Ronan's mind was as calm as a still pond, with a fine thread of spiritual power twirling in his mind, much like an IV tube, connected to the engraving knife in his hand.
As the tip of the engraving knife moved "shasha" over the surface of the blank rune stone, that spiritual power also flowed slowly into the emerging rune grooves along with the Universal Powder mixing solution.
Everything was going smoothly.
Just as he was about to achieve great success, Ronan felt a hint of victorious joy, his focus loosened, and the hand holding the engraving knife trembled slightly, causing the trajectory of the engraving knife to deviate...
"Crack—"
A crack appeared on the rune stone in his hand, rendering the whole rune stone a waste.
"Ah..."
Ronan let out an annoyed cry, wishing he could slap himself a few times.
"Just a little bit, it was really just a tiny bit away!"
If last time's failure stopped at 97 percent, this time it was at 99 percent.
The last cut to finish it off... turned out to be useless.
"Half-finished champagne, complacency..."
Ronan rubbed his brow, sighed, helplessly sat down on the small bed, and began to meditate.
With the proficiency level of the Basic Meditation Technique increasing once more, his depleted spiritual power was replenished, and after drinking some water, Ronan continued to work hard.
Due to the lesson learned last time, Ronan was now extra cautious.
The effects of the character panel displayed perfectly, progressing smoothly all the way.
The final cut beautifully finished, and the surface of the rune stone inscribed with the complete "Clean" rune flashed a bright light, emitting a faint and mysterious aura.
When true success arrived, Ronan was not as excited as before—rather, he felt relaxed, satisfied, and a touch of joy from his long efforts finally paying off.
Continuing to meditate, he resumed engraving...
An hour later, an exhausted Ronan stood in the cabin, inspecting closely the two finished rune stones in his hand by a few rays of sunlight shining in from outside.
He brought up the panel, and there were new details on the character panel now.
[Name: Ronan Damien]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: No Attribute Affinity]
[Strength: Second-level Wizard Apprentice (14%)]
[Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Proficiency 158/200)
Energy Missile (Mastery 339/400)
Charging Weapon (Entry-level 68/100)
Rune Engraving—Clean (Entry-level 2/100)]
The engraving of the "Clean" rune can be considered thoroughly entry-level, with 2 points of proficiency.
It seems that the efforts had accumulated, even the progress in strength had increased by one percent, and it could be considered a double joy.
"The selling price of the 'Clean' rune is one Magic Stone, which means two is two Magic Stones..."
Ronan had spent a total of sixty-nine Magic Stone Shards on materials. After netting out the cost, he made a net profit of one Magic Stone and thirty-one Magic Stone Shards.
Of course, that was not the most important thing.
What mattered was that from now on, Ronan could count on a stable source of income, no longer living off dwindling resources, spending a little less each time.
"It hasn't been easy."
Ronan plopped down on a chair, completely relaxed, not wanting to think about anything, nor wanting to do anything.
Despite his calm exterior, heaven knows how much psychological pressure he had been under over month.
For the sake of rune engraving, Ronan had staked his entire fortune on it.
Although his entire fortune wasn't much, it was still a huge gamble for him.
If he had failed... Ronan would have really been reduced to begging.
Fortunately, he succeeded.
The outcome was a bit better than Ronan expected. Out of twenty blank rune stones, two were successfully engraved, and now the only problem he had to consider was how to sell these two [Clean] runes and exchange them for Magic Stones.
"Right!"
Ronan suddenly remembered something.
The vendor who sold him the blank rune stones had bragged that if he could successfully engrave a rune, he would give him ten bags of blank rune stones for free.
Ronan immediately got up, wanting to rush to the market and slap the two [Clean] runes in front of that vendor.
But after giving it some thought...
He sat back down.
It's best not to put on that show.
Ronan wasn't sure how many blank rune stones it would take for others to self-learn rune engraving from scratch to entry-level, but it was definitely far more than twenty.
If he appeared too monstrous, he didn't know whether the secret of his status panel would be revealed, or what to do if someone with ulterior motives took notice of him, captured him, and locked him in a dark room to engrave runes day and night like an ox or horse?
After all, he was just a mere second-level Wizard Apprentice.
Plus, the whole ten bags of blank rune stones thing was just a verbal statement from the vendor, with no certification or contract, so the vendor could deny it anytime, and Ronan might be the only fool who took it seriously.
After much thought, Ronan decided not to be greedy for this advantage.
"I still need to go to the market, I have no blank rune stones left..."
Thinking of this and glancing at the sky after meditation, Ronan hurriedly left home with the two rune stones.
...
Amidst the bustling Wizard Market, Ronan, dressed in a long robe, walked naturally on the street.
Under his robe, he clutched the two [Clean] rune stones so tightly in his hand that he was sweating.
Ronan was afraid of being pickpocketed, even more nervous than when he last came with his money bag.
"Should I find a place to set up a stall too?"
Ronan looked around, a bit worried that having only two [Clean] runes for sale on his stall might seem too shabby.
If only he had brought the unsold dried meat last time.
After wandering around, Ronan realized he was overthinking.
It wasn't as simple as wanting to set up a stall.
Setting up a stall in the market cost money, and even the worst spot would cost the stall fee of five Magic Stone Shards per day.
Ronan had only one Magic Stone grain on him, unable to afford even the cheapest rent, reluctantly abandoning the idea.
Wandering around until it was almost dark, Ronan discovered that to sell the two runes, it seemed his only option was to go back to the vendor who laughed at him initially.
...
"Is this really engraved by you?"
The vendor in front of him opened his mouth slightly, his face incredulous as he looked at Ronan.
"Yeah."
Ronan nodded.
"Damn it!"
The vendor cursed, and then as if something clicked, sneered and said, "Kid, you must've wasted more than fifteen blank runes, right?"
Ronan avoided the vendor's aggressive gaze, feeling some "guilt" as he relentlessly denied, "Wha... what? Just the fifteen you gave."
"You think I'm a fool?"
The vendor rolled his eyes, "I've been in Hoddam for so long, I've never heard of a Rune Master who could enter the ranks within a hundred blank rune stones! Speak plainly, how many did it take?"
Ronan, looking like a child ashamed and embarrassed after his lies were exposed, couldn't keep his face, and after struggling for a while, he drooped his head and chose to "honestly" confess.
"Alright... I admit...
I barely succeeded after using nearly two hundred blank rune stones."
"That makes more sense..."
Seeing a slight unnatural look on the vendor's face, Ronan regretted saying too few.