Attempt after attempt, failure after failure.

  Books and scrolls spread all over the room.

  Blue moonlight spilling through a window.

  A desk lit up by orange candle light.

  Mirrors stuffed into corners reflecting the flickering light and stable moonlight across the room.

  A man hunched over a desk deep in concentration, ink stains on their red and gold robe and even some in their hair.

  The test is tomorrow. Reed reminded himself.

  Yet…

  Reed calmly scribbled several symbols onto the talisman paper.

  He repeated the same thing on another piece of precut paper. By the time he was finished, the ink on the first had dried.

  Reed took the talisman, he put it between his hands and prayed. Yet he was smiling.

  It was fun.

  He had been calm when reading books and scrolls in this unfamiliar world, but this was the first time he had been genuinely enjoying himself.

  Reed didn’t expect much, he had yet to use any of his chaotic energy. He was truly saving it for the last moments, even writing down what specifically he had failed in.

  He ripped the talisman.

  But no blue sparks flew.

  The symbols drawn remained glowing as the paper burned up in blue sparks.

  Then, the symbols disappeared.

  Reed paused, then his smile turned almost maniacal.

  Progress.

  A single step.

  Reed returned to his list of problems and added notes beside several.

  He turned to one of the many books and scrolls haphazardly spread out.

  The problem this time was simple.

  Precision and intent.

  Reed’s hand hadn’t been steady enough. Even Halberd Moon had mentioned how difficult it was for a mortal to learn talisman without reaching the Body Tempering realm.

  The second issue was also simple. Reed had become overly focused on the form and lacked the intent the symbols were meant to contain while making them.

  Ironically, the two problems conflicted.

  To be more precise, Reed would need to focus more on the form. But to have stronger intentions, Reed would need to focus more on imagining what he wanted the talisman to do.

  The entire process also revealed more about qi.

  All qi was living. That's why intentions could affect it. As far as this world was concerned, the brain wasn’t a purely chemical based system, but a housing for Mind Qi.

  The spirit paper was a prison for Spirit Qi. The ink was a container for intent and a conductor of Spirit Qi.

  When the prison was broken, torn in this case, the Spirit Qi flowed through the conductor and followed its intentions.

  Standing up and looking over the room, across the desk filled with materials.

  Reed took a deep breath. It was time.

  He willed a strand of chaotic energy.

  He pooled all his knowledge into pondering what would make his hand more stable with less focus.

  Practice was the obvious answer. But Reed wanted to accelerate that process.

  The first strand of chaotic energy split apart, a piece down each arm.

  Reed felt his arms tremble and shake, before a bone deep throbbing made him breathe in sharply.

  The pain slowly subsided.

  Reed sat back down and picked another piece of blank talisman paper, before beginning.

  Making two more talisman, Reed waited a moment carefully placing his brush down as he released a breath he had been holding.

  Carefully picking up one of the talismans, Reed tore it.

  Sparks of blue light, the paper burning and the symbols remaining for a moment before disappearing.

  “...” Reed squeezed his eyes but tried not to react to a single failure, picking up the next one.

  He tore the talisman. Blue sparks flew about, the text glowed in place for a moment. Reed moved to try again.

  “Arg!” Suddenly, from the glowing text, a violent white light drowned out Reed's vision, causing him to stumble backwards and trip over the desk chair.

  “Huh?” After gaining some composure, Reed looked around and stood up.

  Despite the blinding light, Reed couldn’t take his eyes off the symbols glowing so brightly they became a single mass of light.

  “Hehe… Hahaha… Hahahahaha! YES!”

  Reed shouted out, headless of anyone else in the inn.

  “The master of procrastination is still here!” Reed exclaimed. The same thrill of mastering advanced calculus the night before the exam washed over him. Now he just needed to review and perfect with a few more questions.

  Reed touched the blob of light, waving his hand through it and causing it to fade into a glowing mist which quickly dispersed, plunging the room back into darkness.

  He didn’t even give his eyes time to adjust back to the dark.

  Fire. Pyro. Orb. Ball.

  Reed tried the thing he had wanted to do ever since stumbling across magic. He wanted to make a fireball.

  One attempt, two attempts.

  Reed didn’t even bother cutting the spirit paper when he ran out of precut talisman paper.

  He used a whole page, virtually abandoning form as his imagination took over.

  It failed.

  So Reed used 2 strands of chaotic energy.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  His arms and chest felt tight, before aching.

  Reed felt his whole body tremble, but before the effects even ended, he was already dragging the thin brush across the page.

  It failed.

  Two more strands. Except both went up to his brain, before tracing down his spine and spreading across his arms and legs.

  Another attempt.

  The blue moonlight was drowned out by a sudden orange glow.

  Reed shuffled from one foot to another, practically dancing around the orb of fire that had appeared floating in the room's centre.

  He held a page of ordinary paper up to it, watching it catch fire and suppressing a laugh as best he could, letting it come out like squeaking as he felt the warmth of the fire on his face.

  The orb of flames disappeared after a few more moments, but Reed had already returned to his desk, trying something new.

  There were failures.

  Plenty of failures.

  However, each failure just meant he needed to reinforce his current knowledge.

  No. It just meant he had to use chaotic energy to allow his body to follow his mind.

  He already knew what he needed to know.

  ??????????????

  Knock. Knock.

  “Urgg…” Reed groaned as he pulled his face out of the ink tray.

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  “One moment!” Reed called out.

  There was a basin of water in one corner that someone would knock on the door and replace each night.

  Reed used the provided towel to get all the ink off. Fortunately it didn’t stick to the skin that well, but there were still some marks and splotches of darkened hair.

  Reed opened the door and immediately widened his eyes and clutched his heart, nearly stumbling.

  “Dusty Sword from the town lord's manor.” The armoured soldier introduced himself.

  “For the test right?” Reed asked.

  “Yes, sir.” Dusty Sword bowed, cupping one hand in his fist.

  Patting his heart, Reed took a deep breath.

  “I see. Have I lost track of time? Am I late?” Reed asked.

  “No sir. I’m just checking if you're still here. There have been cases of people getting cold feet and running away. The lord doesn’t wish to waste their and others' time.” Dusty Sword looked past Reed and into the book covered room and ink stained desk. “It seems it was an unnecessary worry though. My apologies if I disturbed you sir.” He bowed to Reed again.

  “It’s no problem. It's actually good since I stayed up too late last night.” Reed spoke, looking outside where the sun was high in the sky. He then looked at his ink stained clothes.

  “Hmmm. Should I come over after getting some new clothes?” He asked.

  “Yes. If you need to wait for clothes to get fitted then it should be about right if you come over when they're done.”

  Reed nodded. “Then I’ll look forward to it.”

  Dusty Sword bowed and left.

  “...”

  Reed closed the door.

  “Pheeeewww….” he had thought he was about to be arrested for something. He had definitely done a few shady things.

  After calming his racing heart down, Reed went back to the water basin and continued getting as many of the stains out of his hair as he could and roughly scrubbing his inner clothes which had started to gather a slight smell.

  After preparing himself slightly and using one of the mirrors lying around to check himself, Reed went out, heading for the Great Pond Tailor.

  ??????????????

  “Welcome back— Red Heaven!”

  “...Red Haven.” Reed responded after a moment, noting Violet Stich working on something on the side while Green Pond was carrying a box of threads around.

  “Eh? Ah! My apologies sir. There's someone named Red Heaven taking the certification exam to become a talisman master today. I mixed the names up.” Green pond quickly bowed and apologised.

  Reed saw the gold embroidered black and white scholar robe Violet Stitch had been working on a few days ago. “I don’t suppose I can buy those robes today?” Reed asked, noting there were no other gold embroidered clothes already made.

  “Ah! Yes. Of course it's for sale. It shouldn't take too long to fit either!” Green pond answered.

  “Then, how much?”

  “80 silver.”

  Reed nodded, taking out his bag of silver coins and counting out 80 he placed on the bench.

  “Great. It shouldn’t take too long. If you don’t mind, how about just waiting a bit for it to be done?”

  “Sure.” Reed responded, not having much to do. He could practice more, but his arms were sore after practicing until exhaustion and using chaotic energy to do… Something, to them, last night.

  “...”

  The room went quiet as Reed sat down on a chair Green Pond pulled out.

  “..So… Where did you hear about the talisman certification today?” Reed asked.

  “Well. One of our customers was talking about it. Their brother is a town official working in the lord’s mansion.” Green Pond responded while using some pins and needles on the black and white scholar robes.

  “Where did you hear about it, sir?”

  “...I mean. I’m taking the certification test today.”

  “Eh? You’re the one taking the certification?” Green Pond asked, turning around to face Reed.

  “There's been a lot of confusion about my name. I’m not sure how it became Red Heaven.”

  “Wow! So you're a talisman master? I thought you were the same age as me.”

  “...I’m nineteen.”

  “Eh? Seriously?” Green Pond looked at Reed wide eyed.

  “Is there something wrong?”

  Green Pond shook her head. “No, no, sir. But just when you first came here you seemed very different. It's hard to believe you’re a talisman master. All the ones I’ve met have been old men.”

  “I’m not a talisman maker yet.” Reed reminded her.

  “But you must be confident! Unlike civil examinations the consequences for title examinations are at the lord's whim.”

  “Seriously?” Reed asked. “What are the consequences for the civil examination?”

  “10 silver, but only if you want to try again. If you fail and never try again, there's none.”

  “...I see. What about the consequences for title exams?” Reed asked.

  “Depends on the lord. The previous lord apparently had people executed if they failed. So nobody has tried since then. Except his relatives. His son failed and the judge, Dark Quill, got their hands mutilated.”

  “...” Reed had already heard the previous lord was a tyrant. But he still didn’t know much about the current lord.

  “What about the current lord?” Reed asked, his heartbeat quickening.

  “Well. Having people pass the title exams usually means the lord gets commended for taking good care of the town. So I don’t think the punishment will be too harsh. Probably some money for wasting their time?”

  “...” Reed thought it over.

  “How much money?”

  “Uh… I don’t know… Maybe Miss would know.” Green Pond looked at Violet Stitch.

  “10 gold.” The person in question responded without turning from the dress she was working on.

  “I see… Thank you.” Reed thanked her. Unfortunately, he didn’t have 10 gold on himself right now but checking his chaotic energy, he still had 3 strands of chaotic energy left. He couldn’t help smiling.

  His theory had been right. Compared to the first two times he used chaotic energy and he only got a few words, by massively increasing his knowledge of the subject beforehand, he had gotten far, far more of the chaotic energy he had used.

  If he failed, he could get ten gold by giving 5 mirrors to Halberd Moon. Now that it had been a few days and he had previously claimed to have found more artisans to help, he could sell quite a few more without Halberd Moon thinking the hundred day timeline was made up.

  ??????????????

  In the Town Lord’s Mansion, Lord Still Current looked over the report.

  He frowned at the contents. Or lack thereof.

  Red Heaven, Red Haven.

  The person appeared out of nowhere.

  There were no records of his entry into the town.

  No birth certificates with that name.

  Not even the administrators who take care of the gates, who boast about their perfect memory could recall his face, so it was unlikely he just came in under a different name.

  His earliest sighting was by the ruined blacksmith, Muddy Swan, who spent all day idly over an empty forge in the ruined part of town. But even when tempted with gold, they claimed to know nothing.

  “Hmmm… It seems rather lacking. No?” Still Current asked.

  “My apologies, my lord. We tried our best.” Golden Feather, the captain of his guards apologised.

  “Do you at least know why Green Ink recommended him for the first rank talisman master examination?”

  “After questioning the clerk from the Blue Quilin Paper Shop. It seems the owner, White Silver, didn't believe Red Heaven knew anything about talisman arts and tried to get him to admit otherwise. However, Red Heaven doubled down and insisted he just hadn’t gotten the title officially. Then, Green Ink entered with the Mangrove family's young miss. He was quite interested in having another talisman master in town and offered to recommend him for the examination since Red Heaven insisted he understood talisman.” Golden Feather recounted what happened.

  “So White Silver was in a bad mood and was trying to put someone in place. Then Green Ink entered unaware and thought they found a friend?” Still Current summarised.

  “More or less.”

  “Hmm… So does Red Heaven actually know anything about talisman?”

  “According to my investigation? Not a single thing.”

  “So I shouldn’t waste my time?”

  “In my opinion, we should be lenient this time so that we can remove the previous lord's stain on the town.”

  “Well, we’ll see this afternoon then.” Still Current said, putting away the documents and returning to the reports submitted from different officials around town.

  “Understood. About the East entrance, my investigation revealed…”