The Runesmith

‘Would be nice if I could make this thing more compact, maybe if I figure out tier 3 runes it will become easier.’

Roland was down in his workshop working on the large cannon that he used for his dungeon grinding. Its design had been slimmed down and he actually decided to use some better materials from within the mining area. Yet even with those to generate enough force to kill a tier 3 monster it needed to be huge.

“Not really that heavy.”

Yet even the size didn’t affect him that much as his enhanced stats allowed him to lift the whole construction and hold it over his shoulder. This thing was not something one person should be able to carry around. Even though this was just the barrel it was just a thick slab of metal with runic engravings on it.

“I’m really above the limitations of humans from my old world.”

He didn’t really test it out but he wouldn’t be surprised if he could lift a small car if he tried. The biggest problem was the counterweight as he still had his human frame. Even though he weighed around a hundred kilos it was still a bit difficult to balance it out. If two people with the same strength stat came to blows, the one that was heavier would win.

There were exceptions to that rule as there existed skills and magic to counter the weight problem. People could increase it or even their own density. There was gravitational magic that could be used for that and it could also affect the opponent by shifting their center of gravity around.

However, this was one of the more difficult fields of study. The people from this world evolved their magical skills while allowing other fields to fall behind. There was no need to do complicated math equations if a high level skill could do it for them. Even with his rudimentary understanding of physics, he was probably still ahead of the usual scholars in this world.

‘Perhaps going to that magical academy wouldn’t be such a bad choice…’

The notion of him becoming a scholar at some magical academy wasn’t that alluring to him but there were clear advantages to that position. Their libraries would probably have all the knowledge he needed for research. By dismantling all the spells through his eye skill he would be able to apply them to his own creations.

Other craftsmen would need years and the help of their masters to even copy pre-existing structures. He on the other hand wasn’t that limited as combining runes into new customized spells was something he grew accustomed to. Surrounding himself with a field of gravity where he was the only one that wasn’t affected would boost his fighting capabilities by quite a bit.

“If only it was that easy…”

Roland gave out a sigh while stuffing the oversized cannon barrel into the mule golem. It was time to head into the dungeon to do his usual grinding. His levels had started to stagnate as the monsters that he was going up against were now below him. Yet even when his level was above them he still didn’t feel comfortable battling them by himself.

This was the main drawback of having taken a bonus tier 1 class when he was younger. His stat multiplier was below the tier 3 monsters he would face in there. Even with his prestige class that went above regular tier 2 classes, he was still at a disadvantage. The lack of higher tier skills was also a big problem as there was a huge difference.

This difference was greater than the one between tier 1 and tier 2 classes. The difference between a tier 1 and tier 2 stat multiplier was only 50% but when going up to tier 3 it changed to 100%. This was not such an easy gap to close even with the help of all his buffing spells and his own two-times multiplier. It was still a lot safer to wait it out and slowly kill the skeletons that appeared before him.

‘Or should I just come clean and let the guild examine the entrance?’

Roland was unsure of how long that would take. The reason that he was hesitating to reveal the secret opening wasn’t exactly greed but the uncertainty of when he would be allowed to get back in there. At this point, he had gathered enough precious metals and minerals to last him for his tier 3 ascension.

Yet the procedures that the adventurer guild went through weren’t that speedy. First, a scouting party would be formed to probably just examine the entrance and the few tier 3 skeletons that roamed it. Then they would need to petition aid from the larger cities where the more experienced adventurers resided.

It could take from weeks to months before a proper expedition party was formed. Then another few weeks to actually delve into the dungeon. Only after everything was somewhat examined would it be open to the public. Perhaps with his current standing, he would be able to get in faster but he wasn’t quite sure.

‘They don’t usually allow gold rank adventurers into tier 3 dungeons…’

This was the biggest problem, if he went by rank he would not be allowed to get in there without at least one tier 3 class holder in the party with them. He didn’t know any platinum rank adventurers that would be happy to take a runesmith or someone posing as a rune mage with them that easily.

Things got complicated and could cause him to not be able to use his farming spot for even a year. Then if the dungeon was deemed to be too dangerous for tier 2 class holders he might not even be able to venture in at all. There weren’t that many monsters over the hundredth level roaming the deepest parts of the lava zone. This would really slow down his progress to the point of it being better to go to a different city with a more suited dungeon.

‘But I could also just craft instead of killing monsters…’

While deliberating on his decision he headed upstairs. There he noticed two new faces that would probably become permanent members of his company. After discussing it with both Elodia and Bernir both of them agreed to take them under their wing. The two had similar classes between each other or at least the knowledge of what their skills should be. Tier 1 skills weren’t that hard to unlock or to buy when it came to production classes like scribe or crafting ones like stonemason.

“Hey, Boss!”

Bernir was the first one to notice Roland getting out of the workshop. The door opening had a characteristic sound to it. Not soon after he also heard the voices of the two kids call out to him with quite an interesting sentence.

“Good morning, Boss!”

“Did you teach them to do that?”

“Hehe.”

Bernir just laughed while the two kids looked a bit ashamed. Marcie the girl stuttered a bit through the greeting and was quick to evade his gaze. Jorg on the other hand didn’t seem to mind it. Perhaps due to his dwarven roots, it was more acceptable to call higher tier craftsmen this way.

“How long before you go? You’ll at least eat supper won’t you?”

“Supper? Yes, sure.”

Elodia peeked her head out of the kitchen. The night was closing in and the shop had been closed for half an hour now. Roland usually made his way towards the dungeon when the sun was going down. It would only take him a few hours to get there and he wanted to be at the lava lake around midnight when most of the adventurers returned to the city.

Soon six people were sitting around the table. Bernir with his wife along with Jorg was to his left while Elodia and Marcie were to the right. He on the other hand was at the end of the table and in the seat that usually went to the head of the household.

Roland wasn’t sure if they were doing it on purpose but the closest ones that were sitting to him would usually have a higher standing in the family. By the order they were sitting in, Elodia had the highest standing behind him and Bernir was to the left which put him in second place.

Fin was the only person from the trio that was missing. Due to him having a combat class of warrior he didn’t really fit between the production and crafting classes that everyone here had. Armand along with Lobelia would be responsible for his upbringing instead. The young man gravitated towards the muscle-brained idiot which was somewhat concerning but he had the strength to back up his attitude. Fin would at least need to respect that.

There was still one use for him at this age. Bronze adventurers were still used by the guild for menial tasks. They made perfect delivery personnel or cleaning crews. Killing small-time monsters didn’t really bring in that much money so they could counteract this by doing odd jobs.

Using the boy as a pair of eyes was also an option. He could report back to him and act as an informant on how people treated his creations. It would give him a good idea of how well he was doing on the market. This job would be better served for one of the orphans that would probably not double cross him as he was considered part of their family through his relation to Elodia.

‘Hope he won’t turn to idiot 2.0 though version 1.0 is already troublesome enough.’

After pushing the image of Fin turning into another muscle-bound bro he looked towards the food. Elodia’s cooking skills had only improved through the years of her using them. Level wise she was still a tier 2 class holder and even if she wasn’t given the stat multiplier like combat classes the skills still had their use.

“So, how are the trainees doing?”

While putting some mashed potatoes on his plate he posed a question to Elodia that seemed happy.

“I think Marcie is doing great, she was able to copy the fliers without a problem. I think with some practice we could start advertising your wares outside the city.”

“Outside the city?”

Elodia nodded at Roland’s question while she turned towards Marcie as if she was prompting her to say something.

“It’s fine, you can say it just like we practiced.”

“Hm?”

Roland’s eyes locked together with the young girls who quickly turned away. It was clear that she was about to say something but after making eye contact she got scared. This caused Bernir to burst out in laughter and was followed by Dyana smacking his head.

“Hey, stop being rude.”

“Ow, that hurts, why did you do that woman!?”

“What? Want me to do it again?”

“Uh…n-no…”

Bernir looked at Dyana’s rather muscular arm that had been toned by years of swinging a blacksmithing hammer. It was quite funny to see the boisterous half-dwarf shrinking back after getting smacked but it also made Roland appreciate the relationship he had with Elodia. While he sometimes received some light taps she lacked any physical strength to cause any permanent damage. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure if there wouldn’t be any long-lasting damage if Dyana continued to punish Bernir with those muscular arms of hers.

“I’m sure she’ll get used to it… Marcie said that she wanted to create fliers or new pamphlets for the shop. These could be given to the merchants to other cities.”

“Hm… actually, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

“See, I told you that he would like your idea.”

Elodia smiled at Marcie who took a quick peek at Roland’s face before turning back to her plate of food. In reality, Roland had already been deliberating on such a move. For this, he needed to create a catalog of his wares. It would be similar to what companies did in his old world when trying to entice business owners to buy items from them.

The catalogs were usually quite vibrant and contained pictures of the merchandise. They had short descriptions of each item with a price next to them. It needed to be eye-catching and easy to read. If Marcie got her skill level up she would probably be able to copy his writing that they then gave to merchants.

“Sure but first I’ll need to organize the stock and examine the market outside the city…”

“I knew you’d say that, so I’ve come prepared.”

Elodia smiled once more while pointing to a large notebook that was sitting on the cupboard.

“What’s that?”

“Why don’t you take a look?”

They were still eating but they were not nobles. There was no real rule against talking or doing other things when around the dining table. Roland never really cared about such things so people knew that he wouldn’t mind either.

After taking what looked to be a thick notebook he examined it. Inside he could see drawings of some of his creations like the runic swords and even golems. A lot of work had gone into this and it was clear that she had been going through this for a while.

“I decided to organize our wares by most useful to least useful, just look at it before you go to bed~”

“This is… how long did it take you to make this? I could have at least helped you with the pictures…”

“You’re already busy with your own workload, this is the least that I can do.”

Their eyes met and time seemed to stop. Roland was not really used to people doing things for him without him needing to ask them about it. This might have looked like something trivial but to him, it counted. Yet the moment between the two was short-lived as the sound of sneezing followed soon after.

“ACHOOO!”

“Hey, why did you do that, you oaf?”

“Huh, what?... Hey, stop hitting me already!”

The one that released a loud sneeze was of course Bernir. He had been eating a bit too fast and his bushy beard tickled his nose. His wife was grinning wide while looking at the pair of Roland and Elodia but now the romantic scene was ruined.

“Ahh… I remembered something…”

Elodia went red in the face and quickly escaped to the kitchen area. She was not the type of person that liked showing affection outside of the bedroom or when the two were alone. This he didn’t mind as teasing her for it was always fun. Only after she had cooled down did she return with a bonus plate of roasted chicken legs that he was then forced to devour.

“Jorg had been also working hard, we might be able to replace the flooring or lay out the yard with bricks.”

Soon the conversation shifted towards the other child, the half-dwarf Jorg. There wasn’t really much to talk about as the young one had to go through some basic training first. Yet Bernir his new master brought up some issues that with his help they could alleviate.

“You want to teach him how to make bricks?”

“Aye, we’ll just need a proper furnace, the brick mixture shouldn’t be hard to come by we can use the one I’m familiar with.”

Before working with Roland Bernir had gone through a lot of jobs. It wasn’t hard for him to see bricklayers doing their work. In this world they used special clay that hardened under heat to produce bricks. What Jorg would need to do was to prepare this clay mixture along with forming the bricks through a mold. Then as always, there could be magical materials added to these mixtures to make the bricks even stronger.

“Does he think he can do it.”

Both Roland and Bernir looked towards the half-dwarven boy that quickly nodded. It was clear that the youth wanted to prove himself just as any other. With his class, he would have an easy time with preparing the mixture without much help.

“See, the boy is willing.”

“Okay, you can go make that furnace and the molds just try keeping everything clean, if you run out of space you can use the workshop.”

“See, I told you he would agree to it.”

Jorg tried hiding the sigh of relief after getting the news. Bernir had probably scared him into believing this to be a hard sales pitch to his new boss. Roland on the other hand didn’t mind having a proper supply of bricks through which they could build better walls or even create a better path toward his workshop. Perhaps in the future, he could have a road leading through the entire forest that connects to the main road. This would surely attract the eyes of the richer folk.

With most of the things being worked out between them, it was time to head into the dungeon once more. Yet what was supposed to be another uneventful expedition would be a bit different this time around…