When Andar arrived at the Talisman testing site, the crowd was triple the amount of those present in the Puppet Creation Test, and when he stopped over the testing area those that followed him behind further swelled up the crowd, until Andar would not be surprised if everyone in the Body Farm were here except those not conducting tests and experiments.
He did not know whether to laugh or to cry at how much attention he was generating from his tests. Luckily his crowd were not rambunctious idiots who would make noises and nonsensical comments at every single action he made, they understood the importance of silence and most of their communication was done in a subtle manner, thereby Andar was not distracted by their presence.
He looked into the skies for a brief moment in thought, 'Is this what you want?'
Andar had not been detecting the presence of his main body for a while and he wondered if he was alone, but that was a stupid idea to consider, for him, Rowan was something that transcended the concept of life and death.
He was watching always, and when he wanted to reveal himself, he would.
The Talisman Crafting test site was fairly crowded with candidates, a majority of them were female, and Mira was one of the Acolytes taking the test for Talisman crafting. On Andar's arrival, she smiled at him, but he could still detect the competitive glow behind her eyes.
Over the months she was becoming more beautiful as her body was slowly transforming as she grew in power as an Acolyte with a Spirit Body.
Andar returned her smile with his own wider grin and landed beside her, the Crafting Bench beside her was reserved for him. No one else would dare to stay by his side when Mira was around, except for when she was with Andar, Mira was a terrifying person to be around.
He peered at her work and gasped in appreciation, she was placing a Talisman inside a beautiful rainbow butterfly pendant, and with every touch she made, a beautiful phantom of a butterfly flapping its wings emerged from the pendant.
If she were to succeed this pendant would be imbued with the Rank 1 spell model, Fairy Wings, and could be used indefinitely but needed time for it to be recharged by Aether after it was used three times, judging by the material she was using which was Starlight Essence, this Talisman would last for thousands of years before it was degraded by the amount of magic that had been conducted through it.
This was a particularly massive achievement for an Acolyte to perform, as most Acolytes can only create a Talisman that could only be used for one time. Mira's Spirit Body coupled with her Heavenly Fate Meditation Art was coming into play as she had more than enough Aether in her body to create this elaborate and powerful Talisman.
Obviously, she had experience in Talisman Crafting even before she came to the Body Farm, but those would have been purely theoretical, her improvement over these short few months showed her frightening genius.
Talisman Crafting also falls under three categories, which are protect, heal, and harm. The Talisman Mira crafted fell under the category of protection. In fact, all of the fields of study that Mages specialized in, from Alchemy to Formations also fall under these three broad categories, they can be used to protect, they can be used to heal and they can be used to harm.
"Are you here to upstage me?" Mira drawled, her eyes returning to the Talisman she was crafting, it was a testament to her expertise that she could have a conversation at this very moment.
"No, just competing." Andar smiled and peered through the materials before him, "Don't blame me if you are not good enough, I will not be holding back."
Mira laughed, "Bring it, golden boy! While you were away learning everything under the sun, I was pursuing a single craft, I refuse to believe you would do better than me in this area! You brought quite a crowd with you, don't disappoint your fans, and let me steal your glory."
"You can try, but we all know that is not going to happen." Andar laughed aloud, his voice was resonant, drawing the attention of nearly all the female Acolyte here, who looked at him with a strange glow behind their eyes.
'I know someone golden,' Andar mused internally, recalling what Mira had just said, and he wondered why he was feeling so melancholic.
Ignoring Mira's words of challenge, he focused on this test, Mira loved challenges, and she might not be aware of what had transpired in his previous tests even if she could guess, but he knew the only way to convince her was to prove himself.
For Talisman Crafting, you were presented with seven objects you could Craft your Talisman into, and each of them had its order of difficulty.
After Andar looked through all of them, he did not pick any object to craft the Talisman, instead, he brought the seven materials together. What he intended to be creating would require using all of them.
This technique was not new, as experienced Talisman Crafters would make Talismans that worked in a set, giving them powers that would be greater than the sum of their parts. They could combine three Talisman with Rank 1 power and their Set Effects could be so powerful, it would be equal to a Rank 3 Spell.
The only issue was that they needed the services of Weapon Refinement Masters and Alchemists, but Andar was versatile in all those subjects.
For the Talisman Crafting test, the reagents and magical materials needed would be supplied to each candidate according to their wishes. There was a Data pad beside the Crafting Bench where you could input the materials you needed and it would be promptly delivered.
It took twelve seconds for Andar to input the three hundred materials he needed and he closed his eyes and began to run the simulation inside his head.
Even when his materials arrived he made no indication that he noticed, everyone here following his progress knew of his methods of preparation and so they waited with bated breath for him to begin making miracles.
