“You are a smart girl, Ilya,” I said as we walked to the well in the main square.
“And you are about to ask me something outrageous, right?” Ilya raised an eyebrow as she struggled against the orc-sized bucket. She sighed. “Scholars are all the same.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Even after all these months, Ilya was the same distrustful gnome, but she was right. I was about to ask her something outrageous. Ilya let out a groan and balanced the empty bucket on her head. In hindsight, she might not have been the best water-gathering partner, but I wanted to talk to her privately. Ilya was the most judicious member of the group, and our next steps were crucial.
I leaned against her and whispered. “Use [Spirit Animal] subtly and tell me if Hallas or Pyrrah is following us.”
Ilya nodded and hid a small mana sparrow behind an orc food basket as we turned the corner. The creature hopped behind a tent and flew away. After a moment, Ilya closed her eyes and shook her head.
“They are inside the tent, eating. I can see them through the skylight,” Ilya said.
“Good,” I said. It was too early for the elves to know all our secrets. “Listen, Ilya. The orcs gave us two weeks. What do you think I should do with you four going forward?”
Ilya pondered for a moment. “That’s an outrageous question.”
“I know.”
“You are twice our age and our caretaker. You should know better.”
Now, we were playing hot potato, which was understandable. The answer to that question would decide our fate. It was a burden too heavy for a fifteen-year-old kid, yet we were doing this together, and I trusted Ilya’s insight.
“If it were up to you to decide, what would you do?” I rephrased my question.
Ilya hit my leg with her bucket. Still, she frowned, deep in thought. “I don’t want to stroke your ego, but your fight against the Elven Chrysalimorph was something else. You can survive out there regardless of the monsters,” Ilya said, “But you have us in tow. We can’t return to Farcrest or stay in Umolo for long. We are the problem, ultimately.”
“I won’t say you are the problem. Your survival is,” I said.
“It’s the same. Even if we get another ten levels, we cannot face monsters like the Orc Chrysalimorph or the Lich.”
I nodded. Leveling wouldn’t solve all our problems with the Lich searching for us. We reached the central square, and Ilya threw the well bucket down the well. I approached the crank, but she got ahead and started turning it. Her biceps bulged. Was she in such a form before?
“What level are you now?” I asked.
Ilya grinned and turned her character sheet. The orcs around us didn’t seem happy with the blue square floating in the middle of the air, but we ignored them, and they didn’t raise any complaints. As long as we were guests, we were part of the tribe.
Name: Ilya, Gnome.
Class: Hunter Lv.10
Titles: Governess’s Little Helper, Giant Slayer, Small-time Mathematician.
Passive: Mana Manipulation, Longsword Mastery Lv.1, Archery Lv.2, Tracking Lv.2, Quickshot Lv.1.
Skills: Piercing Arrow, Entangling Vine, Spirit Animal, Mark of the Hunt, Mana Arrow.
“I guess I fixed my ammunition problem,” she shrugged, yet her face radiated pride.
[Mana Arrow] was a huge acquisition for an archer cut off from supply lines. Still, I expected Ilya to be at a higher level. We had killed dozens of Chrysalimorph beasts with levels ranging between ten and twenty. The experience leech had become more acute. I was almost at level twenty already. I examined Ilya’s character sheet. A level ten was the rough equivalent of a well-trained athlete.
The ability to flee unwanted encounters was extremely valuable, even if she lacked firepower. Ilya huffed as she poured water into her own bucket. She was definitely stronger. That was, at least, a thirty-liter bucket built for orcs to handle.
Ilya continued. “Without the Cooldown Bow and the enchanted items, we wouldn’t have survived. I haven’t seen many Hunters in action, but a ten-second charge can rival a Piercing Arrow from a level fifteen or twenty,” she said, throwing the well bucket back down the hole. “Enchanted equipment feels awfully like cheating, but that’s our trump card. We need to figure out how to fight effectively. If we can figure out a way of fighting without endangering ourselves, we might be able to fight stronger opponents.”
I had reached the exact same conclusion, yet part of me hated it.
“A few months ago, I would’ve done everything in my power to prevent you lot from fighting monsters,” I pointed out.
Ilya raised an eyebrow and handed me one of the buckets. “You can’t even see a kid scraping their knees without running to help them. I thought Elincia was apprehensive, but you get the crown.”
Ilya filled the second bucket, and we returned to our tent. She was right. We needed to find a new way of fighting. Firana and Zaon had an excellent synergy during combat, primarily due to Zaon knowing when to retreat to leave space for Firana’s attacks. Wolf and Ilya’s timing with their range attacks was also near perfect. Even when we didn’t have the advantage of surprise, our fights went relatively well. Small fry weren’t a problem for us, despite our levels.
I closed my eyes and let [Foresight] guide me through my memories. Everything was within reach, yet there was a quality leap between raw information and an actual good idea. I learned that from my old students back on Earth. Assignments about creation, evaluation, and analysis required more than raw information. Some students didn’t perform well on those assignments even when I let them use their books and phones.
I realized something. The fact our formation was nearly flawless prevented me from seeing the broader picture. Frontline and backline were the natural consequences of different fighting styles. Close-quarter combatants had to be in front to be effective, while archers and healers should remain in the back to provide support. Zaon’s Sentinel Class was good with shields, while Ilya’s Hunter Class worked better at a distance. Clear roles being a fundamental part of every effective army in human history wasn’t just a coincidence.
However, against a more powerful enemy, I couldn’t have Zaon and Firana on the frontline and leave Ilya and Wolf defenseless in the backline. A sufficiently powerful enemy would ignore the roles and plow through our formation, and we only had one shotgun with less than a dozen shells. Centering our strategy around it would only work in the short term.
Roles. Spacing. Engagement. The kids’ classes could be a hidden pitfall.
“Ilya?” I asked. “Did I mention how lucky I am to have met all of you?”
“Now you are being cheesy,” Ilya grunted. The water bucket’s size was a greater hindrance than its weight. “Did you think of something? I don’t want to sound pressing, but we only have two weeks.”
Our tent was a few meters away, so I lowered my voice. “I have a rough idea, and I might be able to prevent you from fighting stronger monsters.”
Ilya stopped, almost tipping her bucket. “Oh, come on! We are not kids anymore! I thought we had already been through this!” She approached my ear and spoke through her teeth. “You are a Runeweaver! This is the stuff of legends! There is no way you leave me out of this!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Despite the fact I had never seen it that way, Ilya was right. My powers and my mission were a thing of legend for her.
“Do you want to save the world, or do you just want your name being sung for the centuries to come?” I jokingly asked.
“Every girl wishes to be famous at some point in their life,” Ilya replied with utmost seriousness.
I hoped my deeds remained unsung. That would allow me to retire and live a quiet life. For the time being, Ilya’s insight had given me an idea. I put my water bucket in her free hand and patted her shoulder. “I’ll make sure to make us a team of legends. I have to meet Dassyra. Keep an eye on the elves.”
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“If you say it like that, it’s not exciting at all.” Ilya sighed and dragged the buckets inside while I turned around and returned to the main square.
Our combat plans had two pitfalls. The first was to assume our Classes determined our combat roles. The second was to assume we were a squad of five. With a bit of tugging, I might form a platoon, and a platoon might have a much better chance against the Lich. However, that would depend entirely on Dassyra and her warriors.
Two tall orc warriors guarded Dassyra’s tent. After running around the camp for a while, I could tell which orcs were ‘tall and strong’ and which weren't. Even the ‘weak’ ones could probably split me in half any day of the week. Unlike the heavy iron breastplates of the Greyfangs, the guards’ armor was made of hardened leather, padded linen, and pelts. They let me through before I could even voice my affairs at the chieftain’s pavilion. I crossed the doorway to find a richly decorated space with multicolor cushions and beaded ornaments hanging from the walls. Next to the firepit, Little One stirred a pot. He greeted me with a nod.
Dassyra appeared from behind a wooden screen. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” She had shed her chieftain attire and wore a simple linen shirt.
“I brought gifts,” I replied. Gifts that could destroy the power balance within the tribe.
Dassyra inspected my hands. They were empty. “Well? Where are those gifts? You can’t just trick a chieftain and leave unscathed,” she jokingly said.
Dassyra didn’t know about my enchanting powers. It seemed Wolf hadn’t told the whole story. If it was due to loyalty towards me or distrust towards Dassyra, I couldn’t tell. It would be better to show her rather than explain. I closed my eyes and carved a simple reinforcement enchantment on my shirt. Reinforcement only required a two hundred mana threshold, and the linen shirt met the conditions. Barely. Then, I unbuttoned the garment and put it over the table.
“You have put on some muscle since the last time, Scholar. That’s a good thing. You used to be a twig the last time we met,” Dassyra pointed out.
“Fencing against Wolf requires strong arms,” I replied, pointing at the table. “Now, stab the shirt.”
Dassyra arched an eyebrow and signaled Little One to do it. The giant orc sighed and cleaned the knife he was cooking with. Then, he shifted to the small table and raised his arm. The motion was just strong enough to pierce the fabric. However, when Little One raised the knife, the shirt remained unscathed. They exchanged a look of surprise, and Little One tried again, this time with more strength. The guards peeked into the tent to see what the commotion was about, but Dassyra dismissed them. Little One gave progressively stronger attempts until the shirt finally gave in.
“Should we try with a proper piece of armor?” I asked as I put my shirt back on. It had a small cut near the breastbone, but nothing I couldn’t fix.
Dassyra stumbled upon herself to grab an old leather cuirass from the wall. One enchantment later, Dassyra stood in the middle of the room, feeling invulnerable, while Little One failed to stab her through the armor.
Dassyra looked at me with hungry eyes. “I want this spell even on my warrior’s underwear.”
“You got it,” I replied. “But I need something in return.”
“Anything,” Dassyra said.
“I need you to kidnap someone.”
“Do you want me to bring Elincia here?” Dassyra asked.
Elincia was safer at the orphanage for now, and she was needed there. I had a different person in mind.
Ginz had abandoned the orphanage when it most needed him, so I guessed he still had some atonement to do. A quick trip into the Farlands should complete his penance. Sure, adding a non-combatant to our retinue left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I needed control, and for that, I needed Ginz’s creations.
However, I couldn’t let Janus know. We needed to stage Ginz's retrieval so that it looked like a regular crime.
“No. Ginz, the craftsman. He lives at the orphanage. I need you to ransack his workplace and bring everything here. It has to look like someone broke inside,” I said. I couldn’t just ask for help without Janus suspecting, and I knew he would have an eye on the orphanage until he saw my dead body. Nobody could suspect. Not even Elincia. Ignorance was the only safeguard I could give her now. “How fast could we get him back here?”
Dassyra put her hands on her hips and gave me a glance of disbelief.
“Four days.”
Four days in transit would give Ginz ten days to work until our deadline. I hoped orcs had some stimulants because we would be tight on time. Still, I knew Ginz could go on for days at a time when he obsessed over one of his creations.
“Four days sounds great. Bring me the armor, then. I can do about ten pieces right away,” I smiled mischievously.
Dassyra returned the smile and yelled at the guards at the entrance. She poured a bowl of stew into my hands and sat by my side. Then, she gave me a playful tug.
“If you ever offer this power to other chieftains, I’m going to hang you from the wall,” she laughed. “How did you get this power? Scholars aren’t supposed to be enchanting stuff.”
I took a sip of Little One’s stew. It had a pleasant, hearty flavor.
“Enchantments use the same runes as the System. I have to learn the runes to fix it,” I explained. Dassyra seemed to accept my words at face value. “Doesn’t it sound weird to you?”
Dassyra lowered her bowl and shrugged.
“Byrne Samuel believed the System was man-made, and I tend to think the same. Every race has its way of grasping magic. We have our rituals and the warrior’s rage. Elves have their magic gardens. According to rumors, Gnomes channel their magic into specially crafted crystals. I always assumed humans struck gold with their beloved System,” Dassyra said.
My heart skipped a beat. Dassyra ignored Byrne’s real identity, and I couldn’t keep it a secret. I just hoped she would take it well.
“About Byrne, I think he might—” I said, but Dassyra stopped me.
“He left fourteen years ago. He’s dead.”
I understood the unspoken words.
“Yes. He is,” I said.
We ate in silence until the guards arrived with a pile of leather armor and a pile of underwear. Dassyra wasn’t joking. I remember reading about how the introduction of protective masks for hockey goalkeepers helped them improve their performance due to the feeling of safety. I wondered if it was the same in this case. I wasn’t interested in the relationship between an orc warrior and their bulges, so I didn’t ask.
“What about weapons? I’m sure you can make weapons, and my warriors are loyal to me,” Dassyra said, seemingly forgetting about Byrne. She was ravenous for enchantments.
“Weapons can fall in enemy hands too easily, even if the warrior in question resists,” I said.
The Bind rune might be the answer, but I still needed to learn how to use it.
I continued enchanting the orc armor. The Reinforce enchantment was cheap in terms of mana, so I could engrave the runes at a good pace. However, I had options. The Trigger Rune determined how the Reinforce Rune effect would work. A Reinforce-Gradual-Recharge enchantment would work similarly to a Light Stone; the effect was more potent at first, but it dimmed with time and required a recharge at the end of the cycle. Reinforce-Gradual-Absorption, worked like the Warm Blanket; it didn’t need recharging, but the overall effect was weaker despite the fact I engraved a full-power Reinforce rune in the magic circuit.
If I added the User-Activation string to the Reinforce-Gradual-Recharge enchantment, the armor kept the stored energy longer, requiring fewer recharges over time. I considered adding a Vampiric Rune so orcs could recharge the enchantment with monster mana; however, the leather armor had a lower enchantment threshold, and the Vampiric Rune had very high requirements.
I examined my options. A five-rune enchantment required much more mana to engrave, but it would keep the orcs safer. I decided to use the User-Activation-Reinforce-Gradual-Recharge string going forward instead of the Reinforce-Gradual-Recharge.
For the underwear, I used Reinforce-Gradual-Absorption. Orcish underwear had a measly 200 enchantment threshold, so I informed Dassyra it would degrade over time. She nodded and observed the enchanting process like a kid eyeing a Mall Santa.
Arming Dassyra’s warriors was only one aspect of my plan. I still had to devise a new strategy for the kids. That’s where Ginz came into play. Undead were weak against the Vampiric rune, so even if I had no other rune capable of damaging a high-level monster, we could always drain them. The Vampiric rune would work regardless of the kids’ levels.
I grinned. While the Forest Warden remained alive, the Lich had access to infinite Chrysalimorph bodies. I had to pull Firana and Zaon from the frontline while giving Ilya and Wolf some sort of defensive countermeasure. Armor and ranged weapons. The answer against high-level enemies could be turning our group into a fire team. I sighed. Ilya would love the idea. Firana would probably hate it.
“Okay. Ten pieces of reinforced cuirasses, ten pieces of padded armor, and ten pieces of magic underwear ready,” I sighed after a few hours of work.
Dassyra smiled. “I want my ten best warriors equipped right away!” She said, and the guards took the armor away without asking a question about what had transpired inside.
While hidden from the elven surveillance, I summoned my Rune Debugger. I needed to figure out how to use the Bind Rune before Ginz arrived at Umolo. If I experimented with enchanted firearms, I would better have control over who could use them. I tried simple strings of enchantments containing Bind in the Rune Debugger, but all came faulty.
I used [Rune Identification].
Bind. Effect Rune. Rank I. [Rune Identification]: This rune represents the unyielding link between entities. Affinities: Iron, Silver, Gold. Mana threshold: 100.
The information wasn’t particularly illuminating, but the word ‘entities’ caught my attention. What if the Bind Rune needed an argument to work correctly? I had no good answer to that question. If the Bind rune required an argument, the Aias Sword should have a Bind-Aias string somewhere in the enchantment. ‘Aias’ had to be a rune, somehow.
Suddenly, the sound of a deep horn rose above the noise of the camp.
“We are under attack,” Dassyra said, grabbing her enchanted armor from the rack.
It was too soon. After defeating the Lich and the Forest Warden, I expected a few days of peace. I dispelled the Rune Debugger and walked outside.
“Where are you going?” Dassyra asked.
“I can’t let the experience go to waste,” I replied, running towards the wall and using my Wind-Shot Boots to climb to the top. I also needed to know what Greyfangs were capable of. Just in case.