The Runic Alchemist

It felt more like a walk in the garden than a dungeon run, but then again, the starting levels were barely the beginning of the main dungeon. Damian took the map from Einar and noted the names of various monsters in the first five levels. There was even a mini-boss guarding the level five key point. Defeating it would grant them the right to proceed further.

The dungeon for each party was on a unique plane—unless the group wasn't at full party limit. In that case, up to 100 individuals shared one dungeon plane if the limit was maximum 100, even if they weren't in the team. As long as one person from a batch remained inside, the others could exit and reenter. However, there was no saving feature, so if they left, they would have to restart from the beginning. Despite this setback, the plane itself remained unchanged so long as a single batch member stayed behind and never left.

The Highswords ensured with their logs that each batch had their own Highsword guards stationed at the level five key point. Without special permission, students were forbidden from advancing further.

Damian was captivated by the peculiar mechanics of dungeons, particularly the idea that a valuable resource in one corner could be exploited repeatedly by those bold enough to claim it. Yet, not all dungeons followed such predictable rules. Some adhered to strange, inscrutable logic tied to their environment, world, or even an enigmatic force shaping them. The quirkiest of these dungeons defied reason so thoroughly that they were often avoided entirely.

One such dungeon, located in Dawnstar, was infamous; no one who entered had ever returned from it.

The unranked monsters presented little challenge. But groups of leader-ranked monsters tested Elias and Lumi's stamina and combat skills. Elias managed well and struggled only when outnumbered. Lumi, on the other hand, had limited mana and lacked stamina. Her swordsmanship was rudimentary, though she compensated with clever spell usage. Despite this ingenuity, her arsenal was too limited to handle significant threats - mostly using common grade spells.

Halfway to the lake, they encountered Kindle Foxes—unique to this dungeon. They reminded Damian of the hellhounds he had faced as mundane in his trial, though these creatures were much cuter, with only a blazing tail instead of various parts of the body being engulfed in flames. The foxes were surprisingly fast.

Damian caught one and examined it by channeling his mana threads through its body. Though dangerous, this technique mapped a creature's internal mana pathways and enhanced organs. Prolonged exposure to foreign mana poisoned most creatures, with only those of strong will able to resist. Damian, however, with his overwhelming mana control could envelope nearly any creature fully in his mana, even a dinosaur.

This method, while risky, was more efficient than repetitive mimicry to discover usable traits of monsters and beasts. He could copy and give the same similarities to another creature with a tail, not for humans though. Some beastmen could use it. Damian copied the mimicry spell anyway. Though he wouldn't be able to use it without having a live specimen whose ID he can put into it. That was the biggest limitation of his mimicry spell and derived potions.

His collection of creature IDs was extensive, with the Eldoris Palace maintaining live specimens. They also knew the risk, and how it could all fall apart if not protected properly. At least for the potions that were already on the battlefield. His batch Damian could edit if one potion failed activation.

Later, they faced moss golems—essentially rock golems overgrown with moss. Analyzing them provided valuable insights into mana cores. Unlike human mana systems, which were overly complex, inanimate monsters like golems and treants had simpler, easily noticeable and limited in function cores.

His mana core at least, he wasn't sure for others; Had veins of mana so thin, barely noticeable to even his senses. Opening in some of the pores all over his body. They attracted the mana from the environment then that mana travelled to his core that was placed in his stomach but he had experienced through some questionable methods that it was not a physical thing. Others didn't even sense it, but to his mana sense it was clear as day. A moulten fiery liquid oozing out of a circular moulten core - at least that's what it felt like.

Like a miniature sun surrounded by lava.

All the mana from the veins goes inside the core, goes through some kind of filtering process to come out as molten, bright and warm liquid mana - which he could call his own. Experimenting with monster cores yielded intriguing results.

The core only worked and can be sensed as long as the specimen was alive. Damian had tried snatching it out, using his mana threads as tongs and sometimes even shaping them as hands but the moment he pulled on it; the creatures would scream like their souls were being ripped out of their bodies. It reminded Damian of the searing pain when he and Vidalia were connected through the divine vines and they tried to move away from each other.

Damian felt confident in his ability to replicate mana veins by crafting his own threads of mana, rendered exceptionally thin and supported by mana nodes embedded within a quality metal. However, when it came to studying the refinement process of mana, he longed for a closer inspection of a genuine mana core.

With weaker monsters—those below the lord or even king rank—their bodies couldn't endure the violent extraction of their cores, resulting in instant death within seconds. The cores themselves dissipated almost immediately, often vanishing before he could pull them out even a few inches.

Damian speculated that if he attempted the same with a higher-ranked monster, the core might hold together for a few seconds longer—just enough time to study it more closely. Even the brief pauses he had forced in the mana refinement processes of lower-ranked monsters had yielded fascinating insights into the workings of this elusive organ.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Enjoy new chapters from empire

Finally, the group arrived at the lake. Damian could already sense the mud monsters, Bog Golems, lurking beneath the water, along with other hidden monsters.