Lian did not sleep a wink all night. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of his room, with the mana lamp casting a flickering blue light, he imrsed himself in his ditation.
Thanks to the fact that he had a daily limit for absorbing blue orbs through ditation, Lian could dedicate himself to other activities during the day—not just ditation—like going to the Rune Forge in the morning.
"Good," Lian stood up, stretching slightly. "I am steadily improving. I also need to figure out how to use the pills the Dean gave . There are no instruction leaflets, and I would not want to make a mistake." He muttered thoughtfully. After all, the pills to speed up ditation were not too necessary for him, quite the contrary.
"Tonight, I will start absorbing all the Bronze 4 Mana Cores and begin with Geotric ditation. It is pointless to wait too long."
The loss of the flaming sword still stung, but there was nothing he could do about it. Taking off the previous night’s clothes, Lian went to take a shower and change. It was six in the morning, and the sun had risen over the academy.
After washing and dressing, Lian left his dormitory. It was about six-thirty, and the fresh morning air tickled his face, making the campus atmosphere very pleasant.
He began walking toward the Rune Forge, as usual.
"The morning is always so quiet... people like to sleep, huh?" He muttered, looking around. There were very few people about, and those Lian could see seed older than him and the boys living in the dormitory.
Arriving at the Rune Forge, he found Torin already at work. He was not in his private room but in the large hall where the Core Extractor was located.
Torin was hunched over a workbench, intent on engraving a matrix on a spear. The room was filled with the usual sll of sweat and dirt. Occasional sparks of mana flew here and there as Torin channeled his mana through a Runic Stylus.
"You are late, kid," he grunted without stopping his work. "We have work to do, co on."
"Good morning..." Lian’s expression was one of slight annoyance. He had not even entered, and he was already being accused. It was frustrating. "I am not late. I simply do not have a set work schedule. Besides, nobody is paying ."
At that mont, Torin completed the matrix on the spear. Unlike his sword from yesterday, the matrix on the spear was slightly different, but Lian was equally amazed.
They were not concentric circles but concentric squares.
This ans the spear will have an earth elent enchantnt with greater power... moreover— Lian’s thoughts were interrupted by Torin’s growl.
"Hurry up, co over here." Torin turned to stare at the boy. He held a spatial ring between his fingers, which he tossed toward Lian with a simple gesture. "This is today’s work. You need to create as many rune sets as possible. And do not talk about paynts. Everything you are using is not free. However, you are using it all without paying a single bronze coin."
Ignoring the boy, Torin took the spear in his hands while studying the matrix. "This should be fine..." he muttered, grabbing a Runic Seal containing the standard earth elent enchantnt.
Mana began to flow from his body, grasping the enchantnt within the seal. The energy started to leak imdiately, but before it could continue, Torin pushed it with force, speed, and precision into the matrix.
The spear began to glow yellow, but this ti it was not just for a mont. The intermittent glow of the spear indicated that sothing entirely different was about to happen compared to Lian’s flaming sword from the previous day.
"Damn—"
Boom—
Lian only heard Torin’s curse before a small explosion resounded in the large hall.
Unlike when Lian had failed to create the enchantnt, resulting in a small, non-lethal energy explosion, this ti the story was different.
Pieces of tal were scattered everywhere as the dust and various materials on the workbench suffered the sa fate.
Fortunately, Lian was far enough from the explosion, or he would have been caught in it, just like...
"Torin!?" he muttered. The cloud of dust cleared, but there was no trace of Torin. "He did not explode with the spear, did he?!"
At that mont, a hand firmly grabbed the boy’s shoulder, sending a shiver down his spine—
"Kid," Torin’s voice sounded in his ear. "What are you still doing here? Move and get to work."
A sigh left Lian’s mouth as he watched Torin walk away. Unlike what he had seen, Torin had not entirely avoided the explosion. His face was dirtier than before, and his tattered robe beca even more ragged.
"It is not the sa one as yesterday, is it?" A slight expression of disgust crossed Lian’s face as he thought about the fact that his hand had touched his clean robe.
Moreover, washing clothes was a simple matter. Just water and soap... Not to ntion that the academy’s robes had a self-cleaning function.
"Damn, I forgot to ask him about that chubby guy from yesterday, Plamr—" Lian thought angrily as he headed toward the Core Extractor.
The spatial ring Torin gave him seed heavier than usual, not because of the material itself, but because of its contents.
Inside it, Lian could see hundreds and hundreds of Mana Cores, all Bronze 5. Apparently, the war against the monsters was bearing fruit, allowing these materials, once much rarer, to circulate easily.
"The war continues relentlessly... it has already been several days since registering for the monster assault event. And we still have not found a third mber... Was Rick not good at spotting talents with his ’magic eye’? I guess he was spouting another one of his nonsense—"
Without wasting more ti on useless chatter, Lian grabbed a Mana Core and inserted it into the designated slot. The screen lit up instantly, indicating that the Mana Core had been analyzed.
Inside the glass, a blue light shone brightly. "Now that I think about it, yesterday I created two Bronze 5 rune sets. One I gave to Torin, which ans I have another one available. Considering that an average Rune Master manages to create about two sets per hour... I should stay here for at least five hours to deliver ten sets without raising suspicion."
Lian smiled, thinking about the Mana Cores he could keep for himself. After all, his average was six rune sets per hour. He could not wait for the future.
He already imagined soone commissioning an artifact with a rare enchantnt. At that point, they would have to give him at least three or four Mana Cores of that elent to ensure the primary rune was created successfully.
And considering Lian’s 100% success rate... this ant only one thing. "I will be rich!"
But that was for the future. Returning to the present, Lian selected the primary rune on the screen while placing his hands on the glass. The mana began to flow quickly, or at least, that was Lian’s impression.
A few minutes later, the rune took shape, glowing brightly as it was hurriedly placed on the appropriate Runic Tablet.
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