Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 5 – Soul Perception

Ye Wei was trying to keep his voice down, but it was still clear and loud enough for everyone in the classroom to hear. After a brief moment of complete silence, mocking laughter broke out from everyone and filled the classroom.

“Hahaha! Is this some kind of joke? This one star level, the last in class is criticising Miss Zi Yan, pinpointing which nodes are wrong with her Triple Tidal Palm?”

“Haha! Boy, you are far in over your head now!”

“Just because Miss Zi Yan asked you for your opinion doesn’t mean that you can say anything. You can’t even perform a stance yourself, what would you know about performing a stance?” The class ridiculed Ye Wei ruthlessly.

“It’s obvious that you have read a couple of books, but you ought to know your limits. For example, speaking out against an elite student, from the class of the gifted, is crossing the line.” Xiao Qi’s upper lip curled up in disdain, slowly forming a sadistic smile. “What an absolute loser, Miss Zi Yan’s stance being flawed? Please...”

‘Let’s take a gigantic step back, even if Miss Zi Yan’s stance was not completely perfect, you do not point it out in front of the whole class that boldly. This is really humiliating for Miss Zi Yan, regardless whether she is right or not. Ye Wei you cretin, can you stop testing her temper?!’

Xiao Qi gleefully smiled, thinking: ‘This should do it. Ye Wei should be dead to Miss Zi Yan after this incident.’

The class could not believe their ears when they heard what came next!

Miss Zi Yan’s mind went blank for a moment.

“Well said!”

She is having trouble processing all of this, then praised Ye Wei generously, looking at his face as if she had just discovered a diamond in the rough.

Contrary to what Xiao Qi’s thought, Miss Zi Yan became more happy than mad.

Zi Yan deliberately made a mistake to test Ye Wei’s soul sensitivity. He felt the abnormality in the Qi flow. She was if anything obviously more happy than angry.

Such sharp soul sensitivity from a one star Student, it is indeed impeccable! Ye Wei is good for something after all, if some resources are spent on him, he could really become something. Even if his path does not lead him to becoming a Warrior, becoming a Runemaster is still a possibility!

In Green Moon City, every one in ten Students becomes a Warrior, but not even one in ten thousands could become a Runemaster! There are only three people in the entire Green Moon City that are qualified to have the title Runemaster in front of their name!

Other than creating stances themselves, by identifying flaws and imperfections with their excellent soul sensitivity, Runemasters can help others refine and improve their runes and stances, the relationships between Runemasters and the fighters they service are symbiotic as the services help Runemasters getting onto guestlists of the finest gatherings hosted by influential people.

Lin Zi Yan took a deep, deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. But despite her best efforts, the smile on her face showed joy and excitement: “How would you improve it?”

The fact Ye Wei can point out where the flaws are indicates that his soul sensitivity is way more developed than other Students his age.

‘Should I tell Miss Zi Yan how I think it should be done?’

Ye Wei frowned, he has an idea of how to soothe the flow, but he is hesitant. Seeing that the class was already in shock, a lot of questions would be asked. If he is right, how is he suppose to explain the way he gained this knowledge and these abilities? He’s not planning on telling anyone about the towering mountain and what he experienced, that is if he could even put it all into words. What if he gets it wrong? Then he will be devoured by the enemy he just made... The bottom line is that he does not want to draw any more attention to himself.

“Ah! So Miss Zi Yan did that on purpose. Still... how did Ye Wei spot the flaw?” A handful of students looked at Ye Wei, and started discussing pausing throughout the discussion shaking their heads, not exactly certain as to how he could know this.

Being a Students at South Star, the fundamentals of the mystic techniques and applications of them are taught to the young. Even if they are only in the junior class, they know what Ye Wei’s ability to spot flaws in mystic stances could imply...

It means Ye Wei’s soul sensitivity is exceptional, that he is able to feel the flow of primal energies in stances and therefore the flaws where the flow is uneven.

Xiao Qi clenched his fist even tighter, his nails digging into his palm. His bloodshot eyes struggling to focus on anything. He’s spending all his energy trying to convince himself what just happened was a fluke, but the the jealousy within him was just burning hotter as the evidence suggesting otherwise built up.

‘No! This is impossible! Ye Wei definitely does not have what it takes to become a Runemaster...’

‘This happens but even a hungry blind cat can get lucky and walk into a dead mouse sometimes. We’ll see what happens next Ye Wei, luck can only get you so far! You are garbage! Infamous garbage known to all in South Star Academy, how can you possibly have what it takes to become a Runemaster?’

Xiao Qi was well aware of what would happen next if Ye Wei does have what it takes... Even if his Sentient is the worst, as red as a plump cherry tomato, being a Runemaster means the capability of harvesting cosmic energy, which can help upgrade ones Sentient! And if he gets trained as a Runemaster, characters like the vice-principal, the principal, and others on the school board are going to recognise him as an asset to the academy.

From a piece of garbage to a potential Runemaster in one lecture, Xiao Qi can not accept this cinderella story, nor how Ye Wei might become more feared and respected than he is by the class and the rest of South Star.

‘Ye Wei actually might make it as a Runemaster... I bullied him quite often in the past... Is he going to seek revenge?’ One of the tall built bullies looked concerned and anxious, imagining the ways Ye Wei could get him back. He quickly opted to apologise sincerely to Ye Wei after the lecture.

The wrath of a Runemaster can be gruesome, apart from worsening the target’s future, it could affect his/her family’s reputation for generations!

“Xiao Qi you short-sighted bastard, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been mean to Ye Wei. Now what am I going to do?” The tall bully mumbled.

After displaying his soul sensitivity, Ye Wei’s image in the minds of his classmates was updated. His social status had risen, overtaking Xiao Qi.

Best Student in junior three? Five stars level? Your parents are tutors of the senior classes? Get this Xiao Qi, all of this will means nothing if we have a Runemaster in our class! The social dynamics in the class has been shaken and it is slowing changing... And that tells us a lot about what kind of respect being a Runemaster gets you, merely displaying the potential of becoming one basically won Ye Wei the hearts of the class!

A handful of girls who had been ignoring Ye Wei for as long as they could remember, started to appreciate Ye Wei’s looks. For them, his facial features changed slightly, reassembled a more fanciable Ye Wei.

It is not a secret that Ye Wei’s family are not nobles, but as things look right now, if Ye shows more talent, it would not be long until a Runemaster notices him. And being an apprentice Runemaster does open doors, granting him and his family a few privileges.

Standing on the podium, Ye Wei is feeling the tension he created and the attention that came with it. He smiled, not because he is happy, just to be polite. Reluctant to deal with the situation, he shook his head, the few girls who were starting to fancy him were looking at him, fishing for eye contact with their flirty eyes. However, Ye Wei showed no interest.

Ye Wei is familiar to seeing the change of social dynamics when people think they can take advantage of a particular person. That is why he is felt a bit dejected. He was hoping that the people he trusted before this lecture would not change their minds about him and would continue to hang out with him, and not do so for the wrong reasons.

Ye Wei now remembered what his father once told him: “When you’re doing well, all people around are opportunists, but it’s when you are in a bad position in life then you know who your real friends are, who are genuinely fond of you and would support you for who you are.”

Real friends will never belittle you when you are feeling down.

Seeing as how Ye Wei still hasn’t suggested ways to correct the flaw, Miss Zi Yan thought it was the end of the ride. To be fair, refining stances is a difficult if not impossible task for any Student, let alone for Ye Wei who is merely a one star Student. Being able to sense the hiccups does indicate Ye Wei has some sort of talent, but it was still not safe enough to say he would become a Runemaster from the little information Zi Yan gathered.

If Ye Wei can briefly point out what in the stance could be polished, Miss Zi Yan might start to consider other ways to train Ye Wei.

Mastering rune knowledge, sensing flaws and mistakes in stances are the basics, a Runemaster’s value is in their abilities to refine and create stances.

‘If Ye Wei is capable of refining this stance, by definition, would Ye Wei be a Runemaster?!’ Miss Zi Yan overthought. ‘No, I should not think too far ahead, Ye Wei has shone more than enough. He can learn how to refine stances in the future, let’s do this one step at a time.’