The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 774: The Beginning of The Rune-lationship

Amidst the applause and chattering, one hand rose up. It was a runesmith with a thin, tall build and a full brown beard. More than a runesmith, the guy looked like a watch repairman with his glasses. Damian gestured for him to speak up.

“Lord Keeper, the ’hardest’ and most defining part of runesmithing is to master a spell and create tools of increasing grade to progress as a true runesmith one creation at a time. Your invention is amazing and could accomplish a lot if used correctly. But the profession that requires years of training suddenly feels less exclusive with it now.”

Before Damian could reply, another old man with a slightly rounder shape and relatively nicer clothes spoke up without waiting for his turn.

“Lord Keeper, if your molds make entry-level inscription easy, the traditional mentorship chain breaks, threatening guild hierarchies. The whole runesmithing business will take a hit.”

Many other seated individuals were nodding slightly while looking at him or trying not to catch his eyes. Clearly, many felt that way but were too afraid to say it openly. The two men who had spoken up were not the usual craftsmen. The tall guy was known for his eccentric methods of runesmithing, while the plus-sized one was guild master of the runesmith guild based in Sanctuary City. It held affiliation with guilds from other countries, though these merchants and craftsmen had years of professional relations with people all over the mainland.

Unlike common people who saw the world as their country first and all else after, these people kept their passion and business first and all else afterwards. Which, to be fair, was not a bad thing at all. The Sanctuary was a particularly new country and they had not done much to accommodate merchants and guilds in their decade-long history.

Damian took a step forward, the two standing men swallowing nervously. That was unnecessary though—he would never raise his hands on defenseless people without any reason. He looked at the runesmiths and said,

“Runesmith is a profession of constant change. Today you learn some new spell, using a great method you make the tool, and in a few days or months others will figure out how to copy that and will launch their own versions.

The Sanctum is in need of thousands of different runic tools. I alone can’t make them, and others can’t learn my spells in weeks or months. All your concerns are valid. Yes, it is a turning point in the runesmith profession. But I have the need, so I have made the tool—that is the most basic thing about our field.

I am not ordering all of you to work for me. It’s a contract offer. With 40-60% partnership I will make a contract with any runesmith willing to take on the Sanctum orders. You can buy my runic mold and can enjoy 100% profit of the product you make on your own. Or you can do the partnership contract and share the profit. If you have the material and make the tools using that, the Sanctum will buy it from you, and if you need raw materials we will provide it. The expenses will be deducted from the profit.”

The entire hall stared at him with varied expressions; some seemed willing to take up the offer, some were looking at each other and shaking their heads. However, most were just unsure of themselves, not able to make any decision.

Damian had already expected the guild and some merchant groups to oppose his idea. Not directly to his face, but in some roundabout way they would interfere with the people willing to do this for him. It was a pretty great deal actually, and he could already see many individual runesmiths giving his offer a thought—that was exactly the people he was counting on. And just to incentivize them a little, Damian added,

“For every product made by my runic mold delivered to me, the runesmith, merchant, or head of any community will receive 1 anvil point. It’s not anything physical, just a credit. This can be used in various ways. In time the Sanctum will open a shop of our own. We will buy and sell large varieties of products. These anvil points could be used there as real money, like 1 anvil point equal to 20 silver and such.

To preserve individuality, creativity, and hard work I will reward the craftsmen. And so for 20,000 anvil points I will make a custom runic mold for the individual for whatever spell they wish to make runic tools of. Let me be clear though, any spell too dangerous for common people will automatically be rejected. Non-violent spells will be preferred.”

The entire hall erupted with a loudness unmatched till now. The incentive had the desired effect. Added with the high-paying job opportunity, he was practically saying he would design a unique spell just for them. Questions came at him from left and right—all asking about the limitations of the custom runic mold spell.

With every line of him confirming that, other than deadly spells, he would make anything they could think of, their eyes started greedily sparkling. Even the guild master from earlier, who was at the start opposed, now asked questions after questions about the runic mold tool and the contract details.

After some half an hour of intense back and forth, over 45% of craftsmen were willing to give it a try. For the blacksmiths, Damian only wanted them to make the steel items as needed. Over 250 people accepted to work for him and asked to sign the contract. The Sanctuary land was not too big; for that, it was a decent enough number.

There would have been more, but over 30% were part of the runesmith guild, and the guild master wanted special treatment for his guild—reduced material cost and more anvil point value. He knew the guy was trying to negotiate using the guild’s influence, but Damian had made his offer clear. 45% was more than what he was expecting—with just these he could make many runic tools that he could sell in the Sanctum shop.

Damian wanted the receivers made as soon as possible. He wasn’t mad enough to give the people the seven-channel receiver spell though. Even four and five-channel ones were something he only wanted to release afterwards. For now, Damian gave runic mold tools for receivers with three channels—the Sanctum announcement one, the news article one, and the audio channel.

It was simply an entertainment product for now. This spell was not that important to him and he indeed needed a lot of them made so everyone in the Sanctum could buy them. With added material cost, the price would end up at 1 gold and 50 silver, but since metal sources were abundant in dungeons Damian wanted to sell it for only 50 silver.

He wanted it to be a cheap, affordable entertainment tool for the masses. With this he could spread genuine news and announcements lightning fast, keeping people knowledgeable about the current events of the whole of Sanctum and the mainland. The audio channel could be turned on and off with a simple switch, he could reduce the range so only the wearer would be affected, so only one person could hear without disturbing others.

But if people were close enough, multiple people could hear the songs and shows he had planned to stream online. For those who couldn’t afford one for the whole family, this would be more of a feature than a disadvantage.

Damian gave contracts of making thousands and thousands of these receivers to the ones who signed the contracts with him for partnership. He had kept the mold’s price at 500 gold, which was a lot. But the value of the thing was also such—having one meant they could make their own brand’s receivers and set their own price and all.

For now, no one bought it, all choosing to do the partnership method. Damian also preferred this method; in this way he had control over the quality of the product and he could sell everything to major merchants in bulk, creating another revenue source for the Sanctum.

It took half a day in signing the contract and showing the people how to use the mold; they even got to tour his personal lab. He had underestimated how much curiosity people had about him and his runesmithing methods. They treated the chance of getting a tour like some premium lottery. Guess if he had mentioned this in the hall, he could have snagged a few more craftsmen.

Damian needed them for mass production, not for necessary Sanctum weapons and armor making. He needed them for his plans, but they were not plans that he had to do. Even without them, he alone could have made thousands of receivers at once and could have sold them at profit.

This was more of a future-proof idea. Knowing himself, Damian was sure there would be many items in the future where he would need manpower to make in large numbers. So it was a good thing to get people used to it from right now.