Runemaster

After killing the spy, Dorian was overjoyed to see there was loot. There were actually two books! As expected of a spy, one was for Sneak. But what made Dorian really happy was the other ability book, because it was another one for the Dagger Mastery.

Currently, Dorian's Basic Dagger Mastery was at level 6, and he already had 3 ability books so he could upgrade himself to level 9. But with this new book, this allowed Dorian to max up his Basic Dagger Mastery to level 10!

Dorian put the Sneak book in his backpack and took out the other Dagger Mastery book. Dorian used them one after another, and soon all had been devoted, and Dorian was level 10. He even discovered that the experience he had accumulated in level 6 hadn't disappeared, so he didn't even had to start from scratch in level 10 now.

This time, Dorian felt a huge difference, although he hadn't changed the quality of his ability, the four levels increase still allowed him to have a huge power boost.

Right now, Dorian felt that he could take on the Leaf without using shady tactics, but in actual head on combat, and he wouldn't lose. The Leaf's Agility were only slightly higher than Dorian's, and his Dagger Mastery was about the same level.

Now, as long as Dorian could accumulate enough experience in this world, he would be able to upgrade the quality of his Dagger Mastery. And for such an advantage to only be available in the first world, the cost to normally upgrade abilities to the next quality was most certainly high.

After checking he hadn't missed anything on the spy's corpse, he started taking off his clothes and put them on himself. Before long, Dorian had taken off his mask and was camouflaged as a gangster. They didn't really have a strict uniform, but Dorian's clothes were too special and would get his cover blown.

Still, he kept on everything that gave him attributes, because they couldn't be seen or had been taken from other gangsters. The only thing Dorian had to reluctantly take off was Saain's Face because it was the Leaf's.

Once he had everything on him, Dorian dragged the two corpses with him further in the sub tunnel which seemed endless. After a minute or so of walking, Dorian dropped them and took out the Enchanted Coin.

He started walking randomly, and before long he found himself entering a big underground room, which was lit up by many torches. But when he made his way through the tunnels, he couldn't help but get interested in magic.

He finally understood how the gangsters could travel through the tunnels. Because for someone who doesn't see anything, even if he has the coin he would still walk into walls. He had tried it himself, but he discovered that his body would walked sideways, as if stuck in an illusion. The feeling was very strange though because he never felt his body controlled.

He was relieved though to find out that by forcing it, he was still able to touch the walls, or that would have made the magic in here too strong. But Dorian didn't doubt that for a more accomplished mage, they could probably control his every movement without him even realizing it.

That was quite scary for Dorian, but he also understood that if he ever encountered someone this powerful, it would be in the far future, in many more worlds. By that time, if he hasn't died he should have become much stronger and able to counter this kind of attack.

For now, Dorian tried not to worry about the future, but to focus on growing as strong as he could, to get the best result possible within this world.

The 'Main Hall' in front of Dorian was quite big, about as big as a soccer field, with several pillars standing around, holding the ceiling from falling down.

Dorian checked around and when he was sure no one was around he neared one of the pillars, curious about what he saw.

From afar he couldn't see clearly, but as he neared the pillars he affirmed his guess. On the pillars were red runes. Dorian looked at each and everyone of the pillars and noticed that it would always be the same set of runes everywhere.

Although he didn't know anything about magic, Dorian guessed that those were magic runes meant to reinforce the pillars, and most probably were at the origin of the tracker on the Enchanted Coins.

Dorian took out one of the ability books he used earlier, on the Dagger Mastery. Once he used an ability book, it wouldn't vanish but would return back to being normal books.

Dorian opened the book at the first page, where illustrations and texts were written, explaining how to do certain moves. Dorian wanted to take note of the different runes, but he didn't have any paper nor pen.

It must be said that this was the Middle Age, otherwise known as the Dark Age back on Earth. During this period of time, only a very small amount of people, nobles, knew how to write and read, so paper were very rare, as well as expensive.

As for a pen, it didn't even exist, there were only feathers and ink. But Dorian didn't carry those around. For the paper, he could manage with the ability book, but for the ink…

Dorian took a dagger and cut open his finger, blood dripping down. He ignored the pain and started writing down the rune set he had noticed.

It took Dorian half an hour, as well as 10 HP, for him to finish writing down every rune. But as he finished and was about to put his book back in his bag, he was stunned to see that the book was now glowing with a grey light!

Of course, the first thing Dorian did was opening its status:

[Name: Used Book]

[Type: Miscellaneous]

[Rarity: Grey]

[Defense: 0]

[Requirement: Blacksmith lvl 1]

[Effects: Use this book to engrave the effect 'Reinforcement' on an equipment.]

[Durability: N/A]

[Remark: This book has been enchanted with Ancient Magic.]

Dorian couldn't believe what happened. He quickly checked his own status and discovered that he had earned a new ability:

[Basic Runemaster (Level 1/10)]

Through his newly acquired knowledge, Dorian discovered how to carve runes, as well as a certain understanding of them. Basic Runes weren't very strong for most, but could help a lot in certain situations.

What was even better was that Runes didn't necessarily have to be used on a book like this, he could also use them on other objects to directly enchant them. For example he could carve the 'Reinforcement' rune on his clothes if he wanted to.

Well, almost. To carve runes, ones need to draw the symbol using magic. However, Dorian didn't know how to use it. Fortunately, blood was rich in magic so it could be used instead, but it would be very tiring.

Dorian wanted to draw some runes on his equipment but he didn't have the time. Unable to use the book, he put it back in his bag and chose one of the tunnels before entering it. He didn't have any idea of which one he should take so he picked the biggest one.

This time, the tunnel had torches, and was much shorter. Before long, he arrived in front of a wooden door. This door was of a deep green, and gave off a strange feeling.

Dorian tried listening for any sound through the door, but heard nothing. Still, he didn't open the door because of the strange vibe it gave off. He couldn't really explain it, but he had a feeling that if he opened this door, he would be in trouble.

So Dorian walked back and started inspecting all the tunnels. Because he couldn't see the sky nor did he have a watch, Dorian didn't know how much time passed until he found the right tunnel.

There, at the end of the tunnel, Dorian saw an opened door. He had of course rushed in, he couldn't let this trip be a waste.

But as he entered, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.