Reborn as the General's Useless Daughter-Chapter 279: Creating Inscriptions

Just like alchemy, inscription crafting relied on practice, practice, and more practice.

No master was born from talent alone.

It was the countless failed attempts, wasted materials, and hard-earned experience that slowly formed an inscriptionist’s intuition.

That intuition told them how much energy to pour in, how stable their hand should be, and when a stroke was about to go wrong.

Zora had already purchased the necessary materials in Heavenly City. The inscription she planned to create was not complicated, so the materials were basic and easy to find. Thanks to the presence of the academy, trade here was flourishing, and even specialized inscription items were readily available.

Zora carefully prepared the inscription liquid, following the method the old man had taught her. The process was delicate and demanding. A single mistake meant starting over.

Compared to alchemy, inscription crafting was no less complex, and in some ways even more unforgiving.

However, there are two ways of Inscription crafting. One is etching a rune directly onto the weapons, and the other is creating an inscription on paper, which can then be attached to the weapon to use the effect. Zora decided to go for the second option for convenience.

As she worked, her eyes were steady and calm, filled with quiet focus. The world outside faded away, leaving only the tools, the liquid, and the faint promise of power waiting to be born beneath her fingertips.

The red ink was ground smooth, the liquid was carefully prepared, and the blank paper was laid flat. With everything ready, Zora finally began.

This time, she did not try to copy any complicated or high-level Inscriptions. The Inscriptions the old man had taught her were simple in form yet profound in effect. Even though they were not advanced, they were more than enough to raise the quality of an ordinary weapon.

And that alone was already powerful.

For a normal Spirit Warrior, a slightly stronger weapon could mean the difference between victory and defeat, between life and death. That was why inscriptions, even at the lowest level, were so valuable.

Zora’s expression was calm and focused. She lifted the inscription brush, dipped it into the crimson liquid, and gently placed the tip onto the paper. The liquid gleamed as cinnabar mixed with gold, glowing softly under the light.

The moment the brush touched the paper, her entire mind sharpened.

As an alchemist, she was already skilled at deep concentration. Now, that same discipline flowed into her inscription work. In her world, nothing existed except the lines she was about to draw.

She had already memorized the entire pattern before starting. There was no hesitation, no pause.

The Inscription had to be drawn in one continuous flow. A single break, a single uneven stroke, and the whole thing would fail. Not only that, but even the pressure of the brush and the thickness of the liquid mattered. Any slight imbalance could ruin everything.

That was why inscriptionists were even rarer than alchemists.

Soon, Zora noticed something she had never felt during her virtual practice in the Ring of Chaos. The brush felt slightly stiff in her hand. When she reached certain turns in the pattern, the tip hesitated for just a fraction of a second.

That tiny hesitation ruined the entire inscription.

She did not mind.

Failure was expected.

The second attempt failed.

The third attempt failed.

She kept going, her movements steady, her breathing calm.

By the eighth try, she finally began to control the brush smoothly, understanding how much strength to use and how to guide the flow of the inscription liquid.

On the ninth try, she made it past the halfway point, only to realize too late that she had used too much liquid in the earlier strokes.

The tenth try also failed.

Not far away, Black, White, and Shihtzu sat in a neat row, quietly watching her work. None of them dared to make a sound.

Once their master entered this state, it was as if the entire world no longer existed. There was no frustration, no anger, only stubborn persistence.

Failure did not stop her. It only made her try again.

Finally, on the twentieth attempt, the brush glided across the paper without a single hitch.

A soft red light suddenly flashed. For a brief moment, it looked like a spark of fire blooming on the page. When it faded, a perfect six-pointed star had quietly taken shape.

Zora’s lips curved into a small, satisfied smile.

"So... it worked."

She carefully placed the completed inscription aside, her eyes already shining with eagerness.

Now that she had grasped the feeling, she was not about to stop. The brush dipped into the liquid again, ready for the next one, her determination burning brighter than the crimson lines she was drawing.

Twenty-second attempt, failure.

Twenty-third, another failure.

By the thirtieth try, however, Zora finally succeeded again. Compared to the long string of failures before, this was real progress, and she could clearly feel her control growing steadier.

In the end, she completed three inscriptions in total. It was not that she did not want to continue, but her inscription liquid had been completely used up.

More importantly, her mind was already feeling heavy.

Inscriptions did not consume spiritual energy. They devoured mental power instead, slowly but relentlessly. At this point, continuing would only lower her accuracy and waste materials.

The moment she set the brush down, Black, White, and Shihtzu hurried over like well-trained attendants. Black and White climbed up to knead her shoulders, while Shihtzu dutifully massaged her back with its soft paws.

Zora let out a quiet breath and leaned back slightly, enjoying the rare luxury.

"It seems inscriptions really can’t be rushed," she murmured with a faint smile.

As for the three finished inscriptions, she was not yet sure of their real market value. She had never been an inscriptionist in her previous life, and the number of inscription masters in this world was far too small. She had never even met one in person.

Selling them would be the best way to find out.

The next day, Zora brought the three inscriptions to an auction house. She deliberately avoided selling them inside the academy. As a new inscriptionist, she did not yet know their true worth. If she sold them there, people might raise the price out of courtesy, which would not give her a clear idea of their real value.

An auction, however, was different.

There, everything was judged purely by worth.

Wrapped in a black cloak to conceal her identity, she entered the Heavenly Auction House, the same one as the one in Elysia. Heavenly City’s branch was no small establishment either, and its reputation for fairness was solid.

When she presented the three inscriptions, even the appraiser’s attitude changed.

Inscriptions were rare. Extremely rare.

Most high-level inscriptionists engraved their work directly onto weapons in the form of runes, while inscription papers usually carried lower-tier inscriptions. Even so, these papers were still fiercely sought after. After all, not every Spirit Warrior could afford a master to personally etch a rune onto their weapon.

Low-tier or not, anything that strengthened a weapon had a huge market.

"May I ask," the appraiser said carefully, "what effect does your inscription have?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Zora paused for a brief moment before replying, her voice calm and steady. "It is a fire-attribute inscription. Once attached to a weapon, it grants a flame effect and increases lethality."

The appraiser’s eyes lit up immediately.

"Then these items are accepted by the Heavenly Auction House."

A faint smile curved beneath Zora’s cloak, and she thought. "Good. The first step into the world of inscriptions had been taken."