The Runic Alchemist

Finally done with the crazy night, Damian left everything as it was and went to his room with Reize to rest. He might even sleep through the whole next day.

By the time they fell asleep, the sun had already risen. When Damian woke up, it was well into the afternoon. Reize was already gone. That chick was crazy—she still had ideas for additional utility and comfort-related enchantments and runic devices that could be useful for long flights. She was excited to add them to the ship, like a child moving into a new room, eager to decorate it and make it hers. The thought put a genuine smile on Damian's face.

Especially every time she and Lumi came to him with some insane design that would normally be impossible with traditional runic arrays, but they knew he had the ability to modify spells, so they took full advantage of that fact.

Damian took a bath with Toph, who could now walk and run incredibly fast on his own, constantly spamming his spatial rift skill to teleport around-it worked the same as the wormhole spell. Taking care of him required little effort with that. He played nearby as Damian worked, and the many student workers spoiled him with treats all day, so he barely even missed Damian. Still, once in a while, he'd jump onto his head or pester him until Damian picked him up. The little guy had gotten pretty heavy too after his evolution.

Afterward, Damian went to his lab instead of the outside workshop, grabbing his two squires along the way. His goal was to create a giant runic storage device capable of holding an entire ship.

He first demonstrated the type of steel cube he needed by crafting one himself—a solid 5x5-foot block. Durability of the cube for the spell usage wasn't an issue, but the real challenge lay in expanding the spatial storage inside, which was directly related to its grade and size.

He tasked his squires with producing more cubes while he worked on the mana nodes inside, using an open container of liquid mana. Lumi knew the technical details, while Elias made up for her lack of strength in handling heavy tasks. He also had both of them practice the invisible box spell. Only Lumi had succeeded so far—without a space-time attribute, it was difficult to learn. She still missed sometimes, but she was improving through nightly spell practice. The spell was essential for crafting the intricate components used in various devices. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

Damian began the runic etching process as soon as the red-hot steel cubes were shaped. Though heat helped, each cube contained hundreds of tiny gaps, and filling them all without missing a single one was an incredibly taxing job that required intense focus. If only he had a clone—one dedicated solely to sensing structural gaps and another just for creating mana nodes—it would be perfect. But that was wishful thinking. For now, he had to do it all himself. Fortunately, a lack of mana would never be an issue.

Hours passed. Cube after cube was etched with the spatial storage spell. He had managed to create High-grade, Advanced-grade, and even a couple of Grand-grade cubes, but not a single Supreme-grade one yet.

The steel cubes were far more durable for this type of spell than bracers, lasting decades without issue. Even at High grade, they could function for half a century. Grand-grade cubes would last even longer. More importantly, they provided much larger storage spaces compared to the bracers or accessories most runesmiths used for spatial storage. However, their weight and the massive mana cost required to activate them made them little more than glorified basement storage—useful for keeping things out of the way but not for quick access.

Lumi and Elias were surrounded by steel cubes—over twenty of them. The lab was starting to feel cramped. Eventually, Damian had to create a Supreme-grade bracer with spatial storage just to store them all. It also served as an experiment to see if he was missing something in the process of crafting Supreme-grade items.

Though it wasn't obvious at first, he started to suspect that speed played a role in determining an item's grade. Testing this theory, he attempted to create the cube's nodes as fast as possible, working in batches of ten or more at once while ensuring he didn't leave a single gap behind.

It failed.

The cube still ended up at Grand grade, but that meant his theory wasn't entirely wrong—speed did seem to contribute in some way.

Determined, Damian pushed himself harder, increasing his speed even more. Lumi and Elias, drenched in sweat from the intense pace, eventually had to take a break. He sent them outside while he continued working alone. By the time they returned—after taking a long break, eating lunch, and coming back to resume—Damian was still at it.

Eventually, hunger forced him to stop. He went to eat with Reize, who, instead of encouraging him, mocked his obsession. He acted fake-offended, though she wasn't wrong—sometimes, he did take things too far. Not that he'd ever admit it. He kept up the act, pretending to sulk, but she saw right through him and only laughed harder. Eventually, he couldn't hold back and broke into a smile with her.

Strangely, the very first cube he made after returning—using the same high-speed method—somehow worked. He had finally crafted his first-ever Supreme-grade giant steel cube.

A 5x5 steel cube was no joke—it was massive. Activating the storage function, he poured in a significant amount of mana and connected to it with his mind. The space inside was enormous.

Now this was the real deal.

Maybe—just maybe—it was big enough to store the entire ship. He'd have to test it to be sure. Even if it wasn't large enough for the Dreamlight, this much Supreme-grade spatial storage could still hold an immense number of high-value runic tools. Either way, it was an incredible achievement.

After consuming four mana containers—each holding five liters—he had finally reached his goal.