The Runesmith

‘Level four already?’

Roland was surprised by the prompt after a certain sword dinosaur had been defeated. He was standing on the side with his hammer being used as a long ranged weapon. Close to the dead monster was Agni who was still ferociously biting into the dead creature’s neck. While he was still behind in levels the monster’s fighting pattern was already known to everyone here.

Agni had watched Roland and the golems clear up this monster several times and was even here during the first expedition. He only trailed behind by around ten levels now and was strong enough to cause a lot of damage. Together with Roland’s ranged support, there was no way for the sword-tailed monster to win.

The new skill that he attained not so long ago was rapidly leveling up even while going against weaker enemies. Just as he speculated, the range increased by five meters for each level up and it allowed him to control all of his golems at a much faster pace.

Without the need for spoken commands, the magical machines were directly reacting to his input that he implemented with the help of his parallel thinking trait. The two were tailor-made for each other and the more he used both of them the more he felt that his trait was becoming better.

It was as if he was close to actually leveling up this trait which usually didn’t happen. Traits were normally attained by fulfilling hidden achievements like killing special monsters or attaining special classes.

Yet there were things like growth-type traits, ones that could be pushed further by fulfilling the same achievements. Parallel Thinking was gained by pushing himself into a hectic work schedule in which he was trying to multitask. Perhaps controlling golems through the skill would continue to level it up.

“Good boy, yes you can eat the mana stone this time but only if you promise not to eat any more of those divine crystals anymore.”

“Woof!”

While his furry companion started to make a mess by digging out the mana stone from within the monster’s neck, Roland glanced at Agni’s stats. There he could see that he was making quick progress yet not as fast as his master. Some of the experience between them was shared but it seemed that he wasn’t getting as much from the tier 3 monster kills as Roland was.

‘Perhaps he is standing too far away from the kill?’

Roland wasn’t sure but it was worth it to instruct Agni to hang out closer to the cave wall. Yet he still feared that he would toss himself at any monster that tried to get through it.

“Are you done? Let’s go.”

The golems were ordered to cut the tailbone down with the help of their mining tools. With his skill at work, he could manipulate all six of them but he still needed to spread his mind between every single one. At a moment like that the voiced commands were still better.

Unless he managed to split his mind into six parts it would be impossible to control them all at once. Instead, he needed to jump through each and everyone to give the command. This came down to a two-second lag between the first and the last golem.

‘Hm… Perhaps if I implement a central control unit that just relays the commands automatically. I could probably get around it like that, it would also be better to not give voiced commands during a fight…’

The golems had something similar to an artificial intelligence unit. It was usually a bulk copy of code taken from actual monster golems. Some smart craftsmen had managed to take it apart when they were creating the first golemic products. This had later on been expanded and some improvements have been made.

However, this was protected knowledge so what made up the golemic brain was kept secret. The components that he was working with were just something regular runesmiths could easily come by. Even though Roland was slowly altering this program it wasn’t that easy. This magical AI had been simplified through centuries of research and alteration. If he actually wanted to get his hands on a more intricate version of it, he would either need to spend a huge amount of money or sign up with the people that were keeping the knowledge a secret.

‘I could also go with option three and make my own from scratch… I might be able to copy a golem core with the help of the Runic Eye of Truth…’

The more he used the eye the less it hurt and now that he was approaching tier 3 the pain was becoming bearable. His progress on the spatial runes was slowly advancing but it wasn’t quite there. The focus was on gaining his tier 3 class which would require him to get another twenty-five levels. This progress would soon be reaching a limit as the monsters in the dungeon rarely went past a certain level.

‘It’s probably going to be harder to get those last ten levels but that’s something I’ll decide on later.’

Roland went into the usual spot as before and prepared his cannon while the golems started drilling into the secret spot on the wall. While this was the only entrance that he knew off it might not have been the only one. For this reason, he instructed a few of his spider drones to begin digging out some smaller side paths. If he was lucky then he would discover a better grinding spot than this one.

These golems were modified with the dungeon in mind. While the whole place was riddled with magic the rocks and ground were still somewhat part of the environment. They could be affected by earth magic just as regular structures that existed outside. For this reason, he inserted something that looked like pincers onto his golem’s front parts.

These were just modified magical wands with runic inscriptions, one of them would send out a jolt of mana that would soften the rocky walls. The other one would slowly shove the now soft soil to the sides and back and allow the golem to go further inside. Heavy drills were not needed anymore as everything could be just done by magic instead.

Thus while the golems were working on a separate entrance that could be useful down the line, Roland hopped back to his oversized cannon. Thanks to his new area of control skill he would be able to remain connected to the wall digging units. He had around twenty-nine meters to work with, there was a safety measure in place so the golem would retreat the moment he pierced into the next dungeon.

“Okay Agni, just keep watch for any salamanders as always.”

“Woof!”

…

The small green flames that were inside its eyes lit up the moment it felt that familiar mana. Just for a moment, it could sense a change to that wall through which the torrent of energy always went through. It had been watching closely from this vantage point while the others continued to get slaughtered.

It wanted to move forwards as well, the voice in its head continued to instruct it. Yet for some reason, it was able to resist the shouting that continued. It recalled the moment this all began, it was the first time it came in contact with the strange mana pattern. There were two distinguished markers coming from that place, one was very similar to the one the Lich’s environment was filled with.

Yet there was another one, a third one that was totally different and very unique, after its bones absorbed some of it everything began. The commanding voice that it used to listen to started getting quieter. The more of the rare mana it absorbed the less the grip on its functions became, it could even sit here patiently and take it in without the need of going through the usual path.

The creature was slowly becoming aware of its surroundings. Everyone from its brethren were moving at a strange set pattern, nothing ever changed and nothing happened. They would walk around the same locations, stay in the same spot for hours and then move to the next destination like clockwork. The voice inside its head forced this path upon it and it was only able to break through it recently.

The Lich continued to watch and absorb the blue light from the side while the others were eradicated. For some reason, it was able to take in this energy while the others couldn’t, even when they came back they would not remember anything. It even started trying to interact with its brothers but they would only ignore it. The monster could only come to one conclusion, it was different from the others and perhaps there was something out there for it, something that it required to know the truth of this world.

Just as on the other days it looked as the beam of blue light collided with one of the larger skeletons. It drilled into the wall and left behind a mark that was larger than before. Sometimes the other skeletons would not be killed instantly but that became increasingly rarer, it was as if the beam of light was evolving like it.

Yet the more of that strange unique mana that the beam had the less of the voice's grip was on this Lich. Even now the monster was compelled to at least go through the assigned path, the only thing it was able to do was to change it slightly. Only when the beam was firing off was it able to stop here and wait. There wasn’t enough of it, it needed more of that mana to truly be free and perhaps then it would be able to know the truth.

Then it noticed something, a strange sound appeared not that far away from it. When looking at that spot it could see some falling rocks. Quickly after a strange thing pushed through that was quite similar to something it had previously seen before. To the monster's dismay, this thing quickly retreated and vanished from sight. Even though the strange creature was there for a moment the Lich’s enhanced mana sense could pinpoint its origin.

The eye sockets became deep green as it plunged itself on the spot in the wall. Yet just like with the main opening it could not go through. Something was keeping it from proceeding to the other side. It knew that this wall was fake, the small being was able to go through it but for some reason, it was not allowed.

Green flames filled the entire area as the Lich became furious. Why was it not allowed to leave? What was on the other side? What was the voice that was calling out to it and why did it have to listen to it. Its bony fists started smacking the spot that the small thing tried to crawl through. Yet even though it was a tier 3 creature the spot wasn’t budging at all, something was keeping it here and it wanted out.

This was something new, the monster didn’t even know that it could produce emotions before. It wasn't sure what this was but this feeling was something that it didn’t like. The only way it felt that it could appease this feeling was if it was able to get through this damn wall. It grabbed the staff it used to cast its spells and started running.

The small area through which the beam was coming through started being covered in the blue flames. Just like before the Lich aimed for the hidden spot but as previously all of its magical energy was bounced off. It wanted to toss itself at the hidden wall once more but as it was starting to run forward the beam of blue appeared.

The Lich was a being of magic and surrounded itself with a shield made of green flames. This beam of mana collided with it and the energy started splashing to the sides. Then the monster noticed something, the concentration of that unique mana was tremendous, what would happen if it just accepted it?

In the skewed view of the monster this all made sense, why should he reject the mana that was keeping the strange voice at bay? The barrier was removed promptly with only the core being protected. This it shifted towards its own head which with some quick planning was flung to a safe location where the monster usually stood by and watched.

Even though the other monsters like it always came back to life they continued to be absorbed by the environment. The Lich feared that whatever was keeping the voice away would be cleansed if it actually died.

There was no problem in letting its body crumble to dust. As long as its core remained it could assemble itself back and this process was already starting. The bones that had been shattered started to slowly wiggle towards the skeletal head that was tossed to a safe location.

Just as it had planned the mana had infused with the bones that were not destroyed. Its being was getting showered by this special mana and the strange voice that was commanding it had disappeared…

…

“What is that monster doing?”

Roland was cooling down his cannon while feeling perplexed. One of his spider drones had managed to dig through to the other side. Thanks to his new skill he was able to watch everything in real-time through the golemic eye. The drone was ordered to quickly move back as a monster to its left side was standing there and almost instantly attacked.

This wasn’t the strange part as the other monsters acted in a similar fashion. What was peculiar came after that as the Lich started attacking the spot in which the golem was hiding. The spells could not go through nor could its fist but the thing still continued.

Then it suddenly abandoned that area and burst towards the main one in which he was ready to attack. It was as if this monster could feel where he was and was trying to get through the wall, the others would have gone back to their usual program by that point. Thus to be on the safe side he decided to fire a shot but he was unable to kill the monster. The thing was even able to shield itself for a moment which made his heart skip a beat.

‘There is no way of it getting over here… right?’

Roland asked himself while becoming nervous. While he had attained another level through killing one of the previous skeletons, the flaming Lich was still above him. If he managed to get out here there wouldn’t be much else than running on his agenda. The golems were already ready to stall the monster while he and Agni retreated into the secret area,

‘It was not able to get to the golem either… it can’t get through the wall, I need to calm down.’

After the digging golem retreated to his side he tried accessing the recording of what had happened there. This didn’t help as much as the quality was as always abysmal. He could only note this down in his head and be wary around the Lich monsters. Perhaps due to it being a creature that was based around a mage, it was more alert to his magical creations and attacks.

Hence while cooling down his weapon he got ready to shoot the monster again. It had been tossed against the wall but it wasn’t dead. From his experience, he knew that Liches had regenerative capabilities and could only die when their core was damaged. However, even after some time had passed the monster never appeared again.

‘Did its agro reset and it went the other way?’

Roland could only speculate but nothing that he saw indicated that he was in danger of being flooded by monsters. With the appearance of the usual Infernal Skeleton warrior variants, he was back to the usual grind. Even after a day had passed the Lich had never appeared again as if it was back to its usual path.