Before Furan stood a standard three-story building; while the first floor was made of stone, the upper two floors clearly showed a wooden structure.
The second floor had a protruding balcony with a straw lounge chair and terracotta pots containing vibrant flowers.
On the wooden door before her was a nameplate that read [Home of Raymond the Baker].
Furan glanced at the paper in her hand, which stated that after selling his shop, the Enchanter had purchased a small house here.
She knocked directly on the door, hoping the Enchanter hadn't moved again, or she'd have to go looking for him once more.
After a brief silence behind the door, the sound of footsteps on wooden stairs echoed as someone hurried down.
"Sorry, I'm off today, so the bread isn't ready yet. Thank you for your concern..." a deep male voice called out from behind the door, followed by the sound of the lock turning.
Raymond had assumed it was an old customer checking in because the bakery was closed.
But when Raymond saw a stranger at the door, he was about to ask why they were knocking when he noticed the mage robes Furan was wearing, complete with patterns.
He froze for a moment, then quickly said:
"Apologies, Your Excellency the Mage... I didn't realize you would be knocking on my door..." He stuttered slightly out of nervousness, but his meaning was clear enough.
Furan ignored his apology and asked directly:
"A question for you: five years ago, were you working as an Enchanter, and did you come here after selling your shop?"
Raymond answered hastily:
"Yes, Your Excellency the Mage, but I haven't been in that trade for a long time..."
He was utterly confused as to why a mage would suddenly come looking for him to ask about his former life as an Enchanter.
"Then did you carve this rune?"
Furan handed over a short sword. Raymond took it hurriedly, examined it closely, nodded, and said:
"Yes, this was one of the few orders I received..."
"Tell me how you acquired the skill to carve this rune?" Furan interrupted him, getting straight to the point.
After organizing his thoughts, Raymond immediately began his tale.
Seven years ago, Raymond had found a tattered book at home. He was delighted because a book in Gede Town could fetch a decent price—at least two silver coins.
However, after looking closely at the contents, he discovered it explained how to carve a rune onto a weapon, which filled him with excitement.
While Enchanters weren't rare in Gede Town, their income far exceeded that of farmers or laborers.
After a few attempts, he actually managed to carve a rune.
So he immediately borrowed money and began his career as an Enchanter, but reality soon dealt him a heavy blow.
Being an Enchanter wasn't just about drawing runes as he'd imagined; it was a service industry that required customer satisfaction.
Because he didn't know how to apply extra coatings to weapons or create runes with more effects, his customer base plummeted.
Still, he managed to maintain a decent lifestyle; after all, enchanting was a high-end profession with expensive fees.
But what truly dealt a blow to his enchanting business was the very short sword before him.
At the time, a customer wanted a Frost Rune. This was a relatively niche rune that other enchanting shops didn't know, but after flipping through his book, he decided to take the job.
Although this rune looked different from the others in the book—more complex and peculiar—he went for it for the sake of the order.
But once he started drawing, he discovered to his horror that after reaching the halfway point, every stroke required more Spiritual Power. He couldn't continue and fainted before he could finish.
When he woke up and looked at the half-finished rune, he didn't know how to explain it to the customer. To his surprise, it actually worked, though it would fail occasionally.
The customer wasn't entirely satisfied, but after Raymond explained that the rune was rare and difficult to draw, they grudgingly accepted it.
Just as he was gloating over the money he'd earned, bad news arrived. Word spread that his skills were lacking and his runes were unstable.
Consequently, the shop that used to have occasional visitors suddenly had none. It suffered massive losses, and he planned to close up and return to farming.
Unexpectedly, the Adventurers Guild suddenly requisitioned land in his area, giving him a large sum of money that covered all his losses.
This time, he didn't plan to continue that business and simply became a baker. Though the income wasn't what it used to be, it was stable.
"I found it in a book at home, Your Excellency the Mage. Wait a moment."
With that, Raymond jogged into the house and rummaged around for a long time before pulling out a dust-covered book.
He had originally wanted to sell it, but when people heard it was a rune book from an Enchanter who couldn't even carve properly, they would only pay the price of a normal book. That amount was too small for someone who had received compensation for land requisition.
So he simply kept it at home as a keepsake.
But now that a mage had come for it, Raymond abandoned the idea of a keepsake and handed the book directly to Furan.
Furan took out twenty silver coins. This was the standard price for a tattered rune book, as it wasn't a certified textbook.
What could Raymond do? Receiving twenty silver coins was an unexpected windfall. He naturally didn't dare to haggle with a mage and accepted the offer immediately.
After leaving Raymond's house, Furan opened the tattered book and read through it carefully.
There were many normal contemporary runes inside, though only seven were recorded—no different from what Furan had already learned.
To Furan's delight, the complex runes were also there—seven in total, and they were quite complete.
However, when Furan turned to the seventh rune, she almost dropped the book because the pattern was unusual.
It was a sketch of an elephant sitting among mountains. This was the symbol of the image of the mountains, a depiction of a deity with a religious following in the Material Realm.
[Once carved onto a weapon, this rune grants the weapon a Weight similar to the mountains. However, take care to protect the weapon, as it may be damaged by the rune itself.]
This was the description of the rune. If it also had the effect of a progress bar for injecting Spiritual Power, it might very well be the Ancient Rune version of Weight.
Furan stared intently at the rune.
Since this rune was the symbol of the image of the mountains, were the previous six runes also symbols of certain gods? She had just seen them; all six followed the same format, with an animal pattern in the center surrounded by smaller designs.
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