Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 868: Primary Function of the Shadow Matriarch I

CH868 Primary Function of the Shadow Matriarch I

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“And if that were true, any procedure that could produce such a result would require resources and know-how that could only be wielded by top organisations, even within Pangea.”

“But if that was the case, that would make you, at the very least, a valuable asset to such an organisation, considering the amount of funds, resources, and time that would have been sunk into ‘making’ your bloodline composition.

“It is strange that someone of your… value would end up at my side as a shadow guard.”

Udara’s body shivered subconsciously, but she held herself together and listened.

Alex’s gaze softened upon seeing this. He reached out and gently held her hand as he continued, “I know for a fact that you weren’t planted by my side by said organisation, and I also know that I can trust you fully,” he said with a soft smile.

“This led me to conclude that the experiment that created your bloodline composition failed to achieve what it set out to do, and you were likely… abandoned,” he added.

Udara’s hands shivered, almost as if confirming his deductions.

“Master, I…” She tried to speak, but the words eluded her.

“You don’t need to explain anything to me if you aren’t ready. I figured this much out long ago. I was willing to wait until you were ready then, and I am still willing to wait for you now.” He reached out and gently held her face.

Udara rested her head against the support his hand provided, but her hands, still holding his arm, continued to shiver.

It was as though she wanted to—or rather, chose to—take his support, but her underlying fears and trauma were still there.

Alex held his gaze fixed on her eyes, almost disarmingly, as if intending to communicate his intentions through his eyes—which were the windows to his soul.

While Udara found her face reflected back at her through those charismatic and charming, gem-like ruby-red eyes, Alex leaned over and kissed her.

It was perhaps the most clumsy kiss they’d ever shared. However, it was also perhaps the most meaningful and weighty one as well.

It communicated Alex’s feelings and intentions to her better than any words he could have said—Silver Tongue or not.

Or perhaps especially because of it.

Before she even realised it, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, almost as clumsily yet as charged as his.

It was a simple yet poignant moment as the couple clumsily tried to communicate their thoughts in a way beyond words and deception.

When their lips parted, Alex held onto her face for a moment longer while she continued to hold his arm against it.

Alex sat back in his seat, but with a reassuring smile as he continued while Udara silently listened.

“As you know, it is quite difficult for me to let a problem in front of me go if I believe I can solve it. So, I began wondering what could have failed in the… experiment. Then I realised, drawing from my own experience, that it is scarcely ever a good thing if multiple bloodlines exist in a single body.

“It occurred to me that the original intention of the experiment was likely not merely to give you three extra bloodlines, but to fuse them into one whole new bloodline.”

“With my own experience, considering how difficult and costly it was for me to fuse merely two of my own bloodlines, I can imagine how difficult it would be to fuse four. The failure must have come at this final phase.”

“Figuring this out, and worried that your composite bloodline might have a harmful effect on you as mine did, I planned to use the first Rune Tattoo Set I made for you to at least alleviate the effects,” Alex explained.

Solving a bloodline fusion problem with Rune Tattoos was unrealistic. At least, not at Alex’s current proficiency. Even if by some miracle he could do it, he couldn’t make it happen from nothing. He would need high-tier materials to make it work.

“Fortunately, from the data I obtained from the microbial drones, it seems the situation of your bloodlines is far more stable than I expected. I don’t know how it was done, but it turns out that, while your four bloodlines didn’t fuse into one whole, the individual bloodlines are inherently compatible with one another. Meaning they are not in conflict as my two bloodlines were—likely a testament to the know-how of those who conducted the experiment.”

“However, because the bloodlines were expressly designed for fusion, the fact that they didn’t completely fuse has left a slight situation within you,” Alex revealed.

“What kind of situation?” Udara couldn’t help but break her silence and ask.

“It technically isn’t anything that serious,” Alex assured her first. Then he added, “I suspect that, due to a specific calibration for fusion, your bloodlines do not express equally. Your Amazon and Drow bloodline significantly express the most. While your Succubus and Dryad bloodlines express only minimally.”

“Now, after the failed fusion, their expression in your body is suboptimal—or perhaps I should say, inefficient.”

“That’s where I come in,” Alex said with a smile.

“While it would be difficult for me to complete the fusion of your bloodlines with my current know-how and means, I can nudge your bloodlines as they are to express themselves more efficiently, so you can take better advantage of all four of your bloodlines.

“It is for this primary reason that I designed the Shadow Monarch Formation,” he revealed.

One thing Alex didn’t mention was that, while poring through the genetic data sent back by the microbial drones injected into her, Alex realised that there was a different method of bloodline-influencing tattooing he had recently developed.

‘It turns out I was going about things the wrong way. Ancestral Markings don’t influence bloodlines directly, but rather how said bloodline expresses itself in the bearer. In that case, the reason I got such a poor result from using my developed method on the Human-faced Monkey was because I was targeting the wrong thing.

‘Rather than the bloodline itself, I should have targeted how the bloodline expressed itself in the monkey—in its case, its agility-enhancement ability.’

Realising this mistake, Alex reworked his original formation-cum-Rune Tattoo to reflect this new understanding, and the result of this change was the Shadow Matriarch Grand Formation.

“The four Rune Tattoos aside from the Harmony Mark are nodes of the formation designed to link up with your corresponding bloodline.

“The formation nodes achieve this feat thanks to the materials at the core of each node’s inscription, which allow the node to conceptually resonate with the corresponding bloodline.”

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