The Runesmith

“Huh? What’s that sound?”

*Clang… clang… clang…*

A strange sound entered the ears of a couple of adventurers that were standing before the entrance to the Albrook City Dungeon. After many years of exploring the dungeon was finally given a rating of C.

The Dungeon ratings were similar to grades with S being above A for special ranked dungeons. A C-rated dungeon told people that the strongest creatures that they could find there were below tier 3.

A rating of C+ could be given to such a dungeon if, for instance, it produced one final boss that was at the tier 3 level of strength. With the strongest creature being below that level it was given the C rating.

A B rating would be given to dungeons with some tier 3 creatures lurking on the more difficult lower levels. An A rank would mean that the prevalence of tier 3 was quite severe. This didn’t mean that a high graded dungeon couldn’t have low level creatures wandering in the earlier stages.

The new adventurers would have to take into consideration that a stronger creature could appear on the easier levels. Thus it was much safer for them to slowly level up through the easier dungeons unless they wanted to encounter monsters a full tier above them.

This caused this Albrook dungeon to be mostly populated by newer adventurers. The layout caused the easy monsters to stay on the upper levels which left all the new adventurers a safe space to train up.

It was also still enough for the more veteran gold adventurers to find something for themselves. It became a mid range dungeon that could be used by aspiring adventurers almost all the way up towards their tier 3 change.

Normally gold adventurers when approaching the 150th level would form large parties with each other and head out to a B-rated dungeon. There they would attack the lower leveled tier 3 monsters as it was faster than sticking to monsters on their own level.

The group of adventurers that were looking out into the distance here was composed of steel ones and bronze ones. They were quite surprised by the appearance of a man clad in metal.

“What kind of armor is that… are those runes?”

“Never mind the armor, what is that thing behind him?”

“Is it a tamed monster? No… it's made of metal!”

They continued to murmur while the person approached slowly. The armor that the person was wearing didn’t look like your everyday plate armor. Even though it was mostly covered by a dark robe, the gauntlets were too shiny for them not to stick out.

The helmet was nice and silver and while the visor slit was separated in two it had some sort of dark glass implanted. This caused the people to not be able to see the man’s eyes and worry about the visibility. It also didn’t seem that this helmet had any holes for breathing which made it look even more uncomfortable to wear.

The rest of this armor seemed more streamlined and the breastplate was somewhat angular at the chest area. The pauldrons were a bit more pronounced but not enough to the point that they would limit mobility.

The thickness of the armor also looked unordinary which showed that the person wearing it had to have an enhanced strength number. It was clear to the new adventurers here that the person inside of it had to at least be a tier 2 class holder to be able to move around in that heavy armor.

While the armor was interesting due to its size and runes, what drew the eyes was the thing walking behind this armored person. It looked like some kind of barrel with four legs. To the side, there was some kind of latch and it seemed that it could be opened. By the size of the construct, they wouldn’t be surprised if a person was riding inside of it.

“Hey, isn’t that just Wayland?”

“You mean the Runesmith?”

“Who else would be parading in armor like that?”

The young adventurers nodded at each other while the person in question could hear them talking.

‘I didn’t even make it red this time around, I guess it’s not possible to not stand out when wearing something like this…’

Roland gave out a sigh while walking slowly. The armor that he was wearing was an improved version of his runic armor that was all made from Aether metal. It was still mostly deep steel but he managed to get his hands on some better alloys which would boost the spell casting output of his runes.

It was time to head into the dungeon to get his resources. He had planned and waited for the right moment, now it was upon him. While it was something that he was looking forward to he also realized that his heart was beating faster.

At first, he thought that he was pushed into some of these strange situations. The time with the ant queen or the run-in with the dark elves were some. There was always a safer way of doing things but he realized that he also didn’t like to waste time.

If he took it slowly he would have probably been behind his current level. His stats would be lower and his store might have not even existed yet. He realized that taking risks was just a part of life and running a successful business.

Even now while going down into the dungeon there was more time than he could take. The store money had slowed down but he would be able to gather more with time. Waiting and twiddling his thumbs was not something he liked to do.

Maybe because in his past life he wasted time on doing things that others forced him to that now he was unwilling to wait. It was as if he feared that if he stopped for a second that he would lose his stride and for that he was even willing to put himself in some moderate danger.

A growl knocked him back to reality as he spotted Agni looking at some adventurers. They all quickly backed off after the Ruby Wolf peeked out from behind the chubby walking golem.

“It’s okay Agni, calm down, they are just curious.”

Agni snorted with his nose as some of the new adventurers were so curious about this strange party that they approached to take a look. This made Roland think about the talk he had with Bernir not so long ago.

….

“Be sure to double-check everything.”

“Sure boss! You don’t need to worry, I’ll keep everything safe!”

“You have all the key cards… Do you need me to explain them to you?”

“No need, I remember everything! You are worrying too much boss, have a great time in the dungeon.”

About thirty minutes ago Roland was looking at his somewhat older-looking assistant. His beard was a lot longer than before and even had some braids. He did not understand the dwarven culture and even though his assistant was only half a dwarf he still loved to tend to this bushy mess.

“Don’t worry Wayland, I’ll keep him in check.”

A womanly voice called out from the side and he saw a rather tall-looking woman which quite the large protruding chest area.

“That’s reassuring”

Dyana, one of the other tier 2 blacksmiths from town was also here. For some unknown reason, Bernir managed to hit it off with this large woman. She was even taller than Roland was so he was somewhat surprised that she decided to pair up with Bernir who wasn’t all that tall.

Bernir of course reported on his romantic conquests on every occasion that he got. Roland didn’t believe most of it, Dyana was also clearly the one wearing the pants in this relationship as he could see his assistant flinch a bit after his girl spoke out.

Through the years Roland managed to be less paranoid about the people around him. This was mostly due to his own sweetheart that had grown on him through the years.

By going down into the dungeon he needed someone to keep the fort. Elodia had the orphanage to worry about so that left Bernir. The last time he was left was years ago and produced some dead thieves. Now the area was much better protected so he was sure that Bernir would be able to handle himself.

Dyana being here was mostly Bernir’s idea and he didn’t need to ask why he wanted her here. The two had their own places and they mostly stayed at her workshop for their nightly activities. With him leaving for a few days it was probably time for his assistant to let lose in his own improved house.

The shack that he had lived in was no more as his carpenter skills were used. The house wasn’t as large as Roland’s but the inside was somewhat cozy. There would be enough space for a whole family to live in and he wasn’t sure how he should feel about that being a possibility.

Having Dyana over here would increase his store's profitability. She was also in the minority of people that he could trust along with Bernir. The large woman constantly complained about how her wares weren’t selling that well.

The only people that went for the basic non-magical armors were bronze and steel grade adventurers. Getting involved with Wayland enterprises would probably earn her a lot of money but he was aware that making such a decision wasn’t easy.

She would be selling off the store that she worked hard to create. Even though she wouldn’t be moving far it would probably be a hit to her pride as a craftsman if she just gave up. The only other option that was less invasive would be an affiliation. Her store would get his logo and a shipment of runic wares to spice things up.

The problem with that would also concern the dwarven union. They still had it out for him, any store that had his wares up for sale would probably invite some trouble that was better avoided. But as time told he was able to work around that problem with good runic items.

Even without the dwarven help, his name carried weight behind it that the dwarves could not deny anymore. He was the city runesmith, he was the first one and they would all see him as one.

This didn’t mean that he would be the only runesmith forever. The city was slowly stabilizing itself and there were even houses being built outside the old walls. This would be a new district that was supposed to be called a new town while the old town remained inside.

While he didn’t think that this expansion would reach his home any time soon, it was a possibility that he would get actual neighbors here after ten or so years. The intermediate ranked C dungeon was popular enough for this to happen. Even the nobles that ruled the area were slowly starting to show some interest in it.

“Come here for a second…”

Roland pulled Bernir over closer while he was looking at his future wife.

“Listen, you are free to use all facilities but if I find out that you did something in my own house then…”

Roland glanced over towards Agni who in response showed Bernir his nice chompers while also looking at something between Bernir’s legs.

“No boss… I need those, don’t worry, we won’t!”

“Fine, have your fun”

“You too boss and be sure to bring ol’ Betsy back in one piece.”

“I’ll try.”

With click to a runic remote old Betsy sprung to life. This was a heavy golem that was built for transportation. It was something Roland decided to create to replace Bernir as he didn’t want to endanger a good blacksmith like him with more dungeon runs. He wasn’t getting any experience from the kills which slowed down his progress.

Instead, they built a mechanical mule to carry around the heavy load. This golem looked like a bulky headless horse with a golem eye at the front. It had a compartment inside with the largest spatial bag that Roland could afford. The plan was to replace this bag with a proper space rune when the time came but for now, this would have to do.

By bringing only this large mule-type golem he would save on energy. The spatial bag inside of it would be enough to house all the other weapons and provisions that he needed for his new expedition. The batteries that it used were also inside along with a portable charger that he could use his own mana on. If he ever ran out of energy for some reason, he would be able to recharge the golems a couple of times on his own.

“Did you pack the lunch I made for you?”

“Yes, I’ve triple-checked everything… Stop looking at me like that, I’ll be fine.”

As he was about to head into the forest he was then met by Elodia. His woman wasn’t happy about him wandering into the dungeon alone. Luckily she was used to the adventurer types so it wasn’t as hard to convince her for this longer expedition.

“Be careful, if you don’t come back in time I’ll send a search party for you!”

“Please don’t do that, I’ll be fine, the monsters in the Dungeon aren’t anything special.”

He of course didn’t quite come clean about what monster he would be fighting as he knew that Elodia would be probably against him soloing a unique boss that no one else had met before.

“I’ll be waiting, don’t forget to eat.”

After a little smooch they finally parted ways, he felt bad about his lie but he didn’t want to worry Elodia.

….

Thus now he found himself walking into the dungeon with a lot of eyes on him. Luckily Agni with his increased size and level was enough so scare anyone from coming over and asking stupid questions.

The lumbering golem behind him wasn’t very fast but not like he was in a hurry. The stairs caused it to wobble around a bit but it was not falling down. The runic program that was created for it made it shift its weight to offset the angles so it wouldn’t fall over. Even if it got flipped around for some reason it had an axillary arm to turn itself over.

There was also one perk of using this mule golem instead of Bernir as a porter. The monsters would normally not attack this golem unless it moved. When he turned it off they would just see it as a lump of metal with no life.

Thus before each battle, he could just press the off switch and place it on the side. No monster would even interact with it as it was an inanimate object to them. But whenever the runs sprung in motion the monsters could feel the mana flowing and would react.

Thus for now, Agni was in the rear to keep any monsters from destroying the portable armory that he needed to take out the lurking boss in the lower levels. The weaker monsters fell to Agni’s teeth and claws as his tamed beast had profited from Roland’s experience gains.

After taking some shortcuts they arrived at the tenth level boss area. Luckily it had already been cleared out by some adventurers. While a few years ago there was a good chance to take this boss down with a random party, nowadays a person had to make an appointment with the guild.

The boss respawned at a set time after it was defeated and the doors to its room opened. The guild would send out their employees to monitor the room a few hours before the boss would spawn. If a party that didn’t buy the privilege to battle this boss appeared they would be denied entrance. If they decided to ignore the guild worker and fight the boss out of order, they would be fined. Their adventurer cards could even be suspended.

This showed how much early adopters had the advantage over the new people that arrived here. Even the new adventurers that came around the same time as he did were able to battle this boss if they wanted. This helped them earn a lot of money as the boss always dropped a chest and its materials could be sold off for a lot of coins.

Even though the golem wasn’t the fastest, without having to fear the weak monsters they arrived in the lower levels in just a few hours. At his current level and with the help of the improved runic armor he could just shoot down any enemy and take them out with one shot.

Roland’s eye sockets glowed as he examined the area. Before him, a bright image of a map appeared with many small red dots. All the dots were moving around slowly and in his mind, he already saw a nice route where he could evade most of them.

‘Okay, time to get this over with.’