Unpacking the boxes took a couple of hours, after which the sun set, and the most beautiful night sky replaced it. Each box was a dedicated starter pack of a different material that Shin thought he might have needed. Each box contained the potential for endless possibilities, from starter seeds for spirit plants to exotic crystals that grew on dead flesh. The only issue was that most of the guides were WAY above his abilities. See, the issue wasn't his comprehension, but rather, it was the cultivation requirements. For example, the Seven-Colored Beetle farm he wanted me to set up was, in concept, easy: just keep the eggs in a moist space and let them hatch. The issue comes with taming them, because as the 'Speculation of Demons' book describes, the Seven-Color Beetle is a red type demon, the classification being part of a ranking system similar to crystals.

  Clear demons were like the frogs they encountered, while the big one was considered a clear plus, a stronger example of something in the clear rank. The beetle was considered red plus, and was effectively two and a half levels higher than the frog he definitely couldn't kill by himself. Now, the demon guide did make it clear that just because something was of a higher level didn't mean that it couldn't be handled by lower-level sages, the issue was that demons of a certain level generally require someone on the same level as them or stronger to tame, a requirement of the beetle farm. This was just a taste, though; other guides and items he was sent were all similar to it in the regard that they exceeded his abilities by a mile right now. Putting most of the stuff back in the boxes, he took two of the boxes that were instead more to his level, the 'Wisdom of Shapes', and the 'Demon Skull Cauldron' beginner guides on inscription and alchemy.

  Setting down both boxes on the wooden table, he took out the equipment left inside both. From the inscription box, he pulled a knife, a set of rings, a set of brushes, a hefty pack of paper, and a large glass container of reddish ink. From the other box, he pulled a bone pot with a lid, sets of measuring tools, and a couple of blank hand journals. Pulling out each guide, he began with the inscription one, the 'Wisdom of Shapes'.

  'The Wisdom of Shapes'

  Inscription is the foundation of the modern sage arts, allowing things such as the Great Demon Barrier and Cleansing Gates to exist. Without it, the whole of the world would be engulfed in ravenous demons and fiendish men. It is no exaggeration that this art is the most important art of we sages to exist.

  Next page.

  To begin, the beginner must learn to carve simply, try practicing a circle, a line, a curved line, and letters. For a beginner, the circle represents the foundation of an inscription, the lines, curved and straight, represent the flow of one's spirit or the spirit of provided cores. Then the letters represent the active intent of the inscription, but simple words and writing will not due. The language of inscriptions is its own, unique, and divine; it acts not through words, but through intent, allowing the pattern within the mind and soul to take shape.

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  And from there it led to more flowery language, essentially repeating itself in each section. The two points were that I needed to practice both calligraphy and carving, as well as the pseudo-language of inscription. The language itself, if you could call it that, was strange to put it simply. The 'words', the symbols you put, did not have a direct meaning, nor did they allude to a concept or thing. A symbol would instead describe a process not unlike a program. The key difference, though, was that a program did exactly what you made it do, not what you wanted it to, while on the other hand, an inscription did what you wanted it to do, but not necessarily what it was made to do. The idea was that inscriptions required the maker to impart a purpose and process but could often be colored by the individual's perspective or understanding of the task, leading to an issue where the misunderstanding or lack of knowledge resulted in an inscription that was either lacking or useless. Thankfully, it was rather easy to get the basics of but overall, it felt like a headache he'd have to deal with in the future. Thankfully, alchemy was only slightly better, much more like chemistry, put two or more things together a certain way, and you get a certain result; the key difference was that alchemy had more factors to consider.

  But despite the apparent complexities and weirdness, experimenting with them was actually really fun. Inscription pulled Jack into it, like when a person was entranced in their passion, so too did he hyper-focus on each movement of his knife as he carved into the rings. His first attempt, sucked frankly, it was supposed to glow in the dark but instead it made things other than it glow, creating a weird opposite effect where things around it were caked in a layer of bright particles. As far as he understood it, the problem was that he thought not of the process but simply the result.

  This was because, despite his focus on the carving portion, he neglected to properly envision what he wanted, only feeding it the idea that it was to illuminate other objects. This resulted in the backward effect, something that took two more attempts to properly understand. But on the fourth, he managed to succeed, creating a ring that glowed in dark spaces, with only a mild migraine if you looked at the ring too long. But for all the excitement that came with success also came some doubt. He knew he was an outsider, a fact others repeated to him often, but in a more worldly sense, he was feeling more than ever. The guide doesn't say it, but another read shows it; the issue isn't a lack of talent or ability, but instead it was a problem of mindset. Jack was viewing the world of cultivation with Western eyes, something that had and will cause problems. But if he wanted to stop that and fit in well enough to find a way home, he'd need to adjust his thinking.

  So, he changed into some sleepwear and crawled into bed, staring blankly at the smooth stone ceiling.

  "How does a stranger learn to accept what is normal, and in turn be accepted?"