The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 272 Offers and Progress

The first batch of Damian's potions was such a massive success that the court held an official event to showcase his groundbreaking research. For Damian, it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences he had ever endured among the nobles. Everyone clamored to speak with him—over twenty lords or their representatives approached him, each attempting to outdo the other with offers of riches, lands, titles, and more. The sheer intensity of their attention was overwhelming.

Thankfully, he was provided with security, along with butlers and capable nobles aligned with the royal family, who helped him navigate the chaotic social demands. Despite their efforts, Damian largely ignored the offers, uninterested in the Eldoris politics and scheming.

That, however, was just the beginning. Once Damian presented a list of potion types he could produce, the court practically erupted into frenzied excitement. The cost of creating these potions was prohibitively high, with most of the expense stemming from the need for dark-element mana stones and precision glasswork. Glass vials were essential for storing the potions, as liquids infused with mana were far less likely to dissipate back into the environment when sealed in glass.

Inspired by this phenomena, Damian attempted to create a durable glass box for his golem spell, hoping it could withstand the demands of his golem making of iron. Hundreds of gold coins later, the experiment failed—the glass was just too fragile, and it proved nearly impossible to perfectly seal a runic circle-drawn parchment within it, the gaps attracted dirt and stones making it useless. Worse still, his wormhole spell didn't function through glass, rendering the entire effort futile.

The dark mana stones, Damian explained to the court, were only necessary for changing the potion's type. To manage costs, they devised a system where the type of potion produced would change monthly, allowing stockpiling of each variant before transitioning to the next. Damian personally oversaw the manufacturing system, ensuring its efficiency, no one else could. The final step in each batch was his spell-infused oil, transforming the raw mixture into the finished product. This additional step served as a failsafe, ensuring no one could replicate the process, even if they observed every detail of his work day and night.

The potions retained their good enough potency for about a month before their effects began to diminish severely, the slight diminishing of effects was seen from day one but it wasn't much. A breakthrough came when a scholar from a village in the east presented the court with rare tree roots capable of preserving mana in liquids. Grateful for the discovery, the court rewarded the scholar handsomely with money and a good position as a scholar. Damian extracted the roots' essence under ideal conditions, and the court began cultivating the trees in the capital to ensure a steady supply. With this innovation, the shelf life of his potions increased to 5–6 months.

With the formula perfected, Damian's potions became an unprecedented innovation. For now, the court decided to keep most of the products for exclusive army use, focusing on selling only his potent healing potions. These potions, unlike traditional healing spells, could be diluted without significantly losing their effectiveness, making them ideal for everyday use by first-ranker warriors and mundanes. This decision generated substantial revenue for the royal family and Damian since the contract was for 50-50% share, Damian had also spent a lot for his other research out of his allocated budget and also had to pay taxes for having such a business so it was more like 30% share, as the masses gained access to a superior product at nearly the same price as standard healing potions, it filled their pockets to the brim. However, Damian really stepped on a lot of toes with it—many traditional potion makers went out of business due to the competition.

Damian, Damian didn't care though. His wealth grew so rapidly over two years that he commissioned a custom-made spatial storage device of the highest quality to just store his gold. The storage space resembled a medium-sized room, though it was still less advanced than the bracers he had acquired from Thomas. These bracers, however, remained damaged and in need of repair. Although the capital was home to many skilled runic repair experts, none could fix the bracers without destroying the items stored within—a risk Damian was unwilling to take.

He knew that Threadripper must have possessed a spatial storage tool filled with valuable items. Determined not to lose the contents, Damian wrote letters to renowned runesmiths, seeking their expertise all over the five kingdoms. Some declined, others refused, and some outright ignored him—which was fair when the kingdoms of your employment were at war. For now, with nothing critical was at stake, So Damian chose not to dwell on the issue.

After three years, in which two he just did experiments like a possessed spirit day and night, and the 6 months after that which were the period where he perfected the potion making. The next six months of year 3, Damian just worked relentlessly to level up all his skills and gain the final 5 levels of his Elder Runebreaker job. Explore new worlds at empire

This decision was heavily influenced by the wealth of knowledge he had uncovered in the Eldoris library, particularly on runesmithing and runic devices. Armed with abundant resources, Damian felt compelled to push his limits. He dreamt of mastering runic spell imbuement into metals—a challenge that could revolutionize his runic spell usage. Balancing his potion-making duties with rigorous training, he frequently ventured into a nearby dungeon, access to which the royalty readily granted since he was kind of their golden egg laying goose.

After three years of getting his second job, Damian stood ready for his next ascension trial.

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Name :

Damian Sunblade Lv.75

Rank :

Lord

Affinity :

Water, Space-time

Mana :

2200/8200

STR :

117

DEF :

85

INT :

176

AGI :

82

DEX :

85

CHA :

19

LUC : 10

Jobs :

Elder Runebreaker (Lv.25), The Runic Chemist Lord (Lv.25)

Blessings :

Godless [40 Available Points]

Titles :

[Cold Blooded Killer], [Wild Hunter], [Primordial Metal Shaper], [Titan Killer], [Curse Bound]

Skills :

[Beginner Tree Climbing Lv.9], [Echo of Clarity Lv.9], [Advanced Scholar Lv.9], [Advanced Swordsman Lv.9], [The Runic High Lord Lv.9], [Runic Inscription Lv.9], [Arcane Synthesis V2 Lv.9], [Nerve Shield Lv.9], [Advanced Spearman Lv.9] [Rune Breaker Lv.9] [Mana Extract Lv.9] [Ascension Trial 1.3 (Temporary)]

Penalty :

(1). Use of (Veil of Containment) now costs five times the original mana, taking a piece of the user's guilty soul with it each time.

—

But with increased fame and wealth came something that Damian just cringed hearing. In the past four years he was offered knighthood, with a land to rule again and again from the royal house Eldorian, but he refused it. A knight sworn to any house had to swear fealty to protect and fight for that house even at the cost of their life, which was a big no-no for Damian. They really hammered the offer after his potions made them tons of money and helped them in the war. They wanted to make him a knight so they could then increase his noble status and make him a proper noble, but without being a knight, one could not be granted a noble title.

But he still refused and so at the end of year 3 of his employment, he was called in the queen's throne room again, where only their family members were present, not even queen's guard knights were there, and was offered something more than just land and titles.

They offered him the princess.. To marry her and become an official part of house Eldorian.