Blood was dripping and sliding down Lute’s back. At this moment he was in his dorm bandaging the wounds to prevent blood from staining the robes he was about to change into.

Elder Irida had demonstrated the absolute basics of blacksmithing one time to Lute. Mostly it only involved how to properly adjust temperature of a forge and how to properly melt metals as he only had a few hours to learn. However this didn’t make her any less ruthless. She handed the tools to Lute and ordered him to replicate what she’d done.

From the very first attempt, Lute was assaulted. Every single time he attempted to replicate what Elder Irida had done, he made a mistake. Each time Elder Irida verbally berated him and struck him on his back causing small cuts to form. If he even held his tools incorrectly, he’d be assaulted.

To put it lightly, she was overbearing and a perfectionist. But this was why most of Elder Irida’s disciples were accomplished in their craft, she tolerated no failure. None of them would ever talk back to her or complain if she said a finished item was a failure then it was a failure.

Unknown to Lute, he was advancing quick enough; he was meeting Elder Irida’s expectations. With each new attempt at forging and melting metal, he was making one less mistake. But this was still far from enough, this was only the first step onto the path of blacksmithing, it would be many months before he could attempt Spirit Smithing.

Lute groaned slightly as he put on his new robes. Even if he was body tempering, he still ached after those wounds were caused by Elder Irida. He didn’t know how she’d done it, but despite only being small cuts, they were quite painful. The pain actually seemed to magnify as time went on, no matter how much they’d begun to heal under the effects of the Primordial First Physique the pain was actually increasing.

‘That woman really needs to learn how to hold back. While the pain increasing is something I can deal with, it’s quite irritating. Getting so angry over not having the temperature of the melted metal within one degree was seriously uncalled for.’

Finally, after making sure the blood wouldn’t stain his new robes. Lute threw his old ripped ones on the bed. He’d have to learn how to sew in the future.

He then quickly left; time was of the essence and not to be wasted. There were still two things he needed to do before nightfall. He needed to meet his new teacher of formations and Toros.

With due haste, Lute quickly found the academics building where all classes that weren’t involved in the trades such as Spirit Smithing took place. Once he walked inside, Lute quickly found the stares and ascended to the top floor.

On this floor, there were very few disciples. For the most part, disciples didn’t get involved in the trades or classes that involved subjects such as Formations. Most attended classes that either would improve their insights into cultivation, or ones that directly allowed them to improve their combat capabilities. There were numerous different types, and they all had their own unique flare allowing for no two to be exactly the same.

This could be considered normal as the trades or subjects like Formations were typically outside the bounds of most cultivators’ understandings. Or… it would be easier to say they didn’t have the patience for it.

Heading to the end of the hall, Lute stopped at a large oaken door, upon it were many symbols that he’d never seen before. Upon closer inspection, he could only surmise that he was certainly at the right place, these symbols definitely were used for a formation that was etched onto the door, but as to what it was, he didn’t know.

Inhaling deeply and ignoring the throbbing from his back Lute pushed open the oaken door. After his eyes adjusted, what Lute saw was a small classroom. There were very few desks, probably no more than ten at a glance. There were also shelves that had books so thick it would take weeks to read them.

The room was dark, on the walls were crystals releasing a dim light. But in order to read candlelight was needed. Inside, there were only three disciples that Lute could see. It was so quiet that the library appeared once again in Lute’s mind, he could hear his own heartbeat.

Each disciple was concentrating so hard; it was as if they were in the hardest battles’ of their lives. Sweat threatened to drip onto the hide before them, but they would quickly wipe it away before it did. This was so their work wouldn’t be ruined. Each of the disciples was holding a massive quill easily over a foot in length. These quills originated from an avian-type vicious beast. They were also using blood of vicious beasts that was mixed with other materials as ink.

Each disciple was carefully injecting Qi into their quills and blood-ink. Then, with painstaking care they would etch into the vicious beast hide, creating a basic formation. Parchment could also be used for etching formations. But it was all a matter of preference.

Carefully moving about and restraining his aura as much as possible. Lute walked silently to the other side of the classroom. There was a door labelled with the title “Professor”. Lute gently rapped on the door with his knuckles trying to make as little noise as possible, while at the same time getting the attention of whoever was inside.

Only when he heard someone say, “Enter”, was when Lute traversed inside. Upon opening the door, his eyes slightly bulged and dilated in shock, however he quickly recovered as it was somewhat expected.

Sitting in the office before him was none other than Toros. Seeing as how he could meddle with the formations during the trials, Lute suspected that he was a Formation Master, but who would’ve thought he taught the Rune Mastery class. He’d also had his reservations about whether or not a Vice Sectmaster would teach a class since they had much more important duties other than looking after a bunch of children.

Toros cheekily grinned upon seeing it was Lute. “Well, isn’t this a surprise, do come in. Shut the door and sit down in the chair. We have some catching up to do.”

Lute did as he was told, after sitting down he began to speak his mind. “Why would a Vice Sectmaster be teaching a class, don’t you have more important things to attend to?”

Toros chuckled slightly. “I guess I can be considered abnormal. While I do have other duties to the sect, very few wish to become Formation Masters and even fewer decide to become Rune Masters. Since there are so few, I forcefully make time every day to teach the few disciples that I have. Right now, they are learning to combine the most basic of formations into their first runes. Of course this took them many months to accomplish.”

Lute nodded in understanding, since there were so few who embarked on this path, it wouldn’t be the same scenario as forcefully making time to teach an entire class. If it was only a few disciples, then it was a capable feat as the Vice Sectmaster to take time out of his schedule to teach.

Toros shut his book he’d been studying, finally giving Lute his complete attention. “So I assume you want to walk down the path of Rune Mastery?”

Lute confidently nodded his head, “Yes”.

“Then first you need to learn the basics of Formation Mastery. Lucky for you, I happen to be a unique cultivator. Most of my combat strength lies in formations rather than arts. I am not only a master of runes; I have also attained vast knowledge in formations as a whole. My class is different from other rune mastery classes. While most think of runes as an offshoot branch that is its own unique world, which is separate from formations, I do not believe this.”

“Formations and Runes are much more closely linked than most believe. This is the culmination of my unique insight into the Dao of Formations. I believe that if you only study runes for your entire life, then you won’t make any meaningful advancement in Rune mastery. The same is also true if you think of it in reverse, if you only focus on formations, then advancing in this field will also suffer.”

After listening to Toros, it became apparent to Lute that he’d technically be taking three classes instead of two, but this wasn’t a bad thing, the more he could learn the better.

“So what you are saying is the more knowledge I have of both fields, the better off I will be. I must not only know how to construct and wield runes effectively, I must also know how to skillfully use formations as well as the other disciples who are only taking the class on formations?”

“Yes, that is the way. Those that think like me are a relatively small faction on the Crimson Tide Continent. Perhaps only a tenth of us out of all Formation Masters and Rune Masters think like this, but we have showed results so we haven’t been ostracized yet.”

“I see”

As Lute thought upon Toros’ words, Toros himself waved his left hand that had a spatial ring upon it. Appearing in one of his hands was four banners, all of which had runes etched upon them. The complexity of all these runes was unfathomable to Lute.

“These are the banners used for an Essence Gathering Formation. It will last for a total of six hours as it wasn’t made with rare materials and only common ones. However for a Nascent Qi cultivator such as yourself, it should be extremely beneficial for you. When you are ready to use it, place then four banners in a square, each banner equidistant from the next, then you must sit in the very center of the formation. To activate it, inject your Qi into the runes.”

Toros then handed over the banners to Lute who stored them away in his spatial ring.

“Thank you,” Lute said.

“You earned them. Now, let us begin talking about formations. What you need to know is that you are going to struggle; you won’t be able to understand how to properly utilize a formation until you enter the Spirit Opening Realm and gain insights into the Dao of Formations. However, what we can do is work on your ability to draw them and learn them. Extreme precision is needed when drawing a rune or creating a formation. What you will do until you enter the Spirit Opening Realm is draw runes and create formations upon banners without the use of Qi. If you are off by mere millimeter, it can ruin the effectiveness of whatever rune or formation you are making. Then you will also study the history of formations, runes, and their uses, as well as all the types of runes and formations.”

“Are you ready to learn?”

Lute replied with the same intensity as when he replied to Elder Irida, no matter how much he struggled, he would accomplish what he set out to accomplish.

“I am ready.”

“Good, the best part about this class is that before you reach the Spirit Opening Realm, the mental strength you will expend will be far greater than if you had insights into the Dao of Formations, hence before the Spirit Opening Realm, you willpower and mental strength will be trained.”

Finally, Lute dove into the world of formations and runes as Toros started to lecture him about formations and runes.