"Rune cannot be used directly; they must be engraved onto magic tools.
The professions of Enchantment Master and Rune Engraver were thus born..."
Reading this line, Ronan felt invigorated.
His goal was to pursue a career as a Rune Engraver.
Generally speaking, the creation of a magic tool requires forging a prototype with materials before engraving the desired runes onto the core of the tool to endow it with power.
However, direct engraving can lead to destroying the magic tool if any mistakes are made during the process, wasting materials in vain.
Thus, the typical procedure involves a Rune Master first engraving the runes onto a rune stone, and then an Enchantment Master uses the engraved rune stone to enchant the magic tool.
Even if the enchantment fails, only the rune stone is lost, and the magic tool itself is not affected.
Currently, in the Wizard World, the major mainstream professional skills are alchemy, Forging, Enchantment, Rune Studies... Rune engraving, although at the end, is still enough to provide a better life for the practitioner than an average wizard can.
Ronan chose Rune Engraving mainly because it had the lowest barriers to entry and the lowest learning costs.
That was also the thought of his predecessor.
After flipping through more than half of the Wizard Book in his hands, he finally found some detailed content about rune engraving.
The book "Rune Studies: Collection of Ten Commonly Used Zero Rank Runes" in Ronan's hand introduced ten common zero rank runes and their engraving methods.
These ten common zero rank runes were—[Absorption], [Clean], [Shining], [Conduction], [Solid], [Sharp], [Protection], [Swift], [Giant Power], [Awakening].
During the day at the market stall where he bought blank rune stones, Ronan had already made a preliminary understanding of the prices of most of these runes.
"[Absorption], [Clean], [Shining], these three runes are Low Zero Rank Level Runes, with the lowest price, generally only costing around one or two Magic Stones.
Among the four Intermediate Zero Rank Runes [Conduction], [Solid], [Sharp], and [Protection], the [Protection] rune holds the highest value, starting at five Low-level Magic Stones.
As for [Swift], [Giant Power], [Awakening], these three runes are usually used in jewelry such as rings and necklaces, categorized as Advanced Zero Rank Runes. Among them, the [Awakening] rune is the most valuable; it can enhance meditation during training, focus the mind during battle, increase the success rate of casting, and ward off some of the psychic type spell attacks... the selling price is over ten Low-level Magic Stones."
"These are the most common and frequently seen zero rank general-purpose runes. If they were the rarer Magic Attribute type runes... within the same rank, the price would be much higher..."
Ronan remembered the short sword he saw in the market, which emitted flames, definitely enchanted with some rare Fire Element Magic Attributes rune.
"These Fifteen blank rune stones, even if I only succeed in engraving the most common and cheapest rune... it should be enough to break even."
"Oh no, it should be twenty!"
Ronan quickly stood up, rummaging through the junk box in the corner of his cabin, and eventually found a pile of rune stones and a small knife about the length of a palm.
Naturally, these items were left by his predecessor.
There were forty rune stones in total, thirty-five of which were faulty discards.
The small knife was designed specifically for rune engraving, valued at ten grains of Magic Stone, the cheapest and crappiest Rune Engraving Knife, barely usable without any additional bonuses.
"Twenty blank runes, succeeding with one, should..."
"It should be possible."
Ronan wasn't naive; the mocking and spurning face of the market vendor who sold him the blank rune stones was vividly etched in his memory, and he understood well enough that relying solely on these few blank rune stones for practice was almost hopeless.
But he had no extra Magic Stones to buy a second batch of practice materials; these twenty blank rune stones were all his hope.
If he failed... he would have to think of another way.
Of course, Ronan wasn't entirely without confidence; the solidifying progression ability on his character panel was the basis for daring to challenge the field of rune engraving. If the learning process could go as smoothly as when he was practicing the [Energy Missile]...
Ronan shook his head, casting aside the miscellaneous thoughts in his mind and began to focus on the task at hand.
After weighing several factors such as engraving difficulty and rune value, Ronan finally chose the [Clean] rune from the three Low Zero Rank Level Runes as the first target for his study and practice.
The [Clean] rune was derived from the Zero Rank Magic [Cleaning Spell] which can dust, absorb water, and remove stains... It's one of the standard runes for a Wizard Robe.
The robe Ronan was wearing wasn't a Magic Robe, it was just made of a slightly special material more durable than ordinary clothing without any enchanted rune effects.
Whereas a real Wizard Robe enchanted with [Cleaning Skill] comes with self-cleaning functionality, remaining clean and fresh even if worn for several months without changing and doesn't pick up a speck of dirt.
The first step in rune engraving was to memorize the entire shape of the rune in one's mind.
This was crucial.
A rune is the crystallization of a wizard's wisdom and effort, having undergone numerous optimizations and improvements; every detail holds its unique purpose and function.
A slight deviation could result in failure to achieve the desired effects.
This step was a grind; it required rote memorization without shortcuts. Ronan spent an entire evening, finally managing to firmly imprint the [Clean] rune, which resembled a curved broom, into his mind.
"Gurgle, gurgle—"
In the early morning, the door of the small treehouse was left open. Ronan stood inside, in front of the boiling pot on the stove, which contained his breakfast for the day.
After buying flour yesterday, Ronan had intended to make himself some noodles.
However, something went wrong, the rolled-out noodles disintegrated as soon as they hit the water, and after a brief simmer turned into a thick porridge.
But it smelled quite good.
Ronan didn't mind, he sprinkled in some seasonings haphazardly, and began to eat.
"I can start the next step of practice now."
Sitting directly on a tree branch at the treehouse entrance with the pot in hand, Ronan slurped down the noodle mush while thinking through his next steps.
After memorizing the appearance of the rune, the next task was to practice drawing it.
Once he could draw it well, he would practice engraving it with a knife.
Finally, he would actually begin to attempt the engraving.
Ronan didn't believe he was any genius in the domain of Rune Engraving, and he wasn't about to skip any necessary steps.
Life became routine again.
Training, meditation, spell practice, and now added to the list was rune research—Ronan's daily schedule was packed.
Though exhausted to the point of collapse every day, he felt a sense of fulfillment he hadn't experienced in a long time.
The last time he had felt this way...
It seems it was back in his previous life, during the final sprint for the college entrance examination of his senior year in high school.