The Runic Alchemist

Damian took out his status tool and turned it on,

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Name : Damian Sunblade Lv.150

Race : Demonic Human - Hellforged

Rank : King

Affinity : Chaos, Space-time

Mana : 45000/45000

STR : 189 + 70 (Demonic Enhancement)

DEF : 200 + 70 (Demonic Enhancement)

INT : 291

AGI : 198 + 40 (Demonic Enhancement)

DEX : 150

CHA : 24 (Demonic Enhancement)

LUC : 10

Jobs :

King Rank: The Spellwright Monarch (Lv.50)

Lord Rank: Runic Forge Master (Lv.25) Elder Runebreaker (Lv.25), The Runic Chemist Lord (Lv.25)

Blessings : Godless [0 Available Points]

Titles : [Cold Blooded Killer], [Wild Hunter], [Primordial Metal Shaper], [God Killer], [Curse Bound], [Best Runesmith(Solar System)]

Skills :

Upgradable: [Tree Climbing Saint Lv.3], [Arcane Dissection Lv.5], [Scholar Saint Lv.6], [Swordsman Saint Lv.3], [Spearman Saint Lv.2], [The Runic Monarch Lv.7], [Battle Automaton Lv.4], [Archscript Sovereign Lv.6], [Sigil Replication Lv.4], [Ascension Rank 2.2 (Temporary)].

Racial: [Demonic Chains], [Berserk]

Perfected: [Eternal Scriptmaster], [Arcane Synthesis V4], [Runebreaker Monarch], [Essence Harvester], [Eldersmith's Legacy], [Worldcarver]

Penalty :

(1). All stats 20% lowered because of overuse of life essence. Become a higher life form to mandate.

—

No changes, except for the Titan killer title changing into God killer. Damian selected it.

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[God Killer]

- All Universal beings that lay eyes on the user experience a 7% reduction in all stats, regardless of species.

—

All living beings had become all universal beings.

Did it mean there were species in the universe that were not technically alive?

Okay, he was ready. Damian breathed in, for a second looking outside the open window.

One of the reasons he hadn't decided to ascend before was that he didn't want to see what lay ahead. If he maxed out as a Second Ranker and could no longer ascend further no matter how many experience points he gained—he himself didn't know what he would do.

Now he had enough experience points to quickly level this second King-ranked job and see whether there really was an option to become a Third Ranker for him or not. After talking with the Sun God, he had high hopes he wouldn't be restricted by anything. But that didn't mean it would be easier.

The overseer helped their followers.. But to a Godless being, he had to figure everything out himself. And his system had always been far more challenging than others.

At least now he wouldn't have to wait years to level up before discovering if he could progress any further. That wait would have killed him.

Damian activated the Ascension skill, and once again he was inside his familiar dorm room. He calmly walked up to the computer and his options quickly appeared,

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The Rune King (Mini Damian drawing multiple runic circles)

The Alchemy King (Mini Damian surrounded by many colourful potions and flasks)

The Runebound Monarch (Mini Damian, quite buff, with his entire body covered in palm-sized runic circles, flexing muscles)

The Transmutation Overlord (Mini Damian changing stone into lava around one hand and water into ice around another)

—

Well.. The options hadn't changed. At least this much was the same as what others experienced. No new jobs—he had to select one from those already available to him.

The Rune King and Alchemy King weren't all that useful, so it really came down to Runebound Monarch and Transmutation Overlord. Still, the Transmutation Overlord seemed more of a crafting job than an offensive one. There were clever ways he could use transmutation in a fight, but he didn't want something that complicated.

Damian wanted raw strength. That was what he lacked most if he had to fight the Demon Lord one-on-one. The ability to stand strong and not get buried under the presence alone. Removing the tools and directly use spells with his body. Damian had doubts about the limits of this job, it being a Second Ranker job—but it was still the best option from the four for now.

Damian selected The Runebound Monarch.

A door illuminated in white light appeared beside all the others he had passed through before. Damian wondered if he would get another chance to use as much time as he wanted inside the trial, but those were rare instances, unlikely to return.

The scenery changed. Damian's eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the sudden light, but when it cleared—he had to blink twice to confirm what he was seeing. He was atop a large hill in the middle of an island filled with greenery—deep blue ocean surrounding it from all sides.

Suddenly, an enraged roar forced Damian to look down. He had just glossed over the green forest surrounding the bare dirt and stone hill, but now that he used his mana sense—over 7 to 10 Emperor-ranked monsters were roaming around the large forest. Each stayed in its zone, eating or just sleeping and lazing around. One of them was crushing a herd of deer-like beasts, roaring angrily as it picked them up and hurled them high above, the bodies landing directly in the blue water.

Well, this was certainly lively. The deer looked alien—so this was either another planet or some astral copy of one.

Damian looked around for instructions and found a giant stone platform behind him. It looked like it belonged in some barbaric ancient ritual—covered in runes. Not in any language he knew. Damian walked up to the object placed right in the middle of the flat hilltop. A piece of paper lay atop it, held down by a stone.

Damian picked up the paper and opened it:

'Power without sacrifice is noise.

Inscribe five runes. Fuse their meaning into your flesh.

If you scream, scream with purpose.'

Inscribe five spells into flesh? But how? His body had become quite strong after his last Ascension, but still—it wasn't tough enough to use runic circles on. What was the role of this stone platform if he had to inscribe the spells directly on his body?

Could there be any other way to do this? A way that wouldn't damage his body.. It had to exist, right? Otherwise, this job was meaningless. Damian looked at the runic stone platform, then at the roaring monster in the distance, and finally above his head—where an ethereal clock had begun counting down from 10:00:00.

Ten days, not hours. He had some time at least and wouldn't have to rush this.

Damian wanted to be done with it as quickly as possible, though. He used fifty mana threads to envelop the ceremonial stone platform. If it was more than just decoration—he would sense it.