Chapter 138: The Night Before Departure

It took another hour to set in the deal, and since Warden would be leaving for the front lines soon where he would have extra time to work on, he took on a bunch of commissions for weapons and armour. Of course, he didn't forget to take advance payments in the form of essence gems and Tier-9 alloy.

It was only natural for a Master Runesmith like himself to get what he deserved.

Now, Warden could be called kind of rich for an Iron-ranker. He had on him 75 Silver grade essence gems, which depending on the market could be worth between three to five thousand iron grade gems. The alloy with him was another type of wealth, although they didn't put a price on it, Warden determined, they would be priced at around a dozen silver-grade essence gems.

It was expensive, considering it was only an alloy.

He'd need to find a good blacksmith to smith the alloy into a spear, but that was a problem for later. Well, he could try it himself, smithing wasn't that hard to learn compared with Rune smithing, after all.

Of course, Miss Arden desired to assist in smithing, but as always their service was slow. Even with putting their worker on the task, who probably wasn't free, it wouldn't be complete before Warden had to leave. Besides, he'd need a master blacksmith, even if it was easier to become master at smithing, they were rare in the business.

The night had fallen when Warden came back to June's quarter. He welcomed himself in with the spare keys she had given him as soon as the smell of delicious food wafted into his nostrils.

He crept into the kitchen to find June stirring the ladle in the soup. Her ears perked up at his approach.

"You're back?" she said, not turning her head. "Took you long enough. Did everything go well?"

"Hmm," Warden hummed, smiling. Creeping closer to her form, he hugged her from behind.

June's whole figure froze, and goosebumps crawled up her skin when Warden kissed her on the back of her neck, his arms wrung around her belly.

"Ahhh Mhhh~" she let out a slow whimper, finally trying to struggle from his clutch. "What are you doing?"

"Taking away all your energy," Warden said, snuggling in deeper, pressing against her tighter.

"You stink," she said, shoving her elbow into his stomach, as Warden finally let go.

"The only way to know is through trying," Warden said. "The control needed to do something like on a volatile spell should be astronomical, maybe you should try with a simpler form of spell with an Amplification rune."

June nodded and began working forming a little ball of light. She began incorporating only a single amplification rune on it, putting all her mind into it, even though it was hardly required for such a measly task.

Yet the ball of light burst like a bubble the moment the amplification rune was completed.

"There was a spark of light when it burst," June observed and began testing it again.

The light spell burst on multiple occasions as she continued trying. However, it wasn't a complete loss, since the flash of light continued to become brighter and brighter.

"This is possible," Warden said. "I think you're missing something. Perhaps try to incorporate the runes into the spell?"

"And how do I do it?" she said. Getting no definitive answer from him, she tried on her own. On this occasion, the spell didn't even form correctly. But June was unperturbed.

After dozens of tries, June finally presented him with a ball of light, which flickered with flashes of stark shimmer.

"I succeeded!" June cheered.

Warden smiled and congratulated her, even though he noticed the inefficiency in the spell. He was sure June did too.

"I probably need to practise it thousands of times for it to be worthwhile," she said.

"That's the way of runes and many other things, repetitions make you a master." Leaving her with the last advice, Warden straightened and stood up. It was time for him to leave. Although he spent a couple of nights in her guest room, June still wasn't assured of the idea of them living together, even if not in the same room.

"You're leaving already?" she said, perking her brows.

"Unless you want me to stay?"