The Runic Alchemist

With his hands in chains, Damian crossed the dark purple gate and arrived at a completely different place. This was a proper army camp. Hundreds of people were walking around, armed with swords and spears, clad in various kinds of armor layered with furs and clothes. Many fires were burning, and people were laughing, walking, and shouting all around.

In the distance, tents housed ironworks, where blacksmiths or runesmiths were busy working on weapons and armor in a line.

Tents were scattered all around them. Damian wasn't sure, but if he had to guess, there should be over a thousand tents surrounding them. Even finding someone in this chaos would take hours. Just how many people were here? What did these people even eat? And even this wasn't enough people—Ashenvale had more.

Damian knew the numbers would be in the thousands, yet the scale of this war couldn't be truly grasped without witnessing the scene before him.

"Maximus... Here," Valoris shouted, and the two soldiers behind Damian escorted him towards their captain. Not many people paid attention to them, but a few noticed and blinked twice when they saw a boy with dark hair, deep blue eyes, and a doll-like face. If the presence of a child in the army camp wasn't attention-grabbing enough, the shackles on his hands certainly were.

Those who noticed him called out to others, and soon he became the center of attention in the open space between the lined-up tents.

However, Valoris made his way through the crowd with an expression that clearly stated, 'No nonsense tolerated,' and led their small group in a specific direction. After about 20 minutes of navigating through the hundreds of identical tents and various soldiers, they finally arrived at a large tent.

Like the others, it had soldiers stationed at the entrance, some gathered around a lit campfire, while others were inside, resting from the cold winds.

As they approached, the soldiers outside looked up and immediately stood to salute Valoris. Some even smiled as one of them went inside and returned with a woman who wore better-looking clothes and furs than the rest. She resembled Valoris slightly, though she appeared just as exhausted and cold as everyone else. She smiled brightly upon seeing Valoris and immediately hugged him.

Valoris looked embarrassed and awkward as she ruffled his hair and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I got your message just yesterday... But you didn't have to come by yourself, little brother," she said, scanning everyone around Valoris. Her eyes lingered on Damian a few seconds longer than the others before returning to Valoris. "Come inside... You must be cold."

Most of their companions from the journey stayed outside near the fire to rest, while only a few, likely Valoris's house knights, followed them inside. Damian was also dragged along behind them. Inside, the tent was much warmer and cozier. However, the people inside looked just as tired as those outside—some were lying down asleep, others seemed half-awake, busy with their tasks.

Gathered in the middle of the tent, surrounded by their house knights, the woman finally looked at Damian after exchanging pleasantries with her brother.

"So he's the one, huh?"

During the walk from the waygate to this tent, Damian had sensed so many mana signatures that he felt overwhelmed. The most prominent and powerful mana signatures were coming from the center of the camp, further inside. Damian guessed that's where the third ranker, Commander Lady Vidalia, was.

But it wasn't just her—Damian felt many powerful and massive mana signatures throughout the camp, some at the top of second rank mana levels, others even higher. This place was indeed where the best of Eldoris gathered.

Valoris's sister was also a second ranker, her mana more intense and abundant than Valoris's. She was likely a high-level second ranker or simply more gifted by her noble lineage. It didn't matter though—more mana meant more danger. Quantity wasn't everything, but it did provide a bigger margin for error and practice, which accelerated growth.

"What a waste... He looks like a doll," the older sister said, looking at him.

"That's not the point here... Did you send a report to him?" Valoris asked.

"Yes, even if he was scum, he was still his brother... News like this can't be hidden, shouldn't be hidden," she replied, her face growing serious.

"How are things here?" Valoris asked.

"Not good... They keep attacking the waygates in small units. By the time we get there, they've already done the damage and left," she explained.

"Still the same, huh?"

"They did catch some of them by setting up a trap, though. It's been a bit quieter since then. There were also reports of a large force coming up the Wraith's Passage," she said, laying out the situation.

Attacking the waygates to disrupt their movement and then encircling them—that was indeed a good strategy. But how did Ashenvale's forces manage to come and go so quickly over such a vast mountainous area? Did they have a large aerial unit? Eldoris shouldn't be lagging in aerial power either. As defenders, Eldoris was at a disadvantage, but it shouldn't be this bad.

With enough attacks, Ashenvale could weaken their forces and then strike with a larger force in a head-to-head battle. Ashenvale had clearly put a lot of thought into this.

"Did you tell him about..." Valoris began but left the question unfinished, looking at Damian.

"No... Just what happened. He'll know tonight though. The rest of them also need to know about Lord Theoclys's demise... Some might already know though—there are spies everywhere here," she answered.

"Ah... Of course."

"For now, you two take him to one of the empty cells and bring five soldiers with you to guard him until it's time," she instructed the two knights around them, who immediately moved towards Damian.

"Wait... Maybe we could..." Valoris tried to intervene, but his sister cut him off.

"It's the rule, Valoris. If we treat him better than a criminal, we could be seen as co-conspirators. We have to make a show of him... Don't worry, kid, it's just until tonight... Then the commander will decide your fate," she said, looking at Valoris and then at Damian.

"Do you want me to remove your supplies here?" Damian knew this was the best he could get, so he wasn't surprised. Valoris's sister, however, seemed amused by his nonchalant attitude. He didn't want to draw unnecessary attention by acting overly cute, as that might make them suspicious of him. Behaving naturally was the best way to appear harmless.

"You don't care that you'll be locked up?" she asked, a sparkle in her eyes as she came uncomfortably close to Damian.

"A tent, a cell... It's all the same. What difference does it make where I stay for a few hours?" Damian replied.

"Huh! Interesting indeed..."

And with that, he was once again escorted by two people to another cell. He still had all their supplies and other belongings. The cells were not exactly like the tent—they were out in the open, exposed to the cold wind, made of heavy wooden sticks all around, even on the roof. Snow was falling in, with nothing to stop it. Many other captives were in the neighboring cells, freezing to death.

In one empty cell, Damian was pushed in and locked up. The five guards and the two knights stood facing the cold winds with him.

The wood seemed like just ordinary sticks, but Damian could feel the mana within. It wasn't emitting mana; rather, it was draining small quantities of mana from within.

An enchantment—to dampen one's mana and keep the prisoner exhausted.

Interesting. The effect was only aimed inside. These enchanters certainly had some creative tricks up their sleeves. The branch of enchanting was really peculiar. Damian had read some basic enchanting books, and it didn't make much sense at all. You could only try it if you chose the enchanter class.

It wasn't like runes, which anyone could use by imbuing their own mana.

The rate of mana drain wasn't that fast though. For a normal first-ranker, it might be hard to handle after a few hours, but Damian had more than enough mana. To drain him below 20%, it would take two to three days. Not to mention, his recovery rate was abnormal for a first-ranker.

Being used to large quantities of mana and able to use it with his whole body, his cells absorbed mana much faster and sent it to his mana core to be refined and used as his own.

Covered in a big coat that was way too large for him, Damian sat with his back against the bars and closed his eyes for a bit. People had gathered around to see the new prisoner and were murmuring amongst themselves near the cell blocks, but Damian didn't care. He just used the time to fully rest.

Who knew—if the decision went against him, he might need all his strength to get out of this miserable place tonight...