Night of the Broken Gliph

Five years ago. 

It was late at night. As usual, Chui Yim made his way to his workshop, only to leave when the moon was high in the dark sky. He looked up at the pitch black sky, feeling how increasingly powerful he had gotten. 

After some time, Chui Yim then ran towards the village. He failed to notice somebody hiding in the woods far away, watching him quietly. The figure vanished as soon as he confirmed that Chui Yim was gone. The next second, he arrived in front of the rock. 

With a weird expression on his face, he squatted down and copied Chui Yim’s action’s: tapping the rock rhythmically. 

Rumble…

The rock rolled aside as the man watched excitedly. “It’s a hidden mechanism! His level of mastery in this is much greater than mine. Where did that kiddo learn all this from!” Moonlight served as the softest of flashlights, shining onto the man’s face gently. 

Long hair, the same old scholar’s hat and a sharp pair of brows. The person was none other than Chui Tin. He walked into the workshop after a short pause. 

But suddenly, he felt something and ducked to the side intuitively. Whoosh! Numerous arrows as thin as cow fur shot out and landed in the walls on his right. Chui Tin was shocked. He’s trying to kill his father, huh? He thought angrily, forgetting that he was the one who broke into Chui Yim’s workshop. 

He went on dodging many mechanisms of many different types. There were twelve mechanisms hidden in the short tunnel not even ten meters long! The mechanisms were simple, but dangerous and well-planned. This was way beyond Chui Tin’s expectations. Even a one or two-chambered state glipher would be heavily injured if they came. If not for the legendary mechanism book he once read, he wouldn’t be able to predict these mechanisms either. 

After passing through many tunnels, Chui Tin finally arrived at Chui Yim’s workshop. The orderly workshop and the tidily-placed minerals placed on the shelves finally dawned on Chui Tin that this was where all the minerals he received went. 

What is this boy trying to do? Become a blacksmith or metalsmith?

He made his way towards the table to take a look at the notes Chui Yim made. He read the pages slowly and thoroughly. “Big Black Stone, heavy and dense, not shiny. It’s heavier than other rocks the same size. Should focus on this trait and make use of it when handling this rock.” 

“Little Blue, cold and has energy stored within. Usage unknown, but guesses are it can work as a primer through  mixing with other minerals for forging.” 

“Red Butt Stone…” 

“White Round Stone…”

Chui Tin was struck speechless by Chui Yim’s notes. What nonsensical names are these? Big Black Stone? This is a fallen star’s stone! And what on earth is Little Blue? It’s an ice crystal stone, a stone that can only be found in the north! 

Red Butt Stone is even worse… This is the twin fire thunder rock that is as rare as hen’s teeth! It’s suitable for making gliph weapons for gliphers of two types, thunder and fire. However, the only thing wrong on his notes are the names, the characteristics of every single mineral is correct. 

Chui Tin stared at the minerals on the racks that were recorded in his notes. The minerals weren’t heavily processed to derive their characteristics, so does that mean this kiddo managed to do this just by seeing each mineral’s appearance and feeling their texture?

How did he manage to do this? 

It was from that day on that Chui Tin realised that something was off about his son. Because of this, Chui Tin never worried if Chui Yim would be unable to learn all three topics, forging, gliphism and being a glipheon, at the same time as he knew that if his son wasn’t a genius, he would be a prodigy, or even a legendary… man who knew everything since birth. 

“Oh no, he’s going to reach home soon,” Chui Tin muttered and with a wave of his hands, all the minerals in the racks vanished as he quickly wrote a letter. When Chui Tin left, the letter fell on the center of the table slowly.

Chui Yim looked at the walls covered with fur-thin arrows. He looked ahead to realise that all his hidden mechanisms had been activated. The mechanisms were all finely made, but it was because he had no choice. With his heart deficiency, he was unable to perform strenuous activity for too long a time. Such a small, fine but deadly mechanism wasn’t too much for his body to take, and he could keep making them. 

Moreover, the smaller the mechanism was, the harder it was to sense, so if Kiu Chi Gong walked into the corridor without knowing, he would definitely die. It was a short corridor, so it was obvious in a glance that there were no bloodstains present despite all the mechanisms that activated. So it showed that the mechanisms never managed to hit the intruder. 

Chui Yim’s face fell as he stomped forward in anger. The empty racks entered his sight and made his blood boil. When he read the Field Guide Of Continent’s Minerals, he knew that some of the minerals he had were of high rank and important to his unconventional but wonderful forging ideas. With the mindset of making this place an actual workshop, he brought Kiu Chi Gong over.  

How would he be happy when he saw that all his minerals were gone? But soon, his eyes landed on the dusty paper on the table. He wore an odd expression as soon as he read the letter. 

Chui Yim rushed back to his dorm. He was unable to get used to the empty bed next to his and a kitchen with no aroma. Chui Yim smiled bitterly and shook his head after being absent-minded for a short second.  It’s my second time being a human, yet I still have these bad habits. Lam Ming is just ten years old, maybe ten years later, he will have already forgotten about me just like what the man said. It’s best we both don’t meet. 

He walked to his bed and picked up a bag from the ground.