Chapter 375: College of Arts

“Hm?” After successfully entering the city bounds, Wang Hao suddenly noticed something unusual.

“Aside from that monstrous Jotunn that is fighting Tian Yi now, there are no other powerful Jotunn lying around!”

With his energy sense, Wang Hao was sure that all the inhabitants in this city had power comparable to only First Stage Practitioners. There are no Jotunn here with power around the Second, Third and Fourth Stage. “That Fifth Stage Jotunn... He’s actually this malicious.” Wang Hao muttered as he looked at Tian YI fighting the Fifth Stage Jotunn.

The only explanation for what Wang Hao saw was only simple. This Fifth Stage Jotunn must have killed all the other Jotunn with power beyond the First Stage!

“Tsk, what a ruthless person.” Wang Hao muttered as he saw that the none of the Jotunn in the city left their houses once the Fifth Stage Jotunn appeared to fight Tian Yi.

It was as if they were extremely scared of the Fifth Stage Jotunn that they could not even go out of their houses.

“....” Wang Hao felt slightly disappointed by this, as he thought that some of the Jotunn will attack him once he enters the city. But it looks like they are ignoring Wang Hao as they seem to be more scared of the Fifth Stage Jotunn.

“Well, at least this makes matters easier for me.” Wang Hao muttered as he rushed towards the center of the city. Along the way he did not receive any obstructions as none of the Jotunn dared to stop him.

In no time at all, he reached the center of the city. “It’s really big up close...” Wang Hao said as he looked at the towering structure in front of him. This structure was the dwelling place of the Fifth Stage Jotunn, and it did not fail to impress Wang Hao.

“Tian Yi said to me that the weapon was at the center of the city... so maybe the weapon is inside this house!”

Wang Hao did not waste any time as he approached the behemoth house. But just a few steps in, and he felt an obstructive force stopping him “As expected....” Wang Hao rubbed his chin, knowing that entering this house will not be easy.

He looked at the house closely, and there he could see symbols etched on the house’s surface. “These are runes....” Wang Hao knew that there are unique techniques created inside Yggdrasil, and Rune Engraving is one of them.

Of course Wang Hao has no idea the abilities of the runes that he saw, but he could faintly guess that these runes were here to prevent any intruders from entering this house.

Only when Wang Hao narrowed his eyes that he saw a shimmering shield that seemed to cover the whole house. “So this is the thing obstructing me.... Let’s try putting some force then...” Wang Hao clenched his fist as he let out a powerful kinetic punch.

“Boom!” The shimmering shield did not even tremble as it withstood Wang Hao’s punch. Wang Hao, who expected the shield to withstand his punch, certainly did not expect that his punch won’t even budge the shield.

“Hmph, if you think your measly attacks can damage this Rune of Shielding, then you are gravely mistaken!” Old Man said as he seemingly looked pleased at Wang Hao’s failed attack.

Old Man rubbed his chin proudly as he started to talk condescendingly. “The Rune of Shielding is a powerful rune, meant to protect one’s home from unwanted guests. No matter what that unwanted guest did, they won’t be able to enter a home protected by the Rune of Shielding. Only someone permitted by the rune creator can enter a home engraved with the Rune of Shielding.”

“But” The Old Man raised his index finger as he continued talking. “If the the rune creator was defeated in a fight, the one who defeated the rune creator can enter his home, even if its protected by the Rune of Shielding.”

“So that’s how it is...” Wang Hao said as he looked at Tian Yi fighting the Fifth Stage Jotunn. “Even if Tian Yi brought some people with him, they won’t be able to enter the Fifth Stage Jotunn’s home as they are not permitted to enter. This means that Tian Yi has to defeat the Fifth Stage Jotunn if he wanted to obtain the rights to enter its house.”

The Rune of Shielding was surely the reason why countless Central Divine Emperors failed to obtain the weapon. After all, they have to defeat the Fifth Stage Jotunn if they want to invalidate the effects of Rune of Shielding. But with the strength of the Fifth Stage Jotunn, the just defeating it was already extremely hard.

Old Man nodded his head, as he gave a praising look to the house. “The way these runes are engraved indicates that the one who made these runes is a master! Even I could not help but praise the quality of these runes!”

Old Man seemed to become a child as he gazed at the runes in happiness. Upon seeing this, Wang Hao let out a snort as he gave a withering look to Old Man. “Old Man, you seem to know a lot of things Rune Engraving huh. It makes me wonder how you know that much....”

Old Man gave Wang Hao a cramped smile, realizing that he had been too happy seeing these runes. “Uh well...”

Wang Hao did not let Old Man speak as he started pressuring him. “From the way your eyes twinkled, you seem to really love Rune Engraving. Not only that, but you managed to identify the rune inf front of us and even determine its quality. Only an expert in Rune Engraving will be this skilled.”

Old Man seemed to sweat as he gave a pleading look to Wang Hao. Upon seeing this, Wang Hao let out a snort as he stopped teasing Old Man. “Old Man, the way you reacted to the Jotunn and the runes made me extremely interested about your identity. I really want to know what connection you have with Yggdrasil and who you really are.... But because you are Fang Lin’s master, I will stop any inquiries for now.” Old Man’s sigh of relief overlapped with Wang Hao’s additional words.

“Well, since you are an ‘Expert’ in Rune Engraving, then you must know how to use your skills to negate the effect the Rune of Shielding right?”

“Kgh!” Old Man gritted his teeth, realizing that Wang Hao was actually taking advantage of him now!

From the way that Wang Hao weaved his sentence, Old Man could see the thinkly-veiled threat that Wang Hao just gave him. [If you want me to stop asking for your real identity, then use your skills to deal with the Rune of Shielding!]

Old Man tried to not show his irritation as he gave a strained smile to Wang Hao. “Well you see...”

“Don’t tell me that a Universe Sage like you can’t even deal with a measly Rune of Shielding?” Wang Hao’s voice was loud as he mocked Old Man.

“Well that was disappointing. I thought you are one of the most intelligent beings in the whole universe, and yet you can’t even deal with this rune? Are you really a wise man like what you said?”

“That’s it!” Old Man could not take it anymore as he pointed his trembling fingers at Wang Hao. “You think I can’t deal with this rune? I am one of the best Rune Engravers out there! This rune is nothing to me!”

“Well, thanks for the help then~” Wang Hao replied cheerfully as he saw the Old Man fuming in anger.

Wang Hao knew that Old Man would not allow himself to get exploited, even at the expense of his identity. But Wang Hao also knew that Old Man was someone who valued his status as an intellectual, and it will surely hurt Old Man’s pride if someone took a jab in it!

“Old Man, you may be a powerful, intelligent ancient being, but you are still no match with my manipulative skills!” Wang Hao thought smugly as Old Man started to negate the Rune.

“Since I have no body, you Wang Hao, will be ‘my hands’.” Old Man said as his demeanor changed. “I will tell you the instructions on unraveling the Rune of Shielding, and you will be the one who will do it. I trust that a skilled person like you can do this right?”

“Of course I can!” Wang Hao replied testily as he stabilized his hands. “Whew...” It was lucky for Wang Hao that there is no Jotunn nearby that can interrupt what he was doing.

Minutes later. “This is so effing difficult!” Wang Hao wailed inwardly as he found it extremely hard to keep up with Old Man.

10 minutes have already passed by since Old Man started giving Wang Hao the instructions to negate the Rune of Shielding.

These instructions by Old Man were basically forcing Wang Hao to engrave runes in front of the house. Since it was Wang Hao’s first time engraving runes, he was slow in this endeavor, much to Old Man’s dismay.

Rune engraving required someone to be an expert in engraving and they must also be good at energy manipulation, as the runes must be supplied with energy while they are being engraved.

With Wang Hao’s bloodline, he had no problems with energy manipulation. But as for engraving, one can say that Wang Hao is not an artistic person, so making him engrave some lines and curves on hard surfaces was extremely difficult for him. This resulted in some of Wang Hao’s runes looking like a sorry mess.

Wang Hao had no choice but to erase these runes and re-engrave them. “What a slowpoke! If it was me, I would have already finished way earlier than you, and you are not even halfway done!” Old Man angrily said as he pointed at the latest rune that Wang Hao engraved.

“Look at that s**t! Even a toddle can engrave a rune better than this!” “Oh shut up Old Man!” Wang Hao angrily replied as he angrily erased his latest rune.

“You know that not many people can just engrave a f**cking straight line! And you even want me to engrave some curves? You, you must be torturing me!”

“Tsk, just continue following my instructions and you will be fine.” Old Man said as he gave Wang Hao a look of pity. “Even if you suck at arts, with my intellectual teaching skills, you who possess two left hands can make a decent rune!”

“.......” Wang Hao just chose to not say anything as he focused on his matter at hand. Minutes passed by with Wang Hao quietly engraving runes on the ground.

“Hey, that one’s wrong too. Its upper part was more curved compared to the bottom. Erase that rune and engrave it again.”

“F**k!”

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