Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 697: Alex’s Failure

CH697 Alex’s Failure

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One Month Later...

Sanctuary Pocket Dimension...

Beneath the spreading branches of Lord Bonsai, Alex rested, appearing to be in peaceful slumber. In truth, however, his mind thrummed with restless energy.

This past month had been a relentless series of setbacks.

Or, to be more precise, they were not outright failures, but rather a string of incomplete successes.

Alex had poured his efforts into the Interspatial Orb throughout the month, managing to recover and reassemble all he could. He believed he had finally recreated the Interspatial Teleportation Grand Formation.

The reality was, without the planar coordinates of another world, there was no dependable way to test the formation. Still, his intuition, coupled with the subtle affirmation from his Rune Sage True Name, instilled a strong belief that the formation would function as designed.

Furthermore, Alex had integrated several new functionalities into the grand formation.

One of these enhancements enabled the formation to automatically detect and permanently log the planar information of any world it traversed, whether arriving or departing.

His aim was to circumvent the current predicament—landing in an unknown plane with no accurate coordinates and heavily degraded return vectors to Pangea.

Speaking of Pangea... Regrettably, when it came to reconstructing the damaged return coordinates to Pangea itself, Alex found himself still unable to reliably ascertain the final missing segment.

To illustrate using mathematical concepts from his former life—

Alex had managed to calculate the coordinates to approximately the nearest hundredth decimal place. However, for accurate interplanar travel, precision must approach the hundred-thousandth decimal place.

The disparity between these two levels of accuracy was immense for the unforgivingly precise field of interplanar navigation.

Even a minor deviation within the same decimal place could result in a complete miss of the intended planar jump. A mere single decimal place error could mean materializing within a star, crashing into a spatial anomaly, or drifting eternally through the void between realms.

Alex could not dare to attempt travel with his current level of precision. Yet, paradoxically, he felt he had achieved the optimal result possible for now.

And this was merely for reaching Pangea itself.

If he intended to target a specific location upon re-entry—such as the DragonHold Enclave or the Fury Lands—accuracy extending to the millionth decimal place might be necessary.

This level of precision was equally critical. After all, arriving at an incorrect location within Pangea could also spell disaster.

In civilized but dangerous territories, his noble status might afford him a temporary buffer. However, should they materialize in one of Pangea’s inherently hostile environments—like the continents of Terra or Cryonis—the outcome would be unimaginably dire.

Any arrival on either of those continents would spell certain doom for the entire party.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pondered or calculated, Alex could not discover any viable method to improve the situation beyond its present state.

During periods when inspiration completely failed him, Alex shifted his focus to several other projects, hoping to lift his spirits.

One such endeavor involved the Theolonium and divine energy research initiative—which, regrettably, also concluded in disappointment.

To their credit, Sugud and Eleanore had indeed succeeded in discovering a viable method for refining Theolonium without compromising its inherent capacity to store divine energy.

Naturally, they lacked a divine statue or a comparable artifact to directly compare the storage efficiency of their refined material. Nevertheless, the mere accomplishment of refining the ore was, in Alex’s view, already a significant breakthrough.

Even so, despite the success born from their combined expertise, Sugud staunchly refused to permit the large-scale refinement of the precious ore without careful consideration.

The Forgesmith Mechanic was unwilling to squander such an extraordinarily valuable material on an untested concept.

Consequently, the only tangible result for Alex was a single Theolonium container, meticulously crafted by Sugud to resemble a modest jewelry box—an item unlikely to arouse suspicion if placed on a regular table.

While outwardly appearing as a decorative jewelry box, the object was, in essence, a solid block of refined metal, measuring approximately thirty centimeters in length, twenty centimeters in width, and fifteen centimeters in height.

The instant Alex secured the box, he swiftly transported it into the Sanctuary Pocket Dimension. Within its confines, Lord Bonsai expertly infused the container with residual divine energy, meticulously extracted from a fallen Wildlands monster deity statue.

For public perception, Fortuna and the BattleBanes had officially forged a strategic alliance aimed at eradicating monster habitats in and surrounding BloodIron. This pact was presented as a necessary measure against the escalating threat of a potential beast tide looming over the city.

It was no secret that these concerns were artfully inflated by the insidious Black Scar Syndicate. They skillfully leveraged the fact that numerous settlements and territories adjacent to BloodIron’s central Wildlands, including Dragonstone City, had already endured devastating beast tides in preceding years.

Consequently, a formal contract materialized through the city administration building. Leveraging Drumvale’s considerable influence, the commission was seamlessly awarded directly to the unified Fortuna–BattleBane task force.

Throughout the extensive operations to clear monster nests, the task force unearthed a significant accumulation of monster deity statues.

As a direct result, Lord Bonsai found itself brimming with an abundance of stored divine energy, having absorbed the requisite Providence from these statues.

Even the Nest Queen reached a state of complete saturation, rendering it incapable of absorbing any further divine energy.

With such a colossal reservoir of divine energy effectively dormant in the form of condensed fruits adorning Lord Bonsai’s canopy, the metaphysical tree readily consented to Alex’s experimental endeavors. It generously agreed to transfer a portion of its surplus divine energy to him.

Nevertheless, despite Lord Bonsai’s successful infusion of divine energy into the Theolonium box, Alex’s attempts to harness it proved futile. Every conceivable method was employed, yet he remained utterly incapable of extracting, let alone effectively utilizing, the divine energy contained within.

Ultimately, facing yet another seemingly insurmountable obstacle, Alex felt compelled to temporarily halt the project.

Faced with a string of failures, or at best, only partial successes, across the major initiatives he had eagerly anticipated completing during this intensive work session, Alex couldn't suppress a wave of discouragement. This led him to seek solace and relaxation beneath the sheltering branches of Lord Bonsai.

Regrettably, even in this tranquil setting, his mind refused to quiet. His thoughts persistently gravitated back towards the unresolved projects, each fraught with intricate complications.

"Argh!"

Profoundly frustrated by the unyielding current of thoughts that prevented any semblance of proper rest, Alex abruptly pushed himself upright, roughly raking his hands through his hair.

A long, exasperated sigh escaped him as his mind continued its relentless assault, bombarding him with an endless cascade of problems.

’A shift in focus is required; I must direct my thoughts toward something more uplifting,’ Alex mused internally.

He turned his gaze towards the bonsai tree, which now exuded a newfound health and vibrancy, a stark contrast to its state following their disastrous interplanar journey.

’Thanks to the consistent provision of divine statues by the taskforce, Lord Bonsai is making a remarkable recovery. While we've prioritized quantity over quality, it shouldn't be long before the tree is fully restored to its former glory,’ Alex reflected, a subtle improvement in his mood becoming evident.

’And now that I understand divine statues can significantly accelerate its growth, I can continue to "feed" them to the tree even after its complete recovery. Once Lord Bonsai absorbs the inherent Providence from them, I should, in theory, be able to appropriate the surplus divine energy for my own use.’

The very instant this thought surfaced, however, his spirits plummeted once more as the stark reality hit him: he still possessed absolutely no understanding of how to render divine energy practically useful.

Alex released another sigh before rising to his feet and making his way towards the Rune table, centrally located within the workstation area of the Pocket Dimension.

A subtle smile began to grace his features as his eyes landed upon the collection of rune scrolls artfully arranged across the table's surface.

These were no commonplace rune scrolls.

They were, in fact, rune tattoo scrolls – precisely five in number.

Upon examining the unfurled scrolls from a top-down perspective, one would quickly discern that the Greater Runes inscribed on each individual scroll possessed a unique property: they seamlessly interconnected, coalescing to form a single, vastly more intricate Greater Rune structure when brought together.

The identity of these five rune scrolls soon became undeniably clear.

They represented Alex’s very first fully realized Rune Tattoo Set.

The Guardian of Happenstance Set.

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