Ring. Ring.
The copper bells hanging beneath the eaves at each corner of the courtyard's side hall rang from time to time.
The Ancient One drew the final line, considered it, and added a dot. Beside it, she wrote something in tiny, meticulous Chinese characters.
At last, she finished. She rolled up the long hide scroll covered in symbols and diagrams, tied it securely with a cord, and set it carefully on the table.
James Howlett wore an indigo sorcerer's robe and carried a dark, blue-black case more than half a meter long. He strode into the side hall where he often drank tea with the Ancient One.
"You've found your own path, one unlike anything before. I don't know what it will look like when you truly complete it. The sorcerer who tried to reverse-engineer the Mystic Arts several hundred years ago made many mistakes, and his talent was limited."
The Ancient One lifted the thick scroll with both hands and laid it in front of James. Her voice was as calm and ethereal as ever, barely sounding human.
"I've organized and reverse-engineered all the Mystic Arts of Kamar-Taj, then redrawn their spell nodes. These things aren't useful to sorcerers; the Mystic Arts don't require them. It won't matter if others see them, so I'll give them to you. Perhaps they'll be of some help."
The Ancient One spoke as if it were a trivial matter, then casually picked up her teacup and took a slow sip.
James's expression shifted slightly. He gently unrolled one corner of the scroll.
It contained not only the Ancient One's detailed reverse-engineering research into the Mystic Arts, but also her explanations and conjectures. She'd even speculated about the formations of specific spells and the effects they might have on the body.
"Ancient One,