Runes • Rifles • Reincarnation

212: The Beginning of True Power: Spirit Realm Runes

When Jin Shu was finally allowed back into Xi Yue’s office, he couldn’t tell how the examination had gone. All three women wore perfectly neutral expressions. That alone made him suspect the results were favorable—if the twins had failed, there was no way they would have been able to hide it.“So,” he asked, “how’d they do?”

Xi Yue didn’t answer. She simply crossed the room and set the scroll she’d been marking onto her desk.

Jin Shu looked to the twins instead, but they shook their heads in perfect unison. Apparently, they didn’t know either.

Xi Yue disappeared into a side room.

The moment she was gone, the twins broke.

“…What if we failed?” Yi whispered.

“We didn’t… right?” Er added uncertainly.

“I’m sure you two aced it,” Jin Shu said, offering them a reassuring smile.

“You think so?” Er asked.

“I know it.” He nodded with confidence.

“They did,” Xi Yue said as she returned, carrying two pure-white robes and two jade tokens engraved with blood-red phoenixes. “These are your official healer robes. The tokens contain the rules and regulations governing your duties as my disciples, as well as my personal techniques. Do not lose them.”

The twins each accepted a set, holding the items as though they were priceless treasures. While both were exciting, the tokens drew the most reverent stares—Xi Yue’s personal techniques were legendary. Her reputation as the sect’s greatest healer came not just from her position, but from her breakthroughs in medical cultivation.

“You may begin your training immediately,” Xi Yue continued, pointing toward another side room. “The meditation room is there.”

The twins nodded vigorously. Clutching their new belongings, they bowed quickly, said their hurried goodbyes, and practically scurried off to begin studying Xi Yue’s famed techniques.

“Thank you,” Jin Shu said once they were gone.

Xi Yue raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

He smirked. “I’m not a healer, and they were probably too excited to notice, but even I could tell you went easy on them. I mean… an overstimulated Earth Bear? Really? Who could fail that?”

“I have no idea what you’re implying,” she replied, her expression completely blank. “Most apprentice healers wouldn’t even dare dissect a frog. Let alone a demonic beast. Not to mention examine its genitals for signs of damage.”

“…Fair point.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Still, he had the feeling she’d made things easier because of him. Though maybe that was just his ego talking.

“Either way,” he said, “thanks for taking them in. They’re good girls. I know they’ll make good disciples.”

Xi Yue said nothing, but he could have sworn the corner of her lips curved upward, just slightly.

“Did you come only for them,” she asked, “or was there something else?”

“Ah, right. I need medical supplies.”

“For your journey south?”

“Yeah. Just the basics. I already stocked up on Grand Healing pills from Bin Yu.”

She gestured toward a shelf lined with various medical supplies. “Take what you need.”

He gathered several items, then paused, frowning slightly.

“These are infused with your qi,” he said. “Are they special?”

“I’ve imbued them with my healing energy,” Xi Yue replied casually, not even looking at him as she returned to her work. “They’ll outperform most grade-four healing pills.”

“…And I can just take them?”

“Mm.”

He didn’t want to be greedy—but he didn’t want to be foolish either. In the end, he took a little extra of everything, filling his earring with bandages, splints, gauze, and anything else that looked remotely useful.

“That should do it,” he said. “Thanks again. For the supplies… and the twins.”

He waved and headed for the door, eager to reach his next destination.

As he stepped outside, a quiet voice spoke directly into his ears.

“Be safe.”

He glanced back, but Xi Yue wasn’t looking at him. Her back was turned as she restocked the shelf.

“I will be,” he said. Then added, “Oh, and I’ll tell Mom you said you love her and want her to stay safe too.”

She spun around, eyes wide. “What?! Don’t you da—”

He didn’t wait to hear the rest. Jin Shu bolted down the stairs, laughter bursting from his chest. It felt amazing to finally get a reaction out of her—so much so that he didn’t even care about the strange looks he drew as he fled the building.

As he made his way down the street, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was why his mother enjoyed pulling pranks so much.

Honestly… it was fun.

Not long after leaving the medical hall, Jin Shu reached his final destination—the blacksmithing hall. More specifically, the side forge he had used shortly after the tournament.

The same one where he’d picked up his first fans.

Unfortunately, those three women weren’t there this time. The forge stood completely empty.

As he approached the door, he noticed a sign he hadn’t seen during his last visit:

Room Rental – 10 Contribution Points per Hour

Material Cost – 5 Points per Ore

Jin Shu blinked.

“…Did I cost those women their contribution points?”

Last time, he’d spent at least six hours inside—and gone through dozens, if not over a hundred, ores. It hadn’t been a significant expense to him, but for regular disciples, contribution points represented countless hours of effort and risk.

A faint pang of guilt tugged at him.

Still… it wasn’t as if he’d taken advantage of them. He’d given them one of his forged weapons in return—one he had little use for—so all things considered, it had been a fair trade.

Shaking his head, he slid his disciple token into the slot beside the door.

The token vanished inside, and the door swung open smoothly. As he stepped through, it closed on its own. His token reappeared, embedded into the inner panel, his remaining point total clearly displayed.

“Probably counts down while I’m working,” he muttered.

He didn’t dwell on it. Even after his shopping spree, he still had more than enough points to stay locked in the forge for several days if needed.

He crossed to the ore bins in the corner, selecting the materials he thought would be most useful before moving toward the forge itself. When he glanced back, he noticed his point total had already ticked down slightly.

“…Interesting.”

His eyes narrowed. “There’s a monitoring formation hidden in this room.”

For a brief moment, he considered trying to locate it—but quickly dismissed the idea. He had more important things to do.

Weapons. Ammunition.

He’d burned through every round of live ammo during the forest incident, leaving only pellets and various non-lethal shotgun shells behind.

“Wish I’d had time to outfit them before everyone left,” he muttered with a sigh. “Too little, too late.”

He shook his head. “Guess I’ll have to deliver it when we meet up again.”

With that, he began the forging process.

As the forge slowly heated toward the required temperature, Jin Shu reached out mentally.

“Nano. Help me with the next set of runes.”

The response came instantly—knowledge flowing into his mind in a smooth, silent transfer.

His eyes widened slightly. “Oh… these are good. And it includes exactly what I needed.”

After the forest skirmish, the four of them had discussed dozens—no, hundreds—of ways to push his weapons to the next level. Most of those ideas required time and resources they simply didn’t have.

But, he was fortunate enough to possess some of what they’d planned.

Spirit Realm runes were among them.

He pulled out the nanophone that had been gathering metaphorical dust inside his space earring and began practicing the inscriptions.

The first rune—and the most important—was the space rune.

An essential foundation for spatial storage devices, as well as countless other space-aspected constructs. It was an upgraded form of the void rune, capable of far more than just extra sharpness. When properly inscribed, it allowed weapons to cut through space itself—while also granting equipment access to a compact pocket dimension for storage.

A dangerous rune.

A powerful one.

And exactly what he needed.

The second rune was the qi release rune. A rune that had the simple use of releasing qi into the air. It was most commonly embedded within formations that either accelerated cultivation or transformed attributeless qi into elemental qi. Jin Shu, however, had something else in mind—an application that had never existed before.

The third rune was the force rune, a peculiar construct that blended the effects of an explosion rune with a weight-increase rune. It multiplied the destructive force a weapon produced, making it devastating when applied to heavy, blunt instruments.

Jin Shu’s intended uses for it, however, might prove even deadlier.

The fourth rune was an oddity among runesmiths, rune crafters, and formation masters alike: the bright rune. Its sole function was to generate an intense flash of light—and it required such an absurd amount of qi to activate that it was effectively useless in conventional applications.

That was precisely why it was perfect for several of the weapons Jin Shu planned to create.

The fifth rune was the acceleration rune. Its function was as straightforward as its name suggested—it increased the speed at which something traveled. Simple, but terrifyingly effective. Not only would it enhance his weapons, but Jin Shu also intended to apply it directly to his own body to dramatically boost his movement speed.

Beyond those, Nano also filled in gaps in his knowledge, supplying him with several elemental runes he had previously lacked.

The final rune was a specialized construct known as the spirit-altering rune.

It served only one purpose and existed exclusively within a single formation—the spirit manifestation formation, which summoned variants of the user’s own spirit. Jin Shu hadn’t even attempted to manifest his spirit yet, so whether the rune would prove useful remained uncertain.

By the time he fully absorbed and organized the new knowledge, the forge had reached its optimal temperature.

Normally, he would have started with the simplest task—manufacturing more ammunition. But he had new plans for that.

Instead, he turned his attention to a handful of experimental weapons.

Ones he intended to create for others.