The Lone Dragon 42 Runic Magic

Something about this whole process didn't quite sit right with her. Maybe because this world was in a constant state of chaos. She really didn't want to stay weak for even one more second.

And she didn't want to depend too much on other people. They wouldn't understand her urgency. She had been shackled up and imprisoned without her consent for so long.

Yes, she was free now. But, the feeling of true freedom can only be attained when one feels safe and secure and confident enough to be able to handle anything and everything life throws your way.

She originally had a plan. She had decided to wait and take it steady till graduation and then use her immense soul strength and mana reserves to quickly strengthen herself in this world. But obviously, that was not going to happen now.

So, what can she do now to pave her own unique path in this life...

Eluraa sat in a corner of the ground floor lounge area of the guild base and was biting her nails like a crazy person. 'Hmmm.. what about me can I use for my advantage.. that d.a.m.ned dragon.. the next time I see it, I should really give it a good spanking. It bankrupted me completely of my reserves.'

Just then, two people crossed her and were discussing about their stun potion failures.

"Ughh.. I lost so much man.. That formula costed me 5 level 10 cores and 6 stacks of elite grade herbs. That was almost 100 gold."

"Hmmm.. Ya, true. But one stun potion still costs like 500 gold. After all, it stuns the target for an entire 20 seconds. And every close combat expert needs them. So they are in high demand."

"Ya, it is definitely worth it to keep at it and try figure it out."

"Hey, in worst case scenario, wonder if we can upgrade the paralysis potion to a stun potion. Considering it in that way makes things a bit simpler. What do you think?"

"Nah. Maybe. But, I really do think your affinity also matters. For, example the whole switching temperature from one extreme to another in the last step might be more accurate and instantaneous if we had better affinity."

"Well, we can't really change what we are born with.. So we should focus more on increasing our levels. Speaking of which, let's go check the mission board."

Eluraa felt awkward sitting next to them, but being completely ignored. "A pair of alchemy nerds. Wonder what level they are.."

Watching them scour the mission board, Eluraa suddenly realized. Maybe that d.a.m.ned dragon ruined everything. But, she still had something left. She had a much higher affinity to mana than anybody around here.

She slowly formulated a new plan...

She first went to the guild's rune unit and looked at the a.s.sortment of carving crystals. Runes are essentially magic spells stored in mana crystals. Mana is transferred from beast cores or other artifacts to crystals with bound magic spells.

This let's the user instantaneously cast multiple spells and higher level spells. But, these runes are not insanely popular because of the difficulty in making them. The trickiest thing when it comes to runes are transferring the energy from the beast cores to the runic crystals.

If your mana affinity is not high enough, there is a ton of mana wastage and it takes a huge amount of time to etch even a common grade rune. So not many people pursue this for a profession.

And moreover, the only runes worth making and selling are some life saving ones like the teleportation rune. A teleportation rune instantly teleports the user to the nearest settlement's teleportation port. And from there, they are free to go anywhere they want using the settlement's teleportation facilities.

For instance, when you are fighting with a magical beast and all odds are against you, you look like you will take fatal damage in the next 2 seconds, you can immediately crush a teleportation rune and get instantly ported to a settlement.

However, though these runes are over powered, something like a teleportation rune, requires 100 level 75 to 100 beast cores and high grade carving crystals. Normal combat masters can't afford them.

Now, Eluraa was not planning on doing anything crazy like going after teleportation runes or other complex runes. She had a simple plan. She was first going to try making some common grade runes.

She had 5 guild contribution points for a.s.sisting with that previous level 1 mission. She approached Sally and asked her if she could exchange some carving crystals for these points. "Yes. Of course you can, my darling. Here you go."

Sally handed her 5 carving crystals for the 5 contribution points and went back to her doc.u.ments. Eluraa then went inside the rune unit again and occupied one of the cubicles. They are sound proof and are able to be locked from inside. This allowed the guild members to focus on their craft without any disturbance.

Eluraa had ten level 1 beast cores with her so far. Before starting, she looked over the notes from her xenon once more.

Common grade runes: Requires 100 level 1 to 20 beast cores. The user is required to carefully transfer the mana from the beast cores to the carving crystal. More beast cores can be added if the final mana levels are insufficient. The user then has to cast a common grade etching spell on the carving crystal to store the required magic spell.

"Sigh.. 100 cores level 1 to 20 huh... Well, let's see how far my high affinity takes me. I have to at least gamble this much." Without further hesitation, she took a level 1 core and started transferring the mana to the carving crystal.