Chương 108: A New Victim

"It seems the fruit is actually a nexus point," Azure pointed out.

"If you try to touch it, there's a very high chance it'll just teleport us to a completely different world." I just stared at the golden sphere spinning slowly and felt it pulling at me. The idea of going to a new world with new possibilities was incredibly tempting, however I shook my head firmly.

"We are here to get the vine, we really can't afford to get sidetracked right now."

"That is a wise decision, Master," Azure agreed.

"The fruit is not going anywhere, so we have plenty of time to figure out what it does and where it goes later." I laid back down on my thin mattress and my mind drifted right back to the problem of getting my hands on the vine. I couldn't just walk up to Elder Molric and ask for it because that would bring up way too many questions, and even in a weird place like this asking about a random magical plant I shouldn't know anything about would make everyone super suspicious.

"We have to build up some rapport first," I mumbled to myself.

"We need to get him to trust us enough so he starts showing off his crazy experimental research."

"Agreed, although considering how much he loves talking about his unorthodox theories it probably won't take nearly as long as last time." I couldn't help but smile when I remembered the elder going on his massive rant about mixing the power of both suns together.

"Yeah that's true, but we still need to be careful." I knew he already had one student who tried to steal his research in the past and I definitely didn't want him to misunderstand what I was doing because that would probably end in a disaster. That was not something I could afford.

When the morning finally came, I headed straight for Elder Molric's laboratory and this time I didn't even have to look at the map the quartermaster gave me. Just like I expected, the elder was already hunched over his workbench working on another version of his self-inscribing plant experiment. I made sure to stand behind a really thick table before I actually let him know I was there.

"Ah your timing is perfect!" he yelled out without even bothering to look up.

"This is attempt forty-seven at making plants draw their own runes so pay attention!" I watched him from my safe hiding spot while the surface of the plant started to ripple exactly like it did in my last loop, and crude runic shapes started popping up like frost growing on a window. The silver lines actually looked really beautiful spreading across the leaves right up until the whole thing blew up and sent crystal shards flying everywhere exactly like I remembered.

"We have progress!" Elder Molric announced cheerfully while wiping pieces of dead plant off his robes.

"That managed to survive almost three seconds longer than attempt forty-six did!" While he was busy cleaning up the mess from his latest failure, I took a casual look around the lab, but the vine wasn't sitting out anywhere obvious. He either locked it up somewhere super secure or he just kept it on him, and seeing how valuable it probably was it was most likely the second option.

"Alright then," he said turning around to face me.

"Let us see if you actually learned anything from those books, tell me the three fundamental principles of resonance." I gave him the exact same answers I used before and watched his eyebrows go up as I easily answered questions that got harder and harder. It felt a little bit like cheating since I already technically learned all this stuff in a past loop, but I wasn't going to complain.

Right on schedule his face changed, and he started his massive rant about how stupid people were for only focusing on the red sun's power. I paid close attention and nodded whenever I was supposed to while he explained all his theories about pushing the two celestial energies together. Eventually he remembered why I was actually there and asked me to show him how I channeled the red sun, so I just did exactly what I did last time.

The red lines lit up on my skin, and I felt my physical essence jump up by five points. The plant manipulation test went just like I expected too. The normal vine he handed me turned into this really affectionate cat-like thing that rubbed against my hand while Elder Molric aggressively wrote down notes in his book. He was just as fascinated with my natural abilities as he was the first time.

"Now," he finally said, "we need to discuss your Fundamental Rune." Before he could start his long explanation, I cut in.

"Master I've actually done a lot of reading about this." I tried to sound really excited without looking suspicious.

"I am sure about the design I want to use if you want to hear about it?" His eyebrows went up again, but he waved his hand to tell me to keep talking. I explained the same exact pattern that worked perfectly last time, the Celestial Spiral making the trunk with branches growing at perfect mathematical points and leaves placed at the very ends.

"That is a very ambitious choice," he muttered.

"Most initiates pick much simpler patterns, but your logic about using a growth pattern nature already prefers is quite intriguing." He walked over to his cabinet and grabbed the same stuff as before, the resonance stylus, the Blank Canvas Lilies, and the special ink. He explained what everything did and used almost the exact same words, including his joke about melting body parts which probably wasn't a joke at all. When he handed the stylus over to me, I took a deep breath.

This was the part where I was going to change things from the last loop because instead of practicing for hours, I was just going to draw the whole thing perfectly on my first attempt. Back in the elder's younger days, people either got it right the first time or they exploded, so I figured doing it perfectly wouldn't make him suspicious at all. I pushed my energy into the stylus and let the red ink flow out. The pattern showed up exactly like it was in my memory. Elder Molric's eyes got huge while he watched me.

When I was done, he leaned in and stared at the pattern while muttering to himself.

"Simply remarkable," he whispered while walking in a circle around my perfect drawing.

"You would have easily survived in my era back when we didn't waste our time practicing on materials." He sneered slightly.

"Initiates these days just burn through dozens of lilies to get a mediocre result, it is pathetic." My face felt a little hot when I remembered the giant pile of dead lilies I made in my previous loop. I failed twenty-four times to get it right which definitely proved my mediocrity back then, but he didn't need to know about that since it technically never even happened. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He handed me the crystal knife, and I mixed my blood with the ink just like before. The pattern transferred onto the Meridian Lotus perfectly and when I pushed it against my chest, I felt those familiar roots spreading into my body to tell me it worked.

"Fantastic work," Elder Molric nodded even though he was already looking at another experiment.

"I will see you tomorrow for your first real training session."

"Actually Master," I said respectfully, "I think my body is going to need a few days to get used to the Fundamental Rune before we can do any training." He blinked and then smiled at me.

"You really did read the books! Yes, most initiates need a whole week to let their bodies integrate with their first rune." He waved his hand to dismiss me and went back to his bench. While I walked back to my quarters, I thought about how I didn't get to finish practicing forming runes using the red sun's energy in the last loop and that was something I definitely wanted to figure out this time around.

"Master, you are finally awake."

"Has it been three days again?" I asked while sitting up even though I knew the answer.

"Yes, the modification process seems to follow the same pattern no matter what loop we are in. This mortal body needed the exact same time to adapt to the red sun." I nodded and took my shirt off to look at my body. The lean muscles were exactly the same, they weren't quite at the third-stage of Qi Condensation but they were really impressive for a guy who used to just be a miller's son.

"Master," Azure pulled up my information in my mind: Status Update - Current Body: Name: Tomas the Miller's Son Soul Essence: 104 Spiritual Essence: 0/55 Physical Essence: 15 Skybound: Rank 1 Fundamental Rune: Type: Wood-Based Fibonacci Spiral Tree Pattern Core: Red Sun Resonance Location: Heart Position The numbers were completely identical to my last loop, and it honestly made me feel better knowing this part of the process was stable.

Being consistent meant I could predict things and predicting things meant I could actually make plans.

"We need to get over to Elder Molric's laboratory," I said while getting my clothes on.

"He is probably on experiment one hundred and fifty by now." When I got to his door, he yelled for me to come in before I even had a chance to knock. He was standing over his workbench staring intensely at another plant.

"Watch closely," he said without looking up at me.

"This is attempt one hundred and fifty to make a plant generate stabilizing runes." I stepped back to what I thought was a safe distance since I remembered what happened to the last one. The plant was already reacting to him and its surface rippled while runic shapes started to show up. For a second, it looked completely perfect. The runes locked in with a silver shine and the plant actually looked like it was doing great with its leaves getting super bright. Then it just stopped living right on cue.

The crystal runes stayed perfectly fine, but all the organic pieces just dried up and died in a few seconds.

"Yes!" Elder Molric shouted and grabbed his notebook.

"Did you see that? The runes stayed stable for almost thirty seconds, and it didn't even explode this time!" I had to smile at how happy he was. Failing never actually bothered the elder because he just saw it as making progress and it was kind of endearing honestly.

"That was very impressive Master," I bowed a little bit.

"The patterns looked way more natural."

"Exactly!" he grinned and scribbled in his book. I listened to him go on a long explanation about biomechanical resonance and organic runic matrices, and even though I heard it all before, his passion was really infectious. It made sense why he liked my natural approach to the Fundamental Rune so much.

"Alright then!" He clapped his hands together which made me jump even though I was waiting for it.

"Should we start your training?" He walked over to his bench and grabbed some scrolls.

"Rank 1 Skybound can do a lot more than just push power through their Fundamental Rune to capacity and body strength, that is only the beginning." He finally pulled out a giant leather book called 'The Complete Guide to Rank 1 Runic Inscriptions' and I was ready for it.

"I have been studying the basic patterns," I said carefully to sound eager instead of suspicious.

"The Titan's Crest, Blink Step, and Aegis Mark look like they fit my current level really well." I definitely wanted to get some other physical runes eventually but those three were a really great starter pack. Elder Molric's eyebrows went flying up.

"Oh really? Most initiates need days to even pick their first rune, and you picked three?" I pointed at the big book since it was part of the huge pile the quartermaster gave me.

"Your guide is incredibly thorough Master, you explain the theories perfectly and the progression makes a lot of sense. These three runes give a really solid base to build on." His face changed from surprised to overjoyed.

"Finally, I have a disciple who reads and uses his brain!" He pulled the book over and opened it up.

"You are completely correct of course, those three make a perfect combat set for strength, speed and defense. Most initiates need to practice for days before trying just one though..."

"If you let me," I said while grabbing the resonance stylus, "I would like to try drawing the Titan's Crest." He handed the tool over and watched me like a hawk while I traced the pattern. The interlocking triangles came out perfectly and every line just flowed right into the next one until I held up a flawless Titan's Crest a few minutes later. Elder Molric's eyes got huge when he looked at it.

"Remarkable... The energy is perfectly balanced, and every line is the exact same depth..." He looked up at me looking super excited.

"You really are a Natural!" Before I could say anything, he was grabbing more stuff.

"Do the Blink Step next, let us see if you can keep that precision on a harder pattern!" I did exactly what he wanted and perfectly drew out the overlapping crescents and arrows. Elder Molric got more and more excited with every perfect drawing. By the time I finished the Aegis Mark and its interlocking hexagons, he was basically bouncing on his heels.

"Absolutely extraordinary!" he yelled.

"I have never seen anyone with this much natural talent for runes in all my years of teaching! Even back in my era when we actually had standards..." He stopped talking and his face got really thoughtful.

"You know this actually reminds me of some theories I am working on..." I got a little tense because I thought I might have pushed it too far, but instead of getting suspicious, he just started a massive rant about how my natural talent probably connected to his research on mixing the two suns.

"You see," he said pointing up at the ceiling, "most people force the red sun to fit into rigid fake patterns, but you instinctively know how natural flows work! That is probably why you can channel it without stabilization runes, and if we applied that to both energies..." I noticed his speech was a little different from the last loop. His theories evolved a bit, and his ideas were way more focused even though his passion was exactly the same. He finally remembered what we were doing.

"Ah yes the runes! Let us get them inscribed properly, where do you want them placed?"

"The same spots from the guide," I answered.

"Back of the left hand for Titan's Crest, left thigh for Blink Step, and my back for the Aegis Mark." He nodded.

"Traditional spots that are tried and tested, although with your talent we could try some crazy new positions later..." The actual inscription was super smooth. The crystal knife cut clean lines and the energy flowed perfectly into the patterns, and when the last one locked in I felt that great surge of power boosting my body.

"Perfect!" Elder Molric said while looking at the work.

"Now for the fun part!" He headed straight for the door with that crazy look in his eye. I followed him knowing exactly where we were going, but I was really curious how it would happen this time since Zoren wasn't hunting me down so Kiran wouldn't be standing in the hallway. When we walked out there was no sign of the noble kid, but Elder Molric didn't care at all. He just put his hand up and space distorted before us.

Some poor disciple who was just walking by got dragged over to us like he got caught in a riptide. His eyes widened when he realized an elder just pulled him over.

"Ah, perfect!" Elder Molric said happily.

"You will be great for today's lesson." The kid had short black hair and looked incredibly nervous, and he clearly wanted to run away but didn't want to get killed. It was a smart move since telling an elder no, usually ended badly.

"It is time for real combat training!" Elder Molric announced. The Crucible was just as impressive as before with its crystal spires grabbing the red sun's light and energy waves making patterns everywhere. The training room was completely empty this time so Elder Molric didn't have to kick anyone out to make room for us.

"The walls have defensive formations," Elder Molric explained to us.

"And there are healing runes in the floor just in case we have any accidents." The way he said accidents made the poor kid go pale. I didn't blame him at all since everyone in the academy knew Elder Molric blew things up all the time.

"Get into position," the elder ordered and his eyes had that crazy gleam that meant something dangerous was about to happen. We walked to opposite sides of the room and the defensive formations turned on to trap us inside. The other disciple got into a fighting stance and his enhancement runes started glowing with red light. Elder Molric put his hand in the air, and I swear his smile got even bigger.

"Begin!"