76: Chapter 76 Fine

Su Jiuchuan arrived at the stone wall of the academy once again, and quite a few people had already gathered there.

Half a month ago, when he came by, there were only a hundred or so tasks posted on this stone wall, but now it was packed full, with at least three or four hundred, clearly indicating that the major factions had sensed something and were rushing to stockpile Materials.

He walked closer and casually picked a few to look at.

"Engrave the Black Tortoise Talisman on a war chariot; reward is five thousand catties of black iron, and failure to complete the task requires compensation of one hundred catties of black iron."

The Black Tortoise Talisman is a defensive talisman; once activated, it transforms into a True Qi tortoise shell for defense. It is a Seven-Stroke Talisman, and such a persistent rune requires at least five Xiantian Martial Artists to continuously input True Qi to maintain it.

In Su Jiuchuan's impression, it played a significant role later on when fighting against the monster attacks.

Generally speaking, the higher the rank of the rune, the higher the chance of failure. Surprisingly, this task only requires a compensation of one hundred catties of black iron for failure, which can be said to be quite sincere.

However, Su Jiuchuan did not yet have the ability to draw it; otherwise, earning a sum from it would allow him to simulate for a long time without worry.

"Engrave an Armor-Piercing Talisman on polearm weapons; reward is five hundred catties of black iron, and failure to complete the task requires compensation of one hundred catties of black iron."

This task was actually feasible; the Armor-Piercing Talisman is a Five-Stroke Talisman, which was within his capabilities.

However, as far as he knew, tasks with failure compensation required both parties to deposit the black iron with the academy beforehand. In his current situation, he hadn't even paid the one hundred catties of black iron for his tuition.

He sighed; this was just like doing business, where he didn't even have the capital.

He continued to look.

"Engrave a Speed Talisman rune on sword-type weapons; reward is six hundred catties of black iron, and failure to complete the task requires compensation of fifty catties of black iron."

The Speed Talisman is also a Five-Stroke Talisman, which can accelerate attacks; it is also a practical rune. The key is that this reward is significantly higher, and if he fails, the compensation is lower.

It seemed there were no better terms than this, and Su Jiuchuan was just about to reach for it.

A hand blocked his, and when Su Jiuchuan looked up, he saw Wen Qiye blocking him with one hand while trying to reach for the slip of paper with the other.

Su Jiuchuan was furious. With a flick of his hand, he swatted away the hand blocking him and grabbed for the paper. Wen Qiye did not back down, and with a "rip" sound, the paper was torn in two.

"How bold, you dare to cause trouble here?"

With a shout, the old man who had been dozing in the corner of the stone wall flew into a rage, and a squad of guards immediately rushed over, surrounding the two of them.

These guards were the academy's private soldiers.

The students who had been nearby scattered, starting to watch the commotion.

The two were brought before the old man. Wen Qiye bowed and spoke first: "Master Tian, we both spotted this task at the same time. In a moment of carelessness, the paper was destroyed. I am willing to accept the punishment."

Coming from an influential family, he was familiar with social nuances. He knew that in this situation, if he just pushed the blame onto Su Jiuchuan, it would only anger Master Tian. By simply adopting a posture of accepting punishment, it was easier to gain favor.

Su Jiuchuan rolled his eyes. It was clearly he who had spotted it first, yet now the other party was saying they had both spotted it. However, it wasn't the time to argue, so he simply bowed and stayed silent.

Master Tian glanced at the two coldly and said: "Causing trouble here; each of you is fined one hundred catties of black iron."

Wen Qiye quickly bowed and said: "This student accepts the punishment."

Su Jiuchuan felt a bit awkward. He didn't even have a single catty of black iron right now and could only say: "Can this fine be deducted from the reward after I complete this task?"

"You don't even have the fine; how can you pay the black iron compensation if you fail?" Wen Qiye sneered.

Master Tian said impatiently: "Why so much fuss? If you don't have black iron, you will be sent to the Talisman-Making Cave to do hard labor for three months."

Su Jiuchuan's expression changed drastically. The Talisman-Making Cave was a place in the Talisman Department for punishing students. One had to toil away making talismans for the academy inside. They were mostly simple runes, often sold to the imperial army in large quantities. The Materials were poor, so it didn't matter if they failed.

Simply put, it was forced labor, and there was no pay.

There was only one month left before the Spirit Tide erupted and the monsters began attacking human towns. If he were sent off to do manual labor now, it would be disastrous.

Just as he was wondering if he should call upon his cheap teacher, Master He.

"I will pay his fine," a voice shouted from the crowd.

Su Jiuchuan turned his head to look; it was unexpectedly Wen Shuyu.

"Helping an outsider, hmph!" Wen Qiye was furious.

"Since when does a collateral branch descendant like you dare to question the main family?" Wen Shuyu said disdainfully.

"Hmph!" Wen Qiye was furious in his heart, secretly vowing: Once I become a Great Master of talisman making and enter the Wen Family Elder Council, I will definitely make you pay.

Master Tian couldn't be bothered with these matters and said: "Pay the fine first."

Wen Qiye and Wen Shuyu both handed over a token.

Su Jiuchuan knew this was the academy's identity token; he had one too.

One could deposit black iron at the academy's Sundry Department, and later, when withdrawing, it could be directly deducted from the token, which was very convenient.

After the two paid the fine, Wen Qiye then said: "Master Tian, regarding this task..."

Su Jiuchuan thought that since he already owed Wen Shuyu a favor, he might as well owe a little more, so he also bowed and said: "I am determined to get this task."

Master Tian looked at the two with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, then whispered a few words to the guard beside him.

The guard ran out and, after a while, returned with two longswords, saying to the two: "Since you both want this task, I will give you a chance."

"If the engraving fails, you still pay the compensation of fifty catties of black iron. The one who succeeds gets the task reward."

Wen Qiye said, somewhat unwillingly: "What if both succeed?"

Master Tian smiled and said: "If both succeed, I will judge. The superior one gets the task reward, and I will purchase the other talisman for one hundred catties of black iron."

Everyone present who heard this couldn't help but curse inwardly: Old scoundrel, this old guy wants to buy a Five-Stroke Talisman for only one hundred catties of black iron; that is truly a good calculation.

However, no one dared to say anything; watching Master Tian casually order the academy's guards around, his status was clearly not low.

Master Tian completely ignored the looks from the crowd and waved his hand, and several servants immediately set up two tables on the spot.

On the tables were placed carving knives and a small dish of red liquid.

Su Jiuchuan knew that this red liquid was actually made by grinding a mineral and mixing it with water; it was called Black Sand.

After engraving the rune, one had to add Black Sand so that the Spiritual Qi on the rune could be sealed, ensuring that the rune would retain its Spiritual Qi even after many years.

Of course, this Black Sand is only suitable for runes with ten strokes or less; it is said that runes with more than ten strokes have very high requirements, and engraving those requires the much more precious Jade Sand.