There was no way that Cain could escape the arena without more questions after that revelation, no matter what the announcer had said about it being the last question.
"You can use Runecrafting?" Someone in front shouted, breaking the stunned silence.
"Yes, and you've all seen it in action. The blow gun Luna used was made in public, in the bleachers. At least a dozen Elders were present and can confirm my words." Cain informed him.
"If you can copy Mythic Rank skill books, does that mean you can read the Ancient magical language as well?" An old woman whose hunched posture was in direct opposition to the sense of power coming off of her.
"Yes, the one who taught me all I know saw fit to teach me," Cain replied, ignoring the faint laughter in his mind.
"This venerable Elder, was it a human?" The old woman asked suspiciously.
"Yes, a human man with a Divine level of power and a very long history, from what I understand." Cain agreed.
The Creators were still not on good terms with the human gods from this world, but Cain thought he should be safe giving away that much knowledge.
It wasn't like the woman was likely to make the logical leap from a random guy with strange skills to the Laughing God, who wasn't even from this world.
There was a lot of speculation about who it could be, but no consensus until finally, they started with more questions.
"Can you stay this evening and teach us a few things about Inscription? I see that your disciples don't use Talismans, so are they wearing inscribed armor?" An Elder in a leather apron asked.
"In fact, they are. We could spend a few hours discussing magical item creation if you like. I have some theories that a master such as yourself should be able to implement."
That was all it took to get the weapons makers worked up, and the other Elders realized that they would have to wait to learn anything.
"How about you come to the space we have reserved? We have forges and room for an audience." A long-bearded Elder in a leather apron requested.
If he were just a bit shorter, Cain would have thought it was one of the Mountain Dwarves, but at 160cm, he was definitely too tall, and he hadn't heard of half Dwarves before, no matter how much this man resembled one.
Perhaps they only weren't a thing due to the insular nature of his world's dwarves and the human's lack of prodigious beards killing their attractiveness in the eyes of the Stout Folk?
"Ladies, why don't you follow the Lotus Blossom Sect back to camp, and you can relax all you want tonight and then all day tomorrow? Just stay in the camp where you are safe since it looks like I will be busy." Cain told his disciples.
"Not a problem, Master Cain. But we're keeping Luna with us. Not that we don't trust you, but you know." Penny told him.
"I'm never going to live that one down am I? It was a minor oversight." Cain sighed, then waved for them all to go back to where the Elder and the others were waiting to congratulate them.
Getting out of the arena was not a quick process, despite the size of Cain's newfound entourage. There were simply too many people packed in for the finals to be able to move anyone anywhere in a hurry. The organizers had even brought in bards to narrate the fight for the people outside who couldn't get into the arena to see the matches, so the streets were packed.
"Elder Cain, will you be doing a symposium on Inscription later? Many of us are greatly interested in seeing how a Mythic skill manuscript can be accurately copied without the wards causing essential errors in the translations." Someone called as Cain's group was near the exit doors.
"Copied? Why would you try to copy them manually? You create Mythic Skill books from your memory of skills that you have mastered. Each one is a unique new creation." Cain replied.
"So you're saying that you can't do skills that you don't know? Or that it isn't possible?" The man questioned quickly before the group moved out of earshot.
"You can do ones that you don't know, but that's a whole other technique than simply creating a Mythic Manuscript," Cain replied vaguely, smiling at the stranger, who was now thoroughly perplexed by the answers that Cain had given.
Attempting to copy advanced skill books was the normal way to do them, but the inscriptionists of this world didn't know about the requirements for materials in the ink, so they inevitably failed the attempt every single time, and the book came out with various levels of errors.
Skill books were more than simple words. There was a Mystic quality to them that prevented those with minds too weak or unsuitable for the skill from understanding them. For Cain's disciples, that meant class restriction. For the people here, it was all about affinities with their cultivation techniques.
Unfortunately for them, they didn't have the System on their side, so they couldn't just use the book and absorb the knowledge it contained. They had to read, understand and apply what it taught. They had it much harder than those with the System did.
Once they were out of the arena, nobody recognized Cain anymore, and they began to make much better progress among the rapidly dispersing crowd. Many would stay to celebrate, and the lines to cash Casino bets were long ones, but the majority of the flow was away from the stadium, exactly the way that Cain wanted to go.
Their final destination was a large warehouse that had been repurposed into a smithy, with six makeshift chimneys extending from the roof and fans blowing waves of scorching heat out of the building.
"Could you not get the forge hot enough, so you had to trap the heat in a building?" Cain sighed, making the smiths chuckle.
"It was all that we could find. They get a proper winter here, so there were no pole buildings without side walls anywhere in the city. It shouldn't be too bad inside." The Smith shrugged.
"It shouldn't be worse than the forges of Graska anyhow. They turned an entire mountain into a smithy, and the forge area is truly sweltering, unfit for human habitation." Cain replied, earning some confused looks.
"I ended up coming through a one-way portal to this world. Graska is a city in my homeworld." Cain explained.
"They sound like a good sort. A whole mountain dedicated to forge fires sounds like the sort of place that I would enjoy living." The smith who had invited Cain agreed, making his braided beard wiggle with every word.
"Now, I will need at least three smiths, with their assistants, to show this and have everyone understand. For the demonstration, it is easier if I explain, and you smith, while I clarify for the audience."
The smiths rapidly rearranged the seating and set up three anvils around one of the forges in the middle of the room, giving the maximum number of people a good view of the proceedings.
Alright, Elder Cain, we are ready to go. What are we making? I've got a good collection of materials." The smith asked.
"We can start with Epic or Legendary Mystic Item symbology if you like. That should appeal to a large number of viewers and not confuse too many of them."
The smith thought for a moment and looked over the crowd. "I don't think there is an Elder here under two hundred years, so I think that Legendary Symbology would be for the best. They should all be able to reliably create Epic quality items by now."
That made the crowd chuckle. They wouldn't have shown up for this lecture if they didn't at least understand the theories and practices needed to make Epic items. That was the standard that most decent Sects could expect their smithy to produce for their Inner and Core Disciples to earn from the Sect's storage.
"If they can create Epic, it's not that far to Legendary, only a few extra steps and a small change of runes to concentrate power. Why don't we skip straight to the fun part? Pick two more who have some experience with Mythic weapons, and I will give a short lecture on the fundamental transformation between a Legendary weapon and an Awakened one."
The Smith's smile threatened to split his face at Cain's words, and he took out a small green token, then broke it and nodded.
"I have called for better Elders to follow your directions more accurately. It should help the symposium be understood if the assistants performing the techniques that you are describing don't fail."
Cain chuckled. "I imagine Smithy symposiums are usually very loud but not big on words. Smithing takes concentration, and you can't break it to tell people what you are doing every few minutes. The metal doesn't like that."
"Spoken like a true Smith." An elderly voice from the crowd informed Cain as a man who was almost certainly a Dwarf approached.
"We are here to assist. Rest assured, each of us has created a Mythic Weapon in the past. If your technique is true, we won't fail you." The dwarf assured Cain, gesturing to a pair of equally elderly men behind him.
"Perfect, let's get started then. The item I will be using to demonstrate for everyone today is Stonebreaker, a one-handed Maul of Mythic Renown. Gentlemen, I have prepared written directions for you."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢