Chapter 49: Injured Kain And Cost Of Rune Crystals

Lucius looked at Kain and his leg but could not see any apparent injury. Kain was now using a cane to walk and didn't show any signs of pain on his face either.

"Master Kain, what happened to your leg?" Lucius questioned.

"Ah, a little accident happened with one of the Rune beasts we were working on. It got free and managed to injure a few of us. But don't worry the healers were able to fix it… well most of it.

My injury is a little deep than the others and thus it will take more time for it to heal completely." Kain answered.

"What kind of a rune beast was it?" Lucius questioned, feeling interested.

"It was a rune beast called Ridge Claw Crab. Their claws are strong and have a vice like grip. One of them managed to cut his cage and escaped. I was trying to stop it when it cut me on my thigh.

The grip was strong enough to cut cleanly through my flesh. Thankfully, the others acted quickly and were able to stop the beast." Kain explained.

"I see. Must be quite a dangerous rune beast then." Lucius said.

"Not really. It's an E rank rune beast, but we were kind of restricted in our actions since we could not kill it. If it was just killing it, then we would have been able to stop it instantly, but we needed that beast for more studies and thus it took us a while to restrain it." Kain spoke.

Lucius nodded his head as he had not expected something like this to have happened today.

"Let's get started with our lessons, shall we? It's already been a bit late," Kain said before pulling out the lesson plan.

Kiana left the library and let the two men continue their lesson. Soon they were done with it since Lucius had already memorized the parts that were asked of him. He had even covered some extra parts and was ahead of the schedule officially.

It was now lunchtime, and Kiana came to ask them for lunch.

"I think we can end our lesson early today, you've already finished the part for a couple of days that I had planned out. I'll need to prepare more before I can continue." Kain spoke.

"That will be fine, Master Kain. You can rest your leg too, till then." Lucius replied.

"That is kind of you, Young Lord Asher." Kain said with a smile.

"Ah yes, I had some questions about rune beasts, Master Kain." Lucius suddenly spoke.

Kain stopped midway when he was putting a piece of meat in his mouth. He put it down and spoke, "please do ask."

"I was reading up on various rune beasts and a few of them interested me so I wanted to ask about them," Lucius replied.

"What beasts?" Kain questioned.

"There are many, but right now I wanted to ask about Rock Bees." Lucius answered.

"Rock bees? Hmm… they are a fierce bunch of rune beasts. Many travelers when they are passing by a mountain or hill accidentally disturb them and ended up becoming their victims. It is not uncommon for them to stiffen a human's body so much that it falls and simply rolls off the mountain.

Since their hives are usually located at cliffs, the area there is steep, making it easier for the petrified bodies to roll off. In some regions, this is so common that at the base of mountains there are warning signs that say: caution falling bodies." Kain explained.

"That is really terrifying. Though… how much do the rune crystals of these Rock bees cost?" Lucius asked.

"Why do you need them?" Kain asked, feeling a bit confused.

"I'd like to experiment a bit on my own and learn more about them." Lucius replied.

"Oh? Is the young lord interested in the field of artificers?" Kain asked.

"Oh yes, I definitely am. But do I need to part of the artificers guild to do that?" Lucius inquired.

"Well, most artificers are part of the Artificers guild, but there are some independent ones too. The reason why most of them join the artificers guild is because they studied there as it provides the best conditions and resources.

Still, there are a few very affluent artificers who are independent from the artificers' guild. They take in disciples too and those disciples often end up being much better than those from the artificers guild since all of the resources are focused on a single person.

If the young lord really wants to go on this path, I can recommend some starting books for you. While you won't be able to make artifacts any soon, you should still be able to grasp the theory behind it.

As for the financial part, I believe the Count can very well take care of that, Haha." Kain said with a chuckle at the end.

A smile appeared on Lucius's face as he felt pleased.

'Just as I thought. Having a rich family is the best…' Lucius thought to himself.

"Though if you really want the rune crystal of a rock bee, you will have to commission some mercenaries to get them for you. The last I checked, there weren't any of them in the artificers guild.

So unless some merchant comes with them, you will have to depend on the mercenaries. Usually, a single rune crystal of a Rock bee costs about twenty Aether crystals if you buy from a merchant. But if you are commissioning a mercenary team, it will probably cost you about three thousand gold coins instead." Kain explained.

Kiana did not interfere in their conversion and simply smiled upon hearing their words. She didn't care if Asher really became an artificer or not, she was just happy that he had found something safe that interested him.

After the meal was finished, Kain promised to send Lucius some books on artifact theory and basic principles.

"Hmm… there are still two hours till Lieutenant John comes. Do you want to take a stroll outside?" Kiana questioned