The Runic Alchemist

Suddenly, everything around Damian morphed into a twisted whirlpool of scenery, and he was sucked into its chaotic pull, only to be spat out into another strange place.

This time, he was a dwarf...?

Did they even exist? Why had he never heard of them before—or civilized colonies of orcs, for that matter? The world looked so real, so tangible, it couldn't possibly be a mere figment of his imagination. Then again, his dorm room had seemed just as vivid, so perhaps this was another bizarre trick of his mind, testing him in ways he couldn't comprehend.

At least his height was closer to what he was used to, though he felt broader than usual. His massive hands, rough and calloused, felt powerful—capable of shaping the world around him. These were the hands of a craftsman. The mana within him swirled like a concentrated ball of energy, dense and vibrant. Now,

this

felt more like it.

Damian looked around, He was alone in a colossal underground hall carved into the belly of a mountain. The ceiling stretched so high that his eyes struggled to discern its limits. The faint yet constant sound of water cascading echoed from somewhere distant, adding to the cavernous atmosphere. The room itself was almost barren, save for two stone tables standing in its center with lanterns on them, lighting everything.

The first table had a large, hovering banner, its text glowing faintly:

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00:23:60:00

Target :

A runic tool (No specific type)

Failure -

Unusable tool

—

A runic tool of his choice...?

Great. Now, if only someone could explain how the hell he was supposed to create one.

Damian approached the second table, where five items lay neatly arranged: a sword, a dagger, and three other iron objects, one of which was a plain, square slab of metal. Next to the items rested a book titled,

Metalbound Magic: Runes in Forged Surfaces.

The moment Damian picked up the book, the countdown clock began ticking. A full 24 hours remained.

He skimmed the book as quickly as he could. Thankfully, it wasn't overly dense. It outlined the process of using mana threads to reach into metal, binding runes into its structure step by step. The text made it sound so simple.

According to it, he was supposed to understand the structure inside the metal with his mana threads, and use the gaps in its structure that would otherwise make it weak, to connect a web of mana thread filling it all. Then use that web to connect surfaces from where the mana would be transferred in, and at last create runes with his mana thread to place it inside, connected to all.

A process that was supposed to be really hard but there were many methods for it. First one was simply drawing the whole runic structure with mana thread, but people could not hold focus for that long or could control the mana with such accuracy without running out of mana, especially for beginners. So there were molds for pre-made runes to shape the mana thread in a perfect shape which then the runesmith could place it in the deepest part of the metal, since destroying the runes inside would destroy the whole spell the placement was necessary.

The book recommended that beginners start by making a mold, which could be etched into a soft, white, squishy material provided on the table; it was supposed to be the easiest structure to etch runes into. Once the mold was complete, the mage or runesmith would proceed to reinforce the metal's internal structure with mana threads before embedding the rune. It could be used to guide the placement of the runes deep inside the metal. This not only reduced the risk of failure but also allowed the mage or runesmith to correct mistakes by temporarily linking the mold's mana web to the metal keeping it active, and could erase some parts if needed.

The main runic structure placing process, the process of making webs of mana thread and filling the weak parts of the metal was still supposed to be done with hands. The mod was for just the last step, which was the most critical one, in which a perfect working runic structure was made of mana thread and placed deep into the metal, connecting the web.

Damian put the book down, sighing. It had taken him two full hours to read and digest the instructions, but he finally understood the process. Now came the hard part—actually doing it.

The runes described in the book were traditional ones. Damian doubted whether his own runic circles would work or not—his runic circles were not as free in shape as the traditional runes that one could place in any way and just connect with mana threads. His runic circles were a real circle and a fixed detail went in each section.—would work the same way. Fitting one into the metal would be tricky, but for now, he decided to give it a shot.

He knew some traditional runes too, so it wasn't hard to do it their way either, but it would take a lot of time, and for a start he wanted to try his own way.

Damian chose the iron square slab for its larger surface area and sent seven tendrils of mana into the metal. Technically, metal had a stable atomic structure, so there shouldn't be many gaps within it. But there was no such thing as a perfect matter. It was a wonder how in a less advanced world like this, where they didn't even know what atoms or structure of multiple atoms coming together to make a molecule was. Hell, they didn't even know more than 50-60 elements from the periodic table. And yet surprisingly, in this less scientifically advanced world, people had found ways to manipulate materials at a molecular level.

It felt weird to see how people on earth wasted years to come up with such stuff, and people here used it without even knowing what they were doing.

Through his mana threads, he felt tiny imperfections in the metal—microscopic voids where no matter existed. To better understand their distribution, he extended 15 mana tendrils, enveloping the entire slab. The largest gap was the size of half a grain of rice, while the others were too small to perceive without mana sensitivity.

"Alright. Let's do this," Damian muttered to himself.

First, he used light-element mana to fill every gap within the metal. Then, he connected each spot with a web of light mana, stretching the thread from the last gap to connect on the surface. With the foundation complete, he moved on to the hardest part: embedding the rune itself.

Damian decided to create a small runic circle of a blob of light—and carefully pushed it into the center of the slab using his mana threads. He anchored as many light mana spots present in the metal, to the main runic circle if possible, otherwise they were connected all with a web of light mana so it was fine, but he was just being overly cautious.

As he completed the process, he severed the mana threads and stepped back. The iron slab began to glow with a golden light, forcing Damian to shield his eyes. The glow pulsed, accompanied by a low, humming sound like static electricity. For five tense seconds, the slab vibrated as if testing its own integrity. Then, the light faded, leaving the slab still and silent. Showing no difference, but after a second his runic circle of blob of light, came etched to the surface of the iron square as if engraved on it by a machine, it was the perfect circle of runic structure just as he had drawn with his hands.

He stared in disbelief.

He had done it.

He had actually done it on his first try!

A flash of light erupted from the other table. The hovering banner updated itself:

—

Success : Rank S Forging, Rank S Rune Inscription

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