After several days of hard labor, Chu Yi finally earned enough travel expenses and decided to embark on a journey to a nearby city. Although the odd jobs he did in the village paid little, they were enough to support his initial plans. During this time, life was not easy for Chu Yi. He had to endure long hours of physical work every day and occasionally faced some high-ranking villagers who bullied others. Chu Yi's spiritual power was weak; while no one would confront him directly, he still felt an invisible pressure. Those arrogant scions of prominent families would occasionally cast disdainful glances at him, sometimes intentionally bumping into him or making sarcastic remarks. Although they didn't actually harm him, the oppressive feeling left Chu Yi with a constant sense of unease. He knew that if he continued to stay here, his life would only become more difficult. After all, the village was small, and nearly everyone revered the strong; his mere 2 points of spiritual power made him nothing more than a laughingstock.
"If I keep staying here, I'll just be trapped," Chu Yi thought to himself. He understood that studying inscriptions here was not a long-term solution; the village was resource-poor, and opportunities were limited, making breakthroughs impossible. Furthermore, he needed a more secluded environment, especially for his plans to conduct secret experiments with inscriptions. In this world, where spiritual power was paramount, knowledge of inscriptions, though underestimated, could bring unexpected trouble if he drew attention with any progress. "With this money, I can at least afford a temporary stay in the city, and I can slowly develop my plans for studying inscriptions," he mused. He realized that, despite his current limited abilities, once he made breakthroughs in his research, the future would be full of endless possibilities. After all, he possessed knowledge of the ancient language, which was clearly a significant advantage in this world. At this moment, Chu Yi bought the ancient book from the old man with the money he earned and mentally prepared for his journey to the big city. He slung a simple cloth bag over his shoulder, containing some daily necessities and that mysterious book that might change his fate. He felt little attachment to the village and set out for the city without a hint of nostalgia.
After all the bustling work in the village, he had no time to explore it properly. As he stepped out of the village gate, a different scenery unfolded before him. On the edge of the village, the fields stretched wide, with rolling hills and a herd of spiritual beasts gradually disappearing over the horizon. Chu Yi paused for a moment, gazing at the scenery before him. Though this land was barren, it was also the starting point of his life after crossing into this world. In his original world, the pressure of life had plunged him into endless toil and fatigue. However, in this world filled with spiritual energy and unknowns, despite the dangers lurking everywhere—even in a small village, there were no good people—he felt an unprecedented sense of freedom. He straightened his clothes and stepped forward. On the path leading to the city, he occasionally saw some spiritual masters and warriors coming and going, most of them headed from the city to hunt spiritual beasts or train, equipped with various weapons and armor. They exuded an invisible, powerful aura that made it hard for Chu Yi to breathe, intensifying the feeling of pressure from their spiritual power. The gap in strength made him hesitant to meet the eyes of the strong, yet it also solidified his resolve to grow stronger.
In the Misty Palace Continent, spiritual beasts were generally classified into several levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald, Stardust, King, and the rarest and most powerful were the Pinnacle-level beasts. According to common knowledge, a Bronze-level beast was equivalent in strength to a first-tier spiritual master; a Silver-level beast equated to two second-tier masters, and a Gold-level beast to four third-tier masters. The stronger the beast, the harder it was to hunt. There were even rumors that five ninth-tier spiritual masters once banded together to hunt a Pinnacle-level beast to obtain its soul. However, they never even managed to injure the beast before suffering a crushing defeat. Only their substantial strength allowed them to escape with their lives.
After a full day of trekking, the sun set, and Chu Yi finally arrived at the city located on a small hill at dusk. Although the city walls were not very tall, they appeared sturdy and ancient. Chu Yi felt a bit fatigued, his steps slightly heavier, but his eyes were still filled with hope for the future. As he entered the city gate, several languid guards stood nearby, holding long spears and occasionally glancing at the passersby. Next to them was a counter where travelers would lean. After observing for a while, Chu Yi noticed that entering the city required a fee, so when it was his turn, he naturally pulled out 200 spirit coins from his pocket and handed them to the man sitting at the front. Because of these routine actions of ordinary travelers, Chu Yi's arrival didn't draw their attention, which relieved him. For now, it was best for him not to attract any unnecessary attention.
The streets of the city were more crowded than he had imagined, with a thick atmosphere of daily life filling the air. Vendors on the roadside shouted as they sold daily necessities and food; several children chased each other in the alleys, while groups of people dressed like spiritual masters huddled together at street corners, seemingly discussing something. Occasionally, Chu Yi spotted people being bullied by stronger individuals behind the corners. Unlike the village, the atmosphere here was vibrant and lively but also more complicated. As he walked through the streets, the bustling crowd and noise around him filled him with a strange sense of tension. He was not accustomed to this lively environment, but it was also the beginning of his new journey. After passing through several narrow alleys, he finally found a small inn. The inn was inconspicuous, with a weathered wooden sign that appeared to have endured years of wind and rain. There was some standing water and mud on the steps in front of the door. Chu Yi hesitated for a moment, but considering he didn't want to further deplete his wallet, he decided to enter.
As he stepped into the inn, the dim yellow light made the entire hall look gloomy. Behind the counter stood an older woman with furrowed brows, smoking an unlit cigarette, her eyes betraying a hint of wariness. She didn't seem particularly welcoming to any unfamiliar guests but merely cast a cold glance at Chu Yi when he entered, saying nothing more. "A room is 50 spirit coins for a night, including a bowl of fierce rabbit meat porridge," the landlady said in a tone reminiscent of a landlord. Chu Yi didn't ask further and quickly took out 200 spirit coins from his bag, handing them to the counter. "I'll stay for four nights." To him, the price was reasonable, especially given his limited funds. What he needed was a place to stay temporarily, not luxurious accommodations.
The landlady took the spirit coins and slowly processed his check-in. After receiving the room key, Chu Yi followed her to a simple room on the second floor. The room contained only a straw bed on the ground, a rickety chair, and an equally shabby table. The bed was covered with dry straw that emitted a stale odor, clearly having not been changed in a long time. Although the environment was humble, Chu Yi didn't mind. His thoughts were entirely focused on how to research inscriptions. After finishing the fierce rabbit meat porridge provided by the inn, Chu Yi returned to his room. He carefully took out the ancient book from his cloth bag and gently flipped through its pages. The familiar and complex arrangements of symbols before him resembled groups of mysterious little worlds, waiting for him to explore.
From the book, he learned that these symbols could not only be used directly but also rearranged in different ways to create entirely new effects. This reminded him of the programming logic from his previous world: simple instructions, when combined in various ways, can create complex programs. The runes were clearly following a similar principle. The most basic symbols could be stacked into more complex arrays or charms, and even external materials could be used to amplify their power.
"It looks like to truly master runes, I'll need to start with the simplest materials," Chu Yi thought to himself. He knew that complex runes required precious materials to trigger their effects, and he didn't have the funds to buy those expensive materials. Therefore, he decided to begin with some basic, inexpensive materials to conduct simple rune experiments and see if he could successfully guide the spiritual energy.
In a narrow alley of the city, he found a shop that sold miscellaneous goods and bought some cheap spiritual stone powder, low-grade beast blood, and ordinary beast skin scrolls. Though these materials were cheap, they could at least be used to test the basic effects of runes. After returning to the inn, Chu Yi lit a candle on the table and began to focus entirely on drawing the rune symbols on the beast skin scroll. After a day of research, Chu Yi decided to start with two rune combinations: the Thunderstorm Charm and the Redfire Charm. These were two relatively basic attack charms, but they were very useful during outdoor expeditions. The Thunderstorm Charm could produce a brief lightning strike, particularly effective against beasts with high sensitivity; the Redfire Charm could release a burst of flames, causing sustained damage to larger beasts.
The materials needed for these two charms were relatively inexpensive—just a little spiritual stone powder and low-grade beast blood mixed and inscribed on a low-grade beast skin scroll. However, his technique was not yet proficient. After all, this was his first time making runes himself. But Chu Yi didn't lose heart. Since runes were logically similar to programming languages, he gradually began to understand the patterns. As his pen moved, the symbols on the scroll slowly began to take on a complete arrangement. Following the instructions from the book, he first drew the most basic rune for guiding spiritual energy—this was the foundation of all runes. The purpose of this rune was to activate and channel spiritual energy, allowing the energy to flow through the charm and produce its effects.
When he completed the last symbol, he suddenly felt a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from the scroll.
Although the spiritual energy was very weak, it was enough to excite Chu Yi. His theory had been proven: runes could indeed guide spiritual energy through specific symbol combinations, and even a low-powered individual like him could use them. Considering that he was still in the inn and it wasn't convenient to activate the charms, Chu Yi decided to just complete the runes for now. He planned to test the Thunderstorm Charm and Redfire Charm the next day, each with five scrolls.
Glancing out of the corner of his left eye, he faintly felt the sunlight beginning to pass through the window, casting its glow on him. He realized that he had been awake all night. His intense focus on engraving the runes had made him completely unaware of the passage of time. Looking at the runes he had painstakingly made, he felt a surge of anticipation. This was his first step in breaking free from the chains of fate, and these ten runes would be the starting point for his greater ambitions.