In the end, the 'greatness' of an ungraded runic armament was tightly restricted.
As they were made out of ordinary materials, the runic armaments Nial created could never exceed a certain threshold.
There were limitations but with the use of runic constellations, it was possible to create a condition where one could nearly reach the material's limitations.
This was what Nial was trying to do by casting a weapon made out of Black iron before engraving the runic constellations he had learned on the warm blade.
It was obvious that the engraving process on shaped hot iron was far more difficult than a piece of paper, however, Nial solved this rather easily.
The first weapon he cast was a broadsword. It had a wide blade which left enough space for Nial to inscribe the runic constellations he had recently learned.
He didn't crave to do anything complicated such as engraving the runic constellation around the edge, altering its size or shape.
His efforts bore fruit after the grueling task of creating a near-perfect runic constellation. Nial failed more than 9 times and worked for three days without a break, before finally succeeding on the 10th attempt.
As he wielded the broadswords, its double-edged blade looked eerily sharp and Nial swung the 1.2 meters long and 10kg heavy blade around with ease.
"[Endurance] and [Sharpness] to keep the mana consumption to the bare minimum." Mathias just mumbled as he took over the black broadsword. He looked at the blueish runic constellation that had been engraved on each side of the 8-centimeter width, which the blade had at its base.
"With [Mana Membrane] in addition to both runes, you would have reached a better result, though. The mana consumption would have increased by a few times but in the end, it would still be considered relatively cheap to use the weapon, even if the Original is only at the 1st or 2nd Origin rank."
Miranda was impressed at the potency Nial could release from the runic constellations he had engraved.
Their quality was quite high, much higher than anything both herself and Mathias had been able to achieve until now.
However, she still thought that Nial was wasting the weapon's potential by restricting himself, but Nial on the other hand could only shake his head.
"The casted Black Iron broadsword won't be able to handle the pressure if three basic runic constellations are activated.
In fact, even two are already too much. It is only because the [Endurace] runic constellation increases the weapon's endurability, while the [Sharpness] runic constellation solely puts pressure on the edges to enhance its sharpness that everything works out and the effects are balanced.
Black Iron ore is inexpensive but that is also why its quality is not that great."
In the beginning, Nial wanted to create ungraded runic armaments solely with the [Sharpness] runic constellation.
But after the 5th attempt of creating his first runic armament, he noticed that something was wrong.
The Black Iron had been unable to endure the pressure the activated [Sharpness] runic constellation caused.
After swinging it at a wooden test puppet a few times, the broadsword showed signs of breaking.
Cobweb-like cracks had formed around the edges of the broadsword where it had hit the puppet.
This was quite annoying because it was certain that the weapon would be considered a failure if it broke after fighting against a handful of low-mid Origin ranked monsters.
That was also why Nial had been forced to engrave the [Endurance] runic constellation as well.
With both runic constellations used at the same time, the broadsword's low endurance was no problem anymore and Nial could think about doubling his efforts and speeding up the creation process of the runic armament.
After he got the hang of it, the most important after quality would be quantity.
Having enhanced the Black Iron ore to reach its peak quality, Nial now had to use his time in the most efficient way.
"That makes sense. How about you keep inscribing runic constellations on casted weapons, and armors, so that you test out every single cast at first? That way you will not only be able to figure out which casts are the most suitable for you to use for mass production but it will also help you to increase your proficiency." Miranda said with a faint smile on her face.
The only issue in mass-producing runic armaments was the fact that no technology was capable of inscribing runic constellations.
Even in the future, this shouldn't be possible because one had to create the runic constellation's mana veins, connect them properly and focus on certain other complex matters that required human intervention.
That meant runic constellations would always remain a rarity, with the sole exception of casted weapons.
However, casting weapons in bulk also had its downside, which was their quality. Casted weapons would have a tightly restricted limit, simply because higher graded ores possessed well-functioning mana veins that would be damaged in the usual casting process.
Only by carefully forging the ore would it be possible to expel the impurities within these ores and prevent their mana veins from bursting, or getting damaged.
In fact, the greater the number of impurities removed from the ores the higher the potential of the ore and the better one could control the mana veins within the ore. This would allow many great things to happen, including the creation of powerful Myth weapons and armors with wondrous effects released from the natural traits of the purified ores!
The more time Nial spent inscribing runic constellations on Casted Black Iron weapons, the greater his interest in other materials and runic constellations became.
His biggest priority was to become more proficient in inscribing runic constellations so that he could earn a huge fortune as quickly as possible. Simultaneously, it would be best to keep the costs as low as possible.
This was possible with the Black Iron ore and the most basic runic solution Miranda could create in a high quantity at a dirt-cheap price.
But even then, Nial felt that he had underestimated his desire to get to know more about Runiciers, to create runic armaments at a higher Tier, to create the perfect weapon.
'Will I have to learn blacksmithing if this keeps getting more interesting? Well…and alchemy as well…' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.
Three more days had passed in which he created 20 new weapons. After the first successful attempt, Nial didn't need to waste his time thinking about where he should engrave the two runic constellations or how to fix his previous mistakes.
He simply spent the next few hours testing out engraving runic constellations on every single weapon forged in the casts Miranda had purchased for them.
"Saber, Broadsword, Longsword, Axe, and maybe the Halbert. Those are the easiest casts to engrave the [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constellations on."
It took him the shortest time to engrave the runic constellations on those casted weapons, which was why Nial was pretty sure that he could mass-produce weapons soon.
As long as he worked efficiently with enough casts and had enough molten Black Iron to forge weapons, creating 10 ungraded runic weapons an hour should be feasible for the time being.
With time and higher proficiency, he was confident of increasing the number of runic armaments he could create in an hour, but 10 was already a pretty decent number.
This was even more so because their production cost was extremely low while the price at which he would be able to sell the ungraded runic armaments should only be slightly lower than Lowest Myth Common weapons.
To call this pretty decent was an understatement and Nial knew that he would be able to earn more than enough to cover his daily expenditures until he reached the 10th Origin rank. This would be the case as long as he would create 20 runic armaments in a week.
However, for now, he put selling his goods on hold.
But even with such a low weekly quota to meet his requirements, Nial never spend less than 3 hours a day researching runic constellations, to re-read the books about runic armaments and Runiciers, and creating more runic armaments.
As for the rest of the day, Nial spent between four to six hours a day entering Low Expert dungeons, and the remaining time was used to increase his proficiency with the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual, the Ciran taria technique and the Elementus Mylee technique.
The Elementus Mylee technique was what Nial practiced the least as he used this combat technique inside the Low Expert dungeons he entered.
At Miranda's mansion, the only thing he was doing with the Elementus Mylee technique was to fix his flaws and to deepen his understanding of the technique by using the experience he had gained in the dungeons.
Time passed slowly and while most citizens had nearly forgotten about the incident with the Dryx, Nial forgot about the existence of the Symbol of Life, the Ankh, that had been engraved on his Odyssey seed.
He had reached the 8th Origin rank without any major roadblocks and was making his way toward the peak of the Origin rank.
It wouldn't take long until he would reach the Prym rank, and keep advancing.
Nial's proficiency of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was increasing at a rapid pace. Even Miranda couldn't help but feel that Nial's control over mana had scaled the heights she would never have even dreamt of at her age.
Despite Nial being a late-bloomer, his current strength was not something many at his age could reach.
Maybe Jase would reach the same strength when he would be a few months short of turning 19 but that was not something Nial could be bothered about.
His daily schedule was jam-packed yet Nial never stopped researching about the Eclypse Assassins, their connection to the Heaven's Gates, and information about the Heaven's Gates itself.
The Sacred Knights Organization couldn't be ignored either. They seemed to have retreated once again but Nial had heard more than enough rumors about them to know that it was only their public appearances that had decreased all of a sudden, not their schemings carried out from the shadows.
Nial was still not certain about anything related to the Sacred Knights, or the possibility of their Leader being an Incarnated God, but he could tell that the Sacred Knights were not something he should take lightly at any time!
With the information he had gathered, Nial could deduce that the Heaven's Gates Organization had its headquarters somewhere in Liondra.
He had yet to find his parents but, he was confident he of finding them sooner or later.
And to locate them easily, Nial was currently preparing himself to get his hands on some social contacts and, even more so, lots of money.
The annually held auction of the Gier family was going to be conducted in the next few days, and Nial had toiled relentlessly and prepared more than enough to gain a huge fortune.
After all, he was about to sell the ungraded runic weapons he manufactured, more than 15 Tier-1 runic armaments and three nearly unscathed Guardian Knights puppet-type Tier-2 runic armaments, including their swords!
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