Chapter 75：Lets Meet There (2/2)

”I doubt that,” Arthur snorted.

”It's true!”

”Sure.”

”That guy's father is a guild-master, I didn't want to provoke him.”

”That's all?” Arthur asked, staring at her. Being stared at by his eyes, Julia felt like he was peering into her soul.

”He promised me that he'd take care of the resources I needed.” Julia looked at the ground in guilt, avoiding looking at Arthur. ”I needed them for my research, so I didn't want to lose them.”

”By failing me? That says a lot about your character.”

”I swear, I would've called you later to redo the exam. It was only for the sake of appearances.”

”Okay, now what? Why are you trying to explain yourself to me? What do you want?” Arthur decided to forget about his grievances for now and listen to what she wanted.

”I want you to work under me. I'll take you in as a disciple and will teach you everything you need for the Runes Apprentice Cup.”

”In return?”

”No in return, just work as my assistant.”

”Okay, enough with the lies. I'm going.” Arthur stood up from his seat to go away. It was a lie, he didn't even need to think about it. However, Julia grabbed his arm before he managed to walk away.

”Runes Apprentice Cup is merely the beginning; the Runes Cup is the real stage. I want you to be my assistant in that competition.” She looked at his eyes urgently, but Arthur remained disinterested.

”In the end, the only reason you apologized is that you wanted something. There's only selfishness in you, it's sad. Good luck, Ms. Genius.” Arthur shook her hand away like one would do to a bug before starting to walk away.

”You need a recommendation! I can give you!”

”Already have one, bye.” Arthur kept walking away, leaving only the youngest genius alone. After a few steps, he stopped. She looked at his back expectantly, thinking he might have changed his mind.

”The Runes Cup, huh?” He turned around and looked at her. The setting sun reflected ever so brightly in his eyes. ”Let's meet there.” He said with a grin before leaving, leaving her to understanding the meaning of his words.

”Meet there? Does that mean…” Julia wished he meant as her assistant, but that was far from it. His grin said it all, he meant he would compete against her.

***

The next day, Arthur came into the clubroom wearing his runic bracelet. The bracelet could connect to the internet and provide him with a collection of artificial runes from the association that he could purchase. However, their prices were more than Arthur could currently handle, so he left his plans to evolve his runes for later.

He emptied the box on the ground, revealing six runic cords that the clubmates looked at with amazement. After examining them, they were far more efficient than what the others made. In the end, they used his cords for the main body parts like limbs and movements.

”How did you do it?” Ellen asked him while working to attach the cords to the frame. Even after a couple of days, each one of the other club members only came out with two successful runic cords. However, the 'newbie' suddenly came to them with six perfect cords.

”I had you as a great teacher,” Arthur smiled and avoided answering. Ellen went mute and didn't say anything, Arthur could feel her being slightly embarrassed.

The group worked until the end of the day on attaching the cords to the frame, making sure they were properly connected. It took several trials for them to make it walk. They had to invite a biology student to explain the proper for the golem's muscles to work.

Arthur wanted to use his Force rune to achieve walking or gliding across the ground, but he couldn't so he had to work with the others. They listened to the instructions of the biology student and were able to make the golem walk, albeit clumsily.

This technique was not used in mechas, as it was too outdated and simple. There was always the rigidity that couldn't be solved. In the advanced mecha research, they used other runes like Telekinesis, Flight, or simply a Runes Circuit that achieved walking.

Arthur returned home to find a package has arrived from Mr. Tate. What he had ordered from the man was already here it seems and Arthur took the box upstairs. He opened it to find six armors placed neatly inside, all of them being reinforced leather.

He inscribed all of them with protection runes and decided to have Joe sell them the next day.