The Runic Alchemist

New skills! Yes! And all unique ones at that. These were not the common skills of a Celestiphant. Damian was overjoyed—finally, he had something to work with.

The group continued wandering across the vast green field, tackling and analyzing various monsters. His two squires, Elias and Lumi, gained experience and leveled up bit by bit, occasionally joined by Toph when he felt up for it and recovered enough. As their mana ran low, others assisted in containing the monsters, leaving the final blows for the squires to land. Progression wasn't the main goal, however. They roamed and camped in scenic locations, savoring their packed meals while slowly making their way toward the dungeon's key point leading to the upper levels.

Though Toph tired quickly, he never stayed out of the fight for long. Once recovered, he immediately rejoined the fray. He must have sensed the changes in his small body—his tackles were stronger now, and his new skills proved to be useful, even if his limited mana allowed for only occasional use. After a full day, Damian had the chance to see all Toph's abilities in action.

Elemental Infusion let Toph coat his mana in fire, which he unleashed through his headpiece upon striking enemies. He used it cleverly alongside Juggernaut Charge and Quick Dash, delivering high-damage attacks to groups of monsters. However, he always collapsed afterward, drained of mana, and fell into a deep sleep.

Iron Hide was a passive skill that toughened his skin, though there was still plenty of room for improvement as an unranked monster. Despite his limitations, Toph gained new skills and levels by facing tougher enemies. Damian hoped to teach him more unconventional abilities, but so far, the fights had yielded mostly combat-related skills.

Thinking creatively, Damian experimented. He equipped Toph with various helmet-like accessories imbued with spells, such as a wormhole spell, a modified version of the black fire spell, and a fast wind rune. The wind rune placed under his feets was particularly effective when paired with Juggernaut Charge, allowing Toph to jump to impressive heights before smashing down with the force of gravity.

Of course, these advancements took time. Toph could barely activate three skills in succession before passing out, but as a beast, his natural mana compatibility made progress feasible. Though he lacked the reserves of Lord-ranked creatures, he could activate at least one advanced runic tool spell before tiring out. Some combinations even resulted in new skills.

Damian didn't stop at experiments. He used potions to grant Toph temporary abilities, allowing the two of them to deal greater damage in combat and fulfill as many conditions for skill aquiring as they could. After five days of relentless experimentation, fighting, and resting under the artificial dungeon sky, Toph's stats showed impressive improvement. Damian squeezed every idea for skill acquisition he could think of day and night into their training sessions, and once the skills were obtained, they focused on leveling them further by battling increasingly difficult monsters for Toph.

Toph proved really intelligent and quick to adapt. When Damian named a skill, Toph seemed to intuitively grasp which one he was talking about, almost as if he could read Damian's mind. As his intelligence stat increased, his behavior subtly evolved, though his mischievous, carefree and lazy nature mixed with his higher than mountain attitude remained. It was strangely comforting to see that he had not changed much with his stats.

Damian also spent the time improving himself. Taking Lucian's advice, he focused on aura-based combat and quick activation of aura. He was improving, at least that's what he liked to think - but it was so slow unlike his spells, that it was hard to tell for sure.

Above the second and third dungeon levels, the terrain remained similar: open fields, lush forests, serene lakes, and verdant mountains. However, the temperature noticeably increased with each level—not unbearable, but irritating enough that everyone abandoned their armor in favor of casual clothing. Even his two squires were sweaty after each confrontation and had abondened the armor.

Above third level Lord and Terror ranked monsters had started showing in noticeable numbers, which proved quite fruitful for all three of them, Elias and Lumi just like Toph enjoyed the assistance of others and most of the time they just enjoyed the fruits of others' labour.

Though it was barely an exercise for others. They handled it in pairs while the rest just walked around and enjoyed the scenery or joked around chatting about this and that. Damian fought as long as Toph would hold on, once he was out; they would also give the position to another person-mostly Einar, Lucian or Grace and they would enjoy the temporary rest.

Sam, even though barely getting any experience, just played around with the monsters for fun, he got along pretty well with Elias and taught him various sword techniques. Fiona and Grace had taken a liking to Lumi and taught her spells and stuff.

Finally, on the sixth day, the party reached Level 5 of the dungeon. The environment shifted dramatically: dense forests replaced the open landscapes, rivers and lakes vanished, and the air felt heavier with the roar of creatures echoing from the direction of the key point. Damian could sense the presence of the mini-boss and Highsword guards waiting ahead.

However before they moved on, Toph at this time was almost ready,

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Name : Toph Lv.50

Rank : Unranked

Affinity : Fire, Space-time

Experience more tales on empire

STR : 53

DEF : 52

INT : 55

AGI : 54

DEX : 52

CHA : 7

LUC : 10

Titles : [Curse Bound], [Emperor], [Trunkful of Menace]

Skills : [Power core Lv.9] [Trunk Strike Lv.9] [Quick Dash Lv.9] [Elemental Infusion Lv.9] [Iron Hide Lv.9] [Juggernaut Charge Lv.9] [Battle Elephant Lv.9] [Flameburst Lv.9] [Voidstep Lv.9]n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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Flameburst aquired from the use of potions, allowed the tiny elephant to breath fire in short bursts. Damian had a suspicion this one was helped by his previous form. Voidstep however was a surprise.

It allowed him to open his body size wormholes and teleport in short distances. The distance was barely a few meters but that was directly tied to his mana - if Toph regained his former menacing body filled with aura, this one skill could be really dangerous to deal with.

And finally Battle elephant, it was not just one skill but came with a bundle of three additional ones.

[Battle Elephant Lv.9: (Mountain Breaker), (Titanic Leap), (Earthshaker Stomp)]