Groan.
A boy opened his eyes, wincing at the moonlight shining into them. He held his throbbing head as he tried to adjust his position. When he attempted to stand, he swayed for a moment before finally regaining his balance.
He took a deep breath and stretched his stiff body. Then he paused, his eyes widening with amazement as he examined his arms. He quickly checked his stomach and chest.
"Where are the bruises?"
Still doubting his eyes, he wondered, Am I dead? No. The throbbing in his head suggested otherwise.
The bruises were gone, which seemed strange. Nothing about this was normal. This doesn't look normal in any way. Did some master pass by and give me a healing herb?
He looked around, searching for a hint of what might have happened, but found nothing. He returned to his cave, his mind still occupied with processing the strange events. Eventually, he sighed in defeat.
Growl.
His belly growled, reminding him that he still needed to eat. He quickly prepared his supper. Feeling refreshed, he decided not to return to sleep. Instead, he began practising rune refinement.
Recently, Lican had been feeling as though his cultivation was on the verge of taking another step forward, yet something always seemed to hold him back, preventing him from crossing that final threshold. It was as if a barrier stood before him, one he couldn't see or understand, much less overcome.
He simply didn't know how to break through.
He needed guidance, someone who could point him in the right direction. Unfortunately, his father wasn't here to help him anymore.
Lican sighed, his mood sinking as he recalled the fight. If not for his rune inscriptions, he would have been crushed to pulp beneath the Mountain Ape's attacks. He could still remember every impact, the terrifying force behind each blow, and how helpless he would have been without the runes.
Since he couldn't find a way to break through his current cultivation bottleneck, he decided to focus on rune inscriptions instead. At least there, he had something he could work on by himself.
However, that presented another problem.
Using rune inscriptions too frequently placed considerable strain on the user. No matter how useful they were, their effects came at a cost, and Lican couldn't afford to ignore that weakness forever. He needed to find a way to withstand their effects without putting his body at risk.
Ordinarily, a cultivator's body would grow stronger with every breakthrough, allowing them to endure greater strain as their cultivation advanced. But Lican couldn't even cross the threshold before him. How was he supposed to strengthen his body when he couldn't advance his cultivation in the first place?
The fight had made him realise just how vulnerable he was.
He had been lucky that the Mountain Ape knew nothing about rune inscriptions. Against an opponent who understood how they worked, things could have ended very differently. Someone stronger and more experienced might have recognised their limitations and exploited them before Lican could react.
Rune inscriptions weren't something he could rely on indefinitely. They were slow to activate, and their effects lasted only a short time, sometimes mere seconds. Against a sufficiently powerful opponent, those few seconds could determine whether he lived or died.
He couldn't afford to keep relying on luck.
It wasn't the fault of the talismans. His understanding was simply too poor. He hadn't even been practising rune inscriptions for that long. If he had mastered higher-level inscriptions, he could have wiped out a beast like the Mountain Ape within seconds.
Lican stared into space as he pondered his situation.
He didn't necessarily need stronger inscriptions right now. What he needed was a way to reduce the strain their use placed on him. But even that wasn't his only problem.
The talisman paper was too fragile.
He couldn't properly control it, let alone protect it from destruction. What would happen if he encountered an enemy in the rain? The paper could become soaked before he even had the chance to use an inscription, rendering his preparation useless.
His thoughts grew heavier.
He couldn't even afford the premium talisman papers, which were presumably more durable and better suited to the demands of combat. For now, he had to make do with what he could buy.
Lican sighed,He had along way to go.
Since he couldn't withstand the strain, Lican needed to find something that could compensate for his weakness. He picked up his father's manual and began turning its pages, searching for something useful. Unfortunately, most of the runic drawings and their explanations remained blurred, just as they had been since the day he obtained the book. No matter how many times he tried to examine them, he couldn't make out their contents. Eventually, he set the manual aside and sank into thought.
A weapon? That might improve his chances of survival, but not by much. At best, it would increase his chances by ten percent, and he didn't have enough money to purchase a decent one anyway. His gaze fell upon the chain lying beside him. Picking it up, he turned it over in his hands as an idea began to take shape. If he could make his chain more lethal, it might become a trump card he could rely on when facing stronger opponents.
Clink!
Lican loosened the chain and inspected it before reaching for the manual again. There were several categories of rune inscriptions. Weapon Inscription Runes could be carved onto weapons to enhance their abilities, while Formation Runes could be used to construct formations capable of manipulating the environment, defending territories, trapping enemies, or producing other extraordinary effects. Then there were Talisman Runes, which could be sealed onto paper or other materials and activated to release their stored power.
Lican paused as his eyes lingered on the words sealed onto paper or other materials. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, and his eyes widened. What if he used a material far stronger than ordinary talisman paper? His gaze slowly shifted towards the chain in his hand as he considered the possibility. For a moment, he remained silent, examining the links as a new idea began to take shape in his mind.