From afternoon to evening, Kevin struggled with the Twisted Script, trying everything he could think of to get it working. However, no amount of measuring, pre-planning, or pattern memorization was enough to get the damn thing working.

  While the Qi drain continued to grow at a slow, steady pace, whatever effect it produced ruined everything he tried.

  Now, long after dusk and nearing the time he needed to be in bed, Kevin cut one last flag to try. While exhausted after the long day, he was stubbornly determined not to admit it was over yet.

  However, despite that determination, he couldn’t think of a single new thing to try. Nor did he have enough energy left to make more than a token attempt. Still unwilling to call it quits, Kevin focused on the empty flag, bringing the now-memorized pattern to mind.

  The first key character was simple to identify; it didn’t change between attempts, and he’d long determined which one felt correct. With the ease of long practice, Kevin drew it to perfection, then continued adding details around it.

  The second part, he was less sure about. Most times, he struggled to pick up on the elusive ‘right time’ to move on to another area, which was further complicated by an urge to not leave anything unfished.

  This time, he was too tired to care. When the urge struck, Kevin shifted his attention to the next area, leaving behind half-finished characters and lines. The second key spot was also easy to find, as he always got at least that far.

  However, it was about two-thirds of the way across the flag in empty space. If he was even a few inches off when he started drawing, he could mess up the entire flag layout.

  Still, he usually got the second location right after so many attempts, even if he didn’t measure it. Half-confident, half uncaring, Kevin shifted his hand across the flag and began drawing at his best guess for the placement.

  Again, he filled out a little area around the key point before moving on to the third location. With no new ideas, he simply jumped to the next key point and continued drawing.

  From point to point, he moved, expecting to run out of room at any moment. At his best, he’d managed five sections before noticing an issue before, and that was using every trick he could think of.

  His last attempt used neither tricks nor measurements, yet Kevin soon filled out the sixth key area without missing a beat. For a long moment, he stared at the results in bemusement before the reality of the situation worked its way through his tired mind.

  With a gasp of excitement, Kevin moved on, feeling for the seventh key spot. Insight tingled on the edge of his conscious thought, and he had to struggle not to depart from the zoned-out way he’d been following the Twisted Script style.

  As he found the spot, Kevin paused again, doubt and hope filling him. The new location was right between two he’d already filled out and would either fit or spill out and ruin the flag.

  There was only one way to find out which it would be. With a deep breath, Kevin sank back into calm focus as he began filling out details. Characters and art flowed from his brush, connecting one by one with the half-finished details already in place.

  By the time he was done, Kevin could barely believe his eyes. The seventh section filled the existing opening with perfection. Not only did every new detail fit within the available space, but every connection to a partially finished detail also fit.

  Disbelief shattered his focus for a moment as he pulled over the design and began measuring distances. It had to be off somewhere; it wasn’t possible to judge that kind of spacing with the naked eye.

  He had to have fudged things when he worked on the unfinished sections, leaving a little extra space or scrunching things in too far. Yet every spot he checked was accurate within a few fractions of an inch, as good as anything he’d produced before.

  It had to be the Twisted Script style working at last, yet even that felt insufficient to explain it. Listening to his instincts couldn’t be enough to explain this. There had to be more going on behind the scenes.

  The style had to be guiding his subconsciousness somehow or even warping the cloth’s space to make everything line up. That would explain the Qi drain and…

  Kevin threw his head back in laughter as the whole truth hit him. All day, he’d been trying so hard to make logical sense of it, putting all sorts of sensible measures in place.

  And every single thing he’d tried had been pointless. No, less than pointless; they’d been actual obstructions. What use was pre-measuring or trying to plan things out if the flag itself was warping as he worked?

  For several minutes, he sat there, torn between joy and annoyance. He’d spent so long going down the wrong path, but at least he’d made it there. Hell, for all he knew, all that struggle had been needed to get in the right frame of mind.

  Worrying about lost time was useless in the end, so he put his feelings aside. After taking another minute to calm down and regain his focus, he returned his attention to the flag and moved on to the next key point.

  His brush shifted around the page as Kevin filled in the remaining sections one after another, each fitting with near perfection. Then it was done; the first flag of a new formation was sitting completely in front of him.

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  Still half-disbelieving the outcome, Kevin reviewed the finished product again, trying to locate any hidden flaws. Yet there were none to find, or at least none worse than his work from last week.

  There would always be a few minute issues, but none required redoing the flag. With a deep sigh of relief, Kevin set his tools aside and relaxed back into his chair.

  He’d done it. The Twisted Script style was ready in time to work on his actual projects for the week.

  Kevin rolled out of bed Friday morning with renewed hope. With the entire morning free, he was eager to see what his new brushwork style could achieve.

  The night before, he’d finished in so many disjointed steps it was difficult to know what kind of speed he could expect from the Twisted Script. His first goal for the day was to find out.

  A large part of him still felt like an idiot for how long it had taken him to realize what was going on. Looking back, the constant failures of his measurement attempts should have clued him in to what was happening.

  Yet he’d still pushed forward, trying to find a logical solution. It wasn’t the first time he’d had that problem either; parts of his work on his Sealed Land had the same issue.

  Even after months in cultivation land, he still struggled with the more mystical side. Most of the more obvious supernatural effects weren’t too difficult to understand. It was the more subtle ones that gave him trouble as their principles were more instinctive or even spiritual.

  After a few more minutes of consideration, Kevin accepted the situation and moved on. It was a flaw he needed to keep in mind for the future, but not one he needed to beat himself up about now.

  Instead, he returned to flag crafting. Once again, he tried to capture the calm, instinctive movements of the Twisted Script, this time with a timer running.

  The mindset was surprisingly easy to adopt now that he’d done it once. After a single false start, Kevin’s brush was darting around a fresh piece of flag cloth. Before long, another complete flag lay in front of him, once more lacking all but the most minor flaws.

  His time was also impressive; he finished in a little over half his previous average. Although it was short of the massive speed boost promised by mastering the technique, it was still impressive.

  On its own, the improvement more than justified the time he’d put into learning the style. With how much work he had left to do, he’d save almost the two days he’d spent this week alone.

  Even if he never improved further, the time savings would be huge over the coming months and years. And Kevin had no intention of stagnating at his current level.

  He had little doubt that the style still held many secrets. As annoying as the last few days had been, he’d never approached anything warranting the ‘going mad’ warning in Fischer’s introduction.

  While the thought filled him with a hint of worry, it also suggested there were far greater gains to be had. A suggestion backed by the claim that the style would make his brushwork faster than 99.99% of all cultivators.

  That was a hope for the future, however. For now, he had a massive backlog of formation flags to craft. Even with his new speed boost, Kevin couldn’t dawdle if he wanted to finish all six new formations by Monday.

  That morning was the most productive Kevin had ever had. He finished a full new formation, started a second, and still had time to practice his Sinking Sands footwork a final time before the practical lesson.

  His first complete project for the week was the Energy Storage formation. It was an upgraded version of the Energy Containment formation, including a method for releasing the stored Qi.

  As with last week’s work, it seemed more like a building block than something you’d often use on its own. The additional formations Kevin had to work on were similar, each being a key component of many formations he’d seen in his FORM-102 and FORM-115 classes.

  Fischer clearly guided him through the process of making those more advanced versions step by step. This was a sensible teaching method and more restrained than he would have given her credit for.

  Not that she was a poor teacher; the elder just had a habit of being… impatient. That was the nicest way he could put it. Perhaps this approach was simply the most expedient teaching method in the long term.

  Whatever Fischer’s reasoning was, he appreciated the chance to build each little piece on its own before trying to put them together.

  His MAR-101 practical session continued along the same lines as the first. Almost identical lines, in fact. Once again, they practiced nothing but the footwork for the Sinking Sands.

  It was more than a little frustrating, and Kevin couldn’t help asking when they would move on at the end of the class.

  Miles, the instructor, gave him a flat stare in response. “We’ll move on when you’ve mastered the footwork. Whether that’s a week from now or the entire season.”

  The senior disciple held the stare for a moment before his face softened. “If it helps, you’re doing well. I would estimate another couple of weeks if you continue practicing.”

  “Don’t worry too much about falling behind. The Sinking Sands focuses so much on moving around that you’d stumble all over yourself if you jumped into the full version. This is the fastest way I can teach you.”

  “Right,” Kevin chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “Thanks for explaining. That makes sense.”

  After another admonishment to practice as often as possible, Miles ended the lesson, leaving Kevin free for the evening.

  With two sessions planned for the weekend, not to mention his FORM-115 practical, Kevin packed as much formation crafting into the evening as he could. The more he could do now, the less he’d have to fit in later.

  After long hours of work, he completed two more formations, bringing him halfway to his goal for the week. The first was an Energy Gathering formation, though a much simpler version than the one on his back.

  The second was the Energy Interface formation, which combined the previous two. Its ability to gather, store, and release Qi made it a component in every advanced formation he’d seen.

  It was also the first formation Kevin had ever made that had a real-world application.

  During the FORM-101 session, Fischer had thrown out a key piece of information almost as an afterthought. Since it could gather, store, and release Qi, the Energy Interface formation could charge formation flags.

  If he set up a running version of the formation and placed a flag inside, it would slowly charge over several hours. While this was far slower than a formation designed for the purpose, it was still a godsend for Kevin.

  Technique or crafting Qi drain was a constant worry for him, slowing down his advancement at every turn. Even the tiny cost of charging a flag added up when he had to do it six times for every formation.

  So, it was with pride that Kevin set up his first practical formation that evening. It was a small yet meaningful milestone and the first hint of the benefits formations might bring him.

  The next day would bring the difficult FORM-115 class, QI Barrier tutoring with Amelia, and more crafting. Tonight, however, Kevin fell asleep in peace, overjoyed at the progress he’d made.