The Runic Alchemist

Damian blinked. "It's related to blessings," he said.

"Can we do it?" she asked, her face serious. That was the thing about Lucian—she never beat around the bush, always going directly for what she wanted.

"Maybe. But the guy is dead now," Damian replied. "Plus, perhaps we should see what it does to others before doing it. The Sun God mentioned a possibility of having all their levels cut in half as a penalty."

"Penalty.." Lucian mumbled. "Did they.. change their faith? Their blessings?"

Damian hesitated for a second before slightly nodding.

"That's how it is.."

Lucian gestured at Damian and slowly walked out of the cozy building. Damian's mind was in a jumble too. He wanted to tell all his friends that the blessings were a curse, but he also remembered the Sun God mentioning how the disciples were basically the eyes and ears of the said Overseer. If it was one God against him, Damian would even consider going against him like the Sun God did with his—but their world was a weird one and seemed to have four or five powerful gods coexisting for some reason.

However, maybe..

Damian hurriedly got up from the chair and ran behind Lucian, calling out to her, "Lucian, wait.."

She stopped a few meters outside the door. Damian took out the oxygen bottle he had prepared to use with his fireproof armor. It still had some left in it. Handing it to her, he said,

"There is an experiment I need your help with.."

She agreed to help. Damian gave her the armor and fitted the oxygen bottle on her back. Then he told her to keep her status tool in hand and activate it to notice any differences once he gave a sign. She nodded.

Damian immediately used the Invisible Box spell to create a medium-sized box. Then he opened a big wormhole inside it and conjured a giant water sphere to fill it full of water. After that, Damian used another wormhole to empty the box. Then, yet another one to let Lucian go inside, activating the oxygen supply.

Damian didn't end it there, though. He used his three mana cubes to make a solid mana barrier covering the whole invisible box. At last, he gave her the sign to check her status tool. He couldn't see what her status screen showed, so he just kept the mana barrier going strong and watched her face.

The reason—or rather, the thought—behind doing all this was something he had considered after seeing the thin—almost unnoticeable—mana thread going from status tools to the environment's mana. Could possibly cutting all mana connection cause the effects of blessings to vanish? Or maybe.. just maybe, could it be shielded?

Lucian gestured at him from inside, and Damian removed both the mana and the invisible box.

"Did you see any difference?" Damian asked.

"No."

Of course. That would be too easy.

She added, "The status itself had no effect, but I had to use my own mana to activate the tool."

Damian nodded. The barriers worked for the thin mana thread going out from the tool, at least. Not that it was any use.

"Thanks, that's all," Damian said with a smile.

"I will be going then.." Lucian said, and opened a wormhole to reach the army camp, north side of the stone shrine.

Damian saw her coming out a few meters above the camp and landing on the snow on her feet. Nice judgment of distance—it wasn't easy to calculate how much mana one needed with his wormhole spell. Damian shook his head and stopped getting distracted. He went back inside, grabbed a few papers, and stored them in his storage. Then, opening a Waygate to a quiet place in the barren land where he had picked up Silverspell, Damian flew inside.

He had thought about the possibilities of how to use his skills and test his newfound strength. He needed to see what his limits were—and what he could possibly make to go past those limits. He had limited time to prepare against the incoming calamity.

***

[500 kilometers away from the Pigmen city, current time, Shadecaster's POV]

Shadecaster was seated atop a legendary-class evolved black Pigman. The back of the creature held the biggest saddle known to any living person in this miserable world. The monster was humanoid, but Shadecaster forced it to walk on all fours. The march of the giant army was slow, so speed was not his priority—only comfort was.

The decorated carriage-like saddle was full of delicious food and young Pigmen women. Shadecaster was disgusted by their ugly faces, but he had to make do with them—this world had no other humans, after all. Other than their faces and limbs, the rest was the same as humans, which was a thing Shadecaster was glad to see. The warmth was similar, and with their curves, Shadecaster had just learned to ignore their faces and enjoy the rest in the century he had spent among them.

The Dark Lord's power made them nice and subservient, turning them pitch-black—but those were also stupid and needed constant attention under Shadecaster's control, unlike the Dark Lord, who had total control over them. He was just a commander after all, and the power given to him was amazing—but not almighty. Still, Shadecaster was better than that wretched Bloodedge—he could control over 20 million of them with precision compared to him.

That was the difference in dark power given to them and forced upon them. Shadecaster had willingly accepted to serve the all-mighty power that was the Demon Lord. Bloodedge, on the other hand, had been captured by him and brought to the Demon Lord, changed by force.

To Shadecaster, it was the most stupid thing to deny the power given to everyone by his Lord. Who was foolish enough to want to stay weak all their life?

Still, Shadecaster had over 50,000 red and blue Pigmen in his army too. They were good for complex tasks and made his life easier.

Shadecaster noticed one of the black riders returning from the scouting mission he had sent him on. It was one of the intelligent black ones—they were weak and disgusting to look at, but they did well as scouts.

The flying monster landed on the giant's back, and the disgusting little fellow jumped down from its back, bowing deeply after coming near Shadecaster.

"My Lord.. Your magnificent stature is ever the sweet relief for my weary eyes.."

Shadecaster took a sip from his wine cup and spat on the guy. "Get to the point, worm.."

"Yes, My Lord. Yes.." said the small figure, growling. "I saw Lord Bloodedge's advanced army, My Lord. But.."

"But?" Shadecaster asked with impatience. Was that bastard not doing as he was commanded to?

"Most of the advanced unit of the army was on standby, with Bloodedge's camp empty. And some portion of it was busy building defenses for the enemy.. It was a shocking thing to witness—I saw Bloodedge, My Lord, and it seems he is obeying the Pigmen and the humans."

What the fuck? The Dark Lord had reassured Shadecaster no human could break his influence on people. How come the bastard changed sides suddenly? Could he be forced to do it? How in the hell could that be possible with over 10 million troops in his command against one feeble Pigmen city?

Unless.. That thing must be there. So he was back. After 100 years.. It felt like a dream after all this time, but Shadecaster would never forget the face of that monstrous kid who cleaved through their ranks like unstoppable carnage despite being a second-ranker. How much power had he gathered after so many years?

Shadecaster felt the hair on his arm stand up—but then he remembered the enormous power he had witnessed his Lord show in this world, and he relaxed.

Whatever the boy had become.. in the end, he would only be another servant of his Lord.

The worm-like black Pigman continued speaking, but suddenly Shadecaster lost his focus. His dark red eyes became pitch black, and in the next second, he was in the presence of the greatest power of this world—his Dark Lord.

He was a tiny insect compared to the massive, towering figure of the Dark Lord.

Shadecaster immediately went to his knees and bowed deeply.

A deep, powerful, nightmarish voice echoed in the dark, empty space his Lord had called him into:

"Reach there faster. That companion of yours is captured.. The Lightbringer's seed has returned."

"Yes, My Liege," Shadecaster answered. Then, after a bit of hesitation, he added, "You have awakened, My Lord? Or was it an interruption?"

"Both. Go there and bring them to their knees.. The boy will come to help them. I will be there soon.."

Shadecaster's eyes widened. The last time the Demon Lord had handled a task himself was years ago, when they traveled the whole world together, destroying and enslaving the entire foreign world. The power he had witnessed was otherworldly.

Shadecaster was both scared to his bones and excited to see his Lord again.