’Keystone Rune (Death God), connect to the Spirit Rune, this pathway here... hmm, it should go like this...’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

After fusing the Keystone Rune with the simplified Heart of Fortitude and Frenzy Rune, the Iron Heart Fury’s Rune Array was now slightly off.

Wei’en had no choice but to reassemble the Rune Array according to the new pattern, then map it onto the various components of the Iron Heart Fury.

This undoubtedly increased his workload significantly.

The first step, the reassembly, was completed quickly. Backed by his vast knowledge of fundamental runology, drawing the Rune Array wasn’t difficult.

Compared to the previous design, however, the new Rune Array’s lines had changed considerably. The biggest alteration was to the central Keystone Rune (Death God), to which many complex lines had been added.

Additionally, the optimized Heart of Fortitude and Fury Burst Rune had become much simpler, with quite a few lines removed.

After drawing the Rune Array, the second step was to break it down and map the individual runes to each component part.

Wei’en’s head throbbed as he looked at the stack of blueprints, which covered everything from the overall design to the tiniest components.

The difficulty of breaking down a two-dimensional Rune Array and mapping it onto three-dimensional components—while ensuring it still functioned—increased exponentially.

This wasn’t as simple as just drawing the Rune Array onto the Mechanical Puppet; he had to ensure each part bore a portion of the lines so that the puppet’s operation wouldn’t be affected.

Especially now that the Rune Array had been readjusted, he needed to re-plan the Rune Patterns for each component. Some parts required more lines, while others needed fewer.

’I knew it would be difficult, but I didn’t expect it to be this challenging... I love it.’

His spirits lifted, Wei’en began poring over the blueprints, attempting to map the divided Rune Array onto them.

As time ticked by, the pile of completed blueprints on his desk grew. But the closer he got to finishing, the more his brow furrowed, until he stopped working altogether.

’This is wrong, all wrong. It’s not supposed to be like this...’

The Rune Array could be forced to fit onto the components, but the resulting combination would be incredibly awkward.

For example, some parts were only a centimeter in size, yet they required a hundred-odd lines to be inscribed on them, all while ensuring none of them crossed. This was simply impossible.

Clearly, the part was too small. To continue with the original blueprints, he would have to enlarge it.

But that would only create a new problem: it would encroach on the space allotted for other parts.

And that was just the smallest of the issues. Far more complex were the parts that involved the runic nodes.

Wei’en looked through the blueprints one by one, his headache growing worse. He knew that changing the dimensions of the parts would just lead to an endless cascade of new problems.

’It seems if I want to inscribe this new Array, I’ll have to redesign the Iron Heart Fury completely.’

That was the only way to solve all the problems at once; otherwise, he’d be trapped in a vicious cycle.

With this in mind, Wei’en gathered up the blueprints and put them away.

Redesigning the blueprints for a Mechanical Puppet required a great deal more knowledge.

The best thing to do now was to build a Mechanical Puppet using the original blueprints and see if he could gain the relevant knowledge by allocating points.

If not, he would have to study the contents of the manual more thoroughly to complete the new puppet’s design on his own.

’From this perspective, the Mechanical Mage Jerry Akram really was a genius...’

Wei’en sighed, then glanced at his status panel. ’Whoa, it increased this much?’

Toughness: 88.5

Spirit: 135.74

Origin: 25.5 (26.5) (1 point sealed)

The increase in his basic attributes was decent, but the biggest gain was his Survival Points, which had already reached a staggering 1,323.

Wei’en thought back. He had reaped the most points during the welcome ceremony that morning.

At the time, he had been standing closest to the ceremonial stage.

Not only the Holy Professionals of the Dawn Church, but also the nobles, the City Guard, and members of the Council had all been occasionally scanning the area with their Spirit Perception.

Survival Points had flooded in like an unstoppable tide.

The evening reception was no different from the morning’s ceremony. Being one of the people closest to the ’main character,’ Kali, he received a great deal of attention as well.

Add to that the reward for killing Ognian Sherman... it made sense that he had so many Survival Points.

Before he could decide how to use these Survival Points, he heard Marco’s voice from outside the door. "Wei’en, are you up?"

"Coming," Wei’en said, opening the door. He was taken aback by what he saw.

Marco’s hair was a mess, his face was pale, and his eyes were sunken. He had the look of someone who’d been... no, of someone who was just overworked.

"Marco? What happened to you? You look terrible."

"It’s nothing," Marco said, forcing a smile. "Lisi sent me to tell you we can head back."

"Back to the Secret Investigation Department? This early?"

"Apparently, the Council is receiving a merchant caravan from Klande this morning, so they want us to leave early."

"Just a second, let me grab my things."

A few minutes later, Wei’en left the temporary residence with Marco. Lisi, Kali, and Tina were already waiting at the entrance to the Council hall.

"Let’s go."

Once they were all together, Lisi led the group back to the Secret Investigation Department.

Wei’en held Tina’s hand and glanced at Kali, who stood beside them looking somewhat preoccupied. He’d expected someone from the Dawn Church to be shadowing her, but surprisingly, she had come to the Secret Investigation Department alone.

’Does the Dawn Church really not care about Sister Kali’s status as a Saintess Candidate?’