章 21: Rune Technology
Now that the ruins were illuminated by the light, everyone could finally see that the ruins were filled with rows of standing skulls that filled the walls to their right and left. The skulls were arranged while holding large swords in their hands, making one wonder if the skulls could live if they were to turn their faces away from the walls around them.
"Ugh. I can't believe they actually sent me to a horrible, smelly place like this."
Gazel grumbled as he continued to walk after Quirin. The placement of the skeletons and the quiet atmosphere made his hair stand up with fear. Gazel walked right behind Quirin. So when Quirin suddenly stopped, Gazel, who was fully focused on the skulls, ended up bumping Quirin's back quite hard.
"Hey, how dare you stop-"
Gazel's words were cut off as he saw what had caused Quirin to stop, which was another door with magic carvings written in ancient characters. Quirin approached the door cautiously. When Quirin was sure that there were no traps around the door, she finally began to observe the ancient writing on the door and took out a thick book to begin translating it.
"Hm... This is the first time I have seen rune technology in human territory."
Quirin stopped translating, then looked at Damian with a surprised expression.
"You can tell that this writing is runes? Then, can you tell what is written here?"
Quirin was already excited that someone could tell that the writing carved on the door was runes. However, his excitement was quickly dampened when Damian shook his head honestly.
"I only knew they were runes because our kingdom still retains powerful runes to protect the royal palace. The writing does look familiar to me. Yet, I don't know what it means because I never learned about runes personally."
Among them, the only ones who understood about runes were Quirin and Damian. The others stared in confusion until Henrik finally decided to open his mouth about it.
"Sorry. But ... what are these runes you guys have been talking about since before?"
Quirin and Damian looked at each other, then finally realized that the knowledge of runes had not been taught to first-year academy students like Elijah and the others.
"Ah ... Runes are one of the ways the ancients used magic, where they would carve long magic sentences to activate the magic they wanted. Nowadays, magic spellcasting has been shortened, so simply stating the desired type of magic is enough to activate it. Even so, knowledge of runes is actually more beneficial than regular magic usage in some ways."
Quirin gave a free lesson to her junior while the others listened seriously.
"For example, by using runes, we can create magic that can be active for a long time, like the runes on this door or the runes in the elven kingdom. Runes can also combine multiple magics into one powerful magic, as long as one is skilled enough in stringing words together to create runes."
"The magic books we have been using to learn new magic are also based on the rune theory developed by a runemaster several hundred years ago. The magic book actually contains very complicated runes, which are inserted with commands so that the knowledge of magic contained in the book can be immediately understood by the reader of the book."
Elijah stared at the door with the ancient writing called runes, then began to feel that rune technology would likely be beneficial to him in the future. Runes allowed him to trap enemies without having to fight them directly. With such technology, Elijah might no longer need to always risk his life when encountering his enemies.
Unfortunately, Elijah could not learn it when he had just entered the academy. Not to mention that Quirin, who was considered the smartest about rune technology in the academy, still needed a translator book to understand what kind of magic was affixed on the door. The technology of runes was complicated. So, Elijah regretted that he could not learn such different magic right now.
"Then, what is written on this door?"
Gazel asked, and Quirin finally focused again on translating what was written on the door. It took a long time for Quirin to finally close the translator's book. The man nodded, then told the rest of his team what he had found.
"It seems that these runes were made to prevent anyone from going further into these ruins. Give me a moment. I will try to use my knowledge to neutralize the runes on this door."
Quirin set to work, and the speed of her work made the others finally convinced that Quirin was indeed the right person to lead the investigation at the Latham Ruins. After Quirin finished translating the complicated runes, his hands moved quickly to carve additional words on top of the runes that had been carved long ago. The concentration was incredible as Quirin worked to decipher the runes. The others waited patiently until the door suddenly glowed and opened by itself.
"Your skills are not bad for a human."
As Damian saw Quirin's abilities with his own eyes, the elf could not help but praise his senior a little. Quirin smiled politely again in response to Damian's words. Apparently, all Quirin knew about how to interact with others so far is to smile and act polite no matter what.
"This door seems to lead us to another place. Don't forget to stay alert at all times. We'll see where this door takes us after this."
The others nodded, then the journey resumed to find out what secrets lay in the Latham Ruins.
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