The Runic Alchemist

"May I?" Damian asked before analyzing it with his newfound runesmith knowledge.

"Ah, beautiful, isn't she? Sure, go ahead," she replied, looking up and grinning with pride.

The rune array etched into the pieces of steel wings featured a simple wind rune, with multiple of them connected by two distinct sheets of metal: one facing downward and the other upward.

'To push the wings up and down? A bit too simple..'

The mana nodes formed a linear configuration and a close circle. The design allowed the mana to flow to another wind rune only if the active one reached its mana limit. While there were many ways to achieve this, she had opted for a circular system. Each wind rune was connected to the next via nodes that directed mana in a small loop before exiting, forming a ring around the rune. Only then did it transfer mana to the subsequent rune, which followed the same system. It was a clever mechanism to ensure each wind rune operated at full capacity rather than equally distributing mana, enabling it to function even with a single working rune.

However, powering all four sides of the metallic wings would demand an enormous amount of mana—far more than necessary for just moving the wings at flying speed. The middle compartment held runes of repulsion directed downward: the rectangular iron compartment beneath one sheet and another compartment attached at the top of it. The bottom sheet and the underside sheet had the repulsion directed below the user, helping to counteract gravity during takeoff and mid-flight. The repulsion rune on top sheet was for pushing down, a way to descend or change direction forcefully. But such runes were highly volatile, producing a strong recoil with every use. It could even harm the user.

Unlike Damian's gravity reversal spells, these runes operated more like natural energy bursts that repelled their targets. Their counterpart, the attraction rune, pulled objects toward the user. However, neither were true gravity manipulators; instead, they created intermittent or continuous waves of invisible force for pushing or pulling. Even with Damian's modifications, he couldn't use them effectively beyond attacks or maybe excavation. His gravity spells were far superior, making the runes mostly redundant to him at least.

The whole structure was loaded with mana stones welded inside the metal, alongside a complicated remote on the right-hand side filled with dozens of switches. It was anything but user-friendly. Damian's final assessment? A bold concept for flight, but the mana requirements for continuous flight would be astronomical—far beyond the capabilities of even most third-ranker spellswords.

"It's pretty cool. Who tested it?" Damian replied at last.

"A transcendent mage from Highsworda. He knew flight spells, so…" She trailed off, her tone slightly dejected.

Damian stepped closer, taking a look at what she had invited him to see. It resembled a rectangular platform adorned with wind and repelling runes at its four corners and two at the shorter ends, possibly for thrust. She sure had a thing for flying. This, however, looked more like a hovering metal board.

"Wouldn't this have the same problem?" Damian asked after deciphering her weird sketches as best he could.

"Huh? You know what this is?" she asked, surprised, pulling the papers toward herself and practically shoving them in his face.

"Didn't you ask me to take a look?"

"Yeah, but I didn't expect you to understand it before I explained it. You're the first person I didn't have to walk through my diagrams." Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"It does look kind of weird," Damian admitted. His tolerance for weirdness was pretty high so he didn't even notice, what did that say about him..? It was a question better left unasked.

"That's the next best thing!" she continued. "I thought it could be used to lift supplies—assuming I can reduce the mana requirement somehow." She replied, putting the papers back on the small work table.

The gravity spells could help, but Damian refrained from commenting further, simply nodding along. Looking around, his gaze shifted to a sword lying flat on another table. Curious, he picked it up. The weapon bore an air blade and water shield rune array on opposing sides, crafted with two separate pieces joined together. The runic array for both spells was fitted in a very complicated way, making the sword more wide than average.

Damian whispered random words and drew the analysis spell runic circle.

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Item: Unstable Runic Blade

Tier: Advanced

Origin: Made By Reize - The Dragon Empire's Runaway Slave

Item Type: Runic and Enchanted Weapon (Wind, Water)

Description:

Forged in the Highsword academy by a bright student named Reize.

Attributes:

Durability: 91%

Enchantment Duration: 25 DAYS

Enchantment Alignment: Tier II

Cooldown: 2 hours (After each use)

Runic Alignment: Tier II

Special Effects:

None

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"Oh, no special effects, huh? I thought as much…" Her voice startled Damian, who hadn't noticed her leaning so close. Toph also nearly tumbled from his perch on Damian's head in surprise.

"Nice spell you've got there," she added, her face far too close for Damian to focus on her words. But he managed to pull himself together, stepping back slightly. After all, he was an adult. Though, he couldn't help but remember that he'd never had a girlfriend in his previous life.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

'Huh? Why was he thinking about that now?'

"You can do enchantments?" Damian asked, quickly changing the topic.

"Ah, yes," she replied, her voice sounding slightly weird. "I studied them before switching to runes. I wanted to make something that lasted, you know? Something that would remain in this world for a long time."

Damian simply nodded.

"I'll leave you to it, then," he said, smiling politely and turning to walk away.

"Wait," she called after him. He turned back.

"Let's make something together sometime! We could even pool our budget to create something big."

"Sure. If there's a good idea, we can plan it out first," Damian replied.

She beamed and nodded enthusiastically.

A runaway slave huh? The thought lingered in Damian's mind. Slavery had been abolished over more than a century ago across all five kingdoms, including for beastmen. Of course, criminal underworlds in major cities still practiced it in secret, but even those operations had nearly vanished under strict enforcement, the punishment for it was cruel. Highsword itself had compelled all kingdoms to act against it. For that reason alone, Damian placed more trust in Highswords—or at least some of its members and their rules, no matter how weird—than in nobles or royalty, whose whims and madness went unchecked.