Lian sat down on his chair and rested his hands on the desk.
"The main gaps in my fighting style are my lack of a strong defense and reliable long-range offense. The Pyromancy Glove is only useful in close combat."
"This is an idea I got after seeing how Lin Ling uses the standard Water Wall Rune for both offense and defense. I'll just make an upgraded version of it."
Lian pulled out a large sheet of paper and began sketching.
Since most of the design was based on the existing Water Wall Rune, the process went relatively smoothly. Even so, several hours passed before he finally set down his pen.
He picked up the blueprint and his eyes lingered on the completed design.
The view zooms out of the page and he was already standing inside the academy laboratory, comparing the blueprint in his hand to the prototype resting on the workbench.
(I am not sure how to write these YouTube transitions in novel but when this gets anime adaptation this would look really cool)
With the prototype complete, he began testing it.
He raised a finger, and a small blob of liquid mercury rose into the air, following every movement of his hand.
Faint silver light spread through the lines on his palm and across his fingers. Small circles lit up at each fingertip as the rune activated.
He lifted his thumb.
The mercury froze.
In the blink of an eye, the liquid reshaped itself into a sharp metallic knife.
He grabbed the knife's handle and the blade remained solid.
Lian then thrust the knife into the wooden workbench.
The mercury blade left a small dent before its tip suddenly turned back into liquid, losing its solid structure on impact.
He glanced at the monitoring equipment on the table. One of the meters had spiked the instant the blade struck.
He scrolled through the rest of the readings.
So once the surface tension exceeds a certain threshold, the structure falls apart. I'll need to improve that. The higher the tension, the more ether it consumes to keep it materialized as well.
Every time the mercury experienced a sudden impact, the rune had to compensate for the change in force. The larger the force, the more ether it consumed.
It was very inefficient.
Lian leaned back in his chair.
There had to be a better way.
As his gaze drifted across the room, it landed on the clock hanging on the wall.
The second hand moved forward.
For a brief moment, it seemed to hesitate before snapping into its next position.
Lian blinked.
Then he sat upright.
"Magnets."
"How did I not think of this before?"
The rune was trying to force the mercury into shape using pure ether, just like the Water Wall Rune.
But unlike the water, I am using mercury, and I have a much better approach. Electromagnetism.
Instead of using ether to directly maintain its structure, which consumes too much ether, especially for someone like me with low reserves, I could instead use it to generate an electromagnetic field and let that field hold the mercury together.
Lian's eyes lit up.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it sounded.
Not only would it reduce ether consumption, but it could also make the structure far more stable during impacts.
But mercury barely responds to magnetic forces.
He frowned.
I need a material with the fluid properties of mercury but a much stronger magnetic response.
"That's it. Now I just need to find one."
Lian walked over to the computer and began searching for articles on metallurgy and electromagnetic materials.
After going through a few studies and scattered forum discussions, he finally found a combination that could actually work.
"Gallium alloy with magnetite nano particles."
"Perfect"
Unlike mercury, magnetite nano particles responded strongly to electromagnetic fields while the Gallium alloy retained the fluid properties of mercury.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
--
Then he spent the entire day in the lab. After that, the next few days too. He skipped classes completely, buried in experiments.
Finally, he made it.
Lian stood in the lab holding the liquid metal knife.
He stabbed it straight into the wooden table.
This time it held. The blade stayed solid, cleanly piercing through the wood.
Lian opened his hand. The knife softened back into a blob of liquid metal, hovered for a moment before shrinking and disappearing.
--
The scene shifted to the training ground.
Lian had called Nox over to test the new rune he made.
Nox launched his spear straight at Lian.
Lian raised his palm and closed his fist.
A small drop of liquid metal rapidly expanded in front of him forming a silver shield.
The spear hit it but failed to break through.
Nox clicked his tongue before taking few steps back.
"Damn, this is pretty good. Let's test it with enchantments active."
His eyes focused as he pushed ether into the spear, activating its reinforcement enchantment. The surface grew denser and faint sparks of electricity crackled around it.
He lunged forward.
The spear struck the shield with a thin metallic sound. This time it pushed through, the force also pushed Lian a couple steps back.
Lian immediately formed a second shield.
At the same time, thin strands of liquid metal extended from the first shield, wrapping around the spear and locking it in place.
Nox tried to pull it back, but it didn't move.
He pushed harder. Electricity surged through the sphere, and the metal strands melted back into liquid.
He yanked it free.
Lian didn't hesitate. The shield in front of him reshaped into a blade and shot toward Nox.
Nox raised his spear to block it. The crackling electricity disrupted the liquid metal, causing Lian's blade to lose its shape mid-strike.
Nox laughed and stepped forward.
"I figured out the weakness of your new rune. Looks like I win again."
But as he moved, his steps faltered.
His legs were suddenly pulled together, losing balance. He fell forward, face hitting the stone ground.
A liquid metal sword was already pressed against the back of his head.
Nox rolled slightly and froze.
A metallic rope had tied his legs together.
Lian deactivated the rune. The sword dissolved and the rope shrank before disappearing completely.
Nox stood up, brushing dust off his face.
"You smart little bastard… is this your payback for last time?"
Lian smirked, like he'd finally gotten his revenge.
"You can call it that. But I mainly made this to cover my shortcomings."
Nox shook his head.
"It still has a major flaw. Anyone with electric-type rune can mess it up easily."
Lian replied, still unbothered, "Yeah, not just that. The floating objects need an anchor. They might block the attack, but I still take the force and get pushed back. F = ma and all that."
"And I'm still using presets, so the liquid metal can only reliably form three or four shapes right now."
He paused slightly.
"At Sequence 1, this is as far as I can push it. And after I reach Sequence 2, I'll have to refine it properly. Then the rune won't just form a simple blade—it'll actively reinforce molecular cohesion during motion, so it can cut through anything and hold against any attack."
Nox nodded slowly.
"I'll just pretend like I understood all that."
"So Basically… it may look strong outside now, but there are still a lot of flaws."
Lian replied, "There are no strongest runes, only the strongest wielder."
Nox exhaled. "You know, reaching Sequence 2 felt lot simpler to me than trying to understand your science stuff."
Lian nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go try reaching that Sequence 2 today. See you later."
He turned and left the training ground.