Returning with not one but two pheasants, Yan Ping wondered if she had overdone it. The bamboo basket was overflowing with food, and the only mouth to feed was a little girl who ate no more than a chicken. This food could easily last Anji a whole week with so preservation spells. She might have overdone it, but it was better than having Anji risk an injury while foraging.
With only about an hour left to spare, the blind cultivator got to work imdiately. Tossing the pheasants into a crate with a functional preservation spell, Yan Ping started preparing them. It was dangerous to leave raw at out for more than a day, so she needed to prepare it thoroughly before putting it in the preservation crate.
After boiling so water in the pot and draining the pheasants of their blood in the back garden, Yan Ping used the hot water to help pluck their feathers off. Then, she carefully removed the innards and de-boned the two birds until there were enough portions of at to last until the end of the week. There would still be so leftovers, which would be handy if Anji ever needed a quick bite.
After putting everything else she did not need for dinner in the preservation crate, Yan Ping started preparing the ingredients for soup. Boiling it over low heat could take a few hours, so starting earlier rather than later was best.
Thirty minutes later, the soup was boiling in the pot. Yan Ping took a few minutes to wash up and tidy her appearance. It was difficult to know if she had any blood stains from earlier. She could still sll the scent of iron on her even after washing, unsure if it was the remnants from the backyard or sothing from her imagination. However, for safety reasons, Yan Ping decided to change her clothes. She would do the laundry later and teach Anji how to do it. Unfortunately, laundry was the only chore she did not manage to create a spell for and had to be done by hand.
"Anji," Yan Ping gently shook the child. "It’s ti to wake up."
Unlike other children who were deep sleepers, Anji woke up almost imdiately without fuss. Rubbing her eyes, she quickly rembered what she was supposed to do.
Yan Ping gave her student ti to make the bed and waited for her in the sitting room. On the table were several daily items that she engraved with spells. These were simple spells that only required one elent to activate.
After five minutes, Anji clambered onto the stool and looked at the items on the table. These were the items she noticed earlier when exploring the hut. The objects on the right were the only items with simple seals that she recognised, using only one elent for activation. However, objects with more complicated seals were on the left, and Anji beca nervous. Was Yan Ping going to quiz her about them? She had only finished reading the first part of the beginner’s guidebook when she left to forage for lunch. Not to ntion, there wasn’t much ti until the sun went down. Apart from white rice and plain water, there was nothing else to eat if she did not leave now! However, Yan Ping did not seem to be in a hurry. Was this her teacher’s way of instilling discipline? Feeling slightly gloomy at the idea of a tasteless dinner, Anji resigned to fate. It was still infinitely better than starving. She should pay attention to the lesson and make up for her shortcomings tomorrow.
"I’m ready for lessons, shifu."
Nodding at her student, Yan Ping first checked where her student had read until. Noting that Anji had only covered the first few introductory pages briefly without much understanding of spell-weaving concepts, she decided to summarise it for her.
Listening attentively, Anji learned how elental runic symbols were only the tip of the iceberg in spell weaving. If anything, they were rely raw ingredients and not the final dish.
"Two elents cannot create a new type of spell without proper interaction. It’s similar to how we speak. What would you think I was trying to say if I only told you ’bed’ and ’dinner’?"
Recalling her earlier instructions, Anji replied that it ant going to bed for a nap and then having dinner afterwards. It was the only logical thing that applied. However, Yan Ping shook her head. Just two words could create many different kinds of ssages, leaving plenty of interpretations.
"I could have ant ’make the bed before dinner’, ’make the bed after dinner’, ’make the bed, or you won’t have dinner’, or even ’buy the bed while you’re out for dinner’. Elents are like this. Without connectors to interpret how they should react, nothing will happen."
The connectors in spells were known as logic gates. Like a gate controlling the direction flow with opening and closing, the connector spell runes would filter a certain property tied with an elent to prevent it from progressing. This could change its purpose or usage, resulting in a completely different secondary elent due to two integrating primary elents.
"The function of each gate is simple. However, they can be used in a chain. Depending on where you place them in a circuit, they could affect a single elent or more than one. Using gates simultaneously could also alter the output effects trendously."
According to Yan Ping, the logic gates most commonly used in spell arrays were identify, split, combine, support and remove. Every elent had certain specific properties and a unique hierarchy. Yan Ping ntioned a few brief examples but told her students to refer to the guidebook for details. Instead of droning on like a boring teacher, she picked up the teapot she often used.
"This is an example of an item with two different spells," she told Anji. "Can you identify what these spells are and what they’re used for? You can refer to the book for hints. However, I want to know your thought process for the spell design created."
Taking up the challenge, Anji studied the simple teapot. There were two seals, one on the bottom and one on the side. Before she learned about seals, Anji thought they were engravings or stamps from the rchant selling the teapot. Now that she knew better, it was ti to investigate deeper.
Yan Ping observed silently as Anji entered a zone and forgot about her surroundings. The little girl flipped through her book and buried her nose into it, trying to match the symbols and understand the logical flow of these gates. Without a word, the blind cultivator stood up and followed the scent of her boiling soup in the kitchen. It was about ti to top up the water and let it simr.
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