Chapter 354 – End Of An Era.

“Aye, sure tak’ them, now gimme that.”

“Wait… you’re willing to part with your books this easily?”

“Huh? aye? not lik’ a’m needin’ them fur anythin’?”

“Ah huh…”

Roland was a bit confused as he had given the Chief a proposition. After giving her some basic schematics to some of his creations he would receive access to some of hers. This would include craftsmanship manuals that dwarves had access to that contained their secrets. To his surprise, this woman was willing to instantly give everything up as if the old scripts were useless.

‘I expected her to bargain more but… Am I perhaps selling myself short here?’

“What? Ah thought we had a deal? Are ye trying to go back on it?”

When looking down he could see the dwarven Chief yanking on the cylinder he brought. His stats greatly eclipsed hers so she was unable to make it budge. Her grabbing onto it the moment he asked for a deal was also perplexing. Were the higher-ups of the dwarves always this strange or was she just the oddball out?

‘She did call Albrook a shit hole a couple of times, it doesn’t seem that she came here by her own decision. Could her behavior have something to do with it?’

Even though this city was still developing it wasn’t all that runesmith friendly. There weren’t many mines inside of the city and the tier 3 adventurers had other options that were closer to the super dungeon. Most of the time a Master Runesmith was already an established craftsman. They usually chose to go to places that could offer them the most.

On this island, this would be the main city of Isgard which was the closest to the S-ranked dungeon. Judging by her level being well past hundred and fifty she was not a new Master Runesmith but someone that should have had her own group. Either she was pushed out by another more prestigious force or she saw something here that others didn’t.

‘Am I thinking too much into this?’

His grip on the cylinder lessened and when it did, the woman that was pulling on it was sent flying back. She crashed into some of the stacked up schematics while screaming profanities in his direction.

“Oy, Tell me whin ye’r about to let it go!”

“My apologies… So then, can I pick out something from here.”

“Ye, go ahead, knock yerself out … “

Brylvia stood up with the runic cylinder in her hand. Roland had not yet told her the password that was required to open the latch but that didn’t stop her. Instead of asking him for it, she started fiddling with the runic components. It was the first time he saw someone else fiddling with runes which made him focus and even use various of his skills.

It was actually interesting to see if the new Chief was capable of cracking the runic code he made. She infused her mana into the runic structure to feel it out just like he did but after a quick analysis, a few differences were seen. First of all, her control over mana was greater than his, at least when it came to fiddling with runes. This he attributed to her probably gaining various other skills to compliment her craft.

One thing stood out though, while her mana control was superior to his, the same could not be said for her mana capacity. It was something that he expected as the Master Runesmith class had one glaring fault. While runesmithing required a lot of mana manipulation it didn’t offer enough skills to lower the costs. His class had a huge stat multiplier of 4.5 and also had a passive skill of lowering mana usage on all rune-related skills by a whooping 60%.

‘The multiplier of a Master Runesmith stays at 3 and I bet the passive isn’t as high either.’

Tier 3 runes were vastly more complicated than tier 2 runes as they entered the third dimension. They also required a massive amount of mana to work with and this lock that he made was of this same tier. He could see her struggling to get through the traces of the program but she was able to eventually get there. When she did, Roland saw another downside of this class compared to his own, working with the internals was not as easy for them as with the externals.

It started with the Runesmith Lord Class and now continued with the Overlord. He considered this class to be a mix of two classes, Runesmith, and Rune Mage. The former was poised in creating runes while the latter was a specialized user. Rune Mages could mold the integrated operating system but were constricted to what a Runesmith created. Roland on the other hand was a two in one package and after working together with his friend from the magic academy, his insights into the inside systems went over what a regular runesmith was capable off.

“Is this some kind o’ a joke, do ye want me to pass out or something?”

“I see that you found the first lock.”

“Ye, If Ah had mah mana support apparatus but those idiots haven’t set up mah workshop properly!”

The woman seemed angry and thought that he was trying to play a prank on her. The first lock would require a person to just inject a lot of mana through the runic components. It would be an easy task for him as he possessed the skills that lowered mana usage to get around this problem. The new Chief on the other hand required some outside help.

While he wanted to see this apparatus she spoke of he could imagine that it was something that just provided mana from outside. Just like he used runic batteries to run various runic tools, the dwarven craftsmen had ways of going around using up all their energy in one go.

“If I may?”

Brylvia grumbled and gave the cylinder back which Roland was able to open without any outside help. Showing off some of his skills was intentional as he wished to not be underestimated by his fellow runesmith. This would tell her that he was somewhat special and perhaps give him something to barter with in the future.

“Yer not a regular ol’ Runesmith are ye?”

“I never said that I was.”

“Ah see, maybe this will not be as ill as Ah thought… The old bastards might have actually given me a boon in disguise.”

He was interested in what she meant by the old bastards but it kind of aligned with the story that was in his head. After the cylinder was open she snatched it back and started going through the various schematics that he brought over. Today it was mostly work-related. What was inside was related to the magic lanterns and other devices for the future.

“Ah will have to look thro’ these just tak’ wat ya need ‘n’ come back to me tomorrow”

Brylvia skimmed through the papers and mostly ignored the basic lamp design. It wasn’t anything special but after flicking through the pages she stopped. There she saw something that looked like a windmill and the runic components that it was composed of, didn’t quite make sense.

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To this day no one was aware of his runic batteries or creating electricity that could be transformed into mana. It was something that could revolutionize this world that relied on mana fluid. What he brought over was incomplete and after Brylvia analyzed the papers she would figure it out too.

To keep it a secret he decided that it would be better if he made the finishing touches himself. What the people from the union were creating would be the framework while the heart of the generator was his to make. The possibility of the Chief figuring out everything herself after performing some tests was a possibility.

However, this didn’t matter that much as he was not really that interested in becoming a mogul. It was probably impossible for him to monopolize this technology as it was rather easy to construct. It was achievable when he wasn’t even a proper runesmith so a Master Runesmith would probably not have that much trouble. Luckily she was now working with them and bound by a contract, so for the foreseeable future, she needed to keep her mouth shut.