The Runic Alchemist

The next morning, Damian and Reize woke up later than usual. Since neither of them had classes to attend, it wasn't a big deal. But today wasn't like every other day—Damian had things to take care of.

After a late breakfast, they headed straight to their labs. Reize was giggling more than usual, chuckling at almost everything he said. It was obvious he had gotten more drunk than he'd intended the previous night and likely did something questionable to her. While she teased and laughed about it, she didn't clarify what had actually happened. Damian, not wanting to bother with her antics, focused on his tasks for the day.

Elias and Lumi, freed from their exams, had two weeks of free time ahead of them. Yet, neither went home. Instead, the two were already waiting for Damian at the door to his lab when he arrived.

Damian knew better than to ask why—both of their families had so little money that their combined income was less than what most students squandered in a month in the city below. And from the looks of it, they didn't seem too upset about it—guess they actually liked it here.

"How were your exams?" Damian asked as he keyed in the protection code to open the door. Reize bid them farewell and disappeared into her own lab.

"They were tough, but not harder than Lady Einar's training. I ranked 17th in third year," Lumi replied, beaming with pride. Toph had already climbed on her shoulder, his usual way of greeting her. Her habit of sneaking him treats had left a lasting impression on his simple, smooth brain.

Damian turned to Elias, who stiffened instinctively. Despite having trained together for months, Elias always seemed uneasy around him and struggled to hide it. With Sam, however, he fit in perfectly.

"Ahm... I ranked 8th in my class," Elias replied nervously. "Maximus."

Damian nodded in acknowledgment. Both of them had improved significantly thanks to their training with Einar and Sam. That reminded him—he needed to apologize to Lucian for skipping their training session the previous night. Hopefully, she hadn't waited long.

After a good night's sleep, Damian's priorities were clearer. First, he needed to secure access to the dungeon and ascend as quickly as possible, strengthening Toph in the process. Second, he had to finish the project Reize was working on faster so it could serve as a contingency. Still, refining the artificial mana core remained his top priority—something he could brainstorm about even while handling other tasks.

Today's focus was to craft a new set of armor specifically for the upcoming exam. His previous sets were too dangerous, filled with spells that could annihilate ordinary people. He needed something powerful yet safe enough to spar with top students from the Spellborne Legion and Fist of Valor.

Worldscribe had mentioned that the vote would be in six months. Assuming no one from the three factions got impatient, they had about three to four months before tensions boiled over. Politics would dominate after Worldscribe revealed the contract details. Damian resolved to stay vigilant during the time, but if he finished all his work in time, he could retreat into the dungeon for a few months, avoid the nonsense, and grow stronger.

Twenty-seven transcendent individuals divided into three factions meant roughly nine in each—fewer if some remained neutral. Damian didn't need to become invincible, but he had to be strong enough to face at least half of the third-ranker individuals from each faction and survive the confrontation alongside his friends.

It was a monumental task, but with Einar, Sam, Lucian, and ample preparation, it wasn't impossible. Unless, of course, some Highswords were as ridiculously powerful as Hellstorm.

"Alright, let's get to work. We're making another full runic armor today," Damian declared, assigning tasks to Elias and Lumi—gathering suitable ingots, searching through his piles of runic circle schematics, and managing the forge's fire.

"Another armor? Don't you already have plenty of those?" Elias asked. Lumi's ears also perked up, her curiosity piqued as she rummaged through Damian's schematics pile. "Do you sell them, Maximus? How much do they cost?"

"No, I don't sell them. This one's for the exam. It would look bad if I accidentally killed some guys..." Damian replied, distracted by the enormous and unsightly design of the artificial mana source device on his desk. He was still toying with ways to reduce its size and automate certain functions.

He totally missed the horrified expressions of his two assistants behind him entirely.

****

The long-awaited exam week finally arrived for the fifth-year students. Unlike Earth schools, where subjects were tested over several days, students here took three papers in a single day with only an hour's break between each. Over two days, all main exams were completed. Students with extra subjects and advanced classes had additional tests afterward but mostly it was done.

Damian only sat for three exams—one of them a mix between potion-making practical and writing the process and other questions answered in the papers. He answered each question in his own way, writing what he believed was correct. In fact, his responses often explained the concepts better than the library books, so he wasn't worried about the three subjects.

For Combat Arts and Spellscrafting only practical exams counted.

If a student's scores across all six main subjects were totaled, the maximum would be 600 points, with 270 required to pass. There were no minimum score requirements for individual subjects, meaning a student could skip an entire subject and still pass by excelling in others. This was exactly what Damian was counting on to bypass his Beast studies subject.

To secure the top rank in his fifth year, Damian not only needed to earn the final 200 points from the practical exams but also had to prevent the high-ranking brats from surpassing his total. They held a 100-point lead, meaning he would need to strategically hinder some of them to claim the top spot.

It wasn't exactly admirable, but Damian was determined to come out on top—and others would just have to suck it up.