The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 838: Current Projects & Plans

Vidalia pulled out some papers from the pile and said,

“Check these, a fifty-level dungeon showing the same mural writing pattern as the thirty-five level dungeon. And the hero of their murals, or whoever this figure is, has been seen multiple times in this, this, and this dungeon.”

Damian took a look at every paper she presented. There was indeed more than what was meeting the eye here. Even if there were similar civilizations in more than one dungeon, it shouldn’t be more than four.

A hundred level was the limit according to Pigmen Sun God. One fifty-level dungeon and two smaller dungeons being somewhat similar was understandable, but multiple big dungeons showing similarities in their civilizations was a sign of something else.

’Could there be a civilization expanding in the whole solar system?’

That could be. Assuming there was a civilization advanced enough to reach space, they could potentially have become overseers of other worlds and left more dungeons for others as a form of contact.

But.. the dungeons don’t seem advanced at all. Opposite even, most dungeons depict stories of war and barbaric conflict. But the dungeon civilization and the real-time world it was based on were very different. Just like the pigmen world and its dungeon. The cities the pigmen had were actually better than the Highsword dungeon ruins.

“I’m sorry. What was it? I didn’t hear..” Damian stopped overthinking. Vidalia must have called him for something.

“The dungeon closing ceremony. I was asking When are you going to do it? Can I suggest the dungeon?” Vidalia asked.

“Which one will that be?” Damian asked.

“The Lantern Grave,” Vidalia replied.

Damian opened the page for The Lantern Grave in his receiver channel. This was a sanctum use only – the dungeon Vidalia had chosen was not among the hundred they had opened for the public.

The Lantern Grave was only a 25-level dungeon with misty, dark graveyards as dungeon floors with zombie-like monsters. The monsters had burning lanterns for heads.

It was actually one of the special dungeons that interested him personally. It didn’t have much civilization or anything important, though. However, anything related to unique cyborg-like elements was automatically interesting to his modern eyes.

“Why?” Damian asked.

“We found some remains of those unique monsters it has in another dungeon called The Clockwork Orchard. A few lines of writing we found on some of its dungeon relics are almost identical. I thought that if we sealed this dungeon, there might be some effects of it left behind on the other dungeon. There are two more that have similar elements to The Lantern Grave.”

Damian nodded. That was a good choice if they had to choose one at random anyway.

“Your mother said she would consult with the queen and answer me by the end of this week,” Damian said.

“Press her. She’s just stalling for time.” Vidalia replied.

The way she was so dismissive of her mother never failed to put a smile on his face.

“Anything else?” Damian asked, getting up.

“We have chantings ready. When will you be ready?” She asked.

“Tonight. I have some free time.”

“What are you so busy with?”

“The jets. It’s almost ready! A few more days, and I can finally give them to the field test.” Damian replied.

Along with the jets, Damian was already busy building plans for army survey flying ships, but he did not mention it. That and the runic armor for these exploration units were supposed to be a secret.

“The first meeting for the research board is almost here. I thought you wanted to do this before that.” Vidalia said.

“We will. Doesn’t matter which dungeon, yours will do.” Damian confirmed.

“Leave now, I need to prepare for tonight,” Vidalia said, gesturing for him to shoo away.

“As you wish, Lady Twiglet,” Damian replied with a smug smile.

Vidalia looked up, her sharp eyes piercing the thin air between them. She hated that nickname. That story from her mother was a worthy purchase!

In seconds, a few papers were rolled into sharp paper blades and launched straight towards his face from her table. Damian hurriedly closed the door and moved to the side. The poor wooden door received damage from blades crashing into it one after another.

Damian returned to his lab and continued his work. The next day, he received the reports on his potions from Ilvanaya and Reize. It performed much better than they all had expected. It even lasted for over six hours for one vial.

Three vials once a day, and their spies wouldn’t have to worry about it wearing off at all. Still, before sending people, Damian asked Reize to do the extensive tests, taking different volunteers and using different batches of prepared potions.

Ilvanya, he sent her back to her country to sort out the dungeon sealing method permission issue. Using waygates, it was easy enough. Ilvanya was just going to inform the queen that they were doing this. Ilvanaya didn’t really need permission to do this, but it was still polite of her to ask.

Taking a break from his constant blueprint designing of flying ships and their various runic compartments, Damian sat in with Evrin and the audio department interviewing new talent.

Their audio channel was now available in all of mainland. They had to change their shows and content a bit to cater to all of mainland and not just the sanctuary. The already famous talk show and programs were going to remain the same, but slight adjustments were needed.

“What’s your name?” The audio channel head asked.

Damian was still scribbling while half-listening to the interviews.

“Ely, sir.” The girl replied.

“What new idea have you brought us today, Ely?” Evrin asked.

“Lady Stonekeeper, uhm, thank you for this chance. Uhm, I.. My idea of the tower show was to give people of Sanctum and beyond ideas on how to use the Sanctum resources and make money. Like this idea sharing thing, that the tower department holds often, but for all of the sanctuary. The ideas discussed can truly help some people who can’t think of things to do, despite it being an option.”

Damian looked up. That was a solid idea. Even Evrin and the rest of the tower department staff were frozen. Guess the girl’s idea was selected unanimously.