The next morning I woke up with a mild head cold. Most likely it was the penalty for a dwarfs body after spending so long in sub freezing temperatures. I made a mental note to never make another rune of snow ever again, and since I had overslept I was forced to run to school.
Fortunately, dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances. So I was able to land in my seat a few seconds before Elder Rongrim entered the room.
"Kvalinn! Why are you late? You're never late!" Bekhi whispered to me in concern as I took my normal seat next to her. "Are you alright? You look a little flushed."
"I'm fine, testing the rune yesterday made it freeze in the testing room and got me stuck in there for a while. But it's nothing serious. I just need to stand closer to the fire for a couple days."
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson and Bekhi Mubrimssdottir!" Elder Rongrim boomed out. "Do you have something to say to the class?" Both of us hastily shook our heads. "Good! Stay silent while I'm teaching the class."
Elder Rongrim seemed crankier than normal today, and his eyebrows bristled in anger at the slightest disruption. Not wanting to be the target from one of the many empty beer mugs piled high on his desk, Bekhi and I became as quiet as church mice.
After class was over, Elder Rongrim sat down at his desk with an audible thud and waved halfheartedly to indicate our break was starting. He then began a futile search to find a mug that had any beer left in it.
"Kvalinn, what did you do yesterday?" Zikruk asked. "All the Elders that I've seen around school are acting the same way as Elder Rongrim. And the only thing that could cause a fuss this early in the year is you. So what happened?"
Several students leaned over their chairs and their desks to hear my answer, evidently they were as curious as Zikruk was. I didn't want to start any wild rumors, so I kept the story as simple as possible.
"I didn't do that much to cause a fuss. I gave Elder Thrikrondromm a weapon with an experimental rune, I tested it in the testing room and it caused a bit of a mess." I shrugged to indicate it wasn't that big a deal. Zikruk wasn't buying it though.
"What was the rune you used? Was it one of the fire runes? Or did you use one of the more destructive runes? Please tell me you didn't use the rune of foul luck!"
"No, nothing that destructive. Remember when Bekhi told us about snow? The white powder made of frozen water that falls from what she called the sky? Well thanks to her description I was able to make a rune of snow."
"And…?" Zikruk raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the story.
"And it kinda got out of control in the testing room and filled the testing room with snow and ice. I'm sure it will melt, eventually."
Zikruk, and all the other students, simultaneously looked away from me and glanced at the Elder who was slumped over his desk, blearily shaking a mostly empty tankard. They then looked back at me with a mix of suspicion and caution.
Most of the students dispersed to pursue their own conversations with their friends, but one of them walked up and introduced himself.
"Greetings, Kvalinn Ekgorsson. I am Grodin Grigmardsson of the tools clan. May our dealings bring honor to both our clans." After I returned his greeting, Grondin continued. "I overheard Zikruk mention that you can make fire runes, is that correct? My father is in the engineering guild and is constantly complaining about the costs of fuel to run the engines. Would you be able to make a rune that isn't destructive but just hot enough to heat water?"
"Wait, did you say engines?" My ears perked up at the mention of machinery. Depending on what they were, I might be able to return to my original goal of advancing this world's tech!
Grondin picked up on my enthusiasm, and was a bit nonplussed. "Yes? The engineering guild has been working on developing an engine that runs off steam for centuries. Thane Vonor set up the guild with that purpose when he established the school, but the cost of fuels has always hindered development. But if you can make a rune to heat the water then it would help my fathers work considerably."
I felt myself grin in excited anticipation. Steam engines! The first step on the road to industrialization and civilization! Railroads, steam boats, hot air balloons, and factories! All that would be possible with the knowledge of steam engines.
"Kvalinn, that grin is very creepy." Bekhi poked one of my cheeks. "What are you thinking about to make that face?"
"Back up, Grondin." Zikruk said in warning. "When Kvalinn makes that sort of face, he is usually about to test a new rune. But I've never felt this much danger coming from him before."
"It's not that bad, Zikruk. Now, Grondin, how hot does the rune need to heat up to? Rune crafting is a bit risky for me so far so I'll need all the details you can give me."
Grondin then got to work in giving me some of the specifications of the steam engine and I took notes on a board. So far in my experiments on making magic runes, they were usually influenced by whatever song I was singing while making them, and making them precise was extremely taxing.
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson!" Elder Rongrim's voice boomed practically directly into our ears. "What do you think you are doing?! We are still attempting to clear the testing room from your last rune test! NO! MORE! EXPERIMENTAL! RUNES!" He grabbed the board I was writing on and broke it over his knee. Not satisfied with that, he threw the pieces on the ground and stamped on them until there was nothing but splinters left. The amount and variety of swear words Elder Rongrim uttered while stamping was quite impressive, some of them were potent enough to cause physical pain to the students.
Break wasn't even close to being over at that point of time, but it didn't matter. Everyone fled from Elder Rongrims outburst, myself included, and went to their next classes early.
Advanced combat was nearly the same as yesterday. With exhausting training coming from both Elder Dworhick and Bekhi. The only difference was that Elder Dworhick had us practice fighting while wearing armor, and because that wasn't enough torture for us, it was weighted armor to further exercise our muscles. Needless to say, I stumbled out of class extremely battered and sore.
My next class was Rune Theory with Elder Thrikrondromm, and I just hoped that he wasn't as angry as Elder Rongrim had been earlier.
"Kvalinn. Take a seat." Elder Thrikrondromm didn't have more than a couple empty beer mugs on his desk, and his face only radiated a little murderous rage, but he was flexing his hand as if he had just finished writing a novel with pen and paper. Once I was seated, he took an extremely large book and gently placed it on my desk.
"This is my book of runes." The Elder said in a solemn voice. "After what I witnessed the testing room turn into yesterday, it is clear to me that teaching you the theory behind the runes is insufficient for now, and I must teach you how to craft a stable rune, before your power and ambition bring down the mountain upon us."
I reached out tentatively to touch the book. It was the first one I had seen since I had been reborn in this world and I was filled with excitement. The cover seemed to be made of the hide of some type of reptile, later I found that it was bound in dragon skin. Opening to the first page, I saw that instead of being filled with paper or parchment, the words were carved out of thin sheets of mithril, the runes stood out slightly against the surface, like braille but with runes instead of the dots.
Anxious to learn more about the runes, I went to pull the book closer to me but was stopped when Elder Thrikrondromm slammed the cover shut and began lecturing me in a fierce tone.
"Do you think the secrets of the rune smithing guild are so freely given? No! In opening this book, and learning from its wisdom. You will be binding yourself to join the rune smithing guild when you come of age, and if you break our rules, then you will be forced to shave your beard, your tongue will be cut out, and then you will be cast out of the mountain. Not even allowed to even acknowledge yourself as a dwarf, or speak our tongue. Do you accept these terms? Bear in mind, Thane Throdhengrun is growing concerned about your abilities, and the knowledge that I shall be teaching you is the only thing preventing him from investigating further."
Elder Thrikrondromm's voice softened a little after delivering that lecture. "There are a lot of benefits to being part of the rune smithing guild. You will be part of the most exclusive guild in all the dwarven kingdoms, the respect and prestige that will bring will allow you to work with kings and emperors without worrying about grudges or power. If you are so inclined, then you can charge exorbitant prices for your weapons and achieve ridiculous levels of wealth. Or you can claim some overrun mountain and set yourself up as king, and arm your subjects with runed weapons, there are not a few instances of that occurring in the Book of Records. The final benefit is shared knowledge. At your current age, it will be impossible to convince any in the guild to share their wisdom with you, but as you mature, you will gain your own exclusive knowledge and runes that can be traded within the guild. Now, choose your fate, Kvalinn Ekgorsson."
There wasn't much of a choice, but regardless of that, it barely took me a minute before reaching for the book of runes with an excited smile. "I look forward to joining the rune smithing guild when I turn fifteen."
My comment caused Elder Thrikrondromm to snort in amusement, but I wasn't quite sure why. In all the fantasy and light novels I'd read in my previous life, the protagonist usually was considered an adult at fifteen.
"Kvalinn, only humans consider their offspring adults at fifteen. According to the book of laws, you won't be an adult until you are thirty, and won't have to join the guild until you are at least seventy winters old. If you attempt to join before that, then no one in the guild would take you seriously."
Elder Thrikrondromm chuckled for a few minutes as he imagined a fifteen year old dwarf asking to be admitted into the ranks of the guild. It must have been an amusing mental image, because he kept laughing to himself for several minutes. Eventually he returned to teaching mode, and began teaching me how the runes worked.
To start the lesson, Elder Thrikrondromm told me a bit about the gods in this world. When a god died, their body exploded into tiny particles, spreading their celestial essence across the world thus allowing them to return to life after a certain amount of time, albeit with drastically reduced power. These particles were the basis of magic, humans and other species were able to use these 'god-particles' to cast magic spells for both war and daily life. But since Dwarves had been created without the ability to use magic, dwarven rune smiths used their forge song and force of will to coax the gods power into the weapons.
"Back when the world was younger, and the gods possessed infinitely more power, my teacher's teacher was able to make a rune powerful enough to destroy entire armies just by humming the forge song. But since the gods have been relatively peaceful for the last few millennia, there is less power in the air and it's harder to force it into runes. The only reason you are able to create magical runes at such a young age is due to the rune of forging on your hand."
I jumped in my seat in surprise and shock. The runes on my hands and back were supposed to be the ultimate secret that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone! How did the Elder know about them? Noticing my surprise, he grunted in annoyance.
"Don't compare me to your father, who prefers to pay attention to nothing to his forge. The day after your first day of school, I summoned him to the school under the authority of the Thane and grilled him about your abilities. Once I assured him that anything he shared with me would not go any farther, he revealed the secret of your runes." Thrikrondromm sighed in contemplation. "With your birth, the gods are either playing their biggest prank yet, or have made their final mistake. I just hope that my descendants don't curse my name for teaching you rune smithing."
After a few minutes of contemplative silence, Elder Thrikrondromm continued with the lesson. Instructing me to turn to a specific page and memorize the forge song and ingredients required to craft a stable rune of heat.
The rest of the lesson was spent memorizing the details of the rune. I was allowed to take notes for myself to help learn the information, but due to how secretive the rune smithing guild was, I was forbidden from taking the notes outside the classroom.
At the end of class, the Elder glanced over my notes. "Well done, Kvalinn. Return here after school, you need to clean up the mess you made in the testing room."
Since the lesson had run a little late, I didn't have time to ask what he meant by that. So I put off the thought until later. Besides, I had much more exciting things on my plate today. I was finally getting to go to engineering class! It would surely be my first step on the long road towards civilization.
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson. You are late." The Elder growled out at me. The Elder in charge of the class, Voghigg Bronzebellows, somehow seemed even crankier than Elder Rongrim had been earlier. "If you are going to miss the first day of class due to illness, then don't waste my time by being late for the second day."
"My deepest apologies, honored Elder. It will not happen again." I brought my hammer head to my forehead, it was the deepest sign of apology a dwarf could give.
"Hmph. Don't let it happen again. Take the desk beside Grondin and sit down." I nodded a greeting to Grondin before taking the seat and unpacking my writing materials.
Elder Voghigg stood up from his desk to begin his lecture. He was rather tall and skinny for a dwarf, with a long face and thick glasses. And with various tools stuck in his beard and around his belt, he was the epitome of a nerdy dwarf. Unfortunately the lesson started off with a bit of history instead of getting directly to the fun stuff.
"Over five hundred years ago, Thane Vonur Craghand left the mountain of Einangrad to see the world outside our halls. During the years away from his kin, he traveled with a human champion who was summoned from another world to defeat a 'demon lord'. Thane Vonur had many conversations with this otherworldly human around the campfire, and learned much about the world called 'Earth'. Its variety of food, its societal progress, and above all, its technological wonders. When he took over his fathers position, as the Thane of Nurnwuhr, Vonur set up this school and tasked me with the creation of the engineers guild, so that one day the dwarven race would have access to the most powerful technologies in this world or any other."
Looking at the students over his glasses, Elder Voghigg's voice took on a serious tone as he met the eyes of each of us. "That is why we are all here in this classroom today. To learn how to make advanced machinery, to better the lives of our descendants, or in Kvalinn's case, how to make advanced weapons to defend our homes. Now, turn to page five of the books in front of you and take care not to damage them."
The lesson then properly began, with information on the properties of steam engine technology. I made sure to write down everything that I could so that I could begin making a prototype at home. My father wouldn't mind me setting up a lab in my room… probably.
With a bag full of notes, I made my way to the final class of the day. Geography. Not my best subject in my previous life, but since I hoped to explore the world a little when I grew up it would be best to learn what places to avoid now rather than stumble into them.
In geography, I found that Einangrad was a lone mountain that was isolated from the dwarven kingdoms to the north and south by several human kingdoms. To the north was the Dictatorship of Zaihan, a hostile nation that often attacked its neighbors for slaves. To the west was the Mercantile Nation of Handel, our mountains only trading partners. Finally, to the east and south there was only the Empire of Thrond, from what I could tell, they were similar to 15th or 16th century Germany. With hundreds, or even thousands, of semi independent territories all barely acknowledging the Emperor and begrudgingly following his commands.
Once Geography class let out, I returned to Elder Thrikrondromm's classroom. He had said something about cleaning up the mess I had left in the testing room, so I mentally prepared myself for cleaning and scrubbing. That was not what was prepared for me.
Laid out on the floor of the classroom was a large number of mining tools. Pickaxes, shovels, drills, and one device that looked like a jackhammer. What stuck out with these tools was that they were all broken, the pickaxes were shattered, the shovels were chipped, the drills were blunted, and the jackhammer device had all the gears on the outside instead of on the inside.
Noticing my entry, Elder Thrikrondromm waved at the carnage. "This is the result of the clean up crew's attempts to remove the ice that formed from yesterday's test. Elder Voghigg was quite enraged when his steam powered rock breaker shook itself to pieces trying to break through that cursed ice. I had it all brought here to impress on you the dangers of haphazard rune crafting. Remember this destruction, hold it fast in your mind, so that you will do your best to avoid bringing this fate upon your own home or family."
I looked at the destroyed and broken tools. If I had tested the rune at home or at the testing hall, then it would have been more costly than just a few broken tools. My home could have been destroyed, and both my father and I could have died! I resolved to never again test new runes outside the testing room.
Taking note of the look on my face, Elder Thrikrondromm nodded in approval. "Now to clean up the mess you made. You will craft a rune of heat under my supervision, and you will make it without using any of your magic."
I looked at the Elder with a surprised and questioning look. How was I supposed to make a rune without putting any magic into it?! He just shook his head.
"The rune of forging on your hand is very powerful, but there is a limit to how much it can do on its own. If you continue to use it as you have been, it will become a crutch that you can never do without, and if you lose your hand in battle or work, then you will lose your ability to make magic runes. So I will be teaching you how to make runes the way dwarves have been doing since Hjerouhrdinn first struck off his celestial chains." Elder Thrikrondromm then dragged me by the collar to the rune forge room. Where he taught me exactly how to make a rune of heat.
Since dwarves had no magic, and the magic in the air was thinner than it was at the beginning of the world. The standard practice for making magic runes was to mix various ingredients into the metal or fire to attract the god particles of whatever god they were trying to harness the power of. The more powerful the rune, the higher quality the ingredients had to be and the longer the forge song.
For a basic rune of heat, you needed; powdered fire dragon scales, bits of hell hound hide, slime from a salamander, and of course there was the long forge song.
At first everything went perfectly. The metal was melted down, the ingredients added to the molten sludge, it was shaped into a small rectangle, and I began singing the forge song while pounding the metal at the rune forge. It all went wrong at the end though.
I was still suffering from the mild head cold from this morning, and my body decided that the final hammer blow was the perfect time to sneeze. There was the familiar stinging sensation as my rune of forging pushed magic through my hand into the metal, and the rune of heat carved itself into the small steel rectangle.
"Kvalinn!" Elder Thrikrondromm barked out. "Was the rune created, despite your blundering?" I nodded and picked up the rune with tongs. "Good, put it on the bench and stand back near the door."
I followed his instructions, hoping that the sneeze hadn't messed up the rune at all.
Elder Thrikrondromm took out his runed spectacles and began examining the rune. Taking great care not to touch it, or get within a certain distance of it. Suddenly, he gasped in shock and fear. He took a moment to steady himself and slowly turned to me, a bead of cold sweat dripping from his brow despite the volcanic temperatures.
"Kvalinn. Wait for the metal to cool completely, and then gently pick it up and take it to the testing room. Do not drop it, do not poke it, do not jostle it, do not even make so much as a sudden move. Walk very slowly and carefully, and maybe, just maybe, you will avoid getting turned into a pile of ash by your own creation."
Before I could object or ask for more information, Elder Thrikrondromm rushed out of the room like a whirlwind. Leaving me standing with my mouth and eyes wide open in surprise.
Once the metal cooled completely, I picked up the rune and carried it slowly and carefully, as if I were holding a souffle. It didn't feel different from any of my other runes, but remembering the earnestness in the Elder's eyes, I did my best to move with an abundance of caution.
It felt like an eternity, but I eventually made it to the testing room without dropping the rune or being 'turned into a pile of ash'. I wasn't quite sure how I could be turned into a pile of ash, since not even a microwave or an oven would do that and this was just a rune of heat, but I didn't want to ignore the Elder's warning so I moved at a snail's pace.
"Good. You made it here alive." Elder Thrikrondromm walked up to me with a giant testing shield in his hand. "Wait here for a bit while I get everyone ready."
There were several teachers and their assistants gathered around the testing room door, waiting for instructions, Elder Thrikrondromm stepped up to them and began issuing orders. "Get the shields ready! Do not try and force the door shut, or block the entrance entirely, you will just gain an early entrance to the halls of the ancestors. Form a half circle around the door and leave a small gap for Kvalinn to throw the rune through. Close the gap as soon as the rune activates and interlock the shields. Then pray that the ancestors give us strength."
Everyone moved quickly, following Elder Thrikrondromm's instructions to the precise detail.
Once everyone was in position, the Elder turned to me. "Ready, Kvalinn?" I nodded nervously. "Good. Throw the rune as hard as you can into the testing room and then take shelter behind the shields. Hopefully they will hold."
I stepped in front of the small gap in the shields. Taking a deep breath, I threw the rune in my best baseball throw and jumped behind the shield.
There was a small clinking sound as the metal rune bounced against the stone floor, then there was a loud boom accompanied by a loud rushing of wind stronger than a hurricane.
"Hold the line! Hold it!" Elder Thrikrondromm yelled above the noise at the shield bearers. "Burns can be treated. Death is permanent. Now hold those shields!"
Unsure what Elder Thrikrondromm was referring to, I glanced at the shields. The hot air coming from the rune must have been extreme since portions of the shields were starting to glow, and imperfections in the metal were becoming outlined in menacing red lines that spiderwebbed across the surface.
It took ten minutes for the wind and heat coming from the testing room to die down, several of the shields were warped or cracked, and those who had held them were injured and burned, but fortunately there were no fatalities. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when it was finally over.
An assistant was forced to enter the testing room to retrieve the rune, he emerged a few minutes later cradling the piece of metal. Elder Thrikrondromm examined it with his runed spectacles without touching it. When he was finished, he picked up the rune and put it in a small metal case that he immediately locked.
"The rune is emptied of magic, Kvalinn. We were fortunate this time that the rune we were crafting was the least powerful in my rune book. In future though, if you feel the urge to sneeze, please do not do it while working on runes. If you cannot do that, then I may be forced to accede to Elder Threrburks suggestion to lock you in a time sealed box, and hand you over to the High King's Vaultkeepers."
I didn't know who the High King's Vaultkeepers were, but the sound of a time sealed box sounded too much like getting shut away in cryostasis, or frozen in carbonite, for my liking. So I quickly nodded and agreed to the impossible task of holding my sneezes while working.
"Hmph." Elder Thrikrondromm glared at me, making sure his lesson got through to me before grunting again. "Go home for today. Tomorrow we will continue our lessons, but we will only go over the rune book. The events of today have shown me that you need a thorough education on runes before you can be trusted to make one."
"Yes, honored Elder." I bowed respectfully before dashing off. To be honest, I had been hoping to use this rune to power a steam engine for home use, but defying an Elder was a one way ticket to getting kicked out of the mountain, so I tossed the idea for now. I'd just have to settle for using the forge fires.
By the time I got home, it was well after dinner time. If I had been living on the surface where the sun shone, then it would have been well past sunset. Father was waiting for me by the door, pacing nervously just inside.
"Kvalinn! Are you alright? It's the second day in a row that you've had to stay late from school, are you hanging out with a bad crowd? Did you insult an Elder? Did you break something?"
Weathering the barrage of questions, I waited for father to run out of breath before relaying the events of the day. But I had to keep it simple to avoid letting any details on how to make a rune slip out. Basically I told him that Elder Thirkrondromm kept me after school to teach me a new rune so that I could clean the testing room, but the rune crafting went awry due to my skills and it damaged some testing shields.
"Finally, Elder Thrikrondromm said that I was not allowed to craft any runes, and for the next year I was to focus solely on studying them."
"A wise decision." Father nodded while sipping some beer. We had moved to the table so I could eat my long delayed dinner. "Study as hard as you can, Kvalinn. The opportunity to study with an Elder of his prominence is not to be taken lightly, and will probably not occur for you again for at least a century."
"Yes, father." I nodded obediently before asking a question that had been bugging me since leaving school. "Um, father, what, or who, are the High King's Vaultkeepers?"
The sip of beer that father had been drinking went flying across the table, leaving him coughing for several minutes. When he recovered his breath, father glared at me questioningly.
"Where did you hear about the High Kings Vaultkeepers? They are only known of by the kings, some thanes, and a very few elders."
"From Elder Thrikrondromm, apparently Elder Threrburk was suggesting that I be put in a time sealed box and given to the vault keepers. What would happen to me if they did that?" I was pretty sure it was bad but wanted to be sure, and judging from my father's face, it was worse than bad.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Came the rather anticlimactic reply. Father then elaborated. "Being sealed in the High King's vault is considered the worst punishment imaginable for any dwarf. Because you will not be living, but you also cannot ever die, and thus are forever barred from admittance to the halls of the ancestors. The only time this punishment is invoked, is in cases of high treason. But for them to contemplate doing it to you… Listen to me closely, Kvalinn. For the next five years of school, do not disrespect an Elder, do everything they tell you, and do not even so much as think about making a rune unless specifically instructed to by Elder Thrikrondromm. Until you graduate, the Elders will be keeping you under close scrutiny, and the slightest mistake could result in a fate worse than death. So be extremely careful."
"Yes, father." I very promptly agreed. The image of a certain superhero frozen in ice popped into my mind, but I quickly killed the idea. I didn't get reincarnated just so I could get stuck in semi death for eternity! "Um, father? How did you know about the High King's Vaultkeepers? Didn't you just say that they are only known to kings, thanes, and elders?"
Father's brows furrowed in annoyance. "The hour grows late, and you need to go to bed soon. Remember what I told you, be careful tomorrow."
I was then sent off to bed, and after such a long day at school, I was fast asleep before my head even touched the pillow. Hopefully my future days at school will be much less tumultuous.