Stupefied, Kade stared at him with a disbelieving expression. He thought whatever Ryder said was a joke.

Ryder looked at Kade nervously, he had expected such a reaction after all.

“Is that… okay?” He asked, not daring to meet Kade in the eye.

“Hell no that’s not okay.” Kade snapped. “Do you know how valuable a rune is?”

“Not really…” Ryder mumbled. He was still new to this field.

“Think about it in this perspective,” Kade said. “This laboratory funds our research department around 10,000 runes per month, and that’s for 20 researchers in that field.”

He then continued, “plus, we use around 15-20 every day for research, there just aren’t enough runes.”

After listening to Kade’s banter, Ryder started contemplating his next steps. First, he knew it would be impossible for each nanobot to have its own command rune. Second, he still can’t reveal his work to Kade in hopes of attaining more help.

Seeing Ryder in thought, Kade scratched the top of his head before sighing, “buddy, what do you need hundreds of thousands of runes for, anyways? No way you’re thinking about having that many maids right?”

Ryder shook his head quickly, realizing that his request was improbable. His mind raced quickly trying to make up for his weird request, or else Kade would become increasingly suspicious of his true aim.

He thought back to his time in the Bloodesworthe castle, his maid Layla, his sister Valerie, the father he never met. His father William Bloodesworthe…duke…head of the castle, guards slowly decreasing in numbers…that’s it!

Ryder’s eyes lit up with a moment of realization. His father, as the duke, was the person with the highest command. With a single order, he can command everyone in the castle, whether it be his maid, his sister, or the guards.

So, what if he were to implement this structure into the nanobots as well? What if, let’s say, there was a nanobot who held the sole authority within the rest of the horde? This specific nanobot will hold the command rune and its sole duty will be to command the other nanobots to complete their mission.

Ryder shivered at his idea. He never tested this idea back on Earth, since every nanobot was either controlled by programming or an external source such as electric fields, both of which were impossible to obtain in Krynn.

Meanwhile, Kade began to grow nervous at what Ryder was going to say this time. He had been thinking deeply for a while, which obviously wasn’t a good sign.

“Hey, Kade.” Ryder finally said, barely able to contain his excitement. The thought of being able to try something new gave him a surge of exhilaration.

“Y-yes?” Kade grew even more nervous looking at Ryder.

“Made me one command rune.”

“Huh?”

“I said, I only need one command rune,” Ryder spoke clearly.

“...” Kade just didn’t know what to say. First, this person asked for hundreds of thousands of command runes, and now he just wants one? Odd.

Nevertheless, Kade was more than happy to oblige to Ryder’s request for one rather than his initial request. He motioned for Ryder to come with him, and together, they walked to his research table filled with all sorts of runes.

“So,” Kade said while grabbing a purplish rune, “you want the command rune to do anything you wish for?”

Ryder took a deep breath, trying to frame his next words carefully. “I will instruct the rune to issue out commands.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nothing could have prepared Kade for that. Ryder’s request was quite odd, why would he want the rune to command the body instead of the person? What would the rune be commanding anyway, the cells in the body?

Swarming with questions, Kade was stumped for a bit. He then glanced at Ryder before asking, “who do you want the rune to issue commands to?”

Ryder thought for a moment, he still didn’t want to expose his idea, but it was tough trying to explain it in other ways. He searched for ways that would be understandable even to a researcher who spent most of his life in a lab.

“Okay so, think about the rune as the demon king,” Ryder started by creating an analogy using the demons since Tamsa was affiliated with them. “The rune, or demon king, will issue out commands to its subordinates.”

Kade stroked his chin, still a bit confused at what Ryder was trying to convey. “So you’re saying the rune won’t be the only thing placed inside the maid’s body?”

“Precisely,” Ryder said in agreement. “Its subordinates will also accompany it.”

“Okay…” Kade nodded, he didn’t know what kind of crazy thing Ryder was trying to do to his maid. “What are the subordinates?”

“That’s a secret,” Ryder winked.

Kade shrugged, he couldn't care less about what happened to the maid. He also wasn’t too interested since it didn’t involve more runes.

“Just so you know,” Kade said as he slowly began to etch intricate patterns onto the purplish rune he placed on some sort of holder. His lighthearted temperament was gone, replaced with a more serious complexion. “For the command rune to issue commands, you will need an intermediate.”

“An intermediate?” Ryder asked as he closely watched Kade’s hand movements. He didn’t understand what he was writing, but Ryder still wanted to see the process anyway.

“Yeah, I’m not going to explain everything about the runes since it would take too long,” Kade muttered. “But an intermediate acts as a bridge between the runes and its user.”

Ryder nodded, his curiosity piqued. “So, what kind of intermediate do I need then?”

Kade paused from his work, thinking. “Well, the command rune uses mana to issue out commands, so you need an intermediate that absorbs and transmits mana efficiently. I’d say mana crystals would be a great choice if you want, they’re cheap as well.”

However, Ryder had already blanked out once he heard Kade talk about command runes using mana. He thought the “magicless” hurdle would be overcome just by having Kade make the rune, but if the command rune uses mana, then that means he would need a constant stream of mana to recharge the rune.

Crestfallen, Ryder encountered an obstacle yet again.

Noticing his silence, Kade glanced at Ryder only to see his sad face.

“What’s wrong?”

“You said the command rune uses mana to give out commands, right?” Ryder asked weakly.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have mana.”

“Oh, I see,” Kade responded. It was quite a serious problem indeed. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way to fix that. “Well, there is a way to temporarily store mana in your body, although it will be painful.”

Ryder looked up quickly, hope restoring on his face. “What is it?”

Putting the rune down, Kade walked to a cabinet before pulling out a bluish stone. The stone contained several markings on it, and it glowed a faint blue hue. Walking back to the table, Kade handed the stone to Ryder who grabbed it cautiously.

“This is a mana stone,” Kade explained. “Something that will transfer mana into your body if you meditate.”

Ryder, however, looked doubtful. “Can my body even contain mana?”

“No, containing mana will eventually lead to mana poisoning as your body is magicless,” Kade replied. “However, that doesn’t mean you can’t store it temporarily until the rune absorbs all of the mana. I'm not 100% sure though, it could work but it could also backfire. Your case is special, after all."

Still a bit skeptical, Ryder took the stone and stored it in his lab coat. He would ask Brigette whether this would be a good idea later on.

“Alright, so back to where we left off, something about crystals being an intermediate?” Ryder questioned.

“Yeah,” Kade confirmed. “Once you have the mana crystals set up, the command rune can issue instructions through them.”

Ryder nodded slowly while absorbing the newly gained information.

‘So that means the nanobot with sole authority should consist of the command rune whereas the other nanobots will contain the mana crystals.’

After finalizing his plan, Ryder watched intently as Kade continued etching symbols and patterns onto the rune. The process itself didn’t take long and after a couple of hours, Kade placed the final touching.

“It’s done” Kade said. “Now I just need to shrink the rune down into the size of a virus.”

“Thanks, Kade,” Ryder truly appreciated his help. He looked at the rune, knowing this was his first step towards getting stronger. “By the way, how would I give instructions to the rune? By talking?”

Kade, who was cleaning up his worktable, thought for a moment before replying. “Yep, I made you the owner of the rune, so it will listen to whatever you say.”

“Great, thanks!” Ryder thanked him before starting to head back to his chamber. The milling process should be completed by now.

“Wait,” Kade called out behind him. “I forgot to give you these.”

Ryder turned around to see Kade approaching him with a handful of colorless crystals.

“These are some mana crystals to act as intermediates,” Kade explained while handing him the crystals.

“Wow,” Ryder didn’t know how to thank him. Honestly, this was one of the first kind gestures he’s received since arriving in this world. “I won’t forget this favor.”

“No problem kiddo.” Kade laughed. “Your job as my assistant starts next week!”

Ryder smiled back before leaving. He reminded himself that he would repay this favor to Kade one day. Arriving at his chamber, he braced himself for the next set of challenges ahead.