A Massive Failure

"Finished!" Lin Ke picks his brush off the page and stands back to look at his masterpiece.

Lily, who had been at the side with her nose deep into a manga book, looks up at Lin Ke when she hears his statement. "Oh, you're done?" She says cheerily, pleasantly surprised he was able to get it on his first try.

"Let's see how it went." She said with a happy smile. "It shouldn't be that bad ri-"

Looking down at the work of Lin Ke, Lily freezes. Mechanically, she cranes her neck to look at Lin Ke.

"Lin Ke?" She says in a quiet, strained tone.

"Yeah?" Lin Ke says, with a large smile on his face. He was feeling a deep chill in his bones that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Hehehe." Lily laughs nervously before her expression suddenly becomes one of extreme disgust and disappointment. Looking at Lin Ke with her fiery devil eyes, she began to berate him.

"ARE YOU INSANE? THIS IS FINISHED? THIS? IS? 'FINISHED'?" She points at his work on the table.

"I dunno what you mean… It's not that ba...." Lin Ke's voice trails as he finally takes a good look at his work. The lines that he drew across the white slate were abhorrent at best and were so SO squiggly. "Oooof. That… that is bad…. Very bad.." Lin Ke says in a small voice.

"Yeah… Yeah I'll bet they're bad. You know, those lines are so squiggly that if the cops pulled you over for drunk driving and told you to walk that line, even IF you were drunk, you would still be able to walk it." She said viciously.

"How is this DONE?" REDO IT NOW!" LIly was screaming at the end. "Ahhhh." She clutches her eyes. "I can't look any longer, I might go blind from how bad this rune was drawn, take it away!" She waves her hand and Lin Ke's abysmal, abhorrent monstrosity began to burn.

"Oh may God grant this poor, poor monster safe passage to the underworld where it BELONGS and where it shall ROT for all of eternity. May God use thy holy powers to cleanse my eyes and my memories of this accursed encounter, that my purity shall be forever preserved to bask in the light of thy holiness." Lily prayed with her eyes shut.

Lin Ke looked on at this almost comical display, despite him also wanting to gouge his own eyes out for drawing that rune.

After the fire faded away, a new blank rune appeared on top of the table. Lily was currently in the corner of the room, rinsing her eyes out with a bottle labeled bleach, which Lin Ke highly doubted was bleach.

After taking a deep breath, Lin Ke began to carve again, taking the same steps as last time, but working hard to control his hands, trying to make them stop shaking. He had to regulate his strength to not go too fast, but also not go too slow as he was prone to mistakes if he went fast, and his hands would shake when he went slow.

After around half an hour, Lin Ke finished drawing another Tier 1 Energy Gathering Rune. This one, while slightly better than the last, still caused Lily to set it ablaze. One must know that, even though this rune was "slightly better" than the last, it was still a horrid, disgusting, downright shit product.

For hours and hours, Lin Ke tried and tried to perfect the rune, each time with slight improvements to the line straightness and it's looks, but each time was met with harsh criticism from Lily. It was only after over 20 tries that Lily finally gave a slight, positive inclination.

"Okay. This looks a little more like it now. Time to test it." Lily said. With a wave of her hand, a small device appeared on the table. There was a slot on the device that seemed to be the exact same size as the rune, and that was where Lily plopped the rune.

The moment the rune was inserted, it began to glow with a shimmering white light. On the device a numerical value appeared. The device looked to Lin Ke like an ammeter on Earth, with a digital number on it. Slowly, the zero on the screen began to tick upwards.

It went from zero, to twelve, to twenty-five, to thirty… to thirty... to eighty-five….

Lin Ke looked on, a little confused as to how the measurement worked. It had been stuck at eighty five for a while now…. With a self-satisfied nod, Lin Ke looks on smugly. Judging from how slowly it was going, the highest value was probably a hundred. A eighty five on his first try? That's pretty insane…

Was what he thought. Lily, who had been watching the 'ammeter' with an unreadable expression turned toward Lin Ke ever so slowly. Her eyes had flashed with a hint of surprise before quickly fading away. Staring deeply into the happy face of Lin Ke, she was completely at a loss for words.

"I-" Lily began, holding a paw up. "I don't even know how to start…"

Lin Ke looked at her, not knowing what she meant. "Huh?"

Lily closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Turning away from Lin Ke, she spoke to herself. "Okay… Lily, don't get mad. You can't get mad from an idiot like him. This guy's not worth it. Your fur's going to get all wrinkled if you get mad… Calm down calm down calm down calm down…"

However, the more Lily repeated that to herself, the louder it gets. In the end, she whirled around, grabbed Lin Ke's longish hair, and didn't hold back in the slightest.

"ARE YOU INSANE? WHAT IS THIS SHIT? EIGHTY-FIVE? EIGHTY FREAKING FIVE? IN WHAT WORLD? HAAAAAAA?" Lily screamed straight in Lin Ke's face.

"Owowowowow! Lily, stop! Not my hair! It hurtssss!" Lin Ke yells.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE ENERGY PERCEPTION DEVICE HAS TO BE AT FOR A TIER 1 ENERGY GATHERING RUNE TO BE CONSIDERED FUNCTIONAL? ONE THOUSAND! ONE THOUSAND! YOU GOT EIGHTY FIVE!!!!" As Lily loudly berated Lin Ke, her paws didn't let go of Lin Ke's hair for even a second.

"Ahhh! Please let go Lily! I'm sorry! Lily please, I was wrong! Ahh! Ah! Not there, stop stop stop! I'm going to go bald there if you pull anymore!" Lin Ke attempts to protect his hair, but isn't able to.

After another minute of yelling and hair pulling, Lily finally calmed down a little. However, her expression was still one of pure anger, frustration, and worst yet, disappointment. Seeing Lily's expression, Lin Ke couldn't help but also feel frustrated in himself.

Lily sighs after lying down. "Try again." With a wave, the familiar scene of a new rune appearing once again unfolds.