The Runesmith

“Okay boss, you can go ahead.”

“Hngh…”

Roland in his everyday clothes but with gloves that were glowing red was pushing a large wooden spire. It looked like a large thick wooden log with a peculiar contraption attached to the top part.

“That’s it, just a bit more… now stop!”

He was quick to move to the other side to stabilize the construction. This large tower-like log was inserted into a hole and while Roland was holding onto it Bernir moved over with a wheelbarrow. In it there was something that looked similar to plaster or cement with a similar dark gray coloring.

This substance was something very similar but made with the help of alchemy instead of chemicals. With the help of monster remains this world had made its own strides in the way of construction. After dumping the contents Bernir grabbed a smaller plank from the side and started smoothing this fantasy cement out.

“It will take half a day for this to dry boss.”

Roland nodded while continuing to support the larger structure with his enhanced strength. In his previous world, people would have to use cranes for something like this. With his current tier 2 stats and some help from strength-enhancing runes he was able to heft this burden.

“But boss… will this windmill work? … isn’t it too thin?“

Bernir scratched his nose while attaching some support beams to this ‘windmill’. In reality, this wasn’t anything like that, it was a small wind turbine that Roland finally got around to building.

With the help of his a.s.sistant, he could speed up the process. Making cables and the small parts for the propellers and generator that was inside. The cables were pushed through the large log that added some well-needed weight. This was his first design so he decided to make the fans a bit smaller. Thus even when they would be spinning at full swing the structure would remain stable in place.

“This isn’t a windmill… this is to generate power.”

“Power?”

Bernir looked at the wind turbine and he wasn’t sure how this thing should produce energy. Though Roland was the runesmith here so he wouldn’t ask too many questions. He understood that magic and runes were a difficult theme not known by many men.

“I guess it is about time to show you some things… but first help me connect these cables.”

The wires they were using were simple copper ones. They were coated in a dark rubber-like substance that worked quite similar to its old-world counterpart. Luckily these wires didn’t require runesmithing as they were just there to carry the current towards the generator in his runic workshop.

Roland had decided to move to wind energy as keeping a boiler down in his workshop was causing some difficulties. The engine that he made was also not very efficient at all.

He had a couple of options here. One would be water energy like people used in dams. The problem was that there was now river nearby. Another option would be geothermal, with a lava dungeon nearby this could be a possibility but he needed something closer to his house.

Thus wind turbines were the next good option. He could easily place multiple ones in his yard behind his house. Even if he placed some outside his fence no one would probably complain and he might be able to buy more land if he wished for.

The biggest downside to this setup was that it was clearly visible to anyone. If a person decided to walk through here they would see some strange-looking windmills spinning around. It was clear that he wasn’t using them for grain and making bread. He might be able to say that they were for pumping water.

They were also used for cutting wood at sawmills though they saw less use in this kind of world where a woodcutter had enhanced strength and specialized skills to make everything go fast.

He noticed this trend that filled this world around him. The people here tended not to look for shortcuts to their work. They would naturally gain more skills and level up. They got faster and better at everything by just continuing to train. Most of them didn’t see the reason to invest in unique inventions. The only progress was seen towards magic and alchemy while machinery was left in the dust.

“Bark!”

“Could you stop digging in the yard…”

Roland scolded Agni who was busy digging up a hole and burying something in it. After the puppy had settled in some changes needed to be made. For one thing, he needed to remove the trip mines from the ground as the little wolf was quite happy to dig them out. Luckily Roland got to him in time before any explosions happened.

With this in mind, another larger construction plan for the defenses was fashioned. This one would eliminate the random chance of his allies injuring themselves in his backyard. With the wind turbine in place and Bernir to help him out, they would connect the electricity with the fences.

Implementing the electric fence would take a bit to make as he needed the wind turbine to power the items in his workshop first. Depending on how much juice this turbine produced he would go ahead with the fence idea.

Roland knew that the jolt that the fence would give wouldn’t keep real threats away. It was more of a warning signal for people to keep out. Smart individuals would probably notice this and think twice before venturing forward. Others might just vault over this wall and try their luck inside. With unique defenses came unique rewards, without some danger there were no real rewards.

“Not having the mines around puts this place at risk… are there any automated defenses that I could build here.”

He grumbled while looking at the ruby tip of his wolf puppy. The little guy was having a blast while turning his land into Swiss cheese.

“Boss, why don’t you build a golem?”

“Hm?”

Bernir moved over while whipping some sweat from his brow. The half dwarf had been taught by his father while he was alive so he knew some inside rumors and knowledge. Runesmiths were similar to other magic users by the use of their runes. Their true strength lay in creating magical items, one of those was a staple, the iron golem.

“I never tried that before…”

He had thought about making one before but his lack of knowledge kept him grounded. Now he more or less knew how such a creature would be able to operate. It was like the monster that he faced, it needed a core first. This would act as the main power source and could be bought on the market or even from the dungeon directly. In the volcanic area, some golems could be spotted, if he nabbed one of those cores he would be able to try it out.

Without any master, he would need to do everything himself. The probability of getting a golem-making manual in the auction house was slim. The Runesmiths kept their more detailed secrets hidden. Luckily for Roland he had lived in a large crafting city for a few years and golems was something that it did possess.

The only problem was that he could never examine them fully. He was left with fleeting glances here and there while the various magical automatons moved around. His old notebook was filled out with parts of these runic structures but he never tried to piece them together as he was lacking the main component. This component was the internal runic code that would make this golem work.

Even though he thought that he could somehow work out the runic structures going through the body from the golem core. The most important part, that was the control program. This golem would need to be able to move around and follow basic instructions. The ones that he saw in the city were mostly only able to slowly move around and carry heavy items. They were mostly meant for constructions while the more combat-oriented golems were hard to come by.

The fastest way for him to make his own golem would be by buying one of the auction and then examining the program and runes inside. Then with it as a base, he would start applying his own custom-made commands.

‘That would probably be the fastest way to go around this…’

He remembered how much time he lost when not getting a magical item with a mana stone in it. If he didn’t get that lucky break he might still think that mana stones were used as batteries to this day.

“I’m kind of self-taught… but if you see any golems, even the small toy ones you have the permission to buy it.”

Roland replied to Bernir while putting the golem construction off for now. It would take way too long to construct an operating program to make it run from scratch. Making one that activated separate runic spells was one thing, making a basic AI that could follow spoken orders was another thing entirely. It could take him several years to even come up with a prototype that would need even more time to fix.

“Toy ones?”

“Yes, some runesmiths make small automatons that can follow orders, some n.o.bles buy them for their children, at least they are cheaper than the large ones.”

He had actually seen one of those a long time ago when he first arrived in this world but that was a time that he had long forgotten and moved on from.

While thinking about some defensive measures he noticed Agni from the side munching on something.

“You really like those don’t you…”

Roland narrowed his eyes while he spotted something shiny in the puppy’s mouth.

“He"s got quite the expensive appet.i.te…”

Bernir commented while walking away to do some other ch.o.r.es while the wind turbine foundation set.

Agni had developed a strange diet after going down into the dungeon. While one of the monster corpses was getting taken apart the mana stone fell to the side. The little puppy looked at this glowing gem and ran up to it, with a big chomp the mana stone was quickly gulped down by him fully.

Roland and Bernir saw this and tried to make the puppy spit out the stone, unsure if he would suffer from such a thing. After looking through the wolf’s stats no drop of HP or strange status effects were noticed by Roland. There was one addition to this status in the form of a skill.

This skill looked quite powerful, gaining strength just by eating mana stones seemed very powerful. In reality, ever since getting it Agni only received one status point. Somehow this skill could allow the user to gain status points through consuming mana stones. If there was something more that could be gained was unknown.

Roland wasn’t happy about losing so many mana stones to his canine companion. For now, he was only devouring lesser mana stones and it seemed that he couldn’t devour more than two per day. It was apparent that the digestion of these stones took a while. If Agni tried to snack on more than one every twelve hours he would get a stomach ache.

“I hope that skill allows for a better evolution… speaking of evolutions…”

Roland glanced at Agni’s stats which had gone up, his little companion was close to reaching the 25th level and just needed 2 more. When he hit that threshold he would be allowed to evolve.

From what Roland knew a Ruby Wolf Puppy would evolve into an Adolescent Ruby Wolf at the 25th level. After that, at the 50th level he should turn into a plain Ruby Wolf and be a tier 2 monster.

There might be other possibilities along the way, for instance, the more common version of a Ruby Wolf was the Volcanic Wolf. That type of monster could be seen in the volcanic area past the 10th level of the maze. There was no reason for taking that evolutionary path as a Ruby Wolf was considered stronger and also smarter than a Volcanic variant.

‘If I go by this world"s naming sense and that skill… maybe he’ll change into something like a Mana Ruby Wolf…’

Would Roland’s pup have a similar cla.s.s naming scheme that he had succ.u.mbed to? His cla.s.ses were one of the better ones but the names left a lot to be desired. It would still be better to go with a rare evolution even if it had a silly name.

“Bernir.”

Roland called out to his worker and gave him a plan of the house that had the cable placements.

“Follow the schematic, I’ll go to the dungeon with Agni, he is close to leveling up.

Before leaving Bernir with a shovel to bury the cables he had him help him get his armor on. The tamed monster along with the wind turbine and his new a.s.sistant kept him from improving on his old design. He wanted to focus on it after Agni got a bit stronger and with the first evolution, he would feel more comfortable doing so.

The tier 1 skills were easy to level up and with the help of Roland’s deep pockets, he could buy recovery items for his monster. With them Agni was able to increase the levels of all his skills with minimal rest. The only one that didn’t max out was the one for eating mana stones.

Depending on the evolution choices Roland was ready to wait for it to max out later. Then he would focus on crafting while Agni munched on some stones. Recently he had visited the Dungeon quite often so he needed some downtime.

“Alright boss, have a safe trip and bring back some souvenirs!”

“You sure like going through those monster remains, don’t you Bernir?”

“I just need some salamander leather for my coat, that stuff is easy to work with!”

The two parted ways and Roland departed towards the Dungeon. He didn’t keep Agni on his shoulder anymore but let him walk side by side. The puppy also had a nice black leather collar with his name on it.

There was one green mana stone that would increase the pup"s speed if he used it. Surprisingly his monster companion was smart enough to learn how to use simple runic equipment. He only started having problems when there were more than two enchantments on it. Due to that he only put in the speed increase along with a mana shield for protection.

Thanks to this his little canine companion also earned the t.i.tle of ‘Magic Item User’. This was probably because not many monsters could use magic items or knew how. A regular human would not get a t.i.tle like this due to this being something their race was able to do by default.

The two were back in the dungeon now. This started feeling like his everyday grind now, he killed monsters in the morning to gather materials and mana stones. Then in the evening, he enchanted some weapons and armor parts to sell at the auction house. The money was then spent on more materials to expand his workshop and the cycle continued.

A snapping of bones brought him back to reality as a flaming skeleton dropped to the ground. Agni did a little wiggle dance around the monster while sniffing but then quickly turned around. His hind legs performed the motion of burying something as if he wasn’t interested in the boney creature.

“No mana stones, huh? You got a good nose for those ever since you have gotten that skill.”

They continued into the deeper levels of the dungeon but not below the 5th. Past that the monsters were above the 25th level and could prove dangerous for his little puppy. He wanted him to gain the rest of the experience by himself without getting power leveled by him.

After spending half the day down here it was finally time for the little guy to level up. With a glance at the status screen, it was apparent that an evolution was possible.

Roland could clearly see that Agni wasn’t able to gain any more experience. From what the old gnome at the adventurer’s guild had told him he needed to focus on this experience counter that was maxed out. After he did he could see multiple options become clear to him.

“Hm…”

He rubbed his chin while looking over them, it was time to make a decision or wait till his tamed monster leveled up his skills more.