Chapter 138: Runic Experiments and the Engine Room

For the next week, An didn't leave his rather comfortable suite, completely immersing himself in cultivation and the study of runes.

“Cluck!” Sitting on a comfortable couch with a plate of still-steaming blue crabs, Baldi could barely tear his eternally hungry gaze away from them and look at An, who was sitting in the foyer.

“No... You can eat them yourself. I'm busy right now.” Without even turning toward him, An shook his head and continued studying the rune book in front of him.

‘Something still isn't right... What if I combine the three primary runes responsible for the propagation of light?’ Dozens of runes made entirely of Qi immediately appeared before him.

Each primary rune was linked to an auxiliary rune, and each pair was connected to the others in a specific sequence that An had worked out through simple trial and error.

‘Now, logically, I need runes responsible for attracting and restraining Qi itself. But the ones I've studied seem capable of doing that... Yet they're still too weak...’

Adding five consecutive pairs of Qi-attracting runes to the chain, he began compressing the entire chain by changing its scale.

‘Hm, this should work... Even though the linked runes differ in strength, I can compensate for that by distributing the Qi individually.’

Shrinking the chain of more than twenty runes, An pulled a ceramic vase toward himself from beside the door leading out of the suite.

‘Ceramic... too fragile... Then I'll use my Qi as a membrane on the outside to reinforce it.’

Covering the outside of the vase with his Qi, he deliberately left the inside untouched to avoid conflicts and instability during the next stages of his experiment.

Carefully, he began placing the rune chain inside the vase, spreading it across the inner wall.

He covered the entire surface, constantly adjusting the scale of the chain until it filled the entire interior.

“Now for the most important part...” He sent Qi into the chain, activating it.

The runes came to life, each one beginning to flash.

Adjusting the amount of Qi flowing through each pair, An managed to make them all glow evenly.

Crack!

The moment the entire chain fully activated, the walls of the vase cracked, but thanks to the outer membrane, it managed to maintain its integrity.

‘Well, I still have a few minutes...’ Taking the vase in both hands, he focused on the runes inside.

Slowly and very carefully, he began increasing the scale of the chain.

Little by little, the space inside the vase expanded along with the chain itself.

Once the interior had become three times larger than its original size, he stopped because of the immense strain placed on the rune chain.

‘Good... good... now for the second experiment!’ Carefully using his Qi so as not to disrupt or compromise the whole process, he drew a small spirit plant seed from his spatial ring.

Separating several pure particles of WoodQi and infusing them with his vitality, he directed that energy into the seed.

Crack!

Both the vase and the seed made a cracking sound at the same time.

The vase was already barely holding itself together, while the seed split open and a stem with several flowers began growing from it.

After waiting a few seconds for his Qi to finish mutating the now-growing plant, he carefully placed it inside the vase and released it onto the bottom.

‘Hm, the rune chains responsible for attracting Qi, although very weak, work without any problems... Basically, I've managed to create a crude spatial object in which I can even sustain life... but not for long...’

Watching the flows of Qi coming from the plant inside the vase, he understood that although the experiment had been successful, he was still a long way from his ultimate goal.

‘Still, I need rune chains that will allow me to create a stable, functioning ecosystem inside... an independent ecosystem...’

Cr-CRACK!

Finally reaching its limit, the vase shattered into pieces, destabilizing the runes inside and creating a chaotic environment.

He quickly enveloped everything in a sphere of energy, containing the explosion of unstable runes and the Qi within them.

....

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Raising his head, he saw a ship's worker standing outside his suite.

He wore a blue uniform with a small white cap on his head.

Opening the door with his Qi, An remained seated in the middle of the foyer.

The worker had expected to see the guest standing before him and was slightly surprised to find him sitting in the center of the area instead.

“Ahem! Dear guest! I would like to inform you that you have been invited to a banquet in honor of Young Master Su and the brave hero Feng Min!” Quickly regaining his composure, as any good employee should, he bowed and held out an envelope sealed with blue wax in both hands.

An pulled the envelope toward himself and sent over a spirit stone. “You can go...”

“Thank you, sir!” Quickly and skillfully slipping the stone into his inner pocket, the worker bowed again and closed the door behind him.

Setting the envelope aside, An picked up his rune book, took out his ink, and began recording the details of his experiment.

....

After finishing his detailed account of his findings, he turned back to the opening pages, where he had listed every rune he had ever seen.

‘In three years, I've only managed to go through a small portion of them... And with every new primary rune, the number of combinations and connections keeps increasing. Heh... It'll probably take me another ten years just to go through everything I've recorded so far...’

Although he pretended to be tired of the constant monotony and tedious repetition, the truth was that the more he learned about alchemy, runes, Qi, and his own cultivation connected to his Cycle Symbol, the stronger his motivation and determination became, pushing him forward.

His curiosity only burned brighter.

....

Closing the book and putting it back into his ring, An picked up the envelope and opened it.

“Dear Miss Luami Simiera. You are cordially invited to an event celebrating the valor and heroism of those who, in our hour of need, did not turn away from danger... This evening will be dedicated to our two heroes, Feng Min and Young Master Su... The ball will begin at moonrise... Please bring your invitation... Sincerely, Captain Bongromonte.”

An suddenly smirked.

‘Oh, this will be the perfect opportunity to walk around the ship while all the guests and Golden Core cultivators are occupied with the ball.’

Crumpling the invitation, he set it aflame and burned it to ash.

‘Besides, every invitation is issued in the guest's name, and I can't exactly show up with a piece of paper that has “Miss Luami Simiera” written across it in big letters... Better to put this time to good use!’

Realizing that it was still morning and that he had more than ten hours before the event, he returned to his usual routine.

Next on his schedule was a cycle of cultivation and Qi manipulation.

....

Somewhere in the hold, deep inside the ship, in a sub-deck compartment surrounded by pipes and the noise of iron machinery, two women in white uniforms stood together.

“Reporting. Squads 3, 4, and 7 were completely wiped out. The first part of the mission, the diversion, was carried out successfully. Execution of the second phase of the plan is scheduled for today.”

A white-haired woman with her hair tied into a bun and bright blue eyes spoke clearly into an artifact she held before her lips.

“Permission granted. Proceed with the operation.” Several seconds later, a reply came from the artifact in a mechanical male voice.

Turning off the artifact, she crushed it and used her Qi to destroy any remaining traces.

“How is the preparation going?” She turned toward the other woman, who wore the same uniform but had black hair and red eyes.

The dark-haired woman nodded. “Preparations are almost complete. We have enough time to be fully ready before the celebration begins.”

After a short pause, she continued. “By the way, Miss B1, Agents C5 and C8 spotted one of the targets from the main list aboard the ship.”

Looking into her eyes, Miss B1, the blonde woman, replied. “Who is the target, Miss B8?”

Miss B8 quickly took out a small wooden box and opened it.

Inside was a small sphere.

Touching it caused the sphere to begin projecting 3D portraits of various people.

After flipping through numerous portraits, Miss B8 stopped at the image of a young man with messy hair, faint alchemical stains on his face, and a circular cross-shaped mark on his neck.

Bringing the 3D hologram closer, she read the information. “Target B-87C-PE2. Contractor Rank: Platinum. Deliver alive. Reward: one million spirit stones. Contract duration: unlimited.”

Taking the wooden box into her hands and rotating the hologram, Miss B1 shook her head after a brief pause. “Target is not a priority.”

Hearing her answer, Miss B8 slightly wrinkled her nose, but quickly wiped every trace of emotion from her face. “Understood.”

....

Opening the door to his suite, An looked through the walls of the corridor and, after making sure no one was nearby, headed toward the staircase leading down to the ship's hold.

Descending the narrow staircase used by the workers, he went down a full eight floors.

He reached the lowest level, with only the bottom of the ship beneath him and the open sky beyond it, buried beneath clouds filled with Kullo birds.

Silently opening the iron door leading to the ship's largest source of Qi, An moved through the area, constantly keeping to the shadows and avoiding several workers.

Reaching the middle of the ship, he stopped before a massive set of metal gates.

Placing his hand against them, he could feel that they were slightly more than three meters thick.

He pushed against them, but they didn't move at all.

Looking around and studying the flows of Qi, he found no trace of any formation connected to the doors.

However, he discovered a panel hidden in the wall to the right of the doors, from which numerous very weak streams of Qi flowed into the gate.

Pressing the invisible panel, it opened, revealing numerous tiny runes engraved onto a plate of white metal.

‘Oh! I only know one of the rune chains present here... Interesting...’ Out of the dozen or so runes, he recognized only one pair.

‘Hm, it serves as a tunnel. By manipulating the Air element, it creates a tunnel of compressed air...’

Taking out his rune book, he began recording all the new and unfamiliar runes.

Luckily, because the white panel was active, he could immediately understand the function of each individual chain by studying the flows of Qi emerging from them.

After carefully documenting and studying everything, he closed the book.

‘I can't understand the meaning or function of only three of these chains... But hopefully, that won't stop me from opening this door...’

Beginning to insert his own rune chains into the active sequence on the white plate using his Qi, he encountered a problem.

‘Hm, my connection is being blocked specifically by these three chains... So these runes are responsible for the security of the entire system? Alright!’

Even when faced with difficulties, he found himself enjoying these strange, clumsy attempts to break into the system, trying to find the right characteristics for the Qi he was feeding into the chain.

.

.

After spending almost twenty minutes, he finally managed to bypass the protection of two pairs of runes, and the entire chain collapsed under his manipulation.

Crack!

The metal doors shook, and even the floor beneath his feet trembled slightly under the pressure exerted by the massive gates.

Grabbing the edges with both hands, he pulled them open and stepped inside.

An enormous chamber made entirely of black metal stretched out before him.

Hundreds of pipes twisted like snakes from the ceiling toward a massive glass sphere.

Inside it, a white-blue flame greedily consumed a huge pile of spirit stones.

All the vapors released from the stones were drawn upward through the pipes.

Pushing off the floor, An flew closer to the glass sphere.

Its diameter was more than twenty meters, and by his rough estimate, the number of spirit stones inside exceeded several billion.

Watching the process, now understanding that this was the ship's engine, he suddenly frowned.

‘A very strange system, using spirit stones as fuel... Why not use runes to absorb Qi from the surroundings instead? Or perhaps, given the ship's enormous size and all its internal systems, the rate at which energy could be replenished this way would simply be too low to meet its total consumption? Maybe there's something I don't understand...’

He began looking around, but decided to focus first on the runes covering the sphere itself, and only afterward examine the room.