Alex entered his new home and was more than surprised with how well it was for something that was prepared just moments ago.
It looked exactly the same as his mother's in that there was a single room. But that was more than enough for him.
He would've loved to have some furnace in the middle for his alchemy, but it was understandable that they couldn't set it up in just a single day.
'So, I will have to go to the guild for a while longer huh? I hope they can prepare it in time,' Alex thought to himself.
From what he heard, they had to bring a formation expert to make sure that the formation that would run the furnace was properly integrated into the formation that ran the whole sect.
'I wonder why they don't use runes instead. It's the same thing, right?' he wondered. But then again, he didn't even know the first thing about runes and how they worked, so he didn't really have any authority to speak in these matters.
When Alex really thought about it, he realized that he wasn't that knowledgeable about formations either.
He mostly just followed recipes instead of creating one himself from the knowledge he had.
The only creating he had done were those pills he made back when he was stuck in that formation for a month.
'Now that I have some more information about ingredients and such, I should be able to create new pills,' he thought. 'That should help prepare me for when a Blood Spirit Ginseng comes on the market.'
Alex had nothing better to do, so he and Pearl cultivated the entire night, waiting for the morning to arrive.
When it did, Alex left his room and went back to the city.
* * * * *
Helen opened her eyes a little later than usual. She couldn't tell why she was late waking up today, but something in her told her that she couldn't wake up very early.
She looked down at her hand and realized that the two flowers she had been holding were gone.
'Is it done?' she wondered as she looked around. 'I can't see anything different.'
The moment she thought that, as if growing eyes all around her, she noticed everything in her vicinity.
Her mind was boggled at the amount of information that she received. Seeing the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the wood, the grains in the wood, etc all felt very weird to her.
She tried moving her 'eyes' and looked elsewhere. She looked at her own clothes she was wearing. Never before had her robe seen this unsightly to her.
She noticed all the creases on it, the frayed threads that came out at different places that would not be noticeable otherwise.
She noticed her long hair and how beautiful it really was. She would see her face and all the tiny blemishes on it.
It was so much better than what she used to have before she became a cultivator. She couldn't help but admire it.
Her spiritual sense started extending outwards and soon it escaped past the boundaries of her room and nearly reached her son's place.
However, it stopped just before it touched that house. Helen made a mental measurement and thought '50 meters?'. That was the extent of what she could reach with her senses.
She tried to go further and forced her mind to follow her will. Surprisingly for her, it worked and her spiritual sense entered the room easily.
She wanted to see her son inside, but he was gone already. She felt the light mental strain from her sense and immediately pulled it back.
'I can't extend it very far?' she thought to herself.
Once she was done reveling in her level up, she started remembering all the benefits one gained from having a spiritual sense.
First, she could see and, in some ways, touch something with her spiritual sense.
Second, it increased her mental capability to the point that she no longer required artifacts to protect herself from mental attacks. She simply needed some protection techniques.
Getting those techniques was a little difficult, but not very much when compared to getting spiritual sense itself.
Third, it gave her a very good memory, which would come in very handy for someone that was trying to learn Talismans.
Lastly, she could also use mental attacks, but the fighting had never really been Helen's interest before. She was more in tune with creation than destruction.
When Helen thought about her mental strength is very high now, she decided to try out making some more Talismans to see how they helped her.
After 2 hours, Helen's eyes were properly wide when she realized she could keep going for a very long time and make as many talismans in a single day as she could in a week before.
"With this, I should be able to increase my alignment by quite a bit. Given how the brush helped me reach 72%, with my spiritual sense I should be able to reach the immortal grade now," she thought.
Immortal grade, as far as she understood, went from 75% to 100% Alignment. That was what her master had told her and what she had learned before coming to the game too.
That only made her more confused when he understood that there were grades higher than that for other things.
She quickly had come to the understanding that the other grades simply didn't exist. If you threw away the arbitrary system of giving grades to a percentage of alignment, you would remain with a simple system that graded something from 0% to 100%
That was all one needed anyway.
She excitedly brought out her Saint grade brush that she hadn't brought out for the current testing purposes and started making another talisman.
The brush dipped into the ink, and it retained a certain amount as per her wish. Then, she placed the brush on the empty paper and started drawing.
Her spiritual sense was on the paper at all times, so she could clearly see everything. She saw how many bristles of the brush actually touched the picture.
She saw the flow at which the ink left the brush and remained on the paper. She saw those tiny, almost imperceptible lines of ink that were at the very edge of those lines she drew.
As she got more and more conscious of what little mistakes she was making, she started fixing them going forward. By the end of it in 20 minutes, Helen ended up with a talisman she knew would make her master proud.
76%
That was the alignment she had reached with her new brush and her new sense.
Helen realized that even after that daunting 20 minutes, she could still make more.
So, she brought out another empty piece of talisman paper and got ready to draw.
However, just as she was about to proceed, she heard a knock on the door. Usually, she would call to ask who it was. This time, she simply sent out her spiritual sense and saw that it was her son.
Alex sensed his mother's spiritual sense and smiled.
"Congratulations, mother," he sent her a message directly into her mind.
"Woah!" Helen freaked out a little. "Right, I forgot you could do that with a spiritual sense."
"Uh… can I come in?" he asked.
"Oh right, come, come," she hurriedly called him in.
Alex opened the door and entered. As he did, Pearl also came out from his space and ran up to Helen.
"Mother, I missed you," he said as he jumped into her lap.
"Aw, I missed you too," Helen said as she started petting him.
Pearl meowed and then closed his eyes with a smile on his face.
Helen chuckled a little and looked back at her son. "Where were you gone?" she asked.
"To the city," Alex said.
"Did you do what you meant to do?" she asked.
"Yes," Alex gave her a bright smile.
"And… that's the surprise?" she gave a quizzing look as if expecting something.
"Hehe," Alex gave her a wide grin as he reached into his storage bag. "Here it is!"
Helen saw something white hanging on a piece of string. She couldn't tell what it was immediately, so she sent her spiritual sense to look at it.
Finally, she could see the silvery-white circular metal as clear as day. It hung by a thin but strong string that one could easily put around their neck.
She looked at the metal itself, silver, which was about 5 to 7 centimeters in diameter.
And then she noticed the carvings.
On one side, it said 'Alchemist Guild' in big and bold letters. On the other side, there was a simple 'True' written on it, surrounded by leaves and vines.
This had been so sudden that Helen took a second to put 2 and 2 together. When she did, her expression was priceless.
With wide eyes and mouth hung open, she stared at Alex for a good 10 seconds before she spoke, "You became a True Heaven Alchemist?"
"Surprise!" Alex said.
"Really?" she asked again.
"Yes," Alex said and walked closer. "Here."
Helen checked the badge and as expected, it was the same as her. Only, hers was from the Talisman guild.
"Come here," Helen called and Alex walked closer.
Suddenly, she grabbed his head and pulled it closer to give him a kiss on his forehead. Then she held his head for a second as she said, "I'm so proud of you son."
Alex looked with a stunned expression for a second as he had never known before how much he had needed this.
His motivation and enthusiasm practically doubled at this very moment as he gave her his bright smile again.
"Just watch mother, your son will make you prouder."
