Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage - Chapter 393

Chapter 393: Rune-Tech 2.0 Roadmap I
CH393 Rune-Tech 2.0 Roadmap I

***

One perk of being the leader of a camp was that you could conveniently ‘escape’ certain chores.

In Alex’s case — and to a lesser extent, his wives’ — none of them needed to join the shared night-watch rotation.

After the SitRep, Alex and the three ladies retired to their tent.

The tent was a premium model Alex specially acquired in preparation for the expedition. It was large enough to fit eight people comfortably, making for plenty of room for the four of them.

It also came equipped with defensive and detection formations to ward off assassinations, spying attempts, or anything else that might disturb the night.

Of course, Alex hadn’t been selfish.

Although their tents were slightly lower-grade than his, every member of the expedition had also received a tent with such protective formations.

Perks of being the majority owner of a flourishing company.

For a brief, shining moment, Alex felt blood rush downwards when the three women agreed to stay with him.

He had… expectations.

Alas, he had overthought their acceptance.

The moment the ladies entered the tent, they immediately settled into comfortable positions and began meditating.

Leaving Alex — who had been preparing to unleash his inner dragon — staring at empty air with no target.

‘Of course,’ Alex mused dryly.

‘I should’ve known they wouldn’t agree to a for-pee that easily… especially in the wilderness.’

He paused.

‘…Would it have helped if I mentioned the tent is soundproof?’ He wondered.

Probably not.

Chuckling to himself, Alex let the idle thoughts drift away and found his own comfortable position.

While the three women cultivated their energies, Alex meditated to better reflect on a possible working framework for the solution to his Rune-Tech path predicament.

He controlled his breathing using the Astral Energy Tempering Manual, letting his mind enter a blank meditative state — not to cultivate, but to think.

In that clear, weightless mental space, he loosened the restraints he usually placed on his mind and let every suppressed thought surge forward, freely connecting into deeper ideas.

‘Every challenge is an opportunity; every weakness can become a strength; every disadvantage, a doorway to something greater…’

He reflected.

‘A blind man cannot see — yes — but that very loss becomes the leverage for developing stronger senses in other areas. His weakness forms the foundation of an unexpected strength.’

‘Everything is a matter of perspective.’

Alex let the thought echo.

And then he went deeper.

‘Right now, I can treat the state of my Rune-Tech as a handicap… Or I can treat it as an opportunity.’

‘My current situation has exposed a fatal weakness I never properly considered. As I found myself on Verdantis, this high-class plane —even if I survive the plane and return back home– there is no guarantee I won’t end up on another, even stronger high-class plane?’

‘I can either decide to let go of my Rune-Tech… or rise to the challenge and patch its flaw.’

‘Obviously, the latter is far more preferable.’

‘But simply fixing Rune-Tech so it works on Verdantis is not enough. This is my chance to make Rune-Tech usable — unhindered — on every plane. Only then will this flaw truly be solved.’

‘But… how can I actually achieve that?’

Alex’s breathing slowed. In the dim tent, his chest barely rose or fell; if someone wasn’t staring at him closely, they might mistake him for sleeping.

He began calling upon everything he knew — every memory from both lifetimes — letting them cascade freely into his mind as he searched for a breakthrough.

A particular memory surfaced.

A lecture from his first month in the Enclave — Magic Philosophy, taught by a particular bearded elf.

Alex rarely saw the elf afterward, but that specific lecture had stayed with him.

It resonated with him deeply — forming one of the philosophical cornerstones behind Rune-Tech’s creation.

—

“There are many schools of thought in Magic. One of them is the Top-Down Philosophy, which proposes that we must first understand the world before we can empower ourselves.

“A plane and its Laws are integrated into one, as such one must obey the Laws of the plane if one is to grow within it…’

“The Laws of a Plane defines its fundamental characteristics nature and power system. If you ever travel to another plane, your first step should be to analyse its laws and power system, then adapt your battle method accordingly, allocating resource and exploiting the environment instead of fighting against it and ending up being restricted by it.

“Always remember, from top to bottom –from the plane to thy self.”

—

Unbeknownst to that bearded elf, his lecture had planted the seed that would eventually blossom into something unprecedented — Alex’s Rune-Tech.

Tonight, once again, those words resurfaced.

‘Even now, that lecture remains true. My path was barred not simply because Rune-Tech is flawed… but because I tried to use a method that did not belong to this world. Verdantis does not recognise Runes. It only recognises Sigils. If I want my platform to function here, I must abide by the rules of the plane — meaning Sigils.’

‘Translation is still the key. This world accepts Sigils; while my platform favours Runes. Instead of forcing one over the other, I can accept both, and translate between them as needed.’

‘But I cannot treat Runes and Sigils as mere languages. They are more than that. They are structures of power — the low-level executable logic of their respective worlds.’

The thought deepened. Alex’s mind sharpened.

‘I need to return to my original premise; A world — a Plane — is essentially a gigantic computer. Its magic system, or Natural Order, is its operating system. Therefore, its glyphs are its machine code — the fundamental instructions that govern its reality.’

‘Rune-Tech was built inside Pangea’s magic OS, using Pangea’s native machine code — Runes. Following that analogy, Rune-Tech is software designed specifically for Pangea’s operating system.’

A ripple of clarity went through his mindspace.

‘Indeed. If I assume Rune-Tech is a software developed on and for a distinct operating system i.e. Pangea’s magic glyph system, then it is logical that it does not work on another distinct operating system i.e. Verdantis’s own magic glyph system.’

A software or application developed for the windows operating system would not work on android or Linux operating systems.

His heartbeat quickened — the analogy aligned perfectly.

‘If I go along with the established analogy, and based on my know-how, there are three ways I can solve the clash between Verdantis and my Rune-Tech while still ensuring that Rune-Tech remains functional when I return Pangea i.e. ensure cross-system compatibility;

‘One: Create a Virtual Machine — an emulator that mimics Pangea’s OS so Rune-Tech can run inside Verdantis.’

‘Two: Build Compatibility Layers — like Wine — allowing Rune-Tech instructions to be interpreted on Verdantis as Sigil-based operations.’

‘Three: Reinvent Rune-Tech using a Cross-Platform Framework — abstracting the core logic so that Rune-Tech can compile into both Runes and Sigils depending on the plane.’

**43**