The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 2: Goldilock Estate

It took 4 days of uncomfortable carriage ride, wild camping and ample amount of time for various thoughts, but they finally made it to the Baron Goldilock's estate.

Damian had plenty of time to run away if he wanted to, even with 3 soldiers and 2 maids looking over him constantly, but he chose not to. The main reason for that was lack of information. Damian knew nothing about this world at all, the Baron's house might be a better place than any to get some knowledge about this world rather than just wondering on his own, another reason was his lack of strength.

Thanks to the memories of young Damian he knew for a fact that there were adult knights who could slice a thick stone wall with a single swing of their sword and they were at the bottom of the power hierarchy. So he was like an ant who had just spawned among dinosaurs.

The absurdly beautiful, large gate of Goldilock estate opened and the carriage entered the premise. stopping in front of the main entrance of the huge villa. A soldier opened the carriage door and Damian was met with a group of people. The most eye-catching of which was a young girl of 7-8 years old, her short golden hair and big black eyes making her an exact replica of a doll.

On the side was the maid with black hair, a sweet smile on her face. And then there was a middle-aged butler-looking guy with a white beard who came forward to greet Damian. There were other maids in the back, but they didn't look that important since they were standing at a distance with their heads lowered.

"Young master Damian, I welcome you to the estate of Baron Marcus Goldilocks..."

"Uhm.. Yes, nice to meet you." Damian reply curtly.

For some reason, his simple reply surprised him, but it was just for a split second. The man smiled brightly, placing his hand gently on his shoulder.

"Yes, Young master Damian it is indeed nice to meet you."

The man guided his attention towards the young lady, introducing her as Lucian Goldilocks - His future wife. Damian made a courtesy to her as well but he only got 'humphh' in return after which she turned around and left. Her face stone cold, not betraying even the slightest of emotions.

Yeah, that's exactly how Damian thought this would go. The maid frantically did an apologetic bow towards him and hurried after her lady grabbing her maid dress looking really silly, after which the butler started giving a tour of sorts until they reached a room where Damian was supposed to stay. They left him there telling him to ask if he wanted anything.

The soldiers and maids that came with him returned the same day while he was resting in his new bed which was more or less the same as his last bed along with the room and everything, actually it looked to be in better condition compared to the one he had spent a week in.

That night Baron's family who were present in the keep, held a small welcoming ceremony of sorts for him. Damian met the lady of the house and some distant cousins or relatives who were either squires or in handmaid training.

His supposed fiancé ignored him with passion, other people had somewhat similar opinions of him, except the butler who was for some reason adamant about making him feel welcomed. Damian ate, showed the minimum respect that he was supposed to show, and left right after it ended. The Baron was not there, and it seemed like no one else cared much about him.

Finally, alone in his room, Damian breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid they would ask him to show his status tool, but it seems that wasn't such a big thing for them. Perhaps they already had all the information on him and judged it meaningless, but anyway, it was good news for Damian.

Now all he needed was information about his place in this world, gather as much strength as possible to survive in the wild and a good chance to run away.

So the first thing Damian did, the next day after waking up, was to head directly towards the Library. It was pretty far from his room and he had to ask several maids for directions, before he reached the large room. It was pretty big hall with thousands of books neatly placed on large wooden shelves.

"I guess Baron Marcus really is loaded!" his voice echoed in the large closed room, the windows were so big it brightened the whole place. So they had glass.. and of good quality at that.

From last night's absent-minded conversations, He knew that Baron was in a better situation than the rest of his neighbors, including Damian's own family, even though they had higher status as the Marquises.

It was nice to see that he was not under any kind of supervision, or maybe someone was keeping an eye on him but he just didn't know. But then again he was supposed to be just a 5 year old dumb kid.

Damian began to casually stroll through the bookshelves, browsing to get a sense of the selection. Thankfully, despite taking much longer to learn than his siblings, young Damian had been taught to read and write. Compared to Earth, though, people in this world were really hardcore.

After checking all the bookshelves he started with history, then geography, somewhat avoiding philosophy and politics since it was not that important yet, and finally Damian went into the main dish which was magic and the class system.

History was mostly useless crap about royal propaganda, and what king defeated who. The most important bits were that this world or this continent, had a rather strange strength-based class system. The more power you possess, the higher your position.

The royalty must always be the highest ranked individuals in the kingdom, while Dukes, marquises, counts and other nobles were a fixed number of people, one could get that position with individual strength alone. There were various rules of course, and rarely anyone got it with a challenge but still, it was an option. The system was old and not as reliable anymore.

Though, the five kingdoms had been in a long lasting peace for over a century, which was something.

The kingdom Damian was in, was called Dawnstar and the area he was currently in was far North of the mainland.

The magic system though, now was a game changer. According to his few hours of reading, there were five main classes that every person could acquire. One needed mana for some of them but even without mana you could train your body to the limit and become a pugilist.

Five classes :

1) Mage: Those who possess mana in large amount and can control it with finesse. High INT is needed to become a mage class. There are hundreds of subcategories, types and branches in the incredible art of mages, which are still refreshed every few decades.

2) Pugilist: At the peak of one's physical limit, body breaks through the limits of humanity and becomes a conduit for the world's mana, which a pugilist could use as their aura. The amount of mana a pugilist can channel is only limited by the limits of their body.

3) Spellsword: A unique combination of physical techniques and Mana channeling that only the very best of both can achieve. Balanced stats are needed to become one.

4) Esper: A unique magical ability that is different for every individual who receives this class. Everything that is strange or unclassified belongs to the Esper class. A large amount of mana is required to activate their abilities, they give the ability to use their mana for anything other than their Esper abilities in exchange.

Considered to be the weakest or strongest class, depending on what ability one gets, which is always a gamble. Can't use magic in any other way.

5) Rune Shaper: Mainly a crafting class. Every profession that uses runes for channeling, or harnessing mana is called the Rune Shaper Class. It is rumored, that the Runes are the ancient language of gods, which was left in the mortal world for the betterment of humanity.

"If strength is what I am most after then becoming A Spellsword is a good option, but a balanced stats are needed for that. With my 45 INT mage is most likely what I would be offered and should select.

But mages are very limited in practicality, they have to build their spell knowledge and I barely have any way or time to do that, right now my INT is high but for future growth I am wholly relying on my bloodline. Which is another form of gambling. Hmm.. I will have to think this through..."

The fact that to get a job people of this world had to do an ascension ritual, which was more of a rank-up exam was fascinating to Damian. His first ascension would commence when he would reach level 25. The job options one gets offered, during this ritual are based on what kind of skills one acquires before ascending.

Most nobles put emphasis on trying to get all kinds of skills to unlock a prestigious job.