《Celestial Fox》Chapter 11: Inscription
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After moments of walking, Yvette and the old woman soon arrived before a bookshelf labeled with the word “Inscription”.
Just like the day before, the old woman took out a few books from the bookshelves and stacked them atop a table nearby.
Once she finished, she gave a few reminders to Yvette before returning outside unhurriedly.
Left alone, Yvette took a seat on the nearby table and started to read through the stack of books.
And just like the day before, Daiyu quietly arrived, but this time, without requiring any words from Yvette, she brought a stack of books and read them next to Yvette.
When Yvette was putting down her book, she noticed that the books Daiyu brought this time was not about Crafting, but Alchemical knowledge.
But she knew that she held no control over Daiyu’s preference, and neither does she wish to have control over it. Hence, after taking a quick glance, she continued to engross herself into her pile of books.
Time quickly passed as the red sky turned dark with stars and moon replacing the sun. But this went unnoticed to the pair that is currently buried deeply into their books, to the point that even if someone sneaked up behind them, they would hardly notice even with their sharp senses.
When Yvette finally finished reading all her books, she noticed that Daiyu still has a few books left that she has not read. As someone who loves to read herself, Yvette decided to refrain from disturbing Daiyu.
Once she reached that decision, she quietly stood up and started to roam in search of books to read.
As she passed through numerous shelves, she found that there was no book which fits her current interest, but when she was about to return, she saw a bookshelf filled with medicinal knowledge.
Scanning through the shelf, she mostly saw books filled with knowledge of medicinal plants and how to use them. When she was about to take out one of the books for a read, she noticed a thin, ragged book hidden between the book she was taking out and another thick book.
With her curiosity piqued, Yvette took out the thin, ragged book instead.
As she held the book on her hand, she could see the layers of dusts covering it, showing how unused it has been all this time.
Seeing the layers of dusts covering the book, Yvette brushed the white sleeve of her white robe, cleaning the book from dusts.
Ignoring her dust covered sleeve, Yvette took a closer look on the book’s cover. On it, she saw the word ‘Acupuncture’ written in a rough manner, as if the writer was someone who just learnt how to write.
If others saw such a writing, they would have thought that this book must be written by a child. But Yvette believed that the Pavilion of Knowledge would not store useless books, so with the book in hand, Yvette walked back to where Daiyu was.
But when she arrived there, Daiyu has just finished her last book and was looking around, seemingly in search of something, which would most likely be her. Yet, because Daiyu faced the opposite direction, she could not see the expression she currently has on her face.
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“Daiyu...”
As Yvette called out to her, Daiyu froze for a moment before turning around with a face filled with few emotions before walking towards Yvette.
Without saying anything, Yvette returned the book she just took out and left the pavilion with Daiyu in tow.
As the pair walked out of the pavilion, a stalking feeling filled Yvette’s heart, causing her to involuntarily turn to the source of it.
There, she saw the middle-aged elder she saw before staring at her from afar. Seeing Yvette looking towards her, the elder smiled and waved towards Yvette before continuing on her way.
After a while, Yvette also turned her head away. Yet, a faint feeling of being watched kept bothering her until she reached the mansion, wherein the feeling faded away on its own.
Even so, an indescribable feeling kept on bothering her even after she returned to her room. But after she sat down and meditated, she managed to slowly cleanse her mind of those troubling thoughts until it was wholly focused with cultivating.
As morning came, Yvette once again saw her formation tutor, Nastaran, visiting her. But rather than being bewildered, Yvette quickly managed to guess the reason of her visit.
As if she read her mind, Nastaran smiled, “It seems that you have realized. I am also your inscription tutor.” After saying that, she turned around and walked down the mansion’s corridor while Yvette followed right behind her without questioning anything.
Once they arrived at the garden where Yvette was learning about formations the day before, Nastaran turned and, because of their height difference, looked down towards Yvette, while Yvette herself calmly looked into Nastaran’s ocean-blue eyes, which makes one feel as if they are looking towards the calm, blue sea.
In actuality, the silver hair and ocean-blue eyes are inherited characteristics of every female of the Aasmany clan. On the other hand, the males of the clan have golden hair and sky-blue eyes. It is also known that the clearer the color of their hair and eyes, the thicker their bloodline is, and the closer they are to the main branch. Which means they would also have better talent in regards to the field their clan specialized in.
Knowing that, Yvette examined Nastaran’s hair and eyes. From her silver hair flowing down to her hip with a beautiful luster and the gem-like ocean-blue eyes filled with calmness, it could be seen that if her bloodline is not part of the main branch, it would be fairly close to it.
As Yvette thought about these, Nastaran started to speak.
“Let us start with having you explain to me what you know about the inscription profession.”
At her words, Yvette stopped examining Nastaran and started explaining.
“Inscription is a profession where one inscribe symbols onto treasures to imbue them with special properties, almost just like rune formations. But inscribing does not engrave but inscribes treasures with symbols using specially made ink or the blood of certain types of beasts. Once an inscriber become strong and experienced enough, they may even inscribe by simply using their Qi.”
Once Yvette finished her explanation, Nastaran nodded lightly.
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“Since you are already knowledgeable, you can start practicing.”
Saying that, she took out a few items from her pouch.
When Nastaran passed the items to Yvette, she looked down to her hand and finally had a clear look on the item Nastaran took out.
A writing brush, a glass bottle filled with a type of golden liquid, and a piece of paper.
“Those item you hold are tools used by inscription beginners. The brush is called Inscribing Brush; its body is made out of a branch of a sprit tree, while low-rank ferocious beast fur is used as its head. The liquid inside the bottle is called Inscribing Ink, it is not a normal type of ink, but one specially manufactured out of the sap of spirit trees, while the paper, also called Inscribing Paper, are made out of the leaves.”
After her explanation, Nastaran then took out another set of those items. But instead of being held on her hand, the items floated mid-air in front of Yvette.
Yvette, who has already started cultivating, could detect the appearance of Qi surrounding the floating items, which showed that Nastaran is using her Qi to cause the items to float in mid-air.
Nastaran then started waving her hand in the air, followed by the movement of the brush as it dipped into the ink. It then moved towards the paper and started writing.
Realizing her intention, Yvette looked on tentatively at each and every movement of the brush.
Once the brush drew a last stroke, the symbol drawn on the inscribing paper shimmered with a green light. Then, the brush and the ink flew back into Nastaran’s pouch while the finished inscribing paper floated towards Yvette.
Looking at the symbol radiating green light, Yvette recognized it as the same symbol from the formation symbol book which she read the day before with the meaning of ‘Sharpness’.
“The green light which radiates from the inscription signifies that this is of the lowest grade, after that would be blue, red, orange, purple, and white as the most superior grade.”
Along with her words, the green light shimmering atop the inscription symbol slowly died, leaving only the golden symbol atop the inscribing paper shimmering with a faint luster.
“For today, try inscribing the symbol I have just made.”
She then handed the inscribed paper and a stack of blank inscribing papers to Yvette before sitting down in lotus position to meditate.
Not questioning her instructions, Yvette sat down with folded legs and placed the inscribing tools neatly before her.
As she held the inscription brush with her hand, her eyes slowly turned sharp as it focused only towards the inscription paper before her.
Unlike when she held the formation pen, her hand did not tremble in the slightest, showing the improvement she garnered from her continuous engraving the day before.
When she finally finished inscribing the symbol, a green light shimmered atop the symbol. But in the next instant, the green light quickly darkened before disappearing, followed by the darkening of the golden symbol until it turned pitch black.
Yet, not a hint of surprise could be seen within Yvette. Instead, she looked towards Nastaran with a questioning gaze.
Noticing her gaze, Nastaran explained with closed eyes.
“Unlike rune formation, the inscribing process is much stricter with a slight mistake able to cause the whole inscription to become useless. The symbol and light turning dark is an indication of this.”
Hearing her words, Yvette nodded and once again focused her mind on inscribing, once again inscribing the same symbol repetitively without knowing about rest.
As time passed unknowingly, the sun hung right in the middle of the sky, indicating the time as mid-day.
But for Yvette who has been focusing on inscribing all this time, how much time has passed does not matter.
Currently, only half of the stack of inscription paper is left, while dozens of failed inscriptions could be seen piling right next to it.
And now, as Yvette drew a last stroke onto the inscribing paper, completing the symbol drawn on it as green light shimmered upon the symbol.
As moments passed, the green light shimmered softly without any sign of darkening until when the green light dimmed and leaving behind the golden symbol inscribed onto the paper.
“Congratulations, you have made your first inscription.”
Turning around, Yvette saw Nastaran looking at her with a slight smile.
Nastaran then stood up and waved her sleeve, causing the inscribing paper to float towards her with her Qi. When the inscribing paper arrived before her, she carefully examined it before giving a slight nod and collecting the paper into her pouch.
“This concludes today’s lesson.”
Saying that, Nastaran stood up and walked away. Seeing this, Yvette stood up and was about to leave for the Pavilion of Knowledge, when she suddenly heard a voice drift into her ears.
“You have four days of rest. In that time, you may do as you please before once again having lessons for the three days after. But I advise you to visit your parents in the Main Peak.”
When she turned to look, not even a shadow could be seen, hence after looking thoughtfully for a moment, she softly muttered, “Understood.” Before continuing to walk away.
After cleaning herself in the bath, Yvette once again arrived at the Pavilion of Knowledge. This time, seeing her arrival, the old protector no longer looked surprised, and simply greeted her.
“You are rather early today, is there anything I may do for you?”
After greeting her back, Yvette did not hesitate and politely refused her before continuing into the pavilion.
Inside, she did not look around the bookshelves one by one and directly went to the bookshelf with the label ‘Medicine’ attached onto it.
There, she directly went to the location where she found the ragged book from before.
She could see that the book was still placed there without a change. But without giving much thought about it, she simply took the book and went to the table where she read yesterday.
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