Chapter 88: Overture of Notes

Tap, tap, tap… tap, tap, tap…

Xiunan stood before the study door, watching as Fubing knocked persistently, yet there seemed to be no response from within.

After a long while, footsteps sounded from inside the room. Then, with a creak, the heavy wooden door slowly swung open.

A tall man, his face inexplicably weary, stood at the threshold. His beard was immaculately trimmed, each line seemingly combed with meticulous care. His tea-brown hair was swept back, neat and unyielding, reminiscent of a classic slicked-back style.

He wore a suit of black linen, a silver watch chain dangling from the pocket on his left breast. But what left the deepest impression were his eyebrows—vivid and powerful, like the soaring wings of an eagle.

“What is it? Fubing, do you need something?”

Omega’s voice was deep and resonant—a quintessential baritone, instilling a natural sense of steadiness.

“Teacher, I’ve brought Junior Brother with me,” Fubing replied, gesturing to Xiunan standing beside him.

“Oh! Today is…the thirteenth, and it’s already nine o’clock!”

Omega drew from his breast a device resembling a dial and, with a gentle press, checked the time.

“My memory, honestly—since I began studying the Arcane Rune the day before yesterday at noon, two days have passed in a blink…” He slapped his forehead, his expression tinged with embarrassment.

“Did you discover anything, then? I heard even the Sage in White is researching the Arcane Rune.” Fubing’s curiosity was palpable; clearly, this Arcane Rune held great significance.

Omega shook his head with self-deprecating laughter. “Nothing at all. Even the Sage in White must gather wisdom from all corners—what could I possibly discover on my own?”

He stepped aside and pointed to the distant desk.

It was piled high with countless messy drafts, densely packed with lines and formulas scrawled across every sheet.

“Excuse me… What is the Arcane Rune?” Xiunan inquired, his curiosity piqued. If it had been just him and Omega alone, he would never have dared ask. The string of grand titles—Head of the Milodaren School, Tenth Disciple beneath the Sage in White—was intimidating to say the least.

Yet with Senior Brother Fubing present, and judging by their earlier exchange, Omega seemed approachable enough.

So Xiunan ventured to ask.

“Oh, right, you don’t know yet,” Fubing explained to Xiunan. “Three years ago, the Sage in White journeyed alone to the Vacuum Abyss to explore relics of the Mythic Era. He returned just five days ago—and brought back something extraordinary.”

“And that prize… is the Arcane Rune.”

At this, Omega interjected, stretching out his hand and revealing a perfectly square metallic cube in his palm.

In the next moment, the metallic sheen faded from its surface, exposing an interior as transparent as flowing water. Suspended within that current was a crude, solitary rune.

It was called crude because the junctions of its circuits were unsightly, with very little variation. The art of crafting runes was one of great beauty—where each stroke should be smooth where it ought, sharp where sharpness was due, and paused with deliberate rhythm.

But this rune, from top to bottom, had not a single redeeming feature, and its circuits were remarkably few—both ugly and rudimentary, as if a child had doodled at random.

“You think it’s ugly, don’t you?” Omega voiced the thought in Xiunan’s heart.

“Uh… it is, a little,” Xiunan replied with a dry chuckle.

“I think so too.” Omega pinched the cube, as though infusing it with a power of the ring.

“But, it can also become dazzlingly brilliant!”

Suddenly, Omega tossed the cube into the air.

Instantly, some unseen force swept Xiunan and Fubing into the study, closed the door behind them, and plunged the room into darkness.

“Look!” Omega pointed into the air.

A brilliant river of stars cascaded down like a waterfall, swirling and surging to envelop the two completely!

Xiunan’s vision swam; as if waking from a grand dream, Omega and Fubing were gone, and he was no longer in the study—but in the midst of the starry sky!

Looking down, he found himself riding upon the back of a massive, silent Sumeru whale, drifting through space. Before him stretched a haze of enchanting blue mist, while his ears rang with a crackling white noise, like dead branches snapping. Overhead, stars and planets of every size rotated slowly.

Xiunan closed his eyes and reached out; he felt as if he could grasp the entire galaxy, witnessing wonders beyond mortal comprehension. The sensation was exquisite, as though the universe itself lay in his hands.

In that moment, a strange impulse and longing arose within him. He yearned to voyage among the stars, to dance with asteroids, to spin in perfect harmony with the rings of planets.

The birth and destruction of a comet, the evolution and demise of a planet, the glory and extinction of a star…

All these visions flowed through his heart like water.

Ding!

Suddenly, everything shattered like a broken mirror, all the beauty dissolving into illusion.

The rune reappeared—still that crude, unsightly Arcane Rune—hovering in the air of the study, emitting a captivating, mysterious glow.

“What did you see?” Omega suddenly appeared before Fubing and asked.

“I saw an age—one era after another flickering before my eyes. I wandered the world, cloaked and hidden in shadows. Rivers dried up, mountains were leveled. Marshes turned to forests, seas to fields. Yet none of this concerned me; the more ages I passed through, the lonelier I became… Until, after fivefold solitude, a hand finally lifted my hood…” Fubing spoke with great seriousness, tears glinting at the corners of his eyes—a testament to the depth of his immersion.

Omega nodded silently, then turned to Xiunan.

“And you? What did you see?”

Xiunan hesitated for a moment before replying. “I saw a starry sky, planets and stars of all sizes revolving in the darkness, round and round…”

“Is there more?” Omega pressed.

“No…” Xiunan lied; he did not mention the whale beneath him, nor the sensation of holding the cosmos in his grasp, witnessing the death of worlds—he chalked it up to his own overactive imagination.

“Very well.” Omega nodded as well.

He reached out, and the metallic cube floated down into his palm.

“When the Sage in White returned, he said this rune was left behind by a great sage of the Mythic Era. Alongside the Arcane Rune, a single phrase was found…”

“All the world’s secrets lie within!”

Xiunan held his breath; a weighty, resplendent feeling arose within him, as though he stood at a pivotal moment in history, witnessing an event destined to affect countless ages.

The study fell silent; the three of them remained wordless.

“Would you like to study the Arcane Rune? You both seem quite interested. I managed to obtain two from the Sage in White—one can be lent to you for now…”

With a flourish, Omega produced another metallic cube from behind his back and handed it to Fubing.

“Such a precious item—are you sure it’s alright for the two of us to study it?” Fubing asked hesitantly.

“It doesn’t matter; the Sage isn’t so petty…” Omega settled back at his desk, seemingly intent on resuming his two-day-long analysis.

“Oh, by the way—Tang, you are now an apprentice Ringmage. To formally become my disciple, you must first master the unique auxiliary rune of our tradition…”

Omega began sketching in the air with his bare hands, and a metallic thornflower slowly unfurled and blossomed.

Nine buds bloomed in splendid profusion.

“The Thornflower Rune—a supportive rune, and the core essence of the Milodaren School. It will greatly enhance your learning ability, rune inscription speed, and the resonance of extraordinary runes. It is a compound, developmental rune…”

“Here’s the deal—if you can refine this rune to a basic level in thirty-five days, you’ll be qualified to become my disciple…”