The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 925: Ten Years Later

Mid-Winter, Year 529, New Age. Ten years after the beginning of the Exploration Project.

Sanctuary Academy Student, Miura.

“Hurry up! I don’t want to be late!” Miura shouted from the front gate of her house.

“Just a second! Where is this damn thing? Ah, here it is..” She heard her mother muttering from inside the house.

A moment later, the fox-woman rushed to the door and handed Miura the new Valkyr Frame MK6. It was such a cool thing, but alas, she was not allowed to use it without a good reason; her parents were unnecessarily strict about it. All her friends used it all the time.

“Do your best!” Her mother said it forcefully, grabbing her and planting a forceful kiss on her head.

’This woman!’

Miura did not resist it today or say anything about how childish it was; it will only be ignored. She was late, and the unapologetic smile on her mother’s face was just as annoying as it was sweet. She just nodded, equipped the Valkyr Frame, and activated the runic item.

In an instant, two large red wings extended from the metal tool on her back, and an invisible thrust pushed her high into the sky above. This feeling of touching the sky never gets old.

Valkyr Frames have been in the market for three years now. But it had only been six months since Miura’s father bought it. Working at the motor shop did not pay lavishly. It was enough to live for their family of three and pay loans on the house, as long as they didn’t spend too much on unnecessary things.

The breeze coming from the sea filled Miura’s lungs with fresh air. Every Wednesday, she used the Frames to travel to the academy, and yet the beautiful scenery demanded to be admired every single time.

She was a half-beastman with a human mundane father and a pugilist beastwoman. The vast land called Meridian Keystone in Sanctuary was her home. Once, it used to be two separate islands. Virestone Reach and Ashenrock Isle, they were called. But several years ago, Sanctum decided to combine the two islands into one singular land. (Note: There is an updated, simple map image of Sanctuary in the comments.)

The seventeen-kilometer gap in between, where the ocean used to be, was now filled with pure metal. It looked like land and was dirt as well, but the base was metal; Miura had seen it with her own eyes using the Frame.

Her house was in a small town called Fyoum. It was previously on Virestone Reach. When she was little, Miura remembered seeing only big, wide golden fields, and they travelled using horse-drawn carriages instead of Runic Motorcars. Most people on Virestone used to be farmers, but now it has one of the biggest cities in Sanctuary.

Even the Sanctum Academy had shifted to Meridian Keystone six years ago. The presence of the Sanctum Research Center and the Trade City had transformed the land beyond recognition, with the new academy campus shifting here; no wonder this place had become so popular.

Miura could see massive silver-gray pillars in the distance as she passed by, standing tall, facing the ocean waves. The Sanctuary region had the massive runic wall to protect them, but they had these four giant runic pillars that the Void King had made. Once a year, they activate it, and the whole island gets enveloped in a massive circular, strong golden barrier.

All her academy friends used either the Helix-III transport carrier or Valkyr Frames to commute to the academy. People from the sanctum rarely stayed in the academy dorm rooms. Nowadays, even the students from other countries use the waygates daily to travel instead of staying in the academy.

On the other side of the island, Miura descended slowly. It was the region called The Center. Mainly due to the massive Sanctum Research Center headquaters but the academy campus was also here, and it had become a prosperous city with lots of shops and academic guilds building their base here.

The most popular guild that all scholar students wanted to join was the ’Grand Adventure & Supreme Mana’ Guild. They held the record in almost all major dungeons, and videos of their dungeon runs were really popular. Afterall, all five leaders of the guild were actually popular ex-students of the academy.

Miura’s favourite was the cool Elias Sunblade. He was one of the best transcendent seeds of Sanctuary. The guild leader, Lady Luminisha Kauwser, was amazing as well. But she would never believe that Luminisha was stronger than Elias. He was the youngest brother of Lord Void King himself afterall.

Miura landed on the platform reserved for landing and handed her Frame for safekeeping. They were not allowed to keep that inside the academy with them. Lady Frostmother was very strict about that ever since one of the students tried to jump out of the window and crashed into an invisible wall.

The video clip of that was truly funny. Back then, she was still ten years old and had just received her first Rune Shaper job. She was in the junior academy and could not wait to graduate and join the high academy.

After finishing her five years of junior academy, Miura was now in her third year of high academy. Unlike most people, she actually planned to attend the advanced academy as well to learn the high-level runesmith techniques they taught in the advanced classes.

“Hey! Foxy! Wait for me!” A familiar voice shouted from behind.

Miura smiled without turning back. It was the Zer, short for Zeriel, her best friend since junior academy. The short-haired, bubbly brunette caught up to her in no time. And planted a strong slap on her back just as she did. She was an odd girl, even though her father, teacher Sariel, who taught Mana Theories, was so cool and handsome.

“You are strong today as well. Nice! Nice!” The mischievous girl muttered.

“It still hurts!” Miura complained, which was completely ignored by the smiling nuisance.

“Did you see that cool custom Goldflame Axiom VSII parked outside?” Zer asked excitedly.

Miura did notice it earlier but had ignored it since she was running late.