Firana left the Aias Sword on my dresser and headed to the kitchen for breakfast without asking questions. Despite her betrayal by Holst and abandonment by her extended family, Firana was quick to trust people. It was up to me to work diligently to repay her trust. Thankfully, the energy from Elincia’s potion surged through my veins, dispelling the fog of sleep at bay and allowing me to remain laser-focused even after a sleepless night.

It was finally time to put my new class to work. First of all, I needed to ready my workspace.

I dragged the small desk over the wooden floor until it sat beside the dresser. I retrieved a small stack of scrolls and a charcoal pencil from a drawer and placed Firana’s cape before me. I had access to four enchanted items: Firana’s cloak, the Aias Sword, the Cooldown Bow, and my magical ring. I sat on the uncomfortable chair and wrote down a bullet list of what I knew, what I expected, and the questions I had. When the entire sheet was covered in hasty scribbles, I leaned back and closed my eyes.

If enchanting functioned akin to other crafting Classes, I could expect the System to guide the Enchanter through the enchanting process. However, I wasn’t an Enchanter. I was a Runeweaver, and I was uncertain whether the System would assist me in the same way. Despite gaining the Runeweaver Class, no external knowledge was inscribed into my brain as it happened when I became a Scholar.

I examined Firana’s cape, expecting to encounter a single shining rune. Instead, I felt like opening a book written in Japanese or Mandarin. I knew the symbols had a certain logic but couldn’t start guessing it. There were too many runes and no System Prompt to explain anything.

“Hey, System, are you there? Care to give me a hand?” I asked the ceiling.

No response. I dived into my mana pool, but the blonde man in yellow polo wasn’t there either. How was I supposed to fix the System without a teacher to help me? I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath. The System Avatar was right. Learning the runic language was going to take years.

I focused again on the cape. An assortment of seven runes covered the fabric to the last centimeter—seven runes for a single enchantment. I wondered if each rune was some sort of ‘command’. It wasn’t a wild guess if the System was written like computer code. I wrote the runes down and focused on the Aias Sword. I counted seventy-two different runes that were sorted into several sentence-like structures. It was too much information to make an educated guess about the functionality of each fragment.

After filling several sheets of scroll with the runes from the Aias Sword, I retrieved Ilya’s Cooldown Bow. Twenty-one runes were sorted into sixteen different ‘sentences.’ It wasn’t as complex as the Aias Sword, but it was still a four-year degree away from my current skills.

I diligently wrote down the runes of each enchanted object. I added the words ‘fire’, ‘absorption’, and ‘recognition’ next to the Aias Sword runes and ‘movement’ and ‘reaction’ beside Firana’s cape runes. For the Cooldown Bow, I had little clue about the object’s functionality, so I just wrote ‘charge’ and ‘momentum’. Then, I compared the sentences. The chubby man looked American or maybe European, so I guessed the runes had to be read from left to right, from top to bottom. The first rune of each ‘sentence’ was different, so I assumed there was no ‘start here’ rune.

The enchanted orc ring was my last hope. Its functionality was limited to pulling my hand in the direction of its twin, so I guessed it wouldn’t be so complex. I was wrong. Completely wrong. Similarly to the Aias Sword, the ring was covered in several different combinations of sixty-one runes sorted in hundreds of different ways.

After finishing my annotations, I leaned back and looked at the water stained white ceiling. Deciphering the runic language by cross-examining enchanted items might be my best shot. However, I was going to need more source material.

I wanted to have a clear idea of what I was doing before trying to enchant anything.

When I first got [Runeweaver], for a brief moment, I could see faint runes everywhere. I took a deep breath and activated my [Mana Mastery]. At first, nothing happened, but I used the meditation techniques until my mind cleared of any external and internal stimulus. Slowly, like magic, thousands of washed-away runes sprouted from all the surfaces, but most of them were too blurred to even guess the forms and lines.

Another dead end.

The next logical step would be replicating one of the enchantments. Still, I was worried about accidentally blowing up half of the orphanage or creating a glitch that would swallow reality. My gut told me that runeweaving was a more unrestricted process than regular enchanting. Such freedom scared me to a certain extent. If anything, my sense of self-preservation was triggered if there were orphans involved.

“You have years to master this skill. There’s no rush,” I reminded myself.

Focusing on raising Elincia and Ginz’s classes might be a better approach. The potion operation had resulted in a massive influx of money to the orphanage with little risk, if I ignored the amount of times we almost died in the process. I made a mental note to put away money to hire a couple of bodyguards for our next venture into the Farlands. With enough money, I could buy more enchanted items, and with enough enchanted items, I could break the code.

Using [Identify] on the runes was also an option, but the Corruption in my chest prevented me from jumping directly into the task. Now that I knew how to cure the Corruption, I couldn’t jeopardize my recent improvement for a short-term gain. Elincia would be mad at me.

“Mister Clarke! Lunch is ready!” Shu said from the other side of my door.

I looked at my notes with satisfaction and exited my bedroom. Progress was progress no matter how slow it was. I locked the door so no orphan could accidentally touch the Aias Sword, and focused my attention on the harpy girl.

There were also other matters that I had to attend to before Elincia’s potion ran out.

“Tell me, Shu. What do you think of Mister Ginz so far?” I asked as Shu raised her arms so I would carry her. I noticed I didn’t know Ginz’s surname. Ginz Lowell, maybe?

“Ginz is funny. If you use The Glare, he gets uncomfortable,” she shrugged. “I like Mister Clarke more, though.”

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“Thank you for the compliment, Shu, but remember, Ginz is a teacher at the orphanage now, so you should treat him respectfully. Got it?” I said.

“How can he be a teacher if he hasn’t taught any class yet?” Shu replied with a skeptical expression.

I sighed. Shu was too adorable to scold her no matter how unruly she was. On the bright side, at least Elincia’s classes promoted the orphans’ logical-argumentative skills. I made yet another mental note to survey Ginz’s mood. There was a lot of talk about student-on-student and teacher-on-student bullying and very little about the abuse suffered by teachers conducted by students.

“Will you promise me not to use The Glare too much?” I asked.

The advantage of carrying Shu everywhere was that she couldn’t flee mid-conversation.

“Alright. Promise. Just because I like you,” Shu replied as we entered the kitchen.

The orphans were already sitting in their respective seats, waiting for the food to come. I smiled. They looked a lot more healthy than the first time I cooked for them. I automatically walked to the stove to help Elincia serve the portions. Despite my proximity, she ignored me.

“How did your morning go, sweetie?” I asked near her ear so no orphan could hear us.

“Great, actually. I took a long, hot bath. Without any clothing,” Elincia replied.

“That’s how people usually take baths,” I giggled as I handed her the wooden bowls so she could pour the steaming soup.

“You think you are funny, Scholar? I’ll touch your feet with my cold hands every morning until you beg for forgiveness,” she whispered as she took the empty bowl from my hands.

“I’m sorry, Eli. I’d love to have a bath with you, but my hands are tied until we formalize our relationship,” I teased her.

“Oh, don’t lie to me. I know your hands are far from ‘tied’,” Elincia said, burying her elbow in my ribs. “And I don’t have any problems ‘formalizing’ my relationship with your lanky Scholar ass, so go ahead and do whatever weird mating ritual Earthling Scholars do.”

I smiled. Elincia’s lack of patience might explain why Ginz was often punched during their days as orphans. In my opinion, it was part of her charm.

“No backsies,” I said with my best annoying voice.

“In case you hadn't noticed, I like you a lot. Proof? I put up with your bullshit on a daily basis,” Elincia grunted.

“And I like you a lot,” I replied, stealthily kissing her shoulder. An idea had crystallized in my overly energetic brain: the time to tell the orphans about our relationship might be long overdue. “Excuse me, everybody, your attention here, please!”

I clapped my hands, and the kitchen fell in complete silence.

Elincia didn’t seem amused in the slightest. “Do it, I dare you,” she whispered.

“It has come to my attention that a certain rumor regarding Miss Elincia and I had been circulating around the orphanage. After investigating the source of said rumor, we have concluded that some of you might have magnified certain signs of mutual appreciation between Miss Elincia and myself. Yes, I’m looking at you, Shu,” I said.

The harpy girl gave me a smug, almost evil smile.

“Wait! That means there’s nothing going on between you two?” Ilya asked in disbelief.

Virdian and Nokti looked like they were about to cry.

“Miss Elincia is a great woman. She’s kind, hardworking, supportive, and reliable, although a bit grumpy at times…” I prefaced, seeing how the orphans' shoulders deflated as if they anticipated the rest of the sentence. “I am pleased to announce that Miss Elincia and I are in a romantic relationship. I’m deeply in love with her and wanted to share the good news with you all.”

The kitchen fell in complete silence, as if they were waiting for the ‘I’m just kidding’. Not even the cold winter wind dared to blow. The kids were shocked. Then, Elincia touched my shoulder and kissed my cheek, making my face red. The kitchen erupted into excited cheering, and the orphans rushed towards us and hugged us tightly. Even Ash, who still often showed his distrust, joined. Several soup bowls were spilled in the process.

Elincia shot me an embarrassed look as Shu repeatedly chanted ‘wedding’.

“Enough of this nonsense!” Elincia yelled over the sound of shouting orphans, grabbing a ladle and brandishing it like a mace. It was impossible for her to hide how flustered she was. “Back to your seats, you lot! Or I’ll have you scrubbing dishes until your hands wrinkle and your fingernails fall off!”

The orphans chuckled, but they held us hostage in the hug for another minute before they returned to their seats. I caught Elincia’s severe glance and offered an apologetic shrug. She just shook her head, and a hint of a smile appeared on her lips.

“You are insufferable,” she said, trying to sound stern but failing to hide a glint of amusement.

“I know, but you love it,” I replied, signaling towards the kids with my head. “Look at how happy they are.”

Elincia rolled her eyes, but the warmth of her smile spoke volumes.

“I admit it. You are very good at keeping the morale high, insufferable as you are,” she said, stealthily grabbing my hand.

“Just hold until the tournament, and I’ll spend all my time on you,” I said, joining heads.

Suddenly, a weak glint of light behind a sack of potatoes caught my eye. A light stone. The enchanted stones were a staple in my daily life at the orphanage to a point I had forgotten about their existence. A shiver of excitement ran down my spine. The light stones were so simple that I had forgotten they were a magical item.

“I need to check something. Can you send Ginz with a bowl of soup to my room?” I asked as I kissed Elincia’s hand.

Elincia nodded and I walked to the door with the light stone in my pocket. The kids didn’t seem too happy to see us breaking apart, although the attention promptly changed towards Firana, who was bragging about knowing about us for weeks now. As soon as I exited the kitchen, I heard the muffled ‘wedding’ chants behind me entangled with a ‘traitor’ chant.

I laughed my way to the sleeping quarters.

I unlocked my room’s door and sat on the desk with the light stone in front of me. Only three runes sorted in a single ‘sentence’ shone on the surface of the rock. I took a piece of parchment and drew the runes down next to the possible meanings. ‘Light’ and ‘recharge’ were obvious, the third one not so much. I closed my eyes and envisioned the process. Mana went into the stone and emitted light until it was depleted. I wrote ‘storage’ and ‘gradual’ with a big question mark between them.

“Let’s see if this works,” I muttered as I pulled my notes away, leaving only a piece of parchment on the desk. I felt more comfortable experimenting with the light stone’s runes than the billowing cape ones. In the worst-case scenario, I’d flashbang myself.

The runes weren’t ‘drawn’ in any of the objects, so I assumed I didn’t need a pencil to weave an enchantment but only my mana. I closed my eyes and focused on the sheet of paper. Then, I envisioned the shape of the rune and gathered my mana in a bright ball before me. My mana shredded into silver hair-like strands and merged with the parchment, creating a tessellation of tiny runes.

When I opened my eyes, the piece of paper emitted a weak light.

“First try, baby!” I grinned.