967 Runes
"Haaa… Ha…" Noel's right hand was holding his head as a buzzing sound kept ringing in his head. He had just absorbed a lot of information in one go. "Ardagan. How is progress?"
[Mission: Shop Upgrade (Complete)]
[Description: Spend 1,000 HP in the shop]
[Reward: Shop Upgrade]
[Shop]
1 Skill Point (2 HP)
Water Bottle (1 HP)
Water Gallon (2 HP)
Water Tank (3 HP)
Random Rune Scroll (30 HP)
Random Upgrade Scroll (30 HP)
Random Super Rune Scroll (100 HP)
Random Super Upgrade Scroll (100 HP)
Random Medal Scroll (5000 HP)
"Random Medal Scroll?" Noel widened his eyes in shock. He never thought that he could earn a medal through this method. Noel looked down.
"How about the progress of my other missions like the Everchanging Emotion Sword Style and Rune Master?" Noel remembered these two missions that he still failed to complete.
The former wanted him to master the basics of the Everchanging Emotion Sword Style. He had progressed by leaps and bounds after meeting the Sword Arbiter, but there seemed to be something that blocked his path. This was one last hurdle to overcome to fully complete the sword style.
As for the Rune Master, he had to become a Proper Rune Knight and master the combat with runes. He had been training in this aspect, but there was a difference between fighting with runes and using runes as support in a fight.
So, Noel still couldn't complete the mission.
[You already know the assignment and your progress.]
"Hah…" Noel let out a long sigh. He was quite curious about this Random Medal, but the price was too high. It wasn't possible for the time being.
However, when his territory was completed and he could help people in all directions, getting all the necessary points wouldn't be a hard task.
"Still, the Undying Fire has finally reached its maximum level. It might be due to the fact that I have completed mastery and even awakened the flame that I don't notice any significant improvement."
Now that he had found the random runes for the intermediate runes, he couldn't help but wonder what was the right number to purchase. On the one hand, he wanted to get all kinds of intermediate level runes. On the other hand, he had to keep some of the honor points not only to upgrade their levels but also to save them in case he needed them in the fight against the Supreme Devil Organization.
After careful consideration, Noel said, "Since I still have almost three thousand points, exchange eighteen scrolls and save one thousand points for other things."
[Processing…]
[You've acquired the Momentum Rune.]
[You've…]
[You've…]
The runes appeared one after another as their information was transmitted directly into Noel's head.
"Kh." Noel endured the pain while checking the runes he got. Some of them might not really be relevant to his fighting style, but there were some that would make him even stronger. He also noticed that some of the runes were useful for the weapons and armor he planned to build.
But more importantly, he found one Advanced Level Rune.
"This is…" Noel gasped. The Advanced Level Rune was called the Executioner Rune. As the name implied, it was a ridiculously strong offensive rune. If Noel were to unleash this, he might be able to kill hundreds of low level demons with a single rune. But the power consumption and the amount of time required to create this rune were also massive.
He thought about using an item to trigger this rune. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be possible. Not only was the rune massive, but it was also so violent that the item would be destroyed after unleashing this rune once. He might even need a lot of Peak Level Demon Crystals if he wanted to activate it.
However, if he was only talking about a trump card, this rune might be able to fulfill its role.
He finally understood why Advanced Level Runes were said to be able to rival those of Spirit Transcendences. Even Noel could only use this rune twice before he was completely empty.
"The rune is ridiculously strong. As for the others…" Noel took a look at the other runes he thought would be useful in a battle.
There were two runes that could aid him in battle: the Amplification Rune and the Meteor Rune. He could take advantage of their firepower to suppress the enemy.
Meanwhile, there were runes that could be useful in their defense. The Meteor Rune could produce a ball of spiritual energy that would cause a massive explosion once it hit. He thought about utilizing this rune as a catapult on the wall.
There was also the Momentum Rune which allowed people to charge the momentum of an object to launch it at very high speed. Combined with a spike, it might penetrate a powerful demon.
There were a few other runes that could be useful, but he had to discuss it with Anna and Roel to see whether crafting those weapons was possible or not.
Before calling Anna, Noel checked the upgrade requirement for the new runes, wondering if he should increase their levels or not. But after looking at the cost and benefit of saving the Honor Points in case something unpredictable happened, he ultimately chose to save the points.
As expected, after showing the list of runes to Anna, she could think of some ideas on how to utilize the runes.
They ended up discussing a lot of things with Roel.
…
One month later.
Noel and Anna stood in front of their northern wall. Due to the star-shaped city, the wall was split into two sides. Noel had to make sure that each side had all the runes it needed.
"Have you decided what runes you plan to draw here?"
"Yeah. There will be five runes on each wall. After drawing everything, we will cover the runes with demons' hide before adding one or two layers of bricks. This way, we could hide the runes from anyone." Noel looked satisfied.
"But won't it become a problem if you want to repair them? What if the runes are damaged?"
"That's the use of the hide. The bricks will take the impact while the hide will separate the outer layer and the rune layer. I will also add some random patterns that make it hard for anyone to understand which runes I'm using. I have to speed things up a little bit since the enemies are coming soon."
"Do you need my help?"
"How is the tunnel?"
"It's almost completed, so I'm quite free right now."
"In that case, help me with covering the area with hides and adding some random patterns to confuse the enemies."
"Which blood are we using for the runes?" Anna asked.
"The fake can use Peak Level Demons. The real ones will use the Superior Demon's blood. Thanks to you, we have enough supplies to cover these walls. The remaining walls will be strengthened by the Superior Demon's blood that we'll get from defending the territory."
"Got it. In that case, you may start. I will bring the hide."
"Alright." Noel nodded and looked at the wall. He had brought a few gallons of Superior Demon Blood. Most of it came from the Superior Demons that Anna killed on the last trip.
The most important runes among the five he planned to draw was none other than the Spiritual Barrier Rune. This rune had the same task as Saintess Layla's barrier, protecting walls from demon attack. Since they were made of Superior Demon Blood and powered up by the Peak Level Demon Crystals he got from the Zaecuria Kingdom, they should be able to withstand the demons' relentless onslaught for some time.
After that, he obviously wanted the Hardening Rune so that normal demons couldn't destroy the walls by slamming their bodies against it. And there was also Rune Blast as he remembered the problem with the demon corpse stairs.
He added two additional runes to solve other problems he saw during the small expedition.
He only had less than one month before the Supreme Devil Organization came. In the last month, he focused on two things. Crafting weapons for the wall and exploring the ruin of the previous civilization that the Third Prince told him.
As expected, the Third Prince had plundered almost everything from that place. When he subjugated that place, he didn't find much other than numerous demons.
The messenger told him that there were a lot of food items. But everything had been ransacked not long ago. And the few machines he claimed to still work had been either destroyed or taken away.
They made too much ruckus to make it look like the Supreme Devil Organization was the culprit. But it was clear that the Third Prince was grabbing all those pieces of important equipment.
In the end, that building was only a bait to make him overwork himself.
Either way, he didn't care much about the ruin. If he wanted, he could set up another expedition outside the territory after expanding the border in the future. So, he prioritized building the trench from the river to his territory.
In fact, he had been standing right in front of the ditch. In the middle of the ditch was a deep trench that reached as far as twenty meters.
The ones who managed that project were none other than Noel and Layla. Noel used Ardagan and the Undying Fire to melt the soil deep underground. Layla used her barrier to separate that soil so that the Enhance Forward Rune could be used to pump out all the soil underground. This way, they managed to build the entire ditch system within two weeks.
There were only three things left to do to face the Supreme Devil Organization. The first would be completing the runes. Secondly, he had to dig the last part of the trench, connecting the ditch and the river, which would ultimately fill the ditch with water. Last but not least, he had to bring all the weapons to the top of the walls.
With all these preparations, he believed that he could defeat the Supreme Devil Organization.
"Alright. Let's start, shall we?" Noel smirked. He didn't have a lot of time left, so he hurriedly drew the runes. Of course, during the process, everyone was forbidden to be near the walls. Any attempts to peek would be akin to admitting to being a spy. Even Saintess Layla was no exception.
The method of the drawing itself was similar to the Spirit Enchantment. But unlike the Spirit Enchantment, Rune's power could be enhanced depending on the blood used to draw it. That was why Noel's method was slightly different from what Roel used.
There were two other people who knew this method other than him. They were Anna and Roel. Noel had taught Roel since he was a pillar and the most important person during the preparation.
Livia and Tristan would learn this as well, but after the battle. They would learn the Rune Body, Rune Enhancement, and even Rune Array.
Howard had also been training the new recruit. They managed to at least raise the number of soldiers to five hundred. This should be enough to supply the northern wall.
Harley always remained vigilant, trying to spread his information network outside and inside the border. He had to make sure that not a single noble took advantage of this moment to bring down the Ardagan Family.
Khalid also prepared a lot of medicine to heal people and boost their strength. During the battle, he might be the most crucial person in the Ardagan Family.
Outside the city, Felicia had been training the flying squad to become the most lethal squad of the Ardagan Family.
Andreas had also improved by leaps and bounds after learning from the book the Sword Saint left behind. To everyone's surprise, he believed that his foundation was already strong enough and chose to advance to the Spirit Grandmaster, which meant the Ardagan Family had another grandmaster.
Unfortunately, Felicia tried to do the same, but she was still too focused on the rune and got stuck at the peak of Spirit Master.
Lastly, Saintess Layla had finished the foundation of the Moon Temple's new headquarters. If they somehow lost, they only needed to hide inside this Moon Temple and no one dared attack them.
However, the Supreme Devil Organization this time came without underestimating him. They would surely bring an army of the size no one had ever seen before. So, whether Noel was able to protect his city or not was still questionable.
