I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Lu Yuan did not deny it.

Buren's expression changed from casual to shocked.

He slammed the notebook on the table and leaned forward.

Then it dawned on me.

"Did you run into some dwarfs? They're knocking on your door, just like those street vendors, grabbing you and trying to give you directions?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

Beren stared at Lu Yuan for several seconds.

I'm sure I wasn't joking.

Then he turned and glanced at Kale next to him.

There was a two-second silence.

"You've been following me for so long, and you still haven't mastered the basics."

Kai'er paused for a moment, holding her tools. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, shrinking back helplessly.

Beren looked away, his tone returning to normal.

"That's how it is. When I advanced, it was also a dwarf who notified me."

He paused for a moment.

"By the way, did the dwarf give you the stone tablet? I can help you take a look."

Lu Yuan took out the palm-sized stone slab from his pocket.

Buren took it and glanced down at it.

Four symbols.

The old man's expression froze.

Beren stood up, leaning on his cane, and held up the stone slab, circling Lu Yuan twice.

"Really... Aren't you supposed to have extraordinary knowledge pathways? How can you possibly have four paths?"

He stopped, stared at the four symbols on the stone slab, and then looked at Lu Yuan.

"I only had two back then."

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What does this have to do with?"

"Aura." Beren tapped the surface of the stone slab with his fingernail.

"The number of directions depends on the complexity of your aura; the more complex it is, the more directions it can match. Four... indicates that your aura has a rich variety of dimensions."

He lowered his voice.

"Actually, it's not quite normal."

Lu Yuan didn't reply.

Buren looked at him for a few seconds, didn't ask any further questions, and sighed.

"Alright. You've helped me a lot. If it weren't for you guys, I probably wouldn't have made it back from that pipeline trip. Let me analyze it for you now."

He turned to look at Kale.

"You can go out now."

Kai looked aggrieved.

"Teacher, I—"

"go out."

Kai'er stood up, dusted off her knees, and walked away, turning back to look at herself every step of the way.

After the door closed, Buren continued speaking.

"Although inscription is not your main path, a certain degree of secrecy is still necessary. The Empire has a registration system for extraordinary individuals. If you want to go public anytime, you can register with the Night Watch, and then it won't matter. But before you register, the fewer people who know, the less trouble there will be."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Let's talk about the dwarves first."

Buren placed the slate on the table and leaned back in his chair.

"The four options the dwarf gave you were all based on your aura. The fact that they appeared on the stone slab means you're suitable for all of them. There's no problem with that; the dwarf wouldn't tamper with the options."

"But the recommendation process is different."

Buren made a gesture.

The direction he recommends for you may not be the best fit for you, but rather the best fit for him.

"If you choose the direction he recommends, it's equivalent to 'he guiding you into the field.' In the rules of the dwarves, guiding an outsider into the field can earn a considerable reward."

"Moreover, the one he recommends is most likely his own area of ​​expertise. The dwarves are too few in number, and the transmission of skills is their lifeline. The more foreign apprentices there are, the more insurance they have."

Lu Yuan recalled the tone of Dol Hawke's recommendation.

Indeed, they said a lot of nice things.

"Which one would you recommend, dwarf?" Buren asked.

"Weapon inscription literature, and ancient inscription literature."

Buren chuckled.

"Weapon inscription is probably his own area of ​​expertise. As for ancient inscription... he probably just mentioned it incidentally to make himself seem impartial."

He paused for a moment.

"Speaking of direction, I myself am pursuing ancient large-scale inscription literature."

"It's the most orthodox and also the most difficult direction in inscription studies. Of course, many people choose this path, such as large-scale inscription formations and city defense seals."

"I'm still at the peak of the second tier, stuck on the threshold of the third tier, and I estimate it will be a long way off."

Buren's tone was flat.

"I was transferred to Bronze City partly because of the Night's Watch, and partly because of the city walls. The system and structure of those runes are helpful for my research on ancient large-scale inscriptions. Just the fine patterns on the surface of the city walls alone are enough for me to study for a long time."

"Unexpectedly, when we went down into the pipeline, we discovered that what was on the city wall was just the tip of the iceberg. The real heart was underground."

Buren glanced down.

"If we can thoroughly study the inscriptions on those bronze pillars, reaching the third rank is not impossible. Reaching the third rank is what makes one a true master of inscription."

"However, the Empire has very few ancient large-scale inscription masters. On the contrary, there are quite a few third-tier masters of other inscription methods."

After he finished speaking, he patted the stone slab on the table.

"Alright, you can talk to me now."

"I'll explain the four directions one by one."

Buren picked up his cane and used the end of the cane to mark the first symbol.

"Weapon inscription. I suggest you remove it directly."

"Your combat prowess is undeniable, but you're destined not to put much effort into inscription. You have your own main path, and inscription is just something you learn incidentally."

"The watershed moment for weapon inscription is at the fourth tier. The third tier is already difficult enough for many people, let alone the fourth tier. You won't be focusing your main efforts on that."

"Moreover, with your skills and achievements, earning enough points to hire a Tier 3 weapon inscription master to customize a weapon for you through the Night Watchers is not difficult at all."

Buren shrugged.

"For you, it's more cost-effective to do it yourself or hire someone to do it. Unless you want to play with siege weapons—that level of Tier 3 weapon inscription master is the truly powerful one. But you're clearly not going for that."

Lu Yuan did not object.

The end of the cane is moved to the second symbol.

"Large-scale inscriptions".

"There's nothing wrong with this direction itself. The formations on the city walls, the defensive structures, and the large seals all belong to this path."

"But the problem is that when large-scale inscriptions delve deeper, they will inevitably encounter the realm of ancient large-scale inscriptions. That's the path I'm taking."

He glanced at Lu Yuan.

"The ancient large-scale inscriptions contain a curse of knowledge. Did the dwarves tell you?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

"That's good, I won't repeat myself. In short, I'm fine on this path because I've always focused on inscription. But you're different. You have your own path of knowledge."

"Once you enter the Great Inscription realm, things are fine in the early stages. But once you reach the boundary of the Ancient Great Inscription realm, the Curse of Knowledge will lock down your progress in other directions. All your experience, insights, and accumulations will be forcibly directed towards Inscription itself."

"The taboo has been locked away."

"This isn't a question of whether to choose or not. It's a question of how deeply you go. You can dabble in it, but that's no different from not choosing at all."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a while.

"Understood."

The end of the cane moved to the third symbol and stopped.

He didn't speak immediately.

"Ancient Inscription Literature".

Beren hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.

"The dwarf told you this thing is 'lost, nobody knows what it can do,' right?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

His exact words were "it's gone."

Buren shook his head.

"When the dwarves say it's 'lost,' they're referring to their perspective; it's truly no longer in their system of inheritance. But it's different here in the Empire."

"The Night Watch has conducted internal surveys and found that the ancient inscription materials left by our ancestors, though scattered, are enough to support us up to the third tier. The Empire currently has several third-tier ancient inscription masters, and that's all thanks to these accumulated materials."

"However, the Empire currently has no fourth-tier ancient inscription masters. The existing third-tier ancient inscription masters mainly focus their energy on studying the Empire's historical relics."

"The unique characteristics of ancient inscription literature,"

Buren considered his words.

"It can engrave inscriptions on carriers with high knowledge density."

"What do you mean?"

"Ordinary inscriptions are carved on metal, stone, and leather. But ancient inscriptions can be carved on...something more special. A mysterious spiritual core, a knowledge-based creation, a layer of knowledge structure in ancient relics."

"The effect is more focused on sealing and suppression."

Something flashed through Lu Yuan's mind.

The core of the spirit.

In the sampling bottle at the bottom of the toolbox, there was a crystallized consciousness, a mixture of gray-green and dark gold.

Does that count?

He didn't ask.

Buren continued.

"The bronze pillars beneath the Bronze City are among the most recently discovered ancient relics. If you choose this path, you can bind them for research."

"But there is a price to pay."

"First, it consumes a lot of time. Second, you can't leave Bronze City for a while. Studying ancient inscriptions requires repeated handling of the physical objects; it's not something you can just take a look at and leave."

Lu Yuan kept this condition in mind.

We cannot leave Bronze City.

This is a significant limitation.

The end of the cane finally moved to the last symbol.

Then he fell silent.

It took longer than the previous one.

"Are these two very rare?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Ancient inscription literature is rare, but it's alright; there are people in the empire who are doing it."

Buren looked a little embarrassed.

"This weird inscription... how should I put it... it's not even considered orthodox inscription. It's a branch within a branch of the Imperial inscription system."

"This type mainly uses bizarre body materials, or even living bizarre ones, to engrave inscriptions and achieve a chain reaction effect on a small or very large scale."

"But you know, the supernatural is inherently polluting. Not only are the dead materials difficult to handle, but a single one doesn't form a coherent system, and you can't handle multiple ones."

"Let alone the living ones. Even a third-order knowledge transcendent would have a hard time dealing with a living monster on their own."

"Third-tier cultivators certainly have the strength, but they are pillars of the empire. How much time would they have left to study bizarre inscriptions?"

"So now, the Empire's strange inscription masters basically make a living by making small amulets and ornaments."

Buren paused at this point.

Lu Yuan thought he was going to say, "So I don't recommend it."

But Burren did not.

The old man remained silent for a few seconds.

"But I believe you have the option to choose."

Lu Yuan looked at him.

Buren's tone became serious.

"I noticed your aura in the pipeline. It's very 'dark,' and highly concentrated. The dwarf probably smelled it too. The fact that eerie inscriptions appeared among the four options he gave you indicates that your aura has some kind of affinity with the eerie."

"What is the biggest hurdle in the study of bizarre inscriptions? It's that the materials can backfire. When ordinary inscriptionists encounter bizarre materials, they get corrupted halfway through the inscription process."

"But if your own aura is compatible with the eerie, the rejection reaction will be greatly reduced."