Chapter 253 – Unsatisfying options.

“Are you sure Mr. Wayland? Surely it would help you with that bad reputation of yours if you made an appearance during the event…”

“I’m not very good with things like that Lord Arthur, I’ll have to decline the offer…”

“Well if you change your mind then be sure to inform me, we still have some time before it starts.”

“I will, Lord Arthur.”

“You may leave then, thank you for your continued work.”

Roland bowed before the City Lord while quickly walking out of his Auction House office. He had been delivering some items for the auction while he was called up. Arthur was organizing a big event to ease the minds of the people. They had managed to clear up the Abyssal Cult’s presence before any substantial damage was taken.

Lobelia had informed Roland about the thieves guild dealings. He knew that the hidden lair was discovered and the cultists were now probably dead. News of smaller outbreaks was going around the whole island and even the mainland which still caused some panic. He had been invited as the person that created the divine devices.

As Arthur stated this would be a good publicity stunt for him. All he needed to do was to show up and wave at the people while others did the talking. His reputation was still not that great after the dwarven union painted him as a crook. They made sure to try and discredit his works so that no one would buy them. Only when dropping his price and getting a few adventurers to advertise his work was he able to get out of the slump.

Yet as the introverted person that he was, it was difficult. Even though he knew it would be good for business, it was difficult to advertise his face so loosely. There was always a chance that he would be recognized by someone or even attacked by some vengeful cultists. Due to this being an official outing where the City Lord showed up he would be able to gear up.

Most of his weapons would need to remain outside the venue that they were using which didn’t sit too well with him. Even though Arthur seemed to trust him, his people didn’t. Mary his true bodyguard, would not allow him to come fully armed.

‘It would be a good place for some networking, the vast majority of the merchants are still weary of doing business with me. It would show that I have the backing of the city leader, it would be strange if they came up to me and offered some deals by themselves…’

Even though he was free to buy up resources from the more trusted hands, he was not offered that many trading offers. While he had a contract with Arthur that didn’t mean that he couldn’t do business with other people. What he needed to do was just deliver the minimum required creations to the auction. After that, he was free to do whatever he wanted with his free time.

‘Though at this time I don’t really need or want any more work, so might as well wait a bit more until the offers pile up.’

Roland decided to play the waiting game for now. He did not like the attention and at this moment didn’t really need it. Money was flowing in from multiple sources. The minerals and rare ores that he got from the dungeon were slowly piling up. He was preparing to create a new set of armor when he attained enough red mythril. Together with some of the exotic blends, he would probably be able to make something that would last him for a while.

Money was not an issue and he didn’t have enough time for his current project. This was to level up to tier 3 which he was already able to achieve. His level had reached the minimum requirement and he was heading home for the big reveal. His Runic Engineering was only at level twenty-five and he had gained another useful skill.

The name was quite peculiar and at first, he wasn’t sure what he should make of it. He had already researched a technique that allowed him to control his golems via exterior devices. This he demonstrated during his first mining expedition. Yet after going through some tests he realized that this was much handier than whatever he could produce.

With this skill, he could ‘connect’ to exterior runic devices that were within his range. At level 1 he was limited to something over seven meters. This was a strange number but it seemed that for every hundred points in intelligence he was gaining a twenty percent increase in area size. Now he only needed to gain a level in the skill to see how much it would be expanded.

He assumed it would be a five-meter increase with each level, this would put it at over fifty meters if he adjusted it to his current stats. It didn’t use that much mana which allowed him to be connected for long periods of time. Runic items that were created by other runesmiths would be more demanding and an increase in quality would actually lower the requirement instead of increasing it.

First of all, it allowed him to control his golems without the need for voice commands. It was possible to connect to their golemic eyes directly and allow the image to slip into his own field of vision. The first time he used the skill in that way it was truly surprising. Roland didn’t feel that he would be able to use it well if he didn’t possess his parallel thinking trait. Controlling things that he wasn’t touching while trying to move his own body wasn’t that easy. This skill would require some getting used to but it would probably enhance his combat abilities.

‘It’s not limited to golems either, I wonder if Runesmith classes focused on golems get the same skill that is just limited to golems…’

This was a possibility and the main reason that he decided to go with this class instead. Even though it lacked some of the golem-focused skills and buffs, those could still be gotten by him with the help of some skill books. The only reason that he hadn’t been buying those up was the uncertainty of what he would be getting from this class of his.

If he received a skill that he spent fifty small gold coins on the previous month, he would feel like a fool. Yet after gaining twenty-five levels in this class he wasn’t seeing any golem-specific skills yet. This made his theory that this was a somewhat unique class with its own unique skills a possibility.

Then there was another, a bit less useful skill that he had also achieved on his way to level hundred fifty. Just as the name stated it allowed him to instantly create copies of schematics and blueprints. As the previous skills, it wasn’t limited to runes and he could actually draw up a schematic of something like a golem.

He was really getting a lot of new and interesting skills, more than he gained with the Runesmith Lord class. Yet from his point of view the reason was probably due to some overlap from his old Runic Blacksmith class, that one generated lesser versions of skills that could be then leveled up further with the higher version of the class. This one on the other hand had a new set of unique skills that even started at their basic levels. There was a large possibility that they would turn to their regular version which could also be leveled up later.

‘The auction house catalog didn’t really have anything that I wanted, if I want to get more golem-related skills I’ll probably have to order them from the outside or through other means…’

Tier 2 skills weren’t as easy to come by as tier 1 skills. First of all crafting related skill books were controlled by the dwarven union. They would buy anything related to crafting and also frown upon people that tried selling them. The best way of earning money was to constrict the knowledge and not allow blacksmiths that didn’t sign up to gain manufacturing knowledge or skills.

‘Still, some people don’t care and will sell them if they need money, those types of skill books appear on the black market a lot too…’

While he had stopped going to the underground market this didn’t mean that there weren’t items there that he wanted. Just as the upper city was expanding, so was the lower city. Apparently with time their own version of an auction house would be created. There new never before seen wares would be placed, some with forbidden knowledge and perhaps something to give him an edge against the competition.

But that would have to wait as he had more pressing things to do. Only because of the tight schedule he had to rush towards the Auction House after returning from the last dungeon run. Now it was time to reorganize his thoughts and see if his luck was good. However, before he reached his home he was spotted by some people that recognized him. These were not ones that he knew but instead a side effect of his recent reputation boost.

“Is that Mr. Wayland? Please, you must visit my store!”

“Here have these fresh apples!”

“Hey, isn’t that the Runesmith?”