Luca’s eyes scanned the guild hall, finally landing on the reception desk.
Old Carl, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, was slumped over the desk, snoring softly.
Wasn’t this guy stationed at the backlines? How did he end up so badly injured?
Luca wondered to himself as he approached the desk and gave it a few taps.
“Who’s there? Can’t you see I’m sleeping…” Old Carl groggily muttered, yawning as he stirred.
Halfway through his sentence, he blinked and suddenly froze as he recognized the person in front of him.
“L-Luca, sir! What brings you here?” Carl’s expression changed faster than flipping a page. His demeanor shifted instantly to one of fawning, a grin plastered on his face.
Luca could only shake his head.
This guy, a mid-tier peak assassin, has absolutely no shame. Luca thought.
Still, in times of chaos, people like Carl often survive better.
“I’m looking for high-tier materials. Does the guild have any available for purchase?” Luca asked directly.
“High-tier materials?” Carl looked puzzled but quickly nodded. “We do have some in stock, but they’re pricey. What kind of price range are you looking at? If we don’t have what you need, I can reach out to the other guilds.”
High-tier materials weren’t exactly common. Riverfall City was a low-tier settlement, and even the Guild’s stock of such materials was limited.
Luca mentally calculated his funds.
He had saved over 4,000 gold coins, and with the 10,000 gold coins from his recent quest reward, his total was close to 14,000.
If he sold off some of his materials, he’d be looking at about 20,000 gold coins.
He couldn’t afford anything too extravagant, but buying a basic high-tier material would certainly be within reach.
Luca shared his budget with Old Carl.
“For basic high-tier materials, we have one for about 22,000 gold coins,” Carl replied after a brief moment of thought.
Seeing that Luca was serious, Carl didn’t waste any time and went upstairs to the storage room.
Not long after, Carl returned, carefully carrying a wooden box wrapped in fine cloth.
Luca opened the box, revealing a root that resembled ginseng.
[Ghostwood Root: High-tier material, the root of the Elite Ghost Tree King. When used in crafting tools or potions, there is a chance to add an “Undead” attribute effect.]
“This will do,” Luca nodded in approval.
Although the Ghostwood Root wasn’t considered top-tier, it was sufficient for crafting fixed magic runes.
Luca retrieved his equipment from his Storage Ring and sold them to the guild, ultimately earning over 8,000 gold coins.
After paying 21,000 gold coins to purchase the Ghostwood Root.
His savings were nearly wiped out, leaving him with barely over 1,000 coins.
As Luca stared at his almost-empty wallet, he felt a wave of heartache that nearly took his breath away.
But there was no helping it. The Demonic Rune Mage class was notoriously expensive. If you wanted to become strong, you had to pay for it. Without sufficient investment, the class couldn’t reach its full potential—sometimes even performing worse than more common classes.
This is exactly why so many players in my previous life knew how powerful the Demonic Rune Mage could be but avoided choosing it.
No one could afford the endless expenses for the magic runes.
Luca thought with a sigh.
Once he calmed down, he walked to the training room on the third floor of the Mages’ Association.
Lucia and most of the powerful members of the association were outside.
As a result, the entire Mages’ Association was nearly empty, with hardly anyone around.
Upon arriving at the training room, Luca carefully laid out all the materials from his storage ring.
He lined up the “Deep Sea Pearl” he received for treating Lenna, the “Purified Water Flower” from slaying Freeman.
And the “Elf’s Tear” from completing the Riverfall City quest, along with the newly acquired “Ghostwood Root.”
He laid out the four high-grade materials on the table.
The air in the training room was instantly filled with rich elemental energy.
Finally, Luca pulled out the “Frozen Heart of Hydra.”
Chilly mist emanated from it, causing the surrounding temperature to drop significantly.
Yet, Luca felt an intense heat within him.
He was eager to see what kind of abilities Hydra’s heart would grant him.
However, now wasn’t the time for crafting.
His current magic rune crafting level was far too low. To craft a rune using such a high-tier, Superclass material, Luca needed to max out his rune crafting skill.
When he defeated Freeman, Luca had gained a substantial number of materials.
He had been holding on to them specifically for a moment like this.
With a deep breath, Luca took out these materials and prepared to immerse himself in upgrading his skill level.
Alongside that, he could also focus on crafting the remaining mid-tier magic runes.
Including the four primary elemental runes: Hurricane Rune, Thunderclap Rune, Radiance Rune, and Shadow Rune.
Luca had already crafted the Thunderclap Rune earlier, and now that his magic rune crafting skill had reached an intermediate level, creating these runes wasn’t much of a challenge anymore.
As he refined each intermediate material, Luca began crafting his second intermediate rune, the Hurricane Rune.
This rune, once activated, would unleash several wind blades to strike at enemies.
It also boosted the Demonic Rune Mage’s attack and movement speed, making it an incredibly powerful tool in battle.
“You’re planning to use Hydra’s materials to craft a fixed magic rune?” Jormungandr suddenly emerged from Luca’s wrist, transforming into her human form.
She looked at the materials laid out before Luca, clearly understanding his intentions, and couldn’t help but sneer, “A mere Bronze Grade Demonic Rune Mage thinks he can refine Superclass fixed magic runes? How naive and cute.”
Not to mention anything else, even just extracting the heart of a Hydra was beyond Luca’s capabilities.
The mental toll alone was something an average practitioner couldn’t endure.
If Superclass materials were so easy to refine, alchemists and potion makers wouldn’t be so rare in this world.
Moreover, to draw such Superclass fixed magic runes, one would need to raise their magic runes drawing skill to the maximum level.
Jormungandr had seen many extraordinary geniuses.
But few managed to elevate their magic runes drawing skill to its peak.
Most had reached higher tiers only by pouring resources into leveling up their skills.
Luca was still just at Bronze Grade; hoping to raise his level with these mid-tier materials was nothing short of a pipe dream.
He ignored Jormungandr’s mockery.
At that moment, the wind magic runes were nearing completion, faster than he had anticipated.
As a gentle breeze blew through, a green magic rune appeared before Luca.
[You have drawn the mid-tier magic runes “Hurricane Magic Runes,” magic runes drawing proficiency +300!]
[Ding! Your skill “magic runes drawing” has leveled up to lv6, magic runes drawing speed increased by 15%, success rate increased by 5%, magic runes power increased by 5%…]
Luca glanced at the proficiency needed for drawing magic runes; he needed about 1500 points, which meant that with five mid-tier magic runes, he could level up his skill to lv7.
For an ordinary practitioner, this amount would need to be multiplied by five to ten times.
His maxed-out Perception and innate qualities provided him with a proficiency boost, significantly increasing the speed at which he leveled up his skills.
Luca then continued to craft the “Radiance Magic Runes.”
This time, his speed in creating the magic runes was noticeably faster than before.
As he progressed, Luca’s speed only increased.
Jormungandr’s gaze gradually shifted from mockery to surprise, then from surprise to shock.
This improvement was evident to the naked eye.
With almost every magic rune he drew, Luca’s proficiency would increase significantly.
While others might take months or even years to go from awkwardness to proficiency.
He only needed to craft a single magic rune!
“Is this what having four maxed-out attributes looks like? It’s truly terrifying…” Jormungandr murmured, her expression complex.
She had seen the four maxed-out talents in Luca’s mental world, but she didn’t have a clear concept of them.
Even Jormungandr had never encountered such a prodigy before.
Today, she was witnessing what a true genius looked like!
Time flew by.
When Luca finished crafting his 47th mid-tier magic rune.
The prompt he had been waiting for finally appeared before him.
[Ding! Your skill “magic runes drawing” has leveled up to lv10, magic runes drawing speed increased by 30%, success rate increased by 20%, magic runes drawing…]
[Ding! Your skill “magic runes drawing” has reached maximum level. You cannot continue to raise your skill level until your class awakens.]
“Finally at max level!” Luca clenched his fist as he looked at the prompt.
By now, he had nearly exhausted all of Freeman’s materials, but his effort had not been in vain; he had finally maxed out his magic runes drawing skill.
“Now it’s your turn!” Luca’s gaze shifted to the icy heart of the Hydra, a fiery intensity gleaming in his eyes.
Once he had regained his energy, he couldn’t wait to formally begin drawing his first fixed magic rune.
A dark purple glow blossomed in Luca’s hands, enveloping all four high-tier materials.
Essences were slowly extracted, but the process was painstakingly slow, like pulling silk.
The process of drawing fixed magic runes was vastly different from that of temporary magic runes.
For example, the extraction process required multiple iterations.
Since fixed magic runes had to be inscribed onto the body, there could not be a single impurity in the magic runes.
Otherwise, it would not only reduce the damage and effectiveness of the magic runes but also harm the Demonic Rune Mage’s body.
“With your skills, you still lack the ability to refine the Hydra’s heart, right?” Jormungandr said, a mysterious smile on her face.
Luca remained silent.
Jormungandr squinted, smiling, “If you agree to lift the contract, I can personally help you refine the Hydra’s heart. I could even provide you with genuine Transcendent level materials to draw Transcendent level magic runes. What do you think?”
Luca glanced at her.
Calmly, he said, “Shut your mouth and don’t make me say it twice.”