Chapter 10: The Masters' Pavilion
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It was already close to evening, and Zhu Rong had only three hours left before the academy's curfew began.
He found this rule irritating, but could only complain about it, since first and second year students weren't allowed to stay outside the academy after 10 PM unless they had a special permit.
Third-year students, however, were not subject to this restriction and could stay out as long as they wanted,
as long as they informed the sect every three days,
or every seven if they were on a mission.
For now he could do nothing but complain about his lack of strength.
Without strength, a person could not have the freedom of choice they have always hoped for, nor the freedom to live as they wish.
This was a truth he had learned the hard way in his previous life.
That said, he waited a little under an hour before receiving the mold.
Since it had to be engraved with a runic inscription, it needed to be made either of stone or wood,
so that a temporary inscription could be applied to make it work for a limited time, or alternatively, it could be made of metal to allow it to be reused multiple times in the future.
Normally, using a metal mold for forging metal weapons would be a terrible idea for obvious reasons, but with a specific inscription, it was possible to prevent the materials from fusing together or sticking.
He already had the layout for the runic inscription in mind, and now that the mold was ready, he took it and set off.
Han Tiezhang was still uncertain about this method and wondered where Zhu Rong planned to get the mold engraved,
since it would cost quite a bit and finding someone willing to do it would be even more problematic.
He figured perhaps the boy had some family connections to help with this.
After all, his family was a well known clan of blacksmiths, and they certainly wouldn't lack experts capable of inscribing matrices of this level.
In the end, Han Tiezhang shook his head and went back to work.
There was no point worrying too much about this matter for now.
***
The city of Qiyan was both the political and economic heart of Lushan province.
Not only did the great families have their main residences here, but many important organizations of the empire also had branches in the city.
One of these was the Masters' Pavilion, an organization that safeguarded the rights of those in secondary professions.
It was essentially a paradise for all secondary professions that wished to advance along a proper professional path.
Zhu Rong himself, in his past life, had registered here as a blacksmith and later managed to become one of the Pavilion's main elders.
The ranks of all professions were divided into five grades, starting from Apprentice, all the way up to the most prestigious title of Grandmaster.
It goes without saying that to hold such a title, one had to be at the very top of the Pavilion's expert rankings.
He knew that there existed a level even above Grandmaster Blacksmith:
the Saint Blacksmith, a level he had nearly reached in his previous life.
According to some old legend, only blacksmiths of that level could forge divine-grade weapons.
Just the thought of his masterpiece , which he hadn't even been able to admire properly, pained his heart.
He pushed those thoughts aside before they could depress him any further, and made his way to the entrance of the Masters' Pavilion's building.
It was a large, refined structure, adorned with various statuettes and other decorations, with a slightly weathered sign above the main entrance displaying the name of the place.
Without wasting time, he went inside and headed straight for the registration counter.
At the moment, he lacked the proper tools to inscribe a runic array of that level, so he decided to directly take the test to become a rune engraver,
which would also let him cross another task off his to do list.
The apprentice-level exam wasn't anything too complicated.
Its basic goal was simply to assess an individual's knowledge of the fundamental runes.
It was also at this stage that one began to inscribe them onto objects, talismans, and so on,
before later taking the test to become a, Adept rank Rune Engraver .
And it was at that point that an engraver's true path began, for before then, one couldn't even be considered a real rune engraver.
He arrived at the counter where a middle-aged man was calmly waiting while sipping a cup of tea.
Given the time, there weren't many people in the Pavilion, and aside from the staff, the place was practically empty,
with only a few people coming and going to hand in mission reports or other documents.
When the man saw the boy carrying a strange rectangular object on his back, he couldn't help but wonder whether the boy was there to register or to sell something.
However, he didn't voice his thoughts and spoke to the boy directly.
"Good evening, how can I help you?" he asked, keeping his tone formal.
"Hello, I'd like to register myself as a rune engraver," Zhu Rong replied without wasting any time.
There were three times during the day when one could take the test for the various professions,
morning, afternoon, and evening, each with a specific schedule.
This system had been put in place to manage the large number of registrations for the apprentice rank, and for every session, there were some examiners on duty.
He had decided to come that day because he had noticed that there was still time before the evening exam session for the apprentice rank began.
The examiner didn't ask anything further and took a sheet from a stack on his right before handing it to him.
"Alright, fill out your details here and head to Room No. 3 for the examination.
It'll start in less than ten minutes, so I'd suggest you hurry," he explained before returning to sipping his tea.
Zhu Rong quickly filled out the form and made his way to the indicated room.
This was his registration form, which he would have to hand directly to the examiner to get his turn.
Not wasting a moment, he went straight to the specified room.
He knew this place very well, so he didn't bother checking each room and went directly to the one where the exam would be held.
'Hmm, this place hasn't changed at all,' he thought as he entered and looked around at the layout.
It was a medium-sized hall used as a waiting area.
From here, each candidate would be called in one by one to take the test in the next room.
Since it was mostly a theory test, they couldn't examine multiple people at the same time,
especially because, at this hour, there was only one examiner assigned to each profession.
He entered and headed straight for a corner of the room.
He didn't bother looking at who else was there and walked directly to the person standing near a wooden door, handing him the form.
It was a man a little over twenty, wearing a green worker's robe typical of the Pavilion.
He took the form and gave it a quick glance before nodding and handing it back to Zhu Rong.
"Here, this is your number. Wait patiently in the waiting area and enter when your number's called," he said professionally.
Even though it was evening, he showed no signs of exhaustion, reciting everything like a recording device without the slightest hesitation.
Zhu Rong couldn't help but wonder how desperate someone's life had to be to end up doing a job like that.
The pay wasn't good, and you basically did the exact same thing all day, every day of the week.
'Poor guy, he's probably been through a lot…
May the heavens ble-
wait, no, those bastards wouldn't lift a finger.
Well… may someone bless him.'