Night of the Broken Gliph

Cultivation Style Pavilion, Sacred Scripture Pavilion, and many more; there were different names for the various places that keep all the secret records in school, but regardless of names they were the foundation of every organisation and institution.

The Cultivation Style Pavilion was personally designed by Bak Wun, who spent a fortune to hire five gliphists for construction and one gliphist for yearly maintenance. He was undoubtedly the person that understood the design and functions of the Cultivation Style Pavillion the most.

He could tell the light was currently emitting a wave of fear instead of resistance. This would only happen when the participant was already practising a higher grade technique than the style they were about to pick.  

As mentioned, cultivation styles were replaceable. Corresponding to the state of gliphers and gliphism, they were graded from one to six. Grade six cultivation styles were legendary techniques that even the most influential organisations had yet to come across. 

For cultivation styles, it was survival of the fittest, same as how the world works. Cultivation styles could only be replaced if the other techniques were of a higher grade than it. 

Taken aback by the dim light, Chui Yim took his hand back. As soon as he did, the light ball returned back to normal, moving up and down like someone breathing. 

He took a few steps and reached for another ball of light. Similarly, the light shrunk rapidly, guarding the cultivation style closely just like a trembling sheep facing a wolf. 

“Chui Yim.” Suddenly, Bak Wun was standing right behind Chui Yim. 

“Principal.”

“Have you practised other cultivation techniques?” Bak Wun asked, staring at him with a complicated look. 

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Other than the fact that cultivation styles were replaceable, Chui Yim was dying to know whether the Nine Levels Of Heaven’s Flame that his teacher had taught him worked in this world. That was the reason why he chose to take a look at the styles first. 

As soon as he was four, he had started to cultivate. Back then, he knew nothing about gliphism or cultivation styles. To him, cultivating the Nine Levels Of Heaven’s Flame was just like drinking and breathing. 

So when Bak Wun asked if he had practised any other cultivation style, he immediately realised that the Nine Levels Of Heaven’s Flame was still useful in this world. And Chui Yim’s silence proved Bak Wun’s guess correct. 

Subconsciously, Bak Wun turned to look at the light that Chui Yim had touched.  They were the “Plainness” style , a grade one cultivation style, and the “Loess” style, a grade two style. This meant that the cultivation style that Chui Yim practiced was at least grade three. 

Just like gliphism, including gliph weapons and cultivation styles, the difference between each grade wasn’t simply a number. There were more than a hundred grade one and grade two cultivation styles in the Pavilion, but there were only a few grade three techniques, with not a single grade four.

Not just the Riding Clouds Academy, but there wasn’t any institution in Southary that had one. This just wasn’t something that they could get their hands on, no matter how much they wanted it. 

So, what grade is the style that Chui Yim’s practising?

And, what unknown organisation is supporting him? Bak Wun thought to himself. 

From what I’ve heard, he’s from a village that’s not too far away from Southary. His father is a doctor, while it’s unknown if his mother is dead or alive. It’s unlikely that a child like him is the descendant or disciple of a powerful organisation. So how did he get his hands on his style? 

“Principal?” Old Tung called out, pulling Bak Wun back to reality. 

“Mhmm.” Bak Wun nodded and turned to Old Tung, then back at Chui Yim again. “Since you already have a cultivation technique, there’s no point in wasting your time here. Maybe you want to head to the gliphility section to take a look.” 

“Alright, thank you, principal.” Chui Yim looked at Bak Wun in gratitude. He was grateful that Bak Wun didn’t probe about the style that he was currently practising.  With that, Bak Wun, Old Tung and Chui Yim made their way to the gliphility section. 

Chui Yim looked around to realise that it was basically the same as the cultivation style section, full of huge bookshelves and balls of light. However, the gliphility section took up more space than the cultivation style section. 

This was all because gliphility could go through a myriad of changes. 

While a cultivation style was considered essential to gliphers and gliphists, gliphilities weren’t a necessity. Gliphilities were just a method for a cultivator to coordinate his styles and gliphs,and every cultivator had their own unique way of doing so. 

For instance, if one were given a powerful set of gliphility, it wouldn’t fully work if the cultivation style and the gliph tattooed on his chamber was different from the creator’s gliphs. So gliphility are just like guides as they help gliphers learn how to make their gliphs and styles work together. 

Gliphers would understand the style, route and method used, and the energy created by the connection between cultivation style and gliphs from the gliphility they had. And this was what made a gliphility valuable. 

This was also the reason why there were more gliphilities compared to cultivation styles. 

Seeing the huge volume of gliphility, Chui Yim was in a daze. But he tried to reach out for a light nonetheless; as soon as he touched the light, a paragraph popped up. 

Earth Dart: Makes use of gliphs and cultivation style to congeal earth element energliph into darts for a medium to long-distance attack.  

Type: Long range attack

Icy Frost Shield: Congeal ice element gliphs into a shield for protection. 

Type: Defence 

His interest piqued, Chui Yim looked at all the gliphilities one by one. 

The paragraphs just summarised the gliphility to let the participants know if the gliph skill would suit them. Take the previous Earth Dart as an example. A glipher wouldn’t be able to use the skill unless he cultivated the earth element. If he understood the reasoning behind it, he might be able to change the element of the skill. 

However, Chui Yim didn’t have the heart to research the skills. 

As time passed, Chui Yim slowly got tired by looking through the skills one by one. There were too many gliphilities available, and he could not spend forever looking at them. 

“Time will run out soon. Should I remind him?” Old Tung whispered to Bak Wun.

“No need.” Bak Wun squinted his eyes, smiling in reply. 

Chui Yim stopped in front of a gliph skill. It was a grade one skill, the Flowing Flame Finger. 

Congeal fire element energliph at one’s fingertips to deal damage and burn the enemy simultaneously.

“This is it.” Chui Yim turned to Old Tung and Bak Wun. The duo walked up to check the gliph skill that Chui Yim had chosen.

Seeing it, Bak Wun frowned. That’s too simple for him.