Cultivation is Creation

The elder suddenly snapped the book closed with enough force to make Constantine the cactus jump in his reinforced terrarium. The muscular plant quickly recovered, flexing its spiky biceps as though to prove it hadn't been startled at all.

"Tell me," Elder Molric said, fixing me with one of his more penetrating stares, "exactly how many runes were you planning to add?"

I shrugged, trying to appear casual. "As many as I can manage, I suppose. The more options in combat, the better, right?"

The elder's laugh started as a low chuckle before building into the kind of full-bodied cackle that usually preceded either a brilliant insight or a catastrophic explosion. Sometimes both.

"Oh, my naive disciple," Elder Molric wiped a tear from his eye, "you clearly haven't done enough reading."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean," he said, his expression shifting to something approaching seriousness (though with Elder Molric, it was always hard to tell), "is that there are very good reasons why Skybound practitioners have specific limits on the number of runes they can safely maintain."

He began pacing, his hands moving animatedly as he explained. "At Rank 1, you're limited to three physical enhancement runes. No elemental runes at all - your Fundamental Rune simply can't handle that kind of energy conversion yet."

Apart from the restriction mentioned, the rest didn't surprise me; we had discussed it in the previous iteration.

"At Rank 2, you get to add your elemental core rune - like your Worldroot Conduit - which lets you manipulate elemental energy. This also increases your capacity, allowing up to three supporting elemental runes and five physical enhancement runes."

"Why is it limited like that?" I asked, genuinely curious. Back in my previous loop, I'd been so focused on mastering the Fundamental Rune and Elemental Rune that I hadn't delved deeper into these restrictions.

"Master," Azure's voice held a hint of embarrassment, "this was actually mentioned in one of the hundred books the elder gave you to study. I should have brought it to your attention sooner..."

"It's fine," I thought back. "It didn't matter before since I never hit that limit anyway."

Meanwhile, Elder Molric had launched into full lecture mode. "These aren't arbitrary restrictions, you understand. Generations of Skybound practitioners learned these limits the hard way." His eyes took on a familiar gleam. "When you exceed what your Fundamental Rune can handle, the runes begin to malfunction. And then..." He made an explosive gesture with his hands.

"Though," the elder added thoughtfully, "these aren't exactly strict rules. Some initiates can handle one or two more runes than their rank would suggest. Others struggle with even the average number." He stroked his chin. "You're an interesting case. Despite your relatively small capacity for red sun energy, your control and efficiency are more in line with a Rank 2 practitioner. I'd estimate your personal limit at three elemental runes and maybe four or five physical enhancement runes."

I nodded seriously, though internally I was already plotting. I had no intention of exploding, but maybe I could experiment in my inner world to see if that really was my limit.

"So," Elder Molric continued, "you can add maybe two more physical enhancement runes and two more elemental runes. Choose carefully."

I nodded, mentally cataloging what I already had. The elder didn't know about the Flight Rune since I'd only inscribed that in my inner world. Speaking of which...

"Master," Azure spoke up, "there might be a way around these limitations. The runes in your inner world are completely separate to those inscribed on your physical body. Theoretically, you could maintain double the normal limit, as long as the inner world runes are different from your physical ones."

That... was an interesting thought. In my ‘original’ body, I'd already inscribed most of the physical enhancement and elemental runes, except for the Flight Rune and Aegis Mark. The Flight Rune would be redundant once I returned, since I could rely on the orbit of the two suns in my inner world for flight. As for the Aegis Mark, keeping that in my inner world made more sense anyway - trying to inscribe a rune on my back, even with energy weaving, would be unnecessarily complicated.

This meant I could replace those inner world runes with new ones. Three physical enhancement runes for my cultivator body, and four physical enhancement runes plus three elemental runes for my inner world...

"True," Azure cautioned, clearly sensing my enthusiasm, "but remember - you only have one energy source powering all of these: the miniature red sun in your inner world. More runes than others at your stage might give you options, but you'll need to be economical with their use."

A fair point. Which reminded me of something I'd been wondering about.

"Master, about my low capacity for red sun energy... is there any way to increase it besides direct absorption? Perhaps some kind of storage rune?"

The elder shook his head. "Storage is already one of the primary functions of the Fundamental Rune. Every time someone's tried to artificially increase their capacity, at best, their progress unravels, and they lose everything they worked towards. But more often..." He made that explosion gesture again, this time with added whistling sound effects.

I was starting to sense a theme in Skybound cultivation. Everything seemed to end in explosions or crystallization, I couldn’t decide which fate was worse.

"What about combining runes?" I asked, trying a different angle. "To enhance their effects?"

"Ah!" The elder's face lit up. "That's what Rank 3 is all about - chaining runes together to create compound effects." He waved his hand dismissively. "But don't worry about that now. You're not even officially Rank 2 yet. Rank 3 is a long way off."

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I sighed but made a mental note. At least there was an established way to combine runes - I wouldn't have to figure it out through potentially explosive trial and error.

Elder Molric opened his book again. "Now then, what kind of rune were you looking for specifically?"

"Actually," I said carefully, "I was wondering if there are any runes that can hide red sun energy?"

The elder gave me a strange look before his face split into a knowing smile. "Ah, I see! You're one of those."

"One of what?" I raised my eyebrows, not sure exactly what he meant by that, but it didn’t sound good.

“No judgment!” he held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Some Skybound practitioners enjoy pretending to be mortals, then dramatically revealing their power for dramatic effect. It's quite common, really." His grin widened. "Though usually they wait until Rank 2 before starting their little performances..."

I couldn't help but smile, thinking of Elder Chen Yong back in the sect and his habit of playing a crippled shopkeeper. "It's not about showing off," I protested mildly. "Sometimes it's just more convenient to walk around town without frightening the locals."

The elder gave me an exaggerated wink that clearly said he didn't believe me for a second. Before I could defend myself further, he began flipping through his book with renewed enthusiasm.

"Let's see... concealment, concealment... ah! Here we go - the Shroud Rune!" He turned the book so I could see the pattern. It looked deceptively simple - a series of interwoven curves that somehow seemed to draw the eye away from their center. "One of our more... practical enhancement runes for the lower ranks. It creates a field that masks the presence of red sun energy, making the user appear as an ordinary mortal to most forms of detection."

I leaned closer, studying the pattern. "Most forms?"

"Well," he hedged, "it won't fool higher-ranked practitioners, those at Rank 5 and above can usually see through it if they're paying attention. But for general purposes..." He shrugged. "It's quite effective at avoiding unwanted attention."

"Does it work against the Lightweavers?"

"It's more effective against those blue sun worshippers than it is against other Skybound. Unless you're dealing with a Rank 7 or above Lightweaver, you'll remain completely undetected." Elder Molric gestured vaguely toward the academy's outer walls. "It's how most of our lower-ranked practitioners manage to move around in the outside world without getting hunted down."

His expression darkened slightly. "Though those that do get killed... well, they usually gave themselves away. Typically by killing someone in a fit of rage. We see a lot of that, even with the punishments in place."

I nodded, it wasn't exactly surprising. It seemed like a logical outcome of the red sun's madness-inducing effects.

"Any other drawbacks?" I asked, steering the conversation back to the rune itself.

"Ah," the elder raised a finger, clearly not done explaining. "Before we get into drawbacks, you should know the Shroud Rune actually has another function. When activated, it can shroud the user's face in shadows, completely masking their identity. It even alters your voice, gives it this delightfully ominous echo." He grinned, obviously pleased with this particular feature. "Most practitioners have it applied it to their robes, though that is pricey..."

I knew what he was referring to, a similar rune was applied to Vayara’s robes, which was why I didn’t realize that she was a woman until she removed her hood. I had also used the same feature to scare off Zoren.

Normally, I'd be interested in getting one of these robes, but material possessions weren't my priority. With the rune stored in my inner world, I could use its effects anywhere, anytime, without relying on physical items.

"Okay, now in terms of drawbacks,” the elder continued, “besides the constant energy drain, it interferes slightly with other runes - reduces their effectiveness by about twenty percent while active. Nothing too severe, but something to keep in mind if you end up in combat."

A twenty percent reduction wasn't ideal, but it might be worth it for the advantages of going undetected, especially during the beginning of the loop if I wanted to avoid Vayara.

"This would count as a physical enhancement rune, right?"

“Anything that isn't elemental gets lumped into the physical enhancement category." The elder paused, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, let's just call them elemental and non-elemental runes to prevent any confusion. Physical enhancement is a bit misleading since runes like the Shroud Rune don't actually enhance anything physical."

I nodded, mentally cataloging the Shroud Rune as my first chosen non-elemental rune. Now I just needed to pick my second one.

Whilst the explosive force of the Impact Rune was impressive, I wasn't in a rush to learn it. The Titan's Crest already gave me enhanced strength, and overlapping similar effects seemed wasteful when I had such strict limitations on the number of runes I could maintain.

The Hawk's Eye Rune was still a strong contender - enhanced perception and the ability to read micro-expressions could be invaluable in combat. But the severe drawbacks gave me pause. Thirty seconds of enhanced perception followed by debilitating headaches or potential temporary blindness was a steep price. Still, I'd keep it in mind unless something more suitable turned up.

"What other non-elemental runes would you recommend?" I asked, hoping to see options that would complement rather than duplicate my existing abilities.

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