AECS 64

Chapter 64

Rune Business (2)

A week passed. Then another.

Clang, clang!

As mentioned before, Baek Jin-woo was working on other things too, but his top priority was Rune-d.

• “Rune-d, how’s your work going?”
• “Ohhh, Instructor! Hahaha! It’s going great!”
• “Hey, your hammer grip is twisted. I told you last time, pay attention. Hmm, the heat is fine, you know? But you need to replenish your firepower regularly.”
• “Hahaha! Got it! I forgot the grip again, thanks for the advice!”

Because of that, he regularly sent Instructor to ensure training wasn’t neglected.

It was to awaken his latent potential.

‘Amazing.’

It was incredible.

A sword-wielding instructor was teaching a naturally talented blacksmith, a dwarf.

Clang, clang!

The materials in front of Rune-d were piling up day by day.

He was now swinging non-stop, 24 hours a day!

And yet, the materials kept accumulating.

Word had spread among the Big Three.

“Farming runes is foolish. It’s much better to gather materials and craft them than buy them at the marketplace.”

At some point, Baek Jin-woo spoke up.

• “Rune-d, take it easy and rest a bit.”

“Eh?”

Rune-d looked genuinely offended.

• “How can you say such a terrible thing! With all these materials, you tell me to rest? Who knows when I’ll be quarantined again! I’ll swing as many times as I can while I still can!”

“…Fine.”

It seemed like a kind of trauma.

He loved swinging the hammer, and being locked up for so long… he was probably afraid it would happen again.

“Well, do as you like.”

‘As long as I benefit.’

Anyway, this incident actually caused rune prices to drop slightly, while material costs skyrocketed.

All players in the Big Three stopped buying runes and started buying materials.

As domestic material prices rose, overseas prices followed suit.

Domestic players even started buying from foreign markets!

Of course, all these materials were…

• “Khhaha! Is this for real? This can’t be a dream! Wahahaha!”

They were piling up in front of Rune-d. Continuously.

A month later.

• Crafting (Lv.4): Using various materials, there is a set chance to craft the desired rune.

Finally, the crafting level reached 4.

The success rate was increased to 2%.

For reference, success rates per level were:

• [Lv.1 → 0.1%]
• [Lv.2 → 0.5%]
• [Lv.3 → 1%]
• [Lv.4 → 2%]
• [Lv.5 → 4%]
• [Lv.6 → 8%]
• [Lv.7 → 10%]
• [Lv.8 → 15%]
• [Lv.9 → 20%]
• [Lv.10 → 25%]

Max level is 25%.

Reaching this could take years.

In reality, just getting to level 7 was enough to consistently produce high-quality runes with fewer materials.

‘Of course, enhancement is another story.’

Unless it was a rare rune, stats rarely came out ideally… but demand would always exist.

Every player wanted to perfectly customize their “graduation runes.”

During that month, Yu-baek was selling high-quality runes both domestically and internationally, making huge profits.

Naturally, the headquarters was busy.

• “Orders are massive! They keep coming in!”
• “Do we have any more runes? We can’t keep up with supply!”
• “Strength runes orders are huge!”
• “We might need to hire more staff.”

Clang, clang!

Even though supply was tight and they were taking pre-orders, there was no choice.

Rune-d’s hammer speed was steady.

They even tried using Lamba to speed it up. But:

• “Ugh! W-what is this! Let me go! I can’t control my body properly, how can I craft runes correctly?”

Rune-d panicked, so they immediately re-summoned him.

Yu-ja hired more sales staff to handle the boom and even opened a branch in overseas markets.

The business was officially underway.

Meanwhile, in England.

In front of a skyscraper called The Shard in London, a blonde woman stood.

Her name was Rachel.

Ding!

[Sugoi: “Rachel, are you really attempting it today?”]
[Xenos: “Breaking through the 30th-floor boss and going straight to the 50th-floor boss? Are you sure?”]

The group chat was on fire.

Rachel had announced that she would climb the Tower of Trials, breaking her long silence.

During her hiatus, she had prepared thoroughly.

In Battle of Summoners, failing the tower had no real penalty.

But in reality?

Fail, and you die.

So Rachel tried recalling the tower’s ecology from her memories and planned her strategies thoroughly.

Finally, she was ready.

[Rachel: “Don’t worry. Success rate is 100%.”]

She now had absolute confidence.

[Baekcheon: “Wow! As expected, you’re amazing, sis!”]
[Rachel: “Didn’t I tell you before? I don’t want to be called ‘sis’ by an old man past sixty.”]
[Baekcheon: “I said, older than me, it’s ‘bro’ or ‘sis.’”]
[Rachel: “Shut up.”]
[Baekcheon: “Anyway, did you hear the news?”]

News?

Rachel smirked and tried to close her phone.

Baekcheon wouldn’t stop talking once he started.

‘He must’ve brought interesting news again.’

Just as she tried to ignore him and focus on the tower…

[Baekcheon: “The South Korean player, Baek Jin-woo.”]

Huh?

Rachel stopped closing her phone.

‘Baek Jin-woo…’

She half-suspected he was JinuGod. A key figure!

[Baekcheon: “The company Yu-baek that manages him is selling runes recently.”]

Runes?

Which runes?

[Sugoi: “Ah, that?”]
[Baekcheon: “Oh, you know too?”]
[Sugoi: “Yeah. I bought a few myself recently.”]

Huh? Even Sugoi knows? And bought them?

[Baekcheon: “Looking at those runes, don’t you think of a certain summon?”]
[Sugoi: “You feel it too?”]
[Baekcheon: “Yeah, I do.”]

The two top-rankers shared their impressions without saying it aloud.

Rachel, frustrated, typed into the chat:

[Rachel: “Feel what?”]

Sugoi answered.

[Sugoi: “Rune Dwarf.”]
[Rachel: “What?”]
[Sugoi: “Yu-baek is selling runes only a Rune Dwarf can make.”]
[Rachel: “Seriously?”]
[Sugoi: “Simply put, strength runes with both crit rate and crit damage stats. All made by a Rune Dwarf.”]
[Rachel: “Wow, that’s real.”]

The veterans understood everything with that one line.

‘That’s huge.’

She was honestly a bit envious.

Even though she had mostly set up rare runes, the difference between having a Rune Dwarf-crafted rune and not having one was massive.

[Sugoi: “Remember Baek Jin-woo had that instructor and Wind Fairy for training? Those were all summons quarantined in the patch. Rune Dwarf was also quarantined. 100%—Baek Jin-woo has the Rune Dwarf.”]

Wow.

So he even got that?

[Sugoi: “I know, I tried endlessly with high- and top-grade summoning scrolls to get the Rune Dwarf. Never came out. But Yu-baek has it. Damn, I’m jealous.”]

And now he’s using it for business?

He was remarkably resourceful.

‘Indeed, JinuGod.’

She wanted to approach and ask, but:

‘There’s not much time left anyway.’

Only four months until the World League.

By then, she’d meet him whether she wanted to or not.

No need to provoke him unnecessarily.

What concerned Rachel, however, was:

‘Sugoi said he bought a few recently.’

That meant even the silent Five Emperors had noticed.

If the Rune Dwarf is truly exclusive to Baek Jin-woo…

Its value would only rise.

If Baek Jin-woo is wise, he’ll adjust supply appropriately.

‘Then?’

Buying it now is an absolute profit.

Before attempting the tower, Rachel called the vice-guild master of her guild, Red Rose.

• “Yes, guild master?”
  “Can you check if a company called Yu-baek is selling runes in our market?”
• “Yes, one moment!”

After a short while:

• “There’s a post, but they’re out of stock and only taking reservations.”

As expected.

The fast movers had already bought everything.

Rachel sighed.

The Red Rose intelligence team… these guys…

She’d have to overhaul them.

“First, reserve everything we can, and when stock comes in, buy it all.”

Shaking her head, Rachel then walked into The Shard, Europe’s tallest building—the Tower of Trials in England.

“Awesome!”

Baek Ah-jin shouted.

She already knew the new rune sales business was booming.

But then:

[Red Rose – “We want to reserve.”]

Among the many guilds and top-rankers who contacted them via email, this was incredible.

“Red Rose… that’s Rachel’s guild, right?”
“Yes,” the staff replied.
“Red symbolizes England. Everyone thinks of Rachel when they see a rose badge.”
“Wow, such a massive guild buying our runes?”

She was thrilled.

Her brother’s fame was spreading overseas, and it made sense.

Even more:

“Yoshida Hikaru from Japan wants to buy more runes.”
“And contact has reached Xenos in the US!”
“Also Baekcheon in Taiwan!”

Orders were coming from the Big Five countries, all at once, from renowned rankers.

Some even requested regular transactions.

‘This is amazing.’

Baek Ah-jin was stunned.

It had only been yesterday they were called “rune sellers,” and now this?

The fact that everyone wanted their runes meant one thing:

Yu-baek’s runes were the finest in existence.

And she earned a 20% commission from sales.

‘Amazing.’

They were sitting on a fortune.

‘Still.’

Given this demand, it might be time to raise prices.

Economics 101: high demand, low supply—raise prices to balance.

How Yu-baek’s rune business would progress from here was uncertain.

‘For a first step, this is incredible.’

Word would soon spread.

The place that sells runes you can’t get, no matter how much money you have.

Meanwhile.

• “Finally!”

Clang!

Rune-d, who had been hammering for a long time, threw his hammer down and laughed.

• “Finally mastered it!”

The summon’s player had wanted this so badly:

Potential Awakening!

• Crafting (Lv.4): Using various materials, there is a set chance to craft the desired rune.
• Masterpiece Crafting (Lv.1): Using various materials, you can craft the specified rune with 100% success.

Masterpiece Crafting!

Rune-d had mastered it.

It had been a month and a week since he started.