Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 569: Kindness

CH569 Kindness

***

Alex arched his brow. "Points? Rewards?"

Eleanore pointed at the shining mark on the stele.

Alex tracked her motion, his eyes locking onto the bright patch.

In a flash, the catalog of prizes popped up in his view as well.

’Recipes for alchemical elixirs... gear... plus scarce materials. Quite the assortment,’ Alex mused internally.

His attention slid to the lower edge of the holographic menu, where the ongoing score showed.

’Nine hundred and ninety points?’ Alex lifted his brow a touch.

"What’s your point total?" he inquired. "And which prize are you aiming to claim?"

"Nine hundred," Eleanore answered. "I’m after the second option in the lineup."

"Sadly... I’m short by twenty points."

Alex directed his focus to the second entry on the roster.

[Unknown Plant Seed]

A slight crease formed on Alex’s forehead.

Yet as soon as he focused on it, a vision abruptly surfaced in his thoughts.

’This...!’

A spark lit in his eyes.

He swiftly checked the needed point cost.

"Nine hundred and twenty... fine."

He gave a nod.

Right when he moved to pick it, the elder’s voice cut in abruptly.

"You ought to check out the top-ranked item prior to deciding."

Alex glanced at the elder for a second, then returned his sight to the prize menu.

The leading item turned out to be—

Introduction to Energy Alchemy!

A faint shiver ran through Alex’s frame.

Eleanore mirrored the reaction.

"What’s your point count?" she pressed urgently.

"Nine hundred and ninety," Alex responded.

"So why delay?" she urged right away. "Grab it!"

But unexpectedly, Alex paused.

He gazed mutely at the prize display.

Following a few beats of deep thought, he settled on his choice.

Rumble...

The stele abruptly moved.

A concealed panel eased open, exposing a petite container inside.

The container held just one object.

A seed.

"Why did you—?"

"This holds greater value for you than that does for me," Alex cut in softly.

He gave a casual shrug.

"I may not even utilize it effectively if I claimed it."

Alex stepped forward and took the container with the seed from the stele.

He came back to Eleanore and gently placed it in her grasp, offering a faint grin.

"To the SunHeart Princess," he noted casually, "I offer a seed of the SunHeart Blossom."

Eleanore stood utterly wordless.

"Oh, and one other detail," Alex tacked on out of the blue, like a sudden recollection.

"You’d probably like to see my trial. OmniRune recorded the whole thing."

"Take a look via your Rune Phone." Alex remarked with a haughty nose upturn.

Saying that, Alex spun around and strolled leisurely to the following stele —the Stele of the Anima Trial— then launched into the subsequent challenge without further talk.

Eleanore stayed rooted in place, clutching the container.

It required a few instants for her to snap out of her daze.

Her eyes gradually dropped to the seed she held, her face showing a mix of tangled feelings.

Observing her response, the enigmatic elder let out a soft, entertained chuckle.

"If you can witness his trial or hear about it, do so," he advised, fingering his lengthy silver beard.

Eleanore gave a somewhat rigid nod before pulling out her Rune Phone.

Once more, the elder felt intrigued by these youths.

Leveraging the restricted permissions from the SunHeart jewel in her necklace, Eleanore called up OmniRune to show the log of Alex’s trial.

As she scanned the entry, she uncovered the technique Alex had devised.

An entirely fresh path in alchemy.

’Pill Alchemy...’

’Only Alex Fury would invent something so odd,’ she reflected.

Her sight shifted to him while recalling the smug look he had when mentioning the log.

"Show-off," she whispered under her breath.

Still, even with the murmur, her gaze warmed with subtle fondness.

Precisely then, a faint occurrence took place.

Unseen by her—

The seed she gripped split open.

A small sprout gradually pushed out from inside.

The ethereal flora, needing a precise type of Providence —the Providence of Kindness— started to stir.

Unwittingly, Alex’s deed had met the seed’s condition.

At present...

It was merely a question of time until it flowered.

This, though, entirely escaped Eleanore’s notice.

She remained lost in admiration of Alex’s genius.

His invention —paired with the subtle gift he’d given her— ignited a fresh sentiment in her core.

It expanded gradually, cozy and strange.

Then an idea hit her abruptly.

She faced the elder.

"This represents such a major advance. Why is the gap in our scores just ninety points?" she questioned, her brow furrowing lightly.

"His approach is groundbreaking with vast potential uses. He ought to have gained much more."

The elder grinned and inclined his head.

"You’re spot on," he conceded. "The margin between your scores truly shouldn’t be that narrow."

"The young man’s mark is already the maximum achievable under the trial’s guidelines."

"It’s not that his was too modest."

"It’s that yours got boosted."

"My score got boosted?" Eleanore queried in astonishment.

"You synced with Zaxan’s Will," the elder clarified. "The extra points came from that harmony."

"Lacking that factor, your base score would probably top out at six hundred."

Eleanore nodded in silence.

The clarification didn’t shock her much.

After a brief mull, the logic fit seamlessly.

Should Alex’s innovative technique rate at nine hundred and ninety points, her elixir recipe —limited to one issue— indeed warranted no more than half that amount.

It was probably solely due to the dire berserk threat in Verdantis that her recipe earned a solid starting appraisal of six hundred points to begin with.

Grasping the source of the added points, Eleanore looked back at the prize catalog and hunted for certain particular entries.

"As I figured," she breathed quietly. "They’re listed."

A faint grin curved her mouth.

[Zaxan’s Alchemical Research Log] ×8

Just as she’d guessed, the extra points were meant exactly for her to collect the full array of the ancient troll’s study parchments.

In the trial, she’d only perused one.

Now she could snag the rest too.

And predictably, the complete collection tallied precisely nine hundred points.

Eleanore wasted no time.

Skipping a glance at other choices, she straightaway claimed the parchments.

Right at that instant, the little sprout from the SunHeart Seed in her palm enlarged a bit.

This occasion, Eleanore caught sight of it.

Much like the sprout... a soft smile spread over her features.

Close by, the elder also grinned to himself in quiet.

’Well done, old companion,’ he pondered.

’Your lifelong efforts have at last reached the proper custodians.’

***