Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH47 Talents Acquired!

***

The moment Alex touched the bonsai-like tree, his perception of the world shifted.

Where once he saw mana, he now saw Runes.

It was as though a veil had been torn away, revealing a deeper truth.

A massive runic formation unveiled itself before his eyes—so vast that it encompassed the entire cave system of the mine. Unlike typical formations crafted by Array Masters, this circle didn’t feel technical or mechanical.

It felt... alive.

Spiritual.

Its structure shifted between a perfect circle and the serpentine shape of a Dragon. There was something primal about it—something beyond mortal design.

’So this was a natural mana-gathering formation...’ Realisation dawned on Alex.

This ancient runic construct was responsible for concentrating ambient mana from the surrounding mountain region into this very location. The dragon’s lair, reinforced by mana-restraining rock, served as a natural reservoir.

And at the heart of it all was the Dragon’s corpse.

The pieces clicked together.

In his old world, fantasy novels often described how the corpses of powerful dragons dissolved into mana-rich phenomena—dragon ponds, leylines, or sources of natural treasure. They would, in time, form environments dense with magic, fertile for the creation of Mana Stones.

And here it was—truth hidden in fiction.

Just like the Stalactite Milk, another arcane material he had never encountered in his studies in this world.

’Can I replicate this array formation?’ Alex wondered, eyes gleaming with challenge.

As always, he refused to back down.

He immediately activated the Eidetic Memory function of his Truth-Seeker Eyes to record every inch of the structure. Then, he directed his OmniRune Core AI to attempt a simulation and replication of the formation.

However, disappointment soon followed.

The OmniRune Core AI couldn’t handle the dynamic, shifting complexity of the formation’s living structure. It was still too rigid, too underdeveloped to adapt to something this fluid.

So Alex pivoted.

Rather than replicate the formation as a whole, he isolated the part of the array that retained a stable circular configuration—a more traditional rune structure.

The OmniRune Core AI immediately began adapting its framework to this new target.

Progress was rapid.

Time passed unnoticed, as Alex stood still in trance, locked into the runic world.

Before long, the AI had replicated over two-thirds of the circle.

Then—RUMBLE.

Alex’s entire Mindspace trembled.

It felt like his consciousness was being compressed beneath the weight of the runes—like the formation was too vast, too profound for his current mental limits.

And yet, this was only the simplest, static segment of the whole structure.

The realisation sent a chill down his spine.

Still, Alex gritted his teeth and pressed on. Even if he couldn’t complete the replication now, he would memorise everything. The time would come when he could recreate it in full.

Then it happened.

Outside of his command, the OmniRune Core detached itself from his Mindspace and projected into the material world—for the first time ever.

Only then could it complete the replication.

BOOM!

An explosion thundered through his soul.

His body shuddered as an immense tide of elemental mana surged into him. The cave around him quaked with pressure.

His eyes snapped open, wide with horror.

He bolted into a sitting position, urgently directing his Spiritual Will to contain the rampaging mana coursing through his mana vessels.

If not for the prior tempering by the Stalactite Milk, those vessels would have ruptured under the onslaught.

But Alex didn’t panic.

Instead, he acted.

Seeing the overwhelming torrent of elemental mana flowing into his Mana Heart, he launched into the Mana Washing Method, circulating the energy with purpose.

He would use it—refine his affinities.

The density of elemental mana was beyond anything even a high-grade cultivation chamber could provide. His stalled affinity training advanced at breakneck speed.

Then it happened again.

His blood stirred.

A deep, primal call echoed from within.

From the depths of his maternal bloodline, something awoke.

A wolf, majestic and fierce, bearing a sun-shaped mark on its forehead, surged forth—manifesting from his very blood.

It charged into his Mana Heart, and from it flowed a stream of bloodline energy that spread through his body, shielding and reinforcing his mana vessels against the turbulent flow.

But something else occurred.

His body began to reject parts of the elemental mana flooding in.

’No!’ Alex’s first instinct was to resist.

His mana vessels trembled with confusion as he realised—only Fire elemental mana was being accepted into his body.

The other basic elements—Water, Wind, and Earth—were forcibly repelled, and he was powerless to stop it.

Suddenly, a surge of bloodline energy burst from the wolf phantom—his maternal bloodline—and shot directly into the OmniRune Core’s formation circle still hovering above his head.

The runes shifted—subtly at first, then with decisive clarity.

And so too did the nature of the mana being drawn in.

The rejected elemental energies were replaced.

In their place surged rarer forms of mana—Light, Darkness, and Lightning—flowing into him with controlled precision.

In that moment, understanding exploded within Alex’s mind like a solar flare.

His maternal bloodline bore affinity for Fire and Light.

His Furor bloodline, inherited from his paternal lineage, held affinity for Darkness and Lightning.

Together, they formed the true fourfold affinity embedded in his blood.

The only reason Alex had even attempted to refine his Mana Heart with the basic elemental types was because the rarer mana elements—especially Light and Lightning—were too scarce for cultivation.

But now, with the formation actively gathering these rare elemental manas, his bloodline had taken charge—enforcing its will over his body.

Only the correct elements would be allowed to refine his Mana Heart.

And so, the elemental refinement resumed.

The wolf phantom watched on with piercing golden eyes, while the golden dragon flame in his Mana Heart assisted from within, burning away impurities and purifying each elemental strand before it reached his Mana Heart.

Progress accelerated at a staggering pace.

Time passed in silence.

When it finally ended, Alex’s Mana Heart pulsed with synchronised harmony—refined by Fire, Light, Darkness, and Lightning. Each elemental stream burned with peak resonance.

He had achieved highest-grade affinity for all four elements.

Only then did the OmniRune Core withdraw from the physical world and return to his Mindspace.

Now, it was different.

It had added another formation pattern to its internal library—alongside the Compression Circle and the Machine Learning Principles Circle, it now held a fully functional variant of the Mana Gathering Formation.

And when it took that form within his Mindspace, Alex discovered something remarkable.

He could now passively absorb mana from the surroundings, even while unconscious.

Not just for replenishing his reserves—but for cultivation itself.

Of course, the process was agonisingly slow compared to active meditation. But as the saying went—a thousand drops can still fill an ocean.

With this, Alex had gained two key post-natal talents:

Extreme Mana Capacity

Elemental Affinity Enhancement

And now, a third—passive mana gathering.

The template of a terrifying mage was beginning to take shape.

Once the OmniRune Core settled, the chaotic phenomena in the lair dissipated as well.

However, Alex noticed one subtle shift.

The ambient Fire mana had decreased noticeably, replaced instead by an increase in neutral mana.

He turned his gaze to the tree that had started all of this.

He’d assumed it would be a one-time trigger.

But to his shock, the tree was still glowing—its golden mana signature as vibrant as ever.

Alex licked his lips greedily.

He reached forward again, placing his palm against its bark.

Once more, his vision was elevated—drawn into the world of Runes.

’What should I peer into next?’ he mused, his curiosity already pulling at new threads of thought.

Then—he felt the weight around his waist.

His eyes dropped to the satchel bag strapped to his belt. A complaint he’d been quietly having since entering this subspace surfaced once more.

’Can I...?’

A dangerous idea bloomed in his mind.

A grin spread across his face—half greedy, half mad.

Without hesitation, he began implementing his wild plan.

And from that reckless choice...

...he created a situation even he could never have anticipated.

***