CH255 Space Loop I

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Vrr~

The OmniRune Core's Greater Rune pulsed within Alex's mindspace—a signal that one of his key assets had safely returned to its rightful place.

The crystalline mammalian heart that had devoured the Kellermans' prized mana stone mine was none other than the Voidheart Core.

Through recent improvements to his Providence—ironically brought about by the very war the Kellermans had started—Alex had stumbled upon a way to weaponise the Voidheart Crystal.

Now, refined into its current form, the crystal heart was a menace to all energy-rich environments. Far deadlier than when it had once been wielded by the silver dragon Zilbris. All the more reason Alex kept its existence shrouded in secrecy.

He would have preferred no one know of his role in the mine's destruction. But since necessity had forced his hand, at least Udara and the Fangs were people he could trust.

Udara went without question. As for the Fangs, noble houses ensured their elite retainers and forces swore binding oaths preventing them from revealing sensitive matters about their liege.

This counted as sensitive in every sense.

True, destroying the Mana Stone mine lacked the theatrical brilliance of nuking the Kellerman Palace or erasing the family's bloodline and progeny in a single strike. Yet, it was the subtler and arguably more devastating alternative.

Intelligence Alex gathered by both Earl Drake's Black Mantle network and his own Dark Water confirmed the Layman Mana Stone Mine was a Kellerman lifeline. This single source accounted for nearly forty-five percent of the fief's total revenue.

The mine had become Alex's chosen target after he tested the upgraded Voidheart Core.

By erasing it, he aimed to cripple the Kellermans' economy, leaving them unable to capitalise on any victory at the Northern Dankrot Fort. A surgical strike to tilt the odds of recovery back in the Fury family's favour.

It was a simple contingency, designed to prevent the worst-case scenario he had once laid out before the Fury high command. Originally, there had been no need to unleash it if the Fury forces managed to hold the fort.

But who could have foreseen the arrival of a Legend? Faced with the promise of certain death, Alex had triggered the plan in sheer spite, unwilling to perish without leaving scars behind on the Kellermans.

Though Earl Drake Fury had ultimately saved him, the order had already gone through, and the deed was done.

Now, not only had the Kellermans lost the battle and earned the wrath of the Mad Earl at their gates—they had also lost their greatest source of wealth.

It went without saying that the Kellermans faced turbulent times ahead. Economically crippled and militarily weakened, they would be at their most vulnerable.

Yet Alex's worry lingered.

Desperation could drive the Kellermans to reckless choices—choices that might destabilise the entire northwest.

The last thing he wanted was for them to open the door to one of the Empire's superpowers. Such interference would cripple the Fury family's long-term growth, especially when the time came for Alex to take his father's seat.

A somewhat cruel glint flickered in his eyes as he stood upon the fort walls with Jared, watching the mopping-up battles. Scattered Kellerman soldiers still resisted, refusing to surrender despite the war's obvious outcome.

It was in that moment the idea struck him. A way not only to prevent the worst-case scenario but also to bleed the Kellermans dry—milking their resources until they were little more than a vassal house, if not destroyed outright.

Without hesitation, he composed a coded missive and sent it to Haggleworth.

History had taught him one undeniable truth, both in this life and the last: war was never the end, only the means to it.

Victory was not complete until the victor had stripped the defeated of their wealth, opportunity, and maybe even their future—claiming everything of value for themselves.

And Alex fully intended to do just that.

With that matter decided, his thoughts turned back to the Voidheart Core.

In truth, after the creation of the OmniRune Core, the Voidheart's latest upgrade might well be his proudest work—perhaps even more so than the Rune Tattoo, despite much of it drawing from the Rune Tattoo as its foundation.

Why? Because the Voidheart Core embodied what he believed to be the greatest challenge ever presented to his RuneTech platform.

And yet, somehow, he had succeeded.

He couldn't claim to understand exactly how and why it had turned out so well, but the solutions he had unearthed during the process pushed the boundaries of what RuneTech could achieve. Proof of concept and vision if you will.

It reaffirmed his belief: the RuneTech Platform—and its derivative RuneTech Magic—held infinite potential, bounded only by his imagination, ability, and resources.

After all, RuneTech was nothing less than access to the world's own Operating System. As long as something was allowed to exist within this reality, Alex could make it so.

It was perhaps the perfect medium for innovation, innovation sanctioned by the very laws of the world.

Even problems that had claimed the unborn of a powerful Class 8 being, even dilemmas that had troubled a mighty dragon, were rendered solvable—almost elegantly so—through RuneTech.

Reflecting on those earlier events, Alex allowed himself a rare moment of indulgence. He patted his chest, inwardly applauding himself.

For once, he didn't mind blowing his own trumpet. His solution had been nothing short of brilliant—even if unintended.

---

There was a saying amongst the programmers and engineers at Alex's company in his previous life: "If you can't brute-force it under control, finesse it."

This was the design and programming doctrine prevalent within the company.

In other words, if they couldn't directly solve a problem head-on, then they should explore more roundabout means which could indirectly solve it.

Essentially, it was a call to think outside of the box.

It seemed intuitive enough, especially in their line of work, yet one would be surprised how rare it was for people to actually do this by default.

Previously, when Alex analysed and determined the two major problems plaguing the efficiency of the Voidheart Core for his needs, he could only solve the first problem directly—namely, improving the quantity of Spatial Energy motes produced.

He implemented a relatively straightforward system based around a custom Rune Tattoo and a splinter of the AetherKindle.

The Rune Tattoo, fashioned from his comprehended Energy-gathering formation, would first gather all ambient mana around the Voidheart Core—including the mana naturally attracted by the crystalline heart itself—and channel it into the splinter of the AetherKindle.

The splinter of the Purity and Refinement-attuned Origin Primal Flame would then purify and refine the gathered mana to its utmost limit, raising its conceptual value, before sending it into the Voidheart Core for conversion into Spatial Energy.

This seemingly simple process allowed for a significantly greater number of Spatial Energy motes to be produced.

However, the second problem—the storage of Spatial Energy after it had been produced—couldn't be solved so easily. There were little to no known physical or material mediums capable of storing Spatial Energy in the precise way Alex intended.

Eventually, he narrowed down his approach to employing field confinement.

This, however, was a broad domain. The most popular and arguably easiest approaches were Electromagnetic Field confinement and Pressure Field confinement. Yet neither was suitable for Spatial Energy, as both electromagnetic fields and pressure fields were subject to space itself. And if they were bound by space, then they could not hold space or its energy at the same time.

Alex found himself trapped in an endless loop of raising ideas, only to discard them.

It was then that he realised—the solution to his problem was exactly that.

An endless loop.

Alex had an epiphany.

'Since Spatial Energy can't be forced into a tight or specific confinement, what if I place it into a never-ending loop—where the energy remains free in accordance with its nature, yet confined in accordance with my needs at the same time?'

That thought brought him the answer he had been searching for: Continuous Spatial Fabric Looping.

In simpler terms—a Space Loop.

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