A New Proficiency Level

[You have brought another lost Ancient Rune back to the Material Realm, greatly improving your Runology. Runology proficiency +15000]

[Runology proficiency is maxed out; Arts level increased.]

[Runology (Peak) (24651/1000000): In this Arts, there are very few who can surpass you...]

After seeing her Runology proficiency increase, Fran immediately looked at other parts of the Panel.

[Name: Fran]

[Profession: Ancient Rune Warrior (Two Stars)...(omitted)]

[Attributes: Constitution 40.3; Spirit 43.5]

...(slightly)

[Traits: Mental Power (You can now convert every unit of Mental Power in your body into 0.4 Constitution), Mysterious Power (In combat, you can more easily activate the power of runes... (omitted)]

Fran glanced at the changes on the Panel again. First, her Rune Warrior Order had changed, becoming a Tier 2 Profession.

However, this second-tier Profession did not increase her physical attributes much, but instead increased her Mental Power by about five points.

"That's not bad. I remember when I first got this Profession, it didn't actually give me many attribute points..."

Fran knew that the Rune Warrior Profession was not Profession that excelled in basic attributes, but rather a Profession with many special mechanics.

It allows for better utilization of the runes on the equipment, as well as Fran's trait that can convert Mental Power into physical constitution.

After the Rune Warrior's Order is upgraded, the effects of the two traits provided by the Ancient Rune Warrior Profession are enhanced.

First, there's Mental Power. Fran already thought the conversion rate was exaggerated, but it's increased by another 33%. If she were to now channel all her Mental Power into her physical constitution...

Her physique is close to 60 points, which is about twice the main attribute of an ordinary Second Order Profession User, which is quite terrifying.

As for the Mysterious Power, Fran didn't just rarely use this trait, she never used it at all.

She knew how to trigger this trait; it was something she had occasionally used during her apprenticeship—temporarily inscribing a rune onto the air or equipment.

After becoming Ancient Rune Warrior, Fran abandoned this fighting style, partly because it was somewhat outdated.

She has Sunflame in melee combat and magic in ranged combat, so this rune is somewhat of a gimmick.

Secondly, Fran realized that these Ancient Rune might be connected to some Deity, which made her somewhat wary.

So at that time, she pretended that she didn't have this fighting style.

Even now, Fran still holds this view, despite her changing attitude towards the Lord of Radiance.

While it's cool to see Deity images revealed when runes are inscribed in the air, these Deity all have their own Sect.

She dared not do such a thing in front of others; if word got back to those fanatical believers in the Deity, it would be a fight to the death...

However, it seems she can use the runes of the Lord of Radiance at will; as his Proxy, she certainly can.

Fran wiped the runes off the cloth with a special rune-cleansing solution and then put it back in her pack.

"The rune issue is resolved. Let's use these newly acquired runes to make some equipment."

The runes of the three Deity that Fran chose were what she planned to inscribe on her equipment.

The Sky Dragon's runes need no introduction; they provide real flight capabilities, making it well worth the Mental Power required for flight.

Fran plans to have the image of the Sky Dragon engraved on an undergarment she will wear.

Of course, she doesn't have that opportunity yet, because she simply can't afford to make clothes from a second-tier material. That would cost at least a thousand Gold Coin, and a better one might approach ten thousand.

It's not just one piece of clothing that requires a lot of Gold Coin to exchange for materials; she also wants to make several other pieces of equipment, which also require a lot of Gold Coin.

She planned to forge a greatsword using the Elephant of Mountains. A greatsword imbued with these runes would be so powerful that even without using Sunflame Arts, few second-tier swords could surpass its power.

She also planned to make a pair of boots using the Lord of Shadows's runes, granting the ability to eliminate sound and move quickly; she had been envious ever since she saw the Lord of Shadows's Proxy.

After all, if a surprise attack can gain the upper hand, who would want to win through a head-on confrontation?

Furthermore, Fran is currently lacking is a means of launching a surprise attack.

If she had a special method for ambushing during the Trial of the Sun, then at least when facing the four Proxy, she could just go all out.

Her offensive capabilities are now so strong that she's probably unmatched among second-tier players; what she lacks is agility and mobility.

If Fran manages to acquire these items, it will perfectly compensate for her weaknesses; and if Fran runs out of money later, she can use some tricks to slightly conceal the runes on them and sell the items.

Given Fran's craftsmanship and the extremely unique rune effects, these items would probably cost at least 20,000 to 30,000 Gold Coin.

However, that's a long way off for Fran; she doesn't even have the starting capital to buy some Tier 2 equipment right now.

Before she needed these materials, she felt like she had more than two hundred Gold Coin that she could never spend.

However, when it came to the high-level materials, Fran felt her poverty again; she couldn't afford anything.

"I should have applied for financial assistance from the Alliance. My Silver Alchemy Award could easily have been exchanged for tens of thousands of Gold Coin..."

However, Fran had no intention of withdrawing her application now, because she knew that the Antir Region needed the Alliance's approval.

Otherwise, if a special religion appeared near the Alliance, she was afraid that the first and second-tier mages from the Grey Soil Province would come looking for trouble.

For Fran, both issues needed to be resolved, but she used a simpler method for one of them.

"We can squeeze some of those Gold Coin out of the transactions with the Astrology School later."

One million Gold Coin —even if only one percent leaks out, it would be enough for Fran to do some things.

Moreover, Fran was the main negotiator, and as far as she knew, the Lord of Radiance's influence in the Material Realm consisted only of the group Fran had developed.

As we all know, Gold Coin don't actually have much purchasing power in the Spirit Realm because to bring Gold Coin into the Spirit Realm, they need to the Spirit Realm Gold Coin.

By then, these Gold Coin will still have to be spent by Fran.

She kept one-tenth of these Gold Coin for her personal development and then gave it back to the Sect's growth. Isn't that reasonable?

Anyway, the Lord of Radiance isn't at the point where she can have a physical body in the Material Realm, so let her spend these Gold Coin first.

The negotiations with the Astrology School were scheduled for a few days later, Fran felt they might even take place before her application was approved.

So Fran didn't rush, but instead started doing another thing she had to do.

She unpacked the cardboard boxes in the corner of the house, revealing various metal raw materials she had bought after arriving at the Northern Lands Society.

"There's just so much to do, I've almost forgotten what it means to be a person..."

When Fran was promoted to Formal Rank, she still used mechanical-related spells and knowledge to advance.

Logically speaking, after arriving at the Northern Lands Society Northern Lands Society, she should have been able to utilize her strengths and produce several excellent mechanical engineering Paper, giving the people there a small but impressive experience.

But after Harbos's Paper garnered so much attention, shouldn't she, as Harbos's student, have at least produced some results?

However, not only has she achieved nothing, but she hasn't even made much progress in her own research. Her current progress is not much different from when she left the City of Apprentices.

This is not a good thing. Regardless of what is happening outside, logically speaking, Fran should stick to the path of mechanics.

The mages' School thought was deeply ingrained in people's minds. She could only be promoted as a mage of the Forge School. At least on the surface, she should be a mage of the Forge School.

As for the other schools of School, they don't really matter, as long as she doesn't demonstrate the ability to use second-tier spells from other School smoothly, and doesn't lack any of her own school's second-tier spells.

Although Fran obtained the Alchemy Device necessary for the Heart of Quicksand to cast the spell from Eliza, there were even signs of use on them.

But as long as she doesn't show that she finds it easy to use, even if it's a bit difficult, it's fine.

Of course, that can only be used when Fran pushes the level of the Forge School up to the second tier.

Before this, she could only demonstrate that she could activate this Alchemy Device, but the effect was nothing like a second-tier spell.

Fran took some refined iron out of the cardboard box, pressed it into the air with her Telekinetic Hand, and her pure and powerful Mental Power instantly turned the refined iron into a pool of Molten Iron, which then transformed into the shape of a piston.

"Let's start with a hydraulic device."

If we were to name the most practical mechanical structure in Fran's past life, hydraulic devices would undoubtedly be the strongest contender.

This structure is simple but powerful, capable of generating strong external force. Fran can just turn this into a First Order spell.

"It should take about two days. We'll see if we can use this spell as a base for advancing to an elite spell. Harbos did give us two First Order spells."

But to be honest, Fran didn't have much hope for it, because she knew perfectly well that this spell looked different from Harbos's two First Order spells.

If she wants to advance her mage Order in the Forge School, one way is to create three First Order spells and then use those spells to advance using the methods of Elite Mage.

Alternatively, she could look for other Promotion Method for Second Order Mage.

After all, she wasn't confident that the three First Order spells she created could serve as the foundation for advancing to the second order. The spells from other School had all been tested and optimized over a long period of time.

She wasn't confident enough to believe that the magical structures she had created could compare to those of other School.