The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 809: The Grand Opening Celebration Week 5

[The New Dawn colosseum, A wandering knight named Ryoden Nightblade’s POV.]

Ryoden entered the Colosseum, a massive stone structure, and momentarily forgot to breathe. Someone pushed him from behind, and he continued walking, his head spinning as he took in the marvel of the structure built by the people of Sanctuary.

“It’s so bright! As if the night never came..”

“These are not the simple runic lamps at all..”

“Of course it isn’t. Lord Keeper placed them himself, after he built the whole colosseum in less than two days.”

The more Ryoden learned about the feats of this Lord Keeper of the Sanctuary, the more it seemed like a fantasy tale of some mythical hero blessed by the gods.

The first time Ryoden learned about this amazing new country’s opening of its dungeons was when he was at his lowest. It was just a rumor back then. Still, it was the only sliver of hope for him to gain strength.

The house of Nightblade is situated in western Faerunia, ruling over the town of Dusksand. Ryoden was the fourth son of the house of Nightblade’s head. Just ten days ago, even his third-oldest brother got married. Because of his class as a rune shaper, he had no political support from his father’s court at all.

Through tricks and lies, he was even barred from entering their family dungeon. Things had gone truly bad after the newlywed wife of his third brother accused him of trying to force himself on her.

Ryoden knew his brothers never liked him and even looked down on him, but to accuse him of such a disgusting lie? It broke all remaining connections he had with his estranged family.

He knew why it had happened.

His father, taking pity on him, had offered a few border villages to him. To take charge there as a knight and make something of himself, since he would never be able to become his heir with a rune shaper job.

But the wives of his brother weren’t even willing to give him that much. His father knew it couldn’t be true, but he couldn’t say that right to the face of his other children and their wives without solid proof. Ryoden was a loner and was alone at the moment that this had happened.

A maid had asked him to come to his brother’s room, and there his wife was waiting with torn clothes to scream. It was his words against hers; needless to say, his words were worth nothing.

The options he was offered were to either accept the crime and be killed or lose the rights of a few villages he was supposed to have and leave Faerunia forever.

When he was travelling aimlessly, he heard the rumors that Sanctuary was about to open its dungeons in a few days. No one knew for sure what the entry requirements would be. Ryoden barely had 50 gold coins, a sword he had made for himself, and nothing else to his name.

Seeing the insane flying metal islands, public waygates, and the mysterious receivers that had all the information one might need, Ryoden was shocked to his core. The Lord Keeper of Sanctuary was also a rune shaper. A first transcendent one.

’Can I even become half as strong as him?’

That was the question fueling Ryoden’s ambition. He wanted to become strong. No, he had to become strong. Only with strength can he gain status worthy of respect. New ᴏᴠʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel⟡fire.net

On his first day in the city of Sanctuary, Ryoden was overwhelmed by the thousands of people crowding the streets. He belonged to a small town, and all his life was spent there. He was barely taken outside by his family. He had never even seen the capital city, Seraphim Luminara.

Still, he soon found a good enough inn to stay in. After a bit of information gathering, Ryoden had his answer. While the entry requirements for the dungeons haven’t been revealed, there will be a martial arts tournament, and even non-lethal runic tools will be permitted in the fights. Ryoden had already bought the receiver and had spent hours scrolling through the Sanctum shop channel.

The runic tools and potions Lord Keeper had made were like unknown dungeon relics. Ninety percent of the things available in the shop were impossible to make by other runesmiths. Ryoden was only a first-ranker in his third job, and still, he knew what kind of runic tools a second-ranker could make.

However, the top hundred challengers will receive entry into the dungeons the following day after the tournament. The top prizes were also incredibly appealing, even to Ryoden and other nobles. But his goal was only to somehow squeeze through in the top twenty, securing his entry in the dungeons.

Well, at least that’s what Ryoden had thought before.

But after the opening day, the Lord Keeper made it clear that everyone would be able to enter the dungeon, surprisingly even mundanes. And all that, for just 2 silver coins per single entry for a person. But that would be ten days later. Ryoden had spent a lot of money; he needed to enter early.

Even if he could wait ten days, Ryoden could not let the chance to win the top three prizes as a runesmith.

The third-place prize was a set of 35 potions. All of which were top-tier items that were sold for tens of gold coins. The second-place prize was a set of Blazur armor that had over six spells inscribed on it. One of the best runic sets available. It was used by the Sanctuary army as standard gear.

The best thing, however, was the prize for first place.

A runic mold tool for the spell of Waygate. It was fixed, however, a few kilometers outside the Sanctuary border. If anyone could get this, they would be filthy rich by just making these waygates for the merchants and others.

No doubt, it will be highly restricted by the Lord Keeper, but it was still worth it.