The Rune Dwarf

These were the materials required to craft a Guaranteed Summoning Scroll (B-grade).

The moment Baek Jinwoo arrived at the workshop, he kicked off the craft without a second of hesitation.

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The odds sat at 80 percent. Unless his luck had gone truly, spectacularly to the dogs, this thing was getting made!

Please. Please, please, please.

Sweat pooling in his palms, he rubbed his hands together in earnest prayer.

FLASH!

"Niiiiiiiiice!"

WAAAAAAAH! Baek Jinwoo roared at the top of his lungs.

No more of this. Never again would he have to sweat bullets over a blueprint gamble like this one.

After all, only two EX-grade summons had ever been B-grade to begin with—and now he could pull them both.

What a relief.

Two rolls at 80 percent. He'd been worried, but both had gone off without a single hitch.

Which meant that before heading to floor 30 of the Tower of Ordeal, he would get to lay eyes on the Rune Dwarf.

Out of the workshop, Baek Jinwoo asked himself—why wait any longer?—and simply tore the scroll open.

Riiiiip!

Shhhhhff! Among the countless cards fanning out before him, there was exactly one summon in his mind's eye.

"Kya! I've been waiting for you, you rascal!"

Heart aflutter, Baek Jinwoo snatched the card up.

Whirrr! The card spun round and round, then erupted with light.

"Er, hmm? What's this now."

Thump, thump.

A squat little fellow with a snow-white beard came toddling out, cute as could be.

"Where... where might this be...? And who are you, exactly? How did you go about summoning me?"

The dwarf's eyes, darting every which way, brimmed with pure curiosity.

"Lund."

"...Lund? Hmhm. Now that's a familiar way to be addressed. Could it be... Jinugod?"

"Yeah, it's me. But my name around here isn't Jinugod—it's just Jinwoo."

Ugh. That damn Jinugod. It made him cringe every single time he heard it.

"Heh, heh-heh-heh!"

The Rune Dwarf began to chuckle slowly, then threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"KWAHAHAHAHAT! It's really you? Really and truly?!"

With that, he scampered over and clasped Baek Jinwoo's hand in both of his own.

"I missed you—truly, truly did! Ever since they quarantined me without so much as a by-your-leave, I haven't swung a hammer once. You can't imagine how I've ached for the feel of it! But I believed! I knew you'd summon me again someday...!"

Wow.

He'd known Lund was something of a chatterbox, but hearing the man in living, spoken words was a whole different flavor.

For the record, Lund's time had overlapped only briefly with Hungyo's. He had never met Ramba or Pokryongi.

First things first—time to check his info.

He was the only summon in existence with a skill proficiency system.

Grind that proficiency with everything he had, put him through blacksmith training under Hungyo, and what would happen? He would learn the latent ability Masterwork Crafting (Lv.1)—and that skill was straight-up broken. It let him craft every Rare and Unique rune under the sun.

For the record, back in Battle of Summoners, the poor man had been hit with a balance patch the very moment Masterwork Crafting reached Lv.3.

Ugh! Even now, just remembering it made his blood boil.

"Welcome back to the camp, Lund."

"And I'm overjoyed to see this other side of you! My vow stands exactly as it always has! In return for letting me swing my hammer to my heart's content, I'll forge runes for you for the rest of my days! I mean every word of it."

"I know. Thank you."

Every summon harbored a desire of some kind. For Lund, that desire was hammering. And from a player's perspective, a desire like that was nothing short of a jackpot.

"Come along, then, my friend. There's a family I'd like you to meet."

"Say hello."

Back at the penthouse, Baek Jinwoo let Lund out.

"New member of the family. An elite one, at that. You've all heard plenty about him, haven't you?"

Baek Jinwoo had gathered his EX-grade summons under a single word: elite.

Ramba, Hungyo, Pokryongi, Doldori, Lund. These five would be his core—the ones on whom he planned to pour his time, his affection, and his resources. The rest? Well. He'd just raise them at a reasonable pace.

"So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you're the Lund I've only ever heard about? Hiya! Nice to meetcha!"

Flutter, flutter! Ramba came flitting over—and then, out of nowhere, she burst into song.

"Ramba. Quiet."

Hungyo, who had been polishing his sword, strode over, and Ramba's lips pushed out into a pout.

"Tch."

"Lund. It has been a while."

"Oh! Hungyo, it's you! A fine sight, seeing you again like this. Yes! KWAHAHAT!"

Hungyo and Lund had always gotten along splendidly. The urge to drill trainees and the urge to hammer iron better simply meshed, you see.

"I'm Pokryongi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"...Krruk!"

Lund beamed just as brightly at Pokryongi and Doldori.

"Hahahat! Yes! Strangers still, but I look forward to working with you! One look is all it took—I'll be forging runes for you two as well! Of course, first I'll have to rebuild all the proficiency I lost... KWAHAT! Well, that's a fine thing in its own right! Lost proficiency only means more hammering to look forward to, no?"

Positive thinking. In other words, Lund-style thinking.

Still, Baek Jinwoo couldn't help feeling a little daunted. He remembered all too well how the man had grinded out that proficiency the first time around. And now he was expected to do it all over again.

For the record, Crafting maxed out at level 10. At 10, the efficiency finally became respectable. The problem was that getting there took a hellishly long time.

Well, whatever. Come to think of it, things were better now than back then. Back then it had been a game; now it was reality. And in reality, sourcing materials? Honestly, that part was easier.

"Jinwoo, what brings you by?"

Having left home under Doldori's escort, Baek Jinwoo had called for Yoo Jia the moment he could. He needed her counsel on the matter of Lund's proficiency.

Ah, of course. There was something he owed her first.

"First—please, take this. It's a gift."

Baek Jinwoo opened a trade window. The item on the table: a Mindreader Bird (A-grade).

"Hm? What's this? An eagle?"

"It's called a Mindreader Bird. One of the rewards from the Tower of Ordeal this run. Go on—give the description a read."

"...Ah, of course."

Yoo Jia nodded, accepted the bird, and began to read its description. Then her pupils dilated.

Good heavens. A lie-detector bird! And a Rare, no less.

B-grade Rares were one thing—hard enough to find, but findable. A-grade Rares were treasures, plain and simple. The price was whatever a seller dared to ask, because the odds of one ever dropping converged on zero.

"You're giving something this precious... to me?"

"I figured it would serve you far better than it would me."

Genuine emotion welled up in her eyes. Oh, come on. She was moved by this? He had every intention of bringing her far better things than this.

"Don't get too excited. It's a work-ethic incentive, you know."

"Ah, ha-ha! Is that so? Then I suppose I'm condemned to endless overtime—no clocking out for me?"

"Oh, come now. It's not quite that dire."

Shoulders squared, Baek Jinwoo moved on to business.

"The gift is a gift. Now, there's a favor I'd like to ask."

"A favor?"

"Yes—it's about the rune crafting. Would you be willing to help me publicize it?"

Baek Jinwoo and Yoo Jia put their heads together for a long while. And the decision they landed on? Commercialize the Rune Dwarf, effective immediately.

Lund's ability? Immense. Any major guild that owned him would have sealed him away and kept his services strictly in-house. But Baek Jinwoo had no guild. He was a solo player, operating under the management umbrella of Yubaek.

"The proficiency. Granted, I could grind it solo. But that would take far too long."

In Battle of Summoners, maxing out the man's Crafting proficiency had taken roughly two years—and that was with a truly obscene grind of feeding him materials.

"Better to enlist other players' help than go it alone."

"Hearing you lay it out like that, that does sound like the smarter play." Yoo Jia nodded. "That said, it mustn't look as though we're doing this for our own benefit. It has to run as a legitimate service, with fair compensation."

"Compensation, hmm..."

"The failure rate is brutal at his current level, so how about this: failures are free, and each success costs the client one summoning scroll? Naturally, the client covers all the crafting materials as well."

The rune-crafting success rate of Crafting (Lv.1) was abysmal—less than 0.1 percent, if he remembered right. And yet? The value was undeniable. You could get the exact rune you wanted, with the exact options you wanted attached to it.

"A summoning scroll?"

"Yes. One High-Grade Summoning Scroll per success."

Since a High-Grade Summoning Scroll traded at around 3 million won, he would effectively be charging 3 million won per successful craft.

Oho.

Properly commercialized, this was pure profit.

I grind proficiency while earning money on the side, and the clients pay their way to the exact runes they want. Everybody wins.

Besides, it was about time he started stockpiling High-Grade Summoning Scrolls too.

Five EX-grade summons remained.

Among summoning scrolls with an established market price, the High-Grade sat at the very top. Supreme and Ultimate Summoning Scrolls had no going rate—and no listings to speak of, either.

The summon rates on a High-Grade Scroll ran as follows.

Baek Jinwoo intended to tear open High-Grade Scrolls like a man possessed until the Small Giant and Damphir emerged. With those two alone, he could field the strongest tank line at his disposal—summons he would absolutely need ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to conquer the Tower of Ordeal with ease down the road.

Of course, actually pulling them would demand astronomical luck...

But keep tearing, and wouldn't luck come around eventually? Back in the day, there hadn't been even a sliver of a chance; now, at least, a small hope glimmered. And if Lund could start earning him scrolls on top of that? That hope would swell into something considerable.

"That's a solid plan. Broadcasting Lund's existence to other countries is still a touch premature, so for now, let's confine our agreements to the major domestic guilds—under strict confidentiality, of course."

Oho. That's Yoo Jia for you.

Right—too much exposed information could invite exactly the kind of danger that gang business had. If he wanted to walk the world openly, hiding nothing? At the very least, every last one of his EX-grade summons would need to be kitted out with fully enhanced, endgame rune sets. And every latent ability unlocked, too.

When that day came, surely he could face Rachel without flinching. No—not just Rachel. He would stand tall even if the entire world stood against him.

"Please do."

"Of course. I'll reach out to Baekho, Arirang, and Ilwol."

"Ah—add Carpe Diem to the list."

Ki Jaehyeok and Kang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jiho. Baek Jinwoo had taken a personal liking to those two. The way they trailed after him calling Hyung! Hyung!—he had a feeling they'd do whatever he asked without a word of complaint. Yes. When good things came his way, he ought to share them with those kids as well. He'd already resolved to take them on as disciples, after all.

"Understood! Your will be done!"

Yoo Jia snapped off an adorable little salute, her voice bright and lively. It looked for all the world like she was imitating Hungyo.

Watching her, Baek Jinwoo felt a smile tug at his lips. Good.

Everything felt like it was stacking up neatly, falling into place piece by piece.