Day ~83~

Rea gave the book she had awoken to find laying on her chest a dirty look, [Book] "Runic knowledge for DUMMIES!" That pissed her off a bit and she almost tossed it into a forge fire. Pondering that, she came to the conclusion that a greater god must have more leeway to influence the world than demigods. Not being one to waste anytime Rea set about her morning ritual... Half an hour later, Rea was floating in her bath while holding the book above her. Feeling that this was entirely too uncomfortable she switched to the mud bath. With her upper body propped out over the edge she continued to read. It was filled with knowledge of different runes, their strokes, and their different applications. For instance, depending on the way you curve the top stroke of an auroch uruz rune you could end up with a physical strength enhancement, reversing the same rune would cause weakness. Rea couldn't help but wonder how an idiot was careless enough to reverse a rune that would make his insides turn into his outsides, then blow him to pieces. Needless to say, she was super damn happy...

Ability [Runic Knowledge - Complete] learned.

It wouldn't work with leather armor, but any steel or stone type equipment could be engraved, then infused with runic power, anything forged with a hammer... which as it turns out, is the reason dwarves can't use mana for spells. They do have mana, they just called it runic power. Basically you engrave a hammer with say the uruz rune, three strokes, top stroke vertical for strength. The wielder of this said hammer pours his runic power... mana, into the weapon and gains a portion of power from that strength rune depending on their own capability.

Interrupting her train of thought was a grumbling stomach, Rea nervously looked up at her half spent stock of rabbit meat before thawing a chunk of roast out. Satiety mastery had already hit max, so she was eating less... but that didn't make half starving yourself any more pleasant and she was sure that blacksmithing wasn't gonna help. Rea nearly fell on her keister when the book suddenly turned to ashes in her hands. She almost panicked before she realized that last ability had made her unable to forget what she had learned unless she chose to destroy it. Rea wasn't happy as she went over her rune knowledge... What the dwarves had done to themselves, nothing could have produced such an effect so they must have customized a power word. Meaning her sorry bum was still gonna get lost looking for it, or possibly, pay dearly guessing.

Putting the inevitable trials on hold she closed her eyes. As with before Rea really does work better with a clear goal in mind. Making one last mental note to not accidentally inscribe runes reverse she moved on, seriously reversing an uruz rune meant to bring strength and ending up with sudden weakness could mean death. Rea visualized what she wanted to make, armor, incredibly solid, possibly massive heavy armor. If it wasn't for the garb apparatus she'd likely think of using all the mythril gear she found to make a set of light armor, but being able to freely switch to her mountain lord's set in the blink of an eye was leading her to choose something insane for purely defensive purposes...

Rea paused for a moment, sure turning into a frickin' boulder would block attacks, but she'd be so encumbered that movement and attacking would become almost useless... aside from sitting still and firing spells all over the place. Rea amended her goal, she now wanted a massive, solid shield that she could summon and drive into the earth, that would suit her future needs needs fine. As for armor, she'd gather every ounce of mythril here and forge some lightweight armor... no, she was pretty sure that would be a bust. Rea couldn't trust her craftsmanship to that degree yet. All she'd worked on with Corn was heavier, thicker, iron armor. Mythril was effective but more difficult to properly forge and Rea wasn't willing to risk her life on the off chance she may be a natural at it.

For now Rea decided to leave all of the more difficult to work with metals like mythril and silver aside, if she had time she'd like to melt them down before leaving. For now Rea focused on her new goal, a massive shield she could... thinking more deeply on it she was too focused on the thought of what would be useful against a dragon's breath attack. What Rea needed right now was speed and versatility. Those things that had chased her, she'd caught a closer glimpse of those skinny monsters while slamming the door shut behind her, Rea was sure they would use their teeth as a weapon. They were pretty quick too, so she didn't just want to have a big useless shield. Deciding to make the shield at a later time Rea envisioned a set of light armor again... but maybe her mountain lord's armor would hold up to the teeth... Realizing this was getting her nowhere fast she decided to just hit the forge and see what happens while knocking off the rust.

Using her psychometry she looked over the various equipment's base metals one more time, one adamantine dagger, iron, aredrite, atlarus, celenegil, rubracium, prometheum, black steel, silver, and mythril. Surprisingly most of the weapons were made of mythril, all but one hammer was made of black steel, most armor was plain old iron. Rea was thanking her [Metallurgy] as she inspected every piece of equipment's condition. Deciding to knock off the rust using the most common material around Rea dismantled a few pieces of iron armor and tossed them into the furnace.

Half an hour later Rea was sitting at the furnace adding additional heat with her fire magic to speed the process. Less than 10 minutes after that she was folding and hammering the iron into smaller lumps using her makeshift anvil and a black steel hammer. Rea was rather pleased with the dwarven hammer, it was by far much more heavy handed that the more precise iron tools she had used... Knowing that if she intends to craft more delicate equipment this hammer would be a detriment, Rea tossed the hammer aside and picked up a normal iron one. As she folded the iron over and over Rea remembered a popular eastern technique that was used to create durable, malleable, sharp blades. Rea knew that in this world she had access to materials unlike any her old one had known, so she had to keep an open mind... Just then it hit her, she was over thinking things way too much. If she wasn't a jack of all trades she'd focus on one aspect. With this new perspective Rea looked back to the adamantine dagger... Noel had used a dagger, or rather a knife, many times. Rea should just work with weapons for now. She could rely on her speed to stay out of harms way, and if she could use the runes power well she may be able to conserve mana if not outright avoid detection.

Wanting to test out her runesmithing first Rea, after putting a large ingot back into the furnace, went about using another hammer and the adamantite dagger to engrave the three stroke rune for giant thurisaz's defense buff into her hammer's blunt edge. Rea wasn't sure she liked the idea of messing up her hammer, but this was how the book said to do it. Once it was done Rea muttered thurisaz while placing a hand on the engraving. With a pale light the engraving faded leaving behind an unmarked hammer.

Ability [Rune Engraving Lv. 1] learned.

A bit stunned by the spectacle Rea almost let her iron ingot overheat and melt. Removing the ingot she did as had been described and infused the hammer with her runic power, *cough cough*, mana, and pounded away with strong precise blows. Rea could've sworn she heard a chuckle when she shouted out, "I have the power!" About twenty minutes later Rea was looking at a seemingly normal iron bracer that would fit herself. Threading thick leather lacing through the inside of the bracer she put it on and poured her mana in using the same manner of approach that she goes about when bonding. The bracer glowed dimly...

Ability [Rune Infusion Lv. 1] learned.

You have exceeded the minimum required level.

Special requirements [Rune Affinity], [Rune Engraving], [Rune Infusion], [Runic Knowledge] cleared, [Rank Up] to [Hero-Runesmith] now possible.

Will you [Rank Up]?YesNo

...why is it suddenly asking me? Rea was a little afraid that the reason it was asking is because it might take away her job access, so she said no. She then tossed the scrap bracer away.

Explanation for DUMMIES!Hero jobs that alter your being will not be learned without consent. Maybe you should take another look at the runemaster book, genius.

Rea was about ready to throw runesmithing away... If she could afford to, anyways how the heck was she supposed to know that? Deciding to look into what exactly this hero smith job would be altering she quickly pawed through the book again. Increases base runic power, yay!.. yada yada yada... ah there it is, tattoo. A tattoo that glows when infused with runic power, this tattoo is formed based on lifestyle, chosen by the greater god of runes. Runesmiths that did a lot of mining would usually end up with an uruz energy rune. Rea wasn't too off put by the possible... ok maybe she was a little scared that this may end poorly, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

You have exceeded the minimum required level.

Special requirements [Rune Affinity], [Rune Engraving], [Rune Infusion], [Runic Knowledge] cleared, [Rank Up] to [Hero-Runesmith] now possible.

Will you [Rank Up]?YesI'm still a dummy, no.

Hoping a certain greater god acts mature here she decided to accept, Yes.

Ability [Hero-Runesmith] learned.

Rea felt a tingling sensation on her upper left arm as far too many strokes could be felt. Realizing that the greater god had indeed been an arse, she quickly pulled the garb down past her left shoulder to check the damage. Three runes lined her arm, surprisingly, not all were reversed. Paying closer attention the runes read, isa, fehu, and reverse perthro. Their strokes were done to bring about ice, abundance, and stagnation... Rea isn't stupid, the god just showed her exactly what she needs to reverse. He also put something very scary on her arm that she would never ever use. It was at that moment she felt a rather tingly sensation on her abdomen, right above the most sensitive part of her anatomy. Looking down she cursed audibly at what was likely the real rune she was meant to receive. One more black tattoo, except this one was the reverse kenaz for exposure... Rea didn't bother trying to guess what would happen if she infused it and just went for the experiment.

Rea was pissed, alright a little amused, but mostly pissed that her rune was useless. Standing there in all her naked glory Rea let out the longest, heaviest, saddest sigh of her life. The moment she activated kenaz her garb fell to the ground, she then equipped her mountain lord set... it also untied itself and fell to the ground instantly. Rea absently reset her spearman set then banished the mountain lord's gear to garb space by equipping her casual garb. Looking back on the experience she would later be thankful that it hadn't given her an explosive tattoo, but for now she was amused... and pissed.

Day ~84~

Rea woke up with a smirk, Denarius had reprimanded her for making a nude garb set... Now she didn't even need it. Getting to her day, not nearly as angry as before, Rea thought back to her revelation. Focusing on weaponry seemed a solid plan, but that meant she'd be using the mountain lord's gear. The gear, thanks to Lisa... and Rea for corrupting Lisa a bit, well the armor had a few unprotected areas. Rea switched to the mountain lord's set to get a feel for what she'd need to do. Her chest, above the bust and around her shoulders, was exposed. So were her thighs, but those were underneath faulds, she decided the thighs would be fine.

Rea spent the better part of her morning mixing mythril and silver to make quicksilver. She then forged two small handheld pairs of tongs, and a long half inch black steel cylinder. She proceeded to carved long thin lines in a few stone slabs, then poured melting quicksilver into the thin lines along her slabs. Once they cooled she removed her quicksilver, and repeated the process till all of her quicksilver had been made into thin wires, no larger than six or seven millimeters in diameter. She then tightly coiled the wire around her black steel cylinder, after coiling it she slightly heated the quicksilver and ran the adamantine dagger across the cylinder, cutting all of the coil into rings and sliding them off. Rea repeated that process until she was out of wire. Before she could start her next step she needed another cylinder, this one was much smaller in diameter than the black steel one. After placing a line of her rings on the small cylinder Rea set about using her tongs to bend open and close the quicksilver rings, the cylinder was just so that she could keep the first line of rings steady while she clamped them together.

Day ~85~

Nearly twenty-four hours later Rea had completed her project...

~Name your creation.

Rea has obtained [Protection-Mantle] Quicksilver Chainmail Shawl.

Quicksilver Chainmail ShawlClassificationArmorRankUncommonEffects-

-[Lightweight]

-[Minor Durability]Description-

A chainmail mantle created by using mythril and silver. The time and effort of an adept craftsman went into making this armor.

Rea quickly slipped her new armor on, she had made it barely long enough to cover her unarmored parts and was enjoying the sensation of having chainmail hanging over the edge of her bustier. Having used only about half of her quicksilver Rea set about forging a blade. She was pretty set on using a shortsword, something lightweight and effective that she could swing a lot without wearing herself out. With the shortsword formed in a very simple fashion she turned her attention to a few mythril shortswords. Deciding to test out a few different runes, and pick which one to use for her weapons, Rea got to work.

The first test engraving was a kenaz, stroked for technical ability. Infusing the rune caused her to get a sensation similar to a deft hands rank up. Her movements, or rather Rea's control of her body was suddenly risen a level. Rea was very happy with that rune and filed it away in her "Good Runes" folder. The second test was meant to be an ingwaz stroked for relief, Rea messed up a little and ended up with ingwaz for male fertility... Her third test was more out of curiosity, it was the non reversed form of her exposure rune, also a kenaz. She wasn't sure what it meant by power of light until her entire body went camo mode. Realizing that she was suddenly using something very much like optical camouflage, well, Rea was damn happy again... and pissed that her own rune was reversed.

Ability [Rune Engraving Rank Up] learned.

Ability [Rune Infusion Rank Up] learned.

Ignoring any further testing Rea decided to go with technical ability for her more powerful quicksilver shortsword, and keep the other camouflage mythril shortsword on hand. The ophidian paused for a moment and giggled when she'd noticed that her blade had been classified as a xiphos. Rea had always admired greek myrmidons in her world, and she knew just what to do with her shortswords.

Thanks to Dunwalt she'd gotten used to holding a shield but never used it. Rea wanted a shield and sword combo now, and she wanted easy access to both shortswords. Taking out some materials she'd gotten from Lisa, she began by making a simple leather sling to cup under her bust and over a shoulder. With that done she made a fifty centimeter leather sheath lined with metal plates to hold the mythril blade on her back in a directly vertical angle along her spine, attached to the sling. With that out of the way Rea paused and visualized a myrmidon shield. They were made a large uniform size, big enough to tuck your entire body behind while crouching, and all had a semi-circle cut out opposite ends, one facing where your hand points, the other where your elbow points. Rea remembered the purpose of those missing semicircles were to allow spear usage while in formations. Knowing she wasn't about to form up with anyone Rea opted to leave out the rear semi-circle and only keep the front one for her own stabby purposes.

Rea was tempted to use mythril since she was running low on quicksilver... namely she still had plenty of mythril but was out of silver. In the end she chose to go with a heavier, hardier, dark green, lackluster material called haderoth. Once again thanking her metallurgy knowledge Rea set about melting down rubracium and dropping chunks of cooled mythril into the mix. This process created a hardier, yet not entirely too heavy composite metal called haderoth. With a sizable amount of haderoth now on hand she set about staring at herself in the ice wall's reflection... Rea paused for a moment before abusing her new rune to drop her clothing. Now enjoying, and slightly ogling the view she carefully committed to memory her own height before setting about the task of hammering out her rough myrmidonish shield.

After taking her time hammering out the edges, and more minor details of her shield, Rea was happy. It wasn't more than nine pounds, something she could wield in a slightly aggressive manner. With the basics of it complete Rea threaded leather bindings through the board for her arm to slide into and take hold of. She then attached a second sheathe horizontally above the bindings for her quicksilver xiphos. Rea, giddy with anticipation, stood and practiced drawing then sheathing her blades one at a time. She also took advantage of overwriting her swordsman garb with the new equipment and gave the shortswords a few tosses at some mattresses. Performing a quick test she found that she could activate the camouflage rune one her back without wielding the blade, same with the technical ability rune. After noticing that her camo wasn't very effective while moving, Rea stopped playing with it and started to flip around while utilizing her snake muscles and technique rune. Rea was so happy that both were the same type of rune, kenaz, just stroked differently... and she wasn't exploding.

Ability [Rune Infusion Rank Up] learned.

Rea was pretty proud of herself for not giving the shield and blade she had crafted an absurd name, just "Ma Sword and Ma Shield." After pausing for a moment to consider other useful combinations of different runes and their strokes she decided to eat. Her stocks were nearing empty now, four days left at best.

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