Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage-Chapter 541: A Golden Opportunity

CH541 A Golden Opportunity

***

The Fortuna party waited for more than two hours while the members gradually acclimatised to the sight of the berserk humans.

Well... that wasn’t the only reason they didn’t move rashly.

Mogal, Kavakan and Havel flanked Alex as he stood at the mountain ridge, gazing down at the grotesque gathering below.

Alex tilted his head slightly, looking up at the sky—at the distorted flow of mana only he seemed capable of perceiving.

’As I suspected... the source of the mana distortion is up ahead. And it must be what’s attracting the berserk humans in this direction.’

His eyes narrowed faintly.

’But if that’s the case... why are they just gathering here instead of pushing forward? Is the phenomenon only strong enough to draw them this far?’

’Are they waiting for something? Or... is something preventing them from going any further?’

The more he observed, the more questions surfaced.

He had far more questions than answers.

"Boss... are we really going down there?" Kavakan asked carefully.

The hulking weretiger’s tone was unusually restrained.

One would have expected him to be the most eager to charge into battle.

Yet not only Kavakan—Mogal and Havel also wore hesitant expressions.

Alex took note of it, but he didn’t rebuke them.

He understood.

’According to Raven Horn, berserk humans undergo a more holistic transformation once they reach Class 4.’

’One of the simplest ways to identify them is to look for those with distinctly unique mutations—those that deviate from the basic strength, agility, or vitality templates.’

Alex’s gaze swept across the foot of the mountain.

There were roughly twenty such unique figures among the gathered horde.

Which meant— at least twenty Class 4 berserk humans.

Twenty Veteran Warrior or Great Mage–level abominations.

Sure, with coordination, the Fortuna party could perhaps handle three... maybe four, at a stretch.

But twenty?

That was well beyond their operational limit.

And that wasn’t even factoring in the contamination risk.

These weren’t ordinary Veteran-rank opponents. They were berserk humans—walking vessels of concentrated berserk property.

Even a small mistake could mean infection, even a small wound could spiral into irreversible transformation.

The air between the four men grew heavy.

Alex remained silent for a long moment. Then his crimson eyes sharpened slightly.

"We will not be charging in blindly," he finally said. "But yes... we’re going down there."

And when he said it— there was no hesitation in his voice.

Given sufficient berserk property concentration within a berserk human—and depending on the disparity in strength between it and its target—just one landed attack could be enough to trigger a berserk transformation.

In essence, when facing berserk humans—especially higher-Class variants—one had to be careful not only about being killed, one had to be careful to avoid being touched at all.

A scratch, a graze, a shallow wound... Any of it could be enough.

And from what Alex and his party could see below, becoming one of those things... was a fate worse than death.

"What? Are you guys afraid?" Alex laughed lightly, deliberately goading them.

Kavakan, Mogal and Havel remained silent.

Which, in itself, was an answer.

Alex chuckled.

"Don’t overthink it," he said casually. "Our commission is to discover what’s causing them to gather. Not to wipe them out."

He gestured faintly toward the horde below.

"I’m studying their movements. We move only after I figure something out."

His tone was calm, measured and sincere.

"And if you don’t, leader?" Havel asked.

"Then we return to Dragonstone and report our failure." Alex shrugged. "Valuable or not, a map isn’t worth our lives."

That last line eased some of the tension in their shoulders.

Seeing that, Alex dismissed the trio with a small wave of his hand.

Once they retreated, he turned his attention back—not to the berserk humans—but beyond them.

To the mountain.

To the distorted storm of mana twisting in the air ahead.

"Although you said you’ll leave if you can’t find anything... your expression says you’re determined to get to the bottom of this."

Alex heard the soft voice behind him.

He didn’t need to turn.

"As expected," he replied lightly, "my Ice Empress knows me best."

Zora stepped up beside him, folding her arms as she followed his gaze.

"You’ve said multiple times you don’t care about Dragonstone. Nor the Wildlands."

Her eyes shifted from the berserk horde... to the distant mountain he had been fixated on.

"Does this have something to do with that mountain?"

She tilted her head slightly.

"You’re barely looking at the twenty-plus Class 4 berserk humans below."

Her gaze sharpened.

"Shining knight of mine... why are you so fixated on that mountain?"

Unlike before, there was no teasing in her tone now, only curiosity. And a faint hint of concern.

Alex turned to her with a wry smile.

"You really do read me like a book, Milady," he said lightly. "You know, if I were a lesser man, I’d be afraid of you."

"It’s a good thing you’re not a lesser man," Zora replied calmly.

Then her eyes sharpened.

"So?"

Alex exhaled softly.

"Would you believe me if I said I can see an opportunity on that horizon?" he asked.

There was no jest in his voice this time.

"I would," Zora answered without hesitation.

For a brief moment, surprise flickered across Alex’s eyes.

Then he grinned. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He turned back toward the distant mountain.

Truthfully, like Havel, Kavakan and Mogal, Alex was hesitant.

Bringing his party down to the mountain’s base—where over two hundred berserk humans gathered—was not something to take lightly.

A rough count already put their numbers at two hundred at the very least. And the number was still increasing with every passing hour.

Worse still, at least twenty of them were confirmed Class 4.

Twenty Veteran-tier abominations.

Even for Fortuna, that was suicidal.

Yet, there were reasons he couldn’t simply turn away.

The first was his intuition.

Since entering the Hollowcrest Wildlands, he had felt... nudged, as though something—or someone—was guiding him somewhere or to something.

And since reaching this mountain, that sensation had only intensified.

It was almost as if he had arrived exactly where he was meant to be... at exactly the time he was meant to arrive.

At a convergence point of Fate... and fortune.

And as if to validate that feeling, there was the second reason.

The familiar golden light in his vision.

’Daddy Golden Energy...’ Alex muttered inwardly, lips curling into a helpless smile. ’You’re really not making this easy for me.’

Within his Truth-Seeker eyes, a thin strand of golden energy of Providence stretched across the land, leading straight toward the mountain peak.

From his past experiences, Alex could roughly deduce a number of things about the opportunity presented to him by the golden energy of providence based on the thickness of the Providence thread.

This one was thin... very thin.

Which meant this opportunity was wrapped in immense danger.

’Well, that doesn’t take a genius to figure out,’ Alex mused inwardly. ’You’re literally pointing me through a horde of bloodthirsty berserk humans who hate everything—especially the untransformed like us.’

He exhaled slowly.

’How exactly am I supposed to get through hundreds of berserk humans... with at least twenty of them being Class 4?’

Even as he complained, a simple truth lingered at the back of his mind.

Fortune and risk walked hand in hand.

If the danger was this severe, then the reward at the end must be equally, if not more, extraordinary.

Alex would have preferred to retreat now and return later.

However, the thin golden thread in his vision also hinted that this was likely to be a time-limited opportunity.

If he withdrew... if the strand snapped... then either he would lose this chance entirely. Or it would take an unreasonably long time before Providence aligned like this again.

’To risk... or not to risk...’

That was the question gnawing at him.

’I’ve been feeding Lord Bonsai divine energy non-stop so it can extract Providence. I’ve done the work. The least I deserve is a little support, right?’

His lips twitched faintly.

’Come on. I’m not asking for a miracle. Just give me a sign. Point me somewhere that increases my odds—even a little.’

Almost as if the world responded—

Footsteps hurried toward him.

"Young Master Alex!" Mordor’s voice carried urgency.

Alex turned to see the Orc Shaman-Swordsman approaching at an uncharacteristically quick pace.

"What’s wrong, Mordor?" Alex asked.

"You need to see this. Sugud has something to show you."

At that exact moment, the thin golden thread in Alex’s vision grew slightly thicker.

It was subtle, barely noticeable. But Alex was sure he saw it.

And that was enough.

A slow smile spread across his face.

He looked at Mordor.

"Lead the way."

***