“Huh.. Hugh?” Reed woke up, blinky rapidly as he sat up, some books falling off the bed. After looking around for a few moments, he settled down, remembering where he was and what he had stayed up half the night doing.

  Shaking off the groginess and neatly placing the books and scrolls back on the table and desk, Reed went downstairs for food.

  “Evening, Red Haven.” The waiter greeted.

  “Is it evening already?” Reed asked, seeing the past lunch crowd beginning to enter the inn.

  “Yes. Would you still like the special as usual?”

  “Yes.” Reed didn’t particularly like any of the food here, the special at least changed every night.

  As he waited for his meal at a seat in the corner, Reed mulled over the previous night.

  It was impossible to master an ancient language in a few days. It was also impossible to master the calligraphy he quickly realised he would need to make a talisman.

  Under normal circumstances that was.

  It took 16 strands of chaotic energy to understand a new language, speak a new language and read a new language. It took 8 more to completely master speaking the language.

  Being able to read the language here more or less meant that Reed could write it. However he quickly realised he had terrible calligraphy. It was why he was practicing so hard before using the cheaper, ordinary paper and ink.

  With 10 strands of chaotic energy at his disposal and 4 more by the day he took the test. If Reed’s theory was right, then how much he could get out of those 10 strands was based on how much he already knew in addition to having a fixed worth.

  Step 1, Reed needed to test the difficulty of talisman crafting for real. He had spent last night only reading and thinking, today was the time to test it out.

  “Hey, did you hear? Someone named Red Heaven is going to try for the talisman master title?”

  “Yeah. My uncle made a delivery to the town lord's mansion and overheard some of the servants talking. How did you hear about it?”

  “I’m friends with one of the new guards, Dusty sword. He talked about it when we were drinking together last night.”

  Reed froze.

  People knew?

  Cold sweat went down his back.

  “Hey, isn’t there a guy named Red Haven staying here?” One of the two who had been chatting asked.

  Reed finished his meal and exhaled deeply.

  He looked up to where his room was.

  So the whole town is going to know about this?

  Reed gave a small, hollow laugh as he brushed his hair out of the way.

  His gaze hardened and he pushed himself up from the table.

  People already knew about the test. There was no going back.

  It was time to try his hand.

  Reed closed his room door, cleared the desk and set up the spirit paper, the special ink and the brushes, setting up one of the books.

  Dipping a thin brush in ink and bringing it to the precut talisman paper.

  Glow. Luminescant.

  Reed wrote the two words, a total of three intricate characters from the primordial language.

  Reed put the brush and let the ink dry for a moment before picking up the ‘talisman’.

  Grasping the paper tightly between two hands, Reed tore it.

  Like the first time he had tried to tear the paper, there were blue sparks, the three characters lit up briefly, before turning black once more.

  After the blue sparks, nothing further happened.

  “...” Reed hadn’t expected much, but he was a little lost.

  He wondered if he was missing some crucial step even an amature would know.

  Unfortunately, the books and scrolls Reed had were only on language and arrays, not talisman.

  Reed was about to use a strand of chaotic energy to work out why it didn’t work.

  At the last moment though, Reed realised he had another source of information.

  Halberd Moon.

  Looking into space, Reed thought it over, he had met Halberd Moon yesterday. He could randomly try meeting with them and hope they entertained him out of goodwill… Or. He could bring more mirrors, but he had already said it would take about a day per mirror. Was he going to deliver one mirror every day?

  Looking at the prepared Mirrors in the corner, Reed thought.

  Like lightning Reed suddenly had an idea and picked up some of the mirrors. He held it tightly and tried to slightly flex it. On another mirror he scratched it slightly with his nail.

  Silver was a soft material that deformed easily. While it might be fine for something not touched too much like a mirror, it wouldn’t be used for anything worn outside.

  The glass was brittle and stiff, so it couldn't flex much, but that was fine. Reed focused on making some small imperfections on a handful of mirrors before packing them all into a bag, with two unblemished mirrors.

  ??????????????

  “Hmm. We only met yesterday? Are you planning on delivering mirrors every day?” Halberd Moon asked from across the table, holding his head with one hand while the other idly swirled tea.

  Reed observed them. They weren’t visibly displeased, but the wording made it sound like there was at least a bit of irritation. Or perhaps they were just bored.

  Right now, the two were once again on the top floor of the Cloud Feather Inn.

  “No, no. Don’t worry. I’ll deliver them in groups of about twenty. However you didn’t seem like you wanted to wait over 3 months to make all the mirrors, so we went around to find some other artisans to speed up the process.” Reed explained.

  “Oh?” Halberd Moon perked up, no longer resting his head against one hand.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “I came to show you the results, since I wasn’t sure exactly how precise you needed the mirrors.”

  “Then, let's see them.”

  Reed nodded, pulling out six mirrors from his bag and laying them out.

  “Hmm… This one's been scratched?” Halberd Moon picked up the mirror Reed scratched with his fingernails.

  “The artisan had some trouble with the glasswork, so there's a few nicks and bumps in that one. Since you said it was for a formation rather than luxury, I thought it may still be usable.”

  “Hmm…” Halberd Moon put a hand to his chin, staring at the scratches. “Scratches in the glass… Should be fine.” He eventually spoke.

  “However.” Halberd Moon picked up another mirror, one I had slightly deformed. “These ones aren't usable. The light needs to be precisely focused.”

  “I understand.” Reed nodded.

  Halberd Moon continued inspecting the other mirrors.

  “These 4 are usable, the other 2 are worthless… Or rather, they're no better than the flat mirrors I bought from you at first. I require uniformity above all else.” He explained.

  “I see, I’ll let those artisans know. Is it still 2 gold per piece?”

  Halberd nodded. “These two are good, however these 2 with nicks and scratches I’ll only pay 1 gold for.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic either way.”

  A waitress soon appeared, placing tray after tray of dishes on the table between Reed and Halberd Moon.

  Getting a free meal, Reed was glad he came so close to dinner time.

  “Hmm… I heard you are taking a test to become a talisman master soon?” Halberd Moon started some conversation as they ate.

  “Ah, you heard… Well, as you know, I come from a family of mechanism specialists. So I’ve been very interested in arrays and formations.”

  “I see. I still have that blueprint for the hidden bookshelf mechanism.” Halberd Moon nodded along.

  “Unfortunately, I’ve been encountering some difficulties since I can’t find much on talisman arts, only arrays and language.” Reed shared his problem.

  “I see. I suppose that makes sense. In a backwater province like this even basic talisman knowledge is probably considered a minor treasure.”

  Backwater… Reed fixated on the meaning.

  So, from your perspective, this is a small town in a backwater province? Reed thought, not showing anything on his face, aided by his apparent facial paralysis.

  “You should move closer to the Empire's capital then. Any decent scroll depository or library in the inner provinces should have a few items on the basic talisman.”

  “I plan to move inward eventually. I suppose I should go just after taking the test?”

  “...No… I would advise cultivating the Body Tempering realm first. Otherwise you’ll be easy prey when you go to any decently sized city.”

  “Easy prey?” Reed asked. They were getting a bit off topic, but he felt this might be something he needed to know.

  “Your family really is isolated. In a small town like this…”

  Small? Reed’s eye twitched slightly.

  “...most people haven't cultivated at all or are at various stages of the Qi-Blood realm. You can tell by the town lord only being at the lowest stage of the Meridian Opening realm. Even the steward of the Mangrove estate here is stronger than them.” Halberd Moon began.

  “In the cities. It's a bit different. It's easier to hide and disappear, hard to find someone who hasn’t at least cultivated a bit of qi in their blood. While most still aren’t active or wealthy enough to reach Body Tempering, there's plenty of criminals at that level. Unlike here, where reaching the body tempering realm guarantees a relatively easy life if you follow the rules.”

  “I see. So I have to add cultivating to the agenda…” Reed responded, taking a few bites of the dish.

  “I’m surprised you haven't already started considering you're already charging into a talisman test. Normally you’d at least reach body tempering before trying to do those strokes. Otherwise it could take years of practice to have such fine control over your arm and wrist.”

  “It was a bit sudden, so I resolved to become a talisman master in 4 days or less.”

  “I see. So you're really trying to master talismans in only a few days… You're even more insane than I am.” Halberd Moon raised a cup. Reed raised his tea cup in turn and following along with Halberd Moon’s actions, they both took a sip at the same time.

  “By saying that. Are you saying it's impossible?” Reed asked.

  “I don’t dare say it's impossible. The town lord here can only give you the lowest rank of a talisman master, so the test won’t be too difficult. However I wouldn’t attempt it without at least a few months of preparation.”

  “I don’t suppose you have any advice for someone making only a few days?”

  “Haha… Well, since mortal hidden mechanisms can be quite valuable against higher level cultivators. I’ll trade you for your hidden door blueprint.” Halberd Moon pulled out a book from his spatial pouch.

  Reed restrained his smile as he took the book carefully. ‘108 Talisman’ was the title.

  “I’ve already memorised everything in here. It's essentially a guide for adventures on identifying different kinds of talisman.”

  “...Thank you.” Reed bowed despite being at the table.

  “Haha. It's of no use anymore. Otherwise, a new branch manager for the Jade Merchantry arrived today, so you can ask tomorrow if they're open by then.”

  Reed nodded before engaging Halberd Moon in some light conversation about various things while they ate, before returning to Middle Bridge Inn after eating.

  ??????????????

  Reed spent the rest of the night continuing his studies and making multiple attempts.

  The results were much the same as his first.

  The urge to get an answer using a bit of chaotic energy hit like a truck.

  Reed almost pulled his hair out.

  “Not yet.” He told himself.

  Short term losses for long term gains.

  He exhaled deeply, loosening his grip on his hair.

  He was definitely missing something.

  But he hadn’t yet exhausted all sources of knowledge, there was still the Jade Merchantry.

  For now, the insights provided by ‘108 Talisman’ were very helpful and implied he needed more than just the words with his intent of purpose, but also some supporting symbols that were specifically used for talisman, which were different from directly drawing arrays with the so called qi.

  It was no wonder he was failing with just a book on arrays and another on primordial language.

  …

  The next day, as Halberd Moon had said, the Jade Merchantry was no longer surrounded by soldiers, with people coming and going as the first time he had seen it.

  Reed took a few deep breaths and checked his pockets. He had 8 gold coins left.

  He could make more things to sell, but the consequences for failing the town lords test were still unclear.

  Reed strode forward into the ornate building with its glazed yellow shingles.

  Entering, there were still clerks in uniform spread around a counter that followed three of the hall's walls.

  Reed spotted a familiar gold trimmed clerk and strode forward.

  “Ah. Welcome back, Red Heaven.” The clerk greeted Reed with a stiff smile while bowing and cupping his fist.

  “It's Red Haven.” Reed responded.

  “Ah. My apologies, sir.”

  Reed glared at the clerk who caused all the mixups between Red Heaven and Red Haven. He kept getting strange stares when people called him Red Heaven. It was slip of the tongue and Reed had already guessed the word ‘Heaven’ held great significance.

  “I’m looking for any information about the art of talisman crafting or arrays.” Reed spoke confidently as he could.

  “Ah, yes. I’ll just check our stock sir, one moment.” The clerk bowed again and disappeared through one of the doors behind the counter.

  “...” Reed waited. Some time passed.

  A little more time passed.

  A lot more time passed and Reed was tapping his finger against the counter. A voice nagged him to ask one of the other clerks, but he convinced himself to wait just a bit longer.

  “I apologise for the wait, sir, there was a small incident with some of the new staff in the back.” The gold trimmed clerk finally returned, carrying several items and a stack of paper.

  “Here are some items I personally selected for you, and here are item forms for all the items we have in stock related to talisman and formations.”

  Reed held his tongue, wondering if the apparent status he was displaying was making him more arrogant. He picked up the first item the clerk had brought out.

  A book labeled ‘Talisman Formula Collection.’

  There was also a scroll labeled notes from a 2nd level talisman master and another from an array master.

  Reed browsed the stack of paper, each a form detailing a different item.

  After browsing the list, Reed agreed the clerk had brought out the best items. They were at least quite good with customers despite Reed’s personal opinion on their character.

  “How much for all of these items you brought?” Reed asked.

  “7 gold and 14 silver sir. But for such a purpose, we can round it to 7 gold.” The clerk responded.

  “...” Reed exhaled deeply, but ultimately pulled out 7 gold coins. Money was made to be spent on more useful things after all. He even had 1 gold coin leftover and over a hundred silver, so he wasn’t exactly broke.

  “It's a pleasure doing business with you sir.” The clerk bowed with a beaming smile.

  Reed returned a comparatively stiff smile as he left. “Same here.” He responded, feeling he just got scammed.