The Runesmith

“It has been about a week… or has it been more?”

Roland was looking at the clock in the distance while also screwing in a couple of bolts to hold a golem’s joint together. Just as he had predicted the tests were quite lengthy yet not that hard. At this time he was already on the fifth one which told him to create a golem.

The third test was another large order which consisted of mining tools for a group of ten miners. He was given a specific list of requirements that he had to adhere to. While it wasn’t all that hard the number of items plus the lack of much time added together.

After he was finished with the fourth test he was slowly wondering if he really wanted to continue with this class choice. It seemed to turn him into a factory worker that just went down through a list of commands that he needed to follow through. It did feel like he was in a simulation of a workshop and the piece of paper was a ruthless boss that didn’t care if he would be able to complete the order or not.

After the fourth test, he was close to giving up on this class. The skills that he would be receiving were still unknown to him but by what the tests were giving him he had an idea about them. Probably what he would be getting would be abilities that would aid him in manufacturing various contraptions, perhaps something to speed up the process.

In the fourth trial, he needed to outfit a party of soldiers with ranged weaponry. After innovating his workshop it was not hard to emulate his runic rifle designs. There was plenty of mana fluid to go around and the gun was easily manufactured as it didn’t really possess that many moving parts as its modern-day counterpart.

Luckily his scores were high as he had feared that perhaps going with a more traditional crossbow design would have been better. The wooden defenders didn’t seem to have troubleshooting down their foes with the rifles and he had slipped in enough replacement batteries to last them through what looked like to be a fortress defending scenario.

Then finally when he was about to reconsider this test he was given the fifth test, there he would need to design a golem. If he was getting a golem to work with then it should mean that this class also offered some benefit to making these creations. As if out of nowhere an aisle appeared with various parts that he could assemble a golem with.

Previously he had seen some basic golem cores but only after he managed to get through the fourth trial did the place alter itself. He had already had a suspicion that this place reacted to what he needed and somehow created the required components that he would need to complete the test. What he only needed to do was to assemble them correctly.

From the beginning, Roland didn’t think that this class change would be harder than the Runesmith Lord one. This was mostly due to the second tier 2 class test being geared towards people with tier 1 classes.

As someone with a somewhat broken tier 2 class already he was able to compensate in all of these trials. His large mana pool allowed him to create better and more precise runes without getting tired. The higher stats multiplier made him work faster while also still being precise. This allowed him to finish the tests quicker and thus upgrade his workshop in the process.

This golem that he would need to make was now the fifth trial and it seemed to also be the most difficult one. He even found himself going to the office area to draw up some schematics. The note with the bullet points was stapled onto the wall and next to the whiteboard.

Requirements:*Create a humanoid warrior golem height between 180 cm and 210 cm*Weight up to 500 kg.*Armaments need to include a one-handed weapon and shield

The instructions were vague as always. He predicted that his creation would probably need to face off against something. While the requirements were for him to only build a golem that was carrying a sword and shield around, this didn’t mean that he couldn’t innovate. The more he could cram into the golemic creation the more likely it would win against the foe it would be facing.

Thanks to how this test was set up he was able to find a plethora of parts. What he needed to do is to assemble the framework and then armor it up. The hardest part would be to alter the golem cores as they seemed to be just blank. Yet thanks to this he was starting to think that the class he was getting would be also receiving some golem core related skills.

This was mostly his aim for the new class, unless he would get something that would make his life easier it would have been better to go with the Runic Golem Designer. What he was aiming here for was a class that would not only help him with creating golems but also various other creations.

The golem core could be used for much more than just golems or at least that is what he was thinking. It was just something to store the runic software on, it would make the runes work as the runesmith programmed it in. There could be many other uses for them, he could see them working as the basis for many smart devices.

Mage towers for instance implemented something similar but more sophisticated. He couldn’t really get his hands on that research as the professor denied him. His explanation was that research of the arcane arts would only muddle his current knowledge. Focusing on Runecrafting was already a huge undertaking and he somewhat agreed with the sentiment. Learning a new field of magic would just stifle his progress and perhaps in the future, he would have enough of it to continue with this path.

After creating a schematic for a two-legged golem he got to work. This time the timer was maxed out at ninety-nine hours. The strange thing about this fact was that the clock wasn’t ticking down. It looked to be stuck in limbo even after he spent a full day of working on the current design.

There could be a couple of reasons for this but he went with the most probable one. The time for this test was probably over the limit of this clock counter. As he continued to work this also became true and after adding up the hours he came to the conclusion that a week's time was given to him for this test.

‘This might be the last one so I should focus otherwise I’ll lose my mind…’

The place was filled with fake light, there was no day or night cycle and if the clock wasn’t there he would not know how long he had already been here. It was clear that one of the things that this trial was testing was his mental fortitude.

Day by day there was another order that he needed to fulfill. Even when he was done with a trial he continued to slave away to improve the state of his temporary workshop. Without his Parallel Thinking skill, he felt that he would have not been able to finish the tests as fasts.

It was as if he was not alone, as if he had a second person working with him. While one part of his mind was working on the correct rune paths in his head the other was assembling the golem’s leg joints.

There was no crane to hoist this new creation up for easier access. He had to somehow assemble everything on the ground and then have his creation stand up on its own. Getting it into the largest glass case would otherwise not be possible.

First came the legs that would have the bulk of the weight in them. A humanoid golem was not as balanced as the spider drones he made. This type required a solid base as if he fell down gravity would cause additional damage.

Luckily the magic runes somewhat counteracted the weight problem of these constructs. Without it some of the larger models would just crumble under their own weight. In his old world, there was something called the Square-Cube law. In short, it stated that an increase in size would be followed by an even larger increase in weight which would in term limit the scale of possibilities by quite a bit.

In this world of swords and magic, it seemed that this law could be circumvented. Either by the use of magical materials that could withstand the increase in size or by magic. This was also part of his own studies, the runic diagrams he was given from the magical academy could be applied to golems to help them not crumble under their increased weight.

The biggest issue with circumventing this law by magic was that it required constant magic. If the golem ran out of it while moving the joints would break apart. The one that he was creating here would not be that big so it wouldn’t need to be boosted by magical runes that much. Yet if it was, its movements would be enhanced along with its speed which could turn the tide in the coming battle.

So he continued with the less than optimal assembly on the ground. Luckily the golem didn’t need to be too big nor bulky. Thanks to this he didn’t have trouble bringing over all the required parts. The toughest part wasn’t actually assembling the outer shell but mostly working on the inner workings that was the golem’s operating system.

This was the only thing that the trial ground didn’t provide him with. Thankfully in the past, he had gone through a plethora of golem cores. Even though he had stuck to making spider-like golems he had tinkered around with smaller humanoid ones.

The design that he went with made it somewhat look similar to his own runic armor. But instead of himself on the inside, it would be filled out by the inner skeleton. The chest area would house what some called the ‘Golem’s Heart’ but to him naming it the ‘Golem’s Engine’ would be more appropriate.

It was its power source without which it would be unable to function. Due to it being filled out with mana fluid or mana crystals it was required to keep it somewhat further away from the core that was susceptible to breaking. What he could do was insert as much fluid into the tank that the weight limit allowed him to do.

Luckily this wasn’t his first rodeo so after assembling all the parts that he was given into a proper skeleton he was finally able to activate it. The golem came up to exactly two meters and was slightly taller than his creator. Its head was empty for the time being as he only needed it to stand up.

After working nonstop for half a week his creation’s framework was ready. He followed one of the most basic designs which had been already tested by many other runesmiths before him. Now at this half-point what he was left with was a canvas onto which he could deliver the finished product.

The legs came out a bit bulkier than the rest so that his creation would have a lower center of gravity and keep it from being tipped over. Luckily at this size, he didn’t have to worry about not being able to stand back up nor about the inner skeleton from snapping from too much stress.

The chest area was also a bit bulkier than the rest as it housed both the golem core that was closer to the upper area and the golem heart that was closer to the groin. The shoulders were rounded to emulate the look of a generic full plate armor. The golem would not have trouble raising its hands or performing human-like movements.

On its left hand, he attached a large round shield that was outfitted with several runes. On the inside of the shield, he had placed various mana stones to minimize the mana usage as he always did.

The note didn’t say that he couldn’t attach the shield directly to the golem’s forearm which he did. Instead of having his creation hold the shield he used its hand to form a weapon. It looked like a stump with a gem at the end but in reality, it was just a modified spell wand that used the gem as a focus point.

For the melee weapon of choice, he went with a large mace. The golem had enough power to swing it around and he was unsure of what his creation would be fighting but he was counting on it being another golem. What better way to test if the trial taker was proficient at making golems than having it fight another one?

At the top point, it had a head that was mostly just there to house the main golem eye. The head part had two of them that were in the front and also in the back. There was not enough time to give it any more alternatives or to update the operating system to use them.

Thus the time for his creation that he fastened and welded together from all sorts of parts to be tested had come. It had a modified version of a basic runic combat program along with all the rest. Roland was not quite there yet when it came to altering the software too much so he would need the old tried design to do most of the heavy lifting.

“Hope this goes well…”

With only fifteen minutes remaining on the clock, he ordered the golem to climb into the glass cabin into which it barely fit in. Soon it slid down into the ground as all his other creations did before. The TV screen soon turned on to show him an arena that was quite similar to the one in his previous class change trial.

‘Just as I thought, it's made from wood.’

Roland could see his own golem that was made from deepsteel and some other more mana conducive materials on one side. On the other, there was something that looked like a bulky wooden puppet with a shield and sword.

This is something that he expected, all the other simulations involved either stuffed toys that looked like monsters or wooden puppets. Roland wasn’t sure but the wood that the golem was made of was something similar to bronzewood. There were other kinds that would fit a larger humanoid puppet like this which it probably was made off.

After the enemy became clear Roland let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure if this was by design but being against a golem made from wood would go in his favor due to how he customized his golem.

Wooden golem was somewhat similar to his own. This was probably due to the fact that he modeled it by a popular design. It didn’t look much different than a regular runecrafted iron golem that a person could find at a proper dwarven workshop.

Soon the two golems spotted each other, each golem's eye homed in on the enemy before them while giving out a red glow. Even though these weren’t large golems they were still slower than the average human warrior. This was why most people would never order one at this size as its decreased size was more manageable. Though with better schematics and materials one could create golems that are both agile as well as deadly.

By the way, these two were fighting reminded him of old toy commercials where small plastic robots punched themselves out until one lost its head. Their movements were robotic and even he that wasn’t a masterful warrior could tell where the next strike would come.

At first, he was worried that his creation would soon falter. While the deepsteel was more resistant than the wood that the wooden golem was made from, it was assembled in a worse way. The wood was lighter so it could be thicker and didn’t require a skeleton on the inside.

His golem on the other hand had many hollow sections that wouldn’t last a prolonged pounding like this. But it wasn’t limited just to its mace, it also had a shield hand with the gem at the end. At this moment it was pointing at the wooden construct.

In a matter of moments, a burning inferno surged from this magical arm. It engulfed the wooden puppet with magical flames and continued to release them while the opponent tried to shield itself. Even though the wood it was made for was quite resistant, it was not fireproof. Soon it caught on fire and started to burn up from the outside.

While the damage that it was taking was still moderate, the constant increase in heat did its work. The wooden joints soon started giving out while the golem was swinging around and it soon lost one of its arms. Now without a shield in hand, it was mostly defenseless while Roland’s deepsteel golem still had its along with the mace that started delivering crippling blows.

The end result was as he expected, his golem remained standing after suffering some minor damage during the exchanges while the wooden one was down on the ground and burning up. Even to the end, his golem continued to blast it with a torrent of heated mana as if it wanted to make sure that the enemy was dead. Only after the light in its golemic eye faded did the test come to an end.

‘Was that the last one or do I need to spend another week in this place…’

Even though Roland didn’t feel tired or hungry having to be with his thoughts for two weeks straight was slowly getting to him. It was as if he spent a whole month in isolation while having to constantly use his parallel thinking skills to manufacture new items.

Then as he was looking at the grades he felt the whole place rumbling. It was similar to the way his other class trial ended. He could see a hidden doorway appearing right next to the TV screen that was congratulating him for his victory.

“Now is this the end or just the way to a more difficult trial…”