Karl got right to work on the book, as the necessary inks were already on the table. Runecrafting was more of a dictionary than anything else, and every rune that Karl wrote slowly etched itself into his mind, an unused language that he had never paid attention to.
Sure, he had the skill to use them, but it was a bit like using Rend for the first time when he was on the train. It was possible, but he had not trained any sort of mental or muscle memory for it, so it was somewhat like following a guidebook for something that you had never seen in person.
Just writing out the book was giving him ideas. If he had better crafting skills, he could make weapons and add Runes to them, turning mundane items into quality magical weapons.
[Making toys for fun and profit.] Remi agreed, paying close attention to Karl’s work.
[Can you use this skill?] He asked, wondering how many of the beasts shared his more esoteric abilities.
[I can, but not the others. Probably because I’m the only one that reads for fun.] Remi agreed.
Writing out a whole dictionary of Runes took time. A lot of time. But eventually Karl had a massive bound tome in front of him that put the one on the shelf to shame.
It was easily a thousand pages long, and Karl guessed that he had missed at least an entire day while he was working, even with the increased hand speed that he had to restrain just enough not to splatter the ink.
There were no windows in the office, and the room was soundproofed, with no clock in sight. That made it exceptionally easy to lose track of time, and actively using a System Skill seemed to keep you locked in, so you didn’t notice outside stimuli as much.
“And here we are. One skill book of Runecrafting.” He announced, waking the Archbishop. The old man was napping on a divan in the corner of his office, which was well-equipped with blankets, suggesting that this was a regular occurrence.
The Archbishop slowly got to his feet and came over to the desk, where he ran a reverent finger over the tome.
“It’s beautiful. If I had to guess, I would say that it is an Epic Grade skill, just going by the cover. But I suspect that it’s actually something much more difficult to obtain than that.” The old man rambled.
More uncommon than an Epic Skill?
Reverently, the Archbishop opened the cover of the tome.
And nothing happened.
At least, until Lord Nacht burst into laughter.
“Oh, that is grand. The greatest Rune master on the continent can’t use the Runecrafting skill book. Do you perhaps already have a basic version of the skill?” The black dragon taunted his counterpart.
The Archbishop shook his head. “I don’t have a skill for it. I know most of the language, though. It would seem that I still have much to learn, with the size of this tome, but I am considered fluent in Runic.”
The Dragon inspected the tome, and then a slow smile spread across his face. “Why don’t we call the Librarian? I bet that the head of the Blue Dragon Clerics would love the opportunity to learn the most complete form of the Runic language.”
It only took a few seconds for the Librarian to enter after the Archbishop called for her. She came through a side door, and Karl realized that their offices were attached.
That was incredibly convenient when there were questions. Or when Lord Nacht was visiting and wanted to troll someone.
“Librarian, we have a rare skill book for you to try. None of us can use it, and we have some hope that you can learn its secrets, then make a duplicate.” The Archbishop requested.
The Blue Dragon carefully put on a pair of white cotton gloves as she approached, and delicately inspected the entire tome, making mental notes before doing anything else.
“Beautiful. It will be a shame to remove such a beautiful book from circulation, but once I have learned it, I will immediately endeavour to make another.” The Librarian announced, then carefully opened the cover.
Her eyes widened as the book vanished and a flood of information entered her brain, filling in all the details of the Rune Crafter’s trade.
“This is wonderful. There is so much to know, so many things that were lost to time. I can fix the wards on the bookshelves, and rebuild the automatic staircase. Oh, I do need to get another copy made as soon as possible.
The Juniors can do all of that while I study the rest of the knowledge hidden in here.”
She was clearly rambling now, but the dragon was happy, even if her subordinates were about to become very unhappy.
The Librarian ran out of the room without even acknowledging that the Archbishop was waiting to ask her questions.
Lord Nacht patted him on the shoulder. “Well, you win some and you lose some. She will answer all your questions eventually. It’s good that she was the one that it worked for because all the teachers in the Cathedral are Blue Dragon Clerics, and your Weaponsmith Students are sure to want access to that knowledge as soon as possible.”
The Archbishop nodded. “Not just the students. Everyone is going to want to learn a bit more about magical runes.”
Karl thought about that and shook his head in dismay.
“There are Runes and then there is Runecrafting. Anyone can write the runes if they’ve seen them before, but making a magical item that can properly harness them is an entirely different matter.”
The Archbishop didn’t quite understand, but Karl had an easy way to explain.
He picked up the paintbrush and some plain ink, then wrote the rune for [Shock]. It was easier to recreate skills that you already understood, and he knew lightning pretty well.
“If you would kindly activate that Rune, I can demonstrate.” Karl informed the aging Cleric.
The Archbishop just looked confused, but Lord Nacht tapped the paper and infused it with a bit of mana that made electricity crackle over the page like a stun gun.
The paper was destroyed by the electricity, so Karl wrote another with the same ink, then activated it to create a [Shock] effect on the Black Dragon.
After all, the Archbishop was old and somewhat frail.
A small amount of electricity crackled over the dragon’s barrier, and the Archbishop nodded in understanding.
“I see now. It’s the difference between the Rune doing what it says, and the Rune doing what you will it to. There is so much more that I could do if I had that skill. But, alas, I will have to leave it to the Blue Clerics and their students.
Perhaps the skill will soon spread through the Alchemists and the Smiths, bringing us back to the glory days of item creation.”
The old man was completely on a tangent now, and the Black Dragon was trying hard not to laugh at him.
“I should probably tell you now. Runecrafting won’t work for anyone under Royal Rank, and only one in a hundred at best will be able to learn the trade skill. Don’t get too lost in big dreams just yet, old friend.” The dragon warned him quietly.
“And you had to ruin it. Fine, I’m going back to sleep. See the Monarch out, would you?”