Chapter 342 – Preparing For The Leveling.

“Now that it’s over and I have some time, I need to give this a go before it’s too late…”

“What’s that boss… Looks complicated.”

Bernit commented while stoking his own beard as if he was a researcher himself.

“It’s just a part of an illusory rune that I’ve been working on, I’m missing a few elements but now I can at least piece some parts together…”

“Is that so, well I’ll leave you to it but you might want to postpone that.”

“Oh?”

“Your guests have arrived.”

“Already? I guess it’s true that time flies by when you are working.”

“They do? I always thought it slowed down instead…”

Bernir gave out a chuckle after leaving Roland’s office. This was a smaller room where he usually spent copious amounts of time doing research. It was filled with large scrolls and books covered in runic designs and what he had been researching was quite the peculiar rune.

It was quite difficult to understand even for someone like him that managed to reach a level of a master runesmith. Even after the ascension trial had given him all the basic knowledge to work with greater runes, he was failing on recreating this one which consisted of multiple ones and was probably a grand one.

It was an incomplete schematic that lacked the most integral part, the runic operating system. It was like the chassis of a supercar that lacked the proper engine to make it run. This was the same diagram that he lifted from the monolith belonging to the cult and when looking at it, he could somewhat connect the dots.

It had many obvious elements that a craftsman like him could find in runes primed for illusions. To the uninformed, it might have seemed that magical spells that could produce their own worlds required a lot of mana, but in actuality, it wasn’t so. These spells affected the brain of the target and altered the perception of the world around them. The spell didn’t create holographic images in the real world, it just injected them into a person’s brain. Even when there was nothing there, the person’s mind made it a reality.

There was no way for him to recreate the spell, even if he recreated everything through the schematic it would probably not function to the same capacity. Tier 3 runes worked differently than the other counterparts. There were a lot more ethereal pathways spread out throughout them. Then there was another main problem, this particular spell was similar to the divine runes that he investigated.

The Abyssal Cult worshiped some outer dimensional being or god. It just like any other god came equipped with its own strange magical wavelength. While Roland had been successful in figuring out one of these waves, it was not easy to calibrate to another one. The fastest way would be through catching a glimpse of an Abyssal Priest performing some spells. They were the main worshipers that were attuned to their evil god.

This didn’t mean that the schematic was pointless. Thanks to it he could see all the components involved and also understand the three-dimensional structure of the multiple greater runes it had. He speculated that tier 4 runes were just multiple tier 3 runes put together. There was a similar distinction when it came to lesser and common runes that he was able to comprehend even when he was a runic blacksmith. The only problem would be the complexity but he would be at least able to do some research.

When he started out as a Runic Scribe he began the process of disassembling runes into smaller components. With time this translated from lesser to common runes and now even played a role when working with greater ones. Thanks to this methodical approach he was capable of finding the important parts in this huge and strange schematic. He just needed to spend some time and a way of blocking out the signal would be found.

‘Wish I had the time to spend on this, I bet the cult would send out their assassins here instantly if they knew what I could do…’

For the time being he covered up the schematics and all of his research that made their way into a nearby safe. He had no idea how far the cult had reached. It was better to keep everything hidden away as a possibility of his compound getting infiltrated was there. There existed many spells and creatures of the night that would allow people to sneak into these parts.

If they found schematics with the Abyssal Cults’ fingerprints all over them, he might not live more than a few days. It wouldn’t even go over with the people that should be on his side, the Solarian church. They might accuse him of being part of the cult and with the runic schematic just here they would have a case for it. For such a thing to not happen he decided to have the safe to blow up if anyone unexpectedly arrived. Luckily the Lich that was here didn’t trigger this failsafe so he still had the old plans to work with.

“Let me get a move on before my guests get bored… huh?”

As he was finishing the sentence he heard a loud bang coming from upstairs. The whole workshop was rigged with speakers to inform him about any loud noises while he was working. However, this was not a burglar or an uninvited guest, it was one of his closer acquaintances.

“Did that idiot start something? I need to get up there before they destroy my house.”

Roland quickly rushed through his workshop to get to his home upstairs. When he arrived there the trouble revealed himself in the form of his favorite muscle head. Armand was down on the ground smiling, his body went through the dining table. The person that was facing him was an unsuspecting woman dressed in light armor. From the way everything looked he could tell that she had thrown the large man onto the wooden furniture piece.

“What are you two doing? What did you do to my table?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault, I just wanted to greet her and she did this, I’m the victim here!”

“I’ll make you into a victim if you keep talking like that, how dare you try to touch me, you damn brute!”

“Hey big sis, calm down for a moment!”

His dining area was occupied by exactly three people. Armand was down on the ground with a big shit-eating grin covering his face. It was clear from a glance that he was in some way messing with the other person. This person was Mary, the cat girl maid who at this time was pointing one of her daggers at the muscle-brained idiot. Then to the side was the third participant, Lobelia the half-elf.

“Knock it off.”

An aura of oppression filled the whole house as Roland shouted. Some of the windows started shaking as the skill was activated. Thanks to him now being a lot stronger than this bunch there was no need for him to plead. Just by activating the runic suppression, he was able to make their skin crawl. They were quickly forced to look his way as their knees buckled under the pressure.

“Woah, hey stop that, I didn’t even do anything!”

“I’m sure Armand is to blame, you could have at least stopped him but that doesn’t matter, clean this mess up first.”

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“You can’t jus…”

“I can’t?”

Mary raised her head in protest but when she saw Roland’s angry face her ears moved back in fright. Soon all three were working together while gathering the splinters from the floor. Luckily the cat maid had been properly trained so the cleanup was done in an orderly fashion.

‘Will these three be able to work together? Maybe I shouldn’t have invited Armand over…’

What Roland needed was some help, there were no tier 3 class holders in the city that he could really trust. The platinum adventurers that Arthur hired could easily be bought up by Theodore that had deep pockets. It wouldn’t be strange if he was already attempting this after they were identified during Emmerson’s exchange.

During the ascension trial, he experienced backstabbing from one of his wooden people. This was always a possibility and the vaguer the relationship between the two parties the more shaky it became. To remedy this fact there was a need to gather more resources in the form of helpers. Armand along with Lobelia were the only two adventurers with enough competency to be of any help. From the other side was Mary, whom he didn’t really trust but she would certainly not go against Arthur and any of his interests. He could at least trust her to never betray the city lord that he had formed an alliance with.

“That’s enough, follow me and try not to break anything…”

“Damn, you sure have gotten bossy since becoming a head knight Wayland.”

“Have I? You must be imagining things.”

Roland turned his face away from Armand after the reply. All of them soon made their way down into his workshop where none of them had previously been. What stood between them and the entrance was the automatic door. It could be opened by Roland’s mana or by a metallic card that could be fashioned by him. Bernir and his wife along with Elodia all had their own clearances and now he would be adding these three to the mix.

“A card?”

“You are very perceptive.”

Mary frowned a bit after receiving the card covered in runic traces and small symbols. After examining it she was not able to discover the meaning behind the item. The other two received their own card and were quickly informed about their use.

“Try not to lose that or I’ll be forced to replace all of those cards for everyone. To enter my workshop, just insert half of the card into this reader here. If you do it correctly then the armored door inside should open.”