Return of the Legendary Runesmith-Chapter 193 - 192- The past he forgot(1)

Once the golem was out of the way, Adrian pushed forward through the long, silent gallery.

His body ached, and his steps were heavy—but he wasn’t finished yet. He was tired, yes, but not on the verge of collapse.

And strangely enough, he could feel his mana rising.

His breathing had steadied, and the pressure on his chest was slowly fading. He hadn’t checked, but he could tell—his capacity had grown. This time, he had lasted more than ten seconds using body strengthening. That might not sound like much to others, but to him, it was real progress.

His thoughts wandered as he walked.

He still didn’t fully understand the true nature of mana or how independent casting worked.

Armaments—these magical weapons—were a double-edged sword. They allowed people to use spells, but also limited them. The very fact that one needed a weapon to channel magic was a limitation in itself.

For example, armament users could rarely cast large-area spells. Wide-range attacks or defenses require too much manipulation. And when your spell was tied to a blade, staff, or batons, it just couldn’t match the scale of true, free-form magic.

Threading—adding magical connections between a user and their weapon—was a step closer to pure magic, a way to push beyond the weapon’s normal limits. But even then, no matter how skilled the user, there was a wall.

Because in the end, the weapon was still just a tool.

And there wasn’t a single known material in the world that could withstand repeated large-scale spells without breaking.

Even with a fifth thread, an armament couldn’t compete with the raw flexibility and scale of independent magic.

That’s what made the golem so frightening.

’That thing...’ Adrian thought, recalling its shifting runes and clever counters. ’It was designed to respond to danger, to read attacks and adapt in real time...’

And not just that.

The material it was made of—he’d never seen anything like it. It wasn’t metal, not like anything on the market. It was something far more durable, more advanced.

He had picked up a few broken fragments from the battlefield. He’d take them back, study them, and maybe... just maybe, he’d figure out what that golem truly was.

But that could wait.

For now, he focused on the path ahead. The gallery stretched on, and at its end... something was waiting.

After a brief walk down the narrowing corridor, Adrian finally stepped into another room. Compared to the vast hall where he fought the golem, this place felt almost... cozy.

He struck another glowing stick, the soft white light spreading across the small chamber.

"Hmm?" He blinked.

It was just... a room.

Not a lab. Not a vault. Just a simple, dust-covered room frozen in time.

His eyes first caught the large mirror directly across from the door, so old that a thin layer of dust and age had dulled its reflection.

To the left, there was a coat hanger, a wooden table with its surface chipped at the edges, and a cupboard sealed with a rusted latch.

To the right, a clipboard hung loosely on the wall. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

He tilted his head.

There were drawings pinned underneath the clip—faint outlines of a runic structure.

It was then, he heard it.

A slow, rhythmic sound.

Click. Click. Click.

Adrian frowned and stepped closer to the study table.

The ticking sound grew clearer now, coming from just behind the parchment placed neatly at the center of the desk.

He leaned in and raised the glowing stick.

And that’s when he read it:

[If you are my future self, write a rune on the end of this paper or this room will blow in:

13... 12...]

"What?!" Adrian’s heart dropped.

In one quick motion, he snatched his runic pencil from the Chamber and scribbled the first stable rune he could recall—then another, and another.

10... 9... 8...

His hand flew with urgency, sweat forming at his brow.

7.

The ticking stopped.

The parchment shimmered faintly before the letters vanished.

Adrian dropped into the chair with a loud exhale, gripping the edge of the table as he caught his breath.

"Phew... had my ass nearly blown up there." He let out a shaky laugh, glancing toward the ceiling as if thankful it was still intact.

His finger ran over the paper, now blank.

But the words remained etched in his mind:

"If you are my future self..."

Adrian stared blankly.

So this wasn’t just any hidden room. This wasn’t a trap meant for invaders. This was his.

His room. His work.

"So... this is something my past self—the one whom the people on the dimensional chat know—had built?"

He leaned back, the glow stick casting shadows across the table. A part of him felt unsettled. Another part... curious.

And beneath it all, a quiet realization whispered:

Whoever I used to be... wanted me to come back here.

Adrian got up.

He was still cautious but now, he wanted to know more.

He approached the wardrobe and pulled it open slowly.

*CREAK*

He looked inside and found...just a few coats hanging down.

Adrian didn’t touch them...he would do so later.

He looked down and tapped on the inner wall of the cupboard. There was no secret door or locker.

Finally, he turned towards the board on the right.

He slowly approached the board and looked with his brows frowned.

There were...drawings, runes. A diagram? Experimentation?

Despite the runes written on the board, he couldn’t understand them. The foundation was understandable, it was written for the element of Darkness, but ...what did it say was out of his comprehension.

He kept struggling to understand what it was...and then he gave up.

’I will think about it later.’ He sighed before packing everything in the Time Chamber.

The only thing that was on the board was a picture.

It was unnatural that there was a camera picture here. He could barely see it because of the dust but he knew it was a camera taken picture.

Adrian blew over the picture and then rubbed it against his suit.

And just when his eyes landed on the girl in the picture...he froze.

His eyes turned blank and he fell to his knees.

In that moment, several memories came rushing down.

°°°°°°°°°

A/N:- Thanks for reading

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