The first few of Alex's attempts were absolutely botched, to say the least.
For a man who hadn't held a pen in almost 4 years, holding a brush and having made it to make intrinsic design was absolutely undoable.
That being true only for the first few times at least.
His hands were sturdy like a surgeon and he could hold his brush as steadily as well. But being steady came at the cost of flexibility one was required to move their wrists dynamically as per the rune's demand.
After fumbling so bad the first 2 times where the result couldn't even be called a talisman and then the next 2 times which both resulted in less than 10% alignment, Alex finally succeeded on his 5th attempt with 14%.
Alex felt a little disappointed that he took nearly an hour to draw this simple rune that his mother drew as if she were writing a grocery list.
Still, he was at least happy to have done it.
Helen made no remark on how extraordinary this feat was. For someone who had just learned the first thing about talisman an hour ago, being able to successfully create a talisman that was acceptable by the masses was incredible.
But, Helen was used to her son doing remarkable stuff. So, this thing which would have taken even the best disciples at least a day to do, or at least 3 for normal ones, didn't surprise her very much.
As such, Alex was once again blissfully unaware of how great his speed was.
He made about 5 more of the same talisman, each with above 15% alignment. One even reached 20% towards the end, making Helen give out a short gasp.
After Alex finished making the talisman, a question came to him that he hadn't thought of asking before.
"What rank of talisman am I making?" he asked.
"True rank of course," his mother said.
Alex gave a little surprised look. "I'm already nearing True-Earth rank as a Talisman maker?" he asked suspiciously.
"Not exactly," Helen said. "Talisman creating is more than just following a set design. It's about creativity and ingenuity. You or your client will have a problem they want to solve."
"While most of the time you can follow a design someone already made, other times you will have to formulate a design based on the problem."
"Which can take a very long time," Helen said. "There was this one time a man needed a talisman that could keep cold away from him without the talisman releasing any heat."
"I was honestly stumped for a few hours since that felt impossible. The only thing I could think of was creating a barrier that kept out air, but the man needed to breathe."
"So, I had to create a talisman that not only kept out air but released some in as well. In a sense, I had to make a storage talisman mixed with a barrier," Helen said.
"There are ways to create spaces inside talisman?" Alex asked with surprise.
"Of course. You can use runes for almost anything," Helen said. "But don't expect them to keep anything of yours in it."
"It could barely even hold much air at all in the end. Fortunately, the man had a high enough cultivation base that he didn't need much," Helen said.
"Still," Alex said. "Since I might not really get into the creative sides of runes, I should probably just glee at the fact that I'm getting close to the True Earth realm."
"If I was practicing alchemy like this, without any aid of techniques, it would've probably taken much longer for me," he said.
"I don't doubt that," Helen said.
"Perhaps Alchemy and Artifacts are the only two professions where you have to do everything by yourself," Helen said.
"What do you mean?" Alex gave a confused look.
"Look, for talismans, you already have the ink prepared for you, even though that is the most important part of the talisman."
"For formations from what I hear, you already have a well-shaped and refined piece of metal for yourself to carve on."
"For the rest of the two? You have to do it all by yourself," Helen said. "Maybe that is a reason why Talisman and Formations are so much easier to learn and do than Alchemy and Artifacts."
"What about the other 3?" Alex asked. "Music, Spirit foods, and painting."
"Well, a musician doesn't have to make her own flutes and zithers. A spirit food chef needs only worry about the taste, making its nutrients a second thought, and finally, painting needs talent and practice, but similar to the talisman, the paint and paper are already handed."
"So, they could never measure up to the difficulty of Artifacts and Alchemy," Helen said.
Alex fell into thought. "Who makes the inks then?" he asked.
"There are a certain group of talisman makers that are focused on just that," Helen said. "You are taught and can learn the basics of ink making, but it is always better to have an expert make it for you."
"I see," Alex said as he stared at the ground, thinking to himself.
'Formations need artifacts, artifacts need formations, alchemy needs artifacts and formations, maybe you can carve runes on artifacts too,' Alex thought to himself. 'It's all so interconnected.'
"Alright, go back and read the book for now. Try to remember as many runes as you can, and we can continue from there," she said.
"Okay," Alex nodded and left, leaving Pearl behind with his mother to keep her company. She had really come to take a liking to the little cat and he liked that.
Over the course of the entire night, Alex remembered every single rune in that book. He also remembered everything else that was written on it.
That book wasn't a technique book at all, so Alex had to deal with the information over the course of the next couple of days.
After all, remembering something wasn't the same as knowing it. It wouldn't be hard, but it wouldn't be easy either.
Slowly, under Helen's teaching and the occasional sect master's guidance, Alex managed to reach 40% on his talisman by the end of the month.
And that was despite the fact that he also practiced Alchemy quite a lot and a bit of formation on the side.
Alex was certain that he wouldn't reach for very soon due to the limitation of the ink and the brush he held.
What he was certain was that he would surely cross True Heaven rank at the very least.
Now, all he had to worry about was making sure his creativity kept up with his talent.
'I guess I can just rely on what others have done before me and not really worry about how I would solve some problems,' Alex thought to himself.
Alex knew that right now his main focus needed to be on alchemy. Because of that, he had to begin downgrading some of the True pill recipes he had to Common pills in preparation for the pill to heal his hand.
Still, he gave some equal time to both talismans and formations, while spending the majority on alchemy.
In one month, he felt he had made a lot of advancement in both of them and could consistently create Heaven-grade talismans and formations.
So, no longer hesitating, Alex went to the Talisman guild during the second month and took an exam.
He passed with flying colors as he made every single talisman with more than 55% Alignment.
Half a month later, Alex went to the formations guild as well and became a True Heaven formation master.
Fortunately, not many people learned of this fact. And the few that did keep their mouth shut.
If anyone learned that a single young man of age less than 25 had not only learned 3 of the main professions, but was also good enough to reach True Heaven rank on all 3 of them, the city would certainly be shocked, and even figures from the capital would come to see him.
Fortunately, those that did know about it really wanted to keep him for their own guilds, and as such, no information was spread.
There was also another event that took place during the 2 months that was enough to distract the city's attention enough so that no one took notice of Alex's improvement.
After all, it wasn't always that the empire gained a new True Immortal rank Talisman maker.
Qin Shan's nose was massive with pride and glee as he watched his disciple be taken as one of the best talisman makers out there.
Even Tian Ye would barely be her match now that she had the spiritual sense to aid her.
The only thing that could possibly hold her back now were things that were out of her hands such as Ink, paper, and brush.
The quality of these things wasn't something Helen could simply change herself. Buying better ones cost a lot sometimes, so you had to make do with cost-effective stuff.
Since you had to buy paper and ink yourself, most talisman creators were only so eager to spend so much on their craft.
Fortunately, paying for your own stuff meant that, unlike the alchemy guild, you didn't have to pay some fee for screwing up your talisman.
Alex didn't know how he felt about that for in his mind the Alchemy guild's system was much better.
As such, 3 months passed by in flash. Alex had learned a lot during this time and he found every second he spent learning Alchemy or the other 2 professions was very helpful.
However, that also meant that he had neglected his own cultivation quite a bit. He needed to think of a way to get that back on track as well.
