Chapter 479 - 478: Failure

Chapter 479: Chapter 478: Failure

Seraphina Sinclair, however, paid it no mind. She eagerly spread out her rune paper across from Luna Jacobs, ground the ink, and took a deep breath, rune pen in hand. It was time to start making C-level Talismans.

Though defeating C-level monsters was no longer a difficult task for her, who wouldn’t want to see the level of the runes they crafted get higher?

With a hint of excitement, Seraphina Sinclair gripped her rune pen and made the first stroke on the rune paper.

The moment the pen tip touched the paper, Seraphina Sinclair felt a difference: the ink was seeping into the Ebony Rune Parchment much more slowly than before.

With the previous yellow rune paper, the ink would begin to soak in the instant it made contact.

Now, however, it was as if this rune paper was rejecting the ink. As her pen moved across it, a line of ink was left behind, but that was it.

The ink simply floated on the surface, round and full like a bead of water on wax, showing no sign of seeping in.

She waited a moment.

The ink remained on the surface.

After a moment of thought, Seraphina Sinclair blew a gentle puff of air at the ink.

The inky trace actually moved, shifting ever so slightly in the direction of her breath.

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

Even the slowest person would have understood by now.

’The runic ink is the problem.’

Or more accurately, there was a problem with how Seraphina Sinclair prepared her runic ink.

She was self-taught. Having inherited the knowledge of three runes, she had been experimenting on her own, trying to concoct runic ink based on their ink bases.

Although she had added many high-grade materials, the fundamental base was still made of ordinary things.

It had always worked before, likely because the previous rune paper was also ordinary.

The yellow rune paper had a coarse texture and was highly absorbent. It would have soaked up not just this grade of runic ink, but even much more inferior concoctions.

But the Ebony Rune Parchment was different.

It was C-level, made from D-level and even C-level materials. The gap between it and F-level materials was simply too vast.

In layman’s terms, they were incompatible.

Seraphina Sinclair had two choices: either continue using Blank Talisman Paper, or figure out how to change the base of her runic ink.

She sighed and put down her rune pen.

’I thought that with the Ebony Rune Parchment, creating C-level Talismans would be a natural next step. I never expected it to be this difficult.’

Seraphina Sinclair leaned back in her chair, staring at the rune paper with its single, failed stroke. She was silent for a long time.

It seemed she had hit a bottleneck on her path as a Rune Master. Before her was a door. Behind it lay the C-level Talismans she desired, along with greater power, more possibilities, and perhaps even powerful new runes she had never seen before.

But this door was locked.

To open it, she needed two keys.

The first key, "Better Rune Paper," she already possessed.

The second, "Better Runic Ink," she had yet to find.

If she gave up now, all her previous work would be for nothing, and Little Mushroom’s efforts would be wasted too.

’Besides... I’m not the type to give up halfway!’

’What path in this world is ever easy from start to finish?’

Seraphina Sinclair stared at the ruined rune paper for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out and picked it up.

The ink had completely solidified on the surface. Running a finger over it, she could feel a slight raised texture, as if it were a coat of paint.

She brought the rune paper to her nose and sniffed.

The smell of the ink was still there, but it was much fainter than before. In its place was a scent... that she couldn’t quite describe.

She then looked at the back of the rune paper.

On the ebony-colored base, there was nothing. It was perfectly clean, as if it had never been touched by a rune pen.

Seraphina Sinclair put the rune paper down, closed her eyes, and began to recall the process of how she mixed her runic ink.

The knowledge she had inherited only included the methods for creating three types of runes: the Fire Drawing Rune corresponded to gasoline, the Corpse Suppression Rune to monster blood, and the Blood Stopping Talisman to herbal juices.

She could see that although the ink bases for these three runes were completely different, they all followed the same system:

The final effect of the rune was always related to the material used as its ink base.

The Fire Drawing Rune creates flames. Using gasoline as the ink base, which produces flames when ignited, was logically sound.

The Corpse Suppression Rune is used to suppress corpses. Monster blood, containing necrotic energy and resentment, serves as the ink base. It’s a case of fighting fire with fire, which makes logical sense.

The Blood Stopping Talisman stops bleeding and promotes healing. Using herbal juices, which carry vitality and healing power, as the ink base was perfectly reasonable.

Seraphina Sinclair opened her eyes, her gaze falling on the stack of Ebony Rune Parchment on the table.

A new idea took shape in her mind.

’Since the Ebony Rune Parchment rejects gasoline, can’t I just find a higher-level material to replace it? Then I can draw the rune for the Fire Drawing Rune, and that should solve it, right?’

’The Ebony Rune Parchment is C-level, so ideally, the new material should be C-level as well.’

As Seraphina Sinclair was thinking, she suddenly remembered an item she had acquired from the regional channel a while back—

[Processed Powder (D-level)]!

Her train of thought paused.

’It’s D-level. A tier lower than C-level, sure, but it’s still one of the highest-grade materials I can get my hands on right now.’

Besides, the item’s Description explicitly stated that it was "powder processed by a Rune Master, which can be used directly for rune making"!

Almost instinctively, Seraphina Sinclair reached out and retrieved the jar of powder from her earring.

The small ceramic jar rested in her palm, cool to the touch.

She pulled out the stopper. The jar was filled with a fine, silver-gray powder that gave off a faint fluorescent glow in the dim light of the room, like crushed starlight.

She brought the powder to her nose and sniffed.

It was odorless. But when she took a pinch between her fingers and gently rubbed it, she could feel an extremely faint "vitality" within.

Seraphina Sinclair knew it was a strange descriptor, but that was the feeling the powder gave her. It was as if something was slumbering within it.

Staring at the powder on her fingertips, a thought suddenly struck Seraphina Sinclair—

’Since the Description says it can be used directly for rune making, why not give it a shot?’

She sprang into action almost immediately.

She took out her inkstone, poured out a little of the powder, and after a moment’s thought, Seraphina Sinclair added a small amount of clean water and began to slowly grind it with an ink stick.

The powder didn’t dissolve completely in the water. Instead, it remained suspended, forming a thin, silver-gray suspension.

Seraphina Sinclair tried dipping her rune pen in it and drew a line on a piece of scrap paper—

An ink mark was left. The color was light, but it held its shape.

’It’s usable.’

’But the question is, can this stuff replace gasoline as the ink base for the Fire Drawing Rune?’

Seraphina Sinclair hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to try.

She took out a sheet of Ebony Rune Parchment, smoothed it flat, dipped her pen until it was saturated with the powder-based ink, took a deep breath, and began to draw the rune for the Fire Rune.

The first stroke landed. The ink didn’t float on the surface like before. It was... seeping in!

Although the absorption rate was much slower than with ordinary rune paper, it was definitely seeping in.

Seraphina Sinclair held her breath, steadied her wrist, and, stroke by careful stroke, drew the entire rune to completion.

She finished with a final, decisive stroke.

She put down the rune pen and stared at the rune before her.