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122 - Rune-Carving Shop

Kou Wei just said, "There's no hurry."

The next day, he was taken aback.

The banner outside the Hall of Immortals had been taken down, there was nothing on the elevated stage, and the announcer and the boss were in a panic.

The various spectators were in chaos too.

The pharmacology arenas weren't as interesting as the martial art arenas, so it was hard to get an audience to watch. More than half of the spectators here today came after hearing about the miracle that happened yesterday, but nobody expected that the host wouldn't show up!

"Where does Miss Lu stay? 'I don't know'? What the hell do you mean by 'I don't know'!?" the boss shouted.

Ever since their own Pharmacologist Qin lost, the boss planned to invest in Miss Lu and make her famous. She was young and incredibly powerful, so there was no doubt that she would attract a huge audience and make the Hall of Immortals famous just the way the boss wanted. That would be the best way to make up for the loss of Pharmacologist Qin.

Even the boss was shocked at how fast he came up with a plan to cover such a huge loss.

But unexpectedly, after a mere day, a child came in the morning with a letter from Miss Lu saying that she was going to ditch the arena.

"But… she didn't tell me where she lives!"

"Haven't you heard of 'asking,' you idiot?"

The announcer sighed in exasperation. How is this my fault? Why would I ask when I had no clue she would disappear after a single day? Besides, Miss Lu was in the Harmonization Realm, he didn't dare to offend her.

On the other hand, Kou Wei and the rest were taken aback by this information.

"Didn't the rules say three consecutive days?"

"Yeah!" Qi Sheng was also confused by this situation.

"What does she want? Who in the world would do such things?"

"I want to know too!"

All eyes turned toward Shao Zhengyang.

Shao Zhengyang smiled bitterly, "I haven't seen Junior Sister Lu these past few days."

The best juniors of the various clans just stood there looking at each other, not knowing what to do.

Meanwhile, at a rune-carving shop down the street, there were two children standing near the door.

One of them sighed dejectedly, "Haish, why do other arenas have customers, but we don't?"

The other child pouted, "Carving runes isn't as interesting as martial arts, that's why nobody wants to watch us."

Rune-carving was a skill lost to history. In the past, the making of medicine, weapons, and runes were the three biggest industries in China. But now, after many years, the medicine industry was on the rise, the weapon industry remained the same, while the rune-carving industry was basically gone.

Rune-carving was the practice of carving a certain rune on a weapon to allow it to possess a certain ability. Back during the war between mankind and the barbarians, rune-carving was very popular. Even a basic amulet equipped by commoners could be used to fight in the war.

As time passed, martial arts became more and more popular, and rune-carving slowly became more and more unpopular. Compared to martial arts, the ability of a rune varied depending on the day, and sometimes it might've even hurt the user as well. Thus, people chose martial arts over rune-carving. To this day, the rune-carving shops all survived by carving basic runes on weapons, which all weapons had.

Arena competitions started to trend in Tianyun City these days, and the martial arts hall were the ones who started it. After that, the boss of some pharmacy jumped on the bandwagon, and soon, the metal shops did too.

Seeing all that, the rune-carving shop jumped on the bandwagon too, but…

How many rune carvers were even in Tianyun City? Not many; there were only a few people around that could carve runes. When the arena was first set up, it attracted quite a large audience who came out of curiosity. However, after all the rune carvers had competed with each other, there was no one left to actually have a contest anymore, so all the fun went down the drain. Thus, there was no audience nowadays.

On the stage, there were just two people drawing. If one didn't know about rune-carving, it would look like watching two adults just doodling on stage.

The martial arts halls and the pharmacies had earned a lot thanks to the arenas, but the rune-carving shop earned nothing from the arena.

One of the children yawned, "Why don't we just remove the arena? No one's coming anyways."

"Nah, boss wouldn't like that idea," the other child wiggled his eyebrows, "He loves his reputation quite a lot."

That sentence gave both children the giggles.

"May I-"

"Let's go get some Tanghulu later?" tang hulu is a traditional chinese sweet

"Sure! Lend me two cents first."

"Nah," the other child stuck out his tongue, "you still haven't paid me back what you borrowed last time."

"May I-"

"What do you-!" the child snapped. Being in a heated discussion about food, the child was annoyed that he was being cut off, but he managed to calm down.

A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl stood in front of them. She had a fair complexion and wore a white shirt. Her emotionless face made her look like an iceberg.

The child immediately scrambled up, "Yes, Miss?"

Lu Mingshu pointed to the red paper stuck on the door, "You have an arena here, right?"

"Yes, we do," the child nodded while yawning, "but Miss, you might have to wait a while if you want to watch…."

"Because there's no one to compete with the host?"

The child stared blankly at her. What is she trying to say?

"I want to compete."

As soon as she finished her words, the children looked at her as if she was their goddess.

"Miss, you want to compete?" their eyes sparkled.

"The arena is about carving runes - this is a rune-carving shop."

"Yeah, do you want to reconsider?"

Lu Mingshu smiled at them, "Why, are you not welcoming me?"

"No, no, no, no such thing."

"Of course not!"

The children then bowed as an apology.

"I'm so sorry. Here, Miss."

"Welcome."

What a joke; this was their first customer after so many days, the boss would surely cut their heads off if they scared her away. Well, not literally, but still…. Moreover, she would bring them more money!

However, this Miss here was so young, was she actually capable? Rune-carving was not easy; it was a skill that required years to pick up. Even then, it was so complex that, without a lot of talent, you wouldn't be able to get any good at it. All rune carvers that were famous were at least in their thirties due to the experience required and the amount of training they had to go through. Even after intense training, it was still possible to not get any harvest in the field of rune-carving, that's why there were less and less rune carvers these days.

Ah, whatever, that's their problem. Just do my job and bring the customer in.

"Uncle Hai! Someone is here to compete!"

Following the children, Lu Mingshu scanned the shop upon entering.

This was the best rune-carving shop she could find according to the map, but looking at its interior, she thought otherwise. The martial arts halls attracted students with their fame and the Hall of Immortals was rather neat, but this place…

"Customer, huh…?" Uncle Hai walked out and smiled widely, "Miss, you're here to compete?" He was then rooted to the ground upon seeing that the customer was Lu Mingshu.

"Yes," seeing the shock on Uncle Hai's face, Lu Mingshu added, "Why? Can't I compete?"

Uncle Hai shook his head immediately, "No, of course not; we welcome business from everywhere. It's just that, our rune carvers all have more than twenty years of experience…." he said, trying to hint that a beginner should just give up.

Lu Mingshu nodded, "I'm here to learn from your excellent standards."

~~~~~

Author's Notes:

Thanks to all my readers, grateful for you guys! It's the end of the month soon, so come vote for me!

123 - An Industry That's Gone.

"Starting! Starting!" the child shouted while striking a gong to attract attention.

"Aiyo, what's going on, huh?" the old man manning the grocery store walked out upon hearing the noise, "Someone's here to compete? Such a rare situation!"

"Yeah, Uncle Zheng. Come and watch! It's a good-looking girl!" the child tried his best to get an audience.

"What? A girl?" Uncle Zheng looked at him in disbelief, "Does she even know how to carve a rune?"

"I don't know, but you don't need to come for the competition; just come for her visuals," the child wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

"Sure thing! I'm coming over right now!"

As soon as Uncle Zheng was about to exit the shop, his ear was pulled forcefully by somebody, followed by a loud voice, "Where the hell are you going, you goat!? You're so old, yet your eyes shine upon hearing 'pretty girl'? Get your ass back here, right now!"

"Ah, stop it, my dear wife, stop it! I'll tend the shop, you can go and watch."

"Hmph! Better."

After a few moments, the child brought in a dozen audience members.

Lu Mingshu pointed to the tables situated in the hall and asked, "This… is the arena?"

Uncle Hai rubbed his palm as he put them in place. "We're a bit broke…."

Not mentioning the grand arenas at the martial arts halls, even a simple and crude pharmacy's arena can at least hold a hundred people. However, this arena here… was just their hall with two wooden tables. Isn't it too skimpy?

She was aware of how waning the rune-carving sector was, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.

"Miss," a gentleman with a long beard in a gown strolled toward her, "our rune-carving master only needs a brush, everything else are just minor details."

Uncle Hai smiled at her, "This is our chief."

Lu Mingshu stared at him in silence for a moment before continuing, "So, what are your competition rules?"

The chief stroked his beard as he answered, "Simple - just draw the rune, and we will decide the winner afterward."

No wonder they rarely have an audience. What's there to even watch? The audience probably doesn't even understand the rules.

"Why? Is Miss dissatisfied with the rules?" the chief looked at her with panic.

"It's boring," Lu Mingshu replied coldly.

"In what way should we compete then? We value your suggestions," the chief added on immediately, as if he was afraid that she wouldn't want to compete anymore.

Lu Mingshu walked around the hall and stepped out of the hall.

The chief and Uncle Hai followed closely behind her with a tense mood.

The arena had been closed for days already. If it remained closed, they would have to shut the arena down completely.

Lu Mingshu pointed to the rooftop, "There's nothing up there, right?"

Uncle Hai raised his eyebrows, "The rooftop, you mean?"

"En."

"Nope…."

"Then let's go there."

Uncle Hai looked over to the chief.

"Let's go!" he nodded.

The customer was always the king; if she said to go, then go.

This shop was set up years ago, so there was nothing much on the rooftop except some grains. Due to them being so poor, they also sold dry goods.

The tables were being moved up, and the dozen audience members followed behind the child.

"Eh, why did you all move the tables?"

"To the roof?"

"Rooftop? Good idea! The lighting there is better."

"More spacious too, haha."

"We should've done that earlier, man. The hall is so small and warm."

"I know, right?"

The spectators - neighbors of the shop - walked up the stairs while chattering happily.

As soon as the spectators were settled down, Lu Mingshu repeated her main point once again, "It's boring to just draw a rune."

It's not like this was the first time he had heard such a thing, so it didn't hurt the chief. He looked at Lu Mingshu in confusion, "So, what did you have in mind?"

"As a rune carver, one must have a good memory and knowledge of runes, so first, the competitors should list out the effects and source of a rune upon seeing it. Secondly, one should know how to carve a rune according to what the customer requests. Lastly, judge the competition by the quality of rune made," Lu Mingshu then turned to the chief, "What do you think?"

The chief pondered for a while before nodding, "Good idea, Miss."

"In that case, we will follow those three requirements," Lu Mingshu pointed at her feet, "I saw that there were some books on runes down there. For the first challenge, how about we pick some books and ask the tester to give us three runes, then we have to locate the runes in the books?"

In reality, a fairer competition would be that one must draw out all the runes in the reference book. Under Lu Mingshu's suggestion, the host would benefit the most, but their current conditions were too poor for something like that.

"This…" the chief looked at her, "Isn't that too unfair to Miss?"

"If I can't do it, that just shows that I need to up my game," Lu Mingshu answered unenthusiastically.

Since that was what she answered, the chief had no reason to reject her suggestion.

"In that case, we shall not collect an admission fee from Miss."

"Thanks."

"What about the other two requirements?"

"For the second one, get ten spectators as volunteers. Each one will give a request, and the competitors will follow the request to draw a rune. The winner will be determined by accuracy, then timing if need be."

"Interesting," the chief said, but before he could continue, he was interrupted by the spectators, "Can we make request?"

Lu Mingshu nodded, "Yes." It was best to use the spectators, but only because this arena had so few.

The chief liked her idea. He looked at her in anticipation, "Then… the third?"

Lu Mingshu started slowly, "Lastly… depend on the rune."

The chief raised his eyebrows, "You mean…?"

"Martial arts arenas have fights, the weapon industry can fight… why can't runes?"

The birth of medicine was to cure, but the birth of runes was to fight! Nowadays, the rune-carving industry had waned, and not many people remembered that this industry was made to fight. Back during the war, runes could allow an ordinary person to fight the barbarians, but look at the industry now.

The chief was speechless at her question, "How do you fight with a rune without carving it into a weapon? The effect wouldn't be easy to…" he muttered to himself.

Lu Mingshu smiled warmly at him, "There surely must be a way! Where there's a will, there's a way."

The chief looked at her blankly.

"Chief, so in your opinion, is this method alright?"

"Yes, yes!" before the chief could answer, the spectators started cheering.

"Yeah, it will be way more interesting that way."

"We didn't understand your previous competitions anyway."

"Just agree, chief!"

"Let's do it, boss!" even his clerk supported Lu Mingshu's idea.

The chief took a deep breath before nodding, "Ah… okay, okay!" That sounds way more interesting than just drawing a rune.

Lu Mingshu smiled thinly, "Then, shall we invite the host on stage?"

The chief hesitated. The best rune carver in the shop was him, but with his age, he would be taking advantage of Lu Mingshu if he competed against her. However, after hearing her, he knew that she wasn't simple, so sending a mere student would most likely end in a loss. Who was he supposed to send?

Just then, a young man stepped up, "Chief, I'll go."

He heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing him, "Okay, Chu, you will go."

124 - Fast

The young man was in his twenties, and he was in the Harmonization Realm. At his age, being in the Harmonization Realm would guarantee a bright future in the martial arts industry, but he chose rune-carving over martial arts; it must've been his passion.

"I'm Jing Chu," he smiled widely at Lu Mingshu and bowed.

Lu Mingshu bowed to him too, "My surname is Lu."

"Ah, so it's Miss Lu," Jing Chu smiled, "So, what do we do for the first round?"

Lu Mingshu picked a random aunty from amongst the spectators, "Could you go to the bookshelves and pick out three runes?"

Unprepared, the aunty started to panic, "Me? I don't know how!"

"Better if you don't," Lu Mingshu then pointed to Uncle Hai, "Just pick any three and hand them to Uncle Hai."

"Okay then," the aunty rubbed her palms, "Let me treat it as choosing vegetables!"

Lu Mingshu gave her a warm smile, then turned toward Uncle Hai, "Could you please take down the page and the name of the book, then copy the rune chosen for us to reference?"

"Yeah, sure."

Lastly, she turned to the chief, "Could I trouble you to bring the bookshelf up? To let the spectators witness and have a totally fair game. It will also increase the intensity of the competition."

"Sure."

Three of them went down the stairs. When Lu Mingshu turned back, she saw that Jing Chu was staring at her.

"Yes?"

"Thanks for your trouble, Miss Lu. You had to help us think up a way to compete and even act as the announcer. I'm so sorry that we aren't doing our part."

"You're trying to say that it's an unfair game for you, huh?"

"No, of course not!" Jing Chu waved his hand in panic, "I just feel guilty and sorry that you even had to come up with the rules. It's just too…"

He looked down in guilt.

Lu Mingshu looked at him apathetically. That's what everyone here is like - idiots who only know how to carve runes, with no knowledge about business.

In no time, the three of them came back.

Uncle Hai had three pieces of paper in his hand, while the chief commanded some of his disciples to put the bookshelf in place.

As martial artists, a bookshelf was just a small issue to them.

"Miss Lu, this-"

Lu Mingshu put her hand up to stop him from walking over, "Wait a minute. Me and Gentleman Jing will stand here, and Uncle Hai will flash us the rune. Five moments for one rune."

She then tapped her finger on the table to show how long one "moment" would take, "Just like that."

"Isn't that too short?" the chief interrupted, "I doubt someone could even get a good look at it."

Lu Mingshu didn't study with others, so she didn't know how much time others needed, "Then how long do you think is needed?"

The chief pondered for a while before answering, "Ten moments - that's enough for one to take a clear look."

Lu Mingshu nodded, "Okay then; ten moments. Uncle Hai will flash the rune, while chief will time it. Then, me and Gentleman Jing will start looking for the rune and jot it down," she pointed to the two tables, "The winner will be determined by accuracy, then time."

"Good idea!" the chief clapped, "But we should add a time limit, otherwise the competition would be meaningless."

"Chief is right."

The chief looked over at the bookshelf. After scanning the bookshelf, which had about a hundred books, he gave a number, "How about six hours?"

Lu Mingshu shook her head, "Too long. The spectators wouldn't have the patience for that. Besides, in order for the competition to mean something, we should exceed the limits of ordinary people."

"True," the chief nodded, "What does Miss suggest?"

"Two quarters of an hour," she said, "If the shop provides some snacks and tea for the spectators, then time would fly by for them."

"Okay!"

After they had reached an agreement on the rules, Lu Mingshu and Jing Chu stood side-by-side.

"Start!" the chief announced.

Uncle Hai immediately flashed a paper with a rune on it while the chief timed it.

"Next!"

As soon as the chief said "Next!", Uncle Hai threw the paper aside and flashed a new one.

"Next!"

After seeing the three runes, Lu Mingshu and Jing Chu both closed their eyes to recall what they just saw.

The chief took out an hourglass and put it on the table, "You may start now. Stop when the sand finishes."

Both of them rushed to the bookshelf and started looking for the book.

Two quarters of an hour - thirty minutes. The bookshelf had at least a hundred books in it; taking the time limit in consideration, they only had about ten seconds per book.

Jing Chu had a few books in his mind from the start, and he started looking through the books selectively.

However, Lu Mingshu used a different method. She started from her right-hand side and flipped through the books at a lightning speed, then placed them back immediately.

The neighbors who came to watch initially felt that this competition was going to be like watching paint dry, but seeing both of them get to work, they all felt nervous for the both of them.

"Such a fast speed. Can they even read clearly?"

"I know, right? I doubt they can even see the words, man."

"Nah, they are different from us - they have powerful memory!"

"That's still too fast."

"Hmm…"

Jing Chu found what he wanted and, after confirmation, wrote down his answer on the paper provided.

Lu Mingshu didn't even spare him a glance as she put all her attention on the books. One book after another, she looked through all of them at such a fast pace.

When Jing Chu wrote down the second one, she was still looking through the books. However, she managed to catch up fast.

Jing Chu was stuck on the third rune, so he had no choice but to flip through the books one by one. Actually, his reading speed was no slower than Lu Mingshu's, but in order to take a very clear look at the details of the rune, he purposely slowed down.

The time flew by quickly.

Lu Mingshu continued to flip through the hundred books. When she reached the last one, she closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then wrote down her answers.

Under the eyes of all the spectators, she filled in three answers at once and folded the paper.

As soon as she put down her pen, the time was up.

"Time's up!" the chief shouted.

Jing Chu hesitated when he handed up the paper, his eyes filled with uncertainty.

"Miss Lu," the chief turned to look at her, "Time's up, but Chu has yet to write down the answer for the third one…."

"Then let him write the answer down," Lu Mingshu replied dully.

The chief heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that, "Chu, come and jot down your answer."

Jing Chu held his pen up, and after much hesitation, he wrote down a book title and page.

And with that, the first round ended.

"Whew…" a few people let out a long breath and turned to look at each other. The competition was so intense that none of them felt like any time passed. Half an hour passed so quickly! Honestly, none of the spectators even understood runes, they only ever came for the chief. During previous competitions, they would start to sleep by the time they started to judge.

"Okay, let's check the answers of the competitors now."

Finally, Lu Mingshu didn't need to be the announcer herself. The chief took over that work as he let Uncle Hai bring over the real answers.

", page one hundred and seventy-eight."

", page thirty."

", page ninety-eight."

As soon as the answers were read aloud, Jing Chu turned as white as a sheet of paper.

"Let's check Miss Lu's answers first," the chief took her answers out and started reading, ", page one hundred and seventy-eight, …, …."

"All correct!"

"Wow!" a round of applause was immediately given to her. She looked at the books at such a fast speed, and yet she could remember everything? What an astonishing memory!

"Chu, yours…"

"No need to check," he cut the chief off dejectedly, "My third answer… is wrong."

~~~~~

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