The Runic Alchemist

The humanoid constructs made of mud and reeds were just like moss golems. Physical attacks or fireballs weren't very effective against them, but wind element worked surprisingly well. Damian, however, refrained from joining the fight. Instead, he busied himself analyzing one of the constructs he had captured with vines.

The study provided Damian with a profound understanding of how a golem should be perfectly controlled, with every corner of its body responding to the user's will. Unfortunately, the construct's mana core was barely a wisp and offered no significant utility, nor were there any features worth replicating.

The lake nearby teemed with bioluminescent fish and turtles adorned with colorful crystal shells. It reminded Damian of the giant turtle monster the new students had fought in the last ranking test. These monsters were weak, lacking even basic spells, and their mana stones—condensed mana residues of cores extracted upon their deaths—were primitive and unstable. Damian had attempted to send mana threads inside one of the cores before, but each attempt had just blown up in his face.

"There are only Blink Deer and Ash Wolves left on this level that are leader rank," Einar reported as they rested under a tree overlooking the lake. His two squires, along with Fiona, Adrian, and Sam, were busy fighting the mud constructs and hunting turtles and fish.

"Why don't you let him fight?" Evrin asked, holding Toph, while Damian and Lucian examined the creatures they'd captured he had handed him to her.

"He doesn't level up for some reason," Damian replied, muttering a chant as he displayed Toph's stats to the group.

"Space-time element…" Lucian murmured thoughtfully.

"Emperor? Curse-bound?" Evrin frowned at Toph. "Who exactly is this guy?"

"Who do you think?" Damian grinned at Einar, whose eyes widened in realization.

"You obtained it after the Emperor Beast fight… It can't be," she said in shock.

"I landed some attacks, and somehow, I got it," Damian explained.

"Did you just say you fought an Emperor-ranked beast?" Grace's disbelief was evident.

"I wasn't alone, and I didn't really fight it. I just managed to land a spell," Damian clarified.

"Maybe it's like a soul-bound weapon," Evrin suggested. "My aunt once told me about an esper monster tamer in Eldoris whose strength grew alongside his beasts. They were bound to him and functioned as soul-bound weapons."

"What do you mean by functioned as soul-bound weapons?" Damian asked. Lucian gave him a knowing look but said nothing.

"They grow stronger along with their user, but the user must wield them during battle, in this man's case have the beasts with him in his fights.." Evrin explained.

Damian's mind raced. The intial description of the curse did say it was a soul bound curse. 'Growing stronger together…'

He grabbed Toph, who had been listening attentively while playing on Evrin's lap. Using his vine spell, Damian retrieved one of the crystal-shelled turtles from the lake and shattered its shell with a single, restrained punch to avoid harming the body too much. Then, he allowed Toph to finish the task. Despite its injuries, the turtle proved resilient, and it took Toph a full minute of dashes and strikes to bring it down. Once it was subdued, Damian delivered the final blow with his sword.

The others gathered around, intrigued by the makeshift experiment. Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued their activity by the lake, seemingly undisturbed by Damian's theatrics.

---

Name : Toph Lv.8

Enjoy more content from empire

Rank : Unranked

Affinity : Fire, Space-time

STR : 11

DEF : 10

INT : 13

AGI : 12

DEX : 10

CHA : 7

LUC : 10

Titles : [Curse Bound], [Emperor]

Skills : [Power core Lv.4] [Trunk Strike Lv.5] [Quick Dash Lv.7]

—

He leveled up! Finally! But the skill.. Did Toph also learn it while finishing off monsters together..?

Toph had not leveled up when he fought alone and neither did he learn any skill.. What a simple thing, why didn't his stupid brain think of such simple reasoning..? Though he didn't really pay much attention to Toph's levels and was occupied with making him learn skills, which also he didn't do with full attention. Plus no book had ever mentioned such a beast.

"It worked," Einar remarked. Damian smiled at Evrin, nodding his thanks. She beamed in return.

"Alright, Toph. Let's do this," Damian declared, enhancing his vine spell to summon over 50 thick, rope-sized vines. With practiced precision, he captured half the lake's bioluminescent fish, several turtles, and even some unranked monsters—including a few bog golems—confining them within a dense, vine-formed prison.

Everyone just stared at him with 'Are you for real!' eyes, even the ones busy hunting. He had captured half their prey.

He released the creatures through a controlled vine tunnel, one by one, and damaged them just enough for Toph who was behind him to finish them off. Damian had bought and made various runic and simple items for Toph. He took out the one that covered his smooth head with spikes, the little guy hesitated a bit in using the deadly thing, but when the less injured monsters tried attacking him - Toph didn't back down and delivered the finishing blows with his dash skill.

Damian felt a pang of guilt watching Toph fight. If the little elephant had been an ordinary pet, he'd never push him to such lengths. However, his life depended on him, Damian had to make the little munchkin as strong as possible. After the final blow was delivered and the last captured beast dealt eith, Toph's spiked accessory was stained red. Damian patted the little guy while gently washing him with lake water and let him rest in his arms. He was on the verge of passing out.

Once Toph was refreshed, Damian checked his stats again.

---

Name : Toph Lv.18

Rank : Unranked

Affinity : Fire, Space-time

STR : 21

DEF : 20

INT : 23

AGI : 22

DEX : 20n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

CHA : 7

LUC : 10

Titles : [Curse Bound], [Emperor]

Skills : [Power core Lv.6] [Trunk Strike Lv.8] [Quick Dash Lv.9] [Elemental Infusion Lv.2] [Iron Hide Lv.3] [Juggernaut Charge Lv.1]

—