A Rune Mage was actually a special caster. Instead of using incantations or rituals to cast spells, they turned those spells into runes beforehand and then used magic to stimulate them. In this way, they could cast any spells they wanted.
Rune Mages were more flexible and faster than ordinary spellcasters, but they also needed to be more sensitive and stronger. In order to carry the power of those spells, the materials used to make runes were generally quite strong. “Strong” and “heavy” were roughly twin brothers. People who needed to carry a large number of runes had to be very strong, even if they were not thickly built men.
For example, if Palin, who was weak and small, were given eight or ten runes, he would hardly be able to walk. If he were given twenty or thirty runes, those runes might crush him to death.
So Rune Mages were generally strong people, and they also needed powerful magic because they had to cast spells. There were not many spellcasters who were both strong and possessed powerful magic, but in some races, such kinds of people were quite common.
For example, the Dwarf Race.
The Dwarf Race was created by the God of Earth Elements and the Goddess Gaia. Originally, they wanted to create a race that was both powerful and flexible with smart minds and good magic qualifications. But when they actually created the race, they found that these advantages could not be taken into account at all. In other words, the two gods were not powerful enough to create a race that could take those advantages into account.
Unfortunately, they lowered their standards and eventually created a race that was slightly shorter than humans but was very strong and powerful. They also had good magic qualifications and smart minds.
Generally speaking, the Dwarf Race was a very powerful race, but they also had their own shortcomings. Most dwarves were single-minded, probably because they were created by the God of Earth Elements, but that did not mean that they were not smart. They were just quite stubborn.
For example, when a dwarf went to a restaurant for dinner to order Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork. When the dish was served on his table, he would probably ask the waiter, “Where is the fish in this dish?” He would pester the waiter with this question for a long time. It was almost impossible to convince him that there was no fish in Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork. He would only nod in recognition only if he really received fish or some fish soup. Of course, he would never stray from his task; dwarves were creatures that would obey orders.
If this was a minor weakness of the Dwarf Race, then the other weakness was a little bigger—a dwarf’s fertility was not high.
It was said that the original dwarves did not have this shortcoming, but after the death of the God of Earth Elements, their fertility had reduced a lot. They suddenly fell from being a high-fertility race to a low-fertility race. It was said that at the worst time, there were no dwarven babies born in the whole world for twenty years.
Of course, this problem was very serious, so Goddess Gaia came up with a number of ways to solve this problem. As a result, she could only maintain the Dwarf Race to prevent them from going extinct. However, she also had to pay a huge price for this. Although they still had good magic qualifications, they had poor control over magic, and this made it difficult for them to cultivate good spellcasters.
There was a saying that said that when people were very poor, they would think of any way to get rid of their poverty. A dwarf’s intelligence was not low, and eventually, they would find ways to solve this problem. Finally, the current Dwarf Rune God came up with a way. The Dwarf Rune God, who was only a forging master at that time, took a different path. He engraved runes representing magic on a solid metal plate, and when he was going to cast a spell, he just had to inject magic into those runes to stimulate its power.
Such a method of casting spells quickly became popular among dwarves, and it spread to other races. It even affected the Elven Race who were the main spellcasters. Many of the magic props now contained this rune technology.
However, it did not mean that anyone who could use those runes to cast spells was a Rune Mage. A qualified Rune Mage must be able to create runes.
Sui Xiong was looking for such talents who could create runes.
Where he went was not to the Kingdom of Dwarves in the Mountain of Broken Clouds, but rather to the Kingdom of Dwarf Gods.
It was not easy to talk to dwarves, so Sui Xiong just went to the Kingdom of Dwarf Gods to discuss with them. After all, he was a powerful god among all gods, and if he visited the Kingdom of Dwarf gods in person, they would warmly welcome him.
Sui Xiong thought for a while and soon arrived at the Kingdom of Dwarf Gods.
The Kingdom of Dwarf Gods was called the “Eternal Mountain,” and its overall structure was basically a very majestic mountain. It was surrounded by low mountains, hills, and plains. There were no forests or oceans because dwarves did not like them.
The dead dwarf followers lived in this vast kingdom. Some of them lived in the plains, some in the hills, and many lived in the mountains. But only those who had made great contributions or had been recognized by a dwarf god could live in the central mountain.
The dwarf gods and the best dwarf followers all lived in the mountains.
When Sui Xiong arrived at the Kingdom of Dwarf gods, the dwarf gods received him in a hall in the mountainside.
The dwarf gods were surprised and somewhat uneasy about his arrival. The Void Mask was good at fighting and had a strange personality. He often did things against the usual principles… In short, his reputation was not good.
Sui Xiong had killed hundreds of evil gods, and even the God of Fear, who was almost the master of all evil gods was killed by him. In the eyes of the good gods, Sui Xiong was an eccentric person who freely used necromancing spells to enslave dead souls to work for him, and he did not see anything wrong with his actions.
The Dwarf Race belonged to neither the evil camp nor the good camp, so they could at least welcome Sui Xiong’s visit and not shut him out.
Of course, they also had to welcome him because he was very powerful.
After eating a scrumptious dinner, Sui Xiong explained his intention.
“I want to recruit some Rune Mages,” he said. “The pay will be satisfactory.”
The dwarf gods looked at each other, and finally, the Rune God asked with curiosity, “That’s why you came here?”
“Isn’t that important?” Sui Xiong asked.
The Rune God was silent for a moment then said, “I don’t quite understand your thinking, but if you want to find some Rune Mages, I’ll go with you. To tell you the truth, I’m curious why you would come to us to recruit Rune Mages…”
