Chapter 321 – More Tests.

“Are you sure about this Boss?”

“Yeah, just pull the trigger?”

“Maybe I should move a bit further away, what if you can’t dodge?”

“I’m not going to dodge it.”

“Not dodging? What are you testing then? Is there a hidden runic item in your sleeve or something?”

“Not really, stop asking questions and just pull the trigger already.”

“If you say so…”

A confused Bernir was standing ten meters away from Roland with a runic weapon in hand. The weapon in question had the shape of a rifle with a square-shaped spot cut out where a cylinder would usually be. In there a square cube with various runic symbols was resting and was used instead of ammunition. After the class change and acquiring the upgraded version of the rune compression skill, the runic batteries had become much smaller. The need for Bernir to carry a whole backpack as reserve ammunition with him around was not needed anymore.

Not that long ago the upgraded runic rifle was handed down to Bernir who had been the one to actually make it. Roland just needed to infuse it with runes and then slide the upgraded version of the runic battery in. With his rune crafting skill being upgraded to the next tier, working with tier 2 runes became as easy as breathing. With only a couple of taps with his hammer, he was able to inscribe runic pathways.

During the trial, he had to work tirelessly through many nights which also allowed him to level up his skills further. Then thanks to his rune copy skill and increase in stats, he could perform this task on multiple objects throughout the day without even getting tired or receiving a headache. As long as he didn’t let his mana slide below ten percent, he would not feel the usual aftereffects of overusing magic.

This opened up a lot of manufacturing possibilities as he would not need to spend as much time crafting items anymore. While usually higher tier runesmiths focused on creating level-appropriate gear, there was no reason not to earn some change by going with the factory approach. As long as he had someone else create the required items, putting a tier 2 rune on any weapon wouldn’t put a dent in his mana reserves.

This would allow him to create items for his store while still being able to work on other things. Then there was also the contract that he had with Arthur that forced him to put things up at the auction house. There was no need to show his hand yet, before the announcement of his true class was made he needed to prepare. Today he decided to wrap up most of the tests before moving on to the next phase.

“Okay Boss here I go…Huh?”

“Something wrong?”

“It’s not working…”

“Is it now? Try firing at one of the dummies then.”

“Okay?”

The confused Bernir looked at the firearm in his hand and pointed it toward one of the wooden dummies. The moment he pressed the trigger he could see the runic battery flicker for a second before the spell effect took shape. A bolt of blue energy left the gun-shaped barrel and connected with the wood. It was a clean hit that left a large hole in the wooden dummy.

“Is it working? Strange…”

“Good, now try it on me again, just take a few steps back.”

Roland’s assistant finally realized that something was going on. When he took two steps back and tried to fire again, the weapon didn’t go off. Only when he was about fifteen meters away would the weapon activate. The blue bolt of energy traveled in a straight line but connected with what looked to be a shield made of mana.

“Good, that’s enough, I’ve got all the data I need now, you can go back ”

“Was that all? Well, if you need any more help with something just call me over Boss.”

The two nodded at each other before parting ways. The mana shield that was created wasn’t anything new as he had just inscribed a rune onto a bracelet. The new skill that made runes smaller would allow him to actually put tier 2 runes on smaller items like this. Perhaps if it was leveled up even further, then perhaps even greater runes would be feasible.

‘The Rune Authority skill has a range of around fourteen meters but that’s not the tricky part.’

Today he was wrapping up his testing of the skills that he had gained. The less destructive ones were being measured as his weapon testing facility had almost been destroyed during an earlier event. The Rune Authority allowed him to disable other magical devices. There were a few drawbacks, one of them was the limited range. This put this skill in the close-range category, at least until he was able to level it up further.

The second drawback was that he actually needed to know the way the item operated. In this case, where it was a rune that he created himself, it didn’t take much brain power. It was like flipping an on-and-off switch. However, when something he wasn’t familiar with was presented to him, it would not work.

Before he called Bernir over for the ranged test, he performed another one on a magical lamp. It was an old item he got when he was testing his Runic Eye of Truth. It wasn’t a runic item but was enchanted through a different magical language. The test was successful and he was able to disable an item that was created in a different magical language that he was specialized in. Thanks to translating the enchantment into runic and understanding it, he was able to flip the switch off as well.

‘I’m not sure if I should activate the eyes during combat though, it will depend on the complexity of the magical item and how much time I have.’

He could see himself being able to analyze other enchanted items through the eye skill. Even during combat, it would be a possibility, yet this would not be something easily performed. Roland needed to gain more practice in this field as he had only now become resistant to the side effects of using this skill. Only now did it become manageable but activating it during a stressful encounter would still not be an easy task.

‘I probably won’t be able to use it on anything too complex but nevertheless, it is another tool that I can use now. I’d need to run a few tests before using it in actual combat but Bernir wouldn’t be a good sparring partner, I also need something that I’m not that familiar with.’

To combine Rune Authority and True Runic Sight in combat he needed a sparring partner equipped with an enchanted weapon or armor. Only if he wasn’t aware of what they were using would it be an actual test. However there were two problems with this plan, one was the right person for the job, and the other, the enchanted weapon.

‘Should I have Elodia ask one of the kids to go buy one from the dwarves?’

His relationship with the union wasn’t the greatest to this day. He couldn’t just waltz over to one of their shops to buy an enchanted weapon. Neither could Bernir’s or his wife that had been blacklisted from their stores. That left other people whom he would need to ask for favors.

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