The Runic Alchemist

"Hell, she can use ice spells too…" Damian muttered.

The ice element was a strange one. It wasn't easy to learn, mainly because it never seemed to make sense. Most people theorized that having both water and wind affinities was required, but that wasn't entirely true. Many mages with both affinities still couldn't master it. Damian was certain ice was a standalone element, independent of other affinities. He vividly remembered the dark wolf using an ice breath spell with a similar colored runic circle—one he still regretted not being able to replicate.

Those who learned ice spells without the help of their job or skills sometimes had a water affinity, but just as often, they didn't. It was baffling. Despite all his time in this world, Damian had never come across a spellbook or a mage capable of wielding ice magic, there were some but not easily found. Not that he'd searched too thoroughly—it was one of those things that lingered at the back of his mind. But now, with the runic circle he'd just seen, he could finally test if he had the potential for ice magic or if it required some hidden condition no one had uncovered yet.

Jotting down the runic circle in his spellbook, Damian shifted his attention back to the fight. Lucian managed to save her teammates, but two of them, caught at the edge of the ice wall, had their wristbands flash red before going pitch black—eliminated. The prince and others quickly chanted spells and launched them as soon as the stream of fire from the giant turtle ended. Fireballs and air blades collided with the monster's massive form, but their efforts barely scratched the creature's health, the healthy green on one of its tusks decreasing only slightly.

This monster was definitely stronger than the last one. That didn't seem fair. Why were the tests harder for some teams and easier for others? Was it because of Lucian and the prince? Were they being assessed based on their talents? It was… weird.

Seeing their attacks accomplish little, Damian noticed Lucian saying something to the prince before breaking into a sprint. She accelerated rapidly. Despite the turtle's immense power, it was still a turtle—slow to turn its head. But each movement brought with it scorching flames, compensating for its lack of speed with sheer destructive force. The others used this opportunity to close the gap, targeting its massive legs with aura blades and slashes. The attacks weren't overwhelmingly effective, but they worked better than wasting mana with spells on the turtle's thick hide.

The turtle, annoyed by the attacks, momentarily shifted its attention back to the group. Sharp, six-to-eight-foot-long crystals rained down from above, piercing two of the teammates—or at least, it seemed that way. There was no real pain, only real screams, as their wristbands went red and then black.

The turtle began to turn back toward Lucian, but the prince of Dawnstar, despite constantly dodging the deadly crystal storm, finished a long chant. A blood-red runic circle tinged with light yellow flared to life beneath the prince's feet. Damian grinned as he copied it into his spellbook.

The spell's radius was large enough to engulf half of the turtle's massive foot. In a flash, the 15-meter-wide area became molten lava, draining the turtle's health like a bloodsucking bat. However, the prince wasn't immune—his wristband glowed bright yellow, likely activating the self-harm negation feature. Without it, his would have been suicidal.

The prince, his wristband glowing red and finally black, faced his elimination with a defiant smile. The crowd gasped, then erupted into thunderous cheers and applause.

The turtle, struggling to escape the lava, attempted to move. At that moment, another advanced-level runic circle appeared on the opposite side of the beast—giving Damian another nice souvenir.

Lucian's spell froze the turtle's leg solid, it was double in radius of the area affected by the lava spell and immobilizing the creature-making it so the lava kept damaging the turtle. She poured significant mana into the spell and then closed the gap, landing several decisive aura slashes on the turtle's other leg. Before the monster turned its attention to her and unleashed a torrent of flames, reducing her wristband to red and then black.

The remaining teammates attempted to exploit the turtle's blind spots, but their efforts weren't enough. One by one, they all fell.

In the end, no one survived, but the giant turtle was also left with heavy damages, its health bar dipping into the lower yellow zone.

That was impressive. The crowd went wild, their applause and cheers shaking the arena-Damian also joined in with Toph trumpeting with him, at least that much he could give back to them in exchange. The ground was quickly restored as the second team, following the first, handed their wristbands to a staff member and exited the round wooden fence. Unlike the first team, this group was greeted with a second wave of earth-shaking cheers as they took their place among the spectators.

'Nice, that was much better than I expected.. Good job Highsword people, give them even harder monsters to defeat..' Damian smirked, eager to collect even more spells.

Three new spells. Two of them were rare ice-element ones. Damian wouldn't have been this excited if he were still just a mage reliant on scrolls in battle. Casting these enormous spells with his limited mana supply was also impossible, but his Runic Forge Master job offered a third option.

This could be the solution to his problem of not being able to cast advanced spells. Back in Eldoris, he'd managed to inscribe only basic spells into metal. The job was still new to him, and he hadn't had much time to explore its full potential. Besides, he wanted to try this without the presence of the prying eyes of Eldoris hidden guards. Damian wanted to see how much he could do, and what limits he could reach, without them knowing about it and giving him mass production work.

That was another reason why he'd so readily agreed to join Highsword Academy. If the rumors were true, they provided excellent labs—and, most importantly, privacy. While the level of privacy was debatable, it was far better than practicing in some lord's territory, where their superior third rankers would eventually try to recruit—or eliminate—him. With wars going on all around, he was a difficult existence for people in power.

The boonies weren't an option either. He needed materials regularly, and there was still so much to learn from this magical world.