The Runic Alchemist

Worldscribe guided Damian back into the bastion, this time diverging from the straight path that led to the dungeon entrance. As they moved through the hallways, Damian noticed many noteworthy individuals clad in gleaming armor. Their gazes lingered on him for a few seconds, but no one stopped them.

Passing through a structure reminiscent of the academy but distinct in atmosphere and purpose, they finally arrived near a room. Damian sensed no monsters inside—let alone an emperor-rank creature—and for a good reason: the monster wasn't behind the doors.

Instead, a staircase awaited, spiraling downward into the depths. The descent was arduous, taking 20 to 30 minutes. As they moved deeper, Damian began to hear roars and felt a massive surge of raw mana—like a fire tornado scorching his skin. Amid the tumult, he discerned several other mana signatures: second-rankers, and even a few third-rankers.

At last, they reached the end of the seemingly infinite circular stairway, where a massive door stood before them - it felt like it had enchantments for mana concealment. When Worldscribe opened it, the identities of the mana signatures were revealed. There were more people than Damian had initially sensed: seven second-rankers, three third-rankers—excluding Worldscribe—and a scattering of first-rankers performing menial tasks.

The Scorch Titan behind them was a towering golem of solid, craggy stone, its surface fractured with glowing veins of magma that pulsed like fiery veins. Its body was rough and jagged, as though torn straight from the heart of a volcano, with chunks of blackened rock radiating a dull red heat. Flames flicker and dance around its limbs, licking the edges of its molten joints, and plumes of acrid smoke spiral up from its shoulders. Its glowing eyes, blazing like twin suns, cut through the haze, giving it an aura of ancient, unstoppable power.

It was tightly ensnared in chains of abyssal black mana, coiling around each of its fiery limbs with unyielding force. Beside its colossal feet stood two massive runic constructs. Both emanated a dark blue glow, its active blue runic circle conjuring an enormous water-formed hand that gripped the titan's left leg. The other, same in build, forged from Highsword's special alloy and stone, anchored the titan's right leg in place with equal strength.

An elaborate runic array was etched into the walls of the vast underground chamber, glowing with vibrant, multicolored mana. Strange mana patterns marked various structures and tools throughout the room, their enchantment evident to Damian's senses. Yet, even with all these restraints, the titan roared and struggled against its bindings as if it would break free any second.

"So… This is him, huh?" a woman clad in gleaming armor said as a group approached Damian and Worldscribe.

The woman was accompanied by a bearded, broad-shouldered man in Highsword's white mage robes and another man in casual attire with a sleek blade at his waist. The woman and the bearded man exuded the mana signatures of third-rankers. The man in casual clothes, however, lacked any detectable mana signature. Yet, the raw aura emanating from him reminded Damian of the Bonecrusher. It was puzzling—if this man wasn't a third-ranker, was it possible just to have an impressive amount of aura, despite being a lower rank?

"Yes, this is Maximus of Eldoris," Worldscribe replied before introducing the others to him. "This lady is Brightshield, the mage is Lifewarden, and this gentleman here in his fancy clothes and no armor is Soulfella."

Damian just nodded at them, though his attention lingered on Soulfella longer than the others.

"What's the matter, kid? Don't tell me you're already a fan of my charm and want my autograph," Soulfella struck a pose, as if Damian's gaze were a camera capturing his image.

"No, certainly not," Damian replied bluntly. Then, with a curious tone, he added, "How does a pugilist use a runic sword, though?"

Everyone present stared at him, as if he had said something unusual. His involvement with the army was well-known—common knowledge among the noble students, as Evrin and Grace had shared with him from their own social circles. His ability to sense mana was no secret either. Did they really not know?
Your journey continues at empire

Suddenly, Lifewarden, the mage, burst into laughter, as if Damian had told the most absurd joke. The others exchanged curious glances, and Damian overheard whispers of: "That's the Morph Valist," and "He can sense runic tools."

Ah, that explained their reaction. The sword was still in its scabbard, and there was no obvious way to tell if it was runic or not. Recognizing such a thing required a keen mana sense—an ability only high-level mages typically possessed. Lifewarden seemed to understand the skill needed to discern it, while the others likely had no clue.

Soulfella's playful demeanor shifted to one of seriousness as he studied Damian intently.

"I could be an Esper," Soulfella suggested, as though challenging Damian's assertion.

"You have no mana," Damian replied evenly.

"Maybe I'm hiding it," Soulfella countered with a sly grin.

"Possible," Damian admitted. "But the natural mana avoids you—that only happens with pugilists or a very skilled aura master who can seal all their mana pores."

With that, Damian turned toward the titan, nodding respectfully toward the other two and walked toward the massive monster in the background, its immense form restrained by massive black chains rising from the ground. He suspected the chains to be the work of the third-ranker mage; Lifewarden, with his affinity for light, might have casted the spell. Those with affinity to light often had a deeper understanding of the dark element. In the scholarly community, it was even joked that if one had light affinity, dark was a "free" power that came with it.

Soon, the others joined him, finishing their exchange of words.

"So, what are you going to do with it?" Lifewarden asked.

Damian studied the monster once again, carefully assessing it before responding. "I need to reach its mana core, located at the center of its chest. It will resist fiercely, though, so we may need to send the others away and overwhelm it with full mana and aura pressure from all of you. That should force it to behave."