Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 112: Gathering Talents

CH112 Gathering Talents

***

Alex returned home on Fen’s back as usual. Thankfully, thanks to the Everspring Rune, he had recovered enough during the journey to be back on his feet by the time they arrived at the Back Mountain Lodge.

After eating and watching Fen curl up to sleep, Alex headed straight into the lodge’s study where placed a call to Pinchcoin and Haggleworth.

He instructed Haggleworth to set aside a small percentage of his earnings from the Golden Palace into a designated fund. Part of the fund would be formalised within the Enclave as an investment in Wilbert’s future. It would cover his expenses once he was old enough to enrol at the Enclave in a few months.

As much as Alex would like to claim he was sending Wilbert to the Enclave purely out of brotherly love, the truth was... not quite that simple.

It was, indeed, motivated by affection. But it was also a pragmatic calculation.

His earlier conversation with Earl Drake had made one thing very clear:

He couldn’t do everything on his own.

He was only one person.

Take the camera project, for example.

Despite his plan to bug the entire Ashen Castle, he had only managed to create and plant enough units to cover the training grounds.

And that was just one product. There would be many more in the future, all facing similar production limitations.

To meet those challenges, Alex needed to increase his manufacturing capacity—

Which meant bringing in trusted collaborators.

The Golden Palace, his business partnership with the Enclave’s financial department, could handle commercial production.

But when it came to his private, confidential projects, he needed someone else. Someone loyal.

There were also fields he wanted to explore but didn’t have the time for. His AI integration experiments, his Runic Drones, his experimental Rune tattoos...

He couldn’t do it all.

So, he needed partners.

And who better to collaborate with than a younger brother—

One who idolised him, who was still impressionable, and whose loyalty could be guaranteed?

If it came down to it, Alex wasn’t above using the Nest Queen method again.

A carefully crafted environment, conditioning, dependency...

Wilbert wouldn’t even realise until it was too late.

Was it manipulative?

Possibly.

Was it necessary?

Absolutely.

Secrecy was paramount.

Especially with the kind of revolutionary Rune-Tech products Alex intended to develop.

Rune Tattoos were already powerful.

Magic Armour was already formidable.

But if the two were combined? Or optimised for simultaneous use by the same individual?

The result would be game-changing.

Alex could already envision it.

Power suits powered by Runes.

Exosuits enhanced by Great Rune formations.

Armoured mages who could hold their ground against any force—magical or otherwise.

And more than that...

Mechas.

Real, towering, rune-powered mechas.

The challenge wasn’t just about power or construction. The biggest bottleneck was control.

The human mind simply wasn’t designed to move such behemoths in real-time combat.

Only top-tier cultivators—Saints, Grand Mages, Legends—had the mental bandwidth to operate them solo.

But with Artificial Intelligence integrated into a Rune Matrix to handle support tasks?

That bottleneck could vanish.

If that worked, then the Age of Mechas was not only possible...

It was inevitable.

And all because one curious, wide-eyed little boy had shared his dream with him.

Whether Wilbert realised it or not, he had just taken the first step toward becoming a pillar of Alex’s grand design, much like the OmniRune Core... and the Nest Queen.

As they say, the first step is always the hardest.

Now that he had Wilbert, Alex was already thinking ahead—about how to expand his pool of personally trained talents.

”Professor X’s school for extraordinary geniuses...”

The idea suddenly popped into his mind.

It was a plan he’d come up with in one of his unfinished novels.

In that story, the smartest man in the world had created a private school—not for nobles or rich elites, but for geniuses. Especially children like himself. A safe space where they could explore their brilliance without fear or alienation.

It sounded cliché on the surface, but the plot wasn’t some fluffy slice-of-life tale.

In the story, the school would eventually become a target of the government—its very existence sparking paranoia among the powers that be.

The idea of such intellectual power being concentrated in one place terrified them.

Eventually, tensions would rise, leading to a schism within the school itself:

One faction would favour retaliation. The other, coexistence.

A classic ideological divide.

But Alex—well, True_Sage, as he was known when he wrote it—had planned the story to be more than just action or political drama.

It was meant to be a psychological thriller, layered with sci-fi inventions, philosophical debates, and twisted moral dilemmas.

It had plot twists upon plot twists, and a quiet, seething horror that didn’t rely on monsters—but the minds of men.

He had started writing it after meeting someone who changed his view of intelligence forever.

Undoubtedly, the most intelligent person True_Sage had ever met.

And for a man working in a multinational tech company, surrounded by top-tier global hires?

That meant something.

To this man, his intellect was both a gift... and a curse.

He was a genius in the truest sense. A polymath.

A mind that could absorb, dissect, and master any topic—ranging from Quantum Mechanics to Human Genetics, from Philosophy to Theoretical AI.

But his brilliance left him isolated.

Even his wife, the woman he loved, couldn’t keep up with him.

She’d still be formulating a single point when he had already thought through hundreds of counterpoints, counterexamples, and refinements.

It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.

He was simply too far ahead.

Eventually, in an act of desperation, the man began taking cognitive suppressants.

He drugged himself into mediocrity—just so he could connect with the people he loved. So he could just... hold a conversation his wife.

And it worked, for a while. Their relationship improved. They communicated better. She smiled more.

But it came at a cost.

The drugs took a toll on his health. His body couldn’t take it.

By the time True_Sage (Alex) met him, the man was dying of terminal cancer.

His physicians had flushed the medication from his system in his final weeks, and he had returned to his brilliant, terrifying self.

Even True_Sage could barely keep up.

He watched the man speak—breaking down the most complex ideas across all scientific fields.

He spoke not just with understanding, but with innovation. Like he could’ve rewritten the textbooks if given a week.

It was then that Alex decided:

He would write a story for him. A tribute. A legacy.

That story became the foundation of the Professor X school idea.

But... the book had been rejected. Like many of True_Sage’s works, it never made it past the platform’s content editors.

Still, it had never left his mind.

And now, here in a new world, with access to Rune-Tech, AI, mana, and magic...

He could finally honour the man who inspired it.

On the call with Pinchcoin, Alex said plainly,

”Master Pinchcoin, I need your help with something. It’s going to be a little... tedious.”

”Not a problem, Master Alex. I’ll be happy to help.”

”I want you to help me create an organisation to gather the best scholars you can find. They don’t have to be talented—just very sharp minds with a strong interest in research. The younger, the better. I don’t mind sponsoring their training at the Enclave if I have to.”

There was a short pause before the man replied,

”Master Alex, your requirements are a little... difficult and vague. Intelligence isn’t something that can be tested in a short amount of time.”

”Ah!” Realisation lit up Alex’s eyes. He smiled.

”Actually, there is a way to reasonably measure intelligence.”

And thus, in that casual moment, the first IQ test in this world was born.

After setting up the OmniRune AI with the necessary tools to process the audio-visual data from the surveillance cameras, Alex had it begin compiling the first training modules for the combat Sub-AIs, while it simultaneously worked on developing the IQ test structure based on its database which was a copy of the Enclave’s digital library.

With that sorted, he returned to his daily grind—splitting his time between warrior training and mingling with the troops.

But then, about three weeks after returning home from the Enclave, his busy schedule was interrupted.

A meeting of the Fury family’s upper echelon had been summoned. For reasons yet unclear, Alex was invited to attend.

On the day of the meeting, he dressed appropriately—in a custom Fury garb of black and purple, plus crimson accents denoting Earl Drake Fury’s household.

He rode out on a fine steed toward the Ashen Castle with Fen in arms.

He was just about to pass the final bend before the lodge when two cloaked individuals stepped into his path.

Alex tensed.

His first instinct was assassination attempt, but almost immediately, he ruled it out. Neither figure radiated killing intent.

A quick glance with his Spirit Sight Lv.2 showed no negative emotions aimed at him. That said, Alex kept up his guard anyway—even if just for appearance’s sake.

”Good. Looks like the crybaby grew into a proper man,” the leading figure said with appreciation indicative in their tone.

Alex frowned.

That voice... It was familiar, strangely so—but he couldn’t place it. Not from his own memories, at least.

’Must be someone the original Alex knew.’ He deduced quickly.

Still, he couldn’t identify her. He could tell she was female from her voice, but nothing more.

Thankfully, the pair didn’t keep him guessing for long.

At a nod from the lead figure, both individuals lowered their hoods, revealing two very different but undeniably striking women.

The one standing slightly behind had a ’large’, almost intimidating presence—tall, well-built, and dark-skinned in a way that seemed otherworldly.

She gave off the impression of strength, perhaps even savagery—an Amazon? A Drow? A hybrid?

’Is that even possible?’ Alex wondered.

Then his eyes drifted to the woman in front.

She had the trademark red eyes and silver-grey hair of the Fury bloodline. And suddenly—like a dam had burst—memories surged through him, crashing into his mind with overwhelming force.

His eyes glazed over unconsciously as buried memories resurfaced—warm ones, confusing ones.

Memories the original Alex cherished deeply.

The woman before him looked just like the Head Maid, the one who’d bathed him like a ragdoll the day he awoke in this world.

But this woman was younger. Much younger. No older than her mid-twenties.

And she bore the Fury name.

Thanks to the flood of inherited memory, Alex knew immediately why she looked familiar, and why she stirred something within him.

She wasn’t the Head Maid.

She was the Head Maid’s daughter.

His third cousin, yes—but more importantly...

She was Alex Fury’s first crush.

Megan Fury.

**