The Runic Alchemist

The city was just as crowded as it had been the day they passed through it on their way to the bastion. People shouted the prices of their goods in the bustling streets, while others strolled around, searching for items to purchase. Most of the crowd consisted of students, and their needs were modest. Still, weapon and armor shops, along with bookstores, were packed. In particular, runic scrolls were the most popular item in bookstores, as the academy library offered a superior collection of spellbooks for free.

Damian recognized many familiar faces from the academy grounds. Although everyone owned an academy uniform now, few actually wore it. Here and there, some students did—likely to take advantage of the discounts some shops offered based on their year of admission. The uniform served as proof of enrollment, though the academy badge alone sufficed. Students were instructed to keep their badges on them at all times.

Damian's badge bore intricate runic etchings and it should display a runic circle when activated. However, his hopes weren't high, as even the army badge had a similar design but failed to show anything. Through his studies of runic tools, Damian had learned that devices capable of displaying and recording large amounts of data required a significant energy source or a storage container that could control it all, akin to a network and a main server with their badges working as some kind of pager. The main server, rather than the receiver, was the critical component.

He speculated that the primary runic source for this network was hidden deep within the bastion, concealed behind ancient walls. While students were occasionally invited to the bastion for events or sightseeing, Damian doubted they would ever be shown the main runic device that stored and displayed real-time badge's status information of so many students.

A sudden thought struck him: if he could master this process, could he create something capable of streaming live videos? The idea was exhilarating—an innovation like that could be sold for a fortune, provided he found appealing content to entertain the masses. That will be a fun project. Yet he also understood its potential dangers. Such technology could be weaponized for espionage or war efforts. And if he showed the ability to replicate it, he will never breathe the air of freedom from the constant annoyance again.

As a Runic Forge Master, Damian possessed advanced knowledge of smithing and crafting quality items. His mana sense and mana threads allowed him to inspect the intricate structures of runic weapons thoroughly. By assessing the gaps in a weapon's connected mana node network, he could determine its quality. A weapon with perfectly filled gaps was considered top-tier. The lower the count of the completely filled gaps, the lower the quality of the said item.

Despite this, none of the swords Damian examined in the market met such standards. The best he found had a 77% perfection rate in mana nodes to gap ratio, and was graded as High. He knew that weapons above 85% were classified as Grand Grade, and those above 90% as Supreme Grade. Most market goods hovered around 60%—barely reaching the Advanced Grade.

Damian had checked these results by crafting the many things by his own two hands. And checking it with Vidalia's analyzing spell.

Legendary-grade weapons were said to exist above Supreme, but even after countless hours of effort, Damian had never succeeded in crafting one. He once poured all his focus into filling a small knife-sized piece of iron with perfect mana node connections, yet it remained Supreme Grade. There had to be more to the process, and Damian was determined to uncover the secret. He wondered if the academy's renowned runesmiths might hold the answer. If they wouldn't share it willingly, he would have to find another way to learn—or trade for the knowledge.

This determination was why, whenever Einar considered buying a sword, Damian would critique its flaws in excruciating detail. After enduring multiple exasperated glares from shopkeepers, Einar eventually gave up.

"Don't worry. I'll make you a good one," Damian assured her, feeling a little guilty.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You can do that?" Sam asked, surprised. Evrin and Einar turned to him with matching expressions of disbelief.

"Aren't you supposed to be a potion master?" Grace added, equally confused.

They were seated away from the bustling crowd in one of the fancier establishments in town—an "eating house," as this world had no word as restaurants.

"Since when can you do that?" Einar asked, her brows furrowed.

"I… advanced into my third job, which is runesmith-related," Damian confessed. There was no point in keeping it a secret, especially since he planned to attend the runesmithing class.

"And you can already craft weapons better than those in the market?" Evrin asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"I can try," Damian replied, trying to downplay his abilities but feeling he was failing miserably in it.

After that gruiling work he had to do in his job trial, Damian was repulsed even by looking at any kind of swords. But weapons were not what Damian was intrested in building, he had other plans.

"You already have a third job, huh…" Grace murmured thoughtfully.

Crafting jobs were notoriously harder to level compared to warrior classes. They could also just go and kill some monsters to level up just like them, but the point was to spend time on their craft.. That was how one earned new job options. One needed the knowledge, as much about their craft as possible and if there was something they were especially good at, there was a chance to get a specialized job just for that. Specialized jobs required extensive knowledge and exceptional skill in a particular field. This was why runesmiths specialized in diverse areas—some focused on repairs, others on crafting weapons, utility items, or large devices for noble patrons. Weapon makers, naturally, were regarded as the pinnacle of the profession.

"They give personal labs for us to work in, right?" Damian asked.

"Yes, but only for VIP students. Others have to share," Einar, the walking Highsword Academy encyclopedia, confirmed.

"Can you make something for me, too?" Sam asked eagerly.

"Sure. Two hundred gold for any weapon. But since you're my friend, I'll only charge you two-fifty," Damian replied, nodding generously. His benevolence, clear for others to see.

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The look on Sam's face was priceless. The others burst into laughter at his expense. Soon after, their food arrived, and they dug into the Edgeheaven delicacies.