The Runesmith
chapter-258-30041322

There they were, the three children had managed to attain their first classes and their lives were somewhat set in stone. First was Jorg with a stonemason class that would just give him skills for building structures. It wasn’t that much different than Bernir’s first class that was more poised for woodwork. This was somewhat fitting for a half-dwarf and the child looked content.

Thus just like him, it would be possible to grab the blacksmith class for him if he so wished. Battle classes would be locked away to him. The only way to receive a battle class was through the first class change. After this, the person would need to meet some basic requirements. This would be mostly impossible as many of those battle classes required skills that could only be attained through unlocking such a class.

For instance, Basic One-handed Swordsmanship could be attained by anyone before they received a class. Yet to be actually able to unlock a basic sword warrior class this skill needed to change into regular One-handed Swordsmanship which could only be attained by already having a tier 1 warrior class. It seemed that the system didn’t want crafting or production classes to attain battle classes.

‘I guess a person could still forcefully get a skill through other ways…’

Roland looked at Jorg’s status screen while knowing of at least one way of getting the young man a higher tier skill. This could be done through the thieves guild and the black market. From time to time certain blood-colored stones would be put up for sale and these contained skills lifted from people that were killed. With the help of something like that even a stonemason would be able to change their fate.

“Haha, I knew it! I told you that I would be able to get warrior!”

Fin was quite happy that he received the most basic of classes. Warriors were the most commonly obtained battle class out there but even it would allow someone to earn a lot of money by visiting dungeons. His life would probably be a lot harder than for the other two but he didn’t have the same limitations.

Then there was Marcie that didn’t look happy or sad. Her class brought back some old memories of being stuck in a small room and creating magical scrolls. She achieved the non-magical version of the mana scribe class. It was a bit similar to Elodia’s accountant class as it gave her some basic counting skills but also would allow her to copy books and texts rather easily.

‘Hm, it could be useful for keeping records around here…’

Roland was still running a small operation here, there were a lot of things going on but not enough hands to handle everything. Elodia was the only one crunching the numbers and sometimes even he had to help her out to figure out the budget for everything. It wouldn’t be bad to get more people here that they could trust.

‘Well that depends on the girl but she would probably not have anything against working with Elodia…’

The kids from the orphanage had quite an attachment to their big sister. Even when walking here they constantly bothered her with questions. Even now they were looking to her for affirmation about their classes, were they good or bad? They didn't really know.

“It was strange, I was stuck in a large cavern with closed doors and there was a large sword in the middle, when I picked it up a voice called out to me as I received the blessing!”

“Is that so?”

Elodia smiled at Fin that started looking for a branch to swing around. Yet he was unable as Roland along with the others working here liked to have a clean working environment. The next in line was Jorg that also explained his experience in the strange space.

“There was a large hammer next to an old building and I picked it up…”

“Just like that?”

“For me, it was a library, there was a piece of parchment and a quill… when I tried writing something I heard the voice of the goddess.”

To the people in this world, the disembodied voice from the system was supposedly a gift from the gods. The voice could actually differ between people but most of the time it belonged to a woman.

“Fin I know that you are happy but you are forbidden from going to the dungeon alone, do you understand?”

“Yeah yeah…”

The boy was not listening as he was probably imagining his first monster fight. Luckily the adventurer guild wouldn’t allow anyone without a card to just enter into the dungeon. The guards would keep the kids away. Yet Roland had done the same thing when he turned ten so it was still possible for Fin if he found a proper party.

“Aye Boss, can we use any of em?”

“One is a warrior, the other is a stonemason, and the third a scribe…”

“A Stonemason you say?”

Bernir appeared out of the blue after hearing some of the kids' shouts. Roland could see that Bernir was interested in Jorg which was probably due to their similar circumstances. Their lineage was the same and they also started out with builder classes which could be transformed later into a crafter.

“You want to take him under your wing? Go ahead, we could use some help around here but he won’t be getting much until he proves himself as a worker.”

“Haha, thanks boss, I’ll be sure to knock some sense into him!”

His assistant moved toward the ten-year-old child who in this world was already an age they could join the working class. In reality, this was quite the opportunity for the young half-dwarf as he would be getting good tutelage under a tier 2 blacksmith. Then there was Marcie that could also be taken in by Elodia. With more salespeople around his shop could be open for longer which would translate into more profits.

‘I probably won’t be able to get all of those kids work here but not like this is their only option.’

Roland nodded at Elodia who smiled back at him. The two had already talked about the possibility of new employees. The nod was just a confirmation of him finding little Marcie’s new class useful.

While she was not a runic mana scribe like him it wouldn’t be impossible to use her magic scrolls. Higher tier scribes could almost copy anything that was written down, even magical books. Those would just need to be infused with mana by someone like Roland with a corresponding skill that could be purchased later.

‘I feel like things might get a lot more lively here soon…’

A faint smile appeared on his face when he saw Elodia and Bernir interacting with the kids. It was as if his enterprise was slowly expanding. He could already picture some other buildings appearing in the empty plot of land that he bought but didn’t use yet. Perhaps both Bernir and his new disciple could be the ones responsible for their construction. The stonemason job would also come in handy for expanding and reinforcing their underground passages.

‘Finally got this out of the way, I should go back to work before Arthur decides to order more equipment…’

Thus Roland returned to his underground lair of crafting while the others tended to the orphans. For the three a new life filled with hard work and decisions was waiting. Fin in particular would be put through the wringer as working as an adventurer was not quite as splendid as people made it up to be.

…

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Yeah, how many times do I have to repeat myself? Relax, those worms won’t appear, those idiotic nobles were just stupid for coming to the dungeon before it was examined by the specialists, it serves them right. As I said, that can only happen when there is a large group of people.”

“If you say so.”

A group of four adventurers were walking through a rocky path with a giant chasm next to it. Some time ago a group of nobles ran into a dungeon event that produced a swarm of worms. Such things routinely appeared in some dungeons and sometimes only when some requirements were met. In this case, it would only happen if a large group of tier 2 class holders would try to go through this path. If the groups were small and kept a distance from each other then nothing would trigger the event.

“Now be quiet, even if those worms won’t appear other monsters could, stay sharp and focus.”

“Aye aye.”

It was a regular party with a common composition, three warriors, and one archer that was there to help discover monster ambushes or ranged support. It was a common occurrence to not find mages or healers in parties like this as warrior variants made up the bulk of the adventurers.

“Hm…”

“Is something wrong?”

Called out the leader that was a tier 2 sword warrior. The archer looked around but shook his head.

“It’s just… too quiet…wait, what was that?”

At first, the archer wasn’t sure what was going on, most of the time he was able to discover nearby monsters or at least hear things from a distance. Yet after going through this winding mountain-like pathway it had gotten really quiet.

“I didn’t hear anything… could it just have been some fallen rocks?”

The group of three warriors peeked to all sides and even up but couldn’t find anything out of place. There were no corners that a monster could be lurking from which only left the dark chasm as the perpetrator. Their best guess was that a lone slug monster or worm was scaling the wall which was a rare occurrence but not impossible.

“Do you see anything?”

“I think there is something there but…I can’t really make it out…”

The archer attempted to activate various tracking skills but they were all unsuccessful in detecting anything.

“Couldn’t it be just some monster that is outside your skill range? Not like it will pose a problem to us, let's move on.”

The leader called out to the man with the bow that wasn’t quite sure what was wrong. Yet as he was leaning away from the chasm he noticed something. It was a peculiar sight of two green orbs of flames right before his face. There it was the perpetrator he was looking for and the monster was literally standing before him.

“What the?”

“How did that thing!”

The party members jumped back as from within the chasm a skeletal body appeared. This monster at first looked like an illusion but within a moment its entire body was before everyone. However it was already too late, the monster’s green flames erupted into all directions and collided with the defenseless tier 2 adventurers.

…

It was a peculiar thing to behold. The tier 3 Lich that had escaped from its prison looked at the flaming adventurers that couldn’t resist a simple soul-flame spell. They were far more delicate than the monster expected, if it knew that its opponents were this weak it would have gone out of the mineral-filled area a lot sooner.

The Lich took its time, it examined the strange creatures that inhabited this new area. It used its magic to figure out the structure of this place and came to a few conclusions. First of all, this place was very similar to the one that it came from. The monsters it encountered after being killed appeared in the same places and destroyed walls were slowly mending themselves.

This made the Lich a bit moody as it was afraid that it was just in another extension of its previous prison. Yet there was something new, a different kind of being that resided in this place that wasn’t constricted by its rules. They were quite fascinating as they could move independently and even communicate with each other.

It had used its extensive mana sense to eavesdrop on the people that were passing from above. There was some kind of trail that was rarely used but from time to time a group of three to five of those beings would appear. They were quite interesting to behold and even had an interesting way to communicate through various sound waves. Now that it was looking at some of them it could even identify the sound-producing organ.

“N-no… s-stay away.”

“...”

“nOoO… SsTTaaYY ‘wAYyy…”

One of these creatures was now being held in its skeletal hand. Even now it was producing strange sounds through this organ. The Lich was not sure what it was saying as it was unable to process this language. The words the voice said were different, they were something that communicated directly to its very core. The only thing it could do was replicate the sound pattern with the help of mana.

The Archer that was being held by the monster utilized his whole body but even when his fists landed on the bony creature only he received injuries. The Lich came to the conclusion that this fleshy being was another enemy. For some reason, it was having a tough time controlling its urge to kill. It was not the voice but something more primal there that was pushing it towards this decision.

Yet it was able to hold itself back, it needed more information. This thing was not like the other monsters that the Lich was more similar to. It possessed another different mana pattern that was really weak but similar to the creatures that it had already killed. This mana signature was a lot more akin to the one that that large blue beam of energy produces.

“AGHhhhh….”

Within a few moments, the man’s head exploded as the Lich constricted its bony fingers around it. This was not it, this thing was similar but still closer to the dungeon’s mana pattern and to what this world was composed of. It desired to interact with the mana that allowed it to break its shackles. There was something very unique about that energy pattern and it would not stop until it came to the bottom of this mystery.

While it wanted to do nothing more and learn about the truth it didn’t have any clues on where that mana fingerprint had originated from. In the mine area, it found no clues, and the traces of what it was looking for had been deluded by the dungeon's own mana. It needed more information and also a better grasp of where it was.

*Thud*

The body of the adventurer dropped down to the ground after his demise. Yet this was not the end for him or for the others. The Lich had other plans for these fleshy beings as there were certain spells that it could use on these remains. It had never performed the spell but it had it ingrained into its very being.

There were no words, just a motion of its bony hand. The charred remains as well as the one missing its head started being surrounded by dark green mist. This mist seeped into them and within a few seconds, a reaction could be seen. The rattling of bones was followed by the shedding of any remaining flesh.

From the remains of the warriors, three reflections of them made from crimson bones were created. The weapons that their living counterparts didn’t need anymore now belonged to them.

The last one was the archer that had reformed its skeletal head in strange ways. The shattered bones had mended themselves to reform the entire skeletal structure. However their creator was not pleased, the levels of the fleshy being before they died were higher. It observed around a fifteen percent decrease in levels as also in all-around stats.

This feeling of displeasure didn’t last for long as it looked towards the distance. There it could feel another small group of similar creatures approaching it. Even though the raised monsters it could produce were weaker there was always strength in numbers. The Lich held up its staff while slowly concealing itself and its new minions. When the next group of meat bags arrived it would be ready again…