Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH376 Law of Cliché

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The rays of morning light cascaded through the window and spilled across Alex's face, finally dragging him out of sleep.

"Groan…"

A small sound escaped his lips as the memories —and the consequences— of the previous night caught up with him. He had certainly become a man last night, thoroughly conquering his Ice Empress with his dragon spear.

Thinking about Zora, Alex noticed he was alone in bed.

He looked around and spotted their clothes —which he had thrown to the floor during last night's… battle— now neatly folded on a stool.

Zora probably wouldn't be able to wear her dress again; he had torn parts of it in his haste.

Alex stood and began looking for his underwear. He rummaged through the pile of folded clothes, only to realise his shirt was missing. With a shrug, he pulled on his trousers and stepped out of the bedroom.

What greeted him in the living room nearly stopped his heart.

Zora preparing a meal in the kitchen while wearing nothing but her panties and his oversized shirt, one sleeve slipping off her shoulder to reveal the gentle curve of one perky, tempting mound.

The sight was dangerously arousing —in more ways than one— for a vigorous young man who had only just tasted the peach the night before.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, boldly cupping both soft mounds through the shirt.

Zora chuckled at his antics but didn't stop him.

"How are you feeling?" Alex asked, a hint of worry slipping in. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd been too rough.

"I actually feel wonderful. Never better, in fact," Zora replied, sounding genuinely surprised. "My body feels light and refreshed."

"Really? I feel sore all over," Alex said.

For some reason, the memory of the Ox he once used to demonstrate his Rune Tattoos surfaced. Like him, the Ox had ploughed the earth with great vigour, only to end up weak and limp afterwards… while the soil became richer for it.

'Fortunately, I'm stronger than that poor Ox or I might have ended up in a similar state,' Alex wryly thought.

"Not all over, it seems. This guy is still very vigorous," Zora said softly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

She deliberately pushed her soft buttocks back against his now-revived dragon spear.

"This guy has a different energy tank," Alex said proudly. "No matter how tired I am, he will always… rise to the occasion."

Zora chuckled.

"Especially when I wake up to the sight of my wife looking so delicious first thing in the morning," he added quickly, never missing a chance to secure some points.

Expectedly, Zora's eyes lit up like a blooming flower. She turned off the fire and faced him fully, still wrapped in his arms.

"Do you… want to go again?" she asked softly.

Alex's throat felt parched. His ever-eager dragon spear twitched wildly, as if answering for him.

"Growl—"

Before he could respond, his stomach let out a loud protest. Only then did he realise just how hungry he was.

He had barely eaten the previous day, then gone straight into a long, merciless marathon 'battle' with Zora.

"Ah!" Realisation dawned on her. She slipped out of his arms and hurried to serve him food. "You should eat. We didn't get to have dinner yesterday."

Alex found himself torn between laughter and tears — delighted to have a caring wife, yet mourning the loss of his pre-breakfast quickie.

Just as Zora set the plates on the dining table, two figures entered the house. One slipped in through the window; the other padded in through the pet door.

The latter rushed straight into Zora's embrace, while the former perched neatly on Alex's shoulder.

Senu and Fen.

Being the irresponsible beast master that he was, Alex had, in his eagerness to get laid after the wedding, completely abandoned his beasts at Drakonveil Manor while he whisked Zora home.

Fortunately, Fen and Senu were understanding creatures, giving their master space to 'battle it out' with his mate and only returning this morning.

After greeting Alex, Senu dove straight into her favourite resting spot… inside his shadow. There, she basked in the Light-Darkness aura born of his fused bloodline.

"Purr…!" Fen purred unconsciously in Zora's arms.

Fen always enjoyed staying with Zora. It wasn't just because she was unguarded and tended to hug him against her soft mounds —which he shamelessly enjoyed (Alex's accusation)— but also because her Ice Phoenix bloodline attracted the purest water and ice mana. It created an environment he loved, especially in his white ice wolf form.

The wolf purred again; the area around Zora felt even more comfortable than he remembered. Unbelievably pure water/ice mana brushed against his fur like a cool breeze.

"Your bloodline…? Did it improve?" Alex asked suddenly.

Zora considered the question as she gently stroked Fen's head resting on her thigh.

"Yes and no," she answered. "The bloodline's purity itself didn't improve, but its harmony with my body did. I think my body is a step closer to being able to withstand the upcoming nirvana."

"Really?" Alex's eyes brightened instantly.

"Calm down. It's not that great," Zora said realistically. "It's maybe a one-in-a-thousand… one-in-a-million improvement."

"Still, an improvement is an improvement. And it's something we can keep doing. Even if each effect is small, over time it'll all add up." Alex, ever the optimist, saw only the potential

Zora shook her head faintly.

She didn't want to build up false hope. She had already resolved to live in the moment, taking each day as it came. Better to cherish what she already had than daydream about some miraculous cure.

She smiled teasingly. "Are you sure this is about my condition? Are you sure you're not just looking for an excuse to enjoy our… bedtime communication more often?"

Alex recognised her attempt to divert the topic, but he chose to indulge it.

"I don't see why it can't be both. I get to enjoy seeing my Ice Empress writhing beneath me in pleasure while also helping harmonise your bloodline and body… what could be better?" he said shamelessly.

He added, "That's what I call a wi—"

"A win-win," Zora finished dryly.

"Exactly." Alex winked and chuckled.

Their banter continued as they ate. At some point, Fen had fallen sound asleep on Zora's lap. The comfort was simply irresistible for him — it was like receiving a professional massage made entirely of ambient water and ice mana.

After they finished eating and cleared the dishes, Zora placed Fen in the nearby pet box to sleep while the couple moved to the living room.

There, Zora stumbled upon Alex's jottings regarding the interplanar expedition. She was particularly intrigued by the section where he had written down possible scenarios they might face upon stepping through the gate from his imagination.

"Attack on host major city by powerful enemies; possibility of a beast wave; one-in-a-thousand-years opening of a secret realm; one-in-a-hundred-years sect recruitment by a major sect or organisation; discovery of a one-of-a-kind treasure; some ignoramus selling a sacred artefact for scraps…"

Zora read aloud from his handwritten list. It started reasonably enough — plausible, even — but quickly snowballed into utterly absurd possibilities that would have little direct impact on the expedition team.

Zora slowly turned to stare at him, baffled.

Alex, unfazed, calmly sipped his drink as though every single one of those scenarios were perfectly normal.

To him, as a lifelong web novel reader, they were normal events that happened after an MC arrived in a new world. He didn't find anything strange about it. But Zora? That was a different story entirely.

"You got all these from reading the expedition logs of your family's predecessors?" Zora asked, unable to hold back the question.

"No." Alex shook his head. "Those ones you just read came from literary works I found on the Net."

Technically, he had read them on the Net… just not the Net she was imagining.

"And why would you assume the fictional literature you read on the Rune-Net will come to pass in reality?" Zora asked, brow raised in deep suspicion.

"Well, because the world isn't as random as we assume," Alex replied calmly. "Fiction, no matter how unrealistic it appears, is always grounded in reality in some way. And reality itself isn't random.

"The world is a highly fine-tuned system, with everything functioning in just the right proportions. A system that complex, no matter how chaotic it looks, cannot achieve true randomisation. There will always be an underlying order to the chaos.

"Circumstances may differ, but scenarios repeat. That's why people say we must learn from the past. I'm simply taking it a step further — instead of learning only from history, I'm learning from fiction as well, because fiction is just another type of literary lens like the history books."

He continued, "Whether fiction or non-fiction, these works provide data samples — possible scenarios the world can produce. And like I said, since our world… our reality isn't completely random, it's likely we'll encounter something identical or at least similar to one or more of those sample scenarios.

"That's why we experience déjà vu or think something is cliché. It's because a scenario we've known, seen, or lived through repeats. In fact, this might as well be one of the natural laws of existence."

As those words left his lips, Alex suddenly felt the world around him slow — almost to a complete standstill. For a fleeting moment, he felt as though he had grasped some profound truth. But in the next heartbeat, that elusive understanding slipped away like mist.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pinpoint what he had momentarily comprehended.

Zora, meanwhile, wore an amused expression.

To her, his explanation sounded utterly nonsensical — yet because it came from him, and because of the strange conviction with which he spoke, she also felt it made some sense… somehow.

"And what would you call this supposed law of the natural order?" she asked teasingly.

Alex actually paused to consider it.

"Law of Cliché," he said seriously after a brief thought.

Zora burst into laughter, assuming he was joking. Little did she know he was completely earnest. Though he couldn't explain why, he felt that what he'd said was genuinely true.

Still, her bell-like laughter was a sight he dearly loved, so he didn't interrupt to correct her.

The couple continued to banter lightly about the upcoming expedition…

…until a firm knock echoed from the front door.

**(26/70)**