The Mech Touch

5903 Rune Study

Ves gained a lot of basic insights and understanding by quizzing Furia about runes.

He learned that there were so many runes that it was impossible for anyone to learn and master them all. This was especially the case when personal runes got added to reality all the time by True Gods who were located in many distant galaxies.

It was even possible for runes to be 'forgotten'. This mostly happened with personal runes that True Gods took great care to hide for one reason or another. If these True Gods perished without leaving any inheritance behind, other cultivators practically had no means of learning and mastering the personal runes of these deceased and mostly forgotten deities.

That did not mean the personal runes disappeared. They continued to exist in the fabric of reality, but without resorting to exceptional methods, there was no way for other cultivators to discover them and utilize them for their own purposes.

Runes differed from each other by many factors. Their strength and potency varied by complexity, related concepts and the strength of the True God who originally produced their own personal runes.

Ves found it quite important to learn that True Gods were able to strengthen their own personal runes.

In fact, it was their domains that got stronger. Their personal runes merely caught up to this development and became more potent even when they were utilized by other cultivators.

Furia did not know how far this could go. She did not have access to any information that could explain how personal runes changed when their creators ascended to the rank of God King.

Ves had a few guesses, but the fourth major cultivation rank was so far away from him that it was pointless for him to engage in speculation.

The transformed Fire Elemental also granted Ves with another crucial insight.

"Is it possible to mass-produce runes in any way?"

"<nullb>NO. THESE RUNES THAT YOU HAVE BECOME OBSESSED WITH ARE NOT PURELY MATERIAL SHAPES. THEY ARE FORMED OUT OF E ENERGY THROUGH SPECIFIC METHODS. AS FAR AS I AM AWARE OF, YOU CANNOT SIMPLY PROGRAM A MACHINE TO CARVE RUNES ON AN OBJECT AND POWER THEM WITH E ENERGY. IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. THE RUNES HAVE TO BE MANUALLY FORMED BY A CULTIVATOR."

Ves grew disappointed when he heard that. The limitation on mass production meant that he would be churning out millions of rune-carved mechs anytime soon.

"Just to be sure, you don't necessarily have to be a True God in order to apply these runes, correct?"

"<nullb>NO, BUT WE ARE QUALIFIED TO USE MORE POWERFUL RUNES. I AM AWARE OF AT LEAST THREE CATEGORIES OF RUNES, OF WHICH I CAN NAME TWO: LESSER RUNES AND GREATER RUNES. I AM CURRENTLY EMPLOYING LESSER RUNES IN MY WORKINGS AS I HAVE YET TO RECALL ANY GREATER ONES ASIDE FROM MY PERSONAL RUNE."

This was important information! Even though Ves had no right to work with greater runes as of yet, he already understood the potential of mastering a set of lesser runes!

Ves wondered why his scattered knowledge of traditional blacksmithing did not go into so much detail on runes. It was clearly an essential component in creating powerful artifacts.

Then again, what could he expect from a set of tattered and highly incomplete records?

"Can I work with lesser runes, whether in my personal cultivation or in my design projects?"

"<nullb>I DO NOT THINK SO. I KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT LESSER RUNES TO KNOW THAT ONLY CULTIVATORS WHO HAVE INITIALLY FORMED THEIR DOMAINS AND BEGIN TO SHAPE THEM ARE ABLE TO DO SO. THIS IS BECAUSE RUNES ARE DERIVED FROM DOMAINS THEMSELVES."

Ves grew disappointed. A Senior Mech Designer still fell into the category of the first major cultivation rank. He would have to advance to the rank of Master Mech Designer if he wanted to reach the second major cultivation rank.

"Are there any exceptions to this general rule?"

"<nullb>THERE MAY BE EXCEPTIONS, BUT I AM NOT AWARE OF THEM. WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT EVERYONE WITH A DOMAIN MAKES USE OF LESSER RUNES TO ONE DEGREE OR ANOTHER. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS WHETHER THEY ARE APPLYING THEM CONSCIOUSLY OR INSTINCTIVELY. EVEN SAVAGE BEASTS SUCH AS THE ONE I AM BURNING HAS UNKNOWINGLY MASTERED ITS OWN SET OF RUNES SIMPLY BECAUSE ITS DOMAIN IS RESONATING WITH THE MOST COMPATIBLE RUNES."

"Does this apply to ace pilots and Master Mech Designers as well?"

"<nullb>PROBABLY. I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM IN PERSON. NO ACE PILOTS AND MASTERS ARE PRESENT ON THIS SHIP. AS LONG AS THEY POSSESS DOMAINS, THEY HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO MAKE USE OF RUNES, WHETHER THEY ARE AWARE OF IT OR NOT. LESSER RUNES ARE HIGHLY UNIVERSAL. ANY DOMAIN IS ABLE TO RESONATE WITH THEM AND TAP INTO THEIR POWER."

"I see." Ves thoughtfully said. "There should still be a huge difference between deliberate and instinctual use of runes. For example, the two-headed beast is clearly finding it difficult to resist your power because you are able to string your runes into combinations that produce more powerful results."

"<nullb>THAT IS TRUE… IN MOST CASES. IT IS INDEED BETTER TO TAKE CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN POWER RATHER THAN ALLOW IT TO DEFINE YOU. IT WOULD BE A MISTAKE TO UNDERESTIMATE BEASTS WHO ARE NOT AS INCLINED TO STUDY RUNES. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN ADVANTAGES, THOUGH I AM NOT ENTIRELY AWARE OF THEM AT THE MOMENT. THE TWO-HEADED BEAST BEFORE US IS LOSING GROUND BECAUSE IT HAS NOT DEVELOPED ITS DOMAIN MUCH FURTHER AFTER REACHING ITS PRESENT STAGE. OLDER BEASTS ARE MUCH MORE FORMIDABLE AS A RULE."

That was easy enough to understand. The power scaling of the tribulation event was quite harsh, but not unreasonable. There shouldn't be too much of a leap in strength from the mirror beast and the two-headed beast.

Ves just hoped that the one that came afterwards did not manage to master too many greater runes.

The battle continued while Ves continued to learn more about runes. A part of him hoped that he was able to incorporate them into his mech designs and other works in spite of the fact that he was still a Senior Mech Designer.

There were exceptions to every rule. Ves personally theorized that as long as Blinky became strong enough, he would be able to imbue works with runes. Manipulating E energy was one of Blinky's core strengths!

Aside from that, Ves did not overlook the fact that all of his third-order living mechs all started to accumulate Ascension Runes as they grew stronger!

With the knowledge imparted by Furia, Ves had a much clearer understanding of the nature and the significance of this phenomenon.

He understood how important they were. What he did not understand was why they showed up in mechs that might not necessarily be masterworks or directly related to powerful cultivators.

The only reasonable explanation based on the facts he was aware of was that third order living mechs were actually natural domain shapers!

Ves did not believe in this conclusion. It sounded too absurd to him. He had worked hard as a mech designer, but only managed to reach an advanced stage of the first major cultivation rank after all of this time.

It would be extremely silly for his living mechs to breeze their way to the second major cultivation rank just by relying on their natural growth!

There was clearly something very weird going on here. Ves grew more motivated to solve this mystery and get to the bottom of Ascension Runes.

Perhaps doing so might just allow him to figure out a method to apply runes to his works without becoming a domain shaper!

As Ves continued to contemplate this subject, the two-headed beast steadily began to falter as the flames had begun to burn his internal organs.

The voracious fires continued to burn enormous quantities of flesh at Furia's direction. They grew hotter and became increasingly harder to suppress as time went by. The transformed Fire Elemental had grown so comfortable with employing lesser runes that her usage of them decisively harmed the god beast's domain!

This was quite a remarkable result as Furia still did not make use of any greater runes!

The Dominion of Man herself also provided indispensable help.

Initially, her primary gun batteries were only useful for helping Furia extend her power to the two-headed beast.

Once the flames destroyed the god beast's resilient exterior, the attacks launched by the dreadnought started to inflict much more telling damage!

Organs as well as softer body tissue crumbled apart with greater ease. The decline of the two-headed beast's domain meant that its physical body was receiving less of a boost than before.

It also helped that furia's flames were remarkably effective at stopping the creature's natural regeneration.

Together, the Dominion of Man and Furia inflicted progressively greater damage to the poor beast.

Its threat level decreased as a result. It not lost the ability to catch up to the Dominion of Man, but also had no fur left to launch at its prey.

Of course, the fleeters insisted on keeping a certain distance from the god beast. The creature probably had a few tricks left up its sleeve that were most likely effective at closer ranges.

It still took a relatively long time to defeat the two-headed beast. The creature was simply too massive, and its thick flesh simply took a lot of effort to destroy.

The Dominion of Man was not in a hurry to end the 8th wave though. Her damage control teams continued to patch up holes and fix a lot of hazards.

Damaged gun turrets received much-needed repairs while the more intact ones received light servicing.

Everyone knew that they had a more difficult fight up ahead. It only seemed prudent to service the Dominion of Man as much as possible while they still had the luxury to do so. If the final challenge of this tribulation event was as powerful as everyone feared, then anything could make a difference!

Even so, the fleeters did not dare to drag out this fight. Once the two-headed beast finally succumbed from all of the fire and other attacks, the Dominion of Man had flown close enough to receive a large dose of tribulation energies!

While everyone on the ship benefited from the latest lightning baptism, Furia received the greatest reward due to her outsized contributions.

Ves could clearly sense that Furia became more solid and stable. She even found it easier to keep her dangerous side in check.

"We will need your strength for the test to come."

The tribulation storms became more restless than ever. It had already begun to gather an increasing amount of energy in preparation for rolling out the final and most difficult challenge!

Ves glanced at the projection that showed the hazy alien face of the Subjugation King.

Ever since his clone got defeated, the God King's connection to the storm had degraded.

It had not been cut.

Ves could still feel that the storm possessed a hint of subjugation and tarnish from those dark storm clouds.

The Subjugation King was still watching. He just did not bother to interact with his future slaves anymore.

Ves grimaced when he recalled the fact that he got marked by this powerful alien bastard.

His greatest fear was that once the tribulation event had come to an end, the God King would still be able to monitor what took place in the Red Ocean through the soul mark!

That would really be bad for Ves, because it meant that he had turned into a massive security risk for red humanity!

Ves just hoped that this was not the case. The soul mark was already absurd for several reasons. There shouldn't be any room for more.

"Wait a second."

Having just learned about runes, Ves suddenly realized that the soul mark was probably made out of a complex array of runes!

It was highly unlikely that they consisted entirely of lesser runes, though. They had to incorporate greater runes or a more superior variant in order to exhaust the tribulation storm to such an enormous extent!

That just made Ves more upset. The stronger the runes, the harder it became for him to get rid of them. This was especially the case if one of them just happened to be the Subjugation King's personal rune!

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