He got to work once again, trying to keep at least the same quality standard as last time, but also paying attention to his speed, attempting to confirm whether or not multiple engravings were possible and wasting the least amount of time possible.
The good news is that he felt no different engraving on a potentially pre-inscribed weapon. Contrary to his fears, it did not become more difficult to paint, The ink flowed and made the design glow silver in the exact same way as before, and the energy flow was just as mystical as before.
The bad news was that even if the challenge wasn’t raised, normal difficulty was enough for him to fail his next attempt, being too preoccupied by his various worries and theories. Even the one following that ended up failing, his hands still too unskilled and his mind too anxious.
It was only on the fourth try he managed to complete the glyph, and it was with bated breath that he waited for the system's verdict. If he had succeeded, that presumably meant he could draw as many runes as wanted, and would not have to worry over gaining points buying replacement material. He would only have to draw a rune an hour to survive, which sounded perfectly reasonable.
Ding, Congratulations, you have completed an inferior rune. +1 Points
Avery jumped up and down, executing a few awkward dance steps hearing this announcement. If he could layer point-giving runes, whether or not they worked to enhance the spearhead, his material problem was solved.
He even decided to directly discard the metal shaping part of the refining process, and focus on calligraphy that used no material. Not only was it cheaper, he was more skilled in it, he found it more interesting, and most importantly it gave him the opportunity to study a way of using magic he might be able to learn.
If he could engrave the same material multiple times, the only remaining problem would be time. Avery didn’t know precisely how long engraving took, but judging by the fact his hunger had come back full force, just this attempt definitely took more than 3 hours, and probably closer to six hours. In other words, it had taken at least 3 points to collect 1 point. He still had 250 points, which meant he had ten days to improve to the point he could engrave a rune every hour.
The first thing he had to improve was his familiarity with the design. He needed to know all of the strokes and how they linked together so well he did not have to think about it anymore. He was losing too much time hesitating between each stroke, and losing up to six hours and points every time he got distracted and failed a rune.
He was expecting to have to spend a long time before becoming confident in his drawing, but after only a few more tries, he noticed subtle changes in the flow of energy in accordance with the part of the rune he was drawing. Linking the behavior of the stream of energy with the movements of his hands, he was able to turn the distraction into a help.
It still didn’t guarantee a success, but a day later, he got incredibly immersed in the energy flow, and it somehow influenced his state of mind. He saw the engraving process completely differently, his brush painting the metal surface like an eastern dragon flowing through the wind and sea.
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He felt possessed by an artistic genie, and had a clear vision of what he wanted to do. There was no more hesitation in his strokes, one movement followed the next in a beautiful dance to gradually reveal a stunning picture.
However, despite having a clear mental picture of the goal, he lacked the skills to accomplish it. He knew what he wanted, but actually doing it was still very hard. His clumsy hands were still slow and wobbly, and he had abysmal control over them.
What he wished to be a straight line became a zig-zag, what he wanted to be a curve became either a line or a half circle, and what he wanted to be a circle became a misshapen oval.
In the end, he saved about half an hour by eliminating his hesitations, but he still had a long way to go, and the limiting factor was now the precision and control of his hands.
Of course, he did not fall into that strange state of understanding again, but the memories were enough for him to retain confidence, and his improvements were very fast.
Less than a day later, with 7 days remaining until his points ran out, he had completely mastered the design, and every rune gave him points.
He had originally planned to practice ignoring the energy flow next, but he had spontaneously found another way to deal with it, making it a help instead.
The last remaining problem, the one with which he could make the most progress but would take the most time, would be control of his hands.
He had to learn to accurately and quickly translate what was in his head to reality through his hands. Right now his movements were hesitant, he had trouble drawing steady curves or lines, and when he had drawn a good stroke he would realize that he had placed it half a centimeter too low or too high, and it did not link up well with the rest of the rune.
He had expected this of course, he had faced the same problems on Earth back when he had tried himself at calligraphy, and he knew the only solution was practice. Artists aren't only talented, they also need an insane amount of practice to learn how to properly bring their ideas to reality.
The problem was how to practice. A normal man would steadily get better just by engraving again and again, but Avery was using time warps that reset his body every few hours. This meant he would lose all the progress his muscle memory had made, bringing him back to square one.
After realizing the problem, Avery had to force himself to write without muscle memory, consciously controlling his every movement. Of course he was horrendous at it, and it became a case of thinking about something so much he forgot how to do it. He guessed he was about ten times slower using this method, and half of his runes were now not good enough to gain points.
The worst part of it was how much concentration it took to work this way. He could no longer use the energy to guide his movements, as he needed to be the one in full control. He was forced to take some time to practice ignoring the energy, something he had initially been glad to avoid.
There was no more productivity trance for him where time passed like a dream, instead every moment was elongated by the extreme minutiae and attention to detail he needed to maintain. His exhausted mind, while refreshed by the time warps, grew increasingly more frustrated each time his focus slipped, and his frustration made it easier for his focus to slip again, creating a vicious circle.
Deciding his current strategy was not working, he decided to ditch engraving complete runes, and instead practice etching each individual stroke one by one. Just like when you learned to write you kept repeating the letter "A" dozens of times instead of directly writing words, he separated the rune into 23 different parts he could practice.
The new task was not particularly enthralling, but at least it did not make him want to rip his hair out. Every so often, he would also draw a complete rune just to change things up and to measure his progress. He did his best to find satisfaction in the fact he could now feel himself improving, but he did not know if he was getting better fast enough to survive.