The more Cain studied Rune Crafting, the more he began to understand that it was the predecessor to Inscription. What the Ancients could do with their innate understanding of Magic's properties, the other species supplemented with materials of various properties.
The end effect was very similar to the Inscription Runes placed on magical weapons to give them specific sub-stats, which gave Cain a clue as to where to start in his journey to make more detailed Rune weapons.
So far the proper spacing and Geometry had eluded him, but he had a bit of knowledge on regular smithing, and he could merge with someone who had a lot of it. If he added that knowledge to what he already had, and practiced until it became his own knowledge, Cain was pretty sure that he could make Rune Weapons that were not only as versatile as any other Magical Weapon, but also scaled with the power of the user.
It sounded like a ridiculous impossible thing, but the more he read the book, the more sure he was that it was actually correct. The Rune Crafting Manual was teaching the most primordial form of magical weapons design.
Not only that, but it was a technique that would theoretically work with any sort of energy that you could insert into the weapon to activate it. The Cultivators that had come from other worlds could activate Rune Weapons here if they had the internal energy, and Cain could use them there.
It truly was the superior crafting method.
So, Cain summoned the strongest smith that he knew of, a Mythic Awakened Youkai that had come to visit the farm some time ago, to see what the Echoes were up to.
[Greetings, what are we attempting today?] The voice asked in Cain's mind.
[Rune Crafting. I know that I need to arrange all the symbols so that they create effects, in a three-dimensional grid, but I'm not completely sure how to go about it.] Cain explained.
[Oh, a fun challenge. The reason everyone uses recipes is only that this step is a pain to get right, and can often backfire. You see, every link between runes is a pathway for the activation of effects. If any of them are nonsensical, the activation will fail. If any of them describe negative effects, your weapon will be flawed or reduced in effectiveness.
The problem is that the runes can be read in many ways when you put them in combination.
It is the same with standard smithing, even the runes are the same if it is a Youkai smith, but we still need the materials and processes to inscribe them, whereas an Ancient does not. You could simply draw them on with a marker and the weapon would work just fine.
For this next one that you are attempting, you have to link them like so, because if you link them in the normal order, you will end up with a pattern that says Deactivate, and the weapon will never actually work, do you see?]
Cain saw the vision in his mind of what the smith meant, both the correct and incorrect ways, and the links between runes started to make sense to him.
[Is that why Magical weapons have all sorts of odd secondary skills? Because the runes to make the main effect have multiple translations?] Cain asked.
[Exactly. they can be linked in different orders, and with various meanings, so you end up with secondary effects. You will get the hang of this faster than you think.] The smith encouraged Cain.
Come to think of it, there was a game like this in his past life. Letters were arranged in a square, and you had to make as many words as you could with them. It was much simpler than this, but the concept was the same.
That made the process seem a bit less daunting. If people made a game of it, it couldn't be impossible, he just needed to understand the theory and then he too could do it.
Cain got to work, using runes to enhance a segmented armor that would protect both the upper and lower body. Hopefully, when this was done, he could give it to Luna as a gift and have armor for her that protected her spine from injury if she was grabbed, like the way she was by the General not too long ago.
Not many armors would protect the whole length of a Lamia, and they couldn't equip items meant to be pants, though they could equip skirts. This was meant to be one long piece, and Cain had hopes that it would protect more of her unique body style than most standard patterns.
The Youkai Smith that he had merged with couldn't say for sure, as he had never attempted it before, but he was definitely up for the challenge. New items and techniques were the highlights of almost every smith's life after all.
After an hour, and many mistakes, Cain finally had it right, and the runes on the armor activated. Getting them placed perfectly so that they didn't make unintended linkages was harder than he had thought it would be, and the initial plan had to be modified after the runes intended to increase flexibility had merged back onto themselves due to close proximity.
Now, he just had to find the Lamia.
She was usually so good about hanging out near him, but she had been gone for most of the day today. Cain had her in his party, so he knew that she wasn't hurt and that she was still somewhere nearby, but he had no idea what exactly she was up to that could be taking so long.
[Luna, are you almost finished with what you were doing? I've got snacks and a new armor for you to try on.] Cain asked.
[I will be back soon. The friendly people are teaching me how to use a blowgun. They wanted me to learn a bow, but I'm not built for that, so I've been practicing with the blowgun that I made this morning.]
That was unexpectedly studious of her, and it made Cain a little more proud of his daughter that she was taking the initiative to learn new skills on her own.
After a few minutes, she was back, wrapped around the arm of an elderly Elf, who was wearing some sort of martial arts training outfit.
"I am sorry if she bothered you today. I got busy with my studying and forgot to keep an eye on her." Cain apologized.
"It's not an issue here in the Library. There are many people around whose job it is to take care of guests, she was perfectly safe down at the archery range. She made great progress on her blowgun skills today, enough to impress even the elven archers." The old man replied with a smile, ruffling Luna's hair.
"Thanks for the help. I will be sure to come to visit you again soon."
Luna slid down his arm and onto Cain's shoulder, then looped around Cain's neck like a necklace before going for the snacks that were on the side table.
"Don't eat yourself unconscious yet. I have armor for you to try on." Cain reminded her, drawing Luna's attention away from the food.
"Pass it over then. I'm hungry after all that work." The little Lamia pouted, sneaking herself another bite-sized meat chunk with her tail.
Cain traded her the armor he had Rune Crafted and Luna equipped it, getting a chest plate and skirt-type Lamellar armor, but with a set of armor plates that ran down the back and almost all the way to the end of her tail, held in place only by the effects of the System.
"That's a bit better. Now if someone grabs you, the armor will help prevent them from stretching you and injuring your back. I know it hurt when you were tossed by the General." Cain told her, and Luna beamed with pride.
"It did, but I bit him good and I would do it again."
With that, she began to ignore Cain again, and busied herself with the food, eating until she was too full to move properly, then curling an extra loop around Cain and falling asleep.
That was when Laura and Evangeline, with the other copy of Moana, finally made it to the city limits. They had fully mastered the art of entering the collective thought now, so Laura was a bit less excitable and lonely, but there were too many new things to see, she would need some time to make it through the city so that they could come to say hello to Cain.
[Take your time, Luna is asleep anyhow. If you get here just as she wakes up I think she will have a lot of questions for you about your journey. We've been to a bunch of places, but we always use travel magic, so she doesn't have a lot of stories about a long trip on foot.] Cain suggested.
[See, I told you I wasn't stopping in too many places. Now, let's go see this shop, I have no idea what it sells.] Laura cheered, and Cain could sense Evangeline's exasperation along with Moana's amusement.
