Orton, though dissatisfied with his own improvements, did not necessarily mean that his rune enhancements were inadequate, but rather, this stemmed from his exceedingly high standards for himself.
In fact, even discounting runes, his breakthroughs in the field of magic energy alone could be regarded as some of the finest in contemporary times!
As Orton himself said, the essence of mana is magic power, and since magic power is elemental, it stands to reason that mana should possess elements, too. However, this is only a theoretical possibility, and no one has been able to realize it in practical application.
Logically, the conversion of such elemental properties shouldn't be so difficult, and indeed, it isn't. The real technical challenge lies not in the conversion of attributes, but in the carrier—namely, the magic stone.