Deities: Rulers of Nature

In the 555th year of the Divine Calendar, three years passed like flowing water.

As you walk deeper into the Underdark, you'll see rows of closed stone chambers, most of which are forging rooms and spare forging rooms.

In recent years, as some blacksmiths and craftsmen have devoted their energy to the study of rune inscription, several vacant forging rooms have been converted into quiet rooms at Crimson's suggestion.

The reason for choosing this place is that Ji Xuan had modified the stone walls here, which have excellent sound insulation. Since engraving runes requires concentration, a noisy environment would affect them.

Secondly, this place is next to the forging room, so rune masters can go there to get various materials whenever they need them.

In a quiet room on the edge of the room, it was extremely quiet, with only occasional rustling sounds.

A young snake spirit was intently inscribing runes on a knife blank. As the knife moved in and out, specks of icy blue light began to flow across the blade.

Beside the Serpent Spirit, a young Spider-Man also stood tense, his eight long, hairy legs gripping the ground, his eight eyes fixed on the carving knife, even his breathing was careful, for fear of disturbing the Serpent Spirit.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, the icy blue light on the blade blank became chaotic, and the snake spirit tried to save it, but it was too late.

"Tch~"

A blinding black light suddenly exploded, like ink dripping into clear water, instantly polluting the entire rune circuit. The icy blue light quickly dissipated, and the blade prototype was ruined.

"Failed again." A helpless sigh came from Jin Tai's mouth.

With a twist of his wrist, Jin Tai tossed the ruined knife blank into a nearby scrap basket. He placed the carving knife on the stone table with his other hand and vigorously rubbed his sore wrist with his free hand.

At this point, the scrap bin was already piled with no less than ten failed engraving blade blanks. However, it couldn't be considered a waste, because most of these blade blanks could be recycled. Even if the damage was too severe to be worth recycling, they could be fed to the Iron Beasts. Some of the greedy little guys would eat anything given to them, making them the best scrap processors.

A hint of fatigue flashed across Kim Tae's eyes, but he quickly rallied and regained his spirits.

"Jin Tai, take a rest."

Kairon walked over with her fluffy, snow-white spider legs, gently patted Jin Tai on the shoulder, and then handed him a crystal dew fruit.

Jin Tai wasn't surprised. He took the crystal dew fruit with a natural expression, didn't wipe it, and put it directly into his mouth. As the crystal dew fruit went down, Jin Tai's previously drowsy mind became much clearer.

"The way the rune circuits are connected is still wrong," Jin Tai mumbled between bites of crystal dew fruit. "But it wasn't a complete waste of time; this time I actually figured it out a little."

"You've made great progress. I took a look, and you were already three-quarters done in that last round," Kylo Ren praised.

Jin Tai and Kailoen are among the most talented of the new generation in their respective races, having already reached the Black Iron rank at a young age.

Among them, Jin Tai is a golden ringed snake spirit with outstanding perception talent. His father is a snake-man blacksmith, which allows Jin Tai to frequently come into contact with forging-related things from a young age.

However, Jin Tai had no interest in following in his father's footsteps. He preferred meticulous work that required patience. He had been studying Yaowen with Jin Chen until he came into contact with rune inscription by chance.

This is a relatively new yet very important research area among blacksmiths and craftsmen in recent years, because it concerns the creation of extraordinary equipment and has even given rise to a new profession: runemasters.

Kim Tae-gang displayed exceptional talent from the very first encounter. While other rune masters were still researching how to correctly inscribe a single rune onto equipment, Kim Tae-gang was already able to inscribe two runes simultaneously.

Kylo Ren is the little Spider-Man who fell into a coma due to a fever caused by the awakening of his bloodline and was brought to Kadia by his mother.

After being tested by Carlos and Kadia, Kylo En is now being personally trained by Carlos and is showing signs of becoming the leader of the new generation of Spider-Men.

Kylohn did not disappoint the two. Not only did his personal strength increase rapidly, but his knowledge of the clan's history also surpassed that of some newly promoted Bronze-rank Spider-Men.

The reason why Kylo Ren and Jin Tai came together was because of the runes.

As a remnant of the old era, even though the historical records of the Snowdrop Spider Clan are incomplete, they still contain more information than the Serpent Spirit Clan.

Take runes for example. The three of them, Qinglu, and others, along with the runes that other snake spirits occasionally glimpsed from nature, only numbered about ten in total. Yet, the Spider-Man's remnant history contains at least thirty.

Kylo Ren is one of the few Spider-Men who has memorized all the runes.

It just so happens that Jin Tai's research required it, and the two of them happened to be around the same age and had compatible personalities, so they gradually became acquainted and have now become close friends who can talk about anything.

Even during his rest, Jin Tai didn't stay idle. He extended his senses into the waste bin, carefully feeling for traces of failure within it.

A moment later, Jin Tai suddenly broke the silence: "Kylorn, you say... you say the logic of the rune cluster I constructed is wrong?"

Jin Tai has been working on a complex rune cluster consisting of five runes recently.

The two core runes represent ice and cold, respectively. The former is responsible for changing physical form, while the latter strips away heat and lowers the temperature.

Surrounding the core rune are two effect runes: Attach and Burst. These determine how the cold air works upon hitting the target, causing it to cling to the target like a leech before unleashing a powerful burst that deals fatal damage.

The last rune is the judgment rune, located on the outermost layer, and is mainly responsible for determining the trigger conditions.

"Kintae, I don't think you've made a mistake in your research. This rune cluster, whether it's its effects, core, or constraints... its entire structure is very rigorous." Kylo En replied earnestly to Kintae after a moment of thought.

This wasn't just Kylo Ren trying to comfort his friend; he genuinely believed that the rune cluster Jin Tai was researching was primarily designed to complement weapons forged from Silver Azure Steel, and given the runes they currently possessed, it was already the optimal combination.

"I think the problem might lie in the connection loops between the runes."

After speaking, Kylohn got up and went to the scrap basket. He casually pulled out a broken blade and examined it carefully under the light, his fingers gently stroking the runes on the blade that no longer shimmered.

"Jin Tai, look here." Kailoen called Jin Tai over and pointed directly to one of the small scratches. "This scratch is actually a bit deeper than the ones around it."

"Look here again. At first glance, it doesn't seem to have any impact, but the connecting marks between these two points actually affect another circuit."

This isn't Kylohn being nitpicky; the runes are three-dimensional, which means that rune artists must perform three-dimensional engraving to correctly inscribe the runes into the material.

Therefore, some runes are deep, some are shallow, and some are both deep and shallow. Given their current level of craftsmanship, they are not yet able to inscribe the entire rune cluster in one go.

Therefore, Jin Tai could only inscribe the five runes separately first, and then connect the five runes together through the inscription loop to form a complete rune cluster.

Where to connect runes, how to connect them... these are all questions. Sometimes, a mistake of just one millimeter can ruin everything and destroy the entire rune array.