Mysteries of the Rune

As Orianna's retreating figure vanished, Katarina, standing behind Ryan, suddenly spoke up:

"Excellency, I don't believe she's worth your attention."

Ryan could see the defiant expression on Katarina's face and understood her thoughts perfectly. That girl, Orianna, might even be younger than her. He asked with a smile:

"Katarina, what do you think is most essential for Machine Ascension?"

"Exceptional knowledge and unyielding willpower," Katarina blurted out.

Just a few days ago, she had witnessed Viktor implant a Hex Gemstone into his own body. The energy surges from the gemstone violently ravaged his flesh, stimulating the Shimmer in Viktor's body to resist.

His flesh was constantly destroyed, revealing the white bone beneath, only to quickly regenerate under the influence of the Shimmer.

Destruction, regeneration.

Constant destruction, constant regeneration.

Until the final regeneration, Viktor's physical body even lost its vibrant red color, with the purple of Shimmer and the blue of the Hex Gemstone replacing his flesh.

With purple flesh and blue veins, he looked nothing like a human.

Katarina could hardly imagine the pain Viktor endured during the process. Throughout the entire ritual, he maintained a smile, with no agonizing cries of pain, not even a hint of suffering on his face—only profound anticipation.

Viktor's mere composure filled her with admiration.

After the ritual, his strength surpassed hers, but she felt a rare absence of jealousy, only heartfelt recognition.

Before the ritual began, Ryan had warned that if one could not maintain consciousness, their flesh, once destroyed, would not regenerate. It was a test of willpower against the Hex Gemstone.

Ultimately, Viktor succeeded, becoming the only human to reshape his body using a Hex Gemstone.

"You believe that girl doesn't possess such qualities?"

Ryan stood up and walked over to the device, which was an early prototype of a Hextech weapon.

A gentle stream of water pushed aside the prosthetics and puppets covering it, revealing a buried mechanical sphere.

"Her knowledge is far inferior to Viktor's. Viktor could figure out how to perform a heart transplant without any gemstones. As for willpower, I don't see anything particularly special about her."

Katarina spoke bluntly. She understood Orianna's desire to save her father but hadn't seen the corresponding ability.

Orianna was like a gambler on the verge of collapse, putting herself on the table as a chip, desperate to win a way to save her father.

"You've only seen half of it. Orianna put her consciousness and knowledge here; she actually made her choice long ago."

Ryan's hand brushed over the mechanical sphere, and hundreds of water droplets floated down, slipping into the cracks of the sphere.

A thin water mirror unfolded before him, displaying the interior of the sphere.

At the center of the sphere, a vibrant blue glow enveloped a pulsating mass of flesh. That pulsating mass of flesh was, remarkably, a living heart.

"This is!?"

Katarina's eyes narrowed, a look of surprise on her face.

"Orianna's heart."

Her heart is in here... so that means...

Katarina felt a sudden jolt throughout her body, and her gaze instinctively darted in the direction Orianna had left.

That young girl... she replaced her own heart with a Hex Crystal?

And she succeeded!?

"Are you kidding me? Did someone help her?"

She remembered Ryan's question, and his answer that Orianna had done it herself, but she truly couldn't believe it was true.

"There are only her operational traces. On Runeterra, some people are born with talents that set them apart from ordinary people."

As Ryan spoke, he slightly raised both hands, and countless water droplets sprayed from his palms, flowing over the scattered prosthetics and puppets on the ground, lifting them all up.

Soon, a makeshift operating table, surrounded by several puppets, appeared in the center. Several prosthetic arms hung suspended by thin threads, connected by countless more threads.

"This is... a surgical scene? She didn't operate on herself, but used puppets to replace her heart?"

Katarina quickly noticed the anomaly, a hint of horror flashing in her eyes.

Thousands upon thousands of threads stretched into the sky, densely tied to the prosthetic arms holding scalpels, but most of them were already broken, only held aloft by the water Ryan controlled.

Watching the scene unfold before her, she felt a chill run through her, completely able to imagine the original scenario.

Orianna lay calmly on the operating table. After injecting herself with anesthetic, in the last second before losing consciousness, she cut the threads by her hand.

The threads connected to the prosthetic arms in the sky. The first prosthetic arm, holding a scalpel, cut open her chest. Simultaneously, the threads pulled the other prosthetic arms down in succession, perfectly removing her heart and replacing it with a Hex Crystal.

Thousands of threads immediately after controlled the prosthetic arms to stitch up her chest. The final few hundred threads controlled the puppets to store the heart in the device.

She used tens of thousands of threads to precisely control the movements of several prosthetic arms, down to every step, every detail.

She performed the Hex heart transplant surgery entirely by herself.

A single subtle movement could have led to her immediate death. Yet, she calculated every step, suppressed all the physiological reactions she might have during a heart transplant, and completed this magnificent surgery.

Such a success was nothing short of a miracle...

Katarina withdrew the slight contempt from her eyes, leaving only profound admiration.

Someone capable of this level of achievement isn't just far superior to her, but perhaps even more astonishing than Viktor.

She was born with rich emotions, yet she is also a perfect machine.

Ryan offered his assessment, leaning down slightly and placing his hand on the operating table. A blue magical glow enveloped his palm.

Buzz!!!

Suddenly, the water on the floor converged into a single mass, slowly climbing onto the operating table and forming a unique symbol before rising into the air.

"What's that now?" Katarina asked, her face full of curiosity.

"A Rune!"

Ryan uttered two words calmly, his stark black and white eyes taking in the special symbol. Magic reconstructed it countless times in his mind.

He couldn't yet fully grasp the Rune's meaning, but as long as he recorded it perfectly, he would decipher it eventually.

Or perhaps, Orianna would be the key to understanding this Rune.

"Excellency's magic is always astonishing," Katarina praised sincerely.

Water, by nature the most yielding element, seemed capable of transforming into anything in Ryan's hands, becoming omnipotent.

"This isn't mine; I merely used Magic to draw it out. This confirms one of my hypotheses."

His eyes shimmered with a blue magical light as the Rune gradually approached him, finally merging into his body:

"I had the privilege of discussing the mysteries of Runes with a great mage. We both agreed that Runes are an extension of Magic. Only by understanding more Runes can a mage go further down this path. Each Rune represents a new form of Magic; learning them brings us closer to the essence of Magic itself."