The Runic Alchemist

The collection was vast but not quite the treasure trove he'd hoped for; perhaps the most valuable books were hidden elsewhere.

After dinner, instead of returning to his room, Damian headed toward the Spellborne Legion section. He didn't have to go far, as Lucian was already on her way to meet him. They crossed paths and made their way to one of the rooms Damian had been assigned for his "challenge."

Unlike the Highsword guards and academy staff, his friends weren't as enthusiastic about the challenge he'd devised. The second rankers guards and even some cleaning staff people kept telling him it was a fair way to determine the worthy squire and complied with his requests promptly. Damian felt a twinge of guilt over the dungeon guarding challenge being a sham, though it didn't change his black heart much.

Lucian, in her training mode, was the embodiment of discipline—utterly no-nonsense kind of being. They rarely exchanged a single word during their hour-long wooden sword fights. While they were permitted to carry the real weapons, any attempt to remove or wield them outside of practice, even as a joke, was strictly forbidden.

Damian had improved significantly as a swordsman since his novice days, but still he was nowhere close enough to her level. She was the Northern Ice Blade, who walked, talked and breathed swordsmanship, having devoted every moment of her life to it since the day he'd first seen her.

He couldn't tell for sure with his abysmal skills but maybe, just maybe she was even better than Einar - he had always regarded Einar as the greatest swordsman of their generation. Maybe that was not entirely true.. Of course, skill in technique wasn't the sole measure; factoring in speed and power, Sam was probably the strongest student at the academy. Then again, hidden talents often lurked, waiting for their moment to shine. So nothing was conclusive.

When it came to pure swordsmanship, Damian could barely crack the academy's top ten. The prince of Dawnstar and Alex were both exceptional, and those were just the ones he knew about. What Damian lacked in technique, however, he compensated with raw stats that rivaled even second-rankers that he had met till now. Not just any second-rankers—the best of them.

But perfection demanded time. No one could master everything, and Damian was no exception. Besides, he wasn't even in the warrior class to begin with. His numerous skills offered no direct combat aid, being purely passive abilities that he'd cleverly adapted for battle.

Still, Damian wasn't here to defeat Lucian; he was here to learn. That meant fighting without using a single speck of mana. He fought hard, enduring hit after hit, while she spared him no mercy. Her strikes inflicted pain he had long forgotten, a clear indication of her impressive stats - she was probably the strongest new generation first ranker he had met based on stats alone. He found himself wondering what kinds of jobs she'd been offered—but asking such things was considered highly improper, so he refrained.

The next day was their first day off, yet the academy grounds buzzed with activity. Instead of venturing into town and relaxing, most of the students had gathered outside a massive hall, identical to the one where they had hosted the gala.

The dungeon-guarding challenge room Damian had selected proved far too small, with participants flooding in one after another. The staff had to intervene and move them to the larger hall, which was soon packed with young squires wanna-be sitting around, guarding the hall or more like populating it while chattering.

"Too many," Damian muttered from the balcony, scanning the crowded hall. "There are way too many brats. Don't they have better things to do? Why are they all here?"

Some students had already begun forming cliques, plotting ways to eliminate competition through trash talk or outright bribery. Some even grouped up.

"What did you expect?" Einar said, capitalizing on Damian's frustration. "Being a squire means skipping a lot of classes. And your evaluations carry a lot of weight in their final grades."

"Even if they fail the main exam, they get to stay here with you and enjoy all the perks," Evrin chimed in.

"The real prize," added the prince of Dawnstar, "is becoming a sworn knight of the Highsword. They'd be answerable only to you and the Highsword's code of honor, not their regional lords or kingdoms even. They could refuse calls to war from anyone but you and Highswords."

Why was he here was a question Damian had forgotten to ask and now he was stuck with him, his close aquintances, even Lucian and her two followers were with them. Then he had noticed the pugilist boy he had sparred with and he had come walking towards him too and joined the group as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Many other onlookers were outside the hall, the beastmen boy from the Empire, Kamisen. Damian even sensed Alex nearby but he was not showing his face to them. These people really had nothing better to do for the one day they had off..?

Damian shook his head and muttered, "This could be problematic."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

To his surprise he had noticed his younger sibling and even a girl he had briefly seen when the tests were going on - she had asked to touch Toph, he remembered. She was busy crafting designs for the sword too, all the knowledge keeper brats were multi-tasking, while sitting in the guarding room, they were working on their other goddamm challenge.

That was a clear f*cking violation of rules here. Then again, Damian realized he'd set no official rules for the challenge. If they were still lingering by the day's end, he figured, he'd just improvise. For now, he assigned staff members as watchers and announced the start of the test.

At this rate, would they really leave after waiting for the whole day..?

Some students had already submitted their sword designs, most of which were complete garbage. A few were decent enough to sell in cheap markets, but none displayed originality.