Chapter 118 – Repairing the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’
Lin Ming’s level of inscription technique was fierce, but he was not omnipotent. Since he had never seen this inscription symbol before, it was impossible for him to fix this.
However, after pondering it for a moment, he sent a true essence sound transmission to w.a.n.g Xuanji, “President, I’ll give it a try.”
Since he had achieved the Third Stage of Body Transformation and his control of true essence had become stronger, Lin Ming taught himself how to use true essence to send a sound transmission.
“Mm?” w.a.n.g Xuanji was surprised. Had Lin Ming seen the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ before? Even if he had, this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ was an unusually complex one that was developed through Sky Fortune Kingdom’s school of inscription techniques. Even a great inscription master might not be able to draw it! Lin Ming was only 15 years old, how could he be familiar with its method of creation?
Lin Ming was indeed excessively talented, but w.a.n.g Xuanji still believed that there was no way that Lin Ming would be able to fix this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’.
“This is quite interesting. I’d like to see if Lin Ming is capable of repairing this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’” w.a.n.g Xuanji revealed a smile as he thought this, and then said, “Good, then give it a try.”
Lin Ming nodded, and that in the inscription platform.
As the middle-aged man saw Lin Ming sit down, he was dumbfounded. Scared, he quickly said, “President w.a.n.g, this is…”
The man couldn’t understand, and he didn’t know Li Ming; he only thought of him as an apprentice of the Inscription a.s.sociation. Did w.a.n.g Xuanji really intend on letting such a young apprentice repair his armor? Was this not a joke?
w.a.n.g Xuanji said, “It’s alright, it’s only letting him try. If it doesn’t work than I will personally help you with your problem.”
“But….” The middle aged man painfully looked at those materials that he had carefully prepared. It really wrenched his heart. In accordance to the rules of the Inscription a.s.sociation, if the customer came to the Inscription a.s.sociation requesting a service, they had to supply materials as a reward, and they also had to supply the materials required for the request. If they didn’t have the materials ready, then they could be provided by the Inscription a.s.sociation as long as the customer had other materials that were similar in value.
Although he was a martial artist at the peak Pulse Condensation Period, to put out so many precious and rare materials so suddenly really caused his heart to feel like it was being torn in half. These materials cost 7 to 8 thousand taels of gold. The middle-aged martial artist had used more than a year of time before he was able to collect all of the materials he needed. This armor was a medium-grade human-step treasure that was his family heirloom, it was far too precious for him, otherwise he would not have put up so much gold and so many materials.
w.a.n.g Xuanji laughed and said, “It doesn’t matter. These materials that you brought, if he fails, then I a.s.sure you your armor will still be repaired.”
“That… alright.” With w.a.n.g Xuanji’s guarantee, the middle-aged man decided to let that little kid Lin Ming do as he wanted. He only hoped that what he did wasn’t so bad that not even w.a.n.g Xuanji could fix it.
But just where the h.e.l.l had this little kid come from, that w.a.n.g Xuanji would let him fool around like this? Of Sky Fortune City’s inscription apprentices, besides w.a.n.g Yuhan and Qin Xingxuan, he hadn’t heard of anyone else. With such a complex ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’, what results could he have from just fiddling around with it?
The middle-aged martial artist’s heart was full of puzzlement.
Lin Ming took the armor in his hand, and immersed his soul force into the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’. With the unsurpa.s.sed ‘Overbearing Soul Tactic’ soul law formula, he was able to condense his soul force into the thinnest string and send it into the inscription symbol, constantly perceiving the structure of the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’. He carefully wrote down every line and symbol structure that he could sense. At this time, because of the high degree of soul force that he was condensing, Lin Ming’s face was filled with unprecedented focus.
When he had been in the kitchen of the Great Clarity Pavilion, he also had this expression. Regardless of whether it was the vulgar and barbaric strength that he needed for deboning, or the delicate soul force control he needed to create the countless fine and complex lines and runes of inscription symbols, their essence was all the same in Lin Ming’s hands. One kind was used to ascertain the skeletal structure and tendons of a beast, and the other was used to draw the foundation symbols and foundation lines of inscription symbols.
What he was doing was using these principles he had learned to crack open the complex nature of symbol structure.
w.a.n.g Yuhan stood behind Lin Ming, quietly gazing at his profile. She could clearly feel Lin Ming’s focused and sharp eyes. This look, whether intentional or not, revealed his intense spirit and dedication. It caused this youth to have an imposing aura that didn’t seem to match his young age.
w.a.n.g Yuhan couldn’t help but acknowledge that this sort of aura was very fascinating and swoonsome. Some puppy love girls would be easily attracted to this aura, and they would sink into it.
Could he really repair this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol?’ w.a.n.g Yuhan couldn’t believe that. Even though Lin Ming had created a number of miracles over and over again, this one was just far too difficult, and bordered on the impossible. Lin Ming was not from the school of Sky Fortune Kingdom’s inscription techniques, and he was only 15 years old. At such a young age, it was just unthinkable that he could have achieved the pinnacle of two different schools of inscription techniques.
Lin Ming kept studying the inscription symbol for a quarter of an hour of time. During this quarter hour he had not budged a single inch. The middle-aged man seemed to become increasingly impatient. At this moment, Lin Ming opened his mouth and suddenly said, “President w.a.n.g, I want to ask you, if you were to repair this inscription symbol, how much of its effects ccould you restore?”
w.a.n.g Xuanji hesitated, then smiled and stroked his beard. This kid, did he want to compare with him?
w.a.n.g Xuanji said, “If this old man repairs the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’, I can probably restore at least 80% of its original effects. The ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ is a kind of supplementary inscription symbol. Once it is engraved on the armor, although it cannot directly increase the defensive power, it can increase the user’s true essence gathering speed. The effect of this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ was probably originally around 36 to 37%. If I repair it, the final effect should probably be around 30 to 31%.
The effectiveness of a repaired inscription symbol could not match its effect when it had first been drawn. Even if it was w.a.n.g Xuanji who personally repaired it, the truth of this would not chance.
“Oh, I understand. Then no matter what means I use, as long as the final rate of the armor’s true essence gathering speed increases by at least 30%, then I have succeeded.”
Ho! This kid sure had enough self-confidence!
w.a.n.g Xuanji watched Lin Ming with great interest. He dared say that to have the final effect be at least 30%, there weren’t many who could accomplish this in the entirety of the Sky Fortune Kingdom, or even several of the surrounding countries. What did was this kid planning on doing?
He laughed and said, “If the guest inscription master could restore 28% then that would be good. If you can restore the effect to at least 28%, then you would be considered qualified.”
Lin Ming nodded. He touched a ring on his ring finger, and the following scene left everyone shocked and dumbfounded. They saw Lin Ming leisurely pull out a long spear from the spatial ring. The spear shaft was eight feet, the spearhead eight inches, and the body of the spear shaft was a dark purple color while the edge of the spear tip was dark red like blood. This spear was the Penetrating Rainbow!
By now, even w.a.n.g Xuanji and w.a.n.g Yuhan were confused. He was repairing an inscription symbol; just what would a spear do?
“Young man, you… what are you doing?” The middle-aged martial artist looked on with fear and apprehension. Heavens! Drawing out such a long spear, and it looked like this spear was forged from dark purple elastic iron. Although it wasn’t a treasure, it was certainly very sharp. He could only hope that this young fellow wasn’t planning on using that sharp spear to poke his armor.
Lin Ming looked at the middle-aged martial artist and said, “I will destroy the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ and draw a new one.”
“De… destroy?” The middle-aged martial artist could hardly believe his ears. If it wasn’t for the presence of w.a.n.g Xuanji, he would have beaten the little sh*t until his mom didn’t recognize him! “You’re insane!”
Once an inscription symbol was placed on a treasure, it was very difficult to destroy. This was because the inscription symbol’s structure was imprinted deep within the treasure. As for the symbol mark, this was only manifested on the surface. For instance, for this ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’s’ diamond mark design, it was only a brand that symbolized who the inscription master was, and was merely a decorative effect. Lin Ming’s flame design was the same; it was only an image that was drawn depending on the personality of the inscription master.
If this decorative brand was ruined, it still would not destroy the complex internal structure of the inscription symbol deeply buried in the treasure. If someone really wanted to destroy this inscription symbol, they would normally need to have an alchemist or refiner who was familiar with controlling flames to burn it away. This had a high cost and it also took a long time, because the fire had to burn through the cobweb-like structure of the inscription symbol.
To do this would not only destroy the inscription symbol, but would also lightly damage the treasure. But the most critical point was that it would affect future effects of inscription symbols that were placed on it.
That was why in most situations, if the inscription symbol brand was damaged, one could only repair it. In truth, repairing was much more difficult than starting anew, but it was far better than destroying the inscription symbol.
Lin Ming simply didn’t understand the structure of the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’ or know its plan, so naturally he couldn’t repair it. The approach he adopted was to destroy the ‘Superhuman Strength Symbol’, and then draw a new one on.
Lin Ming didn’t know how to control fire; therefore in order to destroy the inscription symbol, he could only take out the Penetrating Rainbow spear!
“Boy! If you keep speaking such nonsense, then don’t blame me for being rude!” The middle-aged man was ultimately a martial artist at the Pulse Condensation Period, and he was also an aristocrat. He had a certain status within Sky Fortune City. Although he was respectful to w.a.n.g Xuanji, to a baby boy of unknown origin like Lin Ming, he certainly could be rude.
At this moment, w.a.n.g Xuanji let out a light cough. This light cough was like a thunderclap to the middle-aged martial artist’s ears. The middle-aged martial artist shook, and then he immediately calmed down.
w.a.n.g Xuanji said, “Your treasure is ranked as a medium-grade human-step one. Even a Pulse Condensation Period martial artist would take time to destroy it, so why are you so nervous?”
The middle-aged man said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that this armor is my family’s heirloom, so I am a bit anxious.” w.a.n.g Xuanji was a martial artist whose cultivation was at the early Houtian stage. In terms of achievements in inscription, he was second to none. In front of someone like w.a.n.g Xuanji, the middle-aged man did not dare act rashly again.
w.a.n.g Xuanji looked to Lin Ming as he waited for an explanation. Lin Ming was also an inscription master, how could he now know the taboo of destroying an inscription symbol?
Lin Ming said, “President w.a.n.g, I dare to do so because I have a degree of certainty. Although I cannot guarantee that the treasure will not be damaged, but the damage won’t be too great. Also, I have a means to repair it.
The damage won’t be too great? To use such a heavy long spear and brute force to destroy an inscription symbol that had already merged into one organic whole with the armor, and he could still say ‘the damage won’t be too great’?
w.a.n.g Xuanji frowned, and remained silent. If Lin Ming destroyed the inscription symbol in the armor, then not even he would be able to repair it anymore.
Lin Ming said, “With my cultivation, to destroy the inscription symbol in the armor won’t take a short time. If President w.a.n.g feels that something is wrong at any time, then you can feel free to stop me.”
w.a.n.g Xuanji nodded; he could. Even if there was no true essence concentrated in it, this medium-grade human-step armor was still incomparably hard. To destroy the inscription symbol would take a period of time.
The middle-aged man also resigned himself to his fate. He decided that once he discovered something was amiss, he would immediately take the armor. At worst, the armor would simply not be repaired.
Lin Ming placed the armor on the inscription platform, and then stood ten feet back. He gripped the spear in his hand and held it out. Everyone present watched Lin Ming, wanting to see exactly what it was that he would do next.