77 Ash 123
The cold weather made it a situation in which Shuai could only choose to be indoors most of the time which was boring. He preferred the luxury of being able to be out and about. He liked participating in duels. He liked watching duels. He liked going to the store and spending money. He definitely liked feeling the breeze on his face as he took his preferred mode of transport around the city and most of all he liked watching the plebs look up to him in envy. It was the small things. The noble things. And now he had nothing he liked to do.
Actually that was not quite true. There were plenty of things he could do indoors and if he were to be specific about it, plenty of things he could do indoors which did not involve work. So no maths. No cadavers. No politics. A run about the family home perhaps? A punch up with some house guards? Stuffing his face with delicacies? None of that either. As luck would have had it, being stuck indoors allowed Shuai the chance to practice in something he had neglected for so long. Scrivening.
While he may just straighten out all his memory records, as that so called life coach of the nobles would say, that was just something he would do to delay actually doing anything significant or worthwhile with his time with an excuse to pat himself on the back for getting something done. With the idea that what he had to do would be something with a proper goal, something with a significant change to his life, the only other option to scrivening is to improve his own skills with the craft. So what else could there be for him to do. Try to create something new perhaps? Always pushing himself further, that was the way he would make progress just as he did in his martial arts. Surely this is it.
But no. There was one thing he knew for sure he was lacking in as he had realized there was a lack of access to those for whenever he needed them. His talismans. His supply had been completely drained that he needed a refresh but making even just a handful would take him a significant amount of time which is not measured in hours like it would be for any reasonable scrivener, but days! And so it was decided. No new applications. No strengthened talismans. No augments to his magic. He was going to work on his ability to churn out his works quickly. Two times faster might be wishful thinking but even a minor improvement of hours would suffice. "I'm not to be disturbed. My food can be left at the door and make sure there is a new pitcher of water there hourly. Also pay attention to any notes I leave outside for additional items I may need in my work. I believe half a day should be sufficient for you to prepare them from the stores when I need them?" he told a servant. That was how dedicated he was to this new goal.