Congratulations! You have leveled up.

Ah, another one.

Building, testing, tweaking, changing, and re-carving all worked to give experience and it wasn't small either.

The grade and cost of the materials I was working with accelerated the level gain significantly. It was one of the main reasons my profession was so high level to begin with.

I had no hope of catching up to Vinny or Brayden, or any other crafter-focused person, but I was gaining on them somewhat. Both men in question already had their E-rank evolution, not desiring to wait on Jonathan to figure out if it was worth it.

Vinny became an even better blacksmith and Brayden did the same but with building. They made things constantly, raking in levels faster than I could hope to imagine. Just the time they spent working wasn't something I could match.

Before, when Vinny and I just started leveling up as blacksmiths, we kept a similar pace. Both leveling up at roughly the same time.

That didn't last long. When I went to go hunt, Vinny would stay in the forge. When I trained my skills, Vinny was in the forge. When I meditated trying to improve my Law, you guessed it, he was in the forge.

Our level discrepancy only grew.

I fell behind a level, then two, then 5, then 10. Now, he was somewhere in the mid 50s while I lamented in the high 30s. Reaching 38 with the most recent notification chime.

Usually, it would take longer for a person to climb in levels than this, but I had a few things going for me that were helping the process. The experience gained on crafts was dependent on the final grade along with the difficulty of crafting it.

A master smith forging a piddling sword wouldn't get the same experience as an apprentice smith trying their best to make the same piddling sword.

I could make Common-tier equipment if I wanted to, but my focus was more on Runes for the time being. They allowed me to take Vinny's finished work and add on to it for more experience in less time.

Well, it averaged out to the same amount of time if the failures were taken into consideration. Getting no experience from failing was a blow when I started but became increasingly less relevant.

My carving skills got better with each attempt and my failure went down to show that.

Another reason that I was gaining profession levels faster than normal was the materials I used. Both rarer and more expensive, they increased the experience I gained per craft.

They worked to increase the difficulty, using stronger materials was harder to forge than mundane steel, and they added to the final grade.

Using better base materials increased the base rank of the final piece before I even took a hammer to it.

The last thing aiding my level climb was the first-time bonus. We weren't sure how it worked or the specifics of it yet, but there was a chunk of experience earned when doing something for the first time.

I learned that best when I gained 3 levels on the Frost Ward back at camp. Frost Rune, I had to correct. Wishful thinking wasn't enough to call it a Ward.

The first-time bonus was what I attributed my recent level gain to and what has netted me the quickest levels so far. My current project was a host of new things all topped with the hardest difficulty I could manage. The only thing it was missing was expensive materials.

Trying to cobble together a working Formation with Runes I both barely understood and processes I was largely guessing at.

I couldn't think of anything more difficult.

If I had to equate the process to something, I would say it was like trying to code by copy-pasting someone else's with only a basic understanding of the language used.

Not the programming language written in, the actual language.

The only reason I knew what any of it meant was because of [Basic Runecrafting(Un)]. The skill helped in deciphering what each Rune represented and gave a glimpse at the greater meaning each Rune held.

It wasn't perfect nor was it thorough, but it was better than nothing.

Some of the Runes I had to test myself to find out what they did and those scarcely went according to plan. Carving them into sheets of metal before powering them up with mana resulted in some exploding and others doing nothing.

Immense confusion and frustration accompanied the majority.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There was one I was certain was the Rune responsible for producing wind but after powering it up to no effect, my conjecture was proven incorrect.

Some grumbling and re-reading of the books had me trying to figure it out for nearly an hour until I did. Boy did what I found out piss me off.

The Rune was responsible for producing wind but it wouldn't do it on its own. It needed a secondary Rune to give it direction before it would do so.

Powering it up by itself did nothing, which I had mistakenly thought was an error on my part.

While going through and trying my best to combine Runes together, it was hard to keep the ideas of other things out of my head.

Rune combinations I could use in my hammer. The string of Runes I could use on Jonathan's shields. What I would engrave on Rachel's and Abigail's staves.

For a brief moment, I came up with plans for a shield and axe set similar to what I started with. That one jerked my focus back to the formation box and away from my wondering ideas.

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

The days weren't getting any shorter and my level of understanding wasn't where I needed it to be.

~~

"Yes, yes, I'm here. What was so important?" I grumbled.

It had been a sleepless night trying to put everything together and it was hard to keep my irritation at bay.

It was barely sunrise when Abigail came to get me for something she said was 'Something I needed to be there for.'

I could have been obstinate and refused but decided to go along with it. It wasn't like I didn't need a break and to let my mind rest for a few moments anyway.

After exiting my lodge, or Austin's lodge if you wanted to be specific, Abigail led me to a gathering of people.

Most everyone remaining from my family was there with Jonathan, Austin, Vinny, and Brayden featured front and center.

My tired mind struggled to come up with why they were gathered separately. The only thing that they all had in common was they were the only E-ranks, or in Jonathan's case, near E-rank.

"Now, with everyone here, we can begin," Abigail announced.

"I think we should start with you telling us what this is about?" I said.

"Jon managed to reach level 50 in his class the other day and is ready to evolve to E-rank." She answered.

Oh, I hadn't realized he was so close. Now the grouping made more sense.

Some items were brought out and a circle was made around the man in question.

"Now, evolving to E-rank is different than before. It isn't just picking a new class or profession." Austin said to the nods of the other evolved members, "During the process, you need to focus on the changes you want to make and choose the path you wish to take."

"It's generally straight forward but we can give you some tips and tell you how ours went. It's different for every person, at least that's what we think so far." Brayden said.

"Mine was like building a house. There were materials there I could use to change the house I was building and alter it in some way. Different techniques and processes I could use to change the finished product. It didn't explicitly come out and say it but it was clear which was temporary and permanent."

Everyone who had evolved so far had picked the temporary option during their evolution and chosen to focus on their bloodline powers rather than changing their body.

Them having bloodlines was an initial shock to me but made sense looking back. They wanted to evolve but that evolution was wasted without a bloodline. Jonathan had a large amount of points from fighting and had boosted his wealth through hunting.

Like me and Austin, he sought out the fallen pylons to earn more points. Most of the fighters did the same. Rachel, Hal, and Carrie the most.

They weren't as fast or efficient as us but they managed to accrue a large amount of points.

Vinny and Brayden didn't have that option. They could still fight, but they didn't actively search monsters out for their points. The family did something different for them.

The family as a whole got a large amount of points every wave. When pooled together it was enough for a decent bloodline.

I alone donated over half a million to both of them for that purpose and Austin did more than that.

He didn't have to think of future purchases or materials for his craft. His bloodline and genetic material for his evolution were both already purchased. He also didn't have any need for the points he earned.

His explorer profession didn't require metals, wood, herbs, and the like. There wasn't a drain on his income that he needed to save up for.

We were all under the use it or lose it mentality regarding our points which made it easier for him to give them away.

If I didn't still have things I needed to buy I would have done the same.

All of it added together for better-than-average bloodlines for the both of them and with the end of the tutorial near, the same was planned for the rest of the family.

With only 17 of us left, there weren't that many we needed to buy. 5 of us already had them leaving only 12 that still needed them.

Finding out that they already had them was kind of a bummer. It solidified the fact that I had been away.

When the tutorial first started, the constant contact from living with my entire family was grating. Going from living on my own, to back with not only my immediate family, but my entire family needed some getting used to.

But after getting used to living with them and knowing everything, it was almost sad to find out after the fact. When I donated the points, I didn't give it to them specifically, I gave it to Abigail to use as she saw fit.

It wasn't like I needed to know every little detail about them but something like this was a milestone I felt miffed to have missed. Especially after so many of us weren't here for them.

"Mine was like forging a weapon..." Vinny went on to detail his which was similar to Brayden's but instead of making a house, he made a sword.

Austin's was the most different but it held true to what the others had already said.

The only thing that all of them had in common was that there was only so much that they could change. They felt the limit of how far they could push it which signified the amount their body could take.

For E-rank it was notoriously little.

"Alright, I'm ready," Jonathan said after listening to the other three.

His bloodline was up there in costs and so were the materials he needed. He chose the Stone Turtle as his bloodline and it was up there in rank. Better than the Dirt Turtle and Sand Tortoise, but not on the same level as what Austin and I had.

It boosted his fortitude and endurance and defensive Earth skills tremendously but lacked the offensive power that mine and Austin's did. He didn't see that as an issue though.

It wasn't what his class and skills were geared for.

The materials around him mirrored that. Multiple shells of Stone Turtles, the most expensive part, along with blood essence. He was doubling down on the defensive capabilities.

He sat down surrounded by the materials and started to glow, the process beginning.

He would be the fourth of our group to hit E-rank.