The Runic Alchemist

He also got three new titles, two of which were blinking slightly—a first for him. Killer had changed to Cold-Blooded Killer. Well, that made sense; he had planned some murders, so it was pretty self-explanatory. Primordial Metal Shaper must have been for summoning the iron golem, something no one else had managed.

Titan Killer was likely because he had killed a third-ranker while being only a first-ranker. That should be something good.

Damian touched the translucent screen where the Titan Killer title was blinking. As he expected, it expanded to show more details. He had read somewhere that important and rare titles came with a one-time explanation. This was his first time seeing it in action. The Primordial Metal Shaper title was also blinking in the same way.

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[Titan Killer]

- All living beings that lay eyes on the user experience a 5% reduction in all stats, regardless of species.

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Wow. That was something. If he stood in front of Vidalia and other third-rankers—or even those few fourth-rankers—would they feel their powers decrease? It only worked on higher-leveled people, Not that he planned to make a habit of repeating this thing. Fighting and killing one was enough. Technically all second rankers were also higher leveled than him.

Even most of the first rankers with two, three jobs were higher in level than him.

Damian clicked the next blinking title.

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[Primordial Metal Shaper]

- Rejoice, the God of Metal Golems has reawakened, gainig a new follower.

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The f*ck..? There was a god of Metal Golems too..? Where had this guy been all this time? This definitely felt like trouble waiting to happen.

"Let me go! This is not fair—I showed you mine!" Sena's voice broke through his thoughts from across the table. Ah, he had forgotten she was there. She must have noticed his frowning expressions. Good thing he hadn't cursed out loud.

Damian released the vines holding her legs in place and dismissed his status screen, tossing the square box back to her. He'd had enough surprises for one day. His biggest worry now was the penalty on his invisible box spell. It had been one of his most important trump cards, and now it came with a deadly cost. The mana consumption wasn't the problem; he could use parchments to deal with that.

But the idea of losing a piece of his soul each time? That was something he absolutely couldn't afford. If anyone understood how excruciating soul-related pain was, it was him—and Vidalia. The green vine link between them was likely connected to their souls too. He even had a title for it.

"This is so unfair!" Sena grumbled, still glaring at him.

"It's not for kids," Damian said, making a shooing motion to annoy her further.

"You're also a kid! You tricked me into showing mine!"

"Not my fault. How about I give you this apple as compensation? That makes us even, right?"

Her cheeks puffed up in frustration as she scanned the room, finally picking up a small piece of wood and throwing it at him. She missed completely, then huffed and ran towards the door. Damian just sighed.

'Huh..? What's she doing here?'

He had sensed Vidalia approaching from the hallway outside but had ignored her since there were plenty of rooms nearby this one. For some reason, she had stopped just outside his door though and remained there. Was she so bored she needed her books? There wasn't much else to do here unless one was a runesmith or a craftsman.

Sena hurriedly opened the door with her newfound strength, preparing to bolt when she came face-to-face with Vidalia and her two guards.

"Ah! Lady Commander!" Sena squeaked, her voice awkward and high-pitched.

"Why are you running?" Vidalia asked, her tone softer than usual, with an almost motherly touch, it was hard to notice though.

"Uh, no reason... He said Daphne was looking for me..."

Why was she making excuses? That brat... Wasn't Vidalia her idol or something? Was she too embarrassed? Well, she should be...

"Don't skip breakfast, and Daphne won't have to look for you," Vidalia said, her voice soft. It was rare to hear her like that.

"Yes... Sorry..." Sena bowed her head awkwardly, mimicking the servants.

Vidalia gave her a faint smile and patted her head before letting her go. It was the first time Damian had seen Vidalia show any kind of affection towards anyone. There was such a stark contrast in treatment compared to him. Damian felt an odd emotion stir in his chest but he immediately pushed it down.

'Damn this childish body...'

Vidalia gestured for her guards to stay outside as she entered the room. They nodded respectfully and closed the door behind her. Even the guard who usually hated Damian had calmed down, possibly due to the rumors about his fight. Damian had no idea how much people knew, but if his fighting style became common knowledge, it could spell trouble.

She looked around the room, her books and then slowly made her way to the open window behind Damian. He ignored her, focusing on the papers he had scribbled on earlier—rune usage ideas, sections of runic circles, some runes and other random notes. He had many specific and unique sections of runic circles that all generated unique effects.

The intensity control, dimensions, mana input and the names or IDs, this were one of the few common sections he had found in many runic circles before.

He was starting to understand some of the symbols and pathways used in specific runic sections, but it still wasn't enough. He needed more, as much data as he could get his hands on... There were tons of books on common runic formations, but none contained the kinds of runes that he saw in spells. He could use spells if the books had complete runic formations, but most only offered fragments.

It made sense; no one was willing to share their best spells, except for the common ones that everyone knew.

"A way to use specif root or plant through wood-style to grow food with mana..."

Damian quickly hid his notes when he realized Vidalia had crept up behind him without him noticing. That was sneaky. He glared at her, but she returned nothing but a blank expression.

"It won't work. We've tried," she said after a moment of silence staring.

"What..?"

"The wood-style magic for growing food. We've paid a lot of researchers and mages to figure it out, but it's yielded no results."

"Oh..."

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