Lifesaving Equipment

"So where to now?" Ye Ziyun asked Xiao Ning'Er. The sun was still high in the sky as they had not spent much time in the Guild of Inscriptionists.

"I'm going to do some shopping. Do you want to come?" Xiao Ning'Er replied.

Ziyun nodded as her eyes glowed with delight. This was what she had missed out on over the years without a close friend. For the longest time, she had gone straight home after school to painstakingly cultivate in order to meet her father's expectations. But no matter what, she had not passed his requirements as he turned his attention to her foster brother, who had better innate talent, instead.

She walked alongside Xiao Ning'Er as they joked about how immature some of the boys in class were, and was surprised when her friend stopped at a shop she did not expect. Instead of a clothing or jewelry store, it was a shop where adventurers would come and sell the carcasses of the wild beasts they killed and the valuable materials they found out in the forest. The shop would then process them for sale.

"I would like purchase 10 vials of silver ranked beast blood of the lightning attribute, and 10 vials of silver ranked beast blood of the wind attribute. I would also like the skin of a razorbacked chameleon, enough to make two cloaks, and finally, I want to get 30 sheets of paper made from the Alderblood tree." Xiao Ning'Er told the clerk at the front desk.

All these materials were not common ones but also not very rare, either. The shop had stocks for them and the clerk tallied up the total, "That will be 4,500 demon spirit coins." he said, skeptical that she would be able to pay this amount because it was more than his annual salary! He had not realised that she had access to far more than this as a key member of the Winged Dragon Family.

As they left the store, Ziyun was still feeling a bit disappointed at the 'shopping trip' and asked, "Are you going to tell me what you bought these for?"

Xiao Ning'Er tapped her right index finger on her cheek a few times as if wondering whether to reveal a secret, before finally saying, "I plan to make something tonight...for you!"

Ziyun immediately started shaking her head, "No, no, you've already given me too much and I'm starting to feel that this friendship is becoming imbalanced." She put her hands on her hips, pretending to be angry.

Xiao Ning'Er shrugged helplessly. "Well...is there anything that would make you feel like it's more balanced...since, you know, your daddy's so rich?" She winked at her friend.

Ziyun thought for a moment, "I know!! In about a week, Chen Linjian, the direct descendant of the Divine Family, invited me to go along on an exploration to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins. He's bringing along a small group of people and asked us to keep it completely secret. I'm sure I could ask him a favour to bring you along. If you manage to get any valuable treasure there, then we can call it even!"

Xiao Ning'Er was startled for a moment as she began to remember back on some of the stories that Ziyun herself had told her in their past life. In these ruins was where Ziyun had some early encounters with Nie Li, which formed the foundation of their blossoming relationship.

As Xiao Ning'Er thought back to some of these early memories, she suddenly remembered something that Nie Li had asked her to do in the past. There would be some delay before the Guild of Inscriptions could create the products and sell them anyway, aside from the cultivation benefits from the herb she was thinking about, and so any funds coming in earlier would help.

"Sure, I'd love to go along on the exploration!" She told Ziyun. "Actually...Ziyun, could you also do me a big favour? Could you help me to buy up all the Purple Haze Grass available in Glory City? I can't explain why now but you'll find out soon. Here's the money for it..." In her past life, she had gotten into trouble with her family when they got greedy after hearing about the increasing prices of this herb. If Ziyun could purchase it for her, then she would not draw this unnecessary attention from the elders of her Winged Dragon family.

Ziyun waved the money away, smiling, "The cultivation technique you gave me is worth many times more than the couple of hundred thousand demon spirit coins needed to buy the Purple Haze Grass. Let me at least cover the cost of it as a small thank you to you."

"In that case, thanks so much in advance! I need to go now so I have enough time to do what I need to tonight. I'll bring along your gift by the time we go off to Ancient Orchid City." Xiao Ning'Er replied as they waved their goodbyes to each other.

Xiao Ning'Er arrived back at her private courtyard and said to herself, "I'm going to need to hurry a bit. There are only two hours until sundown and I need to break through to bronze rank before I can do what I want to do. Yesterday when I tested, I had already reached a soul force of 98 so just a little bit more."

She sat down and cultivated diligently. Within her soul realm, she could start to see cracks appear on the barrier to bronze rank as though it were ready to burst. She felt more and more pressure build up in her soul realm as if a pastry had been stuffed too full with filling, when suddenly...

Boom!

Xiao Ning'Er felt a sensation like a dam bursting and a force surged out within her soul like a wild raging whirlpool, rotating round and round with incredible power. She heard the Winged Dragon form in her soul realm roar with increasing intensity in her head, and then the soul force began to fuse together in a concentrated sphere of white lightning.

1-star bronze rank!

Her body visibly radiated with a strong cyan hue and she felt the increase in strength as she cracked her knuckles and stretched out her shoulders. The sun was just beginning to set.

Time to get to work.

First, she collected all the pieces of razorbacked chameleon skin and sewed them together into two separate cloaks with neat, tidy stitches. While alive, these creatures were among the best at hiding and disguise in the forest, able to change the colour of their skin at will to evade predators, and Xiao Ning'Er had found a way to draw out this potential in their skin through the power of inscriptions. She smiled as she remembered that this was one of the inventions that had left Nie Li astonished and received his commendation.

She had modified a wind-based illusion inscription to be used on these cloaks, causing anyone who looked at the person wearing it to only be able to see a blurred visual outline. If the person scanned their eyes quickly, they would likely completely miss seeing the one wearing the cloak. At the very least, it would leave them confused for a moment, unable to figure out why that particular section they were looking at was a blurred shape.

This was even more effective on beasts without intellectual thought processes. If the user stayed still or moved very slowly, most beasts would not be able to see the person at all. Of course, they could still rely on their sense of smell and hearing but visually, it would almost be as though the person were invisible to them.

Usually with inscriptions, the inscriptionist has to be the same rank or higher than the inscription he or she is creating, but because of the legendary cultivation technique that she practiced, it enabled her soul force to be of a much higher density and purity. Therefore when inscribing, she was able to jump ranks by one level. Tonight, she would be making cloaks that could affect enemies up to silver rank.

Another advantage of this cloak was that it required very little soul force to activate and sustain because it was more of a passive effect than a direct battle ability. Once a physical melee started, it would be difficult for a user to maintain the controlled, steady flow of soul force required to create the illusion effect. She had named these cloaks in the past for fun as 'Cloaks of Misdirection'.

She picked up a thin brush, dipped it into a vial of beast blood, then breathed in and out slowly, as she channeled just the correct amount of soul force into the blood at the tip of the brush. Then she fixed her eyes on the first cloak and started to draw the precise and artistic strokes needed to form the inscription. Her arm hardly moved as she focused on using only her fingers and wrist to enable her drawing to be pinpoint and meticulous.

This was one of the more complex inscriptions she had used in her past life but she had created enough of them to be very experienced in the process. Over and over, she dipped the brush into the vial when the blood needed to be replenished. It was tough work to maintain her soul force at the exact level required, especially when she had only just reached bronze rank, and beads of sweat dripped from her forehead to the ground over and over.

After many long hours, she was finally done. She took a step back as she admired the creations that lay in front of her as though she were looking at works of art.

Now was the real test.

She draped one of the dark grey cloaks over her shoulders and lifted the hood over her head. Looking in the mirror, she activated a small amount of soul force as she held her breath, praying that she had not made any errors in the inscription. The slightest deviation in angles or thickness of the brush stroke could result in a complete failure. This was why it was so expensive for an inscriptionist to do research.

With a sigh of relief, she saw the familiar shimmer of the scales on the cloak, as though it were alive and moving around like waves crashing on a beach. But within less than a second, all she could see was a blurred outline of herself, where she had blink hard a few times to get used to the sight. Even after her eyes adjusted, the mirror image remained blur and indistinct.

She was ecstatic with happiness. This could be an important, potentially lifesaving, piece of equipment when Ziyun and her go to the Ancient Orchid City. She quickly tested the other cloak, verifying that it too, worked.

'Soon, Glory City is going to see inscriptions and applications like they've never seen before', she thought with anticipation.

She had been so excited and focused that she had not noticed that dawn had just arrived outside. She had worked all night! She suddenly realised how exhausted she was after almost completely depleting her soul force to create the cloaks, and she fell into bed, fast asleep.