Three days later
Sitting in his room, Samuel was exasperated. It turns out that laying still, putting all your focus on one thing, and chanting the same thing over and over again was not only taxing but also unfathomably boring.
"I can’t do this anymore! It's so boring. Holy God, have mercy on my soul. No, no more. I have to figure out some better way of cultivating, because this is outrageous.”
Samuel was not resigned to his fate of infinite torture brought upon him by his cultivation method. Rather, he opted to find some better way of doing it. Some way easier, some way faster. And as such, he himself entered the time sphere.
“In some cultivation novels, the MC is overpowered because he can cultivate automatically. They have near-infinite energy and dominate their peers with this advantage. I should be trying something like that. Should I split my mind into two, where one cultivates and the other is awake?”
However, before this thought could even properly take root, it was discarded by him. The reason was something that could never be said out loud, lest some degenerate, perverted old man next door hear him. ‘I’m already too stupid; how can I halve my brain capacity? No way; I've got to find something else,’ he thought.
"Think, Samuel, think! Talents are given by the Heavens, awakening your innate potential and giving you a connection to spiritual qi. Cultivation is just using this connection to enhance yourself. If so, I should surely be able to establish a sort of ‘tunnel’ between the time sphere and the Heavens, allowing spiritual qi to travel through. But if so, how do I stop my spiritual qi from leaking out instead of nourishing my body?”
As Samuel continued to ponder this problem, new ideas came and went. Not even two weeks later, he came up with a method of creating a ‘tunnel’, albeit a flawed one.
“This is a good start. If I focus greatly on not allowing my reformed spiritual qi to leak, I can, and the induction of qi from the outside is continuous. This should already have increased my cultivation speed by four to five times. This is enough for now, but it’s not viable long-term. Hell, it’s only viable in a safe environment like this ship. If I were to encounter enemies, I would only be able to rely on my physical body to fight. I’m obviously going to be some spamming spell merchant who relies on distance and poise to win battles; how can I allow this?
With renewed drive from seeing the success of his idea, Samuel once again started crafting his autonomous cultivation method. Soon, another five weeks went by.
“If I engrave the rune over my Yin Tang acupoint in real life, would that allow me to keep energy flowing in but not out? The rune on my soul allows me to enter and exit at will, but the tunnel is given unrestricted access, meaning my qi will follow the same tunnel. However, if I have my own rune, controlled by my body, that adheres to my commands, will I not be able to control that nothing will leave the acupoint without my permission?”
“That sounds plausible, but then there is the question of how I would engrave the rune onto my body. I have no talisman, formation, or even rune skills, nor any comprehension regarding them. Plus, I can’t even really view the rune on my soul; all I see is a rough outline, and I know what it stands for. Nothing more. I guess I can ask Merling about how to draw runes. And if he doesn't know, I'll have to erase the tunnel before leaving the ship and start my study of runes.”
His thoughts ending there, he uttered ‘gowla’ and reappeared in his room. Samuel got up and went to knock at Merling’s door, praying to Lady Luck that he had the knowledge he required.
“Knock, knock, knock. Hello, Mr. Merling. Are you in there?”
After the question was asked, the sound of light footsteps sounded from the room, and soon the door opened. To say Merling looked great wouldn’t be quite accurate. Rather, he looked, well, haggard. As if a mortal were to not have slept for weeks. Samuel almost ran away in shock. In his eyes, Merling looked like a ghost. ‘A corporeal ghost!’
You might be wondering what the hell a corporeal ghost is, and the answer might shock you. It is nothing. There is no such thing as a ‘corporeal ghost’. A ghost, per definition, is incorporeal. God damn it, Samuel, you fool.
“Brat, is there something on my face? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you look horrible!”
Merlings mouth twitched. ‘Why does he have to be so honest? Would it kill him to say: Oh, nothing. I was just surprised at how handsome you are.'
"Kid, what do you want? You said not to disturb you during this period of time, yet you come knocking on my door.”
“Well, that only applied to you interrupting me. I said nothing about me interrupting you. Plus, I need something, and I hope that you can help me.”
Merling was speechless. ‘Is this how you ask for something? Whatever, he is a talent. Helping him is investing in his growth, meaning he will owe me a favor.'
“What do you need my help for?”
“Do you know how to draw or engrave runes?”. Samuel was actually, for once, not very hopeful that Merling would have what he needed.
“It just so happens, I do. I’m a certified fourth-grade runemaster, recognized by the Runemaster Guild. Why do you want to learn from me?”
“Yes, that's exactly what I want”.
'I am the luckiest after all. This is perfect.'
Samuel was ecstatic. If he could learn the process of engraving runes, wouldn't he become invincible?
‘Since I have the time sphere, learning how to engrave the runes will probably take what, an hour? I am the best person to have ever lived. How am I so superior?’
“Greatest senior Merling, could you please, please teach me how to become a rune master?”
“Alright. But on one condition, you have to owe me a favor."
“No problem; I already owe you a favor from before, so two favors it is then."
Merling clearly wasn’t expecting this answer from that airhead. ‘So he remembers who helped him, huh? Maybe he isn’t so bad after all.'
“Come in; I have some books here that you can start by reading. If there is something you don’t understand, you can just ask. Start reading these books right here; they are about the basics of runes and elementary rune language. This is the foundation for all future rune-mastering. Study it well!"
Merling became oddly excited, thinking about how he was about to teach this talent something. ‘Doesn't this mean he'll have to refer to me as teacher Merling in the future? This is great! Imagine the admiring gazes of those old bastards at home when they get to know I taught one of the most talented individuals in the entire Shattered Realm! Choosing to study runes is the best decision I've ever made. They all laughed at me. You can’t use runes to become powerful, they said. Well, look at me now. Hahahah.’
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
While Merling was having an internal manic monologue, Samuel was perplexed at the enormous number of books lying in front of him. ‘This has to be at least 5000 pages, right? How am I supposed to read all of this in real time? I swear the time sphere has some sort of energy boost for my mind, making me able to sit still and try things for as long as I need. That doesn't apply to the real world! Damn it’
“What are you waiting for? Get to it!"
…
Under the stern eyes of Merling, Samuel could only comply. Burying his head in the books given to him, well, sort of, whenever he was feeling tired or bored, he would enter the time sphere for either a rest or for a quick energy boost. However, slowly but surely, as the hours went by, Samuel became engrossed in the study of runes, and the thinking of the runemasters of years passed. The rest now turned into a quick energy boost, and the quick energy boost was now reflecting on and comprehending what he had just read. It turns out that not only was his energy being boosted in the time sphere, but so was his comprehension and brain effectiveness. What would have taken him hours to process outside took mere minutes in there. That, combined with the time distortion, turned Samuel into some sort of primordial beast of learning.
Hour after hour went by. It was only after finishing all the reading material given to him that he looked up from the books, only to encounter the shocked gaze of his great teacher, Merling. In a voice that definitely, 100% wasn't trembling, he uttered, "Did you really finish reading all the material already? And you didn't seem to have any problems with it either. Are you some sort of heavenly runemaster prodigy, or are you trying to play cool again?"
'Again? When have I ever played cool before?'
Samuel was unaware that Merling had seen through his 'plot' of loudly talking to himself as he was about to cultivate for the first time. As such, he remained clueless regarding what he was talking about.
"Teacher Merling, to be honest, my talent is related to comprehension, so it's not weird for me to be amazingly superior to others in that regard. However, I do have a question. In the 'Limitations of the Great Rune Dao', it's said that runes cannot be engraved onto a person's body but offers no explanation for why it is so. Can you explain why?"
Samuel's whole reason for wanting to learn how to draw runes was to learn how to engrave a rune on his own body. Although he was hooked now, he would still find it a waste of effort if it turned out to be worthless.
"Sigh. How I wish I was able to engrave runes on my body. My reason for starting to study runes was because of a rumor I heard as a young boy. Supposedly, one of the founders of the Overlord Sect had a mysterious talent that, when turned into a physique, engraved his body with runes. Allowing him to wield the power of both man and the Heavens. He was essentially a walking formation. This fascinated me greatly, but unfortunately, either his talent was so superior that it has never appeared again or the legends are false. Every talented or powerful runemaster, including myself, has for the past 100,000 years attempted to replicate this phenomenon, but to no success. Runes belong to the Heavens, while the body, although accepted by it, stands against it. Cultivation is going against the Heavens; everyone knows this. But as you go against the Heavens, the further you go on the path of power, the more you will be recognized by it. A common consensus is that only an individual surpassing the limits of this world, like the transcendence experts great Rio was talking about, would have the ability to engrave runes upon their bodies. If I were to engrave one upon myself right now, it would have no effect because of my individual spiritual qi, making it redundant"
Samuel, when he heard that Merling was finished speaking, quickly entered the time sphere to ponder and reflect upon what he just said.
"Merling said that you can't have runes engraved upon your body because of the interference of your spiritual qi, but my talent is in the form of a rune. Even if my talent is superior to others, it seems illogical to think that others talents wouldn't be. If so, doesn't that indicate that everyone already has runes engraved in their bodies? If they can have one, they can have many. There should only be one difference: whether you or the world itself drew the runes."
As Samuel's thoughts reached here, he uttered 'gowla' and reappeared in front of Merling.
"I have an idea!"
“Idea about what?”
“Hello, Merling, are you here? What do you mean by ‘idea about what’? About engraving runes on our bodies!”
“What? How could you ever possibly have an idea about something that even the greatest of experts have been unable to do for almost 100,000 years?”
“Because they are them, and I’m me. The difference is near infinite! Now shut up and listen. What if everyone who has a cultivation talent has a certain corresponding rune, or if the talent itself is a rune? In that case, the body is capable of being engraved with runes. Just very specific ones?”
“Do you think no one has ever thought about that? There have been countless research studies done regarding this exact idea, one of which was even done by me. No matter what rune you use to engrave upon your body, it won’t work, whether it coincides with your talent or not.”
“Listen! You can’t just use any random, haphazard rune; you need to use your personal one. All these books say that everything under the good graces of the Heavens will have a corresponding rune. Well, humans fit into this category. Presumably, the rune will be some combination of the human and talent runes. Say you have a fire talent; your corresponding rune will be an evolved form of ‘fire’ and ‘human’, becoming something more advanced.”
As Samuel continued to explain, the more convinced Merling became.
“So, what you are saying is that since I have two talents, spirit eyes and spirit arrows, my personalized rune will be a combination of them as well as human. That makes a lot of sense. But how are we supposed to know which combination is the correct one?”
“When in doubt, just brute force it. We'll try every possible comprehensible rune combination we can, engrave them all onto your body, and test if they work.”
“Okay, let's do it!”
However, Merling shortly came to regret those words. He was so engrossed in the potential of succeeding in this dream of his that he forgot you had to physically carve the runes into your flesh. You can’t use ink, either. One needs to prepare their own blood before adding spiritual qi to it, turning it into good rune ink, and using a special carving knife dipped in it to carve and write the rune. To say it would be painful would be an understatement.
“Don’t give me that look. You have already said you’ll do it. What, are you going to renege on your words? Do you have such little honor?”
Samuel was clearly instigating him, but unable to lose his hard-earned face, Merling refused to back down.
“No, I was only pitying you for not getting to be the first person experiencing this breakthrough. Now let’s get to it before I decide that you would be better to try this on.”
“Such a selfless and honorable character you have, teacher. We should make sure that the rune is connected to the spiritual qi in the air but doesn’t react to it. Also, we need to make sure that there is at least a tiny little reaction from you injecting your personalized spiritual qi into it. Only when we can confirm both of these will we engrave them on you.”
Merlin was grateful Samuel was thinking like this; honestly, he was so embarrassed he was ready to just start cutting himself bloody left, right, and center.
“Let’s start”, they both said at the same time.
…
"Wooooooooow! Yes, we did it!"
The cheers of two teenage girls, cough, to very masculine, strong men, came from within a room on the ship.
It had been five days since they started attempting to find the right rune combination. They tried thousands of new, never-before-seen runes, of which hundreds were engraved onto Merling for testing. He was originally very bitter regarding this. But all those feelings went out the window the second they succeeded.
“It really worked! But it seems to be a temporary rune; it dissipates after using it once. Samuel, we really managed to do something everyone thought to be impossible. Although the rune only consists of one use, it equals one full-power attack that requires minimal qi. If we engrave enough of them on our bodies, we'll have countless trump cards.”
Merling was beyond excited thinking about the prospects of this new method of theirs. However, his excitement was but a mere fraction of what Samuel was feeling. ‘Since the runes are one-time use, and I’m never going to stop using mine, doesn’t that mean they will last forever? It’s also self-sufficient since it is the gateway of energy into the time sphere, meaning it is the first receiver. Hell yeah, I’m basically invincible now’
“Teacher, I’ll go back to my room to try this for myself since we now have the method of doing it. How long do I have before we reach Stargate Port?”
"Originally, we would arrive in another five days, but since we deviated from our original course, it'll take another five days.”
“Okay. I’ll be preoccupied with this for the remainder of the voyage. You understand the need for undisturbed focus, so don’t interrupt me unless necessary.”
As he finished speaking, Samuel left for his room, where he started an intense session of brute force creation inside his time sphere.
“Not this. Not this. Not this. Not this. maybe this?”
Samuel continued to try and fail as time passed. However, not being able to see the rune in its entirety proved damaging to his method. He could only see certain parts and lines, forming something that could barely be qualified to be a pattern.
“The only way I won’t have to spend thousands of years here to find the correct rune is if what I can see of the rune is what allows me entrance. I have to try this first, and if it doesn’t work, I will be very upset.”
However, his fears were unnecessary, as his first attempt at drawing the incomplete rune proved successful.
“Just like that? This is too easy, isn’t it?”
And it was easy, indeed. Choosing to finish engraving the rune as quickly as he could, he uttered ‘gowla’ and started prepping the ‘ink’. He cut a very slight slit on his wrist, allowing blood to pour out in controlled amounts. He then covered it in his spiritual qi that was leaking out of the time sphere. He proceeded to use the carving knife given to him by Merling to carve out the most complex rune the world has ever seen. One. Straight. Line. That’s right, one straight line standing between the eyes, starting from the Yin Tang acupoint up to his forehead, but not much. It basically looked like a third eye, only golden in color. Unlike Merling, whose runes were the color of blood, his was gold. A pure, glowing golden slit-like rune in between his eyes. It looked very flashy, but few people in the Shattered Realm could ever even recognize this thing as a rune or its invincible effect.
When he finished drawing the rune, a sort of enhancement of the rune on his soul seemed to appear. The rune seemed to become more clear, as did the suction speed it has on spiritual qi and the consequent reinforcement of his body.
“Does this mean my rune talent will continue to improve as I improve my understanding of it or what it symbolizes?”