The Runic Alchemist

"Even if you're a child of noble, you're just too smart... Your feats far exceed what a normal child should be able to do. And of course, the things I saw in your memories could not come from anywhere in these lands. I've seen the whole world. Maybe you're from across the swirling seas, or from some dungeon... which would make you..."

"A monster," Damian finished her sentence, understanding how she arrived at that conclusion. This world had no advanced science or physics. They couldn't even accept that the world was round and not flat. For her, imagining another world was no different from picturing an unfamiliar environment, similar to what most dungeons created.

Whether dungeons were artificial or part of a lost world was a debate that persisted here. To them, another world meant new open lands, not another planet, as they had no concept of such a thing.

"So which one is it? Man or monster?" Damian asked looking deep into her beautiful amber eyes.

"I've decided it doesn't matter." She spoke with her usual blank expression, though the depth in her eyes was incomprehensible.

"Astraea is a preserver of all life. If you possess intelligence and know the balance between cruelty and kindness when the situation demands it—which I've seen firsthand that you do—then it doesn't matter who you are, only what you do."

"I doubt that's how people see it," Damian muttered.

"You saved my life. The least I can do is keep your past to myself. Besides, everything I saw in your memories showed how peaceful the place was. I didn't even see any monsters."

Convenient. If she was claiming she owed him—which, honestly, she did—Damian figured he'd play along with her conclusions. He needed an excuse, and this was as good as any.

"So, will you...?" Damian began, hopeful.

"It's too dangerous," she interrupted, her expression suddenly serious. "Are you absolutely sure you can return home with this?"

"Absolutely? No. But would I risk my life for it? Yes," Damian replied, his resolve clear. He wanted to go back—not necessarily to stay, but to just see that he could. He hadn't decided whether he would stay in his old world or not.

As much as this world was messed up, he was powerful here. He had secret knowledge of magic that could be revolutionary, even pushing science beyond what he could do on Earth. Sure, the people and the situations here were complicated, and half of them were probably insane, but despite all of that, a part of his heart felt like he belonged here.

Earth was home to the old him, but the new him had important runic work to do in this world.

No, he wouldn't stay. He just needed to see if returning was an option. Maybe he could use the technology of Earth and combine it with the magic here, potentially improving both worlds. Vidalia's motives were always questionable—she said she owed him, but Damian knew better than to fully trust her. Not while she remained more powerful than him.

Until they were on equal footing, she'd always be a scary enigma with hidden motives. Still, he was willing to take the risk. Who knew when he might get another chance like this, without needing to become a third-ranker himself, which could take years. By then, everyone he had connections with would be gone, and his link to his old world would be lost forever.

"Fine. You can use it." Vidalia's tone was firm, though her face remained serious, almost cold. "But I warn you, if there's even a hint of trouble, I will burn everything that moves to ashes."

Was she worried about him opening a portal to some dangerous dungeon filled with epic monsters? If he were a manipulative monster with malicious intent, that's exactly what he would do. But alas, he was just a cute human with pure thoughts. Jokes aside, Damian felt a strange sense of relief. Despite Vidalia being a scheming bitch, she was trusting him with this.

That was a kind of growth Damian never expected to see in his lifetime.

The next day, after careful planning and preparing against all the ways this could go wrong, Damian was ready. This time, on the fourth floor of Vidalia's building, only Damian and Vidalia were present. Tristan hadn't been invited—both agreed this was not something others needed to know about. Vidalia also saw it as dangerous, given that she half-thought of Damian as a monster.

Vidalia handed him the waygate tool, and Damian unblocked their link, allowing her to send him all the mana he needed. They stood in the middle of an empty hall, the space around them silent and still. Damian took a deep breath, turning away from Vidalia to face the empty hall. He poured his mana into the blue shimmering orb, continuing until it neared depletion.

Vidalia supplied more mana, and he pressed on, focusing deeply on every fond memory he had of Sister Hadley. At first, it seemed like the spell had failed—nothing happened after the first thirty seconds, far longer than they had anticipated. But after two or three minutes, the fabric of space finally tore open, revealing a blue, shimmering portal to his home.

A mix of happiness and fear swirled in Damian's chest as he stood before the portal. Would Sister Hadley even believe that he was the same Ben Carver she had raised? Feeling sentimental, he took two steps forward—only to be stopped by a hand on his chest. It was Vidalia.

"What...?" Was she going to betray him..? Did she really just use him to open a portal to new lands that she could conquer in her queen's name..?

"It's dangerous for you. I can handle it better. Let me check before you follow," she said, her voice steady. It made sense. Her body could endure far worse than his, and who knew if the gut-wrenching sensation of traveling through the portal would be even worse over long distances?

"Okay," Damian agreed, watching as she approached the portal.

Vidalia looked back at him once, nodding slightly, before stepping through with a firm, confident stride. Damian waited eagerly for her to return and tell him it was safe to follow. In his excitement, he didn't even realize that he should have felt pain when she moved out of range of their link.

But she didn't come back. Not even after ten minutes.

Despite knowing how stupid it was, he steeled himself. Clutching the blue orb tightly, he leaped into the waygate, chasing after her.

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