In sync, I and my fellow runic grandmasters link wills and begin imbuing runes with will. Under the united focus and powerful mana, the engraved adamantine with Ent sap runes begins to glow with power. Lying on the table was a Runic arm, a project that we had long deemed unfeasible, but recently it was brought back to attention.
I hadn’t thought much about the news that he had taken in a human apprentice. It was nothing new; humans rise and fall regularly. In my experience the time spent properly getting to know a human often exceeds the duration of their prime except in the case of some extraordinary humans. Then again, most of those ‘extraordinary humans’ were psychos who didn’t understand that average humanity depends on the works of craftsmen.
Then again, even the crazy humans have their use in providing materials and driving away beasts while my kin and I did the work that actually mattered. Every year we worked tirelessly to expand our knowledge of magic, slowly adding new meaning and power to our language. This is the work of my ancestors and those who came before them. For nearly all one thousand years of known history, the dwarves have recognized that true progress is leaving a legacy that holds meaning for those who come after.
Regardless, it has long been tradition for apprentices and those of their line to pass on all of their discoveries to the order of grandmasters. If I’m honest with myself, most of our contributions since I assumed my place in the order haven’t held much significance. News from Yoren of his apprentice’s plan to make prosthetics was an amusing idea but nothing new. Young runesmiths often try to achieve the impossible without accounting for the limitations. It seemed even more so in this case, as the boy had decided to pursue the dead end of creating an original language.
Regardless of his foolishness in his pursuit, his creativity deserved commendation. The schematics for the boy's project were passed onto us and certainly sparked debate among us masters. It had been far too long since a question was asked that we didn’t know or have recorded in the records. Using the principles provided to us, we found our language lacking! For the first time in nearly ten years, a new word, and it had been at least a hundred years since a new concept was added into the Runinomicon and shared among all the kin and clans.
After the information had disseminated and our tests proved that the nervous system had registered in our language, it was time to compensate the boy for his work. It was decided to help the boy in two aspects.
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A warning was to be issued to the particularly nasty humans in defense of the boy's father. However, the warning must be kept deliberately vague; if these outsiders learn of the boy, then any future innovations might be lost if they act on their silly politics.
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The boy sought to make his father new arms, so we will use our extensive records and the new concepts the boy provided us with to build arms worthy of the man's level.
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It was also decided that the boy should be left under Yoren’s guidance for at least the next ten years to see if any new unconventional ideas are uncovered. After that we will retrieve the boy by force if necessary and teach him directly from our halls as my apprentice. Human lives are short, and we must enable this rare gem of a human to properly add to our legacy.
The array of mana linking me to the other grandmasters fades, and lying before us is a black metal set of hand prosthetics perfectly shaped to fit onto the human’s arms. The metal flowed in such a manner that it could almost be mistaken for a severed hand, and all along it were countless runes glowing in a faint green light.
I look over to my fellow masters, and I can see the satisfaction at a craft well made. However, beneath those eyes I can see the mania. It’s the same mania in my eyes as I begin to calculate every possible application and every new experiment our council has now been enabled to pursue.
-Callen-
I woke up in a panic. Dangling from a rope in a tree and confusedly struggling until I realize it’s the same tree Grandpa had left me and Sis hanging from. His lecture was dry and didn’t seem to interest either of us, and as a result, he continued to blabber at us until the sun set. Since he never gained a level in teaching, he decided that we couldn’t be released, as we hadn’t learned enough. I must have drifted to sleep sometime last night while Callia was thinking over how to design our new house.
She wanted an indoor and outdoor shooting range, a swimming pool, a climbing wall, and lots of windows to make it look like a modern house from our previous lives, and she wanted me to use runes to build all the conveniences our previous life had. Meanwhile, I was pondering over where we should source the materials from. Using the forest inside the town was prohibited to preserve an emergency source of wood and a safe area to learn relevant skills.
The door to our new house swings open, and Grandpa stretches lazily as he saunters over to us.
“You two have a good night?” He jokes as he reaches for the mechanism suspending us from the ground.
“I suspect the two of you will find yourselves dangling out here more often since I don’t feel like stuffing more into that old shack. Though I suspect from how distracted you two were, you're already planning on fixing that.” We are lowered to the ground, and I begin to rub the points of friction to ease the discomfort.
“Yes, Grandpa, do you know where we can get the materials?” He rubs his chin in thought at my question before smiling.
“Materials shouldn’t be hard with your dad’s arms; he can keep you two safe while your sister keeps watch and you learn a new trade!” The thought of outside the town brings back memories of Mom running with us in her arms in a desperate bid for survival from the mushrooms. However, despite my apprehension, I can feel Sis’s excitement to test herself against the forest, even in a small way, fill her with excitement. I can only sigh and shake my head, as she is already bouncing with so much energy even I'm getting a bit excited.
Not long later, Grandpa leads us to our usual clearing. However, instead of his usual lighthearted, if strict, teaching, he is fully serious and equally merciless. Sis and I are pummeled throughout the morning until Grandpa rushes off so he won't miss his shift for the guard. Both of us lay there burnt out from the drills and survival tactics he expected us to follow without hesitation. I pull myself from the ground and begin to limp my way to Masters Yoren and Gam's workshop. They had been generous with the time they gave me off and the support, but I didn't want to push my luck.
Well, even if we plan to explore the forest soon, it would make sense to prepare equipment. After all, cutting down trees out there wasn't nearly as simple as it was in my past life. Trees in this world, while typically docile, also had levels and, in rare cases, means of self-defense, and going out to bring back one log at a time wasn't an appealing idea. I manage to limp into the workshop with different designs and ideas floating through my head.