The Runic Alchemist

The towering magma golem loomed before him, its pitch-dark eyes locked in his direction. Damian doubted it could even sense him yet—he was still a fair distance away. But that notion was shattered a second later when massive burning boulders came hurtling toward him, soaring high with such force and speed that they punched holes through the mountains below, obliterating any unfortunate creatures caught in their path.

Reize swiftly maneuvered Dreamlight, guiding the ship beyond the attack’s range before stabilizing it in midair. With a practiced hand, she reached equilibrium with weight and gravity spell, sparing Damian the hassle of defending both himself and the vessel.

Good. That was one less thing to worry about.

Now, the real question—what is the most efficient way to deal with this thing? He could drown it in water and snuff out its fiery intimidation, though the rising steam might scald him in the process.

“Alright, let’s just go with that..”

Simple solutions were often the best. But first, he needed to deal enough damage to ensure he got full credit for the kill. If he just opened a giant wormhole and let it plummet to its death, there was no telling if the system would even count it as his attack.

He wove a laser spell, keeping its size substantial. When he fired, the beam’s thickness was about the size of an average door. Even so, it only left a massive hole in the golem’s hardened, magically reinforced magma exterior—it didn’t pierce all the way through. That should be enough.

Next, Damian cast the wormhole spell he had used so many times before. This time, however, the wormhole had a radius of over 700 meters—large enough that even if the golem toppled sideways, it would still fall through. He kept its height low to conserve mana; a wormhole of that scale drained a lot, and he didn’t need excessive depth. He placed the exit just 100 meters above the ground.

As expected, the massive golem fell into the abyss. Its sheer weight threw it off balance midair, and it landed face-first with a thunderous crash, leaving a crater in the rocky terrain. The impact cracked and splintered its surface, but it was still intact.

Damian wasn’t done. He conjured another wormhole and flung the golem into the air once again—This time, he even added massive earth spikes on the land, with an overpowered earth element rune, designed to nail the bastard in a hundred places.

This time, the golem shattered in multiple areas. It thrashed, trying to regain its footing, but Damian gave it no chance. Again, he sent it plummeting through the wormhole, slamming it into the dungeon floor once more. Each time the colossal creature crashed down, the entire dungeon level trembled as if struck by an earthquake.

Piece by piece, the golem broke apart. Until, finally, its core was exposed. Damian fired another laser, obliterating it.

That familiar sensation washed over him—his vision sharpened, his senses heightened, and his power surged ever so slightly. It only ever felt like this after gaining multiple levels. He immediately checked his status.

Level 89.

Four levels in one fight. Not bad.

Now it felt like a waste of time dealing with weak king-ranked monsters. He should just fly from level to level and take down all the emperor-ranked ones.

He wasn’t alone, though. As long as Reize and the others were leveling up, he had to stay with them. But.. maybe he could tell them to stay put for a while. He could clear the upper levels, take out the emperor-ranked monsters, and reach level 100. Then he could aid them in peace.

The Highswords were another problem. So far, they hadn’t done anything beyond offers and underhanded tricks, but was that because of the rules, or because they feared his unlimited mana? He couldn’t leave his friends and Dreamlight behind. If they exited the dungeon, they’d have to start from the beginning.

That wouldn’t be too much of a problem with Dreamlight, right? He could talk it over with them.

Damian flew back toward the ship, entering through the open seating section door. Most of them were already there, waiting and watching the fight. They moved aside to let him in, their expressions caught between awe and disbelief.

Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire

The ones who knew him well were used to his abilities, but those who had just witnessed his spells for the first time were staring at him like he was a ghost.

Guess now was as good a time as any. Damian was about to suggest they rest while he went ahead when Evante cut him off.

“Why are you leveling with us when you can do that!?”

Amy muttered beside him, “That was.. unbelievable. Even third-rankers wouldn’t be able to do that. I think..”

“Actually, a good mage can,” Damian replied.

“Not with spells like that,” Sariel added.

Damian had no real answer for that, so he just smiled.

“There’s still a small section left. Or should we move forward to level 21?” Reize asked from the control room.

“It’s another snow level, so we’d be heading to level 22,” Damian said, walking into the control room and settling into the pilot seat. The others followed, since the ship hadn’t started moving yet.

“Guess we should rest there for a while if it’s not going to repeat anymore,” Maelor suggested.

“That’s what I had in mind,” Damian said. Turning to the others, he added, “How about you guys rest for a while, and I go level up a bit in the higher floors?”

“You want to go alone?” Sam asked, hesitant.

Damian was strong, but he wasn’t invincible. A 100-person dungeon was dangerous, and even king-ranked monsters could land a lucky hit. And there were hundreds of such creatures both in land and air.

“It’ll just be a few hours. I’ll only deal with the emperor-ranked ones and be back before nightfall. I just need a few more levels,” Damian reassured him.

“You’re still not level 100?” Grace asked, frowning. “You killed two emperor-ranked monsters and so many others..”

The others looked at him, equally confused.

Damian just shrugged. “I just need a few more.”