My Runes Can Be Upgraded

013 Yellow Turban Strongman

Yuehua Academy, Dormitory Building, Room 666!

With a wave of Wu Wei’s hand, an unfamiliar figure appeared in front of him.

Before the advancement, Yellow’s height was about the same as Wu Wei’s – less than 1.8 meters. After the advancement, Yellow’s height had directly soared to around 2 meters, and his figure had also become much sturdier.

The clothes he was wearing had also changed.

While he had initially worn a shirt, he was now shirtless! He was dressed in a pair of beige pants and a scarf on his head.

And there were even some mysterious patterns on his upper body.

Coupled with the Boar Slaughtering Sword in his hand, if one just looked at his body, he gave off a solid and fierce aura.

However, if you were to include his face, this aura would be cut in at least half.

Although he had a brute-like face that was fierce and ugly, his eyes were blank and innocent, giving people the impression of a husky in a pack of wolves.

“What a huge change!”

Amazed, Wu Wei pulled up Yellow’s current stat window.

..

Name:

(Yellow)

Grade:

Master:

Level:

Equipment:

Attributes:

,

(Other attributes are sub-standard and will not be displayed)

Skills:

,

..

“Its grade has been upgraded to rare, and it even awakened a skill! Looks like Yellow is getting stronger!”

“But what’s with this low amount of strength and stamina?”

Wu Wei patted Yellow’s chest and arms that now seemed powerful enough to crush a skull. He could feel an explosive power contained within Yellow’s muscles!

Why, then, was his strength stat so low?

“Let’s go to the training ground and test things out!”

Unable to hold back his curiosity, Wu Wei took a shower before heading out.

When he left the dorm, Wu Wei realized that the sky was still dark. Looking at the time, it was only about five o’clock in the morning.

The training ground definitely was not open yet. It usually did not open until 7 A.M., the earliest.

Wu Wei thought for a moment before heading to the canteen.

When he arrived at the canteen that was always open, Wu Wei went straight to the kitchen.

“Who let you in? Get out, get out, get out!”

Wu Wei had only just entered when he was almost pushed out by the chef in the kitchen.

“Erm… I have high-quality ingredients that I want to use!”

After Wu Wei spoke, he took out the Wild Boar King’s heart.

When he saw what Wu Wei brought out, the master who had just been chasing Wu Wei out immediately became amicable.

“Wow, a high-quality boar heart. Although it’s not that special, I can make a lot of dishes with it. I’ll make you some pig’s heart soup to nourish your body!

“Your body is so small. Drinking a bowl will at least strengthen your body by 30%!”

The master had been patting Wu Wei’s shoulder non-stop as he spoke, causing half of Wu Wei’s body to numb.

“Thank you. How much will it cost?”

“In terms of money, 20 runic stones!”

“So expensive?”

Wu Wei was shocked. Thankfully, the chef offered an alternative.

“Well, you don’t have to pay up. I’ll make it for you in exchange for a third of the portion to the canteen!”

Wu Wei thought about it and accepted the proposal.

He had no choice – he had no money!

The master operated quickly. In about an hour, he had finished making the pig’s heart soup for Wu Wei.

Wu Wei looked at it. Although one-third of it had been left by the canteen, more than 6 litres were still left. He definitely would not be able to finish it all by himself.

After a moment of pondering, Wu Wei asked the master to pack up eleven portions, after which there was still a big bowl left.

After Wu Wei had stored the packed portions, he slurped up the big bowl of soup as he ate five big steamed buns.

These steamed buns were made with a special kind of flour. Not only were they rich in taste, but they also carried spiritual energy. Usually, as five of them cost 1 runic stone, Wu Wei would not be willing to splurge.

And he indeed had not – Wu Wei had acquired these buns by pleading with the chef.

As he usually only ate one, that was all he was hoping for.

But when Wu Wei heard the chef say that he could eat as much as he wanted, he happily obliged!

Wu Wei downed five in one go together with the big bowl of pig heart soup.

It was strange. Wu Wei usually would not eat this much, but after eating so much today, he still felt that he wasn’t very full. He even wanted to eat more!

But faced with the chef’s murderous gaze, Wu Wei could only – very reluctantly – leave.

Before he left, Wu Wei sold the special meat and the pair of kidneys to the chef. When Wu Wei had casually brought them up earlier to try and sell to the chef, he had received an unexpectedly enthusiastic response.

The chef had offered 20 runic stones on the spot.

As it was a reasonable sum to Wu Wei, he did not bargain with the chef and sold it there and then!

After leaving the canteen, Wu Wei went to the trading market again.

This time, he did not go to the stalls. As it was still early, there were barely any stalls aside from the regular shops.

Wu Wei went into a random shop and sold the Wild Boar Necklace and the Earth Spike rune.

The necklace fetched him 35 runic stones, while the earth spike rune fetched him 48 runic stones.

Right now, the number of runic stones inside Wu Wei’s pocket had soared to 114.

Even after deducting the black-robed stall owner’s 50 runic stones, Wu Wei still had 64 to spare. This was a considerable sum of money, and Wu Wei, who had never been this rich, was ecstatic.

In his excitement, Wu Wei began to plan how to spend his money.

“I’m already Level 10 now. I have to consider inscribing my second Core Rune. Otherwise, my level won’t go up, and I’ll be wasting any experience gained, just like with the Wild Boar King from before.

When he thought about his second Core Rune, Wu Wei’s brain began to hurt.

Inscribing core runes was a rather expensive affair. Take the Earth Spike rune that Wu Wei had just sold, for example.

The conditions for inscribing this rune were tailored toward Runic Mages.

It wasn’t that only Runic Mages could inscribe it, but that the requirements would otherwise be difficult to fulfill.

And even then, not even a Runic Mage could guarantee successfully inscribing it in their first attempt. It would typically take two or three tries, and each attempt required an extra Earth Spike rune! In other words, for a Runic Mage to inscribe Earth Spike as his first Core Rune would take an average of 150 runic stones!

Although the inscribing costs for a Runic Mage were higher, it was far worse for a Runic Summoner like Wu Wei.

Firstly, the runes required by a Runic Summoner were relatively expensive. Secondly, the failure rate of inscribing them was also higher.

If a Runic Summoner wanted to inscribe better core runes, it would be an impossible task without three to five hundred runic stones.

When he thought of this amount of money, Wu Wei’s head started hurting.

He had tried to think his way around this before.

“What if I inscribe another Yellow Turban Soldier as my second core rune and then upgrade him to a Yellow Turban Strongman too?”

“Since I now know how to upgrade a Yellow Turban Soldier, it would be a cost-effective way to acquire a second [Rare] summon!”

When this idea popped up in his head, Wu Wei had gotten hopeful.

However, in the end, he could only give up.

Although it was a good plan, [Yellow Turban Soldier] was only a level 1 rune. For his second core rune, he would need a level 10 rune, so it wouldn’t work out…