The Runic Alchemist

Damian gave most of the things to Lucian; he wasn't going to use them anyway. Seeing the sky slowly brighten with the rising sun, Damian and Lucian chatted about old times and drank half the bottle little by little.

Only when the sun was up, blinding them with its bright rays, did they go inside the Dreamlight to sleep. On the bed inside his room, they didn't really sleep, though. Still reminiscing the old memories, Laughing together turned to kissing, and then much more. Things happened, and neither tried to stop themselves.

They slept through the whole day and only woke in the evening, their heads hurting like hell. Damian gathered all his things inside Dreamlight, along with Jacob and Prince, and they flew down into the village.

Sam and the others were still following their routine. Now the Highswords also helped in killing the monsters, making things much easier for the little village. With so many powerhouses, Sam organized a hunting party, with each third-ranker leading a group of pigmen and a couple of second-rankers. Together, they cleared out the monsters in the village's vicinity, storing them inside spatial storages and handing them over to the chief and the village elders.

The pigmen didn't have spatial storages yet, so Damian gave them the extra ones he had, since Sam and Grace had such a close relationship with them. There was another strange thing he had noticed about the pigmen—each of them had somewhat similar mana signatures. They weren't exactly the same; there were still distinctions, but the nature of their mana felt similar.

When Damian talked more about the pigmen with Maelor and Sam while he and Lucian were having a late lunch, he discovered that the pigmen couldn't use all elements like humans. The spells they cast contained only three elements in their runic circles. As Grace instructed some pigmen to demonstrate their magic, Damian observed them closely. The first was fire, the second was ice, and the third was a strange, light pink-colored runic circle that produced odd spells—something akin to psychic attacks or buffs.

The black chains Damian had broken from Maelor and the others' necks had contained one of these psychic spells, which sent jolts of pain originating from the brain. Damian had recorded the runic spell, but no matter what he did, he just couldn't figure out how to wield this new element he had discovered.

Perhaps obtaining a mana stone infused with this element and using his Elder Runebreaker skills would give him insight into reproducing it. But for now, they had other things to do, so Damian didn't dwell on it too much. It was just a curiosity of his.

That evening, Damian, along with Worldscribe, Runefather, Sariel, and others interested in the dungeon's lore—or simply wanting to go sightseeing—ventured into the massive stone shrine. Damian had seen some murals in its broken version before, but this one should be intact.

They flew Dreamlight toward the base steps and landed near a massive stone door. Only giants—or those with incredibly powerful bodies—could even hope to open it. But Damian had three third-rankers with him, and his own stats nearly rivaled theirs. Sam, with his lightning abilities, could reach a similar level.

It took considerable strength, straining, and pushing, but at last, the door budged. The snow blocking it shattered, and the gates creaked open, revealing the dark interior.

Damian and the other mages illuminated the way, revealing the vast hollow expanse inside—the shell of this enormous structure.

The village chief and several pigmen elders were with them as well. Grace had informed them that the pigmen considered the massive stone shrine sacred. They even believed all the humans had arrived because the god residing in the shrine had summoned them to aid their small village.

It was enormous! Even when Damian conjured hundreds of large light orbs, they barely illuminated one side of the interior. In the end, he pulled out his newly made artificial mana core cube (Will refer to it as Mana Cube from now on—it's too long otherwise) and used mana liquid to generate thousands of massive light orbs, finally lighting up the entire structure.

As expected, the walls were covered in murals. Gigantic ones, medium-sized ones, even tiny ones—as if the height of the artists had varied drastically.

Damian suspected that after evolution, pigmen grew in size. The village chief and their so-called Sun God were clear examples of that. Over the years, many pigmen must have lived near this place and added their own art to the walls.

A grand staircase spiraled upward, stretching toward the unseen ceiling. Even with enhanced eyesight, they couldn't see the top.

Among the larger murals, one immediately captured Damian's attention. It was a continuation of the Sun God's story.

After the Sun God had punished his people and later revoked the punishment, many religions had emerged, causing his following to dwindle to near extinction.

It was at this time that the Sun God chose a warrior from among his most pious believers. The god personally guided this man, paving a path for him to grow stronger by vanquishing his enemies—many of whom belonged to religions that bordered on evil.

The Sun God gave everything to this warrior—strength, knowledge, wisdom. All because the god desired one thing in return: for the warrior to spread his name once more throughout the world.

And the warrior succeeded.

He saved lives, became a champion, then a hero, and finally, a king. Under his rule, his kingdom grew into one of the most influential civilizations of its time—all while spreading the teachings of the Sun God.

However, the warrior's enemies weren't limited to corrupt religions. Other faiths, backed by powerful kingdoms, had strong followings of their own. These weren't inherently evil religions, but they did not worship the Sun God.

At the god's insistence, the warrior attempted to spread his influence with them, even trying to convert their followers. But they were too entrenched in their ways.

For reasons unclear, the Sun God was unable to exert his divine power over them. He was not as mighty as he had once been, and his past actions had already given him a poor reputation.

Thus, a terrible conflict began—a war so catastrophic that the murals depicted it as the single worst event in their world's history.

They called it - The Holy War.