The Runic Alchemist

The students were given a week-long break after their tense tests. This week also marked the announcement of the academy's confirmed student list, where regular students who passed the internal exams advanced to higher classes.

This time, however, they were allowed to leave the academy grounds. Those who had succeeded were provided with uniforms similar to Damian's, along with a Highsword badge: red-outlined for fifth years, blue for fourth, yellow for third, white for second, and green for first-year students. Evrin, Einar, and the top 56 students from the final test were assigned private rooms in the VIP section of the Spellbourne Legion.

Surprisingly, there was no gender separation in the VIP section; boys and girls lived together. Damian had heard that in the common section, there were separate dormitories for boys and girls. He suspected this arrangement had something to do with the runes embedded in the VIP section's walls, which disrupted his mana sense. Could the runes be used to monitor them? He decided it was best not to tamper with anything sensitive in his room until he confirmed whether or not he was being watched.

For now, Damian kept to reading and sleeping. So, when the other four suggested a visit to the island city of Windhaven, he agreed readily—there wasn't much else to do anyway. The library was still off-limits due to the honor point system associated with their Highsword badges. The system hadn't been activated yet, but once it was, students could exchange points for privileges like better food, access to advanced facilities, and entry into the academy's main dungeon.

The dungeon was a significant feature of the academy. But they were only allowed to go 5 levels up in that. It was more of a beginner training thing, for those who did not get much chance to level up. The dungeon's reputation attracted many commoners and lower nobility alike. It was also a reason why even entering the academy as a third year was so crucial for them.

Year 3 to 5 had access to the dungeon, the first two years were taken there by their professors in big groups, not giving them much freedom. The Highsword dungeon was nothing to scoff at, the party limit for it was 50 people.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Just how hard the upper level monsters would be.. Damian really wanted to test his limit and go as far as possible, but for now it wasn't allowed. They did give the free passage once in a while to as far as a party could go as a reward though, he had heard about it in the past week from many students chattering.

Damian picked up Toph, setting the little guy on his head, then donned a dark robe before leaving his room. The island's strong ocean winds made it chillier than Dawnstar or even the spring of Eldoris. Despite the early summer weather, an outer garment was necessary.

"Any specific reason for this? Or are we just bored?" Damian asked as he joined the four waiting outside.

"I need another sword," Einar replied, though her tone suggested she wasn't in urgent need.

"I want to see 'The Path Taken,'" Grace added.

"Huh?" Damian glanced at her, puzzled. "What's that? Some kind of fancy dish?"

"How in the hell do you not know about 'The Path Taken,' considering you're from Eldoris?" Grace shot back as they started toward the academy's massive outer gate.

Damian turned to Evrin for clarification.

"It's the place where the hero's party stayed as the last point in their journey, before facing the Kingdom of Dark Believers," Evrin explained.

Hero's party? Kingdom of Dark Believers? Why was he not taught these things in Goldilock estate..? Did Dawnstar have some problems with that..? And even after that, no history book he read had mentioned a hero's party fighting dark believers.. There was a mention of one island kingdom of this suppossed 'Chaos followers', the five kingdoms had united to erase it thoroughly, but there was never a mention of a "Hero".

"They were from Eldoris?" Damian asked.

"No, the party had members from all five kingdoms. Eldoris was where they met Saint Oxilium, who set three trials for the hero and rewarded him with a unique sword technique as inheritance," Evrin answered.

"Except for the Musari, who betrayed them and joined the dark followers," Einar added.

"Musari?" Sam asked, he was equally lost as Damian.

"Yes, the champion selected by Dawnstar to join the hero's journey," Einar clarified.

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Ah, now it made sense. Dawnstar was likely erasing its less-than-heroic past from the history books. Hero.. Dark followers.. It sounded like some plot of a game. Life could not be that simple. There was no such thing as absolute wrong and absolute right. This seemed like clear propaganda. Was there even a kingdom of chaos..? Or was just another smaller continent made of ordinary people that made the five rulers feel threatened in their divided kingdoms..?

If his knowledge of such fairy tales was right, there should be..

"Say, What was the leader of this chaos belivers called..?" Damian asked.

Sam squinted at him. "Seriously, Maximus? Even I know that. He was called the 'The Demon Lord'. And you were the one supposed to be a well read one in the group.. Disappointment as usual.."

Yupp, there it was the big bad. A single target of evil that painted all who followed him into evil light, no matter the reason or logic. Now this was certainly a plot of some bygone era of fairy tale.

"How long ago was this?" Damian asked as they passed through the academy gates. The road ahead was bustling with students of all ages, walking in groups towards the town below, having the same thoughts as them.

"No one knows for sure," Evrin said with a strained smile. She understood his confusion. Despite its supposed significance, the story lacked historical backing. Damian, who had read half the library of Eldorians—one of the oldest in existence—had found no mention of it anywhere.

"People say it was before the Highswords. Back then, this was just a simple island. The hero's party reportedly stayed in the ruins of an ancient structure, later called 'The Path Taken.' When the Highswords took over the island, they built protective boundaries around the relic to preserve it," Evrin added.