Aimless Ascension

Gale didn't have a good foundation in script-writing, but he knew something many master-level artisans don't. The script for creating an artificial fate-lock was one of them.

Unfortunately, he wasn't creating any general, but something that works like the storage of Qi. Usually, practitioners played the part of storing the Qi, while the fate-lock gives some useful abilities. That's the only use of fate-lock from ancient times.

Gale worked to reverse the process today.

To get his desired result, Gale wanted to carve the scripts on a gemheart. Sadly, gemhearts were something Gale has limited access to. Only practitioners above Gold rank produce gemhearts. Simply by that fact, one can imagine how extravagant it was to use a gemheart.

'I should have looked for the gemheart stash before leaving,' he regretted. And with that, Gale had to abandon his plan on using the three gemheart cores he had with him.

Besides, gemhearts are complicated things left behind after the transcendent level practitioner deceased. Gale didn't have much experience dealing with such complications. Not to mention Gemheart for a simple thing, as a Qi battery was a waste.

He worked on beast cores. Non-attributed purified beast cores to be specific. Gale didn't want any complications to appear on Xiaolin's body after all.

Gale spent almost the entire night on that. Turns out the process of creating Qi storage was easy. Gale wasn't the first one to think of something like this. There were many weirdos who believed having more Qi was the way to break through to gemheart rank.

If more Qi made one Gemheart rank powerhouse, Gale would've four Qi batteries as his four Fate-locks. As far as Gale was concerned, having a foreign core would only overcomplicate the process of advancement.

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Still, having a single fate-lock to have spare Qi didn't seem like a bad idea.

Gale bit his lips hard, considering it. At each rank of advancement from Copper, a practitioner could assimilate with an ancient power. These were called fate-lock.

Gale had three fate-locks: first was the void storage; the second was a Guardian emblem that he got from bonding Vale; and the third one was Stormrider, an ancient spear that he won in an ancient ruin.

His fourth lock was empty. Gale got infected by the corruption right after he advanced to Gold. He didn't have the time or luxury to assimilate the fourth fate-lock after that.

Considering how most of his Qi and the anklet were busy suppressing the corruption, a second source of Qi didn't seem like a bad idea. True, he would never have that amount of connection with the second set of Qi like his own, but it should be enough to let him exert gold-level power.

"Why the hell Master didn't think of this?" A question appeared on his mind as Gale frowned.

No, it would be wrong to think his master hadn't thought of this. He was a Grandmaster-level artisan, a sage, and one of the earlier developers of artificial fate-locks. Cheap ideas like these were nothing.

Well, his master was busy most of the time, so that probably slipped out of his head. Or perhaps he doesn't love me as much as my senior brother and sister.

'Yeah, that must be it.'

Maybe he would care about his poor disciple more after he returned to his palace. Gale smirked at that thought and proceeded to work.

Most storage fate-locks were made of beast core, as Gemhearts were almost impossible to get by. Unlike humans, most beasts condense a core around the iron level, though they are highly inferior to gemhearts.

Gale had over a thousand of such beast cores, so he didn't cheap out to experiment, as this might provide a way for him as well.

As the night went away and the sun peeked in the mountains, Gale had half a dozen hideous-looking fate-locks ready. Four of them were unstable and should be better used as bombs after some updates in the scripts.

As for the other two, they were the exact items Gale wanted to make. Turns out a non-attribute core doesn't make it non-volatile. Another thing I should have remembered if my foundation in scripting was done correctly.

The easiest part was done. The hard part would be assimilating it into Xiaolin's body. Truth be told, Gale wasn't that confident about this. The poor girl wasn't even copper. Fusing with a fate-lock might not be the greatest of ideas.

With a thought, Gale stored all the items and came out of the chamber. The sun barely rose as the corridor loomed in the darkness. Even with his superior senses, Gale could barely make out the way.

Scripting was exhausting work, as it needed both mental and spiritual energy in abundance. Gale had layered thousands of intricate scripts into the cores to make it work, making him tired as hell.

Hmm, I didn't get this tired after work before. Well, I haven't been cycling or even meditating for over a month now.

With sagged shoulders, Gale carried himself into his room and forced himself into deep sleep after reminding Vale to wake him up before he gets too deep into it.

A couple of hours of deep sleep would be enough to charge his spirit.

***

Vale woke him up around the three-hour mark of deep sleep, and as Gale had hoped, no sign of exhaustion could be seen in his figure. Still, he needed to meditate and break the wrong attitudes he was gravitating towards.

If this went on, he would probably be useless in no time.

Gale's eyes drifted towards the upper floor where the practice chambers were. A closed-door meditation or cycling held little attraction to Gale, not that the chambers were at fault even though they were inferior. He never really liked close-door practice to be fair.

That reminded him of the calm pond by the garden—that seemed like the proper place for him to meditate. With his renewed spirit, Gale proceeded out of the Inn.

People were already busy with their work. He peeked into the kitchen to find Grandma Lu watching over the whole thing inside, where a few more washed the floor and tables of the dining room.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Gale found there were a few figures already present, seated in lotus positions in meditative poses. Gale spotted Xiaolin in one corner, meditating near an old crone who kept most of her black hair intact even at her age. She watched over the boys and girls, sitting in a rocking chair. Her fingers were working in mechanical efficiency on the sweater she was stitching.

That should be Grandma Wang—the one Xiaolin talks about so much. She sensed his presence the moment he appeared and threw him a look, but didn't converse. It wasn't the time for that yet.

Thinking that, Gale sat near the edge of the pond and proceeded to meditate. Vale sat beside him in his ever guardian pose.

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