As a dozen young Brushweavers concentrated on their work, Li Lang silently observed them.
On each desk was a small stack of talisman paper and ink. The young cultivators behind each desk carefully held their brush with their off-hand supporting their dominant hand’s wrist. Each of them slowly drew onto the empty sheet of paper, going at a painfully slow speed.
Sweat dripped down from their brow as they continued their work.
I can’t really see anything going on…I guess there’s a reason why Mei Wanying let me visit without restriction. That tournament I watched some time ago in Spirit Grove allowed spectators to watch as they inscribe the talisman, as well.
The apprentice Brushweavers took another hour until they all finished their work. Throughout that time, he carefully studied the condition of the talisman from its nascent form to completion.
They all surprisingly finished within a minute of each other and they all instantly snapped their attention to Li Lang. Meanwhile, Li Lang was shocked to find that all of their finished product was almost identical. He was basing it off of visuals only, but even that was a hard task to accomplish by a dozen different people.
A brief awkward moment befell the room as the apprentice Brushweavers stared at the young boy with a large head.
An older girl among the group broke the status quo as she stepped forth toward Li Lang with a welcoming smile.
“Welcome. Are you Master Mei’s new student?”
“Maybe, I haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh, you definitely should make up your mind soon. Master Mei is one of the most experienced Brushweavers in Emberglow City. She is also one of the few two-star Brushweavers around.”
“I see…Are all of you from The Orchid Covenant, as well?”
“Yes, we are all from various masters within the covenant. We’re only a small group among all those who are learning the art of Brushweaving under Master Mei. We are free to come and go when we have to carry out other training or responsibilities.”
“That sounds like a very accommodating arrangement…” Li Lang muttered as his eyes drew toward the brushes and ink the young Brushweavers had used.
During his hour of observation, he theorized that the tools they used were special. It was hard to use a pure Qi technique to produce such consistent results among all the students. His urge to have Ruby consume these tools threatened to overwhelm him.
“...Do you think I can take a look at your tools?” Li Lang continued.
“Apologies,” the young girl smiled wryly. “It is forbidden to show outsiders our Moon Brush and our other implements.”
“I see…I’m sorry. I was getting ahead of myself.”
“Oh, no worries. I’m happy you have such a passion for Brushweaving. I’m sure you’ll have your own set of tools soon.”
“Then I’ll be excusing myself. Thank you for allowing me to watch you guys work.”
Li Lang clasped his fist to everyone in the room and quickly retreated. As interested as he was in getting started right away, he wanted to be prudent with his decision. He forced himself to visit the other two mentor candidates first before making a decision.
He exited the spacious talisman store, returning to the hustle and bustle of the main street. He didn’t hesitate to head over to the next address he received from the covenant and soon found himself walking down one of the narrow alleys in a residential district.
The second mentor candidate, Yi Lin, didn’t seem to own any stores and only sold through the covenant. He was known to specialize in custom orders, so he simply did all his Brushweaver work in his abode.
After knocking on the door of a small house, a young man in his late twenties answered the door. He blankly glanced down at Li Lang for several moments before frowning.
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“Hmm…Do I know you? No name comes to mind, and I think I’d remember someone with unique features like yours.”
“Hi, sir. Are you Senior Yi Lin? I am Li Lang and I have come to talk to you about potentially learning Brushweaving from you.”
“Oh, perfect! I’d been struggling without an assistant ever since Tei Lun quit. Please come in and we can start right away!”
The man opened his door wider, revealing a messy house with trash sprawled about. The smell of rot assaulted Li Lang’s nose, but he didn’t flinch.
Researchers who were successful were either naturally talented or extremely obsessive towards their work. Li Lang was a member of the latter, so he was familiar with such a scene when he often lost himself in his research.
Still, he was never this bad and had the decency to clean up during his moments between projects.
“Sir, I haven’t made up my mind yet. I wanted to meet you before deciding if I want to study under you.”
“...What do you want to see? While I don’t offer pay or anything, I’ll make sure to teach you the basics.”
“I don’t doubt that, but can you elaborate on how I will be trained? From the information you left with the covenant, I understand you want something akin to a live-in apprentice?”
“You don’t have to live with me, but I expect you to be here during the day to assist me in various tasks. I’ll be teaching you while on the job, so you’ll be able to gain valuable experience watching me work from start to finish. In fact, want to take a quick tour now?”
“...Sure.”
Li Lang took up the offer and entered into the young man’s abode. He was guided to a room on the second floor that was somehow even messier than the first floor. There were pieces of paper of varying sizes lying everywhere. Several ink stones were scattered around as well, and only the center of the room, where his workstation was, was clean.
The tour was quick, and Li Lang was glad to be out of there.
“Thank you for your time. I’ll be making my decision soon, so I hope you can be patient with me.”
“Fine, fine,” the young cultivator scratched his hair. “I can wait at least one more day. Just know that the other Brushweavers probably won’t have as much time as I do to personally tutor you.”
Li Lang thanked the man again before getting on his way.
He found the last candidate inside a teahouse, sipping on his cup while listening to a storyteller ramble on about an obviously exaggerated tale.
When Li Lang made eye contact with the old man, he kindly smiled and gestured for him to sit and join him. Being swept along by the atmosphere of the teahouse, Li Lang could only silently listen along until the storyteller was done.
After having half a dozen cups of tea, the story finally finished and the old man by the name of Huan Ming finally brought his full attention to Li Lang.
“You said your name was Li Lang? You look impatient. Young people these days need to enjoy the smaller things in life more.”
“...Yes, Sir.”
“If you study under me, I’ll make sure you learn properly, whether it be Brushweaving or the way of life. As I have told the covenant, I only need you to relay any new techniques you develop based on my teachings. You can even do it through the merchant guild if you’re traveling. Of course, that means we’ll have to sign a binding contract with me.”
Li Lang didn’t even bother asking what training under the old man was like, as he could tell it would be strict and steady. The old man liked to work things at his own pace and lecture the younger generation. He wasn’t very different from the retired researchers Li Lang had met.
After exchanging a few more words, Li Lang finally escaped from the grasp of his last mentor candidate.
He walked down the street with a hand on his chin as he deliberated which mentor to choose.
What do I want in the first place? To learn the basics of Brushweaving as soon as possible, so I can then research it further with the help of Ruby…The auto-analyzer may only return the makeup of the paper and Qi signature, but there should still be ways I can make use of it.
The third choice with the old man was likely not under consideration, as his style was too long-winded and thus too slow for Li Lang’s liking. The main issue was also how he would have to share his future findings with him. As willing as Li Lang was to share his research results, he wouldn’t want to draw attention when he was still so weak.
Li Lang knew that the first candidate, Mei Wanying, was the safest choice. There would be various fellow students to study with, and lots of data to record.
The second choice with the messy young man likely offered the most hands-on experience and tutoring time. There was an unavoidable difference between studying in a large group and having one-to-one study sessions.
Both the choices had their pros and cons, and satisfied his conditions.
Faced with a dilemma, Li Lang reverted to old habits when he encountered such situations. He did something different. He went window shopping down the main street, studying the various kinds of stores.
He passed by stores selling artifacts, pills, Skyrunners, and more. He ignored the talisman stores as he was trying to take a break from the topic, but by the time he made it through the main commercial street, he realized there was one kind of store missing.
Professions like Alchemy had their hardware store, which sold their pill furnaces and related tools, and Artificers similarly had the same. However, there was none that sold the so-called Moon Brushes or the ink used by Brushweavers.
That indicated each Brushweaver most likely crafted their own tools, and the methods to do so were part of their technique.
In that case, I should probably go with that choice, then…