Chapter 60: Magical Technology!
Before beginning construction, Kaiden thought about the right location. He then decided to end the workshop row he had built previously — it already resembled a long snake as it was.
So he started a new row. He chose this workshop's position directly across from Luther's recently expanded Alchemist's Workshop, with a wide unpaved dirt road between them.
Naturally, all the existing buildings still lacked organized planning and appeared scattered with obvious randomness. Kaiden, after all, had no experience in urban planning. Fortunately, he could relocate any building at any time for a cost in Origin Points — so he was in no rush, preferring to wait until he obtained a professional unit specialized in that field first, if possible.
While he was still thinking about it, the white flash faded and a workshop appeared in its place — modest-looking compared to Luther's Alchemist's Workshop.
Out stepped a young woman with attractive features and long black hair, wearing a black robe with long sleeves embroidered with blue patterns. She stood before him and bowed respectfully.
"Asil greets Your Lordship."
"Welcome to my territory."
Kaiden couldn't help but draw a gentle smile involuntarily at the sight of beauty — something he never quite managed to suppress the way he did with men. Of course, there were no ulterior thoughts behind it, just an unconscious male bias.
He quickly cleared his mind of distracted thoughts and asked the long-haired young woman before him: "So, what are the benefits of rune inscriptions, Asil?"
"My lord, rune inscriptions — or runic characters — is an enormously broad field. But if I were to give a simple example, it strengthens the effectiveness of weapons and the defense of armor by inscribing the appropriate characters, with the appropriate materials, onto the appropriate ore."
"Oh, I see… continue." Kaiden nodded and began walking alongside Asil. They spoke as they made their way into the inscription workshop.
Asil, much like Luther, was the type who became absorbed and enthusiastic when discussing her profession. She followed Kaiden as they walked without realizing it and continued speaking with enthusiasm: "Yes, my lord. For instance, iron cannot withstand the power of runic characters. By comparison, mithril is an ideal ore — it not only withstands the power of runic characters, but also enhances their effectiveness. So it is the most suitable material."
Asil stopped mid-sentence, having nearly walked into the Lord's back. She looked around.
Weren't we outside? When did we reach inside the workshop?… Was I walking without realizing it?
Upon realizing this, she felt embarrassment wash over her completely.
Kaiden didn't see his new rare professional's face turn the color of a ripe tomato. His attention was fixed on absorbing her words as he surveyed the workshop's equipment. There was a clamping mechanism that could be manually adjusted to different sizes to accommodate various armor and weapons.
There were also many scattered papers, containers, iron brushes, and carving and mixing tools. Of course, as with other workshops, it came with tools but not materials.
"So Asil, what types of power and how much power do the rune characters grant? You mentioned earlier increasing armor defense or weapon attack. How exactly?" Kaiden turned as he spoke.
Asil stumbled over her words, trying to conceal her embarrassment: "Ah… um… yes, my lord, that is correct. There are a vast number of runic characters, each with a different function. At my current level I am proficient in only a few. For instance, my lord, regarding defense enhancement — let me show you an example."
Kaiden looked at her. He watched her pick up one of the scattered papers and a black marking pen, bend over the paper, and begin drawing several strange patterns. He didn't recognize what they were — but they reminded him of the engravings on the monster taming voucher and the land improvement voucher.
It took only moments before she finished, then she raised the paper toward him while pointing to the symbols.
"My lord, these three characters combined mean in the runic language: defense enhancement."
"But simply writing them is not enough. To activate them, one must first mix the appropriate materials in the correct ratios, then write the characters all at once without any error or interruption. Any flaw in the process causes activation to fail."
"And even if the process succeeds entirely, the ore being inscribed must be capable of withstanding the power of the runic characters — otherwise the activation will fail as well."
Kaiden asked:
"And what is meant by activation?"
She smiled shyly.
"I apologize, my lord — I was about to get to that point."
Then she continued:
"Runic characters are similar to Battle Aura in some ways — they draw their power from the energy present in their surroundings. After a successful activation, the materials fuse with the target ore, the characters are engraved into it, and they begin drawing energy from the environment until they are fully charged."
She paused for a moment, then added:
"There is also something important to note. Runic characters consume their energy with repeated use, and after depleting they automatically begin drawing energy from their surroundings until they are fully charged again — and this cycle repeats continuously."
Kaiden's eyes lit up.
"So you mean the characters need automatic recharging after use until they recover their full power?"
Asil's eyes went wide the moment she heard the word recharging.
"Yes! That is a perfectly accurate description, my lord!"
Their conversation continued for another five or so minutes, during which she explained the rate of energy consumption, the required materials, and some other fundamental principles.
This field was also remarkable — and no less vast than potion-making, if not more so. Through the brief conversation they had shared, Kaiden grasped the potential of runic characters at a deep level. It wasn't merely about individual weapons and armor — it was a far deeper field than that.
For example, imagine replacing the iron component of a catapult with a mithril piece, then applying the appropriate rune inscriptions to it. Although he didn't yet know exactly how much the enhanced catapult's power would increase, it certainly wouldn't be negligible. And that was just one example.
He also had the massive ballistae atop the Lord's Palace, ready to be modified — and countless other possibilities. Discovering this field felt like a magical technological revolution. But all of that was for the future, when he had more mithril ore and Asil's level had risen.
With that thought, Kaiden called Asil and they stepped outside together. He apologized to the villagers for keeping them waiting all this time, then asked Asil to choose two of them.
He naturally wanted to train a larger number to enter this field — but after some reflection, he found that having more than two apprentices would slow the instruction considerably. So he settled on that number in the end.
Asil quickly selected two young women. Kaiden asked her about the materials she needed, then listed them in a new offer. His trading page was already overflowing with endless rows of requests for various unusual materials.
He even felt for a moment as though he were running a large factory, while the other Lords served as his suppliers.
And that wasn't far from the truth.
At this very moment, a large number of Lords were regularly monitoring Kaiden's page and recording all the materials being requested. If any of their territories happened to contain one of those materials, they would be lucky to obtain the iron that everyone was desperately in need of — without the risk of sending their forces outside.
Even with the risk, there was no guarantee that the treasure chests found outside would contain iron.
After finishing his conversation with his new professional, he continued his rounds with the remaining villagers.
And now, having finished building all the workshops, it was time to use the new Land Improvement Voucher — along with the treasures he had obtained from a different world's civilization.
Kaiden arrived at the freshly planted farmland, where small shoots had already begun pushing their way out of the soil.
He raised the voucher, then chose to activate it over this land.
But… at the very moment he did so, something happened that seized Kaiden's attention completely.
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— End of Chapter Sixty —
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