The Runesmith

“Here it is.”

Roland found himself outside of a small shop. The building was squeezed between two others and the entrance was hidden in an alleyway. It looked like the owner of this shop was trying to not sell anything.

The sign depicted a magical staff along with some potions around him. He was not sure why but all the shops in this world had such banners. It made him think of the old RPG games that he used to play when he was still in his old world. In them, all the stores always had a characteristic sign to show the player what was inside.

He took a step forward, once he opened the door it triggered a bell that was above it. Expecting someone to call out and greet him but there was no response. It seemed that the person running this shop was probably in the back room thus he decided to take a look around.

The first thing he noticed was that how cramped the place was. His head almost touched the ceiling and the shelves were crammed with various strange items and potions. With the help of his debugging skill, he could even spot some runic items.

“Is anyone here?”

Roland called out while approaching the shop counter. On it, he spotted a little bell that looked similar to the bells at hotels. He gave it a ring and finally someone called out from behind.

“Hold your horses, I’m coming!”

There was a strange rumbling sound followed by something falling down. The voice seemed to be somewhat high-pitched yet also old. After a minute the cloth that was covering the entrance to the backroom finally moved and the owner of this shop emerged.

“My apologies, must have forgotten the time.”

An old gnome popped his head out. He looked really old and had a very characteristic pointy black hat on his head. This was accompanied by a black robe which made him look like a stereotypical black mage.

Roland had to wait until the small gnome slowly walked over. The store counter also had a little step ladder that he had to climb.

“How can I help you, young man? Do you want to buy some health potions, maybe some herbs for a bad back?”

“Ah, no. I’m looking for a crystal ball, one meant for communication. I heard that I could get one here at a good price.”

Magical items still weren’t that widespread in this city. The dungeon was here but without having tier 3 monsters inside it would not attract the wealthier people. All the strongest adventurers were close to the S class dungeon in the middle of the island while Albrook could attract at most tier 2 ones.

A promising adventurer party would not remain in an area where the monsters were a tier below them. They would just not be able to progress further, the experience gained would be too minuscule.

Besides the dungeon, there weren’t really any natural resources to attract people here. Roland on the other hand knew that there was some potential sleeping deep inside that dungeon. That spot with the rare metals and mythril ore deposits was proof.

Dungeon mines were sought after for one reason, the ore deposits would respawn just like the monsters did. The area he found could be farmed for resources repeatedly. The time of respawning was mostly set and could range from weeks to months.

“A crystal ball? Well, you came to the right place, I think I still have one lying around here, give me a moment!”

The old gnome called out and slowly moved down from the step ladder. He vanished behind that dark piece of cloth. Roland could hear something like pots falling down, maybe some crates it sounded like the old man was tripping over everything.

After about five minutes he emerged back with a round object in his hand. His hat was now turned to the other side and his robe was full of dust.

“Sorry about that lad.”

The old man laughed and placed the object on the counter. Roland looked at it and thanks to his mage skills could tell that this was the item in question.

‘Huh? So those came in runic form as well?’

Surprisingly this magic crystal orb had runic inscriptions on it. They were not visible to the naked eye, without his debugging skill he would also not be able to notice it. The item looked like a clear orb made from crystal how someone forced the runes into it was the biggest question.

Roland was quite knowledgeable about runecrafting when scrolls and metals were concerned. There were far more materials out there that would not be able to sustain regular rune smithing.

He would not be able to make a flying carpet as the runecraft would burn through the fabrics. The only explanation was that such a crystal ball required a somewhat different approach similar to the scrolls.

There was still a big hole in his knowledge. While he was light years ahead in some places like runecrafting there were many basic things he did not know. Just like the magic ink there were various other concoctions that could be applied in various ways.

What he needed is more knowledge and this here crystal ball could help him with that. For this, he needed access to the magic knowledge that was being held behind closed doors. Lucille, his new acquaintance, could help him with that.

The only real problem would be asking for some help, due to Roland’s character he found it hard requesting help from others. Normally he would try to figure it out by himself but a promise was made. If he didn’t contact her, his brother might come looking for him, this time with his father in tow.

“Yes, this looks like the right item, how much will it be?”

“You have a keen eye for such a young lad, just for that you can have it for twenty small gold coins.”

“Twenty?”

Roland almost keeled over as the price was mentioned. This was more money than he was given by his old adventurer party. He was able to survive half a year on that while also crafting scrolls and now this crystal ball cost more than that.

“You might not know it lad but this crystal ball was made by a powerful runic mage!”

“Runic mage? Not a Runesmith?”

“A runesmith making a crystal ball? You must be joking young man, how could those brutes make something intricate like a crystal ball. They are better off making clunky golems!”

Roland was surprised by the revelation. If this old man was right then this item was quite rare as it was made by the unpopular class of Runic Mage. From what Lucille explained to him they were not proficient at crafting runic items but only using them.

Instead, they were supposed to alter the program inside that was crafted by a proper runesmith. There could be some exceptions to the rule, most of the regular crystal balls were enchanted items. These could also be made by enchanters instead of enchant smiths that just clobbered metals till the enchantments fit in.

‘There might be some special spells that the mages use for permanent enchantments, which would make this feasible.’

From what Roland knew, regular mage enchantments were temporary. They would last a few hours or days at most before the enchantment faded away. Thus the services of these mages were more like a trial which some adventurers used before entering a specific dungeon.

Even though they were not permanent they had their uses. If there was a particular boss that was weak to a certain spell it was cheaper to go with an enchantment. There was no reason to buy a full set of fire-resistant armor to fight a flame dragon if a mage could produce the same effect for a fraction of the price.

“Twenty too much? Well, this is a rather old model…”

The old gnome started thinking really hard. Roland knew that this crystal ball was probably not something that would sell. There was no real reason to get a more pricey runic variant when the enchanted version cost less. The gnome also didn’t know that a person like Roland would probably pay that price just to get his hands on a new rune.

“How about ten.”

Before the old man could answer Roland started bartering himself.”

“Ten? Do you want to rob this old gnome young man? Eighteen!”

“Eighteen? Can you even sell that crystal ball to anyone? New enchanted ones cost ten! Twelve.”

Soon they went back and forth and finally Roland was able to barter down to fourteen and a half. Luckily he still had some found and with the guild promoting him he was getting some materials at a discount or even for free.

“Bah, No respect for their elders.”

The old man was given the money and Roland now had a new item to test. If he figured out how these crystal balls worked he might be able to set up his own communication network.

The ones that the mages used were similar to old phones. The lesser models like the one Lucille had required magical rituals that boosted their communication range. Other ones could use Elokin’s fluid as a power source instead or be implanted in other devices that hastened the process.

With how scarce the runic orbs were Roland believed it to be an untapped market. The problem would be how to reproduce this without the help of a Runic Mage. There was apparently one at the magical academy that Lucille hailed from.

Maybe if he asked nicely that person could help him do it himself. His class was a rare variant, maybe with some luck, he would be able to learn the Rune Mage skills as well.

The bell sounded once more as he went outside the shop and removed himself from the back alley. What people saw was not a man in red armor that was covering his face.

Roland finally decided to quit hiding his appearance. After his conversation with Robert, he realized that he could not live like this forever. Sooner or later his past would come back to bite him in the behind.

What he was wearing was mostly lighter leather with a couple of runic armor add-ons. He switched to darker colors and covered both his hands with runic gauntlets and armguards. On his chest, he only had a breastplate and then his shins were protected by leg guards.

There were no pauldrons or even a set of half-plate armor. This would be enough for protection as he did not think that people would attack him in the city. With the runic equipment, he was wearing he would be able to utilize various tier 2 spells which no normal person would be able to contend with.

People clearly noticed him as the armor parts were brand spanking new. It was clear that he stood out from the general public and not because of his armor. After now reaching the age of seventeen Roland started noticing people turning their heads towards him.

Even now as he continued to walk he was getting these looks as well. This was due to one thing, his face and his charisma stat. Even though it was not at the level of mind control it was above the norm.

Roland found himself with something he was not very familiar with, being attractive in the eye of the opposite sex. When he was out, the women were taking second glances at his face. His large stature only added to his all-around looks.

“Why isn’t it my favorite Runesmith, what can I help you with handsome?”

“Please stop calling me that, just call me Wayland.”

He had entered the store where Dyana worked. She was one of the more promising blacksmiths in the city and was young considering she was close to level one hundred. Due to Bernir having been a little pervert he needed to come here instead.

It seemed Dyana didn’t like him that much and would give him a good thrashing if he ever entered her store again. This left him to do the dirty work for the time being. Even though the woman had that look she was still a professional, when the time was right she would revert to a true craftsman.

“First name basis already? You sure know how to make this young girl's heart flutter.”

He wanted to comment on the age part but he was afraid to receive a knuckle sandwich if he prodded too much. Instead, he brought out some of the aether ingots that he had produced earlier.

“Oh, what is this, a present?”

Roland rolled his eyes and placed four ingots on the store counter. Dyana grasped one of them and started looking over it with much interest.

“This… this isn’t regular deep steel is it?”

“No, it’s aether deep steel, I’ve smelled a few samples, what do you think, can you make something that will sell with these?”

After looking one of the ingots over she placed it back down on the counter before commenting.

“Doesn’t look much different than regular steel, it should be enough for a longsword. What about the hilt?”

“Doesn’t really matter, I can place the runes in after the whole sword is finished.”

With the help of the ethereal pathways, he didn’t need to runecraft before the hilt was attached to the body of the blade. He would need to exert some more mana but it was possible for him to force the runes in there without hammering it too hard.

“Aether metals? Never worked with them before, this will be interesting.”

Dyana smiled while turning back to Roland. A moment of silence fell between the two as she looked down at him.

“How about we…”

Before the woman could continue though, Roland cut her off.

“I should be going, I have a lot of work to do.”

His chores were not over yet, as the two spoke Bernir was delivering the other ingot samples to the other affiliated blacksmiths. He hoped that within a week they would have one of these aether weapons on the display.

For now, he stuck to the weapons as a full set of armor would be hard to produce. Even when the smelter was used for the whole day there would not be enough resources to cover all the stores.

He was already thinking about building another one after he had worked the kinks out. Even now he was getting mixed results and the programming process wasn’t that fast. It only took a little mistake to change the outcome of the end product.

“Leaving already? Won’t stay over for a drink?”

“A drink?”

The moment drinking was mentioned he recalled himself at 10. The long-buried memories of being forced by certain three idiots to get drunk and pass out came back.

“I don’t really drink alcohol.”

“Alcohol? Why would I offer you alcohol?”

“If not alcohol, then what else, tea?”

“Milk of course!”

Roland narrowed his eyes and glanced at Dyana’s horns. Then the hair was partially white and partially black. Going down he saw the large bell around her neck that was supposed to be used for cows and not people. Then without thinking much he glanced down at a pair of large mounds.

'Of course it’s milk…'

While having trouble with keeping his eyes on Dyana’s face he shook his head around.

“Uh… yeah… I think I’ll have to have a raincheck on that one.”

“Raincheck? I don’t think it’s raining outside.”

Roland just inched out of the store and finally got out of there. The last thing he saw was Dyana’s very saucy facial expression. He was sure that the older woman was having her fun harassing a young man such as him. What she didn’t know was that he knew what game she was playing.

‘That was close…’

Roland’s heart rate increased as he handled the situation. Even if he knew what was going on, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t affected. He was still in a young man’s body that was in his prime, it was quite hard to fight with the bottled-up hormones.

This was no time to relax, he had a business to build up. With the onset of his runic items that would be in proper stores his name would be known. Previously he used the auction house so no one really cared that much to look at his little crafter's emblem.

Now on the other hand there would be a name to go with it. Things were looking good for Roland but he knew that he could not relax. Just like previously he knew that if he didn’t prepare enough things could easily turn sour...