The Runesmith

“So, did they decide on a name?”

“Yes, after some back and forth, Bernir wanted a more traditional name but Dyana didn’t like the idea. You know how those people are, even poor Bernir was shunned by them when he was younger.”

“So what did they end up with?”

“His name will be Thordrin. Apparently, there was some kind of legendary hero with a similar name who was closely related to Dyana’s tribe.”

“Hm, interesting.”

Roland nodded while thinking that the name was strangely familiar sounding to something from his own world. Before he could ask about the origins of the name more closely he was shoved to the side by a flaming wolf head.

“Woof!”

“Oh, Hey Agni. Does he look different than usual? Is that some kind of flaming spell?”

“Something like that, I’ll explain it when I’m back.”

“Well, don’t take too long, if we don’t open the shop we will lose all of our clients to the union.”

“I know but I don't think the Union will be much of a problem anymore. I was thinking of hiring some more people to go with the expansion, did you look over the plans?”

“Yes, there are some things I’m not sure about.”

“That won’t be a problem, we can still change it, just let me know what you need.”

Roland and Elodia continued to talk while he was still wandering through the dungeon. He was approaching day three of spelunking and had managed to gather some more treasures. Instead of receiving black mithril gear, he found some potions and more valuables. Even if the monsters were stronger on the lower levels this didn’t always mean that the treasures would be better.

The size of the levels began to increase and sometimes traps or roadblocks got in the way. He decided to stick to the already explored pathways the previous platinum party ventured forth as they were the ones that were mapped out. Being able to predict which monsters he would be facing was maybe his second biggest advantage with the divine spells being the first. With time he wound up close to the stairs leading down to an area with monsters close to his current level, the real grind was beginning.

“Call me back when you are finished and…”

“Yeah I know, I’ll be careful and I’ll be back soon but if there is a problem let me know.”

“Alright, Not much has been happening here while you were gone besides the Union dwarves running around a lot more… I saw those two fixing some fences, do you know what’s that about?”

“Hah, I guess she kept the side of the deal.”

Roland laughed after being informed by Elodia that the two dwarves that caused him some misery in the past were now being relegated to grunt work. There was one thing that those types couldn’t stand and that was to be demoted. The two soon ended the call as he got ready to cross into the next level.

‘It shouldn’t take much longer until I level up, I should at least remain here until then.’

After venturing to the upper levels and back he was now level hundred and seventy-nine. The monsters that he was facing were slowly reaching his current level and with the help of the divine debuff he hoped to hasten the leveling process even more.

‘So this is what they decided to evade but behind it should be a room filled with treasure.’

At the moment he was at the level that Myrtle’s party had ended their adventure. What he was looking at was a wide open space with seemingly not much in it. The only thing of note was the ground tiles which were all square and about one meter long. This whole place had hundreds of them and at the end, there was one large sliding door made of thick rock.

‘It’s a trap but also a puzzle… Those darkened tiles are the break-off points, from what those adventurers reported, a person must make it through while lighting up all the square tiles…’

This reminded him of puzzles from video games that he used to play. The logic behind it was quite simple. When he stepped on one of the squares it would start to glow and activate. He needed to activate all of those squares while only using one path. The black tiles were spots that needed to be walked around and were neutral. They created areas that couldn’t be crossed which made the puzzle slightly harder.

‘They didn’t go through it and took another path but I wonder what’s on the other side.’

He had decided to not endanger himself too much but he was interested in where this trap led. There were a few possibilities so he decided to go along with a small test. First, both he and Agni walked out of the room and waited in the corridor that led them here. Instead of stepping on one of the tiles himself, he decided to use one of his cube turrets.

The tiles were simple pressure plates that even this floating cube could activate. Just as he expected a glow took over the tile onto which he landed the cube on. After it hovered back up into the air, the glow on the tile remained. Slowly he started moving the cube around faster to light up a path forward. The first plan was simple, use the shortest path forward without stepping on every tile.

‘Will it trigger something?’

His first test was unfruitful as it was apparently possible to just go to the other side without completing the puzzle. The only thing that wasn’t possible was opening the large sliding door at the end. It was clear that without the correct path being laid out, the door would not open. Now for the second test, he tried to backtrack which proved to be quite deadly. The moment his floating turret descended on one of the already lit-up squares, everything started glowing red.

“Woof!”

“Calm down Agni, we are safe here.”

After a flash of red light and a lot of noise, all the squares started crumbling. The cube that was able to freely float around did not collapse down along with the floor. Anyone that was attempting to solve this riddle would find themselves falling down.

“What’s that sound?”

The moment the entire room became devoid of a floor some strange sounds filled his ears. Not everything had collapsed as there was still a ledge before the tunnel leading up to this place. Thus to figure out this conundrum he decided to take a peek down without actually going into this place. It was possible that a secondary collapse was triggered if he stepped forth so for the time being, a golemic eye was used to send him some pictures.

“What are those things? Worms?”

At first, he expected sharp spikes or something like lava to be down there, instead, there was a vast quantity of monsters. They were not skeletal in nature but instead resembled the squiggly monsters that caused him to find the mine a few years ago. After examining the situation he realized that it was possible for him to take a step forward. The hole down below had no light source but with the help of his helmet, seeing in the dark was as easy as breathing.

“They are all plague worms down there?”

This was quite the discovery and sight to behold. The hole was around fifty meters deep and led to a limited space filled with these creepy leeches. They were an undead variant of a leech monster found in other dungeons. A plague leech was able to spread diseases that were quite nasty. If bitten a person would find themselves vomiting constantly while receiving various debuffs. Even if they were all just tier 2 monsters there were hundreds of them down there.

‘Anyone that falls down there will be eaten alive in a matter of moments, there is just not enough space to defend yourself.’

This reminded him of the chamber with the Troglodytes and also gave him an idea. Even though these worms were just tier 2 monsters, they were close to level hundred fifty. With the sheer amount of them down there and thanks to the confined space, he could use it to gain some easy experience.

His backplate started glowing for a moment while a single metallic orb that was the size of a tennis ball emerged. It was covered in various runes and could perhaps offer him a safe way of getting all of the experience down there. After examining the situation he took a few steps back and then tossed the now glowing orb forward.

The runes were quickly activated to prime the spell that this sphere came equipped with. It didn’t take long to reach the end of the fifty-meter-deep hole. When the runic device connected with the first monster down there it instantly produced a large holy explosion. These leeches could not crawl out nor react to the attack coming their way and quickly evaporated into nothingness.

“Nice!”

Roland cheered while hearing strange splattering sounds down below. There was a certain special trait that the regular plague leeches had. If they were critically injured but still alive they would explode in a burst of poisonous goop. These explosions carried within them some force and could also damage their own allies. After the runic grenade delivered the initial burst of damage it created a chain effect.

‘The initial experience is nice but … it won’t last for long.’

While he had reached level one hundred eighty this spot wouldn’t help him gain that many levels. The further a person leveled the less amount of experience they received from monsters below their level. He would need to find a similar trap with tier 3 versions of these monsters if he wanted to abuse this method.

‘Maybe I can’t use it that much but Agni still can.’

Agni’s level was below his and only now was the wolf slowly catching up. It was possible for him to use ranged spells and also skills so killing these stationary targets wouldn’t be a problem. While keeping that in mind he also brought up his status screen to look at the first new skill he received since attaining his Runesmith Overlord class.

‘Hm, I think Paladin classes have similar aura skills. This one seems to be more vague, does it rise all attributes equally?’

After a quick test and scan of Agni’s status screen, he had his answer. At level one the skill increased his canine companion’s numbers by two points each. While this didn’t seem as that much, if he was surrounded by tens of men he would be providing quite the boost.

‘It’s also just at level one, if it gives ten points at level nine then it will be rather overpowered… the only downside is that it uses a set amount of mana and doesn’t give me any benefits.’

When looking at his own status screen he didn’t see any increase in stats. This was clearly one of the leadership-primed skills that this Overlord class offered. It was quite useless without anyone around him and would just waste his mana if he activated it like that. Then there was also a big minus to the way that it looked as it made him out to be a target.

‘This circle of light makes me very conspicuous ... '

One thing that he disliked about this skill was the strange glowing donut that it was creating under his feet. It started from directly under his feet and pulsated a few meters away from his location. It persisted even when trying to walk, run or even jump. It was glued to the area directly under him and would guide everyone to his location from a distance. It was as if he was showing his enemies that he was the leader of the group and they should quickly dispose of him.

‘But it’s possible to use this to my advantage if I need to lure someone away, I bet even the monsters will be attracted to the glow to some capacity…’

He could see a few good uses of this skill. There was something similar like a hidden animosity when it came to fighting monsters. Some skills and classes were more prone to pulling monsters their way. Clerics with their healing magic were prime examples as they were usually the first to get targeted even by mindless beasts.

Roland was used to attracting the beasts in the dungeon as he was heavily armored and getting through his now-enhanced mana shields was not that simple. Having a skill that let anyone that was with him have a power boost was quite nice but would only shine with more people. Maybe if Armand and Lobelia finally reached their threshold, he could bring them here. With this trap being here it would allow them to rise in the levels rather quickly.

‘I should leave a sensor in the walls below.’

The trap had been sprung and almost all of the monsters down below had been killed. Now he had to wait for it to reset to actually go forward into the unexplored pathway. How long this would take wasn’t known to him so leaving a sensor to detect when the floor reformed itself was the only thing could do.

It was possible for Agni to use his magical platforms to get to the other side and he also had his levitation spell. Getting to the other side wouldn’t be impossible but drilling through the chamber door was somewhat problematic. Thanks to the sensors that were already here he could measure the thickness of the walls to some extent. It wouldn’t be that easy to blow his way through the closed door as it was made of exceptionally sturdy material. The walls on the sides were also quite thick and would not break from his earth-softening spell.

‘The density of mana in the dungeon walls is interfering with earth elemental spells. I won’t be able to get through without proper drilling equipment.’

The further down he went the stronger the mana density became around this place. There was only one reason for this to occur and that was the dungeon core. It was possible for someone with a mage class to predict the strength of the monsters just by the ambient mana in the air. The more he explored this dungeon the better at it he became. Not only the monsters were strengthened with the rise of mana. Better items could appear, and things like rare minerals in mines would become accessible. Even the dungeon walls were enhanced the closer one got to the center of the dungeon where a dungeon core would be found.

‘It’s forbidden to damage or remove a dungeon core from within a dungeon…’

While wrapping things up he recalled some information about dungeon core removals. There wasn’t that much information as it was forbidden to touch them. Their capabilities in producing monsters, mines, and treasures gave the countries they were located a free source of income. Removing them would also spark quite the catastrophic event of untold proportions depending on the size of the dungeon.

Each dungeon required mana to exist and the dungeon core was considered to be the device that provided it with everything. Some people believed that cores just formed in areas rich in mana and just were somehow able to manage those resources. Others believed that they were monsters in themselves that created everything as they evolved. The truth was probably out there but to get it, he would probably need to gain access to one of the libraries of a magical academy.

Without anything left within this chamber, he decided to take the other route to the exit. It could take several days for this magical contraption to reform and even longer after he blew up many of the monsters down below. The journey had to continue and new skills needed to be discovered. After clearing up some of the other passages they arrived at another set of stairs.

The thickness of the mana below had spiked yet again and he was sure to encounter monsters that were above level hundred eighty. This would probably be the last floor he explored before returning. The area he arrived in was lacking in mapping sensors which he quickly fixed by inserting one into the walls.

‘Oh? What’s this?’

While he was alone here it didn’t mean that other adventurer parties weren’t wandering around. After planting one of his sensors he became aware of dots belonging to people of the races. There were six of them but they were not alone. Many red circles that represented unidentified monsters were gathering around them.

‘It doesn’t look good for them… should I get involved?’

Roland looked at the map and then over to Agni in his Sunwolf form. The only reason that he was able to get this far was thanks to using his divine spells. Usually, he used his map to evade the few adventurers that were wandering these tunnels as he did not want anyone to see this little secret of his. A decision had to be made, should he help this small group up or just move along as he had planned beforehand…