The Runesmith

“Now, can someone point out what the problem is? Anyone? I see a whole forest of hands…”

“...”

Silence enveloped the entire lecture hall as the black floating cat asked for the answer to the question on the blackboard. It depicted a somewhat simplified runic structure of a lesser rune and wasn’t anything all that difficult. However, it didn’t seem that anyone from the students gathered here was willing to answer. Instead, they turned towards each other to resume their whispers that were sometimes masked by their own magic.

“... Is it always like this?”

“Actually, it’s not that bad today.”

“Not that bad huh?”

Roland had finished his visit to the flame mage tower and followed Arion back to the academy. They were inside a large lecture hall that was magically expanded. Due to this fact, the lack of people here was quite noticeable. The students occupied the seats all the way in the back while trying not to stand out. It was clear that they weren’t here to learn but just to gather merit points.

This academy had a system it followed; every student had a certain quota of classes to fill. There were two types of lessons, ones that were compulsory and others that weren’t as essential but were required to fill up that quota. If a student did badly in the mandatory classes, they needed to bolster their merits by attending other seminars like this one.

Runic theory that Professor Arion taught was one of these point-gathering spots. Due to the lack of funding, he had to lower the requirements for a passing grade. First, he was teaching just a simple theory that Roland had been able to figure out as a Runic Blacksmith. Second, he couldn’t throw out people who weren’t paying attention, as he needed a set amount of students to keep coming to not have his budget slashed even more. Thus, this turned into something that could be passed by just attending, a perfect way of gaining some easy merit points.

‘I was worried for nothing, if it’s like this then I won’t have to actually assist with anything during these lectures. I should probably bring some research material from the library next time.’

Roland thought to himself as he observed the disinterested students. The lack of engagement was apparent, and he couldn't help but wonder if this was a widespread issue in magical academia. Arion continued to ask questions, receiving minimal responses, and Roland started feeling bad for his feline friend. His passion for runes was real but it didn’t seem that anyone was that interested or even had any rune-related skills.

‘Now it makes sense that he praised Lucille so much, she was smart enough to grasp some of the runic theory even without being a runic mage.’

Even though only rune mages were able to truly understand how runes operated, there were ways of gaining some rune-related skills. If a person studied the right skill books and with some help from a rune mage, it was possible to be better at using runic artifacts. At first, skill books seemed like a cheat-like item, but most of them had stringent hidden requirements. Not everything could be learned, and people in this world usually didn’t push for skills that weren’t directly related to their own specific class.

For instance, a swordsman could learn beginner lance-related skills as they were locked behind the warrior class and not the higher-tier lancer class. They would not get much help from this world's system post tier 1, and most people considered it a waste of time to focus on a skill that would level up slowly. People called these auxiliary skills as they were only meant as a little bonus to augment their main skills.

‘I limited myself to only skills I knew that would work, but I bet this academy has a list of auxiliary skills that might be compatible with my classes… unless my elemental affinity stops me from gaining something again…’

In the past, Roland had tried to gain a few useful skills through books he procured. One of such skills was Mana Reinforcement, which had by now been upgraded all the way up to tier 3 and turned into Master Mana Reinforcement. At first, he assumed that a person could stack similar skills to gain a better effect, but that wasn’t true. There weren’t really that many lesser skills that offered the same, and lesser skills would be overwritten instead of added. Tier 3 Master Swordsmen couldn’t learn both Expert Swordsmanship and Master Swordsmanship skills, as the former was a lesser version that would be overwritten.

Roland was also a special case, as he was limited by his body, which couldn’t produce elemental spells like normal mages. Even the worst talent at least had a one percent affinity to some kind of element, something that unlocked a hidden requirement for many skills. He did not know why he was like this or if there was any type of remedy. Thus, he decided to lessen his focus on other skills and place it on runes and craftsmanship.

“Very well then, since it seems none of you are in the mood to participate today, let’s move on to the next topic as you might have noticed, we have a new guest today. This is Assistant Professor Wayland.”

“Ah…”

As he was thinking about other things and not really paying attention to the boring lecture, everyone turned their heads in his direction. Arion had a silly little grin on his face, as if he was playing a joke on him. The students seemed to be interested in the new individual as he was still a large armored man in a runic suit of armor. The faculty robe that he put over it hid most of it, but his gauntlets along with his helmet were still sticking out. The bulky nature of his armor was also eye-catching, making him look more like a battle mage ready to fight monsters than a scholar.

“Do you wish to say something to the students, Assistant Professor?”

“...”

“Behave yourselves … and listen to the lecture … “

A short silence fell on the area as the students flinched at his words. He wasn’t sure what it was about as he just blurted out a few random words.

“Hey, do you think that was a threat?”

“That person looks a bit scary…”

“Didn’t one of the other students get burned by a fireball when they were sleeping during a lecture? Do you think he would do that?”

“I don’t know… but he is looking at us… Do you think he can hear us through the silence barrier?...

“Hey, did his eyes just light up? Does he really hear us?”

“...”

Roland could understand them quite well, and the moment his visor flashed red, the students started to panic. They straightened up; some of them who were ready to doze off were not paying attention. He wasn’t sure what it was about, but perhaps they weren’t strangers to getting punished. Considering they were mostly here to gather merit points, they were probably not the greatest students.

“I don’t know what you did, but keep it up!”

“What did I do?”

Arion whispered in his direction before continuing the lesson about runes. Roland remained silent for most of it, but he noticed that the students were paying more attention to him than the blackboard the runes were on. For someone like him who didn’t like to stand out, it was quite a stressful hour. Eventually, a bell rang to indicate that everything was over, and he could finally take a breather.

“Damn, that was some intense pressure.”

“Yeah, do you think he can fire a molten ray spell from that helmet?”

“Shut up, do you want to get blasted by magic flames or something? You’re going to get us all in trouble.”

“Ha, let him try, my father wouldn’t stand for it!”
The teenage students continued to chat between each other while quickly running out through the door. It was as if a monster was chasing after them and he was that monster. Arion wiggled his tail to produce a spell to clean the blackboard before turning to him for a little chat.

“That’s about it for the lesson, I think it went well all things considered.”

“It was certainly an interesting experience…”

“Well, you made quite an impression. I didn’t expect the students to be that attentive for once. They just lack enthusiasm for runic theory. Most are here just to fulfill their quotas. But who knows, maybe your presence will ignite some interest in the subject. If it’s like this, then I don’t have to worry about you holding…”

Arion stopped himself before he continued the sentence which made Roland raise an eyebrow.

“Worry about what?”

“Hmm… how to say this my friend, do you remember the man from your examination?”

“Master Rathos?”

“No, the other one.”

“Professor Delauder?”

“Yes, I tried to convince him but the rascal insisted on attending one of the lectures. As you might know, Assistant Professors are required to hold some classes by themselves…”

“What? I have to teach those kids?”

“Regrettably so… If you don’t, I’m not sure what that cretin will do… But don’t worry, I’ll be there too! It doesn’t have to be about runic theory, how about you present one of your inventions, the students always reacted better to magical artifacts than theory!”

Roland knew the academy rules well and they stated that a person in his position had to hold classes but he assumed that Arion would take care of it. He was here for only a few days but Arion’s image that he previously had was already crumbling apart. It was clear that he had no power to do almost anything here and at most, he could stall it out.

“Magical artifacts? I guess that could work…”

“Don’t worry, we will figure something out, you have a full week until then!”

Luckily, the runic classes weren’t very popular so they were only held one day a week. He did have some runic items that he could present, like his runic golems or some other weapons. Perhaps he could even present some applied magic as the institute had various facilities to accommodate magical combat.

“You did a fine job, now I think you have an appointment with that Disciplinary Department. I’ll be returning to my study unless you wish to discuss something else?”

“Mmm… there was one thing.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

Arion was surprised that Roland mentioned something and watched him take out a strange-looking cracked object. With the help of his own identification skill the cat professor was quickly able to analyze the object.

“A damaged Lich core?”

“Yes, I would like a second opinion on this, let me explain…”

After producing a barrier around the two, he dived into the specifics. This was the damaged core of the Lich that had attacked Albrook. He wasn’t sure about how his mana pattern had gotten absorbed by the monster, but perhaps Arion could shed some light on it. He wanted to study it himself, but having others with more knowledge have a go at it was the smart thing to do. As it stood, he trusted Arion in being a professional researcher; he would likely not leak any confidential data outside.

“The monster got attuned to your mana and started acting strange? Fascinating.”

As expected, Arion found himself intrigued by the idea that a monster could become attuned to a mage's mana and subsequently generate a core with specific properties. Numerous runic products relied on such cores, and the same applied to various other items. An attunement of this nature had the potential to provide the user with a power boost or reduce mana requirements, making it a topic well worth exploring.

“I will give it a look.”

“You have my thanks.”

The two parted ways, and he was now alone. He had visited the mage tower, spent some time in the academy library, but now it was time to work for it. His next stop was the Disciplinary Department, which was responsible for the safety of students on this magical campus. Magic was a volatile thing and was given to young kids, many of whom didn’t realize the consequences before it was too late. It wasn’t strange for people to get injured; strange experiments and monsters ran rampant during botched summoning rituals.

‘Why does this place need to be so confusing … Maybe I should get a sub-skill in pathfinding…’

With his mapping device unable to show him the way he was forced to wander around with his own intuition. The place reminded him of his old high school which was mixed with a middle school and had a wide range of ages within. He could see young children running around on one side and ones close to being young adults on the other.

His memories were taken back to the incident with his brother who had attended the nearby Knight Academy. It was a place that was connected to Xandar’s Institute of Wizardry, as where there were mages, Knights weren’t far behind. They would form parties with each other just like they did with the two mages back during the Albrook incident in the mine.

‘The books did say something about mock battles for people wanting to become involved with the military. Mages are like artillery support during wartimes; they are a rare resource, but training them is probably difficult…’

He continued to wander around while deliberating on how hard it would be to train nobleman mages for war times. They usually had a sense of entitlement for possessing a rare class, and this was just worsened whenever they were nobles.

‘Hm… I might be lost… I should probably ask someone for help…’

It was clear that he wasn’t getting anywhere. He found himself in an unknown department with opened doors that had beds in them. There he could see some occupied by bandaged people or ones sleeping.

‘Did I arrive at the Medical Department instead?’

Roland stopped and started looking around; he needed to ask someone about the way towards the Enforcement Department. However, before he could ask anyone, he heard a strange sound coming from behind him. It sounded like a strange clicking noise, and when he turned, he saw a peculiar person sprinting his way.

“E-excuse me!”

It was a young lady going at full speed while wearing one of those bulbous gowns that went below a woman’s ankle. She had pulled it up slightly, but it was clear that it wasn’t something meant for running. There were some other students in the hallway who had to quickly duck towards the wall to not get bulldozed by her. Just like all the rest, he moved to the side to let her through. The girl quickly ran past to then stop, circle, and duck into a room that she had previously passed by.

“Are you all right? I heard that something terrible had happened! Why did you go to such a place, Lucienne!?”

Her voice was loud enough for everyone there to hear her. Roland was about to ignore her to move towards what he identified as another faculty office, but then he heard a name being mentioned. His legs stopped moving, and instead, he slowly shuffled towards the open room. He didn’t want to seem nosy, but if he slowly passed through the corridor, it would probably allow him to take a few glances without being noticed. The name was familiar, as it belonged to a person from the past.

‘It couldn’t be, how old would she be now? Fourteen? No Fifteen?”

Lucienne was a name that echoed through Roland's memories. It was a name from his previous life, from the time he spent in the Arden estate. His brows furrowed as he tried to reconcile the image of the young girl from his memories with the person being mentioned in the corridor. She was only three years old when he left that place and he would probably be unable to identify her without reading her status screen. He continued to shuffle discreetly towards the open door, curiosity overriding any intention to remain inconspicuous. As he approached, he caught snippets of the conversation inside the room.

“Lucienne, you should know better than to wander into dangerous areas! What were you thinking? It was those people again, right? We need to report this to the Professors!”

“No, it was nothing like that…”

The other girl sounded like she was trying to hide something; it was possible that there was more to the story that caused her injuries. As he was passing by, he noticed that she was wearing some special bandages over her forearms, and quickly he used his identification skill. Immediately, he stopped in his tracks as he read the full name of the person in his mind.

‘Lucienne Arden…’