24 Can no one handle their runes?

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A light breeze swept past a celestial and mystical garden causing the plants to shiver in ecstasy. This garden was laden with a colorful explosion of flowers and fruits. Within the very middle of this garden, surrounded by the taller trees, there was a small fountain; bubbling and glistening under the sunlight. The tall coniferous trees were shuttling back and forth whispering tales of a forgotten era.

Next to this fountain, there was a small wooden platform with a small table, on which two women were seated facing each other. But one of them seemed to melt away into the surroundings as if she was as eternal as the nature that surrounded her. This was the raven-haired beauty dressed in a set of white shirts and pants, who was fiddling with a mystical earthen brown cauldron with great interest and excitement. On the opposite side of this table was a rather familiar young girl in a white dress, with long blue hair and teary eyes. In front of her on that table, was another cauldron; rather ordinary but aquatic blue in appearance.

The blue-haired girl was desperately focusing on the cauldron with tears in her eyes while sending streams of qi on to it. For a moment this qi showed the slightest sign of a fiery nature... but disappeared within an overpowering aquatic nature. As such, all the qi sent forth on to the cauldron manifested as drops of water ultimately wetting the cauldron. In the end with tears of defeat, the young girl looked helplessly to the raven-haired lady and spoke out, "Mistress Nimue, this is impossible! It's the water's fault! With this cursed aquatic body, how could I ever become an alchemist?"

Noticing that the girl's attempts had stopped, she looked up, momentarily distracted from the earthen cauldron which had grabbed her attention for so long. Putting the cauldron aside, she laughed lightly while grabbing on to the crying girl's hands, and spoke out in an amused tone, "Silly girl, I believe you are the first person to curse being born with a pure elemental body! Countless people would give up so much to be in your position."

But noticing the sorrow in the girl's eyes, her eyes softened and spoke in a reassuring tone, "Either way, practicing alchemy will be difficult and different for you. You can't expect to master it in a couple of days, it'll be a long journey. So until the day that you truly understand... controlling fire, let alone alchemy will be beyond you. But if you're that unhappy there is a different type of alchemy--"

But seeing that the girl was still sniffling and brushing off tears, Nimue stopped her initial strain of words and spoke out with a light smile, "Let me show you something. Let this will be my first formal lesson to you!" She clicked her fingers gathering a monstrous amount of qi and law in front of her. She twirled her hands in a mesmerizing motion, instantly manifesting torrents of fire and water aether. These opposing laws mystically twirled around each other; coming close but never truly in contact.

The azure blue cauldron floated up into the center of the torrent of fire and water aether. Nimue smiled lightly and under the awe-struck eyes of the young girl she threw in hundreds upon hundreds of ingredients into the cauldron. Next, she took out a familiar white silkworm and threw it into the air causing it to magically shatter into silvery-white particles. The aura released from these particles was however shadowed by the terrifying aura of the opposing aether of fire and water. As Nimue continued to move her fingers about in a mystical motion the divine particles rushed into the cauldron, while causing torrents of more divine particles to follow suit.

Nimue flicked her hands once again causing the opposing fire and water aether to disappear jut as soon as it had appeared. And within mere moments this task was finished and the azure cauldron slowly fell back on to the table. At the same time, a pure white pill flew out from the cauldron and danced about the garden with happiness.

Nimue smiled and opened up her palm, instantly the pill flew on to her outstretched hand and, under the eyes of the amazed blue-haired girl, she calmly inspected it and muttered, "Hmm... not my best effort but it's good enough."

The young girl was deaf to her words as she was awe-struck. What she had just witnessed was the legendary art of instantaneous pill refinement, Pills through thought! Simply throwing in the ingredients and obtaining the pill!

The lady spoke out with twinkling eyes, "We alchemists are vain creatures, I suppose just like everyone else. Once we create something amazing, we put a sign on it and say 'This was done by me!' That is why we sign our pills." She paused for a moment and laughed out loud while eyeing the blue-haired girl.

By now her tears had dried as she was now simply contemplating the miracles she had witnessed. To her further surprise, the raven-haired lady held out the smooth pearl-like pill to her. She was frozen in place as she was well aware of the monstrous cost that this simple pill would go out for. However the raven-haired lady smiled saying, "Don't worry, I'm not giving this to you, for now. I simply need you to do something for me..."

The young girl paused for a moment in thought, and slowly took the pill into her own hands. The raven-haired lady clapped her hands in excitement and spoke out, "Alright! Vivienne, you are familiar with my insignia, right? When you become an alchemist of your own someday, I hope that your insignia will be this..."

She twirled her hand about in the air causing a strange 'ᛚ' sign to appear out of pure water aether.

Still bubbling with excitement she pointed at the pearl white pill and spoke out, "Now you try!" But Vivienne frowned and spoke out, "But, Mistress Nimue, this is your best pill! If I sign it, the value will go down..."

Nimue frowned and pouted in playful anger, "Idiot girl! Am I the mistress or are you? Since you say you can't practice refining pills... you might as well practice signing them!"

Once again bubbling with excitement Nimue waved her hands while shouting, "Now do it, c'mon do it!" Vivienne shook her head in exasperation but with a light smile waved her hand...

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The afternoon sunlight shone brightly onto the pavilion and the everflowing stream of water. While the white particles were swirling about the room and the shadow of the caterpillar was strengthening, signifying the ending of the pill refinement, Vivienne heaved a sigh with a distant look in her eyes.

She gracefully waved her fingers causing the divine white particles to rush into the pill cauldron. At the same time, she lightly pulled out the almost completed pill and let it lay half-in and half-out of the cauldron while bathing in the mystical fire of red, white and green. She muttered almost to herself, "Mistress I know that you bestowed an insignia upon me. But in your memory, let me disobey you just this once. I'll mark my first pill with both our insignia."

As she continued to control the silvery-white particles, they suddenly glowed with a strong force as they rushed towards the yellow pill in the cauldron. The moment these particles touched the pill they disappeared leaving only a light mark on the pill surface. But as more and more particles disappeared into the pill, it slowly formed a faint 'ᛒ' sign.

Zhen Shi's eyes glowed as he once again noticed this type of rune. But he stayed silent with a slight nod of acceptance.

Vivienne gave a light smile, as the familiar insignia almost reached out to her in pride of her achievement. She weaved her hands about causing the silvery-white particles to change their motion and rush into the pill in a different path. And thus she highlighted the top part of the initial sign and marked her own insignia 'ᛚ'. Vivienne heaved a sigh of satisfaction thinking, "Mistress wherever you are--I hope you can see this... Not the way you hoped but... I finally became an alchemist!"

Noticing how Vivienne highlighted the first rune to show another rune Zhen Shi couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer and so asked, " Sis Vivienne I get why you'd put the first rune, but why'd you highlight it to give the Laguz rune?"

Vivienne looked at Zhen Shi in curiosity while still handling the last few touches to the pill and asked, "Wait, these symbols have meaning? Then what does this Laguz rune mean?" Zhen Shi mindlessly nodded and spoke, "Of course they do. In fact, those symbols hold multitudes of meanings. But... if I were to summarize I'd say that the Laguz rune means... running water. Of course, it also refers to the life force that flows to all living beings in the universe--"

But Vivienne was oblivious to what he was speaking after that. The only word that was reverberating within her mind was WATER. Tears streaked down her eyes as she started sobbing uncontrollably. Zhen Shi hurriedly stopped speaking as he was wondering what he had said to cause her to cry. But Vivenne's crying grew on worse, as her struggles to become an alchemist over the years and just now realizing how much her mistress had believed in her ran amok in her mind.

While her tears were streaking down her cheeks the pill refinement finished. Just as the white particles completed the absorption process, the pill slowly and unsurely flew out of the cauldron. When Vivienne noticed it through her misty eyes she held her hand forwards reflexively. Vivienne's mind was still contemplating the meaning of the rune and how it meant 'water' as the pill flew towards her, but... just as it touched her hand a strange and undetectable energy coalesced around the 'ᛚ' rune. The rune shone with a light sheen of water aether and the pill suddenly glowed with a blue aquatic light as it went through a qualitative change!

But simultaneously Vivienne collapsed onto the floor with the pill held tightly in her hand.

Zhen Shi finally got out of his disarrayed thoughts as he hurried to help her. But he didn't get far...

WHOOOSSHH!

A blue flame appeared and disappeared as Myne ran through the flames into the room while holding a strange cube with the sigils of a formation glowing. This cube was connected to a strange line of powerful qi leading up to the roof of the pavilion.

Myne and Zhen Shi shouted out at the same time, "What the hell happened to my wife?"

"What the hell is in your hand?"

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Myne and Zhen Shi paused in contemplation and spoke out simultaneously while pointing at each other,

"Alright you first!"

"Alright you first!"

Myne and Zhen Shi hurriedly spoke out in answer, again... at the same time,

"Fine then. You first!"

"Fine then. You first!"

Zhen Shi immediately realized how long this ridiculous situation might drag on for. So he shut up as he ran towards the fainted Vivienne. But as he knelt next to her Myne spoke out, "She's fine... She just needs some rest. Her spirit and soul have been subjected to overexertion." Zhen Shi frowned and spoke out, "So you're just going to leave her here?" Myne grinned and said, "Of course. Do you think I want to be held responsible for her accusations of what I might've done while moving her? More importantly, I think she'd want to stay here considering the occasion..." finishing with a light sigh.

Zhen Shi nodded in understanding and paused for a moment. But he soon pointed at the formation cube in Myne's hand and asked again, "So... what is that?" Myne grinned and spoke out while tapping his chest with his free hand, "What? Did you think this grand mage, would be in the dark about his wife's actions? I set up this formation to seal up this pavilion the moment she started refining the pill... We would've been in trouble if anyone else had sensed the convergence of the aether and that heavenly caterpillar," But he suddenly frowned and spoke out in an accusing tone, "Thank you for the heads-up by the way. Would it have killed you to maybe notify me?"

Zhen Shi was flabbergasted and spoke out, "But I did and I couldn't sense you. I'm only at spirit formation, how far did you expect my spiritual sense to extend? And it's a divine silkworm, not a heavenly caterpillar!" with a wronged look. Myne immediately cringed and spoke out, "FUCK! Are you becoming a herbologist as well?" Still, the feeling of being incorrect gave a bad taste in his mouth and so spoke out in recollection, "Either way aren't they all the same in this modern world? You did say earthworms can become butterflies... So I figured silkworms could do the same. I mean if fuckin' earthworms can do so, why not silkworms? Am I right?"

Zhen Shi was speechless. SHIT! You were supposed to forget that!

So to change the topic he spoke out while grinning forcefully, "Anyways you admitted to being the Grand Mage right?" It was Myne's turn to be speechless now.

But almost in understanding and with a courteous nod at each other, they stopped pursuing the questions that had made each other speechless. As such Myne spoke out with the intention to forget this instance, "So what happened to her? Even with all her pill improvement techniques, she shouldn't have fainted!" Zhen Shi frowned and spoke out as well, "I'm not sure exactly... she started carving in these old Norse runes into the pill. And she fainted just after she began crying when I began to explain the meaning of the rune." Myne frowned in contemplation, "Norse? Do you mean the people in the Northern Ice Lands? As far as I know, they're barbarians without a written language. How do you even know it's Norse?"

Zhen Shi hurriedly spoke out with the intention of not answering the last question, "Yes, Yes! It was the Legaz rune which basically means running water, and it looked like this," and started to carve it out of Qi in the air. But just as he started to... he fainted on the spot and collapsed on to the ground in a mindless heap.

Myne's eye twitched... ಠ_ಥ FUCK! Why can't you people handle writing a simple rune?

But heaved a sigh of helplessness. He wasn't particularly worried as he could sense that both the fainted would recover within a few hours. But he was rather curios and so pried open Vivienne's hand to observe the pill. He observed the pill with the ᛒ rune and the highlighted ᛚ rune.

He contemplated what Zhen Shi had told him, 'basically means running water.' And so with curiosity, he started to draw the rune, he was able to draw half of it... but he too fainted on the spot and collapsed on to the ground.

Leaving a pavilion of three fainted individuals...

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It was now several hours past noon. The sun was only mere moments away from starting to set. Isolde was calmly staring through her window sill, at the training grounds with the lonesome three targets. The wind lightly blew through the grounds and passed by, caressing Isolde's face and causing her blonde hair to futter by. Inside the room, Butler Alec was seated in a chair on the side of the room. He remained calmly seated in a corner of the room with closed eyes.

The two of them were basically alone in the mansion beside very few mortal servants and the tortured people in Isabella's room. Count Brishman had left for the day along with his wives in tow, lest they get in the way of the Prince. It had been quite some time since the Prince's intended arrival, but Isolde had not left yet excusing herself by being 'sick'.

But this calm and peaceful setting was broken apart as the sound of loud shouts came from outside the room. "Hey, hey... you can't just go inside like tha--"

"Shut up! A mere guard dare bars the way of Lord O'Riley?"

The sound of a heavy struggle came from outside the room...

The door opened revealing a middle-aged fat man with well-combed dark black hair dressed in dark golden armor. The armor he was wearing was obviously top grade and he walked in confidently while smiling happily. He would have been considered as a noble and refined person had it not been for the two cultivators behind him who continued to kick and punch the unlucky guard who had blocked them.

Isolde shouted in horror, "Stop that! Lord O'Riley have you no class? You barge into a lady's room uninvited and now assault my guard. Hold your hand!"

Lord O'Riley smiled and raised his right hand. Immediately the two cultivators behind him stopped and walked over, coming to a stop just behind him. He continued to speak, "Lady Isolde, you are just as beautiful as they say. I truly envy PrinceTristram," with a strange glow in his eyes. He took one step forward and bowed, as much as he could with his overweight stomach while saying, "I apologize for my intrusion. But the Prince has already arrived and is waiting in the main hall. So how could the lady stay shut in her room feigning sickness?" He stood back again while grinning confidently and said, "How could my lady refuse the prince of this nation with such obvious falsehoods? Now... tell me... who is it that has no 'class'?" while savoring every word in his mouth and flipping his tongue about.

This caught Isolde by surprise and caused her to be silent. Lord O'Reilly smiled in a satisfied manner and spoke out, "I might be able to get him to forgive you... if you let me have some fun with you..." with lecherous eyes that ran all over Isolde's body while licking his lips. He grinned while looking at Isolde's scowling face and said, "So what says the lady? Will she play along? Or will more people like that servant have to pay the price?" while eyeing the apparently 'helpless' Butler Alec who had been silently watching the entire event.

But Isolde stared at Lord O'Reilly with determined and fiery eyes, "I will not play along to your sick games! I require no help from scum like you. I am indeed feeling unwell, it was not a falsehood. So inform the prince that I must refuse his invitation today," and spat out disgusted with this lecherous fat man.

Lord O'Riley laughed out loud while holding his large stomach and snarled, "You stupid bitch, that was never a question. You have no choice in the matter." The kind and regal facade he had put up was completely broken as he shouted out like a madman. He flicked one hand saying, "Bring her to me. And don't let off that old corpse either..."

The two cultivators dashed forwards and reached out to grab Isolde. But even before she could shout out in defiance or put up a struggle, an old wizened figure appeared like a blast of wind, blocking them. But this only caused the two guards to stop for a moment in surprise, as they continued dashing forwards while laughing and shouting, "Go to hell, old man. Where you belong!"

After all, just a soul formation old man was trying to stop the two of them who were peak soul transformation cultivators.

Isolde looked on helplessly unable to get herself to move. They reached Alec within mere moments and immediately punched out while manifesting two fiery demon faces on their fists. They had malicious grins on their faces as they went in for the kill. But Alec was completely calm as he looked at them with emotionless eyes.

A dark blue bow suddenly appeared in his hands as he easily slapped the two attacking fists away with the bow an azure blue blur. The attacking cultivators were thrown back as the demonic qi was shattered.

The two cultivators stopped in surprise because the old man had simply slapped away their attack even going so far as to make the qi on their fists collapse. This caused Lord O'Reilly to snort and shout out, "Why the fuck are you stopping? Can't you even take care of one old man?"

This caused the two cultivators to grimace but even so, they obeyed, as they prepared to attack with their full ability this time around. Isolde ignored them as she finally got herself to move and said, "Grandpa Alec it's fine. Please, please just stand aside. I'll go with them..." causing Lord O'Reilly to laugh happily and shout, "Wise decision bitch, but... It's too late for regrets now... You two, kill that old man!"

However old man Alec just sighed and spoke out, "You two kids, don't throw away your lives. Just turn around and leave. I'll forget this matter," and said while looking at the two cultivators. But his words only got them to pause for a moment, as they shouted out, "Fuck you old man! Do you think we're afraid of you?" Their bodies were enshrouded with a powerful fiery qi which caused the temperature within the room to rise up, as they brought out two short knives. Immediately they dashed forward with a shout, "Flaming fanged serpent!"

A terrifying shadow of a fanged serpent appeared behind them as they struck forwards with the two flaming knives. Alec heaved a sigh as he bent his legs to the side and changed to an attacking position. Just when the two knives reached him, a dark azure blue blur appeared in front of him as he rotated the bow in a circular motion at full speed. The two knife strikes collided with the rotating bow causing a small wave of qi to explode within the room. The entire room was thrown asunder as one of the cultivators was thrown away and the fanged serpent shadow shattered apart.

Alec swung the bow leaving a deep blue arc in the air as it smashed on to the remaining cultivator's chest.

Pu!

That soul transformation cultivator was thrown away and struck the wall, as his chest caved in dying on the spot.

Seeing the situation turning around, Lord O'Reilly ran away while barely preventing himself from tripping over his own pot belly. Still, he managed to shout and point at the remaining cultivator," Oi! You better hold him off and protect this lord or your entire clan will have to pay for it!" After all, this Lord O'Reilly was merely of the Core Formation Stage with no special skills to speak of.

That cultivator grimaced at his words but still acknowledged the order. Thus he slowly pushed himself up off of the floor and pointed at Alec while shouting with fearful eyes, "You--you-- who are you?"

Alec ignored him as he held the bow horizontally on his hand. He instantly brought out a dark black arrow and loaded it on the bow as if it was a crossbow where his own hand was the crutch. He calmly spoke out, "I already gave you your chance..." and let go of the arrow.

That cultivator didn't even get the chance to react as the arrow whisked forwards, a black blur, and passed cleanly through one eye. That cultivator collapsed dead on the spot. Alec calmly put away the azure bow, turning to Isolde. He asked with a worried face, "Young Lady are you alright?"

Isolde nodded her head with amazed eyes and asked, "Nevermind that, but how'd you..." and gesturing at the damaged room and the corpses, asked, "do that? I know that you served the king before but... how could you ignore their higher cultivation like that?"

Alec smiled with twinkling eyes and said, "You see, I'm simply one hell of a butler." This caused Isolde to playfully pout and frown her eyes in annoyance. But she suddenly stopped as she worriedly spoke out, "Grandpa Alec? That O'Reilly will probably complain to the prince. What will we do if the prince sends the royal guard or even worse... come by himself?"

Alec smiled and patted Isolde's head, "Young lady, don't worry. This old butler will take care of everything." Isolde was still worried but nodded in compliance nonetheless.

But almost immediately Lord O'Reilly ran and arrived back at the doorway with a face full of confidence. Nevertheless, he didn't dare step into the room, noting the two dead corpses. Still, he laughed out loud and shouted with spittle spurting from his mouth, "Isolde, you bitch... and you old corpse, you've done it now! The prince is coming himself!" while continuing to laugh while holding his fat belly.

This caused Isolde to look at Alec with a worried face but Alec simply smiled back at her. A light sound of footsteps just barely audible under the sound of Lord O'Reilly's laughter gradually grew louder. Suddenly, a strong hand that seemed to have gone through the arduous training of a warrior gripped on to the doorsill.