The Runic Alchemist

Morning came, and Damian was glad that no one had disturbed him throughout the night. He had sensed some movement in the middle of the night from the highswords, but nothing had come near his camp. After breakfast, once again storing Dreamlight, they continued grinding.

The monsters had gathered in large numbers around the barrier, so Damian conjured a thick air shield to keep them at bay while his many teammates swiftly cut them down. These were still packs of Lord-ranked monsters, occasionally led by a King-ranked one. However, not everyone in the group could handle such foes alone. Today, Damian decided to impose some order.

He divided the students into four smaller teams. A balanced team of ten was led by Alex and Kamisen—it mostly consisted of their own followers, with extra commoners in Kamisen's team and extra nobles in Alex's, since Damian had noticed they weren't particularly happy whenever he ordered them. Another team of ten, made up of close-range fighters, was led by Sam, Maelor, and Lucian. The third team consisted of ten mages and ranged weapon users, led by Evrin and Grace, with Einar and a couple of spellswords staying close to protect them in case anything got too near. Damian kept Evrin's team close to him. The last group of his consisted of the relatively weaker students, also numbering ten. Damian, Reize, Elias and Lumi were part of this along with all the younger members of their 50 people group.

He let the teams arrange their own formations but imposed one condition—none of them could leave his line of sight. They all understood the danger of being surrounded by monsters, so they quickly agreed. This arrangement helped maintain order, and besides, the monsters were too weak for all fifty of them to attack together. By spreading out, everyone could get a fair share of the monsters. Still, Damian and Evrin's group led the others, always moving toward the highest number of enemies and the strongest, most annoying among them. Since they had twenty people, it was the most efficient way.

Damian walked through the slightly forested land like it was nothing. A Hellbark Sentinel groaned, launching flaming fruits—he twirled his spear, knocking them aside, then thrust forward. The tip sank deep into its trunk, and with a sharp twist, the enchanted wood split apart, embers spilling from the wound.

An Emberborn Stalker lunged from the smoke, twin dagger-like teeth wreathed in fire. He sidestepped, sweeping its legs with the haft of his spear, then drove the point through its back before it hit the ground. A Pyre Scorpion scuttled toward him, tail lashing down—he stepped in, impaled it mid-strike, and flicked its burning corpse aside.

After covering more distance, the ground rumbled. A Magma Maw erupted from below, jaws dripping lava. Damian barely moved as it lunged, simply planting his aura clad spear in the ground and letting it impale itself. With a sharp yank, he pulled free, molten blood hissing as it splattered onto the stone.

Above, Smolderwing Moths flitted through the heat, ember-laced wings glowing. He spun his spear once, then lashed out, slicing through them mid-flight. Their burning bodies crumbled to ash before they could even hit the ground.

The others were keeping up, more or less, with spells of all kinds flying everywhere. Damian had already warned them, but they still had to determine their positioning and attacks based on experience.

As he fought, he kept an eye on all the teams around him, tracking the Highsword mana signatures as well. Mindseer walked casually beside them, effortlessly lifting the steel cube with one hand.
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Hour after hour, they killed monsters, gathered materials, and pushed forward. The seventh level had more rocky terrain than the grassy fields and forests of the previous levels. Damian also noticed small huts and strange stone structures that looked man-made, though they were all abandoned. The structures were quite short, possibly built by some kind of goblin colony, but this level had no goblins.

If these were marks of civilization, then the beings who built them were noticeably smaller than humans. Some of the large stones bore strange red unintelligible markings and small handprints, as if he were looking at the earliest form of art from an intelligent species.

It took the whole day, but they successfully reached the keypoint. Simply crossing into an even hotter region and sleeping a night there in worse conditions didn't seem ideal, so they decided to rest near the keypoint and tackle the eighth level the next day. They quickly cleared the area of monsters and settled in.

This time, everyone knew their roles, so they got to work setting up camp, cooking, and lighting a fire. Damian conjured a huge sphere of water for their needs, but when people unexpectedly started bathing in it, he formed a separate pool-like area while keeping another source for drinking water.

With a protective barrier dome in place, the night passed without disturbance, and they moved on to the eighth level the next morning. It was mostly the same, though the monster population had increased, and some of them seemed like stronger versions of their lesser counterparts. The heat, of course, also rose slightly. Those in their first or second job class were constantly sweating while fighting, except Damian. The others had better physical resistance.

For Mindseer, it wasn't even worth mentioning.

This level had more huts, more stone drawings. The monsters were slightly different too—Coalback Apes, fire-resistant primates that hurled molten stones; Searing Basilisks, stone-gazing lizards radiating intense heat; Erupting Sludges, oozes that exploded when agitated; Charred Harpies, screeching, ember-coated avians; and Inferno Brutes, towering gorillas wreathed in flame.

Another grueling day of mindless, repetitve battles, brief rests, and constant movement passed. It took them more than a full day to cross the vast plain in level 8. Damian frequently had to pause for the other teams to catch up or step in to assist them. Even his own team needed breaks—many still lacked the ability to efficiently manage their mana for the full day of fight.

The more experienced fighters stood out, including Sam, Einar, Lucian, Evrin, Alex, and several nobles. Kamisen's team, however, required his help the most.