Rune Warrior

After Fran threw away her seventy-sixth rune practice board, a notification finally appeared on her Panel.

[After prolonged practice, you have found a few tricks to Runology. Runology proficiency has increased.]

[Runology (Beginner) (0/100)]

At the same time, a new notification popped up.

[Relevant skills have met the conditions to form a new Profession.

Profession: Rune Warrior (Half-Star)

Description: A Profession that uses runes in battle. Runes can be inscribed at any time during combat, granting attacks enemies cannot resist.

Requirements: Breathing Technique (Mastered)

Runology (Mastered)

Win ten battles using runes in combat.]

Oh! A new Profession. It was not the Enchanter she had imagined, but this Rune Warrior was clearly better than an Enchanter.

Not only was this the only Profession she had seen so far that could trigger a Profession notification, it was also a combat Profession.

The Professions she had chosen before had all been support-oriented. Logically, they did not have much combat power; she had only been interested in learning them because they could raise her attributes.

This new Profession, however, might greatly enhance her combat strength.

After her excitement faded, she began considering how to fulfill its requirements and obtain the Rune Warrior Profession as soon as possible.

She had already met the Breathing Technique requirement. She just needed to grind Runology next; it would only take some time.

It was the final requirement—winning ten battles with runes in combat—that seemed rather difficult.

First, the phrase "using runes in combat" was unclear. Did she merely need to use them during a fight, or did she have to use runes to defeat her opponent in the end?

Fran decided to aim for the latter first and see whether the former could be fulfilled along the way. If it could, she would follow the former method.

However, even using runes in battle would not be easy. Based on the knowledge that had flooded into her mind upon leveling up just now—

Runes could be condensed in the air with mental power, then activated by releasing the mental power wrapped around them, producing an effect against an enemy.

But that was precisely the problem. If she really did that now, even the fastest rune would take over a second to draw. The startup was far too long.

So she needed to raise Runology to the Mastered level first, then figure out how to use runes in battle?

Fran was fired up. She took another rune practice board and wanted to grind up her proficiency as quickly as possible.

After using up her eighty-ninth rune practice board, Fran finally could not sit still any longer. Damn it, she had not gained a single point of proficiency.

She wondered whether her method was wrong. In the past, even when she failed to brew a potion, she could still gain a little proficiency. Why was she getting nothing at all now?

Moreover, every time her Runology proficiency had increased before, it had been when she successfully drew a rune for the first time.

So she had to try another method.

"Bring me a few weapons. I want to try them out. I'll cover the material costs."

Hall hesitated for a moment, but he ultimately agreed.

The girl before him was the strangest person he had ever seen. Leaving aside how she seemed to have nowhere to put her money, she treated this trade—which required slow, meticulous work—as though it were some life-or-death matter.

One had to be steady when making runes. Everyone slowly traced out each rune, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

Yet this girl treated rune practice boards as though they were free. She would rapidly finish drawing on one; if she failed, she moved on to the next. If she succeeded, she still moved on to the next.

Hall felt that she was just fooling around. Sometimes, when someone brought in a weapon, there would be no second chance to draw a rune. If the original rune was drawn incorrectly, there was rarely enough space left for another one.

Items capable of erasing runes were even more expensive, not something people in this trade could afford to use casually.

But then something astonishing happened. At some point, Fran's rune accuracy suddenly became one hundred percent. She never made another mistake, and her speed did not slow down either.

Hall brought over a pile of dust-covered weapons, several of which even bore rust.

Hall said awkwardly:

"These are from our inventory. We planned to use them for newcomers to practice on, so just try drawing on them. The final quality might not be very good, though."

These were items specially meant for practice. In truth, they were defective goods frequently picked up from the market. They all had one flaw or another, but they could still serve as objects for rune inscription.

After runes were inscribed on them, the weapons might still malfunction for various reasons. Their internal structure could be unstable and break when clashing with an enemy, or perhaps a rune would clearly be inscribed, yet only one side of the blade would take effect.

Fran picked up a longsword with cracks in it. She chose a spot untouched by the cracks and began drawing on it with her mental power.

This time, she wanted to try an "Impact" rune. When it struck an enemy's armor, activating the rune could unleash an impact against them. A good one could throw the opponent off balance, letting her press the advantage.

To be fair, the Beginner level of Runology seemed rather powerful. This time, her inscription succeeded immediately, and it was incredibly fast—so fast that Hall did not even have time to react.

It's done already? Hall was filled with disbelief. He had ruined seven weapons before succeeding even once. Could this kind of intensive practice really be that effective?

But regardless of what Hall thought, maintaining the good attitude expected in the service industry, he stepped forward and held up his bracer.

"You can strike here with the sword and test it."

Fran did not waste words. She pressed the sword against Hall's bracer and activated the rune.

She did not use much force this time, and her movement was gentle. Under normal circumstances, it should not have had much impact on someone as large as Hall.

Yet under the effect of the Impact rune, Hall's body dipped slightly, and the force throughout his body was drawn toward the point of impact.

"Haa." Hall let out a long breath, then said:

"Not bad. Runes have difficulty producing much effect on this kind of metal. Your rune inscription is completely up to standard."

Hall could not help feeling envious. She could inscribe runes onto weapons on her first day. It had taken him a whole month to succeed back then.

Then Hall said:

"Try it a few more times. We need to test the rune's stability."

Fran tested it several more times afterward. Embarrassingly, the rune only activated again on the final attempt.

"That's what happens with flawed weapons. You never know which part is causing the problem."

Hall explained.

Fran used up the remaining weapons and walked straight to the door.

Hall saw her out. Considering that Fran had spent sixty-eight silver coins that day, he asked with excellent customer service:

"When will you be coming again, customer? I can prepare in advance."

"No need. I've already learned it."