Nathaniel sat at the table trying to control his impatience. Maria and Ophelia completely lost theirs as their fingers tapped against the table, while Shizuka sat next to him reading a book. Nathaniel took the time to review his stats.

Nathaniel Light

(Health: 200/200) (Mana: 40/40)

• Class: Inventor Lv. 10

• Stats:

o Strength: 120

o Dexterity: 25

o Constitution: 26

o Intelligence: 140

o Wisdom: 30

o Charisma: 15

• Skills

o Cooking Lv. 4

o Alchemy Lv. 8

o Smelting Lv. 6

o Weaponsmith Lv. 10

o Leatherwork Lv.5

o Masonry Lv. 5

o Carpentry Lv. 10

o Arcana: 5

“Where is he?” Ophelia said with a growl.

“Probably in bed with a beautiful woman,” Shawn said sharpening a dagger.

Ophelia took several deep breaths, “Can’t he take anything seriously?” she said turning to one of the attendants, “Someone go collect the Champion.”

Ophelia watched the attendant leave with a hard stare, and the atmosphere grew colder. The Oracle's furious tapping echoed loudly.

“Ophelia, there’s something I don’t understand,” Nathaniel said hoping to take her mind from Duncan, “Why did I need to learn about magic yesterday?”

“It’ll help with crafting,” she said softening her glare, “You’ll need to have magic skills in order to craft certain magical items like staves and wands.”

“So will I need to learn specific types of magic or just [Arcana]?”

“Both,” Ophelia tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “[Arcana] is used for most item enchantments, but you’ll need to have skills in specific types if you want to imbue an item with a specific magic.”

“So, if I wanted to make a wand that casts [Light Magic], then I need to have levels in that skill,” Nathaniel said, “Shouldn’t I learn magic spells as well?”

“You don’t need to learn spells to gain the skills,” Shizuka said closing her book, “Magic skills can be learned and leveled by reading the appropriate books. When it comes to your class, you just need to know the principles behind the magic to enchant an item. Am I correct Ophelia?”

“You are,”

The door opened and Duncan entered the room. His clothes hung loosely, and his hair was a complete mess.

“It’s about time,” Maria said giving him a dirty look.

Duncan smiled at her, “I didn’t get much sleep last night,”

“Enough,” Debin said, stopping an argument from starting.

“Why are we here?” Shawn sighed looking between the Oracle and advisor.

“You five will be having general studies every Bardcall,” Debin said, “These lessons will be specially tailored to each of you so that you may navigate our world without any issues. However, this first lesson is something that concerns all of you.”

“This lesson will be a brief introduction to our world and a few of the major powers in it,” Ophelia said, “It’s important for you to know our allies and enemies.”

“Take a seat Champion so that we may begin,” Debin spread a world map onto the table.

The map showed a single continent with four large landmasses on each side with an ocean in between. The western landmass connected to the central continent with a single land bridge. The central continent was the most detailed.

Debin pointed to the central landmass, “We are on the continent of Everhall,” he said looking at each of them, “There are five kingdoms currently in power with the Gilbrant kingdom being the most powerful,” Nathaniel could see why. The borders of the Gilbrant kingdom took up most of the continent. The other kingdoms combined didn’t even make up a third of its size. “Because of this, we are the ones mainly fighting against the Horde and Demons.”

“The other kingdoms support us though,” Ophelia said, “Even if it’s not much.”

“The Umvral Kingdom tries to avoid their obligations though,” Debin said pointing to the second largest kingdom, “The rats have no problem profiting off our suffering.”

“Is there a possibility of a war?” Maria said.

“Doubtful,” Ophelia said, “The other kingdoms don’t want to increase their standing, otherwise they’ll be expected to be more active against the Horde and Demons.”

“We’re fighting against monsters and demons?” Duncan snickered, “Nice.”

“You should take this seriously Champion,” Debin said pointing to the western side of the continent, “The hordes from Pa’palla have taken over a large portion of the west. The monsters currently control the land bridge which allows them to freely enter Everhall. We’ll try to retake the bridge once you’re all trained.”

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“Monsters are kind of vague,” Nathaniel said, “Can you elaborate?”

“The Horde consists of a loose alliance of Pa’palla’s different denizens,” Debin said with a sigh, “So far, we’ve encountered Orcs, Goblins, Nagas, and Lycans. But we’re certain there are more since we haven’t properly scouted out Pa’palla.”

“Do you have any information on the other continents?” Nathaniel said looking at the blank four landmasses.

“Unfortunately, no,” Debin said, “From what little we’ve seen from Pa’palla, it’s a desolate land. Only the strong can survive there, and the only way there is the land bridge. As for Zechriel, we haven’t been able to retake the north since they landed. Until that happens, we can’t scout their lands.”

“What about the other two?” Shizuka said.

“The southern continent is called Nevermore,” Ophelia said, “The kingdom of Melmaria sent expeditions to scout it out, but none of them ever returned. As for the eastern continent, we don’t know anything about it. There’s no place to make landfall, so all expeditions have ended in failure.”

“That covers the lessons for this morning,” Debin said rolling up the map, “You all are free to spend the day as you see fit.”

“Good, I’m going back to bed.” Duncan said quickly leaving the room.

“Let’s go check out the town, Shizuka?” Maria said pulling Shizuka out of the room.

“Lady Ophelia, I have something I need to talk to you about.” Debin escorted Ophelia away.

Nathaniel found himself alone in the room. Apparently, Shawn snuck out at some point which shocked him. He left the room and started wandering around the fort, unsure of what to do. Nathaniel didn’t feel like going into town, even though he had a sizable allowance that was given to him. If he was going to stay in the fort, then it would make sense to try and increase his skills. Nathaniel saw a servant bearing a tray of food walk down the hall. The pleasant sweet and savory smell made him smile. He would try the kitchen first.

Nathaniel made his way to the kitchen and was assaulted by the rich smells. The staff moved about with quick, deliberate steps as they prepared the next meal. It was busy. The kitchen staff was separated into individual stations so that the staff could focus on making their chosen food. Those baking bread, simmering stews, and roasting meat all hugged the wall as they managed the cooking while the inner stations were set up for food preparation. Nathaniel was a little intimidated by the sight, and the cold stare of the head chef, and decided to leave.

Nathaniel went back to wander the fort. He knew that there were many other crafting skills he could learn, but he didn’t know where to go. The thought of going to Ophelia for help crossed his mind. Spending the afternoon with her could be pleasant, but it would mean interfering with her work, and he didn’t want to be a hinderance. With a heavy sigh, Nathaniel combed back his hair, but the sound of clanging metal drew his attention. The forge sat outside the window with Gordon and his sons working in the heat. He’d be back in the forge in a few days, but maybe Gordon could teach him something new.

Nathaniel made his way towards the forge. He could feel the heat even from the outside. Ramsey and Moses were hammering out a sword while Gordon leaned over a table branding a shield with a hot poker.

“Look here Pa!” Ramsey said noticing Nathaniel, “The illustrious Inventor Hero graces our forge again. Did you miss us that much that you couldn’t wait a few more days?”

“I was given the afternoon off,” Nathaniel said, “And I was bored, so I thought Gordon could teach me something new. You know since I’ve already surpassed your level.” Ramsey stared at him in shock.

“Then why not spend it with the lovely Oracle?” Moses said with a slight smile.

“She’s busy, and I didn’t want to be a bother,”

“Understandable,” Gordon said wiping his soot-stained hands, “Don’t just stand there, son. Come over and I’ll teach you [Runesmith].”

Nathaniel walked over to the table, “You mentioned that before,” he said, “Is it different from regular smithing?”

“It is,” Gordon said looking down at a sword on the table. It glistened in the forge light with glyphs branded into the flat of the grey blade, “It’s a crafting skill that mainly focuses on enchanting equipment with unique properties. These properties can be anything from increased strength to elemental resistances.”

“So how do these runes work?” Nathaniel said.

Gordon placed an iron bar that shined blue-green. “First you’ll need arcane alloy,” he said, “This is made by incorporating powdered arcanum with any metal while smelting, but copper, silver, and gold work the best."

“So what alloy is this?” Nathaniel gestured to the bar.

“This is arcane iron,” Gordon said, “This is used mainly for weapons and armor.” Gordon pointed to the sword, “Then you carve these glyphs into the metal to enchant it.”

“So, it needs magic to work,” Nathaniel said, “But there can’t be that much magic in the metal, can there?” Gordon shook his head, “Then couldn’t you use a magic crystal to power the runes?”

“Only if you want the runes to stop working,” Gordon said with a laugh, “Magic crystals do store more magic, but they are quick to deplete that magic and slow to rebuild it. Whereas arcane alloy slowly cycles through magic making it more effective, if you don’t overload it with runes. Crystals work better for supplementary items like wands and staves, that way spellcasters can have a secondary source of magic in case of an emergency.”

“But isn’t arcanum expensive? Which means that weapons with runes must be quite expensive.”

“True,” Gordon said with a frown, “This is my personal supply, and the only reason I have some is because there’s a dungeon next to my home village. I can gather arcane crystals to grind into the powder, but that doesn’t mean that these items aren’t worth it.” He pulled out a set of gauntlets with similar runes, “For example, if multiple pieces are engraved with the same rune, like this one,” he pointed to a triangular rune with a perpendicular line on each side, “Then the effect will increase by the number of runes on the entire set.”

“It’s a set bonus,” Nathaniel said chuckling. Gordon gave Nathaniel a confused look that he waved away, “So, it’s more productive to use arcanum to build an entire set of gear rather than multiple of the same type, correct.”

“Pretty much,” Gordon took a deep breath, “I had several books back home on rune smithing but didn’t have the time to pack them. They’d help with the more complicated aspects of the craft. For example, I use these pokes to quickly stamp the rune into the hot metal, this allows me to finish quickly but at the cost of the rune’s strength. But if I were to carve the rune by hand, then the rune’s strength would be stronger.”

“Why?”

Gordon scratched his beard, “From what I understand, it has something to do with the intent,” he said, “By carving the rune by hand, you’re putting more focus on the intent of the rune.”

“Interesting,” Nathaniel looked at the gear with fascination.

[New skill acquired: Runesmith Lv. 3]

“Thanks for the lesson, Gordon,” Nathaniel smiled, “I’m now a level three [Runesmith].”

“Then here,” Gordon pushed the pokers over to him and pulled out a breastplate and set of greaves, “I need to finish up this armor set. Do me a favor and stamp the runes on these pieces, and make sure they’re in line with each other. The runes won’t be as effective if you place the runes randomly. Also, you only need to stamp them once with each one, it doesn’t increase the runes’ power if you apply more."

Nathaniel stuck the pokers into the fire and pressed the blazing metal onto the breastplate. He placed the triangular rune in the center of the armor at the top, then the circular rune in the center, and the three parallel line rune at the base. He repeated the process with the other pieces.

“I’ve finished,” Nathaniel said organizing the gear on the table, “Who’s this armor for?”

“The Champion,” Gordon said stamping the pauldrons, “Prince Ollimier wanted it done before he reaches level twenty.”

“Doesn’t he already have armor?”

“That armor’s more ceremonial,” Gordon said quenching the armor, “This is to prepare him for battle,” He set the armor on the anvil to cool and pointed to the engraved runes, “The triangle rune will increase his strength attribute. The circular rune will increase his defense, and the three lines will increase his speed.”

[Skill leveled: Runesmith Lv. 5.]

“Are these the only ones you have?” Nathaniel said looking around.

“Unfortunately,” Gordon nodded, “I didn’t have time to grab my engraving kit, and I only had these three pokers made.”

“So, you can’t teach me anything else?”

“Not right now,” Gordon said with smile, “But I’ll see if the library has any books on runes. But I think someone else needs your attention.” He gestured out the door.

Nathaniel looked out the door and saw a flash of golden hair disappear in the window.

“Thanks Gordon,” Nathaniel said.

“Go get her, hero!” the guys shouted back at him.