The Runesmith

*Click*

“It was really there… How did you know?”

“There was a pattern in the dungeon.”

“A pattern? I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

“Most people don’t do things like me so they wouldn’t be able to find it.”

Roland replied to Mary who was astonished by the opening secret door before them. Inside was a small room of around twenty square meters. Right at the end was a lone chest with unknown contents. It was a secret room just like the ones sprinkled in the other dungeon and the entrance was quite similar.

‘These dungeons aren’t connected to each other but they are very similar. I've heard a theory about it and this might confirm it…’

Back in his youth, Roland made an effort to go through all the books on this world that he could get his hands on. Someone once said that knowledge was power and he took the advice seriously. His arrival here was abrupt and he needed all the information that he could get his hands on. Thus even before becoming an adventurer, he made sure to study dungeons and what made them tick.

After starting his new profession he continued to gather more information. Now it allowed him to put a few things together to find this hidden chamber that opened through another runic lock. It was similar to the ones in the original Albrook dungeon but getting in would have been impossible without his new tier 3 class. The runes had increased in difficulty and now required more involvement from his skills.

Usually finding a room like this would have been impossible through normal means. It was behind some bones in what looked to be a burial chamber. Roland had an ace up his sleeve which was his mapping system. Through it, he was able to previously discover a pattern in the secret chamber location when he was going through the upper levels of the old dungeon. This same pattern in dungeon room creation existed here as well and somewhat confirmed the theory others before him came up with.

This theory stated that when two dungeons existed close to each other, the one with the lesser dungeon core would get affected by the other one. If it was true then the Albrook dungeon could have been affected by this one. The similar layout of the rooms and secret chambers locked behind runic symbols was the similarity. The undead flaming skeletons on the upper levels could have also been affected by this undead crypt.

‘I need to visit the lower and upper levels before anyone else can discover these areas…’

The hidden rooms and chambers usually had some bonus rewards for anyone that found them first. Other Times it would require a long waiting period for things like special bosses and chests to reappear again. Now was the best time to go through all the levels and grab all the loot before the other adventurers made their way here.

While the runic symbols could be only activated by people that could affect greater runes, this didn’t mean that there weren’t other ways of getting in. He was able to drill passages through walls, it wouldn’t be strange if someone could blast their way through if they knew that something existed on the other side.

‘High-level adventurers usually have some items that detect hidden treasure chambers, eventually, they will find them and after the cat is out of the bag, others will begin scavenging for more.’

He could already imagine word getting out and Platinum adventurers pushing through to get the hidden loot. Perhaps he could spoil their fun, if he managed to discover the hidden rooms and take everything for himself, they would arrive at empty chambers. If the consensus arises that no items were to be found in these hidden rooms, then perhaps he could push others away from wasting time on entering them.

“Hey, is it safe?”

“Hm… it doesn’t seem to be a mimic… but I’m not sure my skills are high enough for a higher tier mimic…”

While he was having a look at the minimap, Armand asked Lobelia a question. For a moment he expected the meat head to just go for the chest. At least when it came to adventuring he had enough experience to know better. Chests could be monsters or boobytrapped, even the areas around them like walls or ceilings could hold hidden traps.

“I don’t see any traps or mechanisms, no weighted panels either, it should be safe… what do you think?”

Lobelia made her assessment and soon looked over to Mary. Both had classes that were good at discovering things and a lot of their skills overlapped. The maid dressed in dark leather nodded and performed a search herself before finally speaking out.

“It seems that it should be safe but I think it would be better if Sir Wayland opened it.”

“You heard that Sir Wayland? Go ahead.”

“...”

Roland just grumbled while the three of them cleared out. He intended to do it himself from the start but Armand made it sound like it would have been better if the chest blew up in his face than in theirs. His armor was equipped with a few discovery spells that could detect magical traps and the sorts. This was uncharted ground though and he needed to prepare for every possibility.

When it came to B-ranked dungeons and above he didn’t have that much hands-on experience. Reading through books and old adventurer stories gave him an idea of what to expect but safety was first. Thus the best way of tackling this matter was through ranged spells. Even if it was a higher-level mimic or a magical bomb, it wouldn’t get to him if he was out of range.

While his three party members stepped to the side he took a step forward. He didn’t enter the room but remained at the edge of the entrance. Sometimes entire rooms like this could be affected by things like teleportation traps or pitfalls. The safest way to go around this was using his mage hand to reach for the chest.

Before producing this newly favorite spell, he activated his floating cubes to move forward. They were floating around in the chamber in the event of a monster being unleashed inside. Soon the chest was floating into his hands and it seemed that the safety measures weren’t needed.

“Hm…”

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s locked…”

“Locked? Can you bring it over here?”

“It’s not a mimic at least, I think it should be fine…”

After exchanging a few words with Lobelia he decided to use his mage hand spell to pull the chest out of the hidden chamber. Everything seemed to be clear and when it was outside they just needed to open it. Smashing a chest was always an option for getting items out yet it could damage the items inside. Not everything was resistant to shocks from the outside and this chest here was quite robust.

“Can you open it? This is a B-rank dungeon.”

“Who do you think I am? No problem!”

Lobelia seemed confident and there weren’t any obvious traps on this chest. Smashing it open was an option but he would have rather not damage potential rare materials. The rewards that could be found in B-rank dungeons and above were exceptional. It was possible for one of these to contain something special.

*Click*

“Haha, I knew I could do it!”

The lock popped open and he could see the lid opening up. Lobelia didn’t just remain in that spot but instead jumped right behind Roland’s large frame. Yet no explosion came of it and finally, the item that was hiding away was revealed inside.

“Eh? What is this slab of metal?”

“Ugh this thing is heavy, don’t just stand there and help me out.”

“Leave this to a real man! … What the… is this made of star metal or something? Why is it so heavy…”

Armand’s muscles bulged as he needed to use both of his hands to yank the object out of the large box. When it came out into the open Roland realized what it was. The shape was similar to a coffin but it was clearly a tower shield. After looking at the identification screen he understood why even someone as strong as Armand was having trouble with the weight.

“It’s not Star Iron but close, it’s made from Black Mithril.”

Lobelia whistled after hearing Roland’s response. There were various elemental variations of mithril and the armor he was wearing was made from such a variation. This one was a little bit different, usually the element they were aligned with just increased the resistance values against it. Black mithril was created by absorbing dark energy which could be produced in a crypt like this. It was usually secondary to the unholy undead energies but didn’t trail far behind.

After the metal absorbed the dark energy it didn’t become more resistant to it. Instead, it became a lot heavier and had its defensive capabilities enhanced. When it came to raw armor black mithril was up there even with higher-tier metals. A whole shield made from something like it would be able to defend even against the highest-tier opponents and was quite the lucky find.

“Bwahaha, Hey look at that, Wayland can hold it with one hand, maybe if you didn’t spend so much time fooling around then you’d be able to do it too!”

“Shut up, he is a tier 3! Once I ascend I’ll be able to do it too!”

Lobelia pointed out with her finger at Roland who took the shield from Armand. With his current stats, he would be able to use this thing without suffering any penalties. Besides being shaped like a coffin it had a large skull on the other side. It didn’t take him long to figure out the enchantment that made Mary flinch a bit when activated.

“The skull eyes are glowing? Woah, it’s turning green.”

Lobelia voiced her concerns but Roland was quick to calm the group down.

“Don’t worry, it has a protective spell on it, I guess someone thought it would be funny to make the eyes glow.”

From his point of view, there was no reason for the visual cue with the glowing eyes. The spell was a reflection enchantment that would rebound physical damage when hit. From a style perspective, the whole motif went well together and was something that Roland usually ignored during his crafts.

‘It does look a bit cool… When I get back home I should remake this into a runic structure, the spell in itself isn’t bad but it can be enhanced.’

“I don’t think those two fit together.”

“They don’t fit?”

“Yeah, maybe if you put some skulls on your armor and get a darker sword it could work. You should probably ditch it but don’t worry, I have a friend that could use something like that, how about I take it off you…”

“...”

Armand commented on the look of the items Roland was carrying. The shield belonged more in the hands of a dark knight while the sword he took from Emmerson was too gallant. Then combined with his crimson armor that looked more streamlined, it just didn’t mesh well together.

“I’m still taking it, you’d just sell it.”

“Damn, he saw through it… Can I at least…”

“No, now get into the chamber, we already wasted enough time on this…”

Roland shook his head in disgust at the muscle-bound idiot. Even though he was letting him tag along to help them power level, he still wanted some extra cash. Lobelia wasn’t much different as she had a somewhat longing gaze when looking at the black shield. The only person that looked normal was Mary who probably just wanted to train.

“Okay, I’ll stay here with you for today but in the future, you’ll have to do it by yourself.”

Everyone nodded without voicing any complaints. While it was safer for Roland to remain with them, he would get sidetracked and gain nothing in return. During this small window he had before the dungeon became infested with other adventurers he had to dive deeper into it.

“Mary, you're acquainted with the map the most so I’ll leave most of it to you. Can you place the device down here?”

The ninja maid nodded while all of them started placing down their belongings. Soon all of them were looking at the dots on the screen while Roland tried to explain everything. While perhaps he was worried about Armand, with Mary around they should be able to succeed.

“So you want us to focus on the Berserker variants?”

“Yes, they are the easiest to read and defeat, as long as you fight one at a time everything should be fine.”

The plan was simple. Using this chamber as a safe zone they would target the nearby Infernal Skeleton Berserker that he just cleared out. After going through the dungeon map back to his place this was the best tactic he could think of. While it was safer to remain in the mining area, there were too many eyes on them and the grinding trick would surely become known to everyone. If they stayed here, they could casually hide away if any Platinum adventurer arrived. Without the proper tools, they would be unable to open this hidden room where their group could hide until he returned.

“This sounds simple enough and could actually work… If the scrolls do the job.”

“That’s why I’m going to stay here for now. The next Berserker should appear in around twenty minutes to go over your equipment.”

The biggest help was actually the mapping device and not the divine runes. Weapons were easily made and even something like his big mana cannon could be used instead. Yet knowing when the monsters would respawn and which paths they took was the biggest advantage a person could gain over them.

He wasn’t sure if people were actually aware of these paths as they were hard to confirm. The monsters would move away from them whenever they encountered a living person and sometimes some random factors were introduced. Without something measuring the repeating paths on a daily basis, it would have been hard to confirm for regular adventurers that just wanted to make a living.

“What are you doing?”

“Just giving the device the correct code, you’ll be able to open the chamber with this when I’m not here.”

The item in his hand looked like an id card. It was similar to the one people used to enter the hidden chamber under the lava lake. The hardest part was finding these rooms and then cracking the code, creating a key to get in was rather easy and didn’t require that many materials.

“But what if it doesn’t work and we can’t get out?”

“In that case, you’ll just have to wait for me to come pick you up.”

“But what if something happens to you?”

“Then you’ll have to dig yourselves out.”

Roland pointed to the backpack that he had Armand wear throughout the trip. It wasn’t just a runic flamethrower but also had other items inside. If for some reason he wasn’t able to make it back to their location and the key was damaged, they would have to get out of here the old fashion way.

“The walls aren’t that thick, it shouldn’t take you more than an hour to get out of here. Now get ready, the monster is about to spawn, this is the best time to attack it.”

After explaining everything he pulled all of them back into the room where he defeated the two berserkers. There he was able to catch the moment of recreation, it was a phenomenon where a monster spawned back in the dungeon.

It was a strange magical phenomenon that not many people understood and it was taking place before them. First, a strange substance that looked like water rose up from the ground. It soon split and turned into a floating orb that turned from being translucent into a black color. This orb then started expanding into the shape of the skeletal monster that inhabited the dungeon.

“This is the best time to attack, they won’t be able to move for a second or two after respawning, use your scrolls on it.”

Roland called out to Mary and the others that pointed the large pages with runes at the monster. If aimed correctly they would be able to deliver a devastating critical blow without even having to endanger their own lives. Three bolts of divine energy flew at the skeletal being and connected right as it was about to move. The glowing eyes activated just at the right time to see the spells coming their way.

“We got it!”

“It’s burning up… h-hey, I leveled up!”

“Me too! What is this experience?”

“... It actually worked…”

Lobelia and Armand were ecstatic while Mary was more baffled by the fact that this whole process succeeded. Now it was up to them to continue their work while Roland prepared for some spelunking.