Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 614: Duality of Rune-Tech Glyph I

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Three Months Later...

The Fortuna party savored time flowing softly, much like a warm, gentle breeze.

Alex held off on acting right away regarding the details from Baron Luth Belloc. He opted instead to keep the group under the radar, picking up tasks from the Mercenary and Adventurers’ Associations just to bide their time.

This setup let the main members of the party adjust fully to their massive power increases achieved in such a brief span.

BloodIron City sprawled enormously, which was a stroke of luck.

A group averaging Silver rank slipped past the notice of the city's big shots.

Nevertheless, over those three months, the Fortuna party quietly earned a name in the Adventurer and Mercenary communities.

They tackled brief missions tougher than typical for their level average, finishing them with impressive success.

Yet even more crucially, they boasted extremely few losses.

Nothing delighted Alex more than that fact.

This held true particularly because neither he nor his wives joined those missions directly.

Embracing his adventurous, carefree style, Alex put Kavakan at the helm to guide the Barbarians and Orcs on chosen quests.

His Fury Knights and other followers got liberty to pick missions at their discretion.

Thus, although Fury Knights frequently tagged along with Barbarians and Orcs, the followers used a rotation schedule.

It kept everyone sharp without idleness, yet ready to spring into action at Alex's summons.

For his wives, Alex set them up with a shop specializing in alchemical items.

Not shockingly, berserk beast stones drove their top profits.

The store bought up heaps of tainted beast cores, trading a restricted batch of purified ones for berserk stones.

Alex's skills cleansed the corrupted cores of berserk taint.

Still, Eleanore stayed cautious.

She tightly regulated purified core releases to the market—just sufficient to keep the business afloat without inviting extra scrutiny.

She avoided spotlight since neither the shop nor party possessed the backing or clout to deter the greed such ventures stir.

Rather, she utilized Raven Horn.

Via the Black Scar Syndicate and his Adventurers’ Association ties, she quietly shifted trickier items like purified beast cores.

Alex stayed out of these dealings.

He relied on Eleanore’s sharp instincts.

Her knack for such choices outshone his own, so he handed her full control of the party’s finances.

Zora managed daily operations, while Udara covered intel and protection.

Overall, the party’s setup stayed mostly the same.

Alex just bolstered it—mainly to help newcomers like Barbarians, Orcs, Kron Belloc, and Raven Horn grasp the inner workings.

Alex himself seized the respite offered by a hub like BloodIron.

He secluded himself in a chamber at the mansion kindly supplied by Wayne Achard via Raven Horn to the group.

His aim: grasp completely the shifts in his Rune-Tech platform after triggering the [Rune Sage] spell—

And probe the new potentials it unlocked.

BloodIron City’s role as the prime trade center for the Hollowcrest Wildlands aided greatly.

Nearly all regional resources funneled through it eventually.

Thus, rare finds elsewhere in the Wildlands simply weren’t available here.

Alex capitalized thoroughly.

He gathered diverse materials—

Not just to restock the Sanctuary, but to snag fresh Sigil-friendly stuff missing from his stocks before.

Memories from Heavenly Venerable’s study in the trial proved priceless.

They bridged key voids, helping him spot and comprehend Verdantis-native materials he’d have missed.

Consequently, Alex sourced stand-ins for absent Rune materials in this realm.

Across the three months—with OmniRune shouldering most labor—Alex overhauled every Rune-Tech item systematically.

Past pure Rune builds now shifted to the fresh Rune-Tech code framework blending Sigil essence.

This made all his inventions seamlessly mesh with Verdantis’ magical glyph setup.

He crafted an OmniRune module too—for future self-reliant tweaks to match new glyph systems sans his input.

Now, Rune-Tech gear—from spells to formations, even Rune Tattoos—worked across Pangea and Verdantis.

Truthfully, spell and formation shifts wrapped in under a month.

The bulk of Alex’s three-month effort went to Rune Tattoos.

Compatibility alone didn’t satisfy him.

He aimed to advance them.

‘As I suspected earlier, runes stay stiff—practically machine-like,’ Alex pondered.

‘Fixed rules govern them, poor at handling external shifts.

‘Yet that reliability is their edge. Predictable output every time.’

He halted briefly.

‘Sigils flow flexibly.

‘They shift. They react to evolving factors and conditions.’

‘Such versatility empowers them—yet exposes flaws.’

‘Outputs vary unpredictably.’

His stare intensified.

‘Before, Rune Tattoos suffered rune rigidity. With Sigil infusion now...

‘Merging both powers becomes feasible.’

‘Patching old tattoos falls short.’ Alex shook his head. ‘Exploit this dual nature.’

‘Rune accuracy... fused with Sigil flexibility.’

Alex stroked his chin in contemplation.

‘Sigils sync smoother with body and mind’s flux, runes deliver steady power.’

Ideas solidified.

‘Base on Sigil layer for natural body-mind bonds...’

‘...overlay Runic frames for exact, unwavering results...’

His eyes gleamed.

‘...yielding adaptable yet dependable Rune Tattoos.’

A grin spread gradually across his face.

‘Put simply... superior Rune Tattoos.’

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