The Runic Alchemist

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PATHS OF EMPEROR RANK EVOLUTION

Transcendent – The highest stage of mortal advancement. Body and mind in perfect harmony, an entity that bridges physical reality and divine order. (Humanoid)

Oblivion Golem – A titanic construct powered by soulbound cores and ancient runes, immune to pain and capable of leveling cities with earth-shattering strikes. (Monster Form)

Hellforged Tyrant – Fused with the blood of demons, your body becomes a vessel of raw infernal power. Flames of hell course through your veins, granting the ability to summon magma, create dark lightning, and scorch your enemies with beams of hellfire. (Semi – Humanoid)

Demonblade Ascendant – Your demonic essence manifests as a living weapon. Your arms and limbs become forged from unbreakable hellmetal, capable of cleaving through any material. In battle, you become a whirlwind of destruction. (Humanoid)

Infernal Vanguard – A massive, armored evolution cloaked in demonic armor that constantly smolders with dark fire. You gain increased resilience to magic and damage, with an aura that burns enemies who come too close. (Monster Form)

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Another evolution? Of course. Asher and Damian had predicted it would be the case when he reached the transcendent rank. First 100, then 200—will he get another chance at level 300 or probably at 400?

The basic human form which all gods selected for their followers was on the very top. Damian ignored that one wholeheartedly. Becoming a golem was not his dream; he had enough of it after doing it just once. Living his whole life like that was a terrifying thought. The other three seemed to be upgrades to his demonic lineage. He would prefer to keep his human appearance somewhat, so the Vanguard was out of the question.

So the only choices were either Hellforged Tyrant or Demonblade Ascendant. What in the hell did it mean by Semi-Humanoid? Damian didn’t want to change his appearance much, but choosing a less powerful evolution just because of that seemed like such a waste.

Tyrant was giving him a bunch of interesting racial abilities. Demonblade was also cool, but just having blade hands was not as appealing compared to the list of abilities the other offered – no matter how powerful the material was, he knew there would be some weakness to it.

Tyrant seemed like a direct upgrade to his Hellforged demonic race and was a perfect fit—just the semi-humanoid thing was making Damian hesitate a little.

But to hell with it, it was very well damn worth it. Damian took a deep breath and chose Hellforged Tyrant.

From his earlier experience, he knew this was going to hurt, so Damian braced himself and lay down on the bed before doing it. The familiar pain once again enveloped his whole body. It felt like his every cell was breaking and then rebuilding itself. It was mind-shattering pain, but Damian endured it all—not leaking more than a little noise-his endurance had risen a lot. It was the middle of the night and he didn’t want to gather everyone in his room.

Fortunately, it ended soon. He wouldn’t know for sure though, as Damian had blacked out in the middle of it. When he regained consciousness, he felt.. Uncomfortable?

Damian got up and instantly created a water mirror and a light sphere to see himself, the changes that had happened in him—most of it was the same, no major changes. Probably a few centimeters taller and the muscles were more spread out. The chains on his body were also still there; he had not lost the previous evolution’s ability.

But there was something more—horns coming out of his scalp—two curved, sharp, some good 6–7 inches big. The tip was darkened like soot, but most of it was pure white like bones. Now that he looked, his hair seemed to be even darker somehow, like they absorbed the light or something.

Damian raised his hand to touch the horn, but he stopped midway through—his fingertips from both hands were the same as the tip of his horns: black like soot. Damian rubbed his two fingers together and realized it was not just like soot—it was some real black substance. Few particles fell down as he rubbed his fingers more. What the hell?

Damian pulled up his breeches and his toes also had the same thing-not just the toes the whole feet. So this is what Semi-Humanoid meant?

Well, it was done. Damian removed the mirror and the light and opened a window. Then, carefully sitting on the frame, he jumped out—he could fly now afterall.

It was so much easier and much more comfortable than the wind spell. He could control his flight with much more minute difference. And the best thing—Damian could sense there was no mana involved. He was flying literally by defying gravity with his own internal mana. The mana that was not used but just being shifted inside his body, giving him enough force to lift himself up—same as those peak-level transcendent pugilists could do, like Bonecrusher.

Damian wanted to test his speed. He started rising up and up, and suddenly he felt a tingling sensation in his blackened feet—Damian enabled the feeling and suddenly his flight speed increased fivefold—he looked down and saw pitch-black fire burning beneath his feet, giving him more thrust. The flames were just inches from his feet, not touching directly—he should feel hot, but strangely, it felt like the black soot was providing a cooling sensation to his body instead of any heat.

Damian smiled and looked at his hands. His smile widened as he put his arms straight near his waist and palms open—then he activated the black fire from there too, and his speed rocketed even further—everything should have been a blur, but his enhanced senses and hundreds of points in INT had increased the limit of his focus to an inhuman level—even at hundreds of kilometers per hour, he could see every detail clearly.

It was like time had stopped for him. Damian broke out of atmospheric range and realized his breath was getting short, but still he barely felt it. After a while, it did start to mess with his mind, though, so he stopped and let himself fall straight down—his face still looking at the dark space above though.

Still not outer-space worthy, huh?

But it was close—he could feel it. If he ascended one more time, air would not be necessary for him to live. Like the Demon Lord, he would become a being who could survive in any climate—even in space.