CH232 Tattooed Voidheart Core

***

It sounded brilliant. Ground-breaking, even—another leap forward for the limits of his Rune Tattoos.

Of course, reality was never that kind.

The difficulty was staggering.

Typical array formations, as mentioned before, were designed for inanimate mediums—materials with constant, consistent, predictable structures, with little to no special variables to consider.

His Rune Tattoos, however, had been forged through endless refinement to work in the opposite direction. They were carefully designed to function on living organisms, augmenting them without interfering with natural structure or bodily functions.

In other words, he had built his tattoos from the ground up to handle the complexity of the living structure and functionality.

Now, however, he was attempting to take that rigid, lifeless Array Formation. to reshaping it into something capable of integrating with a living, ever-changing organic entity, which it was never intended for.

The scale of work was… unimaginable.

In many ways, it would have been much easier to create a Greater Rune cum Rune Tattoo from scratch with the same functionality, than make the conversion.

While testing within OmniRune's simulation world, Alex discovered that it was possible—but only barely. The conversion could be done, but the result wasn't the elegant, reusable base tattoos he'd once created with Attribute Rune Tattoos.

No, these new conversion tattoos would have to be tailor-made to each individual user's unique bodily conditions and variables. Which meant the process was better suited to high-end custom tattoos than any sort of general-purpose application.

"Unless the formation is so useful it absolutely needs to be generic, it's more efficient to just build a proper Rune Tattoo from scratch with the same effects," Alex muttered under his breath, shaking his head at his own findings.

Still, the design he envisioned for the Voidheart Core was promising. Its foundation was adapted from the Energy Gathering Formation he had learned back in the Dragon Lair of the Pangea Plane's Subspace Sanctuary.

But Alex had added two critical modifications:

A temporary storage compartment, capable of holding accumulated energy,

And a conversion mechanism, able to refine and purify that energy into a higher, purer form.

As for how to achieve that all-important purification and conversion…

Alex had no brilliant breakthrough waiting in his arsenal.

So, instead, he would rely on the tools he had.

Perhaps it was the urgency of the approaching Kellerman assault, or it was the exhilaration of Senu's hatching still lingering in his chest, whatever the reason, Alex worked past his limits without even realizing it—and by the time the early hours of morning arr, two completed scrolls rested in his hands.

The first was a Rune Socket Scroll, designed to prepare the Voidheart Core's natural slot for binding.

The second contained the true masterpiece, the Rune Tattoo Scroll itself.

Shine!

A brilliant light flashed across Alex's face as the socket scroll dissolved, embedding smoothly into the crystalline heart's Rune Slot; proof that the Core could indeed accept his Rune Tattoo branding.

Alex restored his mana to peak condition, then carefully pressed the Tattoo Scroll to the prepared slot.

The parchment dissolved in a cascade of runic light, leaving behind the burning brand of a Rune tattoo.

Inch by inch, it branded itself onto the Voidheart Core—etching onto the top-left section of the heart, its left atrium, where energy/mana was normally converted into Spatial Energy.

Sweat rolled down Alex's forehead. His eyes stayed fixed on the forming tattoo for one crucial moment; the instant when the Rune Tattoo's purification component would begin to take form on the heart.

When the moment it appeared—

He moved.

With a sharp mental command, AetherKindle moved.

The draconic Primal Origin Flame residing within Alex's Mana Heart, cut off the nail of its index finger, which was blazing with condensed power.

Boom!

The shock rippled through Alex's entire being, as his Mana Heart quaking violently. His vision rocked, but he bit down hard, forcing his concentration to steady into razor-sharp focus.

Through sheer will and spiritual force, he guided the glowing fingernail down his mana pathways, threading it into the still-forming Runic component—just before the branding sealed.

The instant it connected—

The Rune completed.

A blinding golden radiance burst from the Voidheart Core, shaking it so violently Alex feared the organ might reject the Rune Tattoo entirely.

Five long, nerve-wracking minutes crawled by.

Then—silence.

The shaking ceased, and the Rune Tattoo shone steady, perfectly imprinted upon the Voidheart Core.

Alex exhaled shakily, but the real test had only begun.

He maintained his focus.

The Voidheart Core's passive pull began drawing ambient mana from the air, the familiar tide seemed to be flow per normal. However, the flow was suddenly intercepted—channeled directly into the Tattoo.

This energy in-flow into the tattoo activated its Energy Gathering component, which then absorbed and redirected not just the Voidheart Core's pulled ambient mana, but its own harvest of mana as well.

This then streamed into the Rune Tattoo's temporary storage chamber, a space powered by the Voidheart Core's own Spatial Energy motes.

This was where the all-important event occurred.

The sliver of AetherKindle's fingernail ignited, transforming into a golden flame suspended at the centre of the Rune tattoo's temporary storage space. Every particle of mana that passed through was caught and burned within that flame, purified and condensed into a higher form.

Only after faux AetherKindle flame has purified the mana did a special runic component integrated into the fabric of the temporary storage space draw out the purified mana to be transferred into the Voidheart Core's left atrium for the energy conversion process.

The Rune Tattoo was designed deliberately not to fight the Core's biology, but was instead woven into it, enhancing and continuing the organ's natural chain reaction instead of overriding it.

Alex let out a long breath, as his shoulders loosening as the process stabilized.

With OmniRune's assistance, he began running calculations.

The results spoke for themselves.

The improved system was working. Spatial energy motes were being produced at a noticeably higher rate than before.

The exact increase was still in flux while the new equilibrium settled, but one truth was undeniable—

The Voidheart Core had just become more powerful and efficient.

It wasn't the Rune Tattoo, but the Voidheart Core itself that was ramping up its processes to match the steady influx of purer energy. Only once the Voidheart Core reached saturation would Alex be able to calculate the true efficiency gain.

For now, he simply wiped the sweat from his brow and let his body collapse to the floor as he enjoyed a small, but hard-earned victory which was worth celebrating.

Only the Spatial Energy Storage Phase remained before the Voidheart Core could be fully put to use by him.

Exhaustion caught up with him. Without realizing it, Alex drifted into sleep at the Rune table, slumped over the remnants of his work.

When he woke, he carefully returned the now-tattooed Voidheart Core to its place within the Nest on the bonsai tree's crown, then quickly left the pocket space.

He returned to his quarters to find faint light was spilling into the chamber. A quick glance outside calmed his fears—dawn had only just begun, and he still had some time before the sun rose fully.

Inside his quarters, he found Fen snoring softly on the bed, while Senu lay curled on a makeshift nest near the window, basking in the mingling glow of moonlight and the rising dawn. The white-gold streaks across her feathers shimmered faintly, as if drinking in the light itself.

The juvenile eagle stirred as soon as she sensed him.

Klee-klee-klee!

She flapped her wings and launched herself forward. To Alex's amazement, she managed a short glide, landing almost gracefully in his arms.

"Alright, alright. I'm here. I'm here," he laughed, catching her.

Already, in just a few hours, she was learning faster than he expected. At this pace, flight was only days away, at most.

But Senu wasn't done. She proudly shared something new she discovered.

[Vision Sharing]!

Alex's eyes widened as his mind filled with her perspective. Every detail she saw flowed directly to him through their bond.

"Synchronization!" His eyes lit up. Lifting her by her wings, he exclaimed, "You really are my Senu!"

Ki-ki-ki!

She didn't fully understand, but sensing his joy, she flapped her wings in excitement.

Then suddenly—her body sagged.

Klee…

She gave a weak cry, slipped from his hands, and glided downward. But instead of hitting the ground, she melted seamlessly into his shadow.

Alex froze. "What—?"

Through their link,

Senu drowsily explained.

She had gained the ability to rest within his shadow. It was like a beast companion's pocket-space—but tied directly to his shadow. From now on, she could emerge from his shadow.

Alex's astonishment turned into quiet admiration. Before he could ask questions, her presence drifted into sleep within the darkness.

Shaking his head, Alex scooped Fen into his arms and left the chamber.

By the time he reached the Fort's main plaza, the Fang Company was assembled, with only final preparations remaining.

Jared strode up beside him.

"Do you really think you can find them?" the Dark Knight asked.

"Yes, I do." Alex replied without hesitation.

Udara walked over pulling the reins of her horse and Dread.

Alex received Dread's reins and mounted the Nightmare horse.

"I'll leave the rest to you." Alex gave Jared a firm nod.

The bulwark knight returned the nod silently.

Dread carried Alex to the head of the formation, where he exchanged brief looks with Colonel Conrad Hoist and Major Aldrich Jaeger.

For a moment, Alex considered a speech. But one glance at the determined faces of his men told him it wasn't necessary.

"Let's go."

With that, the Fang Company thundered out of Northern Dankrot Fort.

Their goal?

To bypass the incoming Kellerman Family's army, and strike directly at their backline supply convoys.

***

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