Allowing the Druid to return to his resting place, the Core called the Queen back over before she could start on her project again. The new situation was too much to get through without her expertise.

‘Little rock, I truly don’t want to believe you want suggestions on how to build a room,’ the Queen said. ‘However, if you have forgotten that skill, I can perhaps help even if it will cost you a large number of favours.’

‘I can assure you that I fully remember how to absorb the energy of other materials,’ the Core sent back to the Queen, not understanding why that would ever be in question. It was how it had started the entire operation. There was little chance it would forget such a vital skill at any level! ‘I was hoping you could explain [Runic-Paths].’

…

‘Since I haven’t mentioned those to you before, I expect you’ve gotten one unlocked?’ the Queen questioned, sounding a little tired. ‘Which one did you get?’

‘The [Arcanium Runic-Path]’ the Core answered, not surprised the Queen figured it out so quickly. ‘Could you explain it to me?’

‘There isn’t much I can explain,’ the Queen said. ‘[Runic-Paths] are in essence different collections of runes that focus on a particular subject. Each level of a [Runic-Path] makes it increasingly specific and exponentially harder to achieve. Before you can even use the runes, however, you have to first learn each of them to an incredible degree. You need to know how they look, in which way you need to form them, and what meanings are behind them. Then you can use them as intended. But, before you can start any usage, you first need to know at least a few of the runes in the [Basic Runic-Path]. They are what connects everything advanced, not having effects themselves. And… that should be about it. Any questions before I return to my projects?’

‘How do I access the [Basic Runic-Path]?’ the Core asked.

‘Since you have unlocked an advanced path, you should be able to make the system show you the standard screen for it. If you can’t, level up [Mana-Manipulation] more. Now, I am going back to reassembling my dead children. Let me know if the world is ending. If it’s anything else, it’s not important enough to notify me.’

Ignoring wording yet again, the Core went back to its antics. The Queen’s words stated that there was an entire [Screen] for it. The Entity had seen no hint of such a thing existing yet felt no reason to not try. Willing forward anything that included Runes, the Core was quick to be surprised.

[Runic-Path Screen]

Basic

Rarity:

Common

Known Runes:

00/??

Languages:

???

Arcanium

Rarity:

Rare

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Known Runes:

00/??

Languages:

???

One, there was an actual screen for it. Two, the Core had already gotten two [Runic-Paths]. The actual information for each was… lacking, but it was still so much more than it had initially expected. [Rarities] were becoming a quick pattern with the [System Screens] but the other two sub-categories were entirely new. [Known Runes] and [Languages] hadn’t been used in other screens at all, making the Core need to guess what each could mean.

Known Runes seemed to be decently straightforward. It was the total amount of runes known in that specific [Runic-Path]. Though the question marks at the end were annoying, it was likely due to the total amount of different runes not being known. Perhaps it would show itself when all been found? Or the Core could perhaps get a straight answer from another source and use that as a base of sorts.

Now… Languages? That was a bit harder to fully grasp. The Core liked to think of Runes as one big unified subject yet time with the Queen had shown that such a way of thinking wasn’t true. It was partly right in some sense of the words. If the mumblings of the mad ant were to be trusted, there were only so many [True Runes]. Yet… there were many, many ways those runes had been interpreted over the aeons.

Lines were made curved, parts removed or replaced, and some even got different variations with slightly different effects. A language developed, even when it supposedly only had one right answer. What were those right answers? Nobody was sure. At least, nobody had said it openly.

Instead of having one unified [Language of Runes], the choices of which were used were all depending on location. Places used different ones with the especially isolated communities using very different ones. That was how the Queen could think herself wise on Runes while still not understanding anything about the Runes found in the river. It was likely a variation made too long ago by a very isolated tribe of people.

But that begged the question of why the [System] had the languages as a standard. It likely wasn’t that way in the start when the [True Language] had been there. But since the system also wasn’t meant to be a living entity, there was no way it could have changed. Constants weren’t supposed to change. Not even to the individual.

But the individual could change it… The Core stopped trying to look further into it, not wanting anything confusing to spring up. The [Screen] in front of it was more than usable, and when matched against the bits of information found when it tried to think up [Runes], the results were beginning to take form. The [System] had granted it very small parts of the actual runes but they wouldn’t work without having another language imprinted on them. For that, the Core needed to seek information out. It could ask the Queen to see if she knew but the ant had requested silence in her work.

While the Entity did technically own her and could command her to obey, there was no real reason to. It had achieved its goal of upgrading [Arcane-Manipulation] and had gotten the rewards from it. For now, that was enough. There was other work to get done before it could go back to other projects, making a new room for the [Druid] being one of them.

All the details had already been made beforehand making the only remaining part be the actual replacement of stone. An opening in the Mana-Walls needed to be made for a stone wall to be made so the Druid could enter and leave. After that, it needed to dig out the new room in perfect form so it could then start tethering new Mana-Walls into the new room. This would then allow it to fill the room up with its Mana without repercussions and create the perfect density required to make the furniture requested.

… It was perhaps only one step but it certainly took a long time to even explain. The Core noted as much to itself as it started on it, first creating an additional barrier in the innermost room so it could dig into the wall without risking the loss of all current Mana-Deposits.

But even with those risks, the process went ahead smoothly. The sound was stopped from travelling too far, making the literal tons of stone removed soundless. The constant grinding wouldn’t be heard by the most proficient of ears, though a bit of shaking might have been felt if anybody had stood on the hill. The larger room had perhaps been a part of the lifting stones on the hill, making it unstable for just a few moments. It had been fixed by reinforcing the walls and creating a smaller arch to redistribute the weight slightly yet the Core knew it would be making a few pillars the next time it would make a new floor or room. Unstable walls were never the answer.

Ignoring such faults, for now, the Mana-Walls were quick to be created. With the sharp corners, the Core did once again need to make some sort of padding, smaller amounts of Mana being able to slip through consistently if not done properly. Then came the act of filling up the room itself which was rather easy, just taking a few minutes where the Core heavily focused on Manual Mana-Regeneration.

Slipping through that without issue, the Core came to the part it had slightly dreaded. Making furniture. Bending it to its will, the Entity began the very luck-based task of forming materials together in ways never done before. Making perfectly round legs for a bed was slightly different than when it made the inside of an [Entangling Oak-Tree] and the leather in such flat layers was hard to do without the occasional bump. Yet… it was done in the end, giving a rather fancy room. The pipes in the ceiling were made, though they were a bit more obvious than the Core had imagined them to be. At the end of them, it had made sure that anything that wasn’t air could get through with the use of a very dense iron-gate of sorts. It was a flat plate with an extreme amount of small holes. Even water would have a hard time forcing itself through.

By the time it was all ready, it was already night yet again. The Druid had slept through the entire day, the Queen was still working on her [Undead] kids, and the Core had to spend its time doing something else. Perhaps a look at those Runes by the river? The Entity suspected it could perhaps learn something more with the new knowledge gained. But, there was only one way to find out.

Oh, if only it had [Astral-Projection]. Then it could just walk outside of the Dungeon and have a better look at the world. There had to be so many parts that needed to be checked out. Even when so close by, the Entity couldn’t help but wonder what was going on over at the camp. It wasn’t fully built just yet but some secrets were likely still there.

It was something to think about, it supposed. The place would have to grow in population before they could send in Buck.