Chapter 95: A Runemaster

The professor looked at Villin for a few moments before sighing. "Right now, we are no longer within the territories of The Academy, currently we are in the white tower.

"The white tower is a place for people like us, people who have gotten an epiphany and have begun to realize the essence of runology. This tower was made fifty years ago by the person that is currently the only golden robe. Within the tower we all exchange information." he paused for a moment as he was looking for the right words.

"True runology is an art that is unthinkably huge. It's as boundless and unexplored as the cosmos above, what we all know of is just a tiny drop in a ginormous bucket."

Villin looked at the professor with some confusion in his expression "So The White Tower is a place to exchange information?" he asked.

"No boy, it is much, much more than that. The people within the tower come from everywhere, the government, rivaling companies, criminals, even fallen magus. Yet there has never been even a single conflict within these walls. This very place is proof that when necessary, the central continent can come together."

Villin frowned as he thought about this "So, am I a member of this tower now?"

"You will be boy, but first you need to show you how skilled you are in runology, just an example of your skill will do, I will of course trade you with information that is equally valuable."

Villin looked the professor in the eyes as he fell silent, after a few seconds he had made a decision. "Alright professor." he said as he took out two of his notebooks "How about I explain my experiment to you and in return you help me improve it?"

After thinking for a moment, the professor nodded, "That shouldn't be a problem."

Once this was decided upon Villin began explaining the theory behind the puppet he had made a while ago. The more he talked the more shocked the professor looked, even so, he still gave quite a bit of input on places where space was lost or different runes would be more fitting.

"And so in these locations, I put small magic arrays, when any of them get a pulse of magical energy it distributes it to the required runes for the required effect, in the middle of each of these magic arrays you can attach a thin string made from magic power, this way you can pulse magic power through it instantly."

"Hmm, these runes seem to make it extremely sensitive, doesn't simply keeping the string attached set it off accidentally sometimes?"

"No, the Mental Technique: Extend allows me to keep it stable without having to insert any more magic power."

"Impressive, I didn't realize you already knew this technique."

Sometime later the two arrived at the runes causing the flame attack. When the professor looked at the notes he instantly looked grim. "Villin, I suggest you don't build it as is. This rune over here will cause all of the runes to do with the attack to go haywire, it could go terribly wrong."

"Professor, that is completely intended. I didn't have enough space to properly put the runes in place for an explosion so instead, I added these runes that are sure to make runes all over the puppet to go haywire in the worst possible way and explode."

Once more the professor looked at him in astonishment "Causing the runes to go haywire on purpose, that's as ingenious as it is insane! The value of that knowledge helps me out greatly."

And so, the professor continued helping him out, the biggest improvement he made had to do with the self-destruct. He managed to speed up the process considerably, the next time he built the puppet he would be able to make it explode within one second instead of three, probably.

The professor also promised to get him another technique book to help improve the wires used to control the puppet, the reason was that they could easily be accidentally cut when enemies attacked him.

After the two were finished with their discussion hours had passed. After sighing deeply the professor sighed deeply "To think you are already a silver robe, who would've thought."

Villin looked at the professor's robe in confusion than almost causing him to laugh.

"Not The Academy's robe boy." He then tapped his robe with his wand. Even though the general color of the robe didn't change how it looked changed immensely, thousands of runes appeared all over it making multiple figures decorating the robe.

"The tower had multiple different colors of robes. Firstly, there are the grey robes, these are the ones silver robes have taken as a student. After them come the red robes, these are those that are close to the truth but haven't quite made the final step yet. Then there are the silver robes, I am a silver robe, and you will be one shortly. Silver robes are considered to properly understand runology and are capable of researching it. They are also called Runemasters. Lastly, there is the golden robe, there is only a singly golden robe, she is capable of creating her own runes out of thin air and is a grandmaster of runology."

The professor paused for a moment before revealing another piece of information.

In the sixth Grade of The Academy, there is a red robe and a grey robe, this alone would make this year a good one for The Academy. But alongside these in the second grade, there are two silver robes, the two youngest runemasters in recorded history."

Villin thought for a moment "Me and Ruby Von Hauser."

After realizing this he thought for another moment.

"What are the advantages of being a runemaster other than being capable of exchanging information with my peers?"

His question was straight and to the point surprising the professor somewhat, he thought the boy would have to think of all this for a while.

"Well, firstly there is status." the professor grabbed a pin from underneath his desk. It was a silver pin depicting a pen. "Most will only see this as an ornament and we also ask our members not to spread the existence of the towers all around. But those of a high enough status are sure to recognize the pin, you will then surely be treated with respect."

After Villin studied the silver pin for a bit the professor continued, "Secondly, there is freedom." As the professor said this he reached into his desk again and took out a small stack of papers. "Give one of these papers to each of your professors, it allows you to come and go from class as you please. If you want you can enter any class you wish for free but you can also choose not to come to class for months. This is sometimes required since runemasters are known to get caught up in experiments sometimes causing them to be busy for months at a time."

Villin grabbed the papers each of which had some incomprehensible symbols but before he properly studied it the professor already talked about the third point.

"Thirdly is an advantage miss Ruby had specifically asked for. You are allowed to make a guild even if you are only in the second or third grade."

Villin was glad to hear this, it would be a great advantage.

"And lastly, the contracts you will have to sign with The Academy in the fourth and sixth grade will be less strict giving you more freedom overall."

Villin stayed quiet as he thought of the advantages he got.

"Oh and, of course, you can move through the third grade to reach The White Tower, just make sure you have that pinned on," he said as he pointed to the pin depicting a three.

"Thank you, professor, I suppose I'll learn the rest by myself then."

After Villin said that professor Crumb thought of something else "And right, there is one other thing. You may have become a runemaster but in reality, you are still very lacking. Your puppet is an excellent idea but still very weak compared with other runemasters' creations. There are three reasons for this. The first reason is that you don't know that many runes yet. The second reason is that you only know enchanting and magic arrays. Most Runemasters only came to a realization when they already had a decent understanding of all of the six basic runic arts while you know only of two. I will request The Academy to send you the books on Warding and Spell Constructs, these two should allow you to expand properly."

The next ten minutes Villin asked a number of other basic questions that were answered swiftly by the professor. When he got his silver robe he would be able to switch between it and his student robe easily. He would also be responsible for enchanting his own robe. The robe would be made from extremely valuable material.

The professor also gifted Villin with a new pen. The pen was apparently extremely expensive as it was capable of giving the benefits of both the enchanting pen and the magic array chalks.

Once another hour had passed, Villin and professor Crumb finally passed by the third grade again to return, once more they were received by journalists, more this time.

Nonetheless, Villin didn't have trouble ignoring them since he was still thinking of all the new information he had gotten.