Chapter 116: Customer and Rune

"What does this mean?" Luge looked at the pile of Magic Stones on the table and said, surprised.

Those were several large Magic Stones mixed with some small ones; converted into standard small Magic Stones, there were probably upwards of seven hundred pieces.

For this somewhat strange female Wizard Apprentice living next door to pay a visit was simply a bizarre event, and she even put down so many Magic Stones, but the other party seemed somehow disjointed in words and deeds, putting things down yet not speaking immediately — it was truly vexing.

"Eighty Magic Stones a day, I need you to help me for ten days."

She sized up Luge and finally spoke her purpose.

"Do it or not?" Seeing Luge stay silent, she spoke again.

"Of course, I happen to be short on Magic Stones!"

Luge didn't even ask what needed doing, because that wasn't important to him; as long as it wasn't a matter of life and death, he decided to earn these Magic Stones — not really for the money, but for the participation. This was sincere; the key was participation.

When the entire Underground City was shrouded in gloom, and all kinds of absurd, self-contradictory rumors circulated endlessly among the populace, Luge followed this eccentric neighbor and plunged headfirst into her simple laboratory.

In the other party's words, what Luge had to do was very simple, extremely simple — just use Spiritual Power to stabilize Runes, a very simple little job, mainly assisting on the side by continuously and stably providing Spiritual Power consumption. He was precisely chosen because of the stable and high-quality Spiritual Power he displayed when Casting.

Can one tell the quality of another's Spiritual Power just from Casting? Luge didn't understand.

Luge recalled — it was possibly because that day he cast Bull Strength and this guy peeked at it.

Arriving at the other party's home, he looked at those strange things on the floor and finally understood where those overly obvious Spell Waves from before had come from. The parts formed by these things on the ground were likely the Magic Array he had never encountered before. They looked like they had a mysterious, profound feeling.

He observed this cluttered living room with a strange smell, and the stairs and dining room too, all piled full of things — hard to imagine it had become like this in just the short time since moving in.

"In a place like this, finding an assistant with Spiritual Power quality this high is truly no easy matter."

She sighed, leading him toward the basement.

Luge didn't reply, just followed silently behind her.

He felt this woman had been praising him all along, or saying the work was very simple — as if afraid he would run away.

The reason this place was chosen for Luge back then was also because the several houses on this street all possessed a not-small basement.

After Meditating each day, Luge would also go to the basement to practice Spells for a while, but that was actually just a cover; when the basement was empty, he would quietly enter his own Abyssal Bedroom Space — that was the truly safe place to practice, at least until his Spells might cause damage to the Bedroom Space, it was an optimal location.

As for Spell practice, it was mainly to make his Spell Casting more rounded and smooth; he also persistently practiced locating the Spatial Door to the Abyssal Bedroom. These were all things that practice wouldn't show immediate results for, but he could only rely on bit-by-bit accumulation. In the Abyssal Bedroom he could practice Spells to the point of exhaustion, unlike outside where he had to stop at the slightest fatigue, not daring to let himself fall into a weakened state.

Luge walked and looked along the way, looking like he had never seen the world to the utmost degree; despite some restraint, he still drew her sidelong glances from time to time.

"Never encountered Alchemy Magic Puppets?" she asked curiously.

"A person's energy is always limited," he said.

There was nothing hard to admit about this; after all, his ignorance would be exposed in a moment anyway — he was already mentally prepared.

She looked at Luge's dog face and nodded in understanding. From the look of it, she was surely taking him for a master of Bloodline Transformation again.

The two reached the basement; when turning the stair corner, Luge widened his bright, sparkling eyes — just like Little Lucien seeing Daisy bring in a cake.

The basement floor had a so-called Magic Array corresponding in position to the floor above, but larger; then there were some things Luge didn't recognize, obviously placed at specific positions within the Magic Array.

This should be the place for the next ten days of work, he thought.

"Try it, keep it as stable as possible."

She casually handed over a metal rod with a vertical groove etched in the middle.

"These things normally need to be completed by oneself; if one cannot complete them oneself, then the best is to hire an assistant with condensed Spiritual Power and a solid foundation," she said, "lest their help turn into sabotage."

Luge looked at this thing — it was a bit like the Stone Strip in his Storage Bag for measuring Spiritual Power — so he gripped it in that same way and extended his Spiritual Power into it. Keeping the other party's instruction in mind, he tried his best to maintain stability; that groove slowly turned into a glowing white line spreading toward the other end.

"Better than I imagined; looks like my eye for people isn't bad."

She led Luge to the Magic Array and began a simple explanation of some things that would be used.

Fortunately, the other party had also considered this layman of his; they were all relatively simple parts — she only valued his Spiritual Power, mainly to cooperate with her, share part of the pressure, reduce her Spiritual Power consumption, and let her complete what she wanted to do.

Luge looked blankly, trying hard to memorize.

"This Rune is what you'll be using continuously for the next few days," she looked at Luge with satisfaction and handed over a Stone Tablet engraved with a Rune. "During this period I'll pay you Magic Stones normally. You can take the Stone Tablet back now and try to master it — best if you can master it in one day. Of course, if you need two days or three days, I'll still pay you Magic Stones normally. Once you've mastered it, we can officially begin."

Luge tried to make himself appear more composed.

He reached out and took the normally book-sized Stone Tablet; it had some weight in hand. He turned it over in his hands, looking left and right, then steadied his mind to observe the Rune in the center.

Not too complex, he thought.

"As your second customer in Fanxing City, how could I waste your Magic Stones?" he said.

The ten days this woman spoke of obviously factored in his possible uselessness, and even gave him paid learning — truly a decent person. Pity he just wanted to broaden his horizons, not waste time with her for a few dozen extra Magic Stones. And he felt that even if the work finished early, she wouldn't do anything to make him return the money.

After all, his first customer, Mr. Lorigo Fanxing, might well send him big business.

"Let me try; should be quick. You can go drink a couple cups of tea, and prepare one for me while you're at it," he said, walking to the Cushion by the wall. "I prefer that light Fruit Tea."

Finishing his words, his eyes seemed glued to the Stone Tablet; in an instant he entered a state of focus unimaginable to ordinary people.

Of course, among Wizard Apprentices this wasn't overly astonishing.

The Stone Tablet's material was special; practicing Rune delineation didn't need to be in one's own Spiritual Power Space, avoiding some uncertain risks. He held the Stone Tablet with both hands, and in his eyes it was like a small door opened — the Rune inside was twisting and weeping; the greatest obstacle to delineating it turned out to be the need to continuously fight against his own sad emotions.

He had never seen this type of Rune before; although also called a Rune, it seemed completely not of the same dimension as the ones he usually contacted.

He habitually slowly closed his eyes and began constructing.

Even if learned, having to maintain it continuously would be quite a hard job — these eighty Magic Stones aren't easy to earn, he thought.

As time passed, the Rune under construction also began transmitting sadness to him; the influence was greater than imagined. Due to a misjudgment, encountering an unseen situation, the attempt to master the Rune in one go failed; Spiritual Power mostly consumed, it still fell just short. He raised his head to look at the woman and smiled embarrassedly, immediately Meditating to recover Spiritual Power, starting a second attempt.

While he was focused on Rune construction, he completely failed to notice the other party's surprise.

The Rune engraved on the Stone Tablet would slowly light up along with the holder's construction practice — meaning his every progress was clearly visible to onlookers.

(Chapter End)