The Runic Alchemist

Covered in shadows, the sharp and harsh region had birthed a single tree in the middle of two mountains. Suddenly, a blue portal opened up near it, and six people stepped out of it.

Damian took out the six fireproof armor sets and gave one to everyone. They all had a container of mana liquid and carried the steel mana cube, in case they ran out. Damian looked back, not activating the armor yet. They all nodded and started chanting for the flying spell. Since Runefather and Sesha weren’t efficient in flying spells, Damian used his own to make them fly, along with the Prince.

And they headed straight at full speed toward the hottest region of this planet. The stony mountainous region started to transform; Damian saw many small and big monsters but did not stop at all. The Prince was getting restless to try his hand on the monsters, but Damian knew they would have plenty of opportunities ahead.

The Highswords had told him how the farther they went, the bigger and more numerous the fiery monsters became. There were no beasts in the lava region, only monsters that had broken out of the dungeons. That was possible only for a select type of dungeon—and even in them only those left alone for over 500 years or more would release the monsters inside. The dungeons had always required people for some reason. It was fine if someone entered and died within five seconds, but at least once every 500 years, some dungeons needed to be entered if the people living near them didn’t want swarms of monsters roaming their world.

It wasn’t that big an issue in Vidalia’s world, where dungeons were coveted and served as a seat of power for many lords. However, even there—Runefather told him—Faerunia and Eldoris periodically sent ships to ensure there were no unattended dungeons in the ocean. If there were, they dealt with them. But if they were really, really far away, where even ships couldn’t reach, there were likely a few dungeons that could be releasing monsters into the sea even in their world. Of course, only aquatic monsters would survive if it was down on the seafloor.

The origin of the lava was such a high-temperature area that no pigmen could reach it, even if they tried. Which was why the massive lava monsters had made the region their home by now. Who knew how many years it had been since the dungeon had spawned there.

There was a core at the end of each dungeon, which could be collected and brought back outside. But there was also a process involving the same core that, if used along with some specific requirements and a ritual, could close a dungeon, Lifewarden told him.

Flying straight without much movement was cool for a while, but soon it got boring. And once they crossed the lava river and entered the lava zone—the air was biting against their skin. Damian had created a windshield, but it still couldn’t block all the air. Talking about these things diverted their attention from the heat a little.

They could still endure it, so they didn’t activate the fireproof armor. The armor could be made again, but the oxygen bottles were hard to produce. Damian had made them with the help of his team of scientists and experts, and without knowing how long they would have to stay here, conserving them was a wise choice.

Once the stone mountains ended, dark soot mountains with lava pools here and there became more common. The soot golems, those annoying bugs that sprayed acid, and monsters with fire all around their bodies became more frequent. They were flying pretty fast, almost 70–80 km/h. And after flying for over 18 hours, Damian finally sighted the massive magma golem he had seen near the place where Einar and Evrin had teleported—where the massive sword was.

The Prince’s screen flashed repeatedly. Damian didn’t even have to look to the side to know what the guy was crying about. The Highswords also noticed and were eyeing Damian and his weird golem that was more alive than it should be.

Damian finally decided to stop for a while, halting in mid-air. He looked at the others and asked, “I need a few minutes. Do you guys want to go back to the pigmen city or back to Worldscribe’s place to cool off?”

They looked at each other. They had treated waygates as one of their most important trump cards and always used them as efficiently as possible—now that they were traveling with Damian, they suddenly realized the guy could use waygates all day and still not run out of his liquid mana. Making such small convenience breaks possible if they wanted to go back for any reason, or even just to spend a night.

They all agreed to take a few minutes from flying. Their mana was running low anyway—which wasn’t as big a concern as the constant use of the spell straining their minds. Damian sent them back to Worldscribe’s place, with only him and the Prince remaining behind.

‘Let’s go kill that thing.. An Emperor-rank monster will get me enough experience to at least check for a fact whether I can level or not..’ Prince’s screen flashed again.

Damian, however, just looked at the guy for a while and then simply took out the status tool. The Prince’s faceless golem head leaned to the side, as if Damian had put in front of him the most complicated riddle.

Damian ignored his antics and said clearly, “Only way you’ll get my mana to kill a monster is if you show me who you are.”

The Prince’s sacrium hand scratched his head, as if he had to make a huge decision—though the antics he was doing were in stark contrast. Damian dangled the status tool in front of him and raised another hand to his face—his right hand had the sacrium bracers with his spatial storage.

Damian smiled. “Come on, give me an excuse. I can really use the sacrium for much more important things right now..”