As soon as lunch was over, Lizi cleared the dishes, cleaned the place and left. Dinner was left in the kitchen and could be eaten without heating it. Anji also received some new snacks in case she got hungry while studying. She did not have time to say her goodbyes properly as Lizi seemed to be in a rush to leave before the sun started setting. On the bright side, all the morning laundry Anji did was dry and now folded. The maid also informed Anji that she would be arriving in the morning daily so that Anji could focus on her studies. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveI(F)ire.net
There was only one problem. Anji’s studies were going nowhere. All afternoon, she flipped through the book she was given. More than half of the book contained combination spell explanations that often employed the use of a matrix. That meant Anji needed to finish memorising her timetables before she could make any progress. The mental sums exercise using the abacus was no help. Anji could not even remember the single-digit cross-multiplication. How was she supposed to do double-digit calculations? The concept of shifting numbers and beads also made her cry. Anji did not even want to think about cross-matrix multiplication or division and roots.
Eventually, Anji gave up on the theoretical aspect and attempted the practical aspect. Her shifu mentioned that there was more than one way to activate a rune or spell. The easiest spell Anji could activate was the water-filling spell on the teapot.
So far, she was having little success triggering the spell’s activation. Whenever she thought she was close to making it work, the spell would flop like a deflated paper ball. Something seemed to be lacking even when Anji focused on imbuing her energy into each stroke of the rune.
"This is a basic rune, right?" Anji talked to herself, trying to confirm the spell’s complexity. According to the books she had, this was a mere water rune. There was nothing else added to this run apart from creating water.
What was she missing?"
Taking a break from her task, Anji decided to leave the bed. Instead of the table and the uncomfortable stool, the young girl decided to shift everything onto the bed instead. She was far more accustomed to the small bedtable than a large dining table more suitable for adults.
After climbing from the bed, Anji decided to go to the garden for a change of view. Whenever she was stuck on a problem, she would walk in the garden to reset her mind. Seeing the trees and flowers might not help her find an answer any quicker. However, according to her mother, their very presence provided a calming and healing effect. Hence, it was recommended that people who were stressed, worried or sad take more walks in beautiful gardens.
The little garden in this hut was far from beautiful. There was no landscaping and no gardeners to take care of it. In fact, it still looks as if part of it belonged to the forest outside. Her shifu was still recuperating, so Anji did not want to leave the hut. Instead, she walked around and sat on the stairs to feel the summer breeze. Thanks to the sound barrier, it was silent apart from the sound of Anji’s breathing.
Here, Anji decided to try meditating. The things she was trying to understand were too complicated. Even if her mind could understand it, her body might not be able to follow. Just because she knew how martial artists sparred with their swords did not mean Anji could mimic what they could do. She had a naturally weak constitution. It was only natural she learned and functioned differently from others. Perhaps this was also why the simplest spells did not activate for her.
With only the Tai Yin Meridian functional in her body, Anji meditated with the feeling of the occasional summer breeze toying with her hair. She enjoyed the little distractions as she felt the weak pulse running from her thumb to her intercostal muscle. The channels were very faint to feel, but Anji knew they were there. Without a huge lump of energy to roll and knead into these established pathways, Anji noticed for the first time how fragile they were. It was as if they were little drops of dew collecting on a big leaf. If she added more water to that leaf, it would collapse, and any water Anji had collected before would be released back into the atmosphere.
Opening her eyes, Anji noticed it was now late afternoon. It only felt like fifteen minutes since she closed her eyes to start her meditation. However, time flew faster than she thought it did whenever she was focused on her inner world.
"Let’s try it again," she said as she headed into the bedroom, feeling re-inspired from the little break.
Holding onto the teapot, Anji wondered if she could charge the runes part by part without overloading her Tai Yin Meridian. If spells required a certain level of energy to be activated, maybe it required some sort of charge time. Unfortunately, most people with qi already had enough energy stored in their bodies to skip the initial charging time. Nobody seemed aware that spells required charge time as it wasn’t written in books. However, Anji guessed that might be the case. The multiple failures from before were due to the energy supply getting cut off prematurely on Anji’s side when she tipped over her maximum circuit load. However, this time, Anji would try charging the spell differently.
Instead of gathering enough energy in her body to supply the basic wate rune with her qi, Anji worked differently. She started meditating to gather enough energy into her Tai Yin circuits, filling every core and valve with the maximum energy she could without losing everything back into the environment. Then, she did something she previously did not do. Anji circulated them to the teapot’s rune and then back into her body.
This time, with each circulation Anji did after including the spells in the teapot, less energy returned to her Tai Yin Meridians than it left before, allowing her to refill her energy through meditation. It was an extremely slow process to balance her limits and supply the teapot spells with the energy required for activation. This exercise was akin to juggling three balls at once.
For the first forty attempts, Anji’s concentration broke, and the energy she imbued the water rune with dissipated as soon as she lost focus. It was mentally draining, but the length of her concentration only increased as Anji retried.
Eventually, Anji heard the first sounds of water trickling into the teapot and rejoiced. However, as soon as she rejoiced, the energy supply to the teapot broke again, leaving her speechless at the miserable amount of water. However, the fact that this worked gave Anji hope.
The loud growl startled her. Looking outside, the sky was dark, and Anji finally felt the hunger hit her. She had spent so long trying to perfect her control over the energy that she lost track of time again. Lizi would be angry to learn how Anji took a cold shower and ate dinner late.
Putting away the teapot, she quickly ran to the kitchen and stuffed her face before wiping down quickly. It was too cold to bathe at night, so this would have to do.
After emptying the little bit of water in the teapot, Anji thought she would resume looking at the charts on the wall when the candles went out, signalling it was curfew time for bed. Reluctantly, Anji tucked herself in and counted the timetables instead of sheep that night until she was fast asleep.