The Runesmith

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“Runesmith Overlord? Is this because I defeated that lich… but it doesn’t look that insidious…also what is with this naming sense again, Master Runesmith High-Lord?”

Roland was stuck looking at the sprite that was ahead of the lengthily named Master Runesmith High-Lord class. Though it made sense that if the Master Runesmith was the base class, then the prestige variant had to keep the ‘Master’ part of the name. Then there was the Runesmith Overlord class that lacked this title and seemed to be in an even greater position.

There were creatures that were called Overlords in this world, they were high level tier 4 undead that towered over their own kind. The Lich that he faced came from the same family of monsters and could evolve into an Overlord. An Overlord was a high tier undead that could actually summon other Liches to do their bidding.

If a Lich was a city-level threat then an Overlord would be a kingdom-level threat. The number of undead soldiers he and his minions could produce was staggering. There were records of smaller countries being overrun by such undead monsters who then were only defeated by a joint effort that arrived from outside.

‘Was there some kind of hidden prerequisite that I managed to reach? Was it defeating the Lich by myself or just slaying large numbers of tier 3 undead monsters?’

This was a curious conundrum, if the Runesmith Overlord class wasn’t there he would have instantly gone for the High-Lord variant instead. It was probably more of the same, a greater version of the Master Runesmith Class that probably added a greater multiplier than before while also allowing him to get greater Rune Mage-related knowledge.

Normally a regular runesmith wasn’t that great at adjusting the ‘runic operating system’ that was hidden away within the runes. In reality, there weren’t that many runesmiths like him that were able to adjust everything by themselves. It wasn’t strange for others to get some help from a rune mage to adjust some settings before just copying the changed rune afterward. Thanks to his Runesmith Lord class that somewhat combined the two classes, he could easily learn the Rune Mage part.

‘Wait, I’ve been stuck thinking about the undead for too long, an Overlord doesn’t have to be an undead monster, there were mentions of elite monsters appearing with this title…’

When thinking of an Overlord the undead type popped into most people's heads. It was one of the most known stories in this world so his mind drifted in that direction. However, something like an Orc Overlord evolution was also possible. It seemed that it was a very powerful evolutionary variant that wasn’t limited to summoning undead creatures.

‘There was that one Orc Overlord terrorizing a region in another kingdom in the past, hmm…’

Roland tried to recall any information that he had about the Overlord monster variants. There was a handful in the past and all caused a stir in the countries where they appeared. The undead variant was a confirmed tier 4 monster but there was nothing to verify the other ones.

Then when it came to classes with this title, just as the Lord and High-Lord variants, there was no knowledge known to him. As always, this was a secret that most families kept to themselves and handed out on a need-to-know basis. Perhaps if he spent a lot of money at an information broker he could gain some snippets of data but Roland didn’t expect there to be anything worthwhile. All the best bits would either be locked away behind a vault or sold off at an underground auction for a price even he wouldn’t be able to afford.

‘Doing more research won’t help me much and just waste more time that I don’t have…’

Knowing of the Overlord evolutionary monster variants which were known for their ferocity did imply its prestige. Going by the sprites on the screen this Runesmith Overlord class was superior to the Master Runsemith High-Lord class that he was actually trying to get. After maxing out on all the skills related to the previous Runesmith Lord class and maxing out his second tier 2 class he was finally able to unlock all the requirements for it.

This always went the same, the tips for the class were on the screen before him. One of them was the name which was quite obvious. Two choices were before him, The High-Lord class or the Overlord one seemed to be the way to go. While he did have the option to go with an upgraded version of a Runic Engineer it didn’t seem to be better than a Master Runesmith class.

Perhaps if he managed to level up all of the various skills he received from the tier 2 variant a more prestige version could appear. However, time was running out and there were various other aspects of this change that he was worrying about, he needed to go with the best class he possibly could and those two would probably give him what he wanted.

The second tip was the way the sprite looked, it told a story of its own when the class was ambiguous. When he went with the Runesmith Lord class over the regular Runesmith variant it was the same. The sprite was wearing better armor and besides a hammer also holding a sword to indicate that the class was meant for battle.

The Master Runesmith High-Lord upgraded version for it looked similar, the armor looked a bit more intricate and the sprite was also more defined. Both the tier 1 and tier 2 class sprites looked like 8-bit while the classes that were tier 3 were 16-bit. They were slightly larger and showed a bit more detail in them. This was probably to symbolize the large change a person was taking when going from tier 2 to 3. It was a chasm that many people failed at crossing, a whole new world was waiting for them on the other side and now it was Roland’s time to make that leap.

Both of the sprites were somewhat similar. Both of them were wearing some nice full-plate armor that was also equipped with a very lordly-looking cape. The High-Lord one had a blue one while the Overlord had a red one. Each sprite was equipped with a nice-looking helmet with a comb at the top, they reflected the colors of the capes but the Overlord came with something that looked like wings on the sides. In general, it was clear that the High-Lord sprite was copied over and then given some upgrades to create the Overlord variant.

‘Judging by how things work here… the Overlord class might have the exact same bonuses and skills as the High-Lord class and come with some minor bonuses…’

While the sprites were walking he could see a faint glow on the pixelated armor that probably were supposed to be runes or magic effects. In the right hand, they were holding a large sword while in the other a hammer, similar to the Runesmith Lord class. Everything was just larger and more intricate to imply the upgrade.

Then the third and last tip that swayed him in the direction of the class of his choosing was the location on the screen. The further to the right of the evolution tree that the sprite was, the better the class was. He wasn’t sure what this trial area used to judge the rarity or power of the class but it was something that usually worked out for him. Last time the Runesmith Lord class was in that location and now the Overlord one was there.

‘It might be similar to the difference between a regular class and an advanced one at tier 2.’

His last acquaintance Myrtle the Cryomancer had one of those classes. One was an Ice mage while another was an Advanced Ice Mage. Both were on the same tier but the second one allowed a person to obtain greater bonuses to ice spells than the previous ones. The gain was around twenty-five percent and it could be similar in this case.

“Didn’t expect a change to the plan at this point but here it is…”

When thinking back to the Runesmith Lord trial it was a combination of battling and crafting. Usually when a person chose a similar class then the trial was also more of the same. When going for a direct upgrade it was even more probable that it would be just a more advanced version of the previous text. The only problem was that he wasn’t going with a direct advanced class but some kind of superior side variant.

“I won’t know unless I try but there might be a price to pay.”

Roland leaned back into the gaming chair that he spent too much of his previous life in. The choice was made but there was always a detrimental factor. The higher the class on the evolution tree, the harder the trial would become. He went from scribing one lesser rune onto some paper all the way to battling a swarm of monsters in an arena and then spending months building contraptions.

This one would be the hardest yet and he needed to mentally prepare himself for the task at hand. If he had some time to spare he would love to do more research and perhaps upgrade all of his Engineer related skills, however with the dawn of the new dungeon, power was something he needed.

For a moment he stood up from his seat and started looking around the small apartment he used to live in. There was nothing here to ease his mind, just a reminder of a life once lived and not fully appreciated. Probably if he was able to return to his old home now, he would do his best to quit a job where he wasn’t appreciated or at least give his boss an ultimatum while working towards a new endeavor instead of playing video games.

‘Working for eight hours, five days a week doesn’t sound so bad anymore…’

After some pacing back and forth he sat back down and finally gave the Runesmith Overlord class a click. The virtual reality headset popped up just as always and he put it on quickly. His vision was overtaken by white light before he was taken to his new tier 3 trial area. At first, it was dark but in a moment a torch lit up on the side and was followed by many others.

“What is this… an underground warehouse?”

Torches on the walls started to illuminate the place he found himself in to reveal some items he was familiar with like, iron spears, and swords. Their quality wasn’t all that great though and after taking one of the swords he could feel the dullness of the blade by just touching it.

“It’s too small to be a warehouse, looks like an old garage where someone dumped off some unnecessary stuff.”

Besides the weapons, there were some old leather robes, boots, and various other low-quality items that would be seen used by Bronze adventurers. Could the trial be to restore these items to be graded? This would make sense if it was a pure crafting profession but somewhere he expected combat to play a role.

“Wait… what am I even wearing…”

These trials tended to give him new clothes and this time around he was wearing some kind of noble getup. The motif was red and the materials used would sell for quite a penny on the market. The shoes were also high quality even above what he was used to wearing in real life. On his chest, he also noticed some initials that implied his name.

“R.A.? Roland Arden? I guess the trial would know my real name and that I’m a noble, perhaps only a noble could even get this far?”

This world was quite unfair as it segregated people into casts even when it came to trials like this. It made things easier for the rich that had their forefathers pave the way for them while making it a lot harder for any upstarts.

“It’s not strange for nobles to have their initials embroiled into their clothes but what is this for…”

After looking over this limited space he finally decided to go towards the thick wooden door at the end. There didn’t seem to be any type of locking mechanism or keyhole that he could look through. Roland wasn’t the most trusting person around so after grabbing the least dull sword around he injected it with his mana. This place lacked any sort of smithing tools to help him out but this didn’t mean that he couldn’t inscribe some runes on this piece of metal.

His level was quite high and so was his mana output. Depending on the material producing runes became easier. While iron was one of the worst when it came to retaining runes it was easy to work with. This wasn’t all, some knives and daggers were also here, with the help of his rune copy skill they quickly turned into throwable bombs. If any monsters waited for him outside he would at least have something to fight them with.

Normally he wouldn’t be this cautious before a trial had started but this was a tier 3 test. From what he heard these were a lot more serious than the previous one. He had read of some people failing within the first few minutes because they walked into some type of trap. Not all trials gave specific instructions and sometimes a person needed to find it out the hard way.

Thus when going towards the door that didn’t possess any locking mechanism or a keyhole he kept his distance. One of the spears was used to pry the door open just enough so he could peek to the other side. From the angle he was standing he only saw a corridor that began lighting up with torches. There didn’t seem to be any traps there and even when he threw one of the daggers to see if something was activated, there was no reaction.

There was nothing there to kill him and his debugging skill didn’t show any hidden runic traps either. Without dropping his guard he went into the corridor only to realize that it was incredibly short and narrow. Within a few steps, he arrived at a row of stairs that were leading up to another door. This one made his eyebrow go up as he noticed some light going through its cracks.

“Is that, daylight?”

There was a stark difference between light from a torch and from the sun. The brightness there implied that if he went through this door he would end up outside. This was quite surprising as all the previous tests took part in enclosed spaces but perhaps it was just a more modern light source or some magic at play. His last trial placed him in a modern warehouse so this wouldn’t be strange if his old world and new one became mixed.

Besides the light, he also began hearing some faint noises. It sounded as if there was something out there. This might have been his first enemy so he started slowly approaching the exit. Luckily the cracks in the wood allowed him to look through this one to see something that he didn’t expect.

“Huh? What is this place?”

At first, he was studded to see the scenery before him. Quickly he pushed the door open without being fearful of anything attacking him. On the outside, he was met with the sound of birds chirping and the annoying sound of annoying beetles that usually appeared during summer.

The moment he stepped through the door he felt the air becoming clear and warm. A blue sky with just a few clouds greeted him and he could feel the sun's rays hit his face. He was not in an underground dungeon or a giant warehouse, this time around he was in a vast world that looked similar to the real one. It was clear that this world was some kind of illusion but it felt so real.

However, there was one big difference that quickly became apparent. The sound of the chirping bird drew his attention to it and the moment he saw this creature he knew that he was still in the trial. The bird was made of wood, it looked like a puppet. It was very similar to one of those popular drinking birds that gamers liked to use to press the spacebar. It just also had a set of wings on the side and actual moving feet. It was somehow moving around and giving out a chirping sound, some others were even flying around the place he was in.

“It’s the lord, he has come to save us!”

“Huh?”

While being stumped by the fake animals around the place something even more bizarre appeared before him. A wooden person shouted at him from a distance, it looked similar to the puppets he saw during his last trial and was now running towards his location. It was not the only one there as behind it two other slightly larger ones appeared who were wearing some rusted-over armor pieces and old leather armor that was hanging on a thread. What this was about he wasn’t sure but after looking around the place he found himself in, he was quickly getting an idea about what his task would be…