Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 896: One Heaven’s Trickery I

CH896 One Heaven’s Trickery I

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“I got tricked?” Alex was surprised and confused.

Uthvaazgol looked up, his eyes distant as if staring into a distant space or time.

“Providence is a very tricky concept of the natural order. There are only a few people in existence who can claim to be experts in its understanding, all of them at my level or stronger. Yet not even they claim to have mastered it.” His voice echoed sagely through the cavern.

The Ancient Dragon turned back to the relatively tiny human before him.

“There are rules to how Providence works, and interestingly, some of these rules become clearer when viewed on a massive scale—such as the Providence of a plane.

“Even a Transcendent, as powerful to you as they may be, cannot affect, much less significantly influence, the Providence of a plane. They simply are not allowed to do so,” Uthvaazgol said.

However, Alex still looked confused.

“Please enlighten me, Master,” he requested.

“One Heaven claimed to have set up the Providence beacon, which used the River of Destiny to pull you to Verdantis as its likely saviour, right?” Uthvaazgol stated.

“Yes,” Alex confirmed.

Then realisation dawned on him. “He lied?”

“No, not exactly.” Uthvaazgol shook his large head. “He indeed set a beacon in the Stream of Destiny. However, the beacon wasn’t what took you to Verdantis, and he knew it.”

“Manipulation of the Supreme Law of Destiny at such a scale that it would—even accidentally—extend outside of a plane to reach beyond it and bring in a denizen of another plane isn’t something a Transcendent can do by merely consuming part of the Providence of a plane yet to become a Primary Plane.”

“A Primary Plane?” Alex asked.

“Oh, you comprehended what I said?” Uthvaazgol looked surprised.

His eyes glowed with a mythic light as he stared at Alex. Then his eyes seemed to travel and peer into something far beyond.

“Unbelievable! It actually worked,” Uthvaazgol uttered in genuine surprise.

“What is it, Master?” Alex couldn’t help asking.

Uthvaazgol shook his head. “You will understand in due time. What you need to know is that the Universe has lifted one of its highest restrictions for you. You can understand ‘Truths’ beyond what someone of your insignificant level is allowed to know.

“This will make things a lot easier.”

Alex recalled a common trope in novels in his previous life, where characters were unable to access secrets of the natural order until their cultivation rank was high enough. Even if the information was placed in front of them, they would understand it as gibberish.

Alex guessed Uthvaazgol had potentially said something he had expected Alex to hear as gibberish, but which turned out not to be the case.

“A Primary World is what you know as a Class 8 world. It is a world that allows individuals of all ranks to exist within it,” Uthvaazgol revealed.

“Even Class 9 beings?” Alex inquired.

“I stand before you, am I not?” Uthvaazgol chuckled.

Alex’s mind went blank for a moment. Although he had always suspected his Master was one of the most powerful beings in the world, actually receiving confirmation of it still shook his mind.

‘As expected of a being who ‘snacks’ on Class 8 Void Orcas and acts dismissively of everything below Class 8,’ Alex thought to himself.

“Primary Worlds can reluctantly host Class 9 beings, but there are restrictions. If not, even the slightest breath of a powerful Class 9 could wreak havoc on the plane. Due to the stifling nature of the arrangement, Class 9 beings prefer to live on @#$%^& planes or worlds.”

“What? Can you repeat that, Master? What planes or worlds?” Alex inquired.

“Oh, I see… It seems the restrictions haven’t completely been lifted. Your knowledge is capped at what we can describe as Peak Class 8 or pseudo-Class 9. I see…” Uthvaazgol muttered to himself.

“Don’t bother yourself about it. You will eventually come to understand it when you reach a sufficient level,” the Ancient Dragon said to the human youth.

‘Why? Don’t do that after stroking my curiosity,’ Alex complained inwardly.

At the end of the day, he could only begrudgingly accept.

Uthvaazgol returned to what he was speaking about previously.

“You mentioned One Heaven sacrificed some landmass and Providence of Verdantis to set up the beacon, right? Such a sacrifice is only enough to minutely prod the Stream of Destiny. Such a prod from a new Transcendent who hasn’t deepened his understanding of the Supreme Law of Destiny will be insignificant.

“At best, it would cause a splash in the Stream—one that would be quickly smoothed out, but one that nonetheless would break the established flow of destiny, even if only for a moment. A moment that could potentially birth a variable—an opportunity—that didn’t previously exist.

“For example, an individual with potent Providence, backed by a wonder of the Universe that can manipulate that Providence to seek out an opportunity for the individual’s survival.”

‘An individual with potent Providence and a wonder of the Universe? Could it be me and Lord Bonsai…?’ Alex’s eyes flashed with vague understanding.

“Sometimes, Providence acts like an energy. It flows from where it is abundant to where it is lacking,” Uthvaazgol lectured Alex.

“One Heaven’s desperate acts created a void in Verdantis’s Providence density. Meanwhile, the Heartwood Tree took your Providence and magnified it, creating an illusion of a large mass of Providence.”

“Hold on, Master. Are you saying I landed on Verdantis because my Providence, magnified by the Heartwood Tree, filled the void in Verdantis’s Providence field? It was a coincidence that had little to nothing to do with One Heaven’s beacon?” Alex asked.

“Essentially. What One Heaven did wouldn’t have brought an outsider like you to Verdantis, even with the support of the Stream of Destiny. Instead, it would have created the circumstances for a denizen of Verdantis itself to rise as its hero and lead it through the tribulation.

“One Heaven should have known this well, but he spun you a tale that made it seem like it was his actions directly—though unintended—that took you to Verdantis,” Uthvaazgol stated.

He continued, “This wasn’t the only inconsistency in your dealings with him. The rewards he gave you for accepting his deal, the Spell and the Fortune legacy… they are all things you could have acquired on your own in the first place.”

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