Inscription

It was too early in the morning. Little Yue was still soaking in the bath. I made myself a tea and opened my Inscription notes for review. As far as I could tell, this was a shortcut to all sorts of arcane powers and even godhood. And it was an even bigger mess than alchemy.

Glory City had three Inscription systems commonly called 'Patterns': Snow Wind, Sacred Flame, War Prime. Each system can be divided into 3 parts: sigils (called 'Foundation Patterns'), application rules (which cover materials, interactions between sigils, inscription methods), and a list of actual inscriptions (sigils weaved into a working pattern).

I started my research with Sacred Flame pattern. Took all sigils and arranged them by the geometry, which gave me a list of their building blocks. Then wrote effect under each sigil, finding common points within each group, providing insight into the meaning of each block. Then did the same for interaction rules. Lastly tested different blood and scale for each sigil. Then I rearranged information into a number of tables, which gave me a framework to streamline further research. I was sure that big sis would be impressed.

There was so much to do, yet my time was up. Yue'er has finished her cultivation session and began preparing breakfast. I took this chance to clean myself. Both breakfast and bento were bigger and fancier than usual, probably Yue took the dinner as a challenge to her skill. I was perfectly happy about that - the scent of blood (from my tests) got my hungry up. On my way out I asked the girl to study a couple of other common plants.

Today's lesson was the history of Glory City with teacher Rong. Zi Yun was smiling and said that she heard about my invention, Nie Li was sleeping with open eyes. Lessons itself was mostly about dates of demonic beast invasions and heroic feats of previous city lords. It was whitewashed tale where all people were good and all demonic beasts were evil. Maybe I was too cynical, but it sounded too much like a coverup for some huge betrayal.

Once the lesson was over, I rushed to brought my Inscription notes to the big sister's office. Surprisingly she didn't come. After half an hour of waiting, I went to the library and began researching sigils of Snow Wind and War Prime Patterns. I couldn't test them yet, but I could at least begin filling certain tables.

I was noting building blocks found in these two systems when I found Zi Yun sitting across from me. "Snow Wind and War Prime Patterns?" - she asked.

"I'm a scholar, what did you expect?" - Inscriptions and alchemy are the most scholarly subjects around here.

"Don't know - you changed, so I don't know what to expect." - I didn't like where it was going.

"We are adults now, our childhood has ended." - I knew someone would ask.

"Yeah, you are right. I thought adults are people like a father or teacher Shen, turns out I was silly." - she agreed sadly.

"So what did you hear about?" - I asked.

"Cultivation platforms," - she instantly rebound, - "I know teacher Xiu hides your identity, but I was there when she departed towards carpenter guild. So when she arrived to report this invention, I knew it came from you." - she explained proudly.

"Yeah, it was me." - I admitted, then asked, - "Have you seen her today, by chance?"

"I have, I think she's at the guild, making an order on behalf of the Institute." - she explained.

"Didn't expect that, at all." - which earned a raised eyebrow.

"Ohh, it must be a small thing for you. But if you consider long-term ..." - she explained.

"Gains pile-up." - I simply lost perspective, thinking about those drugs that would come out rather soon.

"So what about patterns?" - her eyes were sparkling - "Did you find something new?"

"You can't just come and find something," - Boromir was great, - "It takes time."

"Promise to tell me," - her face was too close. Yes, she bowed over the table, I could look inside her dress (if she wasn't looking at my eyes so intently), and even smell her aroma (which was sweet).

"We can do it together, but it will my secret." - and there was a devious smile on her face.

"Count me in, partner." - Zi Yun sat next to me, curiously looking into my notes.

In spite of distraction, we actually got quite far, even identified a number of potential new sigils in some ancient tomes. She was practically vibrating with desire to run outside and test them herself. At the end of the school day, we agreed to compare our notes tomorrow.