024 Second Core Rune

Although two unopened drops were left, Wu Wei was only curious about the light green one.

As for the [Common] drop, Wu Wei had already found out what was inside when picking the loot. And that was precisely why he had chosen it.

[Ding! You have opened a Common drop and received a [Runic Summon: Treant!]]

This Runic Summon was precisely what he had wanted.

It was an item with an extremely low drop rate – of the two to three hundred Treants that Wu Wei had hunted with Team 8566, only one had dropped. It was no wonder why it cost 98 runic stones at rune shops.

After acquiring it, Wu Wei took a look at the item's attributes.

..

Runic Summon: <Small Runic Treant>

Quality: <Common >

Level: <10 >

Requirement: <Level 10 Runic Summoner>

Effect: Summon Runic Treant (3/3)

..

Looking at the rune in his hand, Wu Wei became slightly hesitant.

Before today, Wu Wei had felt that a Runic Treant summon was what he needed, but fighting with Treants the entire day had caused a sense of loathing towards them to grow within him.

Appearance-wise, although some people might have found them 'cute', Wu Wei thought they looked pitiful.

And appearances aside, the main issue was that Wu Wei did not have a favorable impression of their strength. In the end, only the Runic Treant King had managed to impress with its [Disguise]. At that time, if Wu Wei hadn't had his 'cheat',… he might have fallen into its trap!

Unfortunately, Wu Wei did not have the luxury of choice.

"Sigh, I'll think about it."

Next, Wu Wei extended his hand towards the last light green drop.

From the outside, the light green drop appeared to be a heart.

"Well, this is definitely just a material..."

Wu Wei opened the drop.

[You have opened the Green drop and obtained [Runic Armament: Golem Heart!]]

"What the?!"

Wu Wei thought he had misread until he held up the earth-yellow fist-sized heart to check its attributes.

..

Runic Armament: <Golem Heart>

Quality: <Semi-Rare >

Level: <10 >

Additional Skill(s): 

Earth Nourishment (Passive Skill) - Able to continuously obtain spiritual energy from the earth.

Earth Manipulation - Able to manipulate and shape the earth in your image. No usage restrictions.

PS: As long as you have enough spiritual energy, you can use it as many times as you wish)

Usage Requirements: 

1.<Runic Mage with an Earth-attribute Core Rune> OR

2. <Earth-attribute Runic Summon>

..

Seeing its attributes caused Wu Wei's eyebrows to narrow. This time, he had indeed hit the jackpot!

The additional skills that Runic Armaments could possess could be classified into two types.

Examples of Runic Armaments of the first type were the [Wild Boar Crossbow] and the [Treant Ring]. Their skills were inscribed on the armament itself. They had cooldown restrictions, such as only being able to activate twice a day or once every 20 minutes.

The disadvantage of this first type of armament was that the skills' cooldown was often long. Also, the Runemaster was only activating the Runic Armament's skill, so it was not a skill that could aid in cultivation. The only advantage was that the Runemaster did not consume any spiritual energy to use these skills. Also, as they only needed to activate the armament itself, there was no usage difficulty at all.

As for the second type of armament, they were imbued with special skills that needed to be activated by the Runemaster themselves. Examples were the [Boar Slaughtering Sword] and the [Golem Heart].

This type of equipment was very helpful to Runemasters, and the only disadvantage was that the Runemaster had to pay an activation cost. If the Runic Master could not fulfill the activation cost, then they would not be able to use the skill.

The second type of Runic Armaments was valued higher than the first type. For example, if Wu Wei wanted to sell the [Golem Heart], he could easily sell it for 1,000 runic stones. Even 2,000 to 3,000 runic stones would not be out of the realm of possibility!

Nonetheless, Wu Wei had no plans to sell it.

Although as a Runic Summoner, he did not meet the conditions to use it, he could just contract an Earth-attribute Runic Creature!

"Just nice! Since I'm not too fond of the Runic Treant, I can now explore other options since I have this item!"

Following this train of thought, Wu Wei recalled there had been an Earth-attribute summoning rune from amongst the level 10 runes he had checked out at the rune shop!

..

Rune: <Golem Doll>

Quality: <Common > 

Level: <10 >

..

At the time, Wu Wei had not thought much of it, but now, it seemed like it would be suitable for him.

More specifically, it would be suitable for using the Runic Armament: [Golem Heart]!

For the ever-cautious Runic Summoner, Wu Wei, the main requirement for his second Core Summon was something that could protect him.

Although his current physical level was already at that of a Runic Martial Artist with [Uncommon]-grade runes, Wu Wei felt it would be better to be safe than sorry.

As opposed to the Treant summon, which he wasn't sure would become strong enough to protect him, Wu Wei felt that the Golem Doll would be better for future development, especially as it even offered synergy with the armament skill [Earth Manipulation], 

Although the description of the [Earth Manipulation] skill was not very in-depth, Wu Wei was sure it would offer him a high degree of flexibility.

Imagine transforming the ground into a swamp of mud or even conjuring up a sturdy wall of earth!

Perhaps, he thought, even creating a defensive castle was not out of the question!

If he could, Wu Wei would always carry it around with him!

It would offer him the highest degree of safety!

Wu Wei slapped his thigh.

"F**k it, I'll inscribe the Golem Doll !"

Having made up his mind, Wu Wei immediately went to the rune shop to sell the [Summoning Rune: Treant]. After acquiring 92 runic stones for it, he bought 3 pieces of [Summoning Rune: Golem Doll]!

As each Golem Doll summoning rune cost 30 runic stones, Wu Wei was still left with 2 runic stones.

For some reason, the lady in the rune shop had looked at him with a strange gaze, as if she felt pitiful for Wu Wei.

Trading a summoning rune for a Treant for 3 Puppet Doll summoning runes? Sigh, why was he so handsome yet so dumb?

Wu Wei did not care about what the lady thought. After taking the Golem Doll summoning rune, he went to look for the black-robed 'man' and gave the Runic Treant pill recipe and two Runic Treant Hearts to 'him'.

The young 'man' was once again dumbfounded. Holding both the pill recipe and the two Treant hearts in his hands, he seemed to have become flustered and was at a loss of what to do. Just as 'he' was about to pick up the sign to write something, Wu Wei had left without waiting.

After returning to the dormitory, Wu Wei first took a bath and changed his clothes.

Then, after composing himself, he went around to look for an altar to pray to. As he could not find one, he summoned Yellow out and had him hold a bowl in both hands before bowing towards it.

The process of contracting a Core Rune was basically placing the rune of choice into a page of the Book of Runes and channeling spiritual energy to trace over and engrave it upon the page.

Although it sounded simple, it was actually challenging to do.

When Wu Wei had first inscribed Yellow, he had required a total of three Yellow Turban Soldier runes to succeed. 

This time, however, things proved to be different. On his first Golem Doll rune, Wu Wei succeeded. 

A line of words appeared in front of Wu Wei.

[You have successfully inscribed your second Core Rune!]