Tian Lang was distressed beyond measure.

He was only testing with these so-called-runes. Never did he think it would turn out to be something so dangerous to kill a spirit. That too without trying.

What’s happening here? Isn’t it just some words?

To him, the Ancient Runes that all the humans struggled to figure, was just a simple language. Would you think that your speech and writing could kill a being?

The saying ‘if speech could kill’ turned out to be more than true for him.

This… Should I remove the other three? Tian Lang was troubled. He had applied five runes.

Aside from [Fake Death] and [Sever], he had added [Seal] to restrict any movement. [Absorb] to let it absorb qi from the world and not suffer an early death. Last not the least, [Evolution], in hope of getting the ice spirit orb stronger.

Only to get no reaction from the orb.

Actually, Tian Lang only knew the meaning of the runes. Not what they did or side-effects. Like this [Seal] Rune. He knew its meaning, but he didn't know what it sealed. Movement? Breath? Spirit sense? Or everything?

But now that Tian Lang found that runes could be so powerful, he felt it would be a shame to not learn their usage. But being able to use runes didn’t seem so easy, else why wouldn’t everyone use them?

He had met so many mighty creatures, but never saw anyone using runes in their battle.

What was weirder that Lich Suo Ge was actually trying to decipher or study these insignificant runes. Shui Wu Hen was trying the same, but Tian Lang had no idea what she was studying.

As for Lich Suo Ge, although that night Tian Lang and the rest returned. The Shadow Leopard sneaked into the underground hideout and took anything that seemed valuable.

That also included many diaries and notes. From the bits of runes he picked up, Suo Ge was undoubtedly studying those runes.

Now that he has runes, Tian Lang was determined to learn their usage.

Naturally, he knocked on Teacher Wu Hen’s library.

Most of the time, that’s where he found her.

“What is it?” as if aware that only Tian Lang could untimely knock on her door, the principal asked directly.

“Ah, Teacher Wu Hen, are you feeling well?”

“Fine enough to be not bothered by it, what is troubling you?”

“Holy and Divine items, can you tell me about them now?”

“...that, what about the condition I laid before you?”

“Hmph! Do you see this? This is a Lich Ring, is it enough to satisfy the condition?”

“...oh, but not enough.” The principal was slightly surprised but still didn’t turn to the smug student.

“Hmph, and I even prepared a gift for you!” indignant Tian Lang was ready to use his gift as a bribe.

“Gift?” At the unexpected word uttered by the unexpected person, the focused principal finally faced Tian Lang. Her gentle, pale face hid a hint of curiosity within it. “Gift from you? That’s… Do you need something?”

She wasn’t trying to sound demeaning or anything but Tian Lang and gifts… was a bit weird, no? She was more surprised that he knew the existence of something called ‘gift’ and accepted it without any grumbling. She would expect him to go like this: ‘Gift? Giving away something for nothing? Why would someone even do that? They might be a fool but am I? Everyone should gift me something good, right Teacher, why not gift me a Diamond Rank weapon?’

“N-no, I just want to know about Holy and Divine equipment.”

This was the first time Tian Lang was caught even before lying.

“Hah,” the principal let out an exasperated sigh. “Let me see the ring first.”

A Lich Ring was at most a gold-ranked item and far cry from being a platinum-ranked.

“Here~” Tian Lang only waved his middle finger, showing he had no intention of handing it over. It was fine if he hadn’t moved the items inside. Now that he did, he wasn’t handing it over to someone else.

‘Do I look like a thief to you?’ Shui Wu Hen was speechless. “Well, although a lich ring is only gold-ranked, they are rarer and useful. What do you want to know about Holy and Divine items?”

“Everything?”

It was a no-brainer to figure out that after Platinum and Diamond was Holy and Divine. Like any other rankings out there.

As if the founder of all of this was the same person, or too lazy to come up with a suitable name for each field and ranked them all with metals. But they soon encountered a bottleneck in the ranking system. Helpless, they had to suppress metals and reach out for something unreliable such as Holy and Divine.

The weird thing was, even Grimoires accepted that idiotic ranking...

No, Tian Lang reckoned it was because that existence was extremely powerful that even the Grimoires had to accept it, unwillingly.

Yes, unwillingly.

Else, why would his Grimoire be rankless? It must’ve been like him. Unruly.

He loved his Grimoire even more now.

The principal put aside the beast skin she was working on and collected her words, “Let’s see. Holy and Divine rank comes after Diamond as you already know. What sets them apart from others is that they have their own will. Holy and Divine equipment chooses their master–”

“So, even if you have Divine Equipment you might not be able to use it?!?!” Tian Lang interjected.

“That’s about right. You might think it is ridiculous that a weapon chooses its owner, but this just shows how powerful that equipment is. Some Divine items can even fight beside their master. In a way, they might even look like a beast but their ability and usefulness are different from one.”

Tian Lang blinked.

Shui Wu Hen blinked back.

Tian Lang gasped and jumped back, hitting his back against the door. “W-who are you?” he questioned.

“What nonsense?” Shui Wu Hen questioned back.

“My aloof teacher was never this cute!”

“...” The principal was speechless, ‘I only blinked, do you have to react so strongly?’

“Teacher, you shouldn’t surprise me so suddenly!” Tian Lang advised with pure intention. “That aside, is there anything else I might want to know...?”

“Wha...” Shui Wu Hen suppressed herself and tried not to mind his rude remark. “Not really. Probably that they are too rare in the Soaring Dragon Continent or even Tong Tian Tower. Only the Top Rankers might have them. It wouldn’t be weird if some strong Rankers lacked Holy equipment.”

“No, I mean, how do I get contracted with those items?”

“It varies depending on the items. It can be your touch, blood, or even presence. It can be anything. There are even requirements like pulling a sword out of the ground or stone. There’s no hard rule binding them.”

“Then, can those legendary God’s Blood, ah no, I mean, the Soul Blood Contracts of the gods, can those forcefully contract the Holy and Divine equipment.” Tian Lang tried to sound curious rather than hopeful.

“Where did you hear about God’s Blood and Soul Blood Contract?” Shui Wu Hen asked in confusion. He even didn’t know well about beasts just a month’s time ago and now he was mentioning something that even some Rankers might not know.

“Ah, it’s... one of the books from your library, I think?” Tian Lang took a wondering tone, but he indeed noticed some god related myths in one of those shelves.

“That’s one way possible, I guess. Reading is always good. You can spend more of your time here.” Tian Lang had a troubled look at this, he had no reply for her. Shui Wu Hen continued. “We know little to nothing about Soul Blood Contract. The contract itself was said to be a strong ability only strong Godly Bloodlines have. After all, the ability to make any beasts your Guardian Beast is no different from a logic-defying ability.

“In theory, someone who has God’s Bloodline won’t be rejected by any equipment–other than those which require users with a special talent, personality, or even fate.

“As for whether they could get forcefully recognized by the item spirits... hm, it might be possible, but also not. The relation with divine items is not exactly a contract–after all.”

Tian Lang’s thought turned a little.

The existence of spirits inside weapons and equipment was surprising to him. He thought only living beings had spirit.

“Then, can the items be alive? I thought everything with spirit is alive.”

Shui Wu Hen wore a thoughtful look. She considered her options before speaking, “That’s a hard question to answer. It all depends on how and from where you see it. 

“Higher-level spirits have the ability to feel, but many don’t care about it or see it as a part of their life. Some treat them as a tool while many treat their weapon spirit as their partner or friend, who accompanies them in their life and death battle.”

Looking at his confused face, Principal Wu Hen could only helplessly smile. “What I want to say is, you can think of them alive or just a tool. Whether you think they are alive or not is up to your consideration.”

“Then, what does Teacher think about them?”

“If you want my input, it would be like this: No matter whether they are alive or not, they deserve my attention.” Shui Wu Hen took a little bit of effort to come up with the answer. Even she was surprised that she thought about them like this.

Tian Lang nodded. It seemed the chance of forcefully using Holy or Divine Equipment wouldn’t be so easy. Anyway, it was worth a try.

“Then Teacher Wu Hen, I’ll see you next time.” Tian Lang didn’t even wait for her reply. He turned around and opened the door...

“Where’s my gift?”

“Eh...” Getting caught on what he was fearing for, Tian Lang didn’t know how to react. He indeed came to learn about Runes and give the lichy skeleton’s research to his respected principal, but now he had something pressing to take care of.

Something urgent.

“Err, how about next time?” Tian Lang tried to smile, but it turned into a grin. “Also, Teacher. You should smile more often. Your eyes, your face, you look more beautiful in a refreshing way.”

With that, Tian Lang rushed out, opened a teleportation scroll, arriving before the log cabin, he rushed to the forest once again.

Shui Wu Hen in the library had a smile that turned stiff. Her fingers touched the stiff face, looking thoughtful.

She leaned on the nestwood chair.

The joy of catching Tian Lang’s escape red-handed and his troubled look resurfaced in her mind. Shaking her head, she gave herself a bit of respite. In the name of calming her state, she lost herself in the aftertaste of that feeling.

Without anyone’s notice, a gentle air seemed to have sneaked in the world of bronze, which was ever-so silent and lonely.