Night of the Broken Gliph

Huff! 

Chui Yim opened up his eyes suddenly. He tried to sit up, but the pain in his bones made him groan, attracting everyone’s attention. 

“You’re awake?” A deep, low voice that sounded like rocks clashing rang out. Chui Yim turned over to see Chor Shing Chit. 

“Mr Chor, are you alright now?” Chui Yim asked, but he was taken aback by his own sore voice that was off-key. 

“I’m fine. Thanks for saving me.” Chor Shing Chit nodded his head on hearing Chui Yim. He stared at the weak teenager in front of him with mixed feelings. Chui Yim wasn’t even in the single-gliphic state, yet he took the risk to tattoo the Spiral Dragon for him. It was dangerous as the energliph might’ve backlashed if anything went wrong even slightly during the process. Moreover, Chui Yim was born with a heart deficiency, making it even riskier.

Back when Chui Yim made the Fallen Star’s Rod, the basic gliphs, Stunning Thunder and Vanguard Soldier, were already too much for his heart to bear. Chui Yim’s gliph carving skills showed drastic improvement over the years, but the Spiral Dragon was a shocking leap. Luckily, it was only the Spiral Dragon Head which he had to tattoo. The entire set would have exhausted all his energliph when he was only one-sixth through the gliph. 

“No,” Chui Yim replied. “I saved you because you saved me.”

And that was precisely what had happened. This was the reason why Chui Yim took the risk to tattoo a gliph for Chor Shing Chit, who stood in front of the hardyhorse coach when Chan Shue Gun was coming for him. 

Chor Shing Chit could turn away for his own safety back then without anything stopping him as Chan Shue Gun was only there for Chui Yim. But he didn’t and instead protected Chui Yim from Chan Shue Gun. 

He saved Chui Yim’s life. 

Chui Yim was a person who valued comradeship, as he knew that with his character, it was hard for him to bond deeply with others. Friends to him were like brothers or sisters, like Hagrid from his past life and Lam Ming in this life. 

The moment Chor Shing Chit stood in front of the coach to protect him, Chui Yim viewed him as a friend ever since. 

As the saying went, a life for a life. That was why he risked his life to tattoo the gliph to save Chor Shing Chit. However, even Chui Yim was surprised at how badly his heart was affected. He couldn’t move even slightly now.

Under Chui Tin’s teaching, he wasn’t just a gliphist, but a glipheon too. In gliphism, the wind chamber was the energliph ocean where energliph mainly came from. Thus the wind chamber was the most important chamber to a gliphist. The stronger a gliphst’s wind chamber was, the more powerful the gliphist was. 

The heart chamber was closely related to one’s soul and mentality. It determined the number of gliph strings a gliphist could control at a time, and the soul affected a gliphist’s ability to battle. The injury in one’s heart would reduce blood circulation to all limbs. In more serious situations, blood would be unable to circulate throughout the body and affect one negatively, which was what Chui Yim was currently experiencing. 

Chui Yim was born with a heart deficiency and had just broken through a hard limit, which was to tattoo a gliph on Chor Shing Chit. But he was now facing a problem; blood wasn’t circulating around his body well, and now he was handicapped. There was nothing he could do other than barely lift his fingers. Seeing how worried Bak Wun and Chor Shing Chit were, Chui Yim tried to comfort them.

“It’s fine. It’s not as bad as you think, but I do need some medication. Let’s find a city to rest, and I’ll slowly recover after taking some medicine." 

But things were worse than expected. Driving the hardyhorse coach, the trio visited different cities, yet they still couldn’t get all the main medicinal ingredients for the prescription that Chui Yim came up with. Chui Yim was speechless at how the situation was turning out. He had learnt medicine for years, but this was the first time he ever came up with a prescription according to Continent’s Botanic and the books Chui Tin gave him, which noted the rareness of gliphic plants. However, the book didn’t state the rareness of the gliphic plants that Chui Yim needed for his recovery! 

There was nothing the trio could do either. Despite not being able to get the critical ingredients, he could still recover slightly with the other herbs. 

Two weeks later. 

Chui Yim could now sit up alone, but he still couldn’t stand up. The degree of backlash shocked him. I only went two minutes beyond my limit… What if I went three minutes? 

He dared not imagine what would happen, and this incident was a warning to him who had constantly challenged his limit of fifteen minutes. Chui Yim dared not do so anymore. All the pharmacies they visited in the smaller cities said that the medicinal ingredients Chui Yim needed could only be found in major cities. 

Thus the trio now had a new destination—Night Lion City, the major city nearest to Southary. 

Chor Shing Chit helped Chui Yim down the coach and sat by the bonfire. This made Chui Yim, who was staying in the coach, relaxed and happy. He looked up to the night sky, not knowing what to feel.

Time flew by. Now, he was twelve years old, which meant he had lived in this strange world for twelve years. It was unknown when Chui Yim started to grow feelings for this world. Chui Tin, the mother whom he had never met, Lam Ming, Kiu Chi Gong, principal Bak Wun, Chor Shing Chit… Such encounters in his life had forged many precious relationships.

“How did you manage to do it?” Chor Shing Chit spoke up suddenly, bringing Chui Yim back to reality. 

“Huh?”

Chor Shing Chit was staring at Chui Yim weirdly. As a member of the Chor Clan, he was exposed to numerous kinds of talents, including himself. In the South, it was considered shocking for a person to reach his third chamber by thirty. However, Chui Yim far more than that. 

“I’m not asking you how you know the Spiral Dragon set… I mean, I’m curious about that too, but I have other things I’m dying to know even more. I heard everything from Principal Bak Wun. You tattooed the gliph using a mineral? Do you know why the North and South aren’t on good terms?” Chor Shing Chit asked with a complicated look. 

Chui Yim barely nodded. It was hard for him to perform even this action. “I’ve read the Start of the Continent’s Separation.” Chor Shing Chit was slightly shocked by this. He never thought that a casual boy like Chui Yim would read such a book. However, the previous surprises he got from Chui Yim caused him to be almost immune to the shocks brought now. 

“Yes. The Southerners care about nature a lot and believe that gliphism is a gift from the heavens such that we need to use the items of nature, gliphic plants, when we tattoo a gliph. Northerners believe gliphism is made for battles, and gliphic beasts should be used to tattoo gliphs instead. 

“However, while the parts and organs of a gliphic beast are important, they also have to use the gliphic beast’s heart blood as a primer, which means that the gliphic beast needs to be killed.” 

“And this is seen as violating the rules of the heavens for us Southerners, and therefore we strongly oppose it.” Chor Shing Chit nodded, wearing a grave expression. “But to the Northerners who become more expressive… or should I say violent, have a distinct difference over their preferences and call Southerners hypocrites, sissies and much more. They disdain us. The conflict between both parties escalated over time. After a battle lasting more than hundreds of years, it turned into a situation that can no longer be salvaged.”

“And the ingredients used to tattoo gliphs is the origin of this conflict,” Chor Shing Chit said, staring at Chui Yim. “Do you know how large of an impact this will be if the fact that minerals can be used to tattoo gliphs is announced?” 

Chui Yim wanted to shrug at this, but he couldn’t do it, so he casually replied. “You’re overthinking. Gliphic plants can be used to tattoo gliphs because they are of natural origin and gentle nature. Pairing with different gliphs, it works like magic. Similar to minerals. Where do you think they’re from?” Chui Yim continued. “The mineral I used for you is called the frost dragon rock. Legend has it that it is transformed from the gliphic beast, the windy frost dragon’s… faeces.”  

With that, Chui Yim watched Chor Shing Chit’s expression change from his poker face with interest.