Chapter 81: The Story of Kalade

Having heard Kalade's self-introduction, Sinuoli, being a transmigrator after all, was the first to react.

He stood up, unscrewed the tap on the beer barrel in the carriage, poured two mugs of the best-selling Bergman Selection, and handed one to the Dwarf before him.

"My friend, would you be willing to tell us your story? If you don't mind, that is." Sinuoli began.

Many wandering Dwarfs have their own unspeakable secrets; they have either suffered a disgrace not significant enough for them to choose to become a Slayer, or they have been exiled for some reason.

Many wanderers do not like to recount their own stories, but Sinuoli believed that since this Dwarf had approached him, he must be willing to speak.

"Ha, since you are interested, then I shall tell you a little!" Kalade did not disappoint Sinuoli's expectations; after the two clinked mugs, he began to narrate.

"I come from a Clan residing in the Empire of Man. According to the records in the Book of Grudges, our homeland fell during the Dark Age."

Hearing this, Sinuoli and the surrounding clansmen felt a sense of shared sorrow; more than half of the Dwarfs living outside the Qunshan could trace their origins to this cause.

"As I awakened my Ancestor bloodline and gained the qualifications to wield Rune Power, I was naturally taken in as an Apprentice by the only Rune Smith in our settlement."

Kalade took a sip of beer, and a faint glimmer seemed to appear on his face; clearly, it was a fond memory.

"Unlike you, who studied under Krag Master, a great being who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ancestor Gods, my teacher, although he taught me everything he knew, you know, for us clansmen far from the Qunshan, the heritage is lost quite severely."

Sinuoli nodded; he understood this situation. Due to the small population, once there were no suitable individuals with awakened Ancestor bloodlines nearby, the skills of these Rune Smiths outside the Qunshan faced the danger of being lost.

Even if an Apprentice was barely found, there might be cases where they lacked the ability and could not master all of the teacher's skills, and thus some Runes would still be lost.

"My teacher only mastered five, or rather, four and a half types of Runes!" Kalade sighed.

"It was likely Thurni secretly blessing me; I mastered my teacher's skills by the age of one hundred and twenty. I was young then and didn't want to spend my whole life enchanting equipment in front of an anvil. To further improve my abilities, I left our settlement and returned to the Mountain Kingdom."

Kalade's expression dimmed again; clearly, he had some unpleasant experiences during this stage.

"I visited many peers, but, alas, there was no harvest!"

Sinuoli could guess what had happened. Most Rune Smiths do not like to share the power of Runes. Some with paranoid personalities might even hold back a trick or two if they felt their disciples lacked ability, actively causing the skills they mastered to be lost, let alone for a Dwarf like Kalade who came with prior training.

As for academic exchanges between users of the same level, they were generally in the form of swapping Runes they had not mastered, just as Yinzhi Dashi had requested previously, using a Master-class Flight Rune to exchange for a Master-class Tracking Rune.

Sinuoli knew without asking that the Runes Kalade mastered were all common ones like Hearth and Home, Speed, Strength, etc., with no room for exchange.

"I understand; the Rune Smith Guild has this atmosphere. If there is an opportunity, I am willing to make a change!" Sinuoli promised. Now that his status in this caravan was the highest, he did not worry about being criticized.

Kalade nodded, noncommittally continuing to speak: "In order to have a chance to continue improving myself, I decided to create my own Runes!"

"Did you succeed?" Sinuoli asked in surprise; the matter of creating one's own Runes is extremely difficult even for Rune Masters.

"I succeeded, but one could also say I failed!" Kalade spoke in circles, but this time Sinuoli did not interrupt.

"I combined my own incomplete heritage with some materials I could find and spent ten years creating a Rune, but its effect is not significant."

"As expected!" Sinuoli added. Researching Runes is comparable to the scientific research he did in his previous life; often, for results to be applied, they need to pass through a difficult transformation stage.

"Then, what effect does the Rune you developed have?" Sinuoli asked, as he still wanted to understand.

"Grungni above! What is that on your feet? Could it be?" Kalade suddenly stared at Sinuoli's boots and asked.

Because Dwarfs are accustomed to sitting cross-legged on the ground, Sinuoli's feet were raised, revealing his Stali Boots.

"It is indeed the Stali Boots!"

"The reason I am excited is not because of the preciousness of these boots, but because the inspiration for my Rune research came precisely from this!" Kalade adjusted his sitting posture and said.

Seeing his mug was empty, Sinuoli poured him another.

"How so?" Sinuoli coaxed.

"The heritage I possess happened to include the technique of engraving a single Rune onto two items to make it function normally. I combined this technique with the Lighting Rune I mastered, so that whenever one half of the Rune is tapped, the other half of the Rune will also light up simultaneously."

Sinuoli fell into thought, and Kalade sneered slightly upon seeing this.

"Very boring, right? But I think it must be able to serve some purpose. In order to apply it, I went incognito to study engineering technology, but unfortunately, following the succession of Lord Alike-Lufusen of Karak-Hern, he expelled the already small number of members of the Haojiaobao Engineer Guild. I also appeared before you because of this."

"This Rune, how far away can it maintain a connection?" Sinuoli stroked the beard on his chest. He suddenly had an idea.

"It depends on the power supplier, Master!" Speaking of his research results, Kalade entered his element.

"Relying on the power of the Rune itself, it's only a few hundred meters. Of course, this might be because the raw materials I chose were average, but if our peers or Human spellcasters inject energy into it, the effective distance can reach up to a hundred kilometers! I conducted an experiment with a mage friend of mine; I was in Haojiaobao, and he was in the Averland of the Empire. At this distance, the Rune was still effective."

"Moreover, I infer that if someone with stronger power, like you or even your teacher, provides the energy, then the connection distance will be even further! I have not come into contact with treasures like the Doom Anvil, but I believe that if it were engraved on that, relying on its characteristic of automatically gathering the Winds of Magic, perhaps even the person charging it could be saved!"

Kalade Fengbaoxingzhe spoke incessantly about his technology, perhaps because Sinuoli was one of the few Rune Masters willing to listen to his story, or perhaps he wanted to tell the Ancestor Goddess through this.

Thanks to Admiral Spire and the book friend's monthly ticket.

Asking for votes, collections, and tips, ha.