The Runesmith

Chapter 718 – Second Match.

“That concludes the preliminaries for the treasure hunt, and what a spectacular display of skill we have witnessed today!”

The announcer shouted, his amplified voice echoing off the ancient stone pillars of the grand amphitheater.

“Against all odds, the team from Xandar’s Institute has swept the field, securing one of the highest scores, if not the highest recorded score, in the history of the preliminary phase! It’s hard to tell, since the last time it was scored, different units were used, so we’ll never know for certain… But they did exceptionally well, so let us give them a massive round of applause!”

The crowd in the amphitheater erupted into a deafening wave of cheers and applause. Shimmering bursts of harmless magical light exploded high above the stadium, painting the afternoon sky in bright gold and azure.

In the center of the main arena floor, spatial gateways resembling large doors sprang from the ground. Spatial ripples swept across the area as Lucienne and her team stepped through, returning from the pocket dimension.

Selphie proudly held her satchel, which bulged with glowing blue orbs and dozens of point cubes. Elian wore a proud grin, trying his best to act nonchalant as he twirled his specialized wand between his fingers. Oxian stretched his broad shoulders with deep satisfaction, loosening his wrists. Leron, meanwhile, seemed to melt into the background, doing his best not to stand out as he hid in Oxian’s shadow, as if he would rather not be there at all.

Lucienne immediately looked up toward the high box, searching for Roland among the sea of watching professors.

“Hey, Lucienne, where are you looking?”

Elian asked as he followed her gaze.

“That’s... the deputy...”

The moment Elian mentioned Roland, whom they knew as Deputy Professor Wayland, they all came to a halt. While the other teachers were standing, clapping, cheering, or waving at them, Roland simply sat there with his arms crossed, his visor glowing.

“Doesn’t he look more menacing than usual? Is he mad?”

Elian asked, gulping nervously. At that, Selphie nearly tripped over her own legs and fell.

“Um... he did ask us not to get too many points and to just qualify. Oh no, is he really mad? What will we do?”

Selphie pulled her big hat down over her head as if she could somehow hide beneath it.

“Is... is he still looking at us?”

She asked a moment later. Elian answered instantly.

“Yes, he is...”

Lucienne didn’t know what to make of the display. Her brother had always possessed a mysterious air about him, which caused many people to misunderstand what he was actually feeling. While she suspected he was not particularly pleased with their performance, he probably was not actually angry with them.

‘He always looks like that...’

She wanted to say it, but then she glanced toward where the others were looking and noticed that his visor was glowing redder than usual. Just as she was about to walk forward without giving it much thought, she felt her bracelet vibrate slightly. She looked down at it and instantly knew what it meant, as her brother was trying to contact her.

“He might actually be mad…”

“Is that…”

“It is… the deputy…”

The other four members of the group looked at Lucienne’s bracelet, their faces paling.

“D-don’t answer it!”

Selphie whispered while peeking out from beneath her hat. The bracelet continued to glow and vibrate, while their professor’s visor shone with increasing intensity.

Before Lucienne could answer, more people appeared from behind them. It was the group that had come in second place, and judging by their expressions, they were not particularly happy about it.

“Second? How did we get second place? I want a recount!”

It was Augustus and Biance, the noble-born mages they had met not long ago, the same two who had called them commoners and country bumpkins. They had been in the same preliminaries, though the groups had not crossed paths during the competition.

It was obvious that neither of them could accept the results. They immediately began complaining, as if their noble status alone should have been enough to change the official rankings.

“There must be a flaw in the score-taking spell! I want a recount!” 

Augustus shouted. He stormed past the group, his face flushed with indignation, while Biance followed close behind with her arms tightly crossed. Both of them threw venomous glares toward Lucienne and her companions, clearly unwilling to believe that a group from an academy they knew so little about could have outscored them by such a wide margin.

“Oh, what is this? The group from Starbloom Elemental Academy can’t accept the results! Is this the birth of a rivalry between Xandar and Starbloom? What a show!”

The announcer’s voice rang out once more, drawing even more attention to the unfolding drama. Lucienne and the others only became more uncomfortable.

Augustus and his sister glared at them one last time before turning their attention toward the announcer and storming away. Then, just when Lucienne thought things could not get any worse, her bracelet buzzed again. Her brother still wanted to say something.

“...”

*****

“Why isn’t she accepting the call? I just want to ask her how it went.”

He watched as her sister and the others stormed off into the waiting tunnel that would lead them outside. They were finished for today. It would take another day for the remaining groups to complete their preliminary matches, after which the semifinal round would begin. The top six schools would then be selected for one final event that would decide everything.

“I guess we’ve become the favorites... They’ll have to be careful.”

For whatever reason, his sister did not want to talk to him, so he eventually gave up. The main reason he had not wanted them to stand out was to preserve their advantage and increase their chances of qualifying for the top six school bracket. It would have been easier if they had revealed their true capabilities during the semifinals, where the chances of enemy groups working together to eliminate a stronger team would be at their highest. Now, they would probably become the target of several groups, and he was certain those students from Starbloom Elemental Academy would try something.

“This is great, Brother. Lucienne’s team did so well!”

“Yes, they did...”

Robert, who had watched the entire competition through his golem, was quite elated. While they had been watching, he had not been able to stop himself from commenting whenever Lucienne or her friends did something well. He was usually more reserved, but whenever it came to his younger sister, he simply could not keep quiet.

“I should really get them to meet, but now isn’t the time.”

While Lucienne’s competition was now over, Robert still needed to complete several more bouts to reach the finals. Roland’s goal was still to win his own event, one he had poured a great deal of time into, rather than simply helping his sister in the treasure hunt.

“By the looks of things, winning the bet shouldn’t be that hard...”

He had also come to another realization. This convocation was turning in his school’s favor. Perhaps he had overestimated the competition, or perhaps he had forgotten how people operated in this world. He had expected the schools to be driven by a desire to showcase their students and help them achieve more, but the class system upon which this world was built continued to hold them back.

He could see it even among the two noble-born mages. For their age, they were genuinely talented and had performed well, all things considered. However, the three people working alongside them seemed more like an afterthought, little more than side characters who had not been given much to work with. The difference in their equipment and performance was obvious. It was clear that most of the resources had been directed toward only a handful of elites rather than being distributed more evenly, as they were at Xandar’s institute.

“It’s not a bad approach for competitions with solo participants, but with teams, it backfires...”

He mumbled to himself while looking at his visor. Multiple small images appeared across its surface, each displaying another event taking place at the same time. The people from Xandar’s institute were performing better than most. They were not winning every event outright, but they consistently found themselves among the top three in almost every competition.

On one of the screens, a potion brewing competition was underway, an area in which his institute was not particularly strong. Even though they were unlikely to claim first place, they were still performing well thanks to their training and the support equipment created by the runic department.

Alchemy still required a certain level of mana control and knowledge, which the bracelets helped with. They had also acquired a specialized runic alembic with Rastix’s help. It kept things from overheating and usually prevented them from exploding. It was one of the ways Roland kept the mad alchemist in check, though he usually pushed things past the safety limit even when the runic equipment continued to warn him.

Then there was the maze crawl, which was going well. Their group had managed to qualify in second place, and there were more events to come. One after another, they were getting good results. The only downside was that all eyes were on them now. As their winning streak continued, Roland expected more and more pushback.

“Well, focus on your own fight first. We still have two more battles today, so get ready.”

“Sure. Don’t worry, I can’t lose now that Lucienne did so well!”

Robert’s voice was energetic, as if he wanted to prove himself just as much as the students did in their own events.

“Good. Just don’t overdo it. If you damage the runic machine, I’ll have to be the one to repair it.”

Just like the first time, Robert went through the tunnel, though this one led to a different arena. Soon, he arrived at the circular platform. After stepping onto it, he was transported up to the new arena.

Another golem was already waiting for him. It looked very different from the bipedal armored golem he had fought in his first match.

“It’s a centaur type. An interesting choice.”

Roland commented as he took his seat at the booth used to control the golems. The team he was facing looked more organized than the previous one, with multiple people controlling the four-legged construct.

‘They have an entire console and are using a manual setup? Interesting.’

While uncommon, there were ways to control golems without relying solely on voice commands. With enough people who knew what they were doing, it was possible to operate a golem this way. It simply was not very practical in an actual battle, since no one would be allowed to sit around a console with several operators just to control a single golem.

In the past, according to the records he had read, before automatic golems took over the market, some golems were controlled like vehicles. They had built-in control consoles inside them, while others had external consoles where several people sat and moved the large constructs around while sitting on platforms attached to their fronts, backs, or even heads. 

However, controlling something like that was far too difficult. Once automatic golem cores with runic systems appeared, allowing them to function more like monster golems, the technology was quickly forgotten.

Yet a few people could not simply let it go. They continued trying to innovate with the outdated technology, and while it could work to some extent, it was only practical in specific environments like this one.

The console had a large orb in the middle that displayed the main camera feed, giving the operators a wide view of the battlefield. There was one main console in the center, where a man wearing a cap sat. The cap looked like something that belonged on the head of a ship’s captain.

There were two other operators as well. Based on Roland’s analysis, they were probably responsible for controlling different parts of the golem. One was perhaps in charge of movement and positioning, while the other managed the heavy weapons mounted on the horse’s body.

This was also a good example of how some craftsmen and mages were trying to exploit the requirements of the competition. There was a limit on the height of the golems, but no real limit on their length. That was why some competitors chose non-bipedal designs that could be heavier, more stable, and capable of carrying considerably more firepower.

In their case, that wasn’t possible, as the mana phantom system needed a reflection of the pilot’s humanoid shape. It needed to resemble them, and the closer it was to their body, the better the performance became. The frame of his silvery-white Mobile Runic Armor resembled a knight’s armor and was made to mimic Robert’s knight class.

“This one will be more of a challenge, Robert, so be careful.”

“I’m always careful, brother.”

Robert didn’t sound particularly afraid of his new opponent. He simply waited for the signal for the bout to begin.

“Let us begin another Golem Battle! The golem from Xandar’s Institute performed well in its first bout, but can it do the same again? Let us begin!”

The announcer’s voice resounded throughout the arena, and the fight began. As soon as it did, Robert brought his shield forward while the mounted mana cannons on the centaur began firing in his direction.

He didn’t just stand there. He shifted to the side, allowing the fiery blue bolts of mana to slam into the reinforced arena wall behind him. Dust and shattered stone sprayed into the air, but Robert was already moving forward.

The heavy centaur golem possessed formidable firepower, but its four-legged structure lacked the agility of a trained warrior, particularly when it came to lateral movement. Its weakness was quite obvious, and Roland had already relayed it to Robert. His opponent couldn’t turn well, and while it was fast in a straight line, it struggled to readjust once it had committed to a charge.

The three operators sitting at the enemy control console frantically worked their levers and dials, attempting to pivot the massive steel torso to track Robert’s rapid advance. The front-mounted cannons fired again, charging up for a second barrage, but the delay caused by their manual coordination proved fatal.

Robert closed the distance far faster than they expected. The medium frame of his golem was quite agile compared to most models, and with a veteran knight piloting the machine, he sidestepped the incoming barrage with strange fluidity, a movement rarely seen in such a large golem.

With a swift pivot, the silvery machine glided beneath the centaur golem’s primary firing arc. Robert drove the tip of his shield directly into the construct’s forward knee joint, shattering the magical metal casing and throwing the four-legged frame off balance. The massive machine lurched forward, its mechanical legs grinding violently as the three operators inside the control booth panicked.

Before the operators could trigger their emergency defensive magic, Robert brought his thermal blade around in a tight, rising arc. The superheated edge severed the central control conduit linking the horse body to the main torso. Bright blue sparks cascaded across the arena floor, and the centaur golem collapsed into a motionless heap of iron and copper.

“What is this? Xandar takes another win, and does so with ease! Are they going to continue like this? Can anyone stop them?”

The announcer’s voice roared through the magical loudspeakers once again, praising the overwhelming speed and precision displayed by Xandar’s Institute. The crowd erupted into applause, though this time their reaction was mixed with whispers of shock. A single construct had dismantled two completely different combat models without taking a single scratch, something that shouldn’t have been possible.

‘I told the kids not to stand out, but… we’re doing exactly the same thing as them...’

Roland was aware that their golem was a notch above the rest, and eventually, it would start attracting attention. Some would be nothing more than curious onlookers, but others might have more serious intentions, potentially dangerous ones that extended far beyond the competition itself. If his golem managed to sweep through opponents that appeared tougher and more expensive, people would recognize its value. They would want to know how he had achieved such a result and, more importantly, how his technology worked.

‘Will the kingdom become interested? Should I tell Robert to lose at some point?’

He pondered the problem for a moment, but for now, he decided to let things play out. He would make a decision once they got closer to the end of the competition and he had a better idea of how well his school would perform.

Now that all eyes were on them, however, Roland knew more resistance would come. The other schools would realize that Xandar’s Institute was a threat, and some of them would likely work together to bring the new upstart down.