Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 591: Origin of Berserk Humans I

CH591 Origin of Berserk Humans I

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The Heavenly Venerable quietly observed Alex as the youth made his way through the vast archive.

More than once, he found himself nodding faintly upon noticing the ravenous glint within the young man’s eyes.

’Those are the eyes of someone who desires knowledge,’ the Heavenly Venerable thought.

’Not merely someone who wants knowledge... but someone who understands the immense value of the knowledge placed before them.’

The Heavenly Venerable could also tell that Alex could not fully understand every scroll within the hall.

Nevertheless, the fact that the young man continued to devour and memorise the information without hesitation impressed him.

’This hall contains the accumulated achievements of over eight hundred years of my life,’ the Heavenly Venerable mused silently.

’During the Era of Sorcery, many would have willingly paid their entire fortunes just to enter this archive and spend a few minutes browsing its contents.’

Although he disguised the opportunity he had granted Alex as part of the trial, the Heavenly Venerable was nonetheless appreciative that the youth managed to see through the value of the opportunity and was doing his utmost to seize it.

After an unknown —but certainly long— amount of time, Alex finally reached the scrolls that the Heavenly Venerable had written during his twilight years.

What initially drew Alex’s attention to this particular scroll was its content on how to temper muscles in order to achieve a golden combination of explosive power, speed, and toughness.

’So the proposed Man–Earth–Heaven fusion has been expanded not only for Elemental Sorcery, but for Physique Tempering as well.’ Alex grew intrigued.

Essentially, the method proposed a way for all individuals capable of stepping onto the path of sorcery —and, as Alex had come to understand it, any cultivation path at all— to use mana and/or their cultivation’s unique energy to temper their flesh.

Rather than imposing rigid and strict methods, the proposed system introduced a general methodology that could be followed by anyone regardless of their circumstances.

However, because of this less rigid framework, a great deal of responsibility was placed upon the individual. Each practitioner would first need to adapt the proposed methods to suit their own cultivation system and personal circumstances.

’Tempering muscles to influence the bones beneath them and the flesh above them...’

’To ensure that only the most optimal muscles are formed, each muscle fibre is systematically tempered using one’s own internal energy, Will and Intent (Man), various sympathetic rare resources (Earth), and finally one’s conceptual understanding and comprehension of the Laws (Heaven).’

’By the time Man, Earth, and Heaven have been used to temper one’s muscle fibres, what remains will be muscles capable of bearing the burden of Man, the weight of the Earth, and the Will of the Heavens.’

’As the tempering improves, the muscle fibres will begin to glow with different shades to denote their ranks. The ranks are Crimson, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then finally return to the original Crimson.’

As Alex read up to this point, he suddenly experienced a strange sense of déjà vu.

A similar concept flashed briefly through his mind.

But because he could not yet point out a clear correlation between that concept and the one described in the scroll, he pushed the thought aside for the moment and continued reading.

However, the deeper Alex read into the proposed Man–Earth–Heaven fusion method, the louder his instincts began to scream at him.

His reading speed suddenly increased.

Scroll after scroll passed through his hands as he rapidly scanned through numerous documents. At this point, it was clear that he was no longer reading simply to absorb knowledge. Instead, he was searching for something specific.

Then—

’Found it.’

His eyes locked onto a particular scroll.

He immediately opened it and began reading.

A sigh slowly escaped his lips.

”So, it is as I suspected,” he muttered aloud.

”It seems you have discovered my greatest failure at the end of my life.”

The Heavenly Venerable suddenly appeared beside him.

”You created the Combat Warriors,” Alex said.

”No.”

The Heavenly Venerable shook his head.

”I conceived the method, yes. But I did not involve myself in the mundane affairs of the world. I merely handed the method over to one of the Holy Lands.”

”Which one?” Alex asked.

The Heavenly Venerable simply shook his head again.

”It doesn’t matter. Not anymore,” the old man replied cryptically.

For a moment, he stared silently through the window, gazing at the distant sky.

Several quiet moments passed before he turned his attention back to Alex.

”I made the mistake of not including —and strongly emphasising— the necessity of sterilising the subjects,” he said.

”I overestimated those idiots from the Holy Land. I expected them to consider the consequences of arming and empowering a group of people whom they had enslaved for generations.”

”It was obvious that once the troubled times passed, those people would inevitably turn against their masters and attempt to seize power.”

”Not only did they fail to incorporate proper safeguards to keep the subjects in check, they even allowed the successfully produced subjects to reproduce.”

The old man’s voice grew colder.

”Did they truly believe that people who had finally tasted power —in a world where powerful sorcerers like myself, who once kept the Sorcery world in check, were no longer present to suppress them— would willingly return to being lowly slaves?”

”Slaves to sorcerers whom they could now crush beneath their feet?”

The old man shook his head expressionlessly.

”Even if the so-called Combat Warriors did not betray the Sorcerers directly, in the face of a threat that our traditional methods at the time could not handle, all they had to do was simply allow that threat to wipe out the Sorcerers.”

”After that, they —who could still reproduce— would simply repopulate the world.”

”By not sterilising the successful subjects, those fools left them with the ambition to replace sorcerers. And that is precisely what they did.”

Alex looked at the man, numerous questions surfacing in his mind.

”You just said that you and the other sorcerers at your level were gone to face the threat. What exactly was this threat?” he asked.

”It is not my place to tell you about that threat,” the Heavenly Venerable replied.

”Once you complete my trial, you will have the opportunity to discover it yourself, will you not?”

Alex could only nod.

”Then may I ask this instead? If you were already gone by the time of the Combat Warriors’ rebellion, how do you know about it?” he asked.

”You are not the first candidate to appear within this talismanic field,” the Heavenly Venerable replied calmly.

”Information about the outside world obtained by any one of us is shared with all of us.”

”Deducing the most probable state of the outside world from scattered fragments of information gathered by the others can hardly be considered a challenge for someone of my level of intellect.”

’Talk about humility...’ Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

The Heavenly Venerable stared at the youth directly.

”You are focusing on the wrong matter,” he said.

”You must have noticed something far more important in that document, did you not? Or have I overestimated your intellect as well?”

”That would be truly disappointing.”

”Berserk Humans... the reason they exist is because of the method used to create the original Combat Warriors, correct?” Alex finally said.

Instead of answering directly, the Heavenly Venerable asked,

”Why do you think so?”

***