The Runesmith

“Shields up, don’t let the enemy archers hit you!”

“Protect the battering ram with your life, it has to arrive at the enemy walls.”

“Archers, fire!”

A plethora of somewhat generic-sounding voices echoed through a large battlefield. The source was a varied group of puppet soldiers that were wearing more intricate armor than the regular foot soldiers. The former were bunched up in various formations performing the acts that these captains and commanders were ordering.

‘Hm… it looks like I can watch for now, the golems should be enough…’

Their leader was right in the back and the only person on horseback. His body was clad in full body armor that was covered in runic symbols. Some of them were glowing in a pale blue light which easily illuminated the darkness of the night. This was a stark contrast to the wooden animal he was sitting on, just like all the wooden men around it was not made up of flesh and bones but lumber instead.

From behind him around four mechanical contraptions emerged that took on the form of spiders. They were made out of pure metal and were quite eye-catching in this field of battle. Their legs continued to speed through the grassy plain with their cannons pointed upward. Just like their creator, they possessed a plethora of runic symbols on their metallic bodies. Each time they activated their cannons that were attached to their abdomens they would glow in a similar pale blue hue.

These cannons were constantly firing concentrated orbs of mana toward the rocky ramparts of this fort. The archers that were stationed them were unable to do much about it due to being outranged by the mechanical contraptions. Even when an arrow collided with the metallic body it was bounced back by a thin layer of mana that was protecting the golem’s body. There were only four of those spider contraptions on the battlefield but the magical attacks they were capable of were a real game changer.

‘I should be able to get more deep steel to make more spider drones after I capture this fortress. It’s good that I was able to bring my own technology into this place…’

While the siege continued Roland, who was sitting on the strange-looking wooden horse, thought back to the time he drove the Lumberlings back. These were the same ones he was sieging now after he was able to recreate the spider drones that he had grown accustomed to. It took some time but he was able to recreate which might have been the most important component of winning this trial.

…

A month earlier.

“It’s all fine and dandy that I have decided to put more resources into conquering but how will I get an edge against the enemy encampments? Can I really win against someone that was put in a location with a strategic advantage over me just with lousy war tactics?”

A somewhat annoyed Roland was sitting on his throne while looking through all the various window screens. On one he could see his new encampment that had been conquered by his forces. Even though he had gained a new one it came at the price of a few soldiers and the need of leaving a small force behind for its protection.

Currently with himself in this fort he didn’t really need protection for it but in the future this would change. His next point of interest was gaining a new safer location to spread his influence on. This main base that was given to him as his first headquarters was probably a dead end. It was open to attacks from all sides, when concentrating on defensive measures it was possible to counter this placement. However, with his past knowledge in his head it was obviously the wrong tactic.

“My lord, the scouts have come back from their mission.”

“Good.”

His aid was waiting outside and would shout out to him from time to time. The information he relayed would then be presented to him in one of the windows as an update. Normally in real life, a scout would need to give this information to some kind of administrator. They would then either draw up a map with the information or directly give it to the lord. Here on the other hand the process was pushed onto the world map in the system to which he had access.

‘This actually looks promising, from all the other forts this one looks the best.’

It had been a few days since he was able to defeat the Lumberlings. The soldiers that had been placed in the dungeon were about to go through the process of conversion which would bolster his forces. This didn’t mean that he wasn’t turning some of his villagers into new soldiers either. His army was steadily growing each day as he just needed to create new residential buildings to increase the population limit.

His scouting unit had increased and he was able to discover two other forts in the area. Their population wasn’t large but not all of them seemed to be as aggressive as the Lumberlings were. Roland theorized that this was part of the test. It simulated different factions with varied abilities and characteristics. Ones would bunker up just like he did before while others would continue to attack until either they were dead or their enemies were.

This had to be taken into consideration as he would know where to allocate his resources to. If for instance the fort that had appeared in the west was primed for defense it could actually act as a buffer zone. Anyone arriving from that side would have to go through them first before arriving in his lands. It might have actually been even better to leave such a faction alone as they would not attack him without a reason.

‘I wonder if the winning conditions really need me to conquer everything I see, or if it’s something vaguer… Would it be enough if the people in the lands think of me as their lord even if they aren’t necessarily part of my faction?’

Roland had not tried it yet but perhaps there was an option of a diplomatic resolution. What if it was possible to create trade routes with other forts and get better deals on things? In real life not every kingdom was the enemy, some even formed pacts to combat dangerous empires that started threatening others on a larger scale. What if this would be his fate if he was too aggressive?

‘If that is the case, then if I start threatening everyone they might attack me together… but that won’t be a problem if my forces are just stronger or if I could get them to be a vassal.’

Creating vassal states might have been a possibility. There were many types and it depended on the one in power on the exact rules. Most of the time a vassal in this sense would offer some kind of tribute in the form of some resources. For that, they would be exempt from getting raided by the ones in power and even helped by them if they were being attacked by an outside kingdom. There were pros and cons to these relationships but they could be positive for both sides in some cases.

‘Hm… should I sacrifice a scout to figure it out?’

This was still in the beginning stages of the trial and he didn’t have all the information. The hole in his memory had expanded as he had no idea what had happened before. In his mind, he could only see a few blurs and then the last enemy boss smacking his head with a giant mace. If it was trouly possible to do business and ally himself with other factions then he needed to give it a try.

“Aid.”

“Yes, my lord?”

“The small settlement to the southwest, have one of the scouts go there and offer them a treaty.”

“A treaty? What will the details of the treaty entail?”

“The details? Hm… They were around a lot of pastures… have them donate their grain to us and also meat.”

The wooden aid started nodding his head while Roland listed down some terms of the accord. If he could get a settlement with fertile land to take care of the food side then he would be able to develop his armies more. It was normal in a kingdom to shift production to better-suited regions. If he were to conquer these lands and become their king, then that area would be part of his kingdom and run by another noble. They would supply them with food and he would give them some soldiers which would allow him to specialize more in warfare.

‘Good, now I need to think about the runesmith part of this test, what can I create to give my troops an edge?’

Roland was still mostly a crafter, even if this new class would give him some better warfare and leading options he still wasn’t there. Getting political with other forts would not be possible if he didn’t have any leverage. It wouldn’t be strange if there was some kind of hidden notoriety value hidden somewhere. If he continued to capture settlements and win battles others might surrender to him without the need for him to lose more forces.

To get a better grasp on the situation he headed outside. Sitting on the cramped throne with nothing but a large empty space around him wasn’t good for his mind. Roland had grown accustomed to working but this didn’t mean that getting a breath of fresh air wouldn’t help him get a good idea. When outside in the distance he could see a windmill being assembled by the wooden puppets.

It was very reminiscent of old video games as the wooden craftsmen would not perform all the actions of their human counterparts. Instead, they would hammer away at the walls that for some reason started expanding up. From time to time they would stop to grab some materials from the side and then continue while the pile of resources vanished into thin air. While this phenomenon was interesting he wasn’t really looking at it. Instead, he was focusing on the large blades meant to be pushed by wind. The main source of food in this place was grain that was made into flour and then bread. To make flour people needed to grind the grain and that was done by large windmills. The models that he was using were wind ones but it was also possible to create them next to running water and use that to turn the wheel.

‘Huh, why didn’t I think of that yet? I must have been too busy thinking about the tactics.’

Wind power was his bread and butter but for some reason, this left his mind as he was focused on battle tactics and expanding his fort. Now that he had some time it was obvious to him what he should build next. What he was missing was the energy required to run his creations. Normally other craftsmen would need to use mana fluid as fuel. This was a resource also found in this world but for that, he would either need to get lucky, spend a lot of money to import it, or capture a place that had it as a resource.

Roland didn’t really need that, everything that was here would be enough to generate power. It wouldn’t be hard to create a generator inside of the windmill that was only using its huge wings to grind down grains for flour. It was also possible to use them to pump water or even cut wood after probably advancing further with his progression tree.

‘I need to make a generator and runic batteries, with those around I’ll be able to power golems.’

This old hack that he created still didn’t truly make sense to him. For some reason this world identified electricity as a higher type of mana with the lightning attribute. It was something that only people of tier 2 and up could produce. With a full blown wind turbine it had enough charge to support multiple defensive turrets. The excess could also be stored in batteries that were cheap to manufacture.

‘Did the trial block out this idea because I used it in the old defensive strategy? Or was I too focused on the army side of things this time?’

Roland asked himself this question as he found it hard to believe that he would forget about his wind generators. They had helped him through most of his struggles and were probably something he would reach to for help. It wouldn’t be strange that during his first trial attempt, he created the generators to power all the runic torrents. It was also possible that the trial imposed amnesia had interfered in some way.

‘Could this be a side effect of remembering some other parts? Maybe it balances out the test by making people forget some things when they focus on others?’

This was a nice theory but he didn’t have time to confirm any of this. Instead, he needed to head to the already-created windmills to get some measurements. In short, a windmill’s blades pushed something similar to a large cog-wheel that then transferred the rotation force to more moving parts. He would just need to produce something to catch all that force with a gearbox and then let it move the generator.

‘A bit loud in here…’

When he got inside and climbed up he could see a large cog wheel turning and transferring power to a vertical axis in the middle of the mill. When looking at this huge spinning log in the middle he knew that attaching another large wooden wheel to power a generator would be possible without interrupting the flour-making process. Generating electricity would be more of a side effect that he could use to protect this city from invaders.

‘Now will I have to make these separately each time or is there a way to create a modified building instead?’

Making even one generator and then magical turrets would take some time. This trial was still a war against time, the more he focused on one thing too much the more likely he would be deficient in another. First, he needed to try, if some luck was on his side then he would be able to automate some of the processes. After going back to an older generator design he had everything ready. Attaching it to the windmill went smoothly and to his joy there was a possibility of modifying the whole building setup.

‘It can copy the schematic but it still can’t copy the runes, either I need to upgrade the blacksmith building into a runesmith’s building or the trial wants me to make everything that concerns runes myself.’

Perhaps just like it went with classes there were some hidden options when it came to research. The moment he created the generator at the smithy it was possible for the wooden blacksmith there to create it himself. Then he was able to create an updated version of the windmill with the generator in it.

After bumbling around some more he realized that he could introduce schematics into the system where buildings were concerned. What he needed to do was to have his aid bring him the original plan that he could then copy and add changes to. This was not something that was specific to his class but after working with Bernir on his house he had taken some lessons related to carpentry and architecture.

‘Is this really something that a Lord should do?’

He wasn’t sure if becoming an Overlord had anything to do with being a good architect but it probably didn’t hurt for the leader to be aware of the stronghold's layout. To him, it might have been a shortcut to victory as he only needed to inscribe runes on the runic generators while his wooden puppets created the parts for him instead. Just like before making the original was the only thing he needed to worry about.

Thus after allocating some time to the runic generators he was able to create some batteries. These made their way into four new golemic units that would later be used for siege purposes. They came equipped with the usual runic cannons and focused on only ranged spells.

While his plans to take over the Lumberling territory were being created he also made sure to prepare some defensive turrets. With the windmill generators in his main city, they would bolster his defensive capabilities by quite a bit. This would give him some wiggle room with the troops that needed to stay at his main base during his first major attack that came after preparing.

Within a month's time, he had a small force of around hundred and fifty men at his disposal. Together with them, they had managed to scrunch for some siege machines like the large battering ram that was with them. To his surprise, the Lumberling fortress was not in possession of a moat, instead, all they did was focus on maintaining a larger army and soldier production. This would allow them to push in even through the side walls where the defenses were thin and the archers were far away.

“Everyone, move out.”

“Yes, my lord!”

After giving his order his first major battle would be underway. Even though this was just a test with something that looked like crash test dummies on his side, it was still nerve-racking. This was all not in his comfort zone, usually defense and running away were his main two tactics. Going for the first strike where he wasn’t sure if any traps awaited him wasn’t his thing but he needed to push through this part of himself if he ever hoped to become a Lord that towered over the other Lords.