The Runesmith

“That should do it…”

Finally, after many hours of work, his battle hammer was mostly ready. After wedging the shaft into the hammer-head, it was mostly complete. By utilizing some more advanced techniques the shaft would expand at the top slightly for a tight fit. This weapon was closer in shape to a polearm but it was much bulkier to accommodate its user's enhanced strength.

The face of the hammer had a more traditional war-hammer shape, while the rear end consisted of a spike. Roland had thought of making a pole-ax but for the time being, he decided to go with this shape for better penetration. A sharp spike required less force to get through armor than a wider axe blade that delivered a wider cut. There were pros and cons to every design and he felt that this would work better on the larger creatures.

‘There aren’t many creatures that are resistant to both blunt physical attacks and piercing attacks, most of the monster hide and armor is good against slashing weapons.’

A heavy weapon like this would do quite well against armored opponents. Together with the added magical runes, he couldn’t see any human below tier 3 resisting a fully swung blow. The only problem would be with large monsters that possessed a thick layer of fat to absorb the shock. Even the spike wouldn't do any good if he couldn’t get to the vital organs even after piercing through a tough hide.

‘Well, that’s when magic comes in…’

Roland smiled while polishing the large rear spike of his new hammer. This item would be a multipurpose magical tool and not only a big dumb weapon swung by brutes. He had the advantage of being able to access the runic operating system. Making changes to suit the environment wouldn’t be a problem, he just needed to insert the most common spells first. Just by executing a previously prepared section of the code, he would be able to quickly generate the desired spell effect.

‘Though making the multi-purpose spell matrix takes a while…’

The only downside to making weapons like this would be the time spent. Even he wasn’t perfect and going through everything without making any errors was difficult. Then there was also another problem, he didn’t have enough hours in the day to focus.

“Hey Boss, are you finished?”

“Bernir? … Well not really, is there a problem?”

While he was examining his new item his assistant walked in. He was carrying a wooden crate with various metallic items.

“Since you had a break, the backlog for runic repairs has been growing and we need to restock some of the usual…”

Bernir started getting the various items out, on one side he placed the weapons and armor pieces that needed their runes to be repaired. Then on the other side the ones that he and his wife produced. These were made from either durasteel or deepsteel, both the most commonly used materials in the shop.

“Fine… this shouldn’t take long.”

“Take your time boss but it would be better if you did the repairs first, the recent adventurers have been ill-tempered, must be ‘cuz of all this fuss about the cultists.”

Roland saw Bernir frown when recalling some kind of memory. It wouldn’t be strange for some of the customers to berate the craftsmen. The union still continued to spread bad rumors about him and his shop. Probably if he wasn’t the only runesmith in town, he wouldn’t get any attention at all. Only after Arthur appeared did his name stop being dragged through the mud, at least in the open.

After sorting out the weapons from the armor pieces he got to work. Thanks to his new class this part of his work could be done in a blink of an eye. Runic Restructuring was the skill that he would be using. It allowed him to instantly alter the runic structure of his choosing.

There were also another skill that could do the job, which was Rune Mending. There was one downside to this skill though. While it would repair the runic structure it would not correct the faulty pathways. If the rune was an intermediate one it would not upgrade it to a high or highest rune. Yet this was not the case for Runic Restructuring, he could mold it to any structure that he had previously created.

“Hm… Wish there was a way to automate this process, would a golem be able to repair runes?”

He was now looking at a regular longsword that had a damaged ice mist rune. It was a common rune that would produce an icy vapor when swung. It would lower the temperature in the designated area dramatically and was adequate for fighting low-level fire monsters like the salamanders. This would be enough to make the creature sluggish and easy to kill.

‘There is a mana stone in the hilt, the rune was intermediate but it degraded to low already.’

Normally craftsmen would not improve the runic structure. Instead, they would usually use the rune mending skill for a quick fix. Most of the time the customer would need to pay extra for a proper runesmithing treatment that didn’t degrade the blade any further. Roland on the other hand needed to try a bit harder as his standing in the city wasn’t that great.

He had attracted customers by going the extra mile and even improving the runic structures while performing the repairs. This would normally only be possible by restarting the runecrafting process and correcting all of the traces and various components manually. However, with the latest restructuring skill, he could do it almost instantly.

‘Good that I’ve practiced all of these runes before.’

The only requirement for him to use it was to have previously made the rune himself. The higher the quality of the rune that he previously created, the better the chance of success. Thus he grabbed his blacksmithing hammer while the sword’s blade was quickly heated up in the forge. After a few moments, his hammer was already colliding with the damaged structures that started glowing.

‘It’s kind of a waste to use it on something like this, I could easily upgrade it to something like ice burst instead…’

While the runic structures were being molded into a fully functional ice mist spell of the high rating, Roland thought back to some experiments that he performed after getting his new class. This skill was far handier than he originally assumed. It could actually produce higher grade runes from lower grade ones quickly.

For instance when looking at this ice mist rune that just created a burst of freezing air. The base structure was similar to a higher-tier spell. Ice burst spell could create the same cold haze with an addiction of sharp ice crystals forming to damage the enemy and a much stronger freezing effect. Both of the spells were tier 2 common ones but the latter was among the end of the spectrum.

It was possible to cheat the system a bit with this skill. After inscribing the easiest lesser or common rune, it was possible to alter it with this skill. The mana usage went up but it was possible to cut the time needed for work when working with single rune structures. Through this method, he could cut his workload by more than half when making simple weapons for his shop. Thanks to his ever-increasing mana reserves, it was not much of a problem.

There was still a limit on how much he could handle a day. Only with a steady supply of mana potions was he able to finish everything this fast. Yet this was a double-edged sword, there was always a limit of how many of those potions a person could drink without suffering side effects. Only thanks to his willpower stat that was extraordinarily high was he able to counter that effect.

‘Glad the lordling is on my side, those free potions are enough to get the job done.’

After gulping the last mana potion he resumed his work. For the items that Bernir and his wife made, the rune duplication skill was enough. By just copying his old runes onto the previously created blades he could finish work in a matter of moments. The large pile of armaments that would have taken him normally a whole day, was finished in less than an hour.

‘I don’t even feel any migraines now.’

Roland glanced at this mana pool that was at around twenty percent. At such a low amount he would be forced to take a rest or some pain medication. Now, on the other hand, he could go down to about fifteen percent without suffering a backlash. His body was getting used to working hard and the pain was not a problem.

‘The discomfort might be gone but this doesn’t mean that it’s healthy.’

Roland didn’t fool himself into believing that he was fine. The mitigating effect of his skills didn’t do anything about the damage. It only allowed him to power through it, his body was still suffering but he couldn’t feel it. While he was young now, he wouldn’t be surprised that there could be long-lasting aftereffects of pushing his body to the limit.

However, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either. It wasn’t surprising to get some skills after going through harsh training. Perhaps like with the pain resistance skill, he would be given something to reward him for the hardships. He could only hope that his body would last without any long-lasting damage before he got those skills.

“That should be enough.”

After finishing up his tasks he pushed a button on the wall.

“Hey Bernir, I’m done.”

He leaned close to an outstretched cord with a hand-sized oval iron plate. A rune was glowing on this sheet of metal that allowed him to talk with his workers from inside his workplace. It was similar to old cord phones that connected to specific parts of his home. There was a corresponding button for each specific room that for now was limited to a couple of them.

“Already? Aye, I’ll be right there.”

There was a quick reply followed by some static. Using magic to converse with other people wasn’t anything new. His system was just something he stole from the old world that he came from. For others to use this, they would need many years to build up the infrastructure. It would not be a small task but a wise leader would probably see the value in instantaneous information exchange.

‘That is if someone smarter than me comes up with some encrypting technology…’

As someone that had ‘borrowed’ the idea from one of the research papers from the academy, he knew the downsides. It was easy to intercept the mana signals going through the lines and hear what people were talking about. People in this world were still motivated by wars, unless this technology aided them in their conquest, it would not be worth the risk.

‘I should probably cover the rune up with something or someone will scratch it.’

When looking at a cut-out plate of metal welded together to a cord he frowned. His proclivity to make everything with the least amount of effort still continued to this day. Even though plastic didn’t exist in this world, there were some substances that could mimic its properties. It wouldn't be hard to turn this into an old phone handle, making an outer shell from wood could also work.

“Keep up the good work, boss.”

Roland waved to Bernir that came in to pick up the runic items. Now he could focus back on his new hammer, after that came Agni’s armor that would need some testing. With some luck, by the end of the week, he would have enough weapons to make a quick run to the dungeon. There were also other parts that he needed to get in order like the mining golems that were down by two.

‘There should be some parts to assemble more drones, Bernir should be able to get it done…’

It seemed that his workload was only increasing, while sighing he wondered if there was a possibility of expanding. Now that the dwarven union was taken care of thanks to Arthur, perhaps he could get more help.

Refugees from Reeka were also everywhere, perhaps he could lure someone in with a mild contract. His two workers could take care of the training as the new employees would be there to lessen their workload. Then the two could focus on more important assignments like golems and magical turrets.

“This might take a while, better get to it…”

Roland grabbed the large war hammer that he made. By injecting a tiny bit of his own mana the shorter shaft quickly shot out to double in length. The weapon was better suited for handling with both hands but for someone like him that had enhanced strength, it wasn’t a problem to one-hand it.

“Hm?”

While he was playing with the grip and swinging his new toy around to see if it was handled correctly, he heard a sound coming from his speaker.

“Wayland, your adventurer friends are here to see you.”

“My friends?”

It was Elodia informing him that he had visitors, this was a first as he did not actually remember having that many friends. But he remembered a group of four that followed him here after the fiasco in Reeka. An image of an oversized woman popped into his head. A promise was made and it needed to be kept.

“I’ll be right there… oh and it will be better if you don’t talk to Orson.”

“Which one is that?”

“The one with the stupid look on his face, quite similar to Armand”

“Oh, that one…”

‘I guess this is the downside of having friends?’While this interrupted his work it was also a good moment to get some news. He had secluded himself in his workshop without going outside for days and somewhat forgotten about his four new acquaintances. It seemed that they had become bored of waiting for him and decided to visit on their own accord.

Within a few minutes, he found himself outside. The sound of large fan blades was quite noticeable and probably peculiar to anyone that was invited inside. His backyard had many wind generators that produced electricity. Their size was a problem, they limited his workspace to the underground workshop. Yet there weren’t that many ways of generating energy otherwise, that is, besides one other that he wished to implement in the future.

“There you are, Wayland!”

“Yes, here I am.”

The whole team was there, Senna was looking through the store’s dagger section. Grisalde had a large bastard sword in one of her hands and swung it as if it didn’t weigh anything. Dalrak was glancing at some of the large tower shields while his closest friend was doing something that he didn’t appreciate.

“Woof!”

“Hey, calm down! Sheesh, can’t even have some fun.”

The last member was being growled at by Agni. It seemed that he was shooting some glances at Elodia whose chest was a bit more pronounced in the store uniform than usual. Everything was hidden and it was proper but this didn’t stop the man from ogling her.

“Sorry about that knucklehead, I think he is still a bit drunk.”

“I see…”

Senna was the one to start the conversation while everyone else finally noticed him. The store was sectioned off by classes. Where Senna came from was specifically stocked with items that agility-based jobs would flock to. Short swords, daggers, and even bows were all there and they were outfitted with runes. There was not a single item that was not runic. This of course heightened the price and also kept people with low amounts of coins away.

“Hey Wayland, I hope you didn’t forget about our little talk.”

“No, I remember.”

Grisalde appeared next, she placed the large sword to the side while dragging her mangled axe. Everyone had a strange look in their eyes when looking at all of these weapons and armor. It looked like a bunch of kids stuck in a candy store. They were all noticeably holding themselves back from touching the more expensive runic items.

“They won’t be free though.”

“Don’t be so stingy, a successful runesmith like you must be swimming in money.”

“That would be nice if it was true…”

Most of his earnings went right back into producing more weapons and expanding his knowledge. What he earned he instantly spent with some side cash being placed to the side if any problems arose. He would probably not gain much money by outfitting these four but he would also not lose any. By just using them and spreading the word they could generate interest in his shop which was slowly building more momentum.

“Go ahead, see if you like something but please don’t activate the spell effects here.”

“You’re the best, Wayland!”

Senna for some reason was awfully happy when glancing through the various items but so were the rest. His intent was to just replace their weapons instead of repairing them. Grisalde's axe that was bent, Dalrak's mangled shield, Orson's two-handed blade that was all chipped up. They all needed tending to but with a lack of time, it would be easier to just replace them.

“Just don’t break anything, or you’ll have to pay for it.”

He shouted while the grown adventures rummaged through his wares. Perhaps by increasing the logos on the weapons that he gave them, he could attract more attention to his store which would lessen the blow of just charging his new friends for the material cost.