Book 3, Chapter 63 (1/2)

Behind The Scenes

All the free Archeron warriors and the knights in training were quickly gathered in one of the training fields. There were over 300 people for Richard to choose from, and as usual, he walked to each of them to ask about their skills, family, and unique traits.

The process took more than an hour, leaving the spectating Fuschia the same as Nyris and Agamemnon when they first saw his incomparable patience and meticulousness.

He wound up picking 26 candidates, 17 of which were Archeron warriors. All of them had at least four rune slots as necessary for a rune knight, but they weren’t the most talented group. Half of them were limited to level 15; even in the best case, they would only end up as elite rune knights that could compare to a normal saint.

However, that was what made them suitable to be the core of an army. Any more powerful and they would grow difficult to command, just like Gaton’s thirteen.

Richard had the old steward equip all these soldiers with the spare equipment in the family warehouse. With another day left until he returned to Faelor, the family craftsmen would be able to make any adjustments needed as long as they worked a little more than normal. When he returned to Gaton’s study once more, he had finally dealt with every pressing issue.

He took out a piece of magic paper, carefully writing down a list of the people and items he would be bringing alongside him as a final confirmation. Looking at the goods on the list, he already had a rough idea of the huge profits he stood to make upon his return. It almost exceeded his profits from the royal family.

One had to note that a set of materials for Savage Barrier cost less than 200,000 coins, but given that it was more powerful than a mix of grade 2 runes it sold for over a million. The royal family would provide him with five sets of materials for every one he made, close to a million coins in materials for a single rune set. A runemaster’s profit margin was defined by their success rate, and his was abnormally high. Even any runes outside of the nominal agreement the royal family would buy only slightly lower than the market price.

Richard was basically guaranteed to spend less than 200,000 coins to craft one Savage Barrier set. A royal runemaster’s profits from their runes might seem lower than through auction on the surface, but the true profits came with the added status, privilege, and endless rare materials that one could not purchase on the market. Richard would make crazy profits from the royal family.

This was why he had been in such a rush to return to Norland. The true source of profit in any planar war was through trade. And he needed a lot of money to expand his power and influence as quickly as possible.

Of course, there was nothing without its cost. This return had sparked an eternal enemy in Lunor. The royal runemaster had accumulated stupendous amounts of wealth over the past decade, his numerous students giving him extensive power. Although some could be drawn away with other benefits, long-term relationships could not be shaken with money alone. He needed time to break Lunor’s influence apart, the one thing he lacked the most right now.

There were far too many things to do, but the Rainbow of the Moons came and went at a constant rate.

Richard’s greatest advantage was that his rate of profit was perhaps tens of times higher than Lunor’s; when his power and wealth reached a tipping point, the grand runemaster would be nothing in his eyes. Not only was his success rate far higher, he also took much less time to draw a rune. According to the information Nyris had given him, Richard estimated he only took half the time to draw a grade 2 rune.

Efficiency. that was also a source of profit.

Richard was immersed in calculating the profits of the trip, figuring out how much of it could be turned into battle power and how much had to be retained for growth. Maximising one’s profit in a given timespan was a complicated issue that was affected by many factors; even with his ability, Richard needed a few hours to go through everything.

……

While Richard was lost in a world of calculations, Coco stood anxiously in the steward’s office. The man had a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles on his face, carefully reading through a piece of paper filled with numbers. When he finished reading the last line, he inked a number on it and handed the paper to Coco.