6 Inscription Patterns

Another way of making money was to create inscription scrolls. Nie Li was an expert at inscriptions. Much better than he was at Alchemy.

But there wasn't an organization of independent Inscriptionists in Glory City like an Alchemy Association. So he will be forced to work with one of the big families and that was dangerous. They will try to control him and there's no way he is going to agree to it.

The only way to make it profitable and acceptable for him was to make high-ranked inscription scrolls. At least Silver or Gold-ranked scrolls. He may even rope his Heavenly Marks family into it. At the moment only large families created any kind of inscription scrolls. But their quality is quite low. So he can even help his family this way.

Of course to create a high-ranked inscription scroll one must have an equivalent or higher rank of cultivation. In other words, a silver rank demon spiritualist cannot create a gold rank inscription scroll, because his soul force will not be enough to power the inscription. But he had an idea how to get around this limitation.

He will create an enchanted pen that would hold a high-ranked demon spirit to power the inscriptions. He will have to only control the process, which would mean he will spend only a fraction of the power required to create the scroll. Theoretically, Nie Li could bring it down to 10 percent. That would mean a Bronze Rank demon spiritualist with a soul force of 100, could create Silver rank inscription scrolls.

But that's for the future when he reaches the Bronze rank. Right now he has to only cultivate.

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Today was Shen Xiu's lesson again. Her lessons were always boring. Nie Li, Du Ze, and Lu Piao were at the back, chatting among themselves. Close to them was the rest of their study group. Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er were in the front row as always. Nie Li noticed Xiao Ning'er looking in their direction a couple of times but she didn't approach. That's good. He will see her later at the training grounds. He will bring a book about the Arctic Cold Disease and Instructions for the Daoyin technique.

Ye Ziyun was as nice as he remembered. Despite her status, she didn't keep a distance from other students. She had already many friends in the class. She is actually attending school to make friends and to make up with Xiao Ning'er. Maybe he can help her with that.

And there was Shen Yue, sitting in his corner alone. With his status, he couldn't be bothered to interact with the other students in the class. The only reason he attended classes was Ye Ziyun. He hoped to marry her. It didn't worry Nie Li at all because he knew that marriage is never going to happen. And Shen Yue was just a small fish in a small pond.

As the bell started to ring, Shen Xiu walked into the classroom. Unlike her usual arrogant attitude, she had a gentle smile on her face today.

'So today was the day' thought Nie Li.

Shen Xiu began her lecture "Today we're going to talk about Inscription Patterns. Whether you are fighters or demon spiritualists, Inscription Patterns are very important. Inscription patterns are divided into two areas, respectively the Enchanting Patterns and the Battle Patterns."

'You forgot about the Array Patterns' thought Nie Li as Shen Xiu babbled on.

"Inscription Patterns are extremely profound and mysterious. They have been around since the Snow Wind Empire era. They have been continuously improved through the ages. But during the Age of Darkness, the entire continent was under the attack of innumerable demon beasts. Glory City only managed to inherit a small portion of them, coming from three categories. Snow Wind patterns, Sacred Flaming patterns, War Prime patterns. Which are Snow Wind attributes, Fire attributes, and Neutral attributes"

From the novel memories, Nie Li knew about the three people outside the class observing the lesson. One of them was Ye Shuo, the Snow Wind family's spymaster. Others were vice-principal of the Holy Orchid Institute Ye Sheng and teacher Lu Ye. They were looking for new talents amongst new students.

While in class Shen Xiu continued her lecture, "In the research on Sacred Flaming Patterns, the Sacred family no doubt has a well-deserved lead!"

"The Sacred Flaming Patterns has 66 foundation patterns. This pattern for example…," She drew a pattern on the blackboard, "This is the Scarlet Sunburst Pattern. This pattern was created by the Sacred family's founder. It's the most powerful Bronze rank pattern! This pattern is made up of 36 foundation patterns combined together. It's also the most complex Bronze rank pattern"

"Uh teacher, you mean 38 foundation patterns" Nie Li interrupted her.

Shen Xiu looked perplexed, "What?"

"The Scarlet Sunburst Pattern. It consists of 38 foundation patterns, not 36," Nie Li deliberated, "It's just 4 foundation patterns combined into 2 patterns, and beginners may confuse them for a single foundation pattern."

Shen Xiu angrily spoke, "Don't speak nonsense. You think you're better than the Sacred family's inscription experts?"

"Of course not. I don't think the Sacred Family's experts would call it the most powerful Bronze rank pattern. Because they know its uses are rather limited. Maximum, it can be used to boil water. More likely, it's just a training pattern created by the Sacred family's founder. That would explain the pattern's complexity as well." Nie Li answered thoughtfully.

Shen Xiu was red from anger and embarrassment, "Sit down. This is not a discussion. Don't interrupt me anymore". She will check it with the elders in her family just in case. If the kid is wrong, she will make him suffer. No, she will make him suffer even if he is right. He embarrassed her in front of the VIP guests. She couldn't press any further either, with them watching.

Shen Xiu continued her lecture. But didn't show any practical examples anymore.

Students looked at Nie Li with awe. Even though they couldn't understand it themselves, the way Nie Li talked, holding himself confidently, bought them over to his side. Only Shen Yue looked disgruntled. Xiao Ning'er and Ye Ziyun both looked impressed.

'Well, what can I say? I'm that impressive' Nie Li silently praised himself.

All of this show was to get Ye Ziyun's attention. Even though he decided to wait a bit before starting a relationship, he should at least befriend her in order to gift her a new cultivation technique in the future.

And it won't bring Sacred family's hatred on his head as well. He didn't call their founder a plagiarist. Embarrassed a teacher from their family? It's not such a serious matter for the Sacred family to interfere. More likely they would tell her to deal with it herself. And she wasn't as insane as Shen Fei to send assassins for the slightest bit of provocation.

And revealing the dirty secrets of the Sacred Family at the moment would be useless. Of course, their reputation will take a hit. But the main events are still very far away. All this will be forgotten by then. And putting constant pressure on the Sacred Family? That's beyond his ability right now.

And also, he might have attracted the attention of the bigshots outside the classroom. Then he may even get some goodies from them. But let's not put the cart in front of the horse.

When the lesson ended and Shen Xiu left, Nie Li was quickly surrounded by his friends.

"That was awesome" shouted Lu Piao. The rest of his friends looked like they agreed as well.

"I like Inscriptions," he answered humbly, "There were some books on the theme in our family library."

"Ah, her face was like..." continued Lu Piao laughing.

"And you shouldn't laugh at our teacher," Nie Li interrupted him quickly, noticing Shen Yue approaching, "She is a demon spiritualist, not an inscriptions master. It's easy to confuse if you're not an expert."

"Hmph" Shen Yue passed by, not saying a word.

Du Ze noticed it and looked at him, nodded imperceptibly. And then hit the back of Lu Piao's head. The kid was very sharp.