Chereads / The Worlds Within / Chapter 35 - Rune Master and Alchemist

Chapter 35 - Rune Master and Alchemist

The ship was about 150 meters in length and had two floors. There are only rowed seats on the first floor but the second floor was composed of rooms.

Raia and his group easily found their room. It has two bunk beds, a couch, table and its own bathroom. 

The ship then left at its scheduled time.

"We three are enrolling in the Military Department. What about you guys?" Raia asked Caroline and Rina after they sat down.

"I'm going to enroll in the Rune Inscription Department." Caroline answered.

"I'll enter the Alchemy Department." Veronica replied.

The students can choose from different departments the university offers. The largest department in almost every university is the military department. This department focused solely on training students to do combat, combat related skills, military commands and other things related to the military. The graduates were mostly recruited to be a soldier or as an officer and do missions issued by the government. 

There were other non-combat departments like the Alchemy and Rune Inscription department. The Alchemy department focuses on teaching the students on how to make pills while the Rune Inscription department gives students the knowledge about writing runes and their applications.

There are also other departments like Blacksmithing, Shipsmithing, Beast Taming and Tech and Research.

"Rune Inscription and Alchemy?" Raia was a bit surprised.

"My family is mostly Inscription Master so I have some knowledge about it. However, they are all working on different planets. I want to go to Wolford because a sister of mine is there." Caroline answered.

"Uhm.. My father is an alchemist for the military at the border planets. I also loved alchemy so I chose to be one." Veronica replied.

"Woah.." 

"Surprised?" Caroline asked.

"Yes..You didn't tell me about it."

"You didn't ask us."

"Well…I didn't want to pry on your personal lives.."

"Huh? You still don't treat us as friends after all this time?"

"No, no. That is not it. I just still don't know if you are fine with that and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

'Rune Inscription and alchemy, huh. I should also learn that.' Raia thought.

He can make his own pills using the herbs from the world inside. Also, if he can learn to create arrays and formations, he can cultivate with more ease even without finding a beast lair to hide.

"How were your skills?" Raia asked.

"Uhm..good. I have learned the 200 basic runes and can write the smallest arrays. But Veronica here is really good at alchemy. She can already concoct grade 3 pills despite being only at Martial Physique State."

"Really?" Raia turned to Veronica with a surprised face.

"Y-yes, that is right." She didn't deny it.

"That is amazing. To be able to do that, you must have some talent in alchemy." Raia complimented.

"No, I just learned from my father."

"She is not just good at alchemy but also at cooking." Caroline continued.

"What?" Raia asked.

"Caroline!" 

"What is there to be embarrassed about?" 

"Really? You also cook?" With curiosity, Raia asked Veronica.

"Well, it is similar to alchemy so I just naturally liked it." She explained.

"Now I want to taste your dishes." He laughed as he said those words.

"Me, too." Aaron agreed.

"What are you saying? You've already tasted it." Caroline interrupted.

"Huh?"

"The red star cake that we brought to your house, she made that."

"What?! I loved that cake!" Raia remembered that cake that they brought when they studied at his house. He really liked that cake and so was his family. They thought it came from a famous restaurant because it was really good.

"Th-thank you. I'll make you some later." Veronica shyly promised.

"I'll hold onto that promise." 

"I am planning to take some runescribing and alchemy classes." Raia suddenly said.

The others were surprised by his words.

"Won't there be conflict with your schedule in the military department?"

"I'll just find a class that fits it. It will be fine."

Taking another class from another department is fine as long as it doesn't interrupt the schedule of the main department. However, one can only take a maximum of five basic classes from other departments and they need to pass the simple exam for it. It was not the same difficulty as the entrance exam for the department but it was still not easy to pass. Of course, their lessons were more simple and basic than the main department students.

"Should I start now? Caroline, Veronica, please teach me the basic knowledge about runescribing and alchemy. I want to take and pass the exam for the basic class." Raia requested the two.

"Now? Well, if that is what you want I can teach you what my father taught me." Caroline quickly agreed. She also wanted to share some of her knowledge to Raia after he helped them.

She began her lesson. "The first thing you need to do is to learn to focus your spirit energy at the tip of your fingers. This will be the ink for the runes that you will write. It is rather difficult because it needs some good control over your own spirit force. I only did it after.."

"Like this?" Raia showed his finger with bright light on its tip. 'Isn't this easy?' He thought.

"Months…How can you do that? Is this really your first time learning inscription?" She said with wide eyes. 'He is really amazing.'

"Of course." Raia answered with an awkward smile. It was really his first time doing it but with the help of his high state spirit, he easily controlled his spirit force to move to his fingertip.

Faye and Aaron were trying to do it too but didn't make it.

"Unbelievable. Well, keep that spirit force on your fingertip at all times when you are writing the runes. It is very important that there is a balance in the amount of spirit force in the runes so it won't be destroyed."

Raia practiced a few times and when Caroline saw that he was doing nicely, she moved on.

"Here are the ten runes that you needed to make the simplest array. I'll make it first then you try practicing it." Caroline showed Raia how to write the array, and when she was finished, a small protection array was formed around the room.

Runes have many uses. The uses of runes are divided into three parts. There are more than three but these are the only ones that the humans were capable of doing with their abilities.

Inscribing was the use of runes to raise the power of a weapon or lay some additional attributes to it. Arrays were composed of a small number of runes and were easier to make because of their size. Formations were the larger and more powerful ones but also difficult to create. However, their uses were almost the same.

The ship they are currently in was full of arrays and formations. The shell was full of formations to protect the ship from attacks and some were laid inside to keep the privacy of their passengers. The weapons of the guards and the cannons were inscribed to increase their fire power.

"Okay."

He did it with the supervision of Caroline. With his high learning capability, it only took him a few tries to make the array. This surprised Caroline. 

It took her almost a month to perfectly make this array but he did it in a span of a short amount of time.

"You are really amazing." She said loudly.

"You are a good teacher." Raia smiled at her.

"But I didn't do much.." she muttered. "W-well, here are the 200 basic runes letters. Try to memorize it and practice writing it." Caroline sent a file to Raia.

"Thanks."

Afterwards, Veronica began lecturing him about alchemy.

"I'll just give you some advice. First, don't consume herbs and pills that you don't have the knowledge of." Veronica started with a serious voice. Her expression was changed when she began talking about alchemy.

"Really?" Raia interrupted.

"Of course. Why would you eat an herb or pill that you don't know anything about? That is just dangerous. More so for beginners like you who don't even have poison resistance. If you don't know the herb or pill, just ask someone with knowledge." Veronica explained.

"A-alright. So how can I have poison resistance?" Raia stuttered but still asked a question.

"Well, there are herbs that increase the poison resistance of the body. You can just take it." Veronica said.

"I understand."

"I'll continue. Second, don't give someone a pill that you are not 100% sure is working and safe. Third, always concoct a pill in a room with defense arrays or formations. Fourth, make sure to check the ingredients a few times before beginning concocting the pill. Fifth,,…"

Raia listened to her until she was done with her advice and warnings that totaled to over fifty. However, he remembered them all.

"Do you have any questions?" Asked Veronica after she was done.

"None so far." He shook his head.

"Alright, now for concocting the pill itself. These are the steps that most of the alchemists use." She continued. She told Raia about the steps.

The lecture took until noon and Raia listened carefully to the non-stop lecture of Veronica.

"T-that is all that you need to learn about the basic parts. I hope you learned something from me." 

"I have. Thanks. I wanted to see you concoct a pill but that isn't possible here on the ship."

"Maybe next time."

"I am hungry. Let's get something to eat."

"We don't need to get out. I brought some for us." Raia said. 'This should be enough for the five of us.'

He decided to also share the essence food to Caroline and Veronica. He took the boxes and placed them on the table. 

"E-essence food?" Faye exclaimed after sensing some spirit energy from the dishes. The others were surprised too.

"Yes. Come on, let's eat." Raia invited them to eat.

"Where did you get this from?" Faye asked.

"I met someone that sells it for a good price."

"Is this alright?"

"Yes, it's alright. Just keep this a secret because that man didn't want to expose himself." Raia told them.

The four nodded and they began eating.

"This is really good!" Aaron exclaimed.

They others were shocked to feel the energy contained in the food. It was the antelope meat which is the most delicious among the beast meats that Raia has. It also has a good amount of high quality spirit energy in it.

However, the others stopped eating after they felt that their body is full of spirit energy and quickly cultivated to refine the energy they just consumed.

When dinner time came, Raia served them some more essence food. They wanted to pay Raia but he refused their credits.

They continued cultivating afterwards.

Their journey to Wolford City went smoothly. They didn't encounter any beast along the way and the weather was good all the time.

In the morning, the announcement saying that they are going to land in the terminal sounded all over the ship.

"Let's go." Raia said.

Their group saw a sea of people entering the city. Most of them were at their ages and came here with the same reason.

"There are so many people that came." Aaron commented with awe.

"Of course. This is the top 1 university we are talking about after all. There would always be many students wanting to enter it." Faye said calmly but she too was surprised how many people were around the city.

"I am getting nervous." With a sigh, Aaron looked down.

Raia tapped his shoulder. "Don't be. Come on, let's get going."

The Wolford City was almost hundred times larger than Forzen City where they came from. The buildings and structures displayed the magnificence of the capital. There were a few castle-like structures and a huge tower that could be seen from anywhere in the city, standing tall from distance.

Shops selling high grade products were everywhere and Martial Warriors and Martial Masters can be seen in all directions.

There were so many people walking in the same direction as Raia's group and when they arrived at the gate of the university, a line of people greeted them.

They went in line and soon they reached the gate.

"Let me see your recommendation letters." The middle-aged man standing on the gate said.

After showing the file on their phones to the guard, he confirmed it using the list on his hand.

"Go to your designated locations at the exact time. Don't be late." With that, he let the five pass.

The entrance exam for each department was done in different places as they were also different from each other.

"We'll separate from here. Let us just see each other after the exams." Raia said to Caroline and Veronica.

"Alright. See you later." Caroline said and waved the three goodbye.

After the two left, Raia, Aaron and Faye went to the venue of their entrance exam which was noted with their recommendation letters. They wanted to get there before the scheduled time. The Wolford Central University is huge and they obviously didn't want to be late.

In the vast grassy plain field, almost ten thousand students were waiting for the exam to begin. Some were gathered in groups and there were those that were patiently waiting alone. There was still an hour before the scheduled time but many of the students were already there.

Seeing the thousands of students around them, Aaron became more nervous.

Raia massaged his shoulders. "Relax, man. I know you can do this."

"Let's hope so." He said with a sigh. Faye was more calm, standing beside them.

A middle aged man climbed to the stage in the middle of the field after some time.

"I need all the examinees to gather inside the formation. We will begin the exam." His voice sounded in all directions.