Getting Started

Ronan's heart was as still as a mirror. A fine thread of the mental power swirling through his mind separated out, connecting to the carving knife in his hand like an IV tube.

As the tip of the carving knife rasped across the blank Rune Stone, that mental power slowly flowed together with the Universal Powder solution into the newly formed rune grooves.

Everything progressed smoothly.

Just as he was about to succeed, Ronan felt a surge of joy at the victory within reach. His focus slackened, and the hand holding the carving knife trembled slightly, causing its path to deviate. Crack—

A fissure split open across the Rune Stone in his hand, ruining the entire stone.

"Ah!"

Ronan cried out in frustration, wishing he could give himself a few hard slaps.

"Just a little more—just that tiny bit more!"

If his previous failure had stopped at ninety-seven percent, this one had reached ninety-nine percent.

It had come down to the final finishing stroke. And it was ruined just like that.

"Celebrating at halftime. Getting carried away."

Ronan rubbed his brow, sighed, and sat helplessly on the small bed to begin meditating.

Once the proficiency of his Basic Meditation Technique increased by one more point and his depleted mental power had fully recovered, Ronan took a drink of water and continued working.

Having learned his lesson last time, Ronan was especially cautious this time.

The Character Panel's effects were put to perfect use, and he proceeded smoothly all the way through.

With a beautiful final stroke, a glimmer flashed across the Rune Stone engraved with a complete Cleaning Rune, and it gave off a faint, mysterious aura.

When success truly came, Ronan was not as excited as he had expected. What he felt more was relief, satisfaction, and the joy of finally having his efforts rewarded after so long.

After meditating again and continuing to engrave for another hour, Ronan stood in the small cabin with exhaustion written all over his face. By the few rays of sunlight shining in from outside, he carefully examined the two finished Rune Stones in his hand.

He brought up the panel. There was now some additional information on the Character Panel.

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level Two Wizard Apprentice (14%)

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Proficient 158/200)

Energy Missile (Mastery 339/400)

Charged Weapon (Beginner 68/100)

Rune Inscription—Cleaning (Beginner 2/100)

His engraving of the Cleaning Rune had officially entered the beginner stage, earning him 2 proficiency points.

Perhaps his accumulated progress had reached the threshold, because his Strength Progress had risen by one percent as well. It could be considered a double blessing.

"The Cleaning Rune sells for one Magic Stone. Two of them means two Magic Stones."

Ronan had spent a total of sixty-nine Magic Stone Grains on materials. After deducting costs, he had made a net profit of one Magic Stone and thirty-one Magic Stone Grains.

Of course, that was not the most important part.

What mattered was that from now on, Ronan finally had a stable source of income. He was no longer living off his savings, with every bit he spent leaving him with less.

"It wasn't easy."

Ronan dropped heavily into his chair and completely relaxed. He did not want to think about anything or do anything.

He might not have looked like much on the surface, but only heaven knew how much psychological pressure he had endured over the past month.

For the sake of Rune Inscription, Ronan had wagered his entire fortune.

Though his entire fortune was not much to begin with, it had still been an enormous gamble for him.

If he failed, Ronan really would have had to beg for food.

Fortunately, he had succeeded.

The outcome was even a little better than Ronan had expected. Out of twenty blank Rune Stones, he had successfully made two. Now, the only thing left for him to consider was how to sell these two Cleaning Runes and exchange them for Magic Stones.

"Right!"

Ronan suddenly remembered something.

The stall owner who had sold him the blank Rune Stones had arrogantly claimed that as long as Ronan successfully engraved a rune, he would give him ten bags of blank Rune Stones for free.

Ronan immediately stood up, wanting to rush to the market right then and slap the two Cleaning Runes down in front of that stall owner.

But after thinking it over carefully, he sat back down.

Better not show off.

Ronan did not know how many blank Rune Stones other people needed to go from complete beginners to getting started in Rune Inscription through self-study, but it was definitely far more than twenty.

He did not know whether displaying such monstrous talent would expose the secret of his panel, but what if someone with ill intentions noticed him, captured him, locked him in a dark little room, and turned him into a beast of burden engraving runes day and night?

After all, he was only a humble Level Two Wizard Apprentice.

Besides, the stall owner had only mentioned the ten bags of blank Rune Stones verbally. There had been no notarization or contract, so he could deny it at any time. Maybe Ronan was the only fool who had taken it seriously.

After thinking it over, Ronan decided not to covet that bargain.

"I still need to go to the market. I'm completely out of blank Rune Stones."

After meditating, Ronan checked the sky, then hurriedly left home with the two Rune Stones.

In the bustling Wizard Market, Ronan walked down the street in a long robe, his expression calm and natural.

Beneath his robe, he clutched the two Cleaning Rune Stones tightly in his hand, so tightly that his palm was sweating.

Ronan was terrified of being robbed. He had not been this nervous even when he came carrying his money pouch last time.

"Should I find a place to set up a stall too?"

Ronan looked around, but he was also worried that setting up a stall just to sell two Cleaning Runes would seem a little too shabby.

He should have brought the dried meat he had failed to sell last time.

After wandering around for a while, Ronan realized he had been overthinking it.

It was not as though he could simply set up a stall whenever he wanted.

Setting up a stall in the market cost money. Even the worst locations required a stall fee of five Magic Stone Grains per day.

Ronan had only one Magic Stone Grain on him. He could not even afford the cheapest rent and could only abandon the idea resentfully.

After walking around and around, with night about to fall, Ronan realized that if he wanted to sell the two Rune Stones, it seemed his only option was to return to the Rune Stone stall owner who had laughed at him before.

"You engraved these yourself?"

The stall owner's mouth hung slightly open as he stared at Ronan in disbelief.

"Mm."

Ronan nodded.

"Damn it!"

The stall owner cursed, then seemed to realize something and sneered. "Kid, you used more than fifteen blank Rune Stones, didn't you?"

Ronan avoided the man's aggressive gaze and denied it with apparent guilt. "N-No, I only used the fifteen you gave me."

"Do you take me for an idiot?"

The stall owner rolled his eyes. "I've been in Hoddam for so long, and I've never heard of a Rune Master successfully getting started with fewer than a hundred blank Rune Stones! Tell me the truth. How many did you use?"

Like a child whose lie had been exposed, Ronan looked embarrassed and awkward. After struggling for a long while, he finally lowered his head dejectedly and chose to "confess" honestly.

"Fine... I admit it. I barely succeeded after using nearly two hundred blank Rune Stones."

"That sounds more like it."

Seeing the slight discomfort on the stall owner's face, Ronan regretted reporting too small a number.