Solo Talisman Farming
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"Haaawn…."
A yawn slipped out of her on the lazy tide of morning. Nain flicked through the television channels with the remote. The dawn documentary she always watched had ended, and a little leftover rest time remained.
"Heh."
Ordinarily she would have switched past news like that with a grimace. Just hearing it would have soaked her in inferiority. But Nain wore a smile drunk on victory, and lazily stroked Pou, who floated at her side.
"Aww, my cute little Pou~"
Flutter!
Pou recoiled in disgust and swatted her hand away. Nain paid it no mind and snatched the tip of the scroll.
"Prrrrr!"
The sleek paper texture met her lips. Gripping Pou with both hands, Nain blew a long, wet raspberry against it.
Pfft, pfft!
The fully unfurled scroll snapped shut with a sharp rattle. For the price of that raspberry, Pou landed several solid smacks on her.
"Ah — heehee!"
It felt like playing with a cute pet. Having never bonded with an animal in her life, Nain found the sensation strangely unfamiliar. Pou sulked and slipped off into the room.
Beep.
Nain switched off the television as well and headed for the bedroom. She had rested enough. It was time to resume her cultivation.
She fished Pou out from under the bedcovers, where it was whining and burrowing, and carried it into the training chamber.
User:Eun Nain (Silver / Nine)
Talent:Five Spiritual Roots 2 / 10000
Constitution:Talisman Dao Sacred Body — Grade 1 0 / 10000
Arts:Severing Longevity Art 8-Star 2/15000 · Talisman Dao Introductory Art 7-Star 1400/15000 · Body Tempering Art—12th Revision 3-Star 50/200
Current Realm:Severing Longevity Stage 85%
"Heh…."
Nain's mouth hung open; she nearly drooled. The status window was that unbelievably magnificent.
First of all, both the Five Spiritual Roots and the Severing Longevity Art had each climbed by two points. Simply drawing spiritual energy into the body and sealing it raised the root's proficiency; refining the energy nested within according to an art's principles into true spiritual power raised the art's proficiency instead.
"On top of that, the Talisman Dao Sacred Body ranked up, and my Severing Longevity Stage cultivation advanced a whole five percent."
Nain looked at the talismans lined along the training chamber wall. Every last one of them held a soft green glow.
"They're all low-grade talismans, and finishing one raised the Talisman Dao Introductory Art by ten, right?"
Holding the squirming Pou, she sank into thought for a moment.
How do I cultivate as efficiently as possible?
Pou — this Dharma tool with its inexplicable true name — was broken. It was the kind of opportunistic fortune that could put even a brainless monkey on the path of cultivation.
"Still, for now, breaking into the Qi Refinement Stage has to come first, doesn't it?"
For a cultivator, realm was everything. Peerless talent, a mountain of gold and silver large enough to bury a person, a Dharma tool gifted by the family's old guard — none of it meant a thing if the realm behind them could not keep up.
Having sorted her priorities, Nain's mind drifted in another direction. Not a particularly pleasant one. Cold reality came crashing down on her.
"…I'm short on money."
She checked her account.
Not low. Gone. Her credits had been completely wiped out. A hollow gaze raked over the hologram displaying the balance.
As a rule, one lowest-grade spirit stone was worth a hundred credits, and one low-grade spirit stone was worth eight thousand. To advance any further from the Severing Longevity Stage, Nain absolutely needed low-grade spirit stones. The spirit-gathering formation that only ate electricity was nearly useless now.
"Mmm…."
Arms folded, she fretted for a moment — then her eyes drifted, almost by accident, to the talismans on the wall. As her gaze swept over the green slips, it lit up.
"That's it! Why didn't I think of this sooner!"
Had becoming a woman made her stupid? Had her talent risen while her wits dropped?
The answer was obviously the talismans!
"I just make talismans and sell them, don't I?"
Heh heh heh. She was no longer the washed-out cultivation loser of before. She was a proper Talisman Artificer who could churn out low-grade talismans.
Nain ran the numbers.
"Paper runs a thousand credits for a hundred sheets, and ink is about a thousand for a hundred uses, so…."
Ordinary lowest-grade talismans — the dull gray ones — were almost worthless. That was the most basic stage any talismanist produced. Even so, a talisman was a talisman. And because they were consumables, demand stayed high.
"Let's see…."
She tapped the terminal on her wrist and connected to the network. The place she headed for was a pan-cosmic community, on an entirely different level from the old Mortal Gallery.
Among the Four Arts of Cultivation, Talisman Artificers boasted the largest population — and most of them were active here.
The chaotic state of the gallery unfurled before Nain in hologram form. Posts scrolled past faster than her eyes could follow. She managed to click one that looked close to the information she needed.
What's the going rate for 1st-tier lowest-grade talismans these days?
Been in closed-door seclusion for five years so I've got zero current info.
Last I checked it was around 50 credits a sheet, right?
A Study on the Five Paths of the Great Talisman Dao
Some speak of a single broad road of the Great Dao, yet the ways of living are not confined to one track alone. There must needs be fine branches — thus the Five Paths of the Talisman. Examining their principles now, I shall discourse as follows…
"Ugh, yeah, no…."
Nain skipped past the post that reeked of some fossilized Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Talisman Artificers are only 1% of this Foundation Establishment exam… we're screwed, right?
Two million people applied and only twenty thousand of them are Talisman Artificers lmaoooooo
We're actually done for.
"Pfft."
The familiar scent of community chaos made Nain want to keep reading a little longer. But this was time she needed to spend training. Swallowing her regret, she opened the post she had marked a moment ago.
Before we begin — for the Foundation Establishment seniors, I've compressed a modern-format summary; you can find it at the [link].
"Whoa."
Nain's mouth parted a little at the professional-looking introduction. It looked like she had found exactly the post she needed. She started reading again.
Lowest-grade has had its value completely gutted by government decision, so I'll skip it. However, the price of the Might Talisman — one of the foundational talismans — has actually risen on demand from outer systems, so I've included it.
Without a word, Nain turned her head to the talismans arrayed on the wall — the Might Talismans she had drawn herself, each one smiling with a lively green light.
"So that means…."
One sheet, two sheets — ten in total.
"Three thousand credits?"
On top of that, she still had ninety sheets of talisman paper left, and enough ink to draw plenty more. If she painted every last one at low-grade quality, that was thirty thousand credits total. Materials cost two thousand; the lowest-grade spirit stones needed to run the spirit-gathering formation were another ten, for three thousand credits altogether.
30,000 − 3,000 = 27,000.
Twenty-seven thousand credits. Enough to buy a full two hundred seventy lowest-grade spirit stones — or three low-grade ones!
Nain clapped a hand over her mouth and, with trembling fingers, smacked her own cheek. A reality check. Dream or not.
Smack. Smack.
Her soft cheek flushed red, and her hand hurt worse than her face. Only then did Nain finally accept that this was real.
"Waaaaah!!"
Ignoring the utterly undignified noise pouring from her mouth, Nain shouted in pure rapture.
"I'm rich now!"