Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 861: Rune Tattoo Scroll Mass Production

CH861 Rune Tattoo Scroll Mass Production

***

Alex’s ARIA Drones—or rather, his familiars—became a regular sight within the domain.

They flew all across the domain, etching Runes wherever they were needed.

It was only after Alex set the ARIA Drones free to begin working on his behalf that he realised how much work in the domain required his Runes.

The Purification Formations that purified the air of each of the domain’s major settlements, keeping berserk property—and hence, berserk transformations at bay.

Construction Formations that strengthened structures within the domain.

Manufacturing Runes used in industries to complete the production of key products, particularly the Mana Motor.

It got to the point that almost everything within the domain that could get away with having Runes wanted them.

Alex shook his head with a wry chuckle. He, of course, wouldn’t allow such a thing. Only strategically important products received the presence of his ‘familiars’.

For example, the Interplanar Gate.

Of the peak four hundred drones the Hive could maintain, Alex diverted half of them to the Interplanar Gate construction in order to ensure that the gate was completed as soon as possible.

‘We have stayed here long enough,’ Alex had said to Sugud, who had pointed out the need to increase the production of Mana Motors to meet the growing demand within the domain.

Almost every important product or activity within the domain now required a Mana Motor.

Even the new weapon system Alex had proposed to Sugud required a Mana Converter, which was essentially a partially completed Mana Motor.

And since the device couldn’t be completed without the Greater Runes that regulated its functioning, the ARIA Drones were vital to the project.

Sugud had expected Alex to ramp up the production of these Mana Motors in order to improve productivity within the domain, but Alex believed returning to Pangea sooner rather than later would yield greater benefits for both himself and his two domains—no, ‘three’ domains—across the two planes.

With hundreds of Alex’s familiars working on the Interplanar Gate Formation, the work sped up, and the expected completion time of the structure was looking increasingly in line with the one-month timeline Sugud had previously given.

With the tireless efforts of his familiars, the inscription demands that had piled up on his plate began steadily reducing.

The domain was slowly shaping up to become the Rune-Tech-filled domain that Eleanore had mentioned to him.

Soon, Alex stopped caring about the ARIA Drones’ progress. It was only a matter of time before the backlog of inscription requests was cleared up.

Instead, he now looked at one of the runic projects he had been overlooking.

Within Eleanore’s biotech laboratory courtyard behind the Top-Secret BRD manor on the outskirts of Ashwell, a few dozen ARIA Drones landed before Alex.

Not long afterwards, other flying drones from Ava’s Hive arrived, dropping off a shipment of bio-gel and Ink cartridges.

In reality, while the ARIA Drones were at the forefront of public attention, there was actually an extensively planned drone logistics network operating behind the scenes, delivering supplies to the ARIA Drones and enabling them to carry out their different inscription tasks almost uninterrupted across the domain.

“All of you, switch to an S1-M2 configuration,” Alex ordered.

The ARIA Drones suddenly flew forward, diving headfirst into the bio-gel orbs, which were slightly larger than them.

Within the orb of drone honey, the drones underwent significant changes.

The different beaks of the individual drones disintegrated into the cocoon before reforming into very thin, needle-like beaks.

Simultaneously, the metal-like hard shell plate on their front torsos slid open, allowing the bio-gel to flow into the drones’ bodies. Similar to the beaks, the internal arrangement of the drones changed.

The drones with inactive reservoirs had their reservoirs activated, while those with active reservoirs had their reservoirs flushed.

Their Ink secretion glands were also activated in place of others.

Within mere minutes, the drones changed their configurations to become suited for working on S1 materials—skins, hides, and leather—using Ink-based (M2) Inscriptions, while simultaneously refuelling their bio-gel energy reserves.

Once the substitutive transformation was completed, the drones exited the cocoons and flew towards the Ink cartridges, drinking from them with their needle-like beaks.

Alex nodded as he watched this.

“Get to work,” he ordered.

A couple of early prototype human drones without any special traits prepared empty Rune Scrolls for each of the fifty or so familiars, and the inscription sweatshop commenced.

‘With this, I should be able to manufacture Rune Tattoo Scrolls—particularly the Guardian of Happenstance set—en masse now,’ Alex mused to himself.

‘That would be another item off my list.’ He smiled.

Although this was the first time the drones were actually working on creating the complex Rune Tattoo Formation on his behalf, since they had successfully worked on other types of Rune-Tech Formations, Alex had firm faith that this would be no different.

It wouldn’t take long before he had enough Rune Tattoo Scrolls to meet the demands of his forces, as well as the required number of Guardian of Happenstance Scroll sets to equip the Silver Wolf Guard.

He would no longer be constrained by the lack of Rune Tattoos, but by the number of qualified people capable of bearing them.

Alex walked back into the laboratory’s underground facility, returning to seclusion once more.

He dove back into the second project he wanted to complete before they returned to Pangea—the Bloodline-enhancing and/or suppressing Rune Tattoos.

Previously, Alex had stalled while trying to think of a way to make the project a reality. But thankfully, the more Ava’s Hive spread and consumed different unique species in the direction of the Great Berserk Beast Forest, the more genetic information the Hive and Orion gained access to.

The Hive’s growing genetic library, presented to Orion in the form of clear information, caused Alex to realise something he had been overlooking.

Every being’s genetic makeup, or genetic information, was a form of code—a code to be executed to bring about the formation of a unique individual member of an existing species.

In other words, DNA was a biological programme of commands that was executed by the natural order, as well as a collection of information about that individual and its related species.

Essentially, it was a unique biological database of information.

In that case, the biggest trouble he was facing wasn’t influencing the database; it was accessing or interfacing with it in the first place.

But fortunately for him, he now happened to have the key that would allow him to do so.

***