Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 590: Pangea’s Ascension & Verdantis’s Sorcery

CH590 Pangea’s Ascension & Verdantis’s Sorcery

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Initially, due to a scarcity of intelligence, Alex and his companions presumed that Verdantis’ Combat Warriors were merely the equivalent of warriors, Sorcerers were mages, and the Clergy functioned as warlocks.

However, subsequent data led him to question these assumptions. Having now perused the archives preserved by the Heavenly Venerable, his suspicions were confirmed.

‘The disparate branches of Sorcery challenge that classification,’ Alex observed internally.

‘Sorcery functions as an entire Cultivation system in its own right.’

‘One could truthfully argue that Sorcery represents the genuine path of Cultivation in Verdantis, with Combat Warriors and the Clergy acting as mere stand-ins, commissioned by the Navi following the banishment of sorcerers at the conclusion of the Era of Sorcery.’

‘If that holds true, then I ought to be measuring Sorcery against the entirety of Pangea’s Cultivation framework, rather than restricting the comparison to a magic system.’

Alex eased himself onto the floor beside the bookshelf he had been consulting.

Setting aside the scroll he held, he retreated into deep meditation.

‘Even then, equating Sorcery to the Ascension path of Pangea remains reductive. Sorcery and Ascension are distinct, asymmetric systems. They should be evaluated on their own terms rather than forced into an artificial equivalence, as their ultimate objectives are fundamentally mismatched.’

‘Pangea’s Ascension structure segregates the three Class branches—Mage, Warrior, and Warlock—as essentially disconnected, often xenophobic entities. Once a choice is made for a specific path, one is barred from training in the others.’

‘Common exceptions are mostly those with exceptionally potent bloodlines—like my own—capable of forcibly bridging the divide between these paths.’

‘Conversely, the Sorcery of Verdantis exhibits deep interconnection across its seven or so branches.’

‘According to these records, a sorcerer of the Physique Tempering branch is not prohibited from casting “mystic arts,” which is their term for spells.’

‘In the same vein, a practitioner of the Grey School, who excels in hexes, debuffs, and control-type magics, may still maintain mastery over the techniques of the Armament School.’

‘Superficially, Pangea’s Ascension appears to represent a Hard Cultivation system, whereas Sorcery feels more like a Soft Cultivation system.’

‘This asymmetry makes drawing rigid parallels between them based on strict equivalence nearly impossible.’

‘Any meaningful correlation will have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.’

As Alex immersed himself further into the arcane knowledge of this alien plane, a particular passage within one of the scrolls caught his attention.

‘Ultimately, Sorcery acts like a grand tree.’

‘Its branches may sprawl, yet they share the same roots.’

‘The origins of Sorcery are found in the Elemental School, where ancient practitioners channeled mana directly into their Dantian and physical form.’

‘By manifesting mystic arts within their bodies and minds, they could emulate, resonate with, or imprint those arts upon the external reality.’

‘This is the state the Heavenly Venerable designated as the Man–Earth–Heaven fusion.’

‘Because the execution of these arts demands both mana stored in the body and emotional resonance within the mind, when other branches of Sorcery blossomed, Elemental Sorcery was rebranded by certain sects as Internal Sorcery.’

‘During the height of Elemental Sorcery, a faction proposed a supplemental methodology—the Physique Tempering method.’

‘They likened the human body, which acts as a conduit for mana, to a vessel containing liquid. The more robust and vast the vessel, the greater its capacity.’

‘Consequently, they argued that sorcerers must temper their physical forms to expand the capacity for storing the mana required for Elemental Sorcery.’

‘In this way, the Physique Tempering branch was inaugurated.’

‘It was never intended to supersede Elemental Sorcery; rather, it was meant to bolster it.’

‘This underlying pattern appears in all other branches—Armament, Craftsmanship, Alchemy, Anima, and even the Grey School.’

‘They were not built as successors, but as enhancements to the original tradition.’

Understanding dawned in Alex’s eyes.

‘This serves as the primary reason why the Ascension system and the Sorcery path differ so profoundly.’

‘Unlike the interconnected branches of Sorcery, the paths in Pangea’s Ascension system act as binary alternatives.’

‘For someone gifted in Cultivation, the path narrows to one of three choices—Mage, Warrior, or Warlock.’

‘Absent some external, extraordinary catalyst—like a superior bloodline or an esoteric manual—a practitioner is locked into one path, barred from the others.’

This revelation stirred a sense of intrigue within Alex.

‘I wonder if every world possesses its own singular Cultivation system, much like Pangea or Verdantis.’

‘What would it be like to navigate various worlds, uncovering the hidden truths of the universe and its countless civilizations?’

He felt a ravenous curiosity burn within him.

Turning his focus back to the vast, unread shelves, a surge of ambition washed over him.

He rolled up the scroll he had just finished, returned it to its slot, and pushed forward to absorb the wisdom housed on the remaining shelves.

As Alex proceeded, a new realization took root.

While a few books were clearly imports from outside sources—offering unique outlooks or rare insights—the vast majority of the scrolls appeared to be the work of a single mind.

Most likely, the Heavenly Venerable himself.

The shelves charted a distinct trajectory in the author’s intellectual growth.

Initially, Alex found the material easy to grasp.

However, as he pushed deeper, this became significantly harder, despite the high-level knowledge he retained from his previous life across diverse fields.

Eventually, he reached a stage where he could read the words, but he could no longer claim to truly comprehend the logic.

The concepts had simply surpassed his current level of cultivation.

It felt as though he were a mere freshman who had wandered into the doctoral wing of the great library.

He recognized the characters on the page, but the profound theories and principles buried within remained elusive.

Even so, Alex did not waver.

He continued to devour the data, allowing OmniRune to capture, store, and index everything, ensuring it could be reviewed once his own level of enlightenment was sufficient to decode the mysteries held within.

‘Studying these texts, it seems the author likely chose to specialize in Physique Tempering simply because it appeared to be the branch best suited for extending their lifespan.’

‘More time meant further research... and more knowledge to accumulate.’

‘Even though their specialization was in Physique Tempering, they clearly achieved monumental breakthroughs in other branches as well, often using Physique Tempering as the foundation for those discoveries.’

That realization alone confirmed his hypothesis.

The author of these records was unequivocally the Heavenly Venerable.

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