Rune

"As for the materials, I've already prepared them. I spent many years collecting them and only recently found the most perfect Fire Element and Ice Element magic stones," Master Bentham said, opening a box filled with the materials he had gathered.

"What is this?" Abel discovered something very familiar among the materials – three rubies and three sapphires. He took the six gems out of the box and examined them closely. They were indeed the same gems he had sold.

"These are fire magic stones and Ice Magic Stones. Such perfect magic stones are rare. I was lucky to purchase them in Harvest City this time." Seeing Master Bentham's delighted expression, Abel pondered if he had sold the gems too cheaply. He had treated those magic stones as ordinary gems when selling them. How much were magic stones actually worth in gold coins? Abel decided not to ask, fearing the answer might make him sick.

"Your future task is to use a brush to draw those runes. The angles, the strength of your strokes, and the thickness of the lines must all be exactly the same," Master Bentham emphasized repeatedly, taking out a brush from the chest.

"This is a writing brush?" Abel was astonished again. It was something else he was very familiar with – a writing brush from his previous world. The brush handle, the bristles – it was a genuine writing brush.

"Writing brush? That's a good name you've come up with. Its name is Rune Brush. The handle is made of demon-suppressing paulownia wood, and the bristles are made from the softest tuft of fur from behind the head of a Wind Wolf. The Wind Wolf's wind attribute allows the Rune Brush to transmit Rune Ink more easily, while the demon-suppressing paulownia wood prevents external subtle magical energies from affecting the creation of runes," Master Bentham explained, handing the Rune Brush to Abel.

"This Rune Brush is very difficult to master. You need to study and practice a lot to correctly draw rune lines. You can try it out first." Master Bentham found a bottle of ordinary ink, opened its container, and placed it on the table. He then took out a piece of parchment and spread it on the table, encouraging Abel.

Abel took the Rune Brush and naturally held the handle between his middle and ring fingers, with his thumb resting on the handle. He dipped it into the ink bottle and then gently wiped off the excess ink on the bottle's rim. He glanced at the runes in the book and then, on the parchment, wrote the first page of runes in one fluid motion.

Master Bentham watched, stunned. He had been practicing with a Rune Brush for over twenty years, and his posture was still not as powerful or controlled as Abel's on his very first try. The amount of ink he dipped was also something he had learned through countless failures. Looking at the runes Abel had written, they might have had minor imperfections, but the smooth lines, the straightness where it should be straight, and the smooth curves where it should be curved – these were already comparable to Master Bentham's own work. With a little more practice, Abel would surpass the master.

A strong sense of jealousy surged within Master Bentham. The gods were too unfair. Not to mention his combat abilities, he had never heard of anyone else being a Level 5 Apprentice Knight at this age. His forging skills, after only a month of learning, allowed him to forge the Hundred Refinements Greatsword. And Abel possessed the mental power that Master Bentham had always regretted lacking.

This was his first time practicing runes, and he was already as proficient as someone who had spent decades of effort. Master Bentham waved his hand listlessly and said, "Go back and practice on your own."

After speaking, Master Bentham kicked Abel out of his room, leaving himself alone to soothe his wounded heart.

Abel could tell something was wrong with Master Bentham. He took a large pile of items back to his room in the castle, as the blacksmith shop offered no quiet place for him to practice runes.

If Abel knew what Master Bentham was thinking, he would have told him, "You're overthinking it. This writing brush, oh no, the Rune Brush, I've been systematically learning it since elementary school in another world, and I never stopped even after I started working. I'd write a few calligraphy pieces to relax whenever I had free time."

It took Abel a week to completely master four runes. Whether he wrote them large or small, he could maintain the proportions perfectly. While writing the runes, he also found the Fire Magic rune very familiar.

It was very similar to the rune #8 Ral in Diablo 2, whose Chinese name was "La Er." The Fire Magic rune, however, had many connecting lines, some connected to the sword hilt, others to the entire sword body, but the main outline was very similar. Rune #8's effect was +5-30 fire damage, which was quite similar to the effect of the Fire Magic rune.

Could the runes in this world be related to the runes in the Diablo world? Legend had it that the rune system in the Diablo world had been lost, and the rune system could only be realized through ancient Rune Stones. This meant that the runes in this world still existed. If he could master more runes in the future, could he also create the Words of Power from Diablo 2?

However, it was too early to talk about that. Abel had only mastered four runes so far, while Diablo 2 had 33 runes that needed to be combined to create Words of Power.

After carefully analyzing and identifying the four runes he had mastered, Abel determined they corresponded to the Fire Magic Rune #8, Ice Magic Rune #10, Lightning Magic Rune #9, and Poison Magic Rune #7 in Diablo 2.

Abel searched his memory for a Word of Power. If it wasn't for the fact that this Word of Power was usually listed first among many Words of Power, he might not have remembered its existence at all, because its ability in Diablo 2 was too poor, not even as good as ordinary low-level unique items. This Word of Power was Ancient's Oath.

Ancient's Oath: Required materials: 3-socket Shield Required runes: #8 + #9 + #7 Attributes upon successful creation: +50% Defense +43% Cold Resist +48% Poison Resist +48% Fire Resist +48% Lightning Resist 10% of damage is converted to mana.

"Perhaps I can create this," Abel mused, looking at the shield. Although its attributes were not great in the game, it would be an absolutely powerful shield in reality. Thus, Abel decided that after successfully creating magic weapons with single runes, he would then create this shield.

The next day, Abel packed the Rune Brush and Rune Ink into a box and went to the blacksmith shop. He found Master Bentham. "Master, I have already mastered four runes. I've decided to start crafting magic weapons today."

Master Bentham was already immune to Abel's rapid progress in mastering runes. Even if he had mastered them a few days sooner, he could accept it. Having been struck down by Abel too many times, he had gradually become accustomed to it.

He took out a Hundred Refinements Greatsword that had been forged earlier. These Hundred Refinements Greatswords forged by Abel were his own property. The Knight Marshall had long ago decreed that all weapons forged by Abel belonged to him. As the heir to the castle, Abel also had the right to use the iron ore resources.

These Hundred Refinements Greatswords were casually placed by Abel in this operating room, which Master Bentham had designated as Abel's exclusive space. If outsiders saw everything here, they would go mad. The Hundred Refinements Greatswords scattered on the ground were more numerous than those in the weapon shops of Harvest City. Master Bentham's monthly output of one Hundred Refinements weapon used to be supplied to those weapon shops. There were only three such forging masters in Harvest City, and their output was very limited. It was known that forging from level 80 to 100 without mental power relied entirely on experience and mental calculation. Most masters would forge slowly, a few times a day, or sometimes only once a day, starting from level 80. Only blacksmiths like Abel, who used mental power, could forge from level 80 to 100 in one go.

Now, Master Bentham's monthly output of one Hundred Refinements weapon no longer needed to be sent to other weapon shops. This was because, in order to get Joshua back, Lord Joel had traded a weapon shop in the most prosperous area of Harvest City to redeem Joshua. The five servants were generously gifted by the Knight Marshall.

That weapon shop, worth tens of thousands of gold coins, was now bringing in over 500 gold coins in profit to Hari Castle every month.