The Runic Alchemist

Inside his lab, Toph leapt onto one of the padded chairs and curled up for his afternoon nap. Damian retrieved a solid, square-shaped iron box from one of his wooden storage cabinets and placed it on his workbench.

The box was made from a solid alloy, sourced from Highswords—or more specifically, from Worldscribe's own private reserves. Damian had struck a deal with her: he would explain how the device worked, assuming he could get it to work, and even create one specifically for her. There was no formal mana contract involved, but Damian had agreed, and he intended to keep his end of the bargain if it succeeded.

Worldscribe had already supplied him with a variety of materials from the Highsword dungeon, and Runefather had generously given Damian several alloys to experiment with, without any strings attached. The report he had written on the workings of the mana core had gained so much attention that it brought him unasked fame, earning him the 'Largest Contribution to the Highsword Community' record. His name had been etched into the Hall of Glory.

The report, of course, had somehow found its way into the hands of noble children, and various houses from all five kingdoms had approached him with strangest offers in exchange for sharing his research, regardless of its ultimate outcome. Damian, however, was not foolish enough to consider any mana contracts with them. He wouldn't even trust Highsword enough to enter into a contract with them for the exclusive rights to the mana core.

He had also received words from Queen of Eldoris regarding the report and its potential impact on their contract. However, Damian had anticipated this and had refrained from renewing his contract with them that year, meaning they couldn't directly pressure him. They resorted to using polite and flattering language instead. He didn't outright refuse but also didn't accept.

However Damian didn't care about the reports or the politics. He was focused on creating something that had been considered impossible for centuries. Only Reize knew how close they were to cracking it, and he intended to keep it that way. Otherwise he wouldn't even have the freedom he had right now.

The mana core was a complex and tedious creation, even for someone like him. Well, specifically for him, since he was the only one who truly understood what was happening. Reize helped, but even she couldn't fully grasp the intricacies of the process. Her role was to design and expand on a schema he had given her—something related to her field—that would eventually be powered by the core he was working to create.

While he could have worked alone, Damian had come up with the project idea during one of their discussions and given her responsibility for parts of it, hoping that one day it could be powered.

Of course, it all depended on whether or not Damian could successfully create an artificial mana core. But Reize believed he could, and worked diligently on her part of the project. Her faith in him gave him a strange sense of motivation, and Damian was putting his all into making this long-held dream a reality.

To put it simply, the mana core functioned like a heart pumping blood—but unlike a normal heart, it operated by very specific and unusual rules.

First and foremost, it required a closed system, at least for the mana attraction and condensation process. Damian had been stuck on this step for weeks. Finally, he resorted to using a simple method: applying high pressure, similar to how gas is condensed into liquid on Earth.

Creating a closed system for the process had been incredibly difficult, but after weeks of struggle, Damian had crafted a glass and Highsword alloy box. The box opened up to allow the chamber to fill with natural air mixed with mana. Using enchanted glass pipes coated with a mana-attraction enchantment placed on top, Damian separated the raw mana from the surrounding air.

The thing with mana was that it had neither weight nor texture, making it easy for the other elements in the air—those with weight—to remain behind.

The mana then flowed into a sealed chamber, where pressure was manually increased using a hand-cranked press. Special runic circles etched within the chamber, powered by cooling spells, helped condense the mana into liquid. The liquid was then stored in close sturdy glass or metal containers to maintain its stability for later use.

However, the liquid mana needed to be negatively charged. Figuring out how to achieve this had driven Damian to the edge of madness. After hundreds of failed experiments—each one resulting in explosions in his lab—he finally discovered the right combination of chemicals that would react with the liquid mana and charge it negatively. Ammonia, in the presence of potassium, worked like a charm.

The liquid mana transformed into a volatile, highly reactive substance that released potassium ions, amide ions, and hydrogen gas—along with some byproducts Damian had to dispose of carefully, or risk another explosion in his face. He'd learned to quickly activate his air blade crown shields whenever necessary.

He hadn't yet succeeded in manifesting his aura outside his body, but he had managed to channel it into a metal rod connected to the chamber of negatively charged mana. That was enough to produce real liquid mana that Damian could absorb directly into his body.

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This was the design in theory, though he had only successfully made it work on a few occasions. Too often, one part would malfunction, then another. Damian was considering redesigning the entire system, but decided to conduct one final test before taking that step.

He cleared the table, taking a deep breath. Mana gathering was automatic, so the process would start with condensation. This time, though, he changed his approach. Instead of sending his aura after the negatively charged mana filled the steel compartment, he kept the aura road active, allowing the negatively charged mana to gradually interact with it without causing an explosion.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Of course, for this approach to work, all the other variables needed to hold, and Damian knew this would require at least a week of careful testing. Things rarely went as planned, but he had to see it through to the end.