Madam Lin shook her head, "we are always in need of more potions, but these ones are common products. We can easily buy them. There is no need for you to produce them. What I mean is, if you can already concoct such medicine at your age, then that shows you have the talent to be a pill master. If you can become one, then you can be a valuable asset to this clan."
"I will follow mother's guidance. If that is what mother asked of me, I will gladly give all my best to it."
Madam Lin nodded, "you are truly as obedient as Hei Pho described." She then took out three books and gave them to Amon.
"These are the books about engraving that you asked for," Madam Lin said.
Amon accepted the books and bowed in gratitude.
"I will have the servants take your order if you need more ingredients, I will increase your budget. If you need to read more books, you can come to my house. There is a small library on the first floor. Keep up the good work."
As Madam Lin left the premises, Amon watched her back with a grin.
*
Amon returned to his previous routine in the following days. Cultivate at night, practice martial arts in the morning, study the engraving method and experiment on poison in the afternoon.
However, he didn't practice to improve his mastery of the three martial arts in his arsenal. Instead, he learned new arts. Apart from the arcane art books, he had put away two martial art books from Hei Gong's collection. One was an art to be used with a bow, which he had no access to at the moment. The other one was for usage with throwing weapons, which he could use in conjunction with the seventeen throwing knives in his possession.
The martial art for throwing weapons was called Hundred Shooting Stars. It revolved around imbuing the weapon with aether to strengthen it and using the aether to reduce the friction of the air, allowing the thrown weapon to move faster and straighter. The aether that accompanied the weapon created a trail of light that made it look like a shooting star when the weapon was thrown.
Although he was excellent in close combat, his strong suit had always been ranged weapons. His accuracy and speed in marking a target were inhuman. That's how he had become such a legend on the battlefield in his past life. Although there were no firearms in this world, throwing weapons or bows could be a replacement.
He didn't think the Lin clan would grant him a weapon. They had not even given him any aid in cultivation and martial arts. All he was learning in those fields were from what he had pillaged from the Hei clan. The Lin clan seemed to only be interested in developing him into a pill master. He didn't think it was strange, he was an outsider after all. Despite Madam Lin saying she had adopted him, he was not of their blood. They wouldn't waste resources to help him become stronger. While if he was a pill master, no matter how talented he was, he could still be controlled. After all, power was everything. So, it should still be a long time before he could get a bow.
He also had to think about how to proceed once he reached the beginning Mystic stage of the Martial realm. His current cultivation method only allowed him that far. If the Lin clan did not deem him worthwhile or trustable enough to be given cultivation art for higher levels, he would be stuck there. But that was still a long time from now, he would observe things first before he made further plans.
In the first week that he learned Hundred Shooting Stars, his thrown knife could penetrate halfway into a solid concrete from fifteen meters away. After the range of fifteen, he noticed the light accompanying the knife starting to dim. Its strength was severely diminished after passing that fifteen meters mark.
Range-wise, it was hardly comparable to firearms. However, their strength was no joke. To be able to cut into solid concrete like that, normal human flesh would stand no chance.
His study on engraving was also proceeding well as each day passed. Two of the three books Madam Lin gave him only taught the basic principle of Engraving. In short, the process of engraving was the process of etching the word of power onto an item.
There were many words of power. The words were not the common language people used, but rather, mysterious runes that when formed, carried with them some kind of power. No one knows who invented these runes or how they came to be, but they had been passed down since time immemorial.
The third book that Madam Lin gave him was a collection of the most basic words of power. To Amon, these so-called words of power were non-sensical scribblings that carried no meaning. He had no idea why a simple act of engraving these shapes onto an object would give it miraculous power.
The words themselves were not fixed, they could be formed by different kinds of runes. When formed incorrectly, or if the lines were drawn wrong, there would not create any effect. But when certain runes were arranged accordingly at particular positions and shapes, they would produce an effect. The scope of how many words of power existed in this world was still being studied. Even many of the highest rank engravers were still doing experiments with the runes to find out a new combination to produce a new word of power.
Of course, not everyone could apply the engraving even if they knew the rune combination, because the fuel to inject the engravings into an object was the aether itself. Also, the precision that was required in the process was brutal, a small deviation of the lines would likely cause the engraving to fail. Being extremely meticulous was the most basic requirement to be an engraver.
Amon had no problem focusing on a job. He could force himself to be meticulous if he needed to be. After studying the details, again and again, he started to experiment with the process. He used a simple stone as the trial object, and a kitchen knife as the engraving tool.
He followed the instruction from the book on how to manipulate the Aether through the knife and had it seeped into the stone as he scraped the tip of the knife onto the stone's surface. He picked the easiest word of power, which was a combination of the two simplest runes. The effect of this word of power was said to increase the durability of the object, making it harder to break.
Of course, the process was harder than he thought. It was sort of like carving strange drawings onto an object, while at the same time focusing to divert invisible energy along with the carving. The process also couldn't stop mid-way. The engraving process had to progress continuously. If the supply of aether was broken, the entire energy that had been applied previously would disperse, and the engraving failed.
Another restriction was that the amount of aether injected along the engraving had to be equal. Thus, the speed of one's engraving had to be stable. If one slowed down and the aether accumulated too much in one part, the engraving would fail as well.
Amon failed numerous times and damaged many stones. Those that had been carved partway couldn't be used anymore, so he had to start over by using fresh stone.
Days passed, then weeks. He exhausted the entire stones in his courtyard and he started to use other things. Branches, parts of furniture which he broke down to pieces, then he went and search for the stones at the larger courtyards outside.
His focus and determination were relentless. More than three months had passed since he started learning engravings before he had his first success. The stone with which the word of power was completed, had the carved parts shone for a bit, highlighting the runic symbol on it, before reverting to its original state as if nothing had ever happened. But he could feel a change in the stone. He tried to exert pressure on it. The stone resisted. Normally it would have been shattered to bits by his strength.
He felt abounding excitement from the success, but he didn't slack off. He continued to practice the engraving, with even more intensity now. Another month passed, and he had reached a probability where he was successful six times every ten tries.
His cultivation and martial arts practice did not slacken despite the engraving study. His Hundred Shooting Stars reached Skilled mastery, where the knife he threw could now fully embed into the concrete from a distance of twenty meters away.
He had also entered the intermediate Mortal stage, one month earlier than he predicted.
At this time, he had to stop his practice because Madam Lin called for him.