Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 834: Drone Recycling

CH834 Drone Recycling

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Alex observed the battlefield through his shared vision with Senu, while simultaneously watching the other side of the tunnels through the eyes of one of the Vulture Bee drones.

He nodded to himself with quiet satisfaction as everything had gone according to plan.

In fact, events had unfolded so smoothly that his presence on the wall today had not been necessary at all.

A sense of pride welled up within him—almost like a father watching his child grow to the point where they could finally stand on their own without needing him.

’Not that I’ve ever been a father, so I wouldn’t actually know if this is what it feels like,’ he chuckled to himself.

Standing beside him, Zora caught sight of his expression.

"You like the feeling of everything going according to plan without having to get involved yourself, don’t you?" she said without missing a beat.

"Could you please stop reading me like an open book? At least let me keep a little mystery to my own thoughts," he replied.

Zora chuckled.

She turned her gaze towards the domain soldiers atop the wall, who were still celebrating their overwhelming victory.

"It’s interesting what a few months can accomplish, don’t you think?" she commented. "You’ve managed to transform a domain that was barely holding itself together into one capable of standing against one of the established powers in the region.

"And you’ve achieved that to the point where it no longer requires your direct involvement."

Alex nodded unconsciously.

A smug smile slowly spread across his face, practically saying,

Zora rolled her eyes, though a small chuckle still escaped her.

"With this, you won’t need to personally intervene anymore, and can instead focus on your projects," she added without hesitation.

Alex’s smile instantly froze, and the corners of his lips twitched.

"So that’s where you were going with this. You set me up," Alex said wryly.

Zora nodded without attempting to hide her intentions.

"You’re a domain lord. As you can see, your retainers and subordinates are perfectly capable of handling themselves. There’s no need for you to involve yourself in every little matter anymore.

"Instead, you should focus on other things—particularly your projects. You only need to establish the overall direction and leave the details to those under you."

Alex looked at his wife but remained silent for a moment.

Although all three of his wives had been trying to dissuade him from personally involving himself in battles for quite some time now, he had noticed that they had become considerably more insistent ever since he recovered from his battle against the Tribulation Doppelgänger.

This was one of the reasons why he had refrained from participating in the battle that had just concluded, even though his Truth-Seeker Eyes had already recovered.

He tried to use the time to lessen their worry.

"Are you sure you want me to continue working on my projects? You were the one who previously told me not to do anything crazy," Alex joked.

"That’s not funny, Alex," Zora replied seriously.

"Too soon?" Alex asked.

"Too soon," Zora confirmed with a nod.

Alex chuckled softly, causing the corners of Zora’s lips—despite her best efforts—to curl into a faint smile as well.

Light-hearted banter aside, Alex turned his attention back to the battlefield below.

The Vulture Bee drones were already swooping down to clear away the corpses—particularly those of the wolves that had taken part in the battle.

These wolves were the various wolf drone variants Alex had instructed Ava to produce as part of a series of experiments.

Following his gaze, Zora’s attention was drawn to the bisected carcass of a wolf drone as it was carried away by a Vulture Bee.

"How did you know Fen’s Ruler Aura would work on the drones? I assumed that, since they were essentially puppets, it wouldn’t affect them," Zora asked.

"I wasn’t sure myself. I simply decided to test the theory. If it hadn’t worked, I was prepared to issue the command to the wolf drones directly through the Hive Network," Alex answered.

A hint of fascination flickered across his face.

"But it does confirm my theory that Fen’s, Senu’s, and Dread’s Ruler Auras are more akin to Concepts than innate magical skills," he added.

Zora nodded in understanding.

"A magical beast’s innate skills are like ordinary magical spells below Grade 10. They operate within strict parameters. Conceptual spells, on the other hand, broaden those parameters to encompass anything even remotely related to the underlying concept.

"An ordinary magical beast skill—or a conventional spell—would probably fail to recognise the drones as wolves because they are lifeless. Fen’s Ruler Aura, however, ignores that distinction and instead focuses on the fact that the drones identify as wolves."

Alex nodded in agreement.

However, hearing Zora say ’identify as wolves. momentarily reminded him of a rather unpleasant memory from his previous life.

He shuddered involuntarily.

"Are you okay?" Zora asked with concern.

"No. I just remembered something unpleasant from my past," Alex replied.

He shook his head, as though trying to physically cast the dark thoughts from his mind.

"From this, we can conclude that as long as something is, in some way, recognised as a wolf, Fen can influence it with his Ruler Aura. The same should also apply to Dread and Senu."

"I wonder what the scope of Senu’s Ruler Aura actually is. It seems much broader than Fen’s, which is limited specifically to wolves," Zora said.

"That’ll be something interesting to test as well. Senu’s Ruler Aura appears to affect most, if not all, avian species, whereas Dread’s seems to target equines," Alex replied.

He paused to think for a moment.

"I have a hunch—no, more of a belief—that Senu’s Ruler Aura extending to most avian species has something to do with her own belief that she is the ruler of the skies. Don’t forget, even before my Anima Trial, she already possessed the Regal Aura ability, which achieved a similar effect.

"As for Dread, I believe he’ll be more like Fen and limited to the horse family—perhaps horse hybrids such as mules as well. As for donkeys, zebras, and the other equines, I doubt his Ruler Aura would have any effect."

"Too bad you loaned him out. If he’d been here when the berserk beasts attacked, he could have experimented with those horned zebra berserk beasts," Zora commented.

"No worries. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to test it in the future," Alex replied.

Zora nodded in agreement.

Once again, her gaze drifted towards the drones carrying away the corpses.

"Are you going to have the Hive feed on those?" she asked.

"I’ve already checked with Ava. To the Hive, those drone carcasses are no different from any other biological matter. So yes, I am. I’ve always been a fan of recycling and reusing as much as possible," Alex replied.

"That still feels strangely close to cannibalism... but I suppose we can overlook that," Zora said before asking, "...but are you also going to let them consume the soldiers’ corpses?"

"I am," Alex replied simply.

Zora folded her arms.

"Don’t you think that’s wrong?" she asked.

"I don’t care," Alex answered. "They forfeited any consideration from me the moment they chose to invade my territory."

A faint crimson glimmer flashed across Alex’s eyes.

A moment later, they returned to their usual ruby-red colour as he slowly exhaled.

"Besides, their bodies will be extremely valuable to the Hive. Acquiring a broader range of human genetic material will prove invaluable to the Hive’s genetic library."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"As well as to several other biotech projects currently underway within the domain."

"I won’t stop you. I know I can’t..." Zora sighed.

"But be careful. And make sure no one sees the drones actually consuming the corpses. It would create unnecessary panic if word of something like that were ever to spread."

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