What Counts as Moderate Talent

Nain was growing frantic.

Even a cursory look told her this was no ordinary stretch of the Demon Realm. And they meant to send Geumhae—utterly harmless Geumhae—into a place like that?

"I'm not sending her in right this second," Seo Seong-rak said, shrugging as he stepped back. "From here ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on out, talk it over with your provisional master. My part ends here."

Nain's gaze shifted naturally to the woman beside him.

She looked as if someone had taken ink itself and shaped it into a human form. Dense, glossy black hair fell to her waist, loosely bound and swept back.

Her black-and-white palace robes were wrapped with impeccable neatness, radiating dignity, while the eyes set in her pale face were sharp enough to pierce. Only the folding fan in her hand broke the silence, snapping with a faintly irritable sound.

"Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Kuzunoha Shiori—Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment, Theoretical Cultivator. I currently serve as a professor in the Talisman Studies Department at Cheondo Taehak, under the United Government."

State the path one walks and the realm one has reached. Append the title of cultivator that marks one's field of study or affiliation. Then, at last, give one's name. It was the greeting Earth's cultivators favored.

In other words: Kuzunoha Shiori had entered Foundation Establishment by the path of talismans, and she was a cultivator devoted to theoretical research.

…Cheondo Taehak? Kuzunoha?

But Nain focused more on what came after the titles.

Cheondo Taehak was Earth's foremost cultivation university, located in Sector A—a place where you needed to reach at least the sixth stage of Qi Condensation before graduating high school just to submit an application. A cradle for the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the future, in every sense of the word.

And as for Kuzunoha…

"…Might you be of the Kuzunoha family I am familiar with?"

Nain bowed her head very low. This was nothing like dealing with Seo Seong-rak, who was bound to her by blood and friendship. Whether by social renown or by the realm she had attained, this was not someone before whom Nain could dare hold her head high.

"Keh keh keh. Look at this brat. She treats me like dirt, but she's scared of that island woman?"

Seo Seong-rak roared with laughter from behind them.

Tak. Tadak.

The fan that had been swaying so elegantly in the air snapped shut in a single motion, as if offended.

"Ignore that half-Korean oaf. I understand what you wish to ask. My maternal aunt is Cheongmyeong Jinin."

Nain clapped both hands over her mouth to stifle the sound that tried to escape.

The Kuzunoha clan, based in Sector J, ranked among the top three Golden Core Clans by influence in the talisman world. A sudden, swelling gratitude toward her grandfather and mother bloomed in her chest.

Without the two of them, she never would have had the chance to take a professor of Cheondo Taehak—a pillar of the Kuzunoha—as her master.

It really was a fated opportunity!

Truth be told, half of her interest in having a master had been pure inconvenience. Now she genuinely wanted to become a disciple. Nain bowed with respect, then immediately lowered her synchronization rate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with Geumhae. Better to keep that cold, expressionless face Geumhae usually wore than to stand there grinning like an idiot she couldn't control.

"Be grateful to Seol-hwa for recommending you, and apply yourself in all things. By talent alone, even Registered Disciple would have been impossible—but in light of the ties involved, I have decided to consider you for True Disciple. Provided, of course, that you prove yourself worthy of the possibility."

"That's right. So don't go smearing my name. Give it your best—no, squeeze out every last drop until you're half-dead. If you settle for something as pathetic as Registered Disciple, I'll half-kill you myself."

Crack. Crunch.

An ominous sound came from Seo Seong-rak's fist—the same fist that could turn an aircraft carrier into scrap iron without breaking a sweat. Geumhae nodded, expressionless.

"Yes. I will do my utmost."

Shiori, who had been opening and closing her fan in a restless rhythm, tapped the ground with the tip of her foot. The enormous talisman beneath them flared with light, and materials cascaded down in front of Nain—everything needed to craft talismans.

"I shall explain the assignment."

Shiori gave the air a light sweep with her closed fan. Pale light spread from beneath their feet, unfurling into a vast holographic map: a complete chart of the ground they stood on—the 69th Demon Realm, 1st Layer.

"This is a safe zone. Nothing stronger than mid-first-rank demon beasts inhabits it—safe, of course, only from a Foundation Establishment cultivator's perspective. That is why so many low-level Qi Condensation geniuses come here to hone their combat instincts."

She murmured as much, then pointed her fan at the middle and the edge of the map.

"So. What must you do?"

Their current position and the Rift Management Bureau base that controlled gate access both lit up as blue dots. The distance between them was roughly two hundred kilometers.

"I will give you twelve hours from this moment. Within that time, craft whatever talismans you need to break through that distance—and live."

Even with the synchronization deliberately lowered, Nain felt Geumhae's face tremble. The assignment was that absurd. Then again, she should have understood the moment they said they would "drop her off" here.

…Still. If they say do it, I do it. It's not exactly impossible anymore.

Force a second-stage Qi Condensation body through a forest crawling with demon beasts, and on top of that, produce usable talismans inside twelve hours? For the original Nain, it would have been utterly impossible.

…But.

Nain steeled her resolve.

If I want to play in the big leagues, I have to show a certain amount of talent. Miss this opportunity, and who knows when another one will come.

For the Nain who had seized heaven-defying talent through Pow, a task of this level was almost trivial. The only real question was how much talent to reveal.

Enough to claim the seat of True Disciple—yet not so much that anyone could grow suspicious. A moderate talent.

Tap. Tap.

Nain shifted the seat of her consciousness briefly back to her main body and tapped at her terminal. What she needed was a talisman-crafting manual a notch above the ordinary.

The former compiled methods for crafting low-grade talismans imbued with the basic Five Elements; the latter catalogued low-grade talismans designed for daily life and special circumstances.

The golden slips arrived at once. Nain pressed them to her forehead, absorbed the contents in an instant, and allowed herself a faint, dismissive smile. Beside her, Pow gave a full-body shudder, as if even this process bored it.

More than a hundred varieties of low-grade talisman-crafting methods poured into her mind. She closed her eyes again, and her consciousness returned at once to Geumhae's body in the Demon Realm. Looking up at the clear blue sky and the orange sun, Nain dropped to her knees on the ground.

She took up a brush with practiced ease, straightened her back, and lowered her gaze in quiet focus.

"Haa… huu…"

She drew a deep breath and settled the tangle of her thoughts. Even when drawing the most trivial of talismans, one must never lose elegance. That was the mark of respect one owed the craft.

How many minutes does an ordinary talisman-crafter take to finish a low-grade talisman, again?

The question flickered through her mind; she tilted her head inwardly, then focused. Her main body's heart pounded as it transmitted Five Elements Talisman Dao spiritual energy into Geumhae's flesh. The arm holding the brush moved.

Ssshk—

A brand-new brush, free of so much as a speck of dust, traced a graceful arc across the paper.

"…Hmm."

Seo Seong-rak crossed his arms and jerked his chin toward Kuzunoha Shiori.

"I don't know jack about talismans, so humor me—is that speed normal?"

Snap.

Shiori hastily opened her fan to cover her mouth, eyes narrowing to slits.

"…No. That is by no means a normal speed."

Flash! Flash!

Bursts of green radiance erupted every fifteen minutes. By the time the promised twelve hours were ending, the talismans heaped beside Nain numbered nearly fifty.

"That pace is possible for a 'moderately' talented talisman-crafter, yes—but only if one takes as the standard a seasoned Qi Condensation Great Completion cultivator with decades of training."

"So you're saying it's not something a talentless second-stage Qi Condensation brat should be able to pull off."

"I expected fifteen sheets at most. Ten, if she was slow. But this…"

Tak.

Shiori snapped her fan shut with a sharp click and pointed its tip at Seo Seong-rak.

"You. You dared deceive me? Did you not claim she had no talent whatsoever for the Talisman Dao?"

"Look, I—huh? What the hell? I didn't know either."

Scratching his head, Seo Seong-rak looked thoroughly dumbfounded. He himself had known perfectly well that Nain possessed pitiful talent. Setting aside the single spark of potential in her Dao Heart, Nain was someone whose gifts were so worthless you couldn't even use them as scrap.

"Still. Good news is good news, right?"

He pinched the tip of the fan that had so rudely pointed at him between two fingers. Brown spiritual force cascaded from his fingertips like a landslide. A grinding, cracking sound rang out.

"Ugh—"

Shiori yanked the fan free at once, but not before it had taken some damage.

"You… really… Ha."

Seo Seong-rak grinned shamelessly and rubbed his chin.

"Let's just watch a while. It's not a bad deal for you either, is it? Unlike an old fossil like me, you still need to look for a shot at Golden Core while you're young."

"You…!"

Rumble—!

All at once, the enormous talisman the three of them were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flying on lurched and tilted hard. Nain, who had been calmly drawing talismans, flattened herself against the floor in alarm.

Viscous, ink-black spiritual force crashed through the air. It was the same color as Nain's own power—but of an entirely different caliber. A vast shadow forced the world's brightness down, devouring the field of vision into pure black.

"Did we not agree not to cross certain lines with each other? Or has your brain already rotted to pulp, and you simply forgotten?"

"Whoa, whoa. This old man's sorry. I misspoke. I apologize."

Seo Seong-rak moved easily even through the spiritual force saturating every direction, and bowed with exaggerated formality. Shiori bit her lip hard, then swept her fan and reclaimed her power. Combat between cultivators inside a gate was strictly forbidden—and even if they truly fought, she could not defeat Seo Seong-rak.

Unlike her, who primarily conducted research, he was a true combat cultivator who had cracked open hundreds of millions of demon skulls and lived to tell of it. Both of them knew that fact all too well.

"Vile old man…"

She whipped her head around. Having fully withdrawn her spiritual force, Shiori turned an icy expression toward Nain, who was still sitting on the floor. The twelve hours she had promised ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had long since passed.

Gulp.

Nain swallowed dryly, feigning perfect composure. The blue robes she usually wore fluttered in the wind, lending Geumhae's expressionless figure an extra layer of dignity. The dress from the banquet had long since been reclaimed by Seo Seong-rak.

At the edge of the giant talisman, Nain looked back and forth between Shiori and Seo Seong-rak—who were standing well apart from each other—with a questioning gaze, then took a step.

"Eup—!"

Free fall from several kilometers up. A vista so familiar it was almost boring unfurled around her. Her robes billowed as she took the pleasant headwind full against her body.

About a minute until groundfall. She closed her eyes and sketched the route from here to the base in her mind. Her rough estimate put the journey at three days.

The basic principle is stealth. Combat is secondary.

In a forest swarming with Demon Realm beasts, even the terrain itself defied imagination. Trees hundreds of meters tall and dense thickets several meters high choked the view from every direction, while murky demonic qi that stabbed at the lungs lay across the ground like a swamp.

Travel only through the treetops. And no sleeping.

She had no idea how exacting a Foundation Establishment Great Completion cultivator's standards would be. She had to show her best effort at all times.

If I went all out, I could make it in three hours—and yet I have to spend three whole days in a forest like this… Ugh.

Whooosh—!

After that small complaint, Nain opened her eyes. The ground was already right in front of her nose. She drew a Descent Talisman from her robes—one that glowed with a soft green light—and poured spiritual energy into it.

Fwaat!

The Descent Talisman flared, and her falling speed slowed. Her small, light body slipped gently into a gap among the giant ancient trees. In an instant, every trace of Nain vanished into the Demon Realm forest—nowhere to be found.