When the new day started he decided to take it slow, he had agreed to teach a class later on in the day but outside of that he was going to let his plans from the previous day start to take form before moving onto the next thing he planned to do.
Rather than leave his home he made himself comfortable in the living area and pulled out the Dragon Core from his inventory. He had yet to do anything with it, the instructions given to him by King Shrakein was to sit and meditate on it. It was apparently going to be important in his future, how exactly, he wasn’t sure, but the King wouldn’t have told him to do something if there wasn’t an important reason behind it.
The core radiated power, one that was similar to King Shrakein’s but not as strong. Placing the core directly in front of him on the ground he slipped into meditation and focused only on the core. It was an odd feeling, the core seemed to constantly project an essence of some kind, one that seemed to want to connect with him but at the same time would retreat from his own presence.
The feeling he got was that the core wanted a connection, a bond, even if only temporary. However it didn’t want it with just anybody, there was something it needed form him to be able to form that connection. Shaun lost himself in that feeling, trying to find a way to connect and share himself with the core but no mater what he tried he couldn’t force it. Still he kept focusing on the core and the essence it emitted and tried to grab hold of it and bring it under his control.
Every time he thought he was making progress he was pushed back and had to start again. He tried every skill he had and even flexed his willpower on the core but to no success. What do you want from me?
He changed tactics and tried to push his mind into the core but was met with a solid barrier, one that was so strong that he didn’t have even the slightest hope in making it through. Even physically he doubted he would be able to even scratch the thing. What exactly am I supposed to learn from this?
He was broken out of his meditation when he heard a knock on his door, annoyed at being interrupted so quickly he put the core back into his inventory and went to see who it was. He had considered ignoring it but he didn’t know if it would be something important.
The person who had knocked on his door was a women he had never met before, looking almost scared to be there. “Can I help you?”
“Sorry to interrupt you sir. But Jo asked me to come and find you, she said that you were going to teach the first class on runes?” She wouldn’t meet his eye when she spoke but she got her words out easy enough.
“That’s right. Has something changed?” That class wasn’t until after lunch, unless it changed he had plenty of time.
“The class started 10 minutes ago sir.” Damn it! This is the second time that I have lost track of the flow of time in mediation.
“Right…. Then we should hurry over.”
When they managed to get to the room where the class would take place he was somewhat shocked to see that nearly 25 people filled the room, Jo included.
He hadn’t really come up with a plan on how this class would be run so he just decided that he would do a demonstration and then have them work on copying the basic runes to paper.
“Alright so runes. They are the best.” He got some laughs at that, even though he was being completely serious. “To be honest, they really are. They are versatile and once you know enough of them the only thing that is stopping you from doing something is your own power and imagination. Take the ward for example, you all know what that big light was right?” He got nods from everyone in the room, everyone was informed of what it was so keep them from worrying. “That was all done by powering a full circuit of runes into a ritual. There is also other uses though, and what we will be focusing on is learning the basic to eventually apply them to weapons and armour. Like this.”
He pulled out a dagger that had no runes currently carved into it, it was a blank canvas on which he could show everyone what he was talking about. “This is an advanced grade dagger, but currently there is nothing special about it outside of the metal it is made of. Everyone some up and identify it please.”
Once everyone came in close he asked them all to stay so they could all see what he was doing. “Now I have a skill that lets me put the runes on without having to physically carve them, so its kind of cheating. You will need to actually use an engraver to do it. But watch how I put the runes on it.”
He took his time slowly putting on each rune, when he was done he then started to connect them up to form the spell. When he was done he let everyone have a look while he explained what each rune was and the use of them. “That is only the first step though, now you have to power the entire spell up with mana until it is fully active. Depending on how powerful the runes are will depend on how much mana is needed.”
He moved on to channelling his mana into the runes, letting the students all see it slowly power up until he felt like it was nearly complete. “You should feel when it is nearly done, it lights up and feels full. You need to do this in one go so you may need to meditate and take it slow so you don’t run out of mana. But when you reach the final part it will fall into place.” He pushed the last amount of mana needed into the runes and then with a final burst of light it fell into place. “Now identify the dagger. Tell me what has changed.”
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“It has a spell on it now. An electrocuting pulse? That’s incredible!” All of his student spoke over each other, some asking questions and others just voicing their own exclamations of excitement.
He answered all of the questions before having everyone go back to their desks. “You are all a long way off doing this, first you need to learn the runes and practice writing them. Only when you carve the runes on metal to perfection will you start on actual weapons. But first, I guess you all need to start with old fashioned pen and paper.”
Jo took the orbs with the plans he put with basic runes and started placing them on desks with pens and books. She took over for this part where Shaun only needed to walk around and give advice and point out areas of improvement. The class only went for two hours and then the students had to go to their next class while the adults that had joined chose to stay and keep working.
He stayed with them for a while longer, pushing them harder than the kids but also attempting some positive reinforcement. Jo seemed to have picked it up much quicker than the others though.
“You seem to be familiar with some of this already?” He questioned her.
She blushed at his comment and looked sheepish before replying to him. “I may have stayed up late last night and got a head start.”
“I like the dedication. What’s your profession? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I sadly do not have one, but I do have hope.” He gave her a nod and continued helping some of the others.
He only stayed for another hour before he moved on to check on the forge. Between yesterday and today things had changed rapidly. Students were still there but now Jane was in the driving seat, she was dividing up different stations and they were being worked hard on building their skills by forging basic weapons of the same designs as they had come up with the day before. She only acknowledged him with a dip of her head, not willing to let up on the work that she was doing.
He left the forge in her capable hands and moved on to check on those who worked on metal armour. He had neglected them the day before but now spent some time helping build up their plans and where they needed to focus. They even spent time creating plans for different types of shields that could be utilised by different builds.
The days passed with him focusing on meditating on the Dragon Core in the morning and night, although he was failing to make progress. During the middle part of the day he helped in the rune class as well as taking up some other projects he wanted to work on.
The thing that had shocked him on the second day was that he had gotten a notification while he was meditating.
*[Advanced] Short Sword has been created based off of your Creators Plan Skill – Profession Experience Rewarded.*
The fact he was getting experience because other people were utilising his plans was a boon that he was more than happy to accept. He doubted it was a lot of experience, but even a little per creation would add up over time. The only downside was that it wouldn’t help with his skill levels, although it probably would for his planning skill.
It wasn’t until the third day after he had finally formed a routine that things changed. He was in the middle of mediating on the core when someone knocked on his door again. Unlike last time though this was accompanied by yelling.
“Shaun, I know you are in there! This is urgent, we need you now!” He didn’t recognise the voice at first, but he did recognise the feeling of the man with his echo skill.
Putting the core away he answered acknowledge the man at the door. “Come in Josh. This better be as urgent as you think it is.”
When Josh entered the room he had a wild look in his eyes and was red from what he assumed was running here from the Settlement Crystal. “You are needed at the gate, now!”
“Why would I be needed at the gate, that is for Viv to sort out.” He turned away from Josh and started to sit back on the ground when the man shouted at him.
“No! There are Elves at the gate. They refuse to speak to anyone but the owner of the Settlement. Viv tried to explain everything but they wont budge. They will only speak to you.” Interesting.
He knew that there was a chance of something like this happening. The system had been very clear that multiple worlds were being terraformed into forming this one. The odds of humans being the only ones on all of those planets was slim, at least he thought so. But to have Elves on Earth, and for them to show up now of all times, was an interesting development.
“Which gate are they at?”
“The main one, the one that everyone uses to get into the settlement. Are you going to go?” Josh looked almost worried he was going to say no.
That gate wasn’t that far away from here. Using the Settlement Crystal would take longer than simply shifting into the air. Although he hadn’t done that since he had been hurt in the making of the ward. Still why not give it a try now, he was pretty confident he was back to near peak health after having rested for so long.
He moved past Josh and outside of his home. After only hesitating for a moment he activated his elemental shift skill and disappeared into the wind. Thankfully there was no pain, in fact he found the process to be even easier than before. He pushed himself to go as fast as he could towards the gate and he was even able to move at a higher speed than before.
His Mana Body Title had to be at play here, it was the only reason he could come up with as to why it was so much easier to push his body with the mana skill than before.
It didn’t take long moving at this speed to reach the gate, but when he arrived he didn’t shift back into his solid form straight away. His conscious took in what was happening. Outside of the gate was 3 Elves, one female and standing at the front facing towards Viv and two males behind the female. They didn’t move or speak, simply stood there facing forward.
Viv on the other hand had a number of people with her and looked to be in conversation, trying to figure out what to do if he didn’t come he imagined. Deciding to put everyone out of their misery he decided to appear back in solid form between Viv and the Elves.
For a minute they just took in each other, neither speaking nor moving. He took the first opportunity he could to identify them.
*Yarila Zercoven – Level 72*
*Parciner Rolander – Level 68*
*Parcina Rolander – Level 68*
They were decently strong, and if he was to guess the two males were brothers, maybe twins. None of them held weapons in hand, although neither did he. One of them was going to have to make the first move, and after a moment of consideration he decided to get started.
“Do you belong to any factions or clans? If so, which. Your answer will decide what happens next.”
Yarila’s eyes went wide when he finished. Although that was the only change in her expression. He couldn’t read whether it was out of fear, annoyance or some other emotion.
“My name is Yarila, I have been sent by my people to start conversation with your settlement. We belong to no Clan, nor Faction. The same as you, Shaun Clermont.”