THE RUNIC ALCHEMIST

Level 147? The hell did he make?

Damian had always thought that experience gained from crafting was nowhere near what killing monsters provided. When his job was still The Runic Chemist Lord, he had made countless runic scrolls, yet the experience gained was minuscule. Even The Runic Forge Master, a job specialized in crafting, barely gave him a level or two for each new tool he made.

‘My affinity changed? How in the hell? And to chaos of all things..’

‘Must be the effect of you evolving and changing your species from human to demonic human.. Why the hell did you choose a demonic lineage?’ the prince muttered inside his head.

He even gained a new title :

[Best Runesmith (Solar System): The title of the best belongs to you! One extra effect for any tool crafted above Grand tier.]

Solar system? Does that mean there are better runesmiths on other planets? Leaving that aside, wasn’t this confirmation that other planets nearby had magic too?

Many of his skills had leveled up, and two new ones had appeared from his evolution:

[Demonic Chains: Cursed chains that bind targets, drain stamina, and suppress mana, with potential for additional effects like pain induction.]

[Berserk: Temporarily boosts strength and agility by 10% while dulling pain, but reduces control over spells and leaves exhaustion afterward.]

Quite useful.. If the chains could handle runic inscriptions and couldn’t be permanently damaged, they’d be invaluable. Berserk wasn’t as great, but it could help in a pinch.

As expected, his stats had been lowered by 20%—a penalty for fucking with his soul. Becoming a higher lifeform could solve the issue though.

‘You need to evolve further,’ the prince said. ‘If third-rankers undergo noticeable changes after transcendence, that means they evolve again at that stage.’

‘Huh?’ Damian frowned. ‘You weren’t a third-ranker in your physical life?’

‘I did everything I could, leveled all my skills to perfection.. but I also had the Sun God’s blessing. My best guess is that they somehow choose who gets to ascend further. I wasn’t much of a believer.’

Damian nodded, not really believing the shared information 100%. He was about to close his status when a sudden feeling of unease stopped him. Something was missing. He checked again from top to bottom, and his eyes widened.

The penalty on the invisible box spell was gone!

How in the hell? What the fuck? He had assumed it was punishment for killing a man outside of combat, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

‘No, that could still be it.. Maybe it just changed because you became a demon? Man, that 10 in Luck sure works in your favor. Your memories of that spell are terrifying.’

‘You bastard! Don’t peek at my memories!’

‘Don’t worry, even if I wanted to, I can’t tell anyone that you’re an ass guy.’

‘You piece of shit!’

Damian was really happy to have at least one thing going his way. Otherwise, his 10 in Luck seemed to bring more trouble than benefits. The system probably thought someone leveling up as much as he did was the definition of good luck—without considering the hell he had to go through.

Only non-fighter jobs could make full use of their Luck stat. Just imagining an Esper with a singing-related job making women swoon with every song.. What a beautiful life that would be.

Grinning ear to ear, Damian constructed the ever so familiar runic circle in front of his eyes using nothing but pure intent and a thread of liquid mana. He created the biggest Invisible Box he had ever made, pouring over 100,000 points of mana into it.

A total waste.

But damn, it felt good to have this thing back.

He had long considered using the spell’s fundamental runes to create a new one somewhat replicating it, but he feared the system wouldn’t allow it. He had plenty of other things to do, so he never took the risk. Still, he never forgot how incredible the spell was. With it, he could make as many golems as he wanted. And if his Archscript Sovereign worked on it, and he could imbue runes onto it.. This would be the ultimate trump card.

Damian took a deep breath, covering the massive invisible box with hundreds of mana threads. He then used a simple Wormhole runic spell, positioning all the mana nodes inside one side of the invisible wall. The gap in the smooth structure wasn’t as much as steel or any high-quality material, but it held. Soon, it was done.

Though Damian saw nothing—both the material and the runic circles were invisible to the naked eye—they were still tangible. But he had included the environment mana-gathering section and filled it with his liquid mana, a giant runic circle flared to life suspended in the air, glowing pitch-black for all to see.

Bloodedge, startled by the sight, immediately took a defensive stance, his eyes darting between Damian and the runic circle.

Damian just laughed at him before activating the Wormhole spell. It worked well, though the distance was shorter than usual.

The spell’s material-to-mana cost was higher—less efficient than true metal—but he didn’t care much for mana expenditure. This was a material he could create out of nowhere infinitely, an impenetrable shield with invisible inscribed spells. More than satisfied with the results, Damian nodded to himself and flew back inside the Dreamlight.

He had a lot of experiments to run with his new skills, but first, he needed to retrieve his friends. The Dreamlight also needed repairs. He had plenty of upgrades in mind, ideas he had stored away during his years of seclusion.

Once they finished cleaning up, Damian sent all the Highswords in the seating compartment and filled the mana storage tank to the brim, using his additional mana generator and all liquid mana containers from the armory. With everything set, he locked onto Sam’s location, opened the waygate, and shot through the swirling blue portal at top speed of his trusted flying vessel. He had missed piloting this thing.

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