Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

Powerful scrolls and equipment were very difficult to manufacture and this made the cost rather prohibitive to those other than the noble families. As a result, most people preferred to spend on cultivation resources because raising their personal strength was a permanent increase in power, whereas equipment were an external strength and scrolls were a 'one-time-use' type of strength usually reserved for a last resort lifesaving measure.

Furthermore, an inscriptionist had certain requirements related to cultivation level and soul force purity in order to create their products, depending on what tier result they wanted. Therefore, only some of the older cultivators, who had been stuck at one level for a very long time and had given up growing stronger, would join this profession. Of course, there were also some cultivators with good talent but who wanted to pursue a more artistic path without any interest in being the strongest, but these were few and far between.

Xiao Ning'Er and Ye Ziyun arrived at the front of the guild. It was situated right next to the Alchemist Association, and whilst the Alchemist Association's building was a grand and majestic construct, the Guild of Inscriptions was only half the size, sitting in an aging, dilapidated building. Xiao Ning'Er stood outside for a moment, sighing at the state of deterioration and wishing that she had Nie Li's encyclopedic knowledge on alchemy, but she had to work with what she had been given.

Similar to alchemists, inscriptionist are differentiated into Apprentice, Master and Grandmaster, with each rank further split into Primary, Intermediate and Senior levels. Apprentices would wear a dark green robe, Masters, a light green robe, and Grandmasters would wear a turquoise robe. Most of the inscriptionists that walked in and out were of the apprentice rank, where there was only one at master rank, and no Grandmasters at all.

The receptionist at the counter greeted then as they walked into the building, "Hi, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to take the Apprentice Exam," Xiao Ning'Er stated. "Can I know how I can proceed with this?"

Xiao Ning'Er immediately took out 100 demon spirit coins from her interspatial ring and placed it on the counter. "Can you let me know of the next step?"

The receptionist was stunned for a moment, "Well, if you wish to waste your money like this...follow me."

She brought Xiao Ning'Er to a room where an old man was seated, hunched over his desk and studying a large book that was so tattered, the pages looked like they were going to fall apart at any moment. She went to the man's side and whispered to him that there was someone wanting to take the test. He looked up in surprise and his eyes bulged out as he saw the age of the girl in front of him, choking on some saliva, and requiring a minute of raspy coughing before he could speak.

"Young girl, are you sure you want to take this exam?" he asked. When she nodded in affirmation, he lifted his right hand to his wispy grey beard, and thoughtfully looked at her for awhile. Suddenly, a cunning glint came to his eyes. "OK, here is your exam, come here and have a look at this image, and let me know what you think."

The book was unearthed from the ruins of the Ancient City of Silverlake on the outskirts of the St. Ancestral Mountain range. He had paid an incredible sum to an expert who had stumbled upon it while adventuring, and did not know how to interpret or understand it. Xiao Ning'Er walked over and looked at the book in front of him.

The pages of the book were so frayed and worn out that she could barely make out an inscription pattern drawn on the page he was showing her. Although she was mainly familiar with wind and lightning inscriptions, she could use the same conceptual framework to understand the basis and main aspects of any inscription, applying the same theories in a logical manner. This particular inscription was a water-based inscription, probably of the silver ranking. From the patterns she observed, it seemed that it would be able to create a mysterious illusion effect to any high quality blade that it was inscribed on.

This was significant because so far, the previous inscriptions used on equipment were mainly able to improved the raw strength of the weapon or armour, and not able to create a visible external effect. At most, a powerful flame-type inscription may enable a sword to raise its temperature to that of a normal fire once the user injected soul force into it. The man was looking intently at her face and she wondered how much she should reveal to him.

She decided that she would take a chance this time because if the Guild of Inscriptionists could grow, it would be a great support to Glory City in the future, "This seems to be a powerful water-based inscription...and it appears to have the interesting effect of creating illusions on a blade that it is inscribed on. I believe that it is of the silver rank so it would be best if the blood of a silver ranked, water attribute beast were used, where the inscriptionist will also need to possess a soul force of at least of silver rank or more..."

She paused as she saw his expression. His mouth hung open and he did not even notice that saliva had started dripping out at the side. Finally, he came to his senses and turned the page. "How about this one?" he asked with a voice tinged with urgent desperation.

She took awhile to study the next page and then responded, "This is once again a water-based inscription. I'm not fully sure of the language used to name it but it should be something like 'Water Prison', where if it were activated from a scroll, it would be able to capture someone in an inescapable bubble of water. This inscription seems to be...gold ranked!! This means that it can capture an expert of gold ranked or below!!"

The old man gaped at her, then suddenly jumped up from his seat and danced like a madman, knocking down a stack of books in the process. He grabbed Xiao Ning'Er without any warning and hugged her. "Young lady, you have made my dreams come true! This is what I joined this guild for all these years. Finally, there is a chance for me to learn more beautiful inscriptions. HAHAHAHA!!! I had almost given up hope!"

Xiao Ning'Er wondered whether she should be offended that he hugged her without permission but she could sense that his excitement was genuine and that he had not intended to take advantage of her. In fact, this man was the only Master Inscriptionist in all of Glory City, Wang Shu. He had fallen in love with the art of inscriptions as a young boy, and even though he had high talent in cultivation, he chose to join the Guild of Inscriptionists. Over the course of 50 years, he had mastered every inscription he could find, but had never been able to expand on the existing inscriptions left over from the Age of Darkness.

Even when he had purchased this book three years ago, he did not have the capability to properly interpret the basis of each inscription, which prevented any of his experiments with them to activate properly, whether on equipment or scroll. He had observed the decline of the Guild of Inscriptionists over the years and wondered if they would completely close down one day.

But today was a day for celebration, "Little Miss," he asked gently, "What is your name and how did you come by your incredible understanding of inscriptions?"

"My name is Xiao Ning'Er of the Winged Dragon Family. I fell in love with inscriptions many years ago. My master saw my talent and taught me everything I know." This was not completely untrue because Nie Li did teach her when he saw her natural affinity towards inscription patterns.

"And who might your master be," he asked.

"I'm sorry but he wishes to remain anonymous," she replied.

"That's OK, many mysterious experts would prefer to stay hidden for their own reasons. I'm just grateful that I got to meet you. How would you like to take up a position at our guild? I can make you Senior Apprentice immediately. Although your knowledge appears to surpass mine in some areas, in order to become a Master Inscriptionist, you must demonstrate the capability to create the inscriptions, and not only understand them." he said gently, so as to not accidentally offend her.

"Thank you for your kind offer. I accept the position of Senior Apprentice." she replied.

He smiled happily while clapping his hands excitedly when he heard this.

"Actually, I also came for another reason," she continued. "I have been tasked by my master to raise funds for his continued research into inscriptions, and would like to work with you on this basis."

He looked surprised, "I see...what would you like to propose?"

"My master has decided to share some of his research with this guild in the hope that the guild can help him to manufacture and sell them for profit, and at the same time, the overall strength of Glory City can increase as more people can have powerful tools at their disposal." she replied.

His eyes lit up as he heard what she said. "We still have an active storefront in the main marketplace of the city, and we have a decent relationship with the Secret Treasure Pavilion, as well as the Snow Wind Auction House, so if the products are good, we will have the sales channels to back it up. How about this? The guild will provide the materials, labour and sales channels, while you provide the recipes, and we'll split the profit 50-50."

"That works for me." She took out the 10 inscriptions she had drawn in class that day with the accompanying notes she had written, and passed them over to Wang Shu without ceremony. "Here are five enchantment and five battle patterns of either silver or gold rank level. The details of the requirements of manufacture are listed beside each drawing. My master chooses to trust you and wishes for a beneficial long-term relationship."

He nodded as he understood that her master probably had many more inscriptions that had not been revealed yet, and his mouth went dry as he thought about discovering more beautiful inscriptions.

"At the same time, this book seems to contain a whole collection of water-based inscriptions. If you want, I can take the time to decode all of them for your guild." she mentioned as she flicked through a few more of the pages.

"Of course!" Wang Shu had been getting nowhere as he had been unable to interpret the inscriptions anyway. "We'll use the same arrangement and the sale of any product that come from the inscriptions in this book will have the same profit split."

She nodded in satisfaction as she put the book into her interspatial ring. He then personally escorted her out to the front door of the building stating, "We'll get an Apprentice robe made in your size as soon as possible and have it delivered to your home. I look forward to working more with you!"

Ye Ziyun was shocked as it had only been around half an hour since Xiao Ning'Er had arrived at the guild. As they walked out onto the main road, she asked, "So, did you pass the exam?"