The Runic Alchemist

The night passed, and the next day arrived. Warren, the bald knight, and his team should have already reached their king by now—or at least be close—but Damian and the others gave him a few more hours to ensure he had time to arrive.

After breakfast and another spellcrafting lesson with Vidalia and Evrin, midday soon approached. The rest of the group either lazed around or practiced their own skills. It was finally time for the lords and Maelor to meet the King of Dawnstar.

At nearly noon, Damian and the others gathered near Dreamlight once again. Baron, Lord Silas, Souldealer, and all the remaining lords of Dawnstar, both great and small, were present—about fifty in total. As they boarded Dreamlight, Lumi and Elias demonstrated how to sit and use the ship’s locking mechanisms to everyone.

Vidalia was there as well, accompanied by her prominent knights and lords. The soldiers under her watch—numbering around 6,000—belonged to the various Dawnstar lords. Before they began boarding, she made it explicitly clear: if Damian returned alone and even a single lord had stayed behind or sent materials to their king, she would personally see to it that all 6,000 soldiers were executed. Even though she had already taken all their weapons and spatial storage items.

That woman was terrifying. But it wasn’t an empty threat—Vidalia knew better than to give the defeated King of Dawnstar even a whisper of hope. Understandable.

Damian piloted Dreamlight away from Fayengin city toward the Mother Lake. Upon landing at its banks, he instructed Sam and Einar to retrieve a large cube from the ship’s arsenal—one containing the waygate spell. He had prepared it before their departure from Edgehaven.

Once Damian powered it up, Lord Silas activated the spell using his connection to his most loyal knight. A massive waygate shimmered into existence. Baron, Lucian, Maelor, Prince Leon, and the other lords stepped through the glowing portal.

Warren had been instructed to expect a waygate opening above his head around this time—hopefully, he had already met the king or someone important and explained their situation. If not, well… they were about to experience a serious cultural shock.

As Lord Silas was the last of the lords to cross, Damian maintained the spell’s stability. Then, once everyone else had gone ahead, he and his friends boarded Dreamlight and piloted it through the waygate.

They emerged on the opposite side of the Mother Lake. The city here was similar in size to Fayengin, but it was built much closer to the water. Like before, the streets were lined with soldiers—only this time, they wore red instead of green.

The waygate had opened above the palace. Souldealer helped the non-mages land on an open balcony. Given its sheer size, the portal was impossible to miss, especially for anyone with sharp mana senses.

Damian immediately sensed three third-rankers in the city—two inside the palace and one rapidly approaching the waygate. Civilians stared in shock and terror at the massive flying metal ship, and within seconds of Damian landing Dreamlight in the palace’s open garden, hundreds of palace soldiers surrounded them.

On the balcony, the Dawnstar lords were also quickly encircled by guards who had spotted them and called for reinforcements. Warren had to be inside the palace for the waygate to have opened directly above it. The theory that waygates avoided structures seemed more and more likely.

Unbothered, Damian, Sam, Evrin, and the others stepped out of the ship. Warren should have already warned them they were coming. If the palace still refused to believe him or remained hostile, well… Damian had two tanks full of mana liquid. He could level the entire city without breaking a sweat.

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At last, the approaching third-ranker man landed beside the ship, his sharp eyes scanning Damian’s group and the soldiers surrounding them.

Damian could sense the Baron and Souldealer’s group being escorted deeper into the palace. Unlike them, his own group only had Grace—barely recognizable to the Dawnstar forces.

“Who are you? What is this thing? How did you come here?” the third-ranker barked. He was a muscular man with a rough voice, glaring at Damian.

A pugilist. Vidalia had mentioned that the King of Dawnstar was currently occupying this city, which was ruled by the Duke of Ashenvale—a pugilist. Oddly enough, though, this man had come from the city rather than the palace. That meant the king himself was inside.

Despite facing an unknown threat, this pugilist had flown straight toward them. Was he afraid his city would become a battlefield?

“Did your men not receive a knight and his team claiming to be from Dawnstar? Did he not tell you we’d be arriving the same way?” Damian called out, his tone completely carefree.

Evrin promptly kneed him in the side. “Can you not agitate them any more than necessary?”

“What?” Damian scoffed. “I was being nice…”

“It can’t be!” the pugilist murmured, his expression shifting. “Was that knight actually telling the truth?!”

This time, Sam answered, “Did you, by any chance, miss the giant blue waygate in the middle of your city?”

Before the pugilist could respond, more soldiers emerged from the palace, led by second-ranker knights clad in full plate armor. They invited them inside. Damian and his friends followed behind them. Damian created 7 runic circles fully activated just ready to be released and held them with mana threads before they reached inside.

The palace was more or less similar to the one they had spent the previous night in. As expected, the pugilist accompanied them, leading them straight into the grand hall.

The Dawnstar lords were already there, along with the two third-rankers Damian had sensed earlier.

The one seated on the throne-like chair, clad in full golden armor and exuding a serious aura, was undoubtedly the King of Dawnstar.

The other third-ranker was no less formidable. Unlike the king, he wore no armor, but his towering build, white hair, white beard, and lifeless dark blue eyes gave him an imposing presence. He carried a sword, but if someone claimed he was a pugilist, Damian would have believed it. However, judging by his massive mana pool, he was a proper spellsword.

And he was older than anyone else in the room.