hear a gulping noise.

“Do you know how much that thing costs?”

“Woof!”

Roland started moving closer but that only spooked Agni who started running for the exit through which Bernir came through. It seemed that his tamed beast had grown quite the ego, he was not even listening to straight commands. He did not have any tamer-related skills so their relationship was a bit purer. Agni was more like a real dog than a tamed creature that could be affected by magical skills.

“Woah, what’s happening?”

Bernir shouted as he was shoved to the side by a large dire wolf. He was just opening the automatic door that led to his own workshop. Luck was on Agni’s side as he would not be able to open these doors without a person present. Now on the other hand he was already making his escape while Roland was chasing behind him while shaking his fist.

“Hey get back here you stupid wolf!”

In Roland’s mind, there was still time to make Agni vomit the crystal out before it was digested. With a paddle going down his throat he would be forced to gag and the precious material could be retrieved in but a moment.

“Grab him!”

“W-what are you doing…?”

He called out to Dyana that clumsily attempted to grab the fleeing Agni. She was too slow though and just fell down on her face while the chase continued. The sound of metal tools falling down and various shouts could be even heard by the people inside the shop.

“What’s all that noise?”

“Was that a wolf howl?”

“Um… Grisalde could you watch the counter for a moment?”

“Sure thing.”

Elodia was surprised by all of this chaos unfolding. She could clearly tell that it was Roland that was shouting. After opening the back door she was met with a bizarre scene. The famous Runesmith was running after his large wolf with parts of his armor missing.

“Hey get back here!”

“Woooorf!”

At first, she was startled and worried but after she saw the scene unfolding a smile appeared on her face. It reminded her of the young boys at the orphanage. Many times they would roughhouse with each other and then even chase through the house or the city while laughing.

This scene wasn’t much different, the one being chased even seemed to be enjoying himself. Soon the two reached the wind generators and started chasing each other around them. It was quite the high-speed chase that she had trouble following with her more than ordinary class and stats.

Yet finally Roland had outsmarted the ruby wolf. While Agni was circling around the wind generator he just stopped and waited for him to go around it. There he fell into his hands and both of them went down to the ground. Even now she had no idea what it was about, did he swallow something poisonous? Roland was even trying to stick his fingers down the wolf’s muzzle but only ended up with more slobber after several sneezes.

“What are you two doing… calm down, did he ingest something that he shouldn’t have?”

She finally made her way towards the two idiots that were wrestling with each other on the ground.

“He swallowed an empyrean crystal!”

“An empyrean crystal? Doesn’t he swallow crystals every day?”

From her perspective, there was nothing wrong. She knew that Agni’s physiology allowed him to eat crystallized minerals and digest them. Even diamonds could be chomped down and after some time they would be digested. Empyrean crystals weren’t that resistant so there was no problem that she could spot here.

“Those things cost a lot!”

“Hah? Is it only that? … There is some food in the runic fridge also I think you need a bath… I need to go back to the shop, you two need to stop making so much noise, you’re bothering the customers.”

After giving out a sigh she decided to leave. The two continued to thrash around the ground before Roland finally gave up. From how Agni’s tail was flailing around it seemed that he was enjoying the skinship.

“Awoof!”

“What are you looking at?”

After sitting up Roland narrowed his eyes at the disorderly Agni that was still jumping back and forth.

“That’s it, no more mana stones for a week!”

“AWoooWooo!?”

A loud noise echoed through the entire compound and even caused some of the windows to rattle. Soon enough the grumpy runesmith dusted himself off to sulk inside of his home. His wolf on the other hand continued to bark around in indignation at the unreasonable master that was now withholding his snacks from him.