he once again made inscription patterns, but this time, unlike the qi patterns which were neat and symmetrical, these patterns were shaped weirdly, curving in different places. he continued, then implanted the inscription into the coin. but once again, the inscription had collapsed. "hmm...that one lasted a little longer before collapsing." he mumbled, before continuing. next, he made inscription patterns that were reminiscent of water. qi inscription patterns were more like the bricks of a building, with smaller structures making up the entire inscription when put together. while this blood energy inscription was more like water, flowing constantly within itself. " oh? this one isn"t collapsing...." Levi observed the patterns. although he didn"t know the exact make up of the pattern, he found that, unlike the patterns before, this one didn"t collapse. as blood energy and qi"s textures were different, it was next to impossible to make blood energy inscriptions, with a qi inscription"s structure. while qi could be compared to smoke, blood energy could be compared to water or in certain cases a damp fog, but of course Levi didn"t know any of this as of yet.he implanted the inscription into the gold coin, before continuing to make inscription patterns with varying shapes. ".....this...." after about half an hour, he made a particular inscription, which also didn"t break down. this was just a simple heat inscription, shaped like a circle with a straight line going through the middle. but what he found interesting about this inscription, was both it"s structure and durability. this particular inscription looked like it was written with a large ink brush, and was dark red in color, as if blood was used to write on paper before drying. and although it was crudely made, as the rough lines were not straight, when he tried to implant it into another gold coin, even without mental energy coating it, the inscription was implanted successfully. and unlike regular inscriptions, it left a mark on the surface of the gold coin, in the shape of the inscription patterns.
since he didn"t have enough blood energy to continue making inscription patterns, he used the remainder to activate the two inscriptions. the first, which was was like water, after the blood energy was channeled through it, it heat up rapidly before the coin exploded. as for the other inscription, reminiscent of calligraphy, he poured the remainder of his blood energy into it, but nothing happened. after waiting for an hour, his blood energy returned, as he then reconstructed the water-like inscription and implanted it into a gold coin. he decided to go see old gray about this, since his ability to create inscriptions was an important part of his plan. he also wanted to find out if people other than him would be able to use blood energy inscriptions.
it was night, as levi walked to the clothes shop. but as the shop was closed, he had to return. he then thought of something, as he changed his destination. peng! deng! even at night, the sound of hammers flattening metal did not cease. he opened the door and walked in, and seeing that no one was in the reception room, he opened the door beside the counter. the heat instantly flowed out, causing beads of sweat to appear on Levi"s forehead. looking around, he saw muscular men. some had their chest exposed with their robes tied around their waists. there were at least 20 glowing furnaces, with one or two men fanning the coals with large brown bellows. Levi was slightly startled, as the presence of these blacksmiths was similar when compared to a seasoned martial artist.
after looking around for a few minutes, his eyes locked onto the man. he walked through the hot forge. as they were all working, none of the men noticed Levi, as he walked up to the balled man. " huh?" Levi walked up to the furnace where the man was working, and stood silently for a few minutes. as the man turned to pick up another piece of iron ore to purify. " what do you need?" the man asked with a smile, as he put back the piece of iron ore. " have you completed any of the swords?" levi asked without wasting anymore time. " well, i only made one to test the metal and see if it was good for making swords." the man said as he turned around, and pulled a blade without a hilt or otherwise, from a wooden bucket filled with oil. he wiped the oil from the blade with a discolored white cloth, before handing it to Levi. without a word, Levi constructed the calligraphy like inscription, leaving a reddish black mark on the blade. "..." levi silently looked at the blade before looking at the man.
"hmm?" the man tilted his head. " is that an inscription? what does it do? let me see." the man took the blade from Levi"s hands. " what are you doing?" levi asked. he wondered how this man was going to test the inscription. " although blacksmiths are weaker than martial artists who only practice cultivation, we still have to reach a certain level in order to be able to be able to use certain metals! i"m at the qi refining level 4!" the man said, as he poured qi into the blade. " huh?" he found that no matter how much qi he poured into the blade, the inscription didn"t activate. " what?!" when he tried to stop sending qi into the inscription, it kept absorbing more. sizzle! the blade abruptly began heating up, scorching the man"s hand. he releazed it, and when the blade made contact with the ground, it cut through the stone like b.u.t.ter, as the melted stone seeped out. before it could sink all the way into the ground, the qi in the inscription was exhausted.
"huff....huff..." the man was sitting on the ground breathing heavily as he watched this scene, the burn on his hand din"t bother him since he was accustomed to being burned. the blade had sapped all of his qi, and it was exhausted at an alarming rate. " what kind of inscription was that...huff..." the man asked while gasping for air. " a basic heating inscription." Levi replied, as emotionless as ever. but although he was emotionless on the outside, on the inside he was throughly surprised. at the beginning he thought that the man wasn"t able to activate the inscription because it was made with blood energy, but it was just that the man didn"t have an adequate amount of qi. he found out two things from this. first, people other than himself could use inscriptions made with blood energy. and second, this calligraphy-like inscription requires a certain amount of qi in order to be used.
but since that was the case, would foot soldiers, who were the lowest of soldiers, be able to use swords inscribed with an inscription like this? he asked himself this question while estimating the strength of a foot soldiers. "..." he didn"t see it happening.