Introduction to Runic Studies, Makley's Surprise

The basement air was still damp and cold, but Tylen's heart was burning hot.

He looked at the rows of alluringly glowing items in his Void Backpack as if he were looking at the ever-changing numbers in his bank account from his previous life.

"Experience first."

Tylen willed it, and four [Apprentice's Experience Books] and one [Wizard Experience Book] instantly turned into streams of light and flew into his brow.

Boom!

A massive, pure torrent of information exploded within his Spirit Sea.

[Spell Experience Gained: 3000 points]

This experience did not directly raise his level. Instead, it was like a pool of floodwater poised to burst, quietly stored within his attribute panel as it waited to be directed.

He forcefully suppressed the urge to begin deducing things immediately.

Deep deduction required an absolutely quiet environment and abundant Mental Power. Practicing the Magic Thorn Art earlier had already consumed some of his energy, so this was not the best time.

Next, he looked at the five [Primary Alchemy Material Selection Packs].

When he opened the details, a dazzling list of materials appeared before him:

Processed Mandrake roots

Ghoul nail powder

A juvenile Pterosaur's shriveled eyeball

Mercury essential oil

Every item was a sought-after commodity on the market, priced between 100 and 200 Purple Gold Coins.

"No need to choose yet."

Tylen calmly closed the interface.

As a seasoned hoarder, he understood that resources were only resources when needed. Otherwise, they were just inventory.

Choosing now would only take up space. It was better to save them for when he urgently needed a certain material but could not buy it.

"Now, for the real business."

Tylen took a deep breath and turned toward the mottled workbench.

He pulled out the stack of rune paper he had taken from the Red Wine Gang, then retrieved his cheap brush and ink set from a drawer.

But he did not start writing right away.

Sharpening the axe would not delay chopping wood.

He bent down and pulled a book as thick as a brick from his backpack—<Introduction to Runes: Basic Rune Principles and Detailed Explanations>.

This was one of the eight mandatory textbooks at the Wizard Tower, and also one of the thickest, most obscure, and most headache-inducing, second only to Alchemy.

The book was 300 pages long in large format, packed with 350,000 words of tiny print.

There were no interesting magical stories inside, only tedious geometric diagrams, complex energy formulas, and nauseating logical derivations.

After half a year at the academy, the original owner had barely crawled to page sixty in this course.

And that had all been pure rote memorization. He had not understood the principles at all.

"Runic Studies and Alchemy are a Wizard's two legs."

Tylen gently stroked the rough cover, his gaze sharpening.

"In this world, those who can only throw fireballs are lighters. Those who understand runes and Alchemy are real mages."

"Many high-level spells require the appropriate knowledge specialization level as a prerequisite."

"And if you want to make money, if you want more resources in this man-eating Wizard Tower, drawing runes and brewing potions are the only two ways."

But this stuff was far too difficult.

It required not only exceptional intelligence, but also enormous amounts of time for memorization and trial and error.

An ordinary apprentice needed at least two years of hard work just to get started in Runic Studies.

"Two years? I can't wait that long."

A confident smile curled across Tylen's lips.

"But I can slack off!"

Thought acceleration, thirtyfold!

Tylen opened to the first page.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

In the silent basement, only the extremely rapid sound of pages turning remained.

If someone had been nearby, they would have thought Tylen had gone mad and was flipping through the book at random, because he spent no more than two seconds on each page.

But in Tylen's eyes, this was not reading. This was scanning.

Like a high-precision scanner, his retinas accurately copied every character, every punctuation mark, and every illustration on the pages into his brain's database.

Ten minutes.

In just ten minutes, he had "scanned" all 350,000 words of Introduction to Runes from beginning to end.

"First pass, establish an index."

Tylen did not pause. He immediately flipped back to the first page and began his second reading.

This time, he slowed down slightly as his brain began categorizing and archiving the information.

"Second pass, organize the logic."

"Third pass, mark the key points."

Time passed second by second.

Over the next three hours, Tylen became like a tireless repeater, flipping through the thick brick of a book a full eighteen times!

As the number of readings increased, the previously fragmented bits of knowledge in his mind began to connect and reorganize on their own, forming a magnificent palace of knowledge.

When he closed the book for the eighteenth time, the swelling fullness in his brain made him let out a long breath.

"So that's how it is."

Though the book contained countless obscure terms and convoluted sentences, and he could only understand thirty percent of it,

he had already grasped the fundamental principles and logic.

Tylen closed his eyes and lightly tapped the table with his fingers.

"The essence of runes isn't drawing. It's programming."

"They are the tangible manifestation of ancient Mana language."

In his mind, the entire rune system was broken down with crystal clarity:

The frame was like the base of a circuit board. It constrained the form Mana took, determining whether it became fire or ice, defense or attack.

The paths were like wires. They controlled Mana's flow and had to fit perfectly. Any deviation would cause a Mana short circuit; at best, the paper would be ruined, and at worst, it would explode.

The core was like a CPU, the key point where Mana gathered and produced an actual effect.

"The book says runes are divided into four major categories: Karl Runes, Ian Runes, Astral Runes, and Abyssal Runes."

"And the ones the Red Wine Gang wants me to draw belong to the common frame of the most basic Karl Runes."

Tylen opened his eyes and picked up a sheet of rune paper supplied by the Red Wine Gang.

Before, he had only thought the paper felt quite nice. Now that he had theoretical backing, he immediately noticed something strange.

He brought the paper to his nose and sniffed lightly.

Aside from the stink of ink, there was an extremely faint fragrance, like an ocean breeze.

"Ambergris..."

Tylen's pupils contracted slightly.

"This grade of fragrance is usually only used in preservative coatings for high-level rune paper."

"The cost of one sheet of this paper is at least one Purple Gold Coin."

"How could a bunch of idiots like the Red Wine Gang, who only know how to collect protection fees, afford paper like this for practice?"

Clues rapidly linked together in his mind.

Black Glass's crude behavior, his complete ignorance of runes, yet his ability to provide such expensive consumables...

"It seems Black Glass's boss, the Red Wine Gang leader, has a Wizard by his side."

"Either a lover or one of his children."

"That person must be at a crucial stage of learning runes and needs a huge amount of frame practice, which is why they outsourced this tedious manual labor."

Having figured this out, a gleam flashed through Tylen's eyes.

Originally, he had only intended to draw them casually, muddle through, and earn some extra money.

But now, this might be an opportunity.

An opportunity to enter higher circles.

"If the frames I draw are not only standard, but even more perfect than the textbook..."

"Would that Wizard behind them become interested in me?"

In this world, connections were resources.

Tylen never let any ladder upward slip past him.

"In that case, I'll show you what I can do."

Tylen spread out the paper and ground the ink.

With thirtyfold thought acceleration and efficiency, the brush in his hand seemed to become the cutting head of a precision lathe.

He began.

The instant the brush tip touched the paper, Tylen's wrist gave an incredibly subtle tremble. The ink seeped evenly into the paper's texture without the slightest bleeding.

Horizontal, fold, curve, hook.

The thickness of every line was controlled down to the millimeter.

The arc of every turn was flawless and precise.

Swish, swish, swish!

The basement was filled with nothing but the soft scratch of brush against paper.

For an ordinary apprentice, drawing one qualified rune frame required at least five minutes, along with painstaking care to keep their hand from shaking.

But in Tylen's hands, it was like assembly-line work.

One sheet, two sheets, three sheets...

Ten minutes later.

Tylen put down his brush.

One hundred sheets of rune paper lay stacked neatly on the table.

The pattern on every sheet looked as though it had been carved from the same mold—precise, elegant, and filled with mathematical beauty.

"Whew..."

Tylen rubbed his sore wrist and let out a breath.

The exhaustion from overclocking his brain washed over him, yet he felt clearer than ever before.

Just now, while drawing the runes, he had felt as though he had touched some kind of boundary.

The theoretical knowledge he had memorized by rote had perfectly merged with practice as it flowed from his brush tip.

Pop!

A crisp sound rang out in his mind.

It was as if he had pierced through a sheet of window paper.

Tylen immediately looked at his attribute panel.

At the bottom, in the [Knowledge] section that had always been empty, a new line of text was glowing:

[Runic Studies: Level 0.1]

"It worked!"

Tylen clenched his fist fiercely, his eyes filled with delight.

Level 0.1 looked insignificant.

But it represented a qualitative transformation from nothing to something!

At Cain Wizard Tower, most apprentices needed half a year or even a full year, enduring their mentor's stick, endless rote memorization, and countless failed attempts, just to barely cross this threshold.

And he had done it in only one afternoon!

That was the terrifying power of the [Slacker Saint Body] combined with the mindset of an academic ace from his previous life.

"With this Level 0.1, I'm no longer just pure manual labor."

"I'm qualified to become skilled labor."

Grrrr...

An ill-timed rumble shattered Tylen's excitement.

He rubbed his flat stomach and glanced at the clock on the wall.

It was already seven in the evening.

The intense mental work had burned a huge amount of calories. He felt like he could eat an entire cow.

"I'll eat first, then deliver these rune papers to Black Glass."

Tylen had just begun to clear the table.

Caw!

A piercing crow cry suddenly echoed through the basement.

Tylen immediately felt the lightness leave him.

A Crow covered in pitch-black feathers, with ghostly green flames burning in its eyes, landed by the window.

It was his mentor Makley's messenger—the Ghostfire Crow.

"Mentor."

Tylen immediately lowered his head and bowed respectfully.

The Crow opened its beak, and Makley's steady, imposing voice emerged:

"Tylen, prepare two corpses."

Makley's voice came through Crow.

But the next second, Crow's flame-burning eyes shifted, landing on the stack of rune paper on the table that had not yet been put away.

"Hm? That is... a Runic Frame?"

Makley's voice carried a trace of confusion.

"Where did you get these? This paper... isn't something you can afford."

Tylen's heart stirred.

The opportunity had arrived.

He did not panic. Instead, he maintained his respectful posture and answered sincerely.

"In reply to my mentor, this was a private job the student took on."

"A private job?"

"Yes. A leader from the Red Wine Gang in the west of the city asked me to draw these frames for him."

Tylen paused, calmly recounting what had happened that afternoon, including Old Jack's helplessness and his deep love for his wife.

Tylen emphasized that he had done it out of gratitude for Old Jack's past help.

Having struggled through the workplace for many years in his previous life, Tylen understood the principles of the Classic of Power well:

Grant power to the capable, and they will not weary; grant power to the loyal, and your name will not be tarnished.

To those in high positions, a subordinate's ability was certainly important, but "loyalty" and "a sense of gratitude" were the rarest qualities.

Someone who repaid even a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude would most likely not betray the mentor who had promoted him.

Sure enough.

Upon hearing this, the flames in Crow's eyes flickered, and his scrutinizing gaze softened somewhat.

"Hmph. At least you know how to repay kindness."

There was less indifference in Makley's voice and a hint more approval.

"Though Wizards pursue truth, they are not heartless or unfeeling. It is good that you have not forgotten your roots."

After saying that, Crow flapped his wings and flew from the bedside to the workbench.

He lowered his head and carefully examined the stack of rune paper.

At first, Makley merely gave it a casual glance.

But very quickly, Crow's movements stopped.

Using his beak, he gently moved aside the top sheet, revealing the second, the third...

Every single one was precise to an outrageous degree.

Though the strokes were still somewhat immature, they were already exceptionally good for an apprentice.

"This..."

A trace of unconcealed surprise seeped into Makley's voice.

"These... were all drawn by you?"

"Yes, Mentor." Tylen lowered his head, looking like an honest and simple fellow.

"How long did you spend drawing them?"

"About... one afternoon, I think. I forgot. When I came back to myself after finishing, I was hungry." Tylen's tone was vague, but every word he said was true.

"One afternoon?"

Makley's tone rose several notches.

Even in a single afternoon, producing a hundred frames of this quality was an astonishing display of efficiency and consistency!

More importantly, the sense of rhythm revealed in these strokes was not something rote memorization could ever achieve.

"Have you studied Runic Studies?" Makley asked.

"Reporting to Mentor, this student is rather stupid."

Tylen scratched his head, an honest, guileless smile appearing on his face.

"I could not afford any other study guides, so I could only keep grinding through that copy of Introduction to Runes. I memorized that book more than a dozen times and remembered roughly all of its contents."

"This afternoon, while drawing these frames, something suddenly clicked in my mind as I kept drawing."

"It felt like... my hand itself knew where it should go."

"Then I looked at my status and found an extra line there. It seemed to be... Runic Studies Level 0.1?"

In this world, every Wizard could see their own professional status. To peer into someone else's status, however, required extremely advanced insight magic or a bloodline talent.

In an instant, the Morgue fell silent.

Only the candle flame crackled.

After a long while, Crow slowly raised his head, his burning eyes fixed rigidly on Tylen.

"You understood it by memorizing the book?"

"Introduction to Runes... Level 0.1?"