next day, early morning.
Levi was sitting in the same spot, trying, but failing to make a certain inscription. he was trying to make the blood energy version of the absorption inscription, using the calligraphy-like structure, but it was proving difficult. it was hard since, although he knew about the calligraphy structure, he still had to change certain things in different inscriptions. so essentially, he had to change the right thing in different inscriptions, every time, in order to make working blood energy inscriptions. "..." he silently continued. a few minutes later, he had finally completed the inscription, as he released a breath. "...." he picked up the gold coin and looked at it.
during the time he time he was making this inscription he realised something. he had changed the core part of the inscription, which enabled him to make it successfully. and looking back, what he changed in the heating inscription was also the core part. which meant that as long as he found the core or main part of an inscription, he would be able to successfully make it with blood energy, as long as he made the right changes. next was the release inscription. instead of trying and failing over and over again, he made the patterns and stacked them, before searching for the core with mental energy. a few minutes later, he found the core. after a few failures, he had completed the release inscription. as he thought, even if he knew where the core was, the problem was making the right changes to it.
getting up from his cross-legged position, he walked into the forge. after opening the door, he looked inside only to see a large wooden staircase leading down. the floor was a few feet below the ground, with each furnace made into the sides of the walls. ignoring the heat, he walked towards the bald man. in a bucket of oil, 5 blades sat. " hey." levi spoke. " hmm?" the man looked around, only to see a gold coin flying towards him. he caught the coin and looked at it, seeing calligraphy style symbols on both sides. " what is this?" the man asked. " the inscriptions that i will put on the swords." Levi said. "...ah!" the man stood silently for a while, before realizing something. Levi wanted him to test the inscriptions. he cautiously held the the coin between the tips of his fingers, remembering what happened with the blade. vviviv! as he poured qi into the coin, it began to vibrate, but noting happened afterward.
" huh?" the man brought the coin close to his face, as he looked at it. " it's not working?" he mumbled, confused. "..." seeing this, Levi took the coin form the man's hand, and turned around to leave. " wait!" the man shouted as he rummaged through some things around the furnace. " here, i finished repairing your sabre." he handed Levi a fully repaired sabre. " but although it has been repaired, you should still be cautious. swords that have broken once will most likely break again, so you should change your weapon as soon as possible!" the man said, a serious look on his face. Levi found it funny that the only time when the man put on such an expression, was when he was talking about swords. " hmm.." he replied before leaving. as he walked out, Levi poured blood energy into the coin, and the same thing happened again. after a few minutes of thinking, he found the reason. the two inscriptions were separate, which meant that the qi being stored in the absorption inscription had no way to get to the release inscription. there was only one solution to this problem that he could think of, and that was to somehow connect the two inscriptions.
sitting in the corner of the display room, an image of old gray constructing the yin yang seal appeared in his mind. he had looked over this multiple times, but only casually. since it was only a memory, the image was not clear, making it harder for Levi to gain insights. after musing over the information for a few minutes, Levi opened his eyes, a dim gleam flickering in his eyes. he released his blood energy and started to construct the inscription patterns. he completed the first 5 patterns easily, but it was harder going into the remaining 5 patterns, as he still had to keep the first five together, forcing him to split his concentration.
after a few minutes, sweat covered Levi's face, as he began forcefully constructing the final pattern. "..huff...." after successfully constructing the final pattern, Levi panted softly as sweat flowed down his face. the patterns were then stacked easily, leaving two inscriptions floating in front of Levi. he then placed the inscriptions parallel to each other, and grudgingly began constructing something between them, fusing them together. "hmm?" he felt that he had succeeded too easily, as he implanted the now fused inscription into a coin. vivivi! after pouring what remaining blood energy he had left into the inscription, it simply vibrated as the energy was stored, but it was not released.
devoid of blood energy, he could only wait until it returned. 30 minutes later, his blood energy had returned, and he began trying something else. fog rose from his feet and shoulders, as he constructed an inscription from it. he had a thought, if he could see how inscriptions were structured in detail, he would be able to alter them as he pleased. after the patterns were constructed with the fog, he stacked them like normal, before increasing the size of the finished inscription. slashing with his hand, he removed the tip of the inscription, and looked over it. what he saw was, just fog, no structure to be seen.
after a bit of thought, he decided to go see old gray. leaving the workshop, he headed for the clothes shop. the bell on the door rang as he pushed it. " what can i do for you, sir?" an attendant appeared before asking. ignoring the attendant, Levi made his way through the clothes that were on display, and arrived before the door to the back room. " oh? what do you need, boy." old gray looked slightly surprised. "...wahahahaha!" after explaining the situation to old gray, he burst out laughing. "..." levi just stood silently. " you wanted to connect two different inscriptions?! at your level?! Haha!" he laughed again. " ah...you know, there are certain inscriptions for things like absorbing and releasing, for swords and such." old gray said, wiping a tear from his eye. afterward, he dissapeared, before reappearing, a large book with a black cover in his hand.
bam! as the book was dropped onto the table, the table's legs trembled under it's weight. flip! old gray opened the book, which was as thick as an adult's thigh, and stopped at one of the first pages. " here, the starlight inscription." old gray pointed to a diagram on the book. " this is an inscription mainly used by beginners to practice, since it is made to both channel and release qi." old gray explained, as Levi read it's description, which stated. ' the starlight inscription is mainly used in weapons. the sword is one of the most common vessels used, since the starlight inscription is more compatible with slash type weapons. when the inscription is activated, the qi cycles through it for a few times, before it is released. the speed of the released qi is a result of the cycling, while the inscription get's it's name from the light sparkling around the qi which is released, resembling stars in night the sky.'
" look at these." Levi suddenly remembered something, as he handed old gray two gold coins with blood energy inscriptions. "hmm? what are these supposed to be?" old gray said. " heat inscriptions." Levi said. " heat inscriptions? both of them?" old gray asked doubtfully. he wondered why Levi would give him two of the same inscriptions. the two coins floated from his palms, as qi poured into them. boom! the sound of a small explosion rang out as one coin exploded, while only after old gray pumped more qi into the remaining coin did it heat up the gold coin to the point of melting.
" hmmm. i'm guessing you want to know why they are like this?" old gray asked as he looked at Levi, who lightly nodded his head. " you were lucky to discover these two inscriptions. one of them absorbs qi, and activates incredibly fast. but it is because of that speed that it's vessel is destroyed every time it is used. so unless it was implanted into a material which could withstand the explosion of energy, this inscription is basically useless. as for the second one, this one is slightly different from that one. this inscription actually compresses qi, before it activates. this makes it activate slower, and consumes more qi. but then it activates, gradually releasing the compressed qi at a reasonable pace. since more qi is compressed, when it is released, it would also be more powerful. but again, after a few uses of this inscription, unless the vessel could withstand the constant damage done by the concentrated qi, it will break." old gray explained in a few breaths.
"....if the vessel breaks in the end, why did you say that i was lucky to discover them?" Levi asked, confused. " that's because, if you were to combine these inscriptions, you would be able to get the better of both. the speed of the first one, and the compression and gradual release of the second one." old gray said with a grin. "...thank you." Levi said lightly as he turned around, about to leave. "boy, so you can construct inscriptions with that strange energy of yours, hmmm...." Levi's body froze, as old grays voice rang out. he had a bad feeling.
"since that is the case...."old gray paused, as a dark grin appeared on his face. " we can continue our training session." old gray currently looked like a devil, and Levi, a sacrificial lamb. " hmm? i almost forgot. you are in the middle of some plan, i guess it will have to wait. " old gray said as he came to the realization. " but don't make me wait too long." the smile returned, as he spoke with a laugh. Levi almost tripped on his way out, his heart racing. he wasn't afraid of many things, but that old man was definitely one of them. after calming himself down, he went back to his room in the inn. sitting on his bed, he began constructing patterns, attempting to make the starlight inscription.
...
the sun was on the horizon again, as Levi waited for his blood energy to return. he tried and failed to make the starlight inscription, over and over. but during this resting period, he went over the information about the starlight inscription, and felt like he understood it enough to successfully make it with blood energy. but the reason why he failed so many times wasn't because of the inscription itself, it was because he was trying to make a combination of the water-like inscription and the calligraphy-like inscription. for this reason, the level of difficulty rose significantly. after a few more minutes, his blood energy returned, and he tried again. but as he failed yet again, he decided to try making it with just the calligraphy structured inscription.