The Runic Alchemist

Mindseer widened her eyes and was about to say something in Land-breaker’s defense when the man raised a hand and stopped her from speaking.

“My order may have forgotten to do their duties,” the Land-breaker said, “but I never will. If I see you harming the common people of this world, I will stand in your way even if I have no chance of prevailing.”

Damian smiled. “I also have some experience in guiding the lost home..”

Land-breaker and Mindseer stared at him for a while, then nodded. He had proven time and again what his way of doing things was. Mindseer knew it well, just like all his friends did. That was the ideal the Highsword was built upon. Who was he kidding? Damian was genuinely impressed by the path Land-breaker and the other Highswords had chosen before they broke apart from within. If he were the loner he used to be in his last life on Earth, he would have probably joined the Highswords under Land-breaker.

“Release me if you think it is right,” Asael, the Land-breaker, said.

Damian nodded. “The spell manipulates the target’s emotions and forces him or her to answer three questions before the effect is gone. It’s called the Divine Seeker Chains. You probably recognize it.”

“Tiraenya’s spell..” Asael murmured.

“Who?” Damian asked.

“One of the past elf queens.”

Damian didn’t waste time asking which one. “You ready?” he asked instead.

“Ask.”

Damian pulled on the emotions of the Supreme Blade. He was angry, sad, confident, and fearful at the same time. That was a weird mix. Anger was the easiest, so he used that. Asael knew what he was doing and did not resist.

“What do you know about the Overseers?” Damian asked the first question.

“Never heard the word before,” the Land-breaker answered.

“What will you do after reclaiming Edgeheaven?” he asked the second one.

“Rebuild the order of Highswords. Find my people. Deal with the demons’ issue.”

Nothing he didn’t already know there. Damian nodded and asked the last question: “Are you hiding any information about the Demon Lord’s influence over you before or after I defeated you?”

“No,” the Land-breaker said with a straight face. Nice to have confirmation.

The spell broke, and the immensely dense mana started leaking from the Land-breaker’s body. He quickly controlled it and stopped the leakage, but the presence of Asael had completely changed. The guy somehow looked much more menacing than a minute ago. Damian remembered the time when he was cut off from feeling his mana—how the world around him had dulled completely. And he was just a first-ranker. The higher one’s rank, the more dependent the body was on mana. It must have felt really frustrating to not feel it for so long.

“Ready?” Damian asked.

They had to do the job they’d come to do. They left the energy spheres there and ascended into the air, flying at a moderate speed toward the island of Edgeheaven. Damian held Mindseer. Asael was still radiating a bit of mana, and the guy’s aura was uncomfortable even for other transcendents. Most people avoided staying near him. With his mana returning, the effect had only worsened.

Damian had to hand it to those second-ranker Dawnstar nobles trying to chat with Mindseer and Asael even under such an oppressive presence.

Soon, the island came fully into view. The Faerunian army had camped near the ruins of Obsidian Bastion. The academy used to have a large campus full of green grass and flattened land. Damian couldn’t even feel that server-type giant runic network that used to cover the whole island and power their student badges.

All three transcendents of Faerunia were seated there together, clearly waiting for the Land-breaker to arrive. The Land-breaker landed right in front of the army. Some 20 meters of distance lay between the three unwelcomed guests with an army—and the two rightful owners of the land. Damian had been instructed not to do anything other than keep the nuisances away and stop them from activating some hidden traps.

Damian could sense four buried giant runic tools—the trace of mana was quite strong. Must be a dungeon relic charged by the three third-rankers. No runic circle was visible yet, meaning it wasn’t active.

Damian wanted to see what the thing did, but at the same time, it was clearly a trap. He didn’t want to be so cocky as to walk into one thinking nothing could stop him. Damian simply readied the mana disruption spell he had created to trap the witch’s teleportation in the Pigmen world.

He placed the four runic circles in four directions surrounding them. If he activated those, all runic spells in the area should become ineffective. Now he could enjoy the new spell in peace.

“Has greed completely made you senseless?” the Land-breaker asked.

The Land-breaker was not a saint. He had killed plenty of people who came in his way—even transcendents. The three third-rankers of Faerunia were not safe at all. The army of first and second-rankers behind them was comparable to mere wind in front of a true fourth-ranker.

“Come to Faerunia, Land-breaker,” the Depthcaller said. “Meet our king. You will be well compensated if you form a partnership with us. Two people alone can’t look after a whole city.”

Damian completely ignored Lily of Ruin and Depthcaller eyeing him with vengeance. His eyes were fixed on Hellstorm—the guy was the strongest among them and clearly in charge. This stubbornness confused Damian a great deal. Perhaps the rumors about Hellstorm’s cleverness were greatly exaggerated.

“Do not tell me what I can and cannot do, you sniveling brat,” Asael fired back.

“There has to be some agreement we can come to, Lord Supreme Blade,” Hellstorm said, his hand resting on his sword.

“There is—leave my home, and you get to live to tell the moronic tale to your kids and grandkids.”

Hellstorm chuckled. The smile didn’t reach his eyes though, as he pulled the blade from his scabbard.

“You never change, huh? Did all those years of imprisonment teach you nothing?” he said, raising his blade. Lily of Ruin also clenched her fist, and Depthcaller started chanting in a low voice.