Magic Rune Inscriber

"Don't worry, Little Dean. This demon said the same thing to me back then, without changing a word." Sanderson smiled and shook his head. Generally speaking, no matter how much humans extended their lifespans, they could never live beyond a thousand years.

So whether the demon Stavago really had only a little over a thousand years left to live did not matter.

Only half an hour had passed between the demon Stavago's appearance and the successful signing of the contract, but that half hour had given Dean quite a fright. Too many things had happened that a Level-One Magic Apprentice like him simply could not take in. In the end, he could only let things take their course.

Still, Dean felt as though there was a speck of light in his mind. It was so well hidden that even he could barely make it out.

Dean understood that this speck of light contained what Stavago had called boundless knowledge. His first thought was of the spell Stavago had mentioned—that miraculous magic for creating storage items.

However, what he obtained from the speck of light was an introductory course—a tutorial on Magic Runes.

"Mentor Sanderson, what are Magic Runes?" Dean hurriedly asked his mentor. Even if the speck of light contained every kind of knowledge, there were still some basic facts he needed to learn himself.

The demon Stavago would surely have said, "Everything in the great Lord Stavago's collection of knowledge is a treasure, of course. How dare you ask me about such common knowledge?"

"Oh, you already can't wait to take a look at the Infinite Eye?" Sanderson was not surprised. No Mage could resist the temptation of the Infinite Eye. It laid boundless knowledge out before you, after all, let alone a Level-One Magic Apprentice like Dean!

The Infinite Eye. From Sanderson, Dean learned the name of the speck of light in his mind. Indeed, with boundless knowledge contained within such a tiny speck, the name Infinite Eye was quite fitting.

"I wanted to get the storage magic that the demon Stavago mentioned just now. Hehe, I'd like to learn it as soon as possible, so I can make storage items myself," Dean said expectantly.

"That will depend on whether you have the talent for it. Come, my student. We still have plenty of time today, so I'll teach you the basics of Magic Runes. Whether you can master them will be up to you." A slight smile rose at the corners of Sanderson's mouth.

Wasn't it storage magic that Stavago had used to tempt me back then, too? Only, he had not possessed such strong resolve at the time. Tempted by storage magic, he had signed the contract outright.

His student Little Dean, on the other hand, had done quite well. He had even made Stavago, that crafty abyssal demon, part with a demon horn, though it was no longer precious to Stavago as he was now.

For a mage, however, even one who had reached the rank of ninth-level Holy Magister, a demon horn was still exceedingly precious.

Sanderson had misunderstood, though. Dean had already been in a daze, his mind unable to process such an overwhelming spectacle. Yes, signing a contract with a demon was a rare, momentous occasion for a Level-One Magic Apprentice like Dean.

He had stalled so long that Stavago's time had nearly run out, leaving the demon no choice but to give Dean a Demon Horn. That horn had jolted Dean awake, and just like that, he had signed the contract.

Thus, Sanderson and Stavago both believed Dean possessed tremendous willpower, while Dean thought he had asked for too little. Or perhaps Stavago was actually a very generous demon?

Still, none of them cared about the process, so long as they were satisfied with the outcome.

The demon Stavago had not lost the coordinates of this world, which meant he still had a chance to find suitable contract partners here. Dean, likewise, had obtained boundless knowledge and only needed to digest it slowly. Sanderson had also gained a faint glimmer of hope.

"Magic Runes are an extremely profound profession, a secondary occupation exclusive to Mages. Practitioners often work alongside smiths, though of course, the two don't necessarily have to stay together." Sanderson began his instruction on Magic Runes.

Magic Runes could be inscribed on all kinds of weapons, items, and even spells. Of course, these things had to support the transmission of mana. At the very least, they had to be on the level of an incomplete basic magic item. One could not simply grab any old cup and use it as a medium for inscribing Magic Runes.

Magic Runes were a special form of magic that required extremely precise sensitivity to the elements. For Dean, who had obtained a Demon Horn, this was no longer a problem. In other words, with the Demon Horn, Dean could become a Magic Rune inscriber.

However, just how powerful Dean could become along this path as a Magic Runes inscriber remained uncertain.

Simply put, Magic Runes were inscribed on magic items to allow their users to wield greater power, or to grant abilities those items did not originally possess.

The explanation did not take long, and Dean began practicing drawing Magic Runes in earnest. Of course, he was only drawing them on paper with a pen, and he spent the entire afternoon doing so.

"All right, that's enough for today." Seeing that dusk had arrived, Sanderson told Dean, "From now on, come for an afternoon every three days. I'll teach you how to inscribe Magic Runes. You should probably be able to inscribe them within a month." Sanderson was very pleased with Dean.

Sanderson was pleased with both his attitude toward learning and his enthusiasm. Although Dean was unlike those geniuses who could master something after looking at it and writing it out once, in Sanderson's eyes, he was already a little genius.

Dean left Sanderson's courtyard and headed toward his shabby little house. Too much had happened that day. Initially, he had only wanted to find a mentor and settle the matter of the Demon Hand. He had never expected to end up signing a soul contract with a demon.

Back in his dilapidated room, Dean immediately began meditating.

Since Dean was only a Level-One Magic Apprentice and had not yet successfully condensed a mana vortex, he could only rely on free meditation to increase his mana.

Free meditation sounded nice, but in truth, it amounted to letting one's thoughts roam wildly. Even compared with the worst meditation method, its effectiveness was as far apart as heaven and earth. Still, there was no helping it. Apprentices could only practice free meditation.

Dean already understood Basic Troll Vortex Meditation, so he steered his free meditation toward that method.

Through his sensitivity to the elements, his own mana would draw the elements he needed from the surrounding air. Fortunately, there were quite a few dark elements near Dean's shabby little house.

After a night spent meditating instead of sleeping, Dean had just managed to replenish his mana completely. Seventy-nine points—an increase of one. Dean was a little surprised. He was only one point of mana away from the late stage of a Level-One Magic Apprentice.

Moreover, Dean had a feeling that this last point of mana would come soon.

(End of chapter)