The Runic Alchemist-Chapter 510: A Way Back Home

Damian took the chain, intrigued by the strange new metal, and opened the waygate to Sam. His last two mana containers on his waist now held only half their usual amount.

"Let's go.." he said and stepped inside.

One by one, everyone followed behind him. They emerged at the highest peak of a snow-covered, giant shrine—an imposing structure. Finally reunited, they greeted one another with emotion, sharing their experiences. For some, it had only been a few days; for others, over a month; and for a few, more than six months. Damian and the Highswords had been struck first, yet somehow, they were the last to arrive on this strange planet.

Sam, Sariel, and Elias approached him.

"Let's go down to the village.. There's too much cold wind here. That guy's gonna die," Sam said, pointing at Heather.

The alien's teeth were chattering violently, his body trembling. The cold was clearly too much for him. Damian nodded and gathered everyone before piloting the Dreamlight. Once everyone was aboard, he ascended slightly, then made a controlled, slow descent toward the village.

With so many overpowered mana signatures clustered together, the entire village could sense them approaching. As they landed in the small, picturesque settlement, they were quickly surrounded by blue-skinned pigmen. Damian observed their behavior with curiosity—they acted much like normal human villagers, filled with both wonder and unease, murmuring among themselves in a strange, crude language that relied more on guttural sounds than structured words. Surprisingly there was not a single mundane among them, all had varying amounts of mana inside them but even the weakest was a first ranker.

The village chief soon arrived, flanked by his guards. His gaze lingered on the Highswords and the many second-rankers present, including Damian. Yet when his eyes landed on Sam, his tense posture relaxed slightly. Then, to Damian's surprise, Grace stepped forward and began speaking in the pigmen's language—halting and broken, but just understandable enough. She managed to convey that they were friends.

The chief followed behind them, making no move against them but remaining cautious. He clearly understood how vastly outclassed he was. To ease tensions and ensure peace of mind for both sides, Damian used his mana containers to create several massive wooden buildings at the village outskirts. They weren't planning to stay long, Before returning to their world, he also wanted to visit the massive shrine and study its interior artwork. But.. there was something really important about the waygate he needed to explain to everyone—and it wasn't going to be an easy thing.

But first, they had to pool all their information together.

Damian crafted a large, empty wooden hall with a smooth wooden floor. At its center, a massive table rose naturally from the ground, surrounded by numerous chairs. He did all of this without speaking a single word. However, for show, he held a runic metal box in his hand, giving the illusion that the steel runic cube was responsible for the structures forming.

Having mastered the runic language, Damian had become a true expert in wood-style spells. Unlike before, when he could only create fixed wooden shapes, he could now mold wood into any form he imagined. He had even devised a way to grow natural trees using this spell at a reasonable mana cost—far more practical than the single-use tree growth spell Evrin had once taught him.

Ignoring the chief and his people, who wandered inside the wooden building with awe, Damian and his companions began sharing information. One by one, they recounted their experiences, their observations, and their theories.

When it was his turn, Damian also carefully explained the situation with Evrin and Einar, though he kept it brief, sparing them the painful memories. They were doing better after some rest, but were still far from fully recovered.

He also spoke about the massive sword and its current condition. From that, and from the golden and copper giant bell atop the stone shrine, they inferred that this world existed far in the past compared to what they had seen in the dungeon.

The pigmen civilization varied from region to region, with cities and villages showcasing different levels of development. Interestingly, the red-skinned pigman, Heather, couldn't understand Grace's words, which were the language of the blue-skinned pigmen. However, they didn't seem hostile toward him—merely curious about his unusual coloration. They attempted to communicate with him, and Heather tried to get along with them, but the language barrier was an issue.

Then, Damian spoke up. It was time to tell them.

"There's one more thing.." His voice carried a rare weight, and his serious expression put everyone on edge.

Lucian narrowed her eyes. "What is it?"

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Damian took a slow breath before replying, "I tried using the waygate to return home—to the Baron, to Vidalia, even to Anthony, Sam's uncle. It didn't work. The spell isn't locking onto them."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Did something happen to them..?"

"What's going on?"

"It can't be.."

Chaos erupted as everyone started speculating, voicing all manner of worst-case scenarios.

Then, a single voice cut through the murmurs, clear and commanding:

"What does that mean?"

It was Worldscribe. Her headmaster's aura was unmatched as she spoke in a deep, authoritative tone. The room fell silent.

Damian met her gaze, then looked around at the others before answering with the theory he found most likely.

"Our time doesn't match. If we traveled worlds using spells similar to my waygate, it's possible that either we're too far in the past or too far in the future. In short.. no one we know exists in this timeline anymore. I even tried targeting the trees of our world, and even those aren't working. That means the time difference has to be more than 200 years. Vidalia not registering confirms it."

A heavy silence followed.

Silverspell broke it first. "So.. you're saying there isn't a single person we know who's alive anymore?"

Damian's voice was steady. "They might not have even been born yet.. let alone died."

"So we can't go back?" Evrin asked. Her voice was barely a whisper, yet everyone heard it clearly.

"If any of you know someone who existed for a long time in our world, we can confirm this assumption. It's still just a theory, not a fact."

Runefather muttered, "Land Breaker was the oldest human alive..."

Alex spoke up. "Would my father work?"

Damian considered for a moment before responding. "Land Breaker is too risky.. We might end up in front of the Demon Lord here. We can try the Sea Snake—hopefully, that will at least give us some answers. For now.. we have to stay here."