Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 627: Pre- and Post-Cognition II

CH627 Pre- and Post-Cognition II

***

Level 1 of Phantom Sight drew from Alex’s tracking expertise, terrain awareness, environmental hints, and mana traces gathered via Spirit Sight to rebuild probable past events in a specific zone—manifesting them as ghostly visuals in his field of view.

Essentially, it served as a type of post-cognitive power.

Phantom Sight Level 2, however, worked in a contrasting way.

It harnessed Alex’s Battle Instinct features from his Furor True Name and bloodline, combined with his battle history and All-Weapon Intent, to foresee the likeliest moves of a foe he was engaging or simply watching—rendering these projections as phantom visuals in his sight.

In this way, it mimicked a pre-cognitive power.

Nevertheless, no level of Phantom Sight qualified as genuine pre- or post-cognition.

These abilities didn’t gaze into time’s weave for certain results. Rather, they crafted highly likely situations from Alex’s gathered wisdom and know-how, showing them as anticipatory or replayed phantom scenes.

At most, one might call them pseudo-cognitive skills—born from rapid, subconscious reasoning.

Like all such mechanisms, they came with built-in constraints.

Unlike many of Alex’s Truth-Seeker skills that barely taxed him, Phantom Sight exacted a heavy mental toll, swiftly depleting his mind’s reserves to fuel its computations.

Trying to foresee a superior foe’s moves—someone quicker and mightier—intensified that burden. The growing ache behind his eyes confirmed the steep price.

Moreover, each level faced restrictions on how far it could project backward or forward.

Phantom Sight Lv1 might reconstruct events up to 5 hours prior, based on how faded or muddled the leftover traces were.

Phantom Sight Lv2, for its part, could forecast merely two to three seconds into the future at best. Against tougher enemies or unfamiliar styles, accuracy dropped sharply—or predictions might fail entirely.

It fell short of the game-changing potential Alex craved, yet he had no option but to keep it active.

He was utterly convinced that without it, staying even with Dalton would prove impossible.

"You keep astonishing me, Leader of the Fortuna Company," Dalton remarked, genuine respect threading his voice.

"Alex Fury, right? Your name is etched in my memory."

He shifted back into a fighting posture, clenching his greatsword tighter.

"I trust you’ll keep surpassing what I anticipate."

Without any cue, OmniRune—Alex’s AI mage companion—swiftly renewed all ongoing spells as their timers ran out.

It proactively refreshed some still-active ones too, guaranteeing unbroken coverage.

[Featherflight]! [Featherfall]! [Silver Body]! [Bear Strength]! [Buff: Strength Up]! [Buff: Agility Up]! [Buff: Defence Up]! [Buff: Endurance Up]! [Buff: Speed Up]!

Alex inhaled deeply, then stacked his personal techniques over the buffs.

[Body Strengthening Magic]! [Dragon Kumite]!

And then, startling the watching crowd for the first time—

[Aura Coating]!

Deep inside, Alex tapped his Furor Bloodline and True Name, invoking its core essence.

Velkar: Battle Instinct.

All-Weapon Intent.

[Abyssal Conqueror Steps]!

"I’ll give it my all," Alex responded calmly.

He adopted a solid stance—war axe tucked under one arm, longsword poised in the other.

His feet dug into the earth, broadcasting his defensive resolve loud and clear.

’If that’s your chosen path...’ Dalton’s mouth hinted a subtle grin. ’Then I shall accommodate.’

A fiercer wave of battle aura exploded from him.

Though his aura coating’s outward scale stayed the same, its thickness surged—becoming weightier, more suffocating.

Boom!

Dalton surged ahead again.

In a flash, he bridged the gap and unleashed a mighty overhead greatsword chop.

Spirit Sight revealed to Alex the dense, packed battle energy bolstering the blow.

Phantom Sight Level 2 confirmed beyond doubt—he couldn’t block that with his war axe. It would crumple on contact.

Clang—!

Alex countered instead with his aura-clad longsword.

Eleanore shot Udara a startled look—this marked the debut of Alex using Weapon Coating in battle.

Udara merely shrugged mutely, just as baffled.

Even with mana-fortified steel—boosted by his True Name trait and Dragon Kumite—Alex refused a direct clash.

Employing Death Perception, he pinpointed the most vulnerable spot in Dalton’s weapon coating—a challenging task he scarcely managed amid the intense pressure.

By striking exactly there, he deftly altered the path of the oncoming power, slowly diverting the greatsword from his body and parrying the assault successfully.

Nevertheless, the backlash jolted a shiver through his arms.

Dalton transitioned fluidly from the blocked blow, coiling his body for a high kick targeted straight at Alex’s head.

Maintaining his stance, Alex intercepted the kick using the rear end of the war axe’s shaft.

With a swift wrist twist, he rotated the weapon, hurling the axehead toward Dalton’s unguarded side.

Dalton countered without delay, shoving off the shaft to widen the gap between them.

Yet, as if foreseeing the move, Alex’s sword pursued right after, keeping up the relentless assault.

Dalton parried the deceptive slash that seamlessly shifted into a thrust, then fired back with his own wide swing.

His aim was obvious: shove Alex rearward and reclaim the ideal range for his greatsword.

But Alex’s eyes gleamed with a subtle golden light, seeing right through the ploy.

A spark of frenzy ignited in their depths.

Bending his arm rearward, he shifted his hold, laying the blade’s flat against his upper arm and shoulder.

Rather than pulling back, he surged ahead, ramming his shoulder into the strike before it gained full momentum, throwing off both the weapon’s course and Dalton’s stability.

The abrupt impact hurled Dalton backward.

And right then—

A vulnerability emerged.

Alex’s war axe smashed in from the flank.

Dalton just deflected the blow in time, then lunged forward for his own riposte.

However, showcasing masterful precision, Alex’s war axe whipped back to protect his side.

The axehead snagged Dalton’s blade, yanking it off target.

At that precise instant, Alex’s sword lanced out, zeroing in on Dalton’s newly bared flank.

’Goodnight...’ Alex whispered to himself.

Clang—!

His eyes snapped wide.

Defying anticipation, the blade couldn’t penetrate.

Instead, Dalton’s aura coating blocked it—compressed so intensely it mimicked slamming into unyielding metal.

Dalton retaliated at once, slicing upward through the space between them.

The swing lacked strong lethal intent, aimed solely at creating distance.

Alex withdrew instantly, leaping back to evade the attack.

Unlike Dalton, he lacked faith in his aura coating enduring a strike of such magnitude.

’I can’t afford to drag this out any longer,’ both warriors thought simultaneously.

For Alex, the mental toll of maintaining Phantom Sight was swiftly overwhelming; any more, and it would shift from asset to burden.

For Dalton, a different sensation stirred inside him, prickling his primal instincts.

Speechless, both charged ahead, battling to reclaim dominance.

***