I planted a sacred tree in Tokyo.

Chapter 690 Drilling, Inlaying, and Cooperation
“Runes are what you have in your hands.”

Seeing the bewildered expressions on the faces of the three teenagers in front of her, the tall female blacksmith couldn't help but raise her hand to her forehead.

"Legend has it that these stones are the embodiment of the 'rules of the world,' possessing all sorts of magical powers. If we humans want to defeat the monsters, we need to rely on superior equipment."

If they were truly novice adventurers, then the blame would generally fall on the Fallen Ones; but having obtained two runes, and judging from the magical fluctuations, they are clearly elite adventurers. Moreover—

As the chief blacksmith of the 'Blind Eyes Cult,' Chasi glanced at Amir, his gaze gliding over the large stone book at his waist.

Is this chilling feeling some kind of top-tier 'soul equipment'?

Are the newcomers with established skills just going out to gain experience?

"Come in,"

She beckoned the three of them to follow, and the tall female blacksmith returned to the blacksmith shop behind her.

After gesturing with his head up, Amir took the lead and followed.

Upon entering the towering building, a wave of heat hit them; even the three men, who lived in Cairo, felt their skin burning and sweat poured out involuntarily, prompting them to begin physical cooling methods.

The fact that even three Wolf-level Superhumans felt the intense heat here speaks volumes about how high the temperature must be.

Behind the forging table in the center of the room was a pool of bubbling, crimson liquid metal!
"The mage's 'Hellfire' has been solidified here, maintaining the high temperature for smelting metal for a long time. Are you all okay with that?"

Amir managed a weak smile in response to the blacksmith's question.

"no problem."

What sweat? That's tears from the smoke!
"We humans don't have the thick, tough hides of monsters, nor do we have sharp claws and teeth."

Upon reaching the forging table, the tall female blacksmith named Chasi picked up a crimson sword blank; she turned around and gestured to the three of them.

"This is a longsword forged from Orichalcum steel. In terms of both sharpness and sturdiness, it far surpasses weapons forged by ordinary blacksmiths, but—"

This weapon is certainly good, but for an adventurer, it's merely good.

"To improve the quality of weapons, besides using higher-grade materials..."

Setting down the crimson sword blank, the female blacksmith picked up a silver-white longsword next to her and pointed to the gleaming sword in her hand.

"This is a weapon infused with mithril, so in terms of materials, it is already quite remarkable."

But that's still not enough!
It is merely exceptionally sharp and extremely sturdy. For adventurers who need to face all kinds of situations and fight fiercely with monsters or even demon kings, it is far from enough.

"Therefore, we need more powerful weapons and armor—"

Pointing to the hole in the hilt of the sword, the female blacksmith explained:
"The inlay technique came into being."

???

Wait a minute, this sounds more like a game setting.
Amir and his two companions were all teenagers who had played several video games before their homes were destroyed and they were driven away; they were familiar with this classic money-making scheme.

"Sister Chaxi,"

The girl in the black robe, Fatima, mustered her courage and tentatively spoke.

"The runes in Brother Amir's hand are meant to be inlaid on weapons like this?"

Although the 'groove' was significantly smaller, there must have been some connection between the other party bringing them here and the fact that it was brought here.

"right,"

"That's not right either."

The tall female blacksmith didn't keep them in suspense and continued.

"If you choose to directly embed 'runes' into weapons and armor, it can indeed provide some enhancement, but that would be a huge waste."

After saying that, the female blacksmith flipped the mithril longsword in her hand;
There is also a 'groove' at the end of the hilt on the other side of the longsword.

“If runes are inlaid in a certain combination, they will resonate with each other, thus forming ‘rune words’.”

These 'runewords' not only provide various enhancements such as strength, speed, sharpness, and sturdiness, but can even possess various magical abilities: they are one of the reasons why humans are able to fight against advanced monsters.

? !
After hearing the blacksmith's story,
The three immediately understood the importance of this 'rune'.

A weapon that can be imbued with 'abilities' must at least be a top-tier sword forged by the Japanese swordsmith 'Totosai'!

However, how difficult is it to commission that extraordinary swordsmith to forge weapons? So far, only the island nation has obtained a few such weapons, such as the 'Decapitation', 'Exploding Blade', and 'Thousand Blades'.

"Sister Chasi, you must know how to combine and embed 'runewords', right?"

Faced with Fatima's sweet compliments, the tall female blacksmith spoke up proudly.

"Of course!"

"I am the second best blacksmith in the country."

"but--"

Changing the subject, the blacksmith pointed at Amir.

"The number three and number six in your hand cannot be combined to form any 'runeword'."

"My suggestion is that you can trade with other adventurers—or hunt other monster bosses, which will drop runes when they die."

It's not that these monsters want to increase humanity's power, but rather that their existence relies on the power of runes: this is the human world, and whether it's an angel or a demon, anyone who wants to stay must rely on the aura of 'runes' to confuse the rejection of the 'world rules'.

"Or, you can go to the Tower of Oblivion in the Stone Wasteland."

“That’s the territory of Countess Bathory. Her territory produces a steady supply of runes, and you can exchange them for the runes you need there.”

Besides the runes carried by the monster leaders, runes can also be occasionally unearthed from the mineral veins in the earth: relying on these, the countess became incredibly wealthy and powerful.

However, Chasi's expression turned cold as he spoke. As one of the three extraordinary forces in the Kingdom of Kanduras, the nobles gathered there only cared about protecting themselves and stood idly by while the entire kingdom was in trouble. They had long lost the courage of their ancestors to fight.

Unfortunately, King Leoric went mad.
Otherwise, with this king around, even a demon king wouldn't be invincible!
"Sister Chasi, could you please embed the runes into the weapon first?"

Seeing that although the other party was powerful and tall, his personality was surprisingly easygoing, Fatima gradually became bolder and asked again, "We'll assemble 'runewords' after we find enough."

"hehe,"

Hearing the little girl's 'innocent' words, the tall female blacksmith became even more certain that they were inexperienced newcomers.

“It’s not that simple. The so-called ‘inlaying’ is not just about pressing runes onto weapons and equipment: as you can see, the grooves on this longsword do not match the size of the runes.”

Inlay is a profound art of forging.

The skill of fully integrating this fist-sized 'rune' into equipment is a skill that every high-level blacksmith must master.

In other words, only those who have mastered the art of 'inlaying' can be considered high-level blacksmiths.

"It seems you really don't know, let me explain it to you again."

Using the mithril longsword in her hand as a sample, the female blacksmith tapped the 'groove' on the hilt and asked:
"So, how did this groove come about?"

? ?
Amir and his two companions looked at each other in bewilderment. They had just finished fighting the 'Corpse Fire' and arrived at this camp without even figuring out the world's 'background'. How could they possibly know these secrets that even ordinary adventurers didn't know?

"I created this technique, which is called 'punching'—what's wrong with that?"

"No, please continue."

The three Egyptian teenagers hesitated, their expressions shifting.

With all this 'inlaying' and 'drilling,' is this some kind of pay-to-win game?!

"Don't think that 'drilling' means making a groove in a weapon."

Holding the longsword in his hand, Chaxi poured magic power into it.

Buzzing

The next second, the mithril longsword lit up.

On the longsword, countless lines spread out, like circuits on a circuit board!

???

Amir and his two companions were stunned.

The entire journey had been in the style of a typical medieval European fantasy world; it would be strange not to be surprised to see the other side pull this stunt.

"See? This is the essence of 'drilling'."

Chaxi held out his longsword to the three of them, showing them the countless dense patterns on its surface.

"To create a 'runeword,' you not only need the corresponding runes, but also a unique magic rune circuit to activate it: this is a technique that countless human ancestors summarized and learned from the innate magic rune bodies of angels and demons."

Angels and demons, the patterns on their armor and skin are not just decorations.

It's a natural magic mark!
Only by inscribing the magic rune circuit can it be achieved.

Only then can the 'runes' be linked together to form 'runewords'.

Each 'groove' requires a large number of magic rune circuits to support it, and thus—

The more grooves a weapon or piece of equipment has, the higher its value!

Because it allows for the embedding of more runes.

At this point, the blacksmith sighed.

"My limit is two 'slots' for weapons and three 'slots' for armor. If not, it's fine."

"In other words, even if you find the right runes, I can only socket two or three runes into your 'runewords' at most."

So,
Amir and his two companions still only had a vague understanding.
But even a fool would know that the more runes a 'runeword' contains, the more powerful it is.

"At the same time, once these magic rune circuits are activated by the power of the runes, they are in an active state: they can only be stopped by damage."

Conversely, if the 'rune' is forcibly removed, the weapon or armor will be instantly damaged!
Runes are indeed precious,

However, the weapons and equipment that can support 'runewords' are by no means commonplace.

These techniques are not the summaries of 'countless sages', but rather someone's forging skills—times have changed, and that person no longer uses the crude method of 'a famous sword sitting in a prestigious seat,' but has long since developed a unique method for forging and strengthening extraordinary weapons.

I guess I understand.

Leaving the blacksmith shop,
The three young priestesses were still savoring the information they had just obtained.

"Brother Amir, what should we do next?"

"Next-"

Amir's gaze turned toward the city gate.

"Let's make contact with other teams first; we should still have the unique 'intelligence' we have."

They managed to defeat a monster boss thanks to High Priest Imhotep's 'card deck'. Other teams: It's not that Amir looks down on them, but if someone actually gets a rune, they should try to trade with them.

"Speaking of which, it seems like Sister Chaxi has something she hasn't finished saying?"

Fatima added quietly, "Whether it's the 'second blacksmith' or the 'hesitant to speak,' there's clearly more to it than meets the eye!"

"I know,"

Amir placed his palm on the books at his waist.
"To gain the other party's attention, we need to demonstrate greater strength."

This world is teeming with extraordinary beings. Wolf-level beings are merely 'elites,' while only Tiger-level beings can be called 'masters.' The leaders of those monsters are all 'grandmasters' at the peak of Tiger-level. Without using any trump cards, the only option is—

"Join forces with other squads!"

(End of this chapter)