Chapter 22 - The One R**** to Rule Them All!

Cough Cough

Why is there so much smoke?

Cough Cough

Oh wait, why am I am coughing? I literally have no lungs.

Goddamit, adding runes only made the explosions bigger!

And what the hell is with those titles?

80% increase in a stat that does not exist? That's like telling a bald person he has an 80% increase in head lice! And what the fuck is a Mathematical Error?

Oh well, I'm already used to this damn system giving me useless titles. I have like 5 already now.

Well, there goes my experiment room.

Wait, I'm seeing a bunch of dots of mana in the smoke. What are those---

"What are you doing?"

"Umm hey, Penny," I replied.

"What were you doing," She asked with the first smile I've ever seen from her. Smiling looked great on her, except for the fact it is slightly making me fear for my safety.

"I was trying to draw runes," I said as I quickly pulled the book out of my inventory and dumping it in front of her.

"Oh? You have an Alvish book? Was it from the Lottery?" She asked as she opened the book and began flipping through pages.

"Yeah, do you have any idea on why I kept on failing?" I asked.

"Well for one, you don't have any rune engraving based class. Dungeons can't get any class other than their Dungeon Core and Master classes, it's different if you got an avatar though, since that technically counts as a new body. However, I suspect that it's a different reason." She replied as she flipped through the book.

"Oh? What could it be?" I asked genuinely curious.

"Can you draw this rune first? But don't activate it." She asked. I quickly drew it, based on the book.

"Even though you're a dungeon you should still be able to the stuff other jobs do, though at a lower proficiency. However, it seems like you still failed to make these runes because you lacked accurate measurements." She replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely stupefied at this point.

"You see..." She said while pointing at a block of text on the book.

"All these runes require precise measurements to work, if you get it even a millimeter off then it won't work. This won't be easy to fix." She said.

"Huh? Can't I just get a ruler somehow then?" I asked.

"You see... That's the problem. The Alves used a different system of measurement, in fact, I don't believe there are any surviving records of their measurement system. We can infer some parts of it based on texts but we won't be able to get an accurate measurement." She said.

"Then doesn't this mean that this book is useless?" I asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Not necessarily. Current day Enchanters and Rune-Smiths would kill for this book, it's a good piece of research material, however, if you want to use the contents of this book then you need to somehow learn the Alvish measurement system." She replied, eyes still glued to the book.

"Oh..." I dejectedly said. 

"By the way, I sensed a bunch of mana dots through the smoke what is that?" I asked.

"It seems like you discovered a cave system. There are a few creatures in there, they're attracted to the mana leftover from the explosion, you should deal with it." She said without even lifting her head from the book.

"Oh yeah, do you have more book?" She asked with an urgency that made what she said before seem unimportant.

"Umm, yes I do have a Dark Druid Spellbook do you want to read it?" I said. I had no reason to keep it anyways might as well give it to her.

"Yup! Can you bring it to the room with the herbs, along with this book!" She asked, slightly jumping.

"Ok, but are we just going to ignore the fact that I'm about to be invaded by cave creatures?" I asked.

"You're the dungeon core, you deal with it." She replied simply. 

"Alright fine," I said as I moved the Alvish Book she's currently reading and the Druid Spellbook in my inventory to the herb room. While ordering two mushroom people and the ant colony to come deal with this breach.

Chapter 22 - The One Ruler to Rule Them All!