Chapter 224 – Ahoy.

“I think this should do it…”

Roland was sitting in a well-lit room through which he could see the sparkling city. Even now he could hear people shouting and talking while having fun. He on the other hand had different things to worry about, after heading out into the night and avoiding a few drunks he had managed to stock up on some smithing tools.

“This hammer cost more than it should, even when you leave a city you can’t get away from those damn scamming dwarves…”

In his hand, he was holding a hammer made from regular metals. While he would prefer to have one made from more resistant deepsteel this was fine. It didn’t need to last for long as he only wanted to repair his armor. The runic structures that had gained blemishes from his skill use could only be replaced by way of rune smithing.

There was an actual way of repairing these runes without using his regular rune smithing skill. He had a skill that allowed him to upgrade lower graded runes. This one he did not use during combat as it was quite mana intensive. That mana he needed to buff the beam of deaths that allowed him to survive.

“In theory, if I combine rune mending with rune upgrade I could continuously restore the runes into the highest grade, that is if I have enough mana for it as it stands I could probably do it at most twice with this armor.”

While Roland had an astonishing amount of mana for his level it would still run out. Using both of the skills on something like a basic runic sword was also different than using them on the complex runic armor that he was wearing. The armor was composed of various runic components that needed to be precisely aligned with each other. The skills targeted the entire structure and not the smaller components so it would burn through a lot of MP which was needed during his battles.

“I guess the basics are still the best.”

He was in an inn that was not built for what he was about to do. Luckily he only needed to cover the floor with some metal and block the sound from escaping outside. This he did thanks to his old spell he used during his travels. With it on no one would be able to hear the loud hits that the hammer would produce against the runic armor.

‘Let me get to work then.’

After picking up the hammer from the ground he placed one of the gauntlets on a piece of thick steel that he also bought. Without activating the debugging skill he already knew that this piece wasn’t looking too great. The mending skill destroyed a lot of pathways and even some components, it was a miracle that this armor didn’t become just a shiny slab of metal instead.

With one big swing, he gathered the required mana and smacked the gauntlet to insert it into the metal. The unseen pathways started glowing with a blue hue that represented the basic mana in this world as they took shape. The clogged-up traces that have even fused with others started parting and returning to their original shape.

It took him about thirty minutes to get through the first piece of gear and he continued to work through the entirety of the night. Without a proper forge and tools, he was unable to soften the metal and if he tried to do it here with the help of a fire spell he would probably set the whole inn on fire.

“It’s already morning?”

Roland wiped the sweat from his brow after he noticed a ray of light entering through the window. It was a bright and sunny day outside as he had worked through the entire night without taking a rest.

“This should be enough though…”

After giving out a sigh he looked at the spread-out armor pieces on the ground. There was not enough time to get his armor into its original shape. What he could do was repair the most damaged parts that would otherwise cause major issues if he tried casting spells. But this was not the end, he still had his rune upgrade skill with him. While normally there was no reason to use it over basic rune smithing in a situation like this it would shine.

There was a moment of hesitation before using the skill. There was a slight problem with the skill as it could fail. Multiple uses of it could cause the runic structure to degrade even further than they already were. The patch-up job he had done was to protect the most damaged runes.

“Never been a fan of RNG…”

Finally, Roland decided to go through with it, before the attempt he replenished his lost mana with a potion. The armor was one piece of runic equipment and the skill would treat it as one closed system. If it was successful the entire suit of armor would go up a grade. This all depended on various elements which involved his level, stats, and even other skills related to runes along with pure luck.

“I only have a maximum of two attempts…”

Just as any of the magical skills that increased the ranking of anything there was a chance of them backfiring. This skill allowed him to at most get two free shots in with the second also having a very low chance of failure. He had tested it out several times and came to the conclusion that going past two tries would be too dangerous.

“Of course, it fails on the first one…”

Roland had activated the skill which surrounded the whole armor with an orange glow. This color slowly shifted to red which indicated that the skill had failed. Now he had a decision to make, would he risk a second failure that would force him to repair the armor again or go for broke.

With a small nod, he continued with the second try. The runes started glowing orange before the radiance took over the whole suit of armor. Now on the other hand instead of the red color, it turned to green. To someone like him that could see the runic traces and pathways clearly the change was noticeable.

From the high grade that he managed to fix it up, it changed to the highest after being upgraded. This would be the last time that he would be able to use the skill on this armor with such a large possibility of success. There was some kind of hidden counter that would be remembered by this world’s game-like system.

As with every skill that he had, Roland performed several tests. When spacing out the upgrades the timer didn’t seem to vanish and the skill was prone to more failures the more he kept using it. Perhaps if he waited a year or longer it would have been reset but this would be hard to confirm.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

After inspecting the armor once more he decided to put it back on. With the sun coming out he was ready to return to the docks. Besides the tools, he had also acquired a replacement for his robe that had seen better days before. His armor made him stand out like always and he could not risk drawing in too many eyes.

With that in mind, he left the inn that he was staying at without eating breakfast. The city was a lot more silent at this time of day. With such an active nightlife in this city, they obviously had a different cycle. The streets were filled with broken bottles and passed out drunks that were being removed by some city workers. Probably before the next party started everything would have been tidied up.

“I think it should be this pier…”

He had noted down where the ship he needed to watch out for would be docking at. But this was not the modern world, the ships didn’t stick to a full timetable. The woman only stated that the ship is due to arrive in the morning but that could very well be a few hours.

While waiting he also remembered his voyage toward this island. It was a first for him to travel out in the sea and they had even encountered monsters. If he was unlucky the ship might not even arrive, it could have been pillaged by pirates or devoured by some sea creature with tentacles.

Thus while he was waiting he spotted a stall at which someone was cooking some fish. He had ignored food due to the armor repairs so he was still hungry. Working through the night burned through a lot of calories that needed to be regained. After eating a proper meal a hidden buff was given that caused some benefits so this would also help him recover any mana that he had previously lost.

It was quite an interesting sight to behold. The fish were set out on skewers that were perfect to carry around. They were being dipped by the vendor in something that resembled oil. If he had to compare it to his old world then it looked like a magical version of a deep fryer. He could not spot any coal or wood being used to heat the large pan up.