Reincarnated as a Dwarf

The day after

The next morning I woke up with a mild head cold. Most likely it was the penalty for a dwarfs body after spending so long in sub freezing temperatures. I made a mental note to never make another rune of snow ever again, and since I had overslept I was forced to run to school. 

Fortunately, dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances. So I was able to land in my seat a few seconds before Elder Rongrim entered the room. 

“Kvalinn! Why are you late? You’re never late!” Bekhi whispered to me in concern as I took my normal seat next to her. “Are you alright? You look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine, testing the rune yesterday made it freeze in the testing room and got me stuck in there for a while. But it’s nothing serious. I just need to stand closer to the fire for a couple days.”

“Kvalinn Ekgorsson and Bekhi Mubrimssdottir!” Elder Rongrim boomed out. “Do you have something to say to the class?” Both of us hastily shook our heads. “Good! Stay silent while I’m teaching the class.”

Elder Rongrim seemed crankier than normal today, and his eyebrows bristled in anger at the slightest disruption. Not wanting to be the target from one of the many empty beer mugs piled high on his desk, Bekhi and I became as quiet as church mice. 

After class was over, Elder Rongrim sat down at his desk with an audible thud and waved halfheartedly to indicate our break was starting. He then began a futile search to find a mug that had any beer left in it. 

“Kvalinn, what did you do yesterday?” Zikruk asked. “All the Elders that I’ve seen around school are acting the same way as Elder Rongrim. And the only thing that could cause a fuss this early in the year is you. So what happened?”

Several students leaned over their chairs and their desks to hear my answer, evidently they were as curious as Zikruk was. I didn’t want to start any wild rumors, so I kept the story as simple as possible. 

“I didn’t do that much to cause a fuss. I gave Elder Thrikrondromm a weapon with an experimental rune, I tested it in the testing room and it caused a bit of a mess.” I shrugged to indicate it wasn't that big a deal. Zikruk wasn’t buying it though.

“What was the rune you used? Was it one of the fire runes? Or did you use one of the more destructive runes? Please tell me you didn’t use the rune of foul luck!”

“No, nothing that destructive. Remember when Bekhi told us about snow? The white powder made of frozen water that falls from what she called the sky? Well thanks to her description I was able to make a rune of snow.”

“And…?” Zikruk raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the story.

“And it kinda got out of control in the testing room and filled the testing room with snow and ice. I’m sure it will melt, eventually.”

Zikruk, and all the other students, simultaneously looked away from me and glanced at the Elder who was slumped over his desk, blearily shaking a mostly empty tankard. They then looked back at me with a mix of suspicion and caution. 

Most of the students dispersed to pursue their own conversations with their friends, but one of them walked up and introduced himself.

“Greetings, Kvalinn Ekgorsson. I am Grodin Grigmardsson of the tools clan. May our dealings bring honor to both our clans.” After I returned his greeting, Grondin continued. “I overheard Zikruk mention that you can make fire runes, is that correct? My father is in the engineering guild and is constantly complaining about the costs of fuel to run the engines. Would you be able to make a rune that isn’t destructive but just hot enough to heat water?”

“Wait, did you say engines?” My ears perked up at the mention of machinery. Depending on what they were, I might be able to return to my original goal of advancing this world's tech!

Grondin picked up on my enthusiasm, and was a bit nonplussed. “Yes? The engineering guild has been working on developing an engine that runs off steam for centuries. Thane Vonor set up the guild with that purpose when he established the school, but the cost of fuels has always hindered development. But if you can make a rune to heat the water then it would help my fathers work considerably.”

I felt myself grin in excited anticipation. Steam engines! The first step on the road to industrialization and civilization! Railroads, steam boats, hot air balloons, and factories! All that would be possible with the knowledge of steam engines. 

“Kvalinn, that grin is very creepy.” Bekhi poked one of my cheeks. “What are you thinking about to make that face?”

“Back up, Grondin.” Zikruk said in warning. “When Kvalinn makes that sort of face, he is usually about to test a new rune. But I’ve never felt this much danger coming from him before.”

“It’s not that bad, Zikruk.” I protested, attempting to prove my innocence before grinning in earnest to get down to the brass tacks. “Now, Grondin, how hot does the rune need to heat up to? Rune crafting is a bit risky so far so I’ll need all the details you can give me.” 

Grondin then began giving me some of the specifications of the dwarven model of the steam engine while I took notes on a board. So far in my experiments on making magic runes, they were usually influenced by whatever song I was singing while making them, and making them precise enough for a steam engine would be extremely taxing. 

“Kvalinn Ekgorsson!” Elder Rongrim’s voice boomed practically directly into our ears. “What do you think you are doing?! We are still attempting to clear the testing room from your last rune test! NO! MORE! EXPERIMENTAL! RUNES!” He grabbed the board I was writing on and broke it over his knee. Not satisfied with that, he threw the pieces on the ground in a rage, and stamped on them until there was nothing but splinters left. The amount and variety of swear words Elder Rongrim uttered while stamping was quite impressive, some of them were potent enough to cause physical pain to the students. 

Break wasn’t even close to being over at that point of time, but it didn’t matter. Everyone fled from Elder Rongrims outburst, myself included, and went to their next classes early. 

Advanced combat was nearly the same as yesterday. With both Elder Dworhick and Bekhi trying to kill me in the name of training. The only difference was that Elder Dworhick had us practice fighting today while wearing armor, and because that wasn’t enough torture for us, it was weighted armor to further exercise our muscles. Needless to say, I stumbled out of class extremely battered and sore. 

Is the secret to the fabled dwarven hardiness? They just torture their kids until they’re made of stone?

My next class was Rune Theory with Elder Thrikrondromm, and I just hoped that he wasn’t as angry as Elder Rongrim had been earlier.