The Runic Alchemist

"That is mighty ambitious, boy.." Sesha said in her deep, feminine voice.

"So all your vengeance talk to me was nonsense?" Einar asked, her eyes shaking with emotion.

"It's not vengeance. I was responsible for the Land Breaker's escape, but I do not blame myself for it either," Damian replied, looking at her. "I can do it.. or at least I can try it and escape if it proves to be too much. It's a risk I can take. Sooner or later, the Demon Lord himself will find the Sun God in his weaker state. If he somehow manages to go back to our world.. you all can imagine what would follow."

The eyes of the people present in the room widened, just imagining the scenario. They all had people they cared about back home. Even Highswords, who didn't care much for others, still cared about their city and their families' descendants in the five kingdoms.

Damian continued, "My reasons are not as noble as saving this new pigmen civilization or protecting the people back home. I simply want to move forward in life. Defeating the Demon Lord is a goal I am working towards, just like I work to finish my runic projects.

Living here all our lives is a nice enough idea. I won't lie—with our power, we could live like kings here. But in the back of our minds, there will always be a voice.. telling us what could have been. I will fight because it is what I want to do. I refuse to let some miserable false God dictate my life."

Einar saw the conviction in his eyes and then glanced at Evrin, who wore an equally serious expression. Then, nodding slightly at her, she looked back at Damian and said, "Then include us in this goal of yours. This place is nice, but I want to go back."

Lucian stood right behind her with a simple, "Me too." Then came Sam, Grace, Sariel, Amy, Reize, Lumi, Elias, and even Maelor and Alex. They all wanted to go back—more than anything.

"How long do you assume it would take before you're ready?" Worldscribe asked, finally ending the flurry of me too's.

Damian replied, "Minimum six months, at most eight months to a year."

She breathed in, looked around at all her third-ranker Highswords, and said in a firm tone, "We still need to find this Sun God's location before the Demon Lord, right?"

Damian nodded.

"How about we do that for you?" she said. "You create whatever it is that you're creating.. Just give us a few of those waygate cubes, and we will try our best to find this place. We can return periodically to inform you how much time we have left."

That was quite helpful. He only needed his friends' help in securing iron from all over the world; the Highswords were not needed. If they could secure the Sun God's location earlier, they could decide where to fight—or whether to fight at all. Damian just nodded.

"That would be quite helpful."

"We can go as well," Sam said resolutely.

Damian shook his head. "I need your help here. Only people who can fly should go—it's a search mission."

"I thought you already made some sort of deal and got to work.." Alex asked.

"This is just one of many countries in this world. I need iron from all over. I can't stay in all these locations. I need people who can keep them in line and continue the resource gathering without any stoppages," Damian replied.

"Just how big is this world?" Amy asked in wonder.

Damian smiled. "It's across the ocean. The massive island our five kingdoms are on is called a continent. There are seven such places here."

Many eyes widened in surprise.

"No one has crossed all the oceans before in our world.. Do you think there are more people out there?" Sariel asked curiously.

"There's a possibility.. Just like this island the Highswords told us about, there could be many undiscovered places. I always wanted to use Dreamlight for such a purpose," Damian replied truthfully.

Reize's eyes widened as she looked at him. He had often talked with her about how going on such a journey was one of the things he wanted to do. The chaotic mess his life had turned into after entering the academy had both advantages and disadvantages. It was no big deal, though—he could always do it after going back.

The power he held now.. only the old Sneak Snake could maybe threaten him.

The meeting ended with the decision that all the Highswords—except Mindseer—would return to the pigmen world to search for the Sun God while the others worked on building Damian's project. They were set to leave the very next day.

Damian created six waygate cubes for all six of them. He wasn't stupid, though—he locked all waygates to fixed locations. If powered from one direction, it would open in the pigmen world near the tree; if powered from the other, it would connect back to Earth beside him. He had tweaked the spell slightly, using a two-way connection. Whenever he was locked as a target, he could sense the energy and see who activated it, along with who was around them, using his mana sense. If the waygate ever fell into the Demon Lord's hands, he could cancel the spell with his Monarch's Authority.

The next day, as everyone prepared to leave, Damian held a sixth cube in his hand. The Highswords had already received one, and they looked at him in confusion, along with all his friends.

Damian exhaled and finally gave the cube to Lifewarden. Looking him in the eyes, he said, "This is the steel version of my mana cube."

All the Highswords' eyes immediately widened. Damian continued, ignoring their reactions, "Only you five—your mana and aura—will be recognized. It will generate liquid mana that you all can use. It won't last long, though—only for thirty to forty activations. So use it wisely and only in emergencies."

"Thank you," Worldscribe said. Even though their contract was fake, Damian had fulfilled it. In a much different situation, but it was a fact.

Damian just nodded.