Talisman Exam

Fortunately, it seemed Minos was thinking way too much, and after only a quick look did Onald speak up.

"I just realized you also have white hair, what a weird coincidence! Must be more common than I thought." Onald said with a laugh, not even entertaining the idea that Minos was the father in question.

But from Onald's perspective, such a possibility was impossible, after all, what were the odds that a random man you met on the street, who didn't even seem like a local, was somehow the father of the elusive genius prince?

Seeing that this reaction was genuine through his Omniscient Eyes, Minos let out a sigh of relief, having just barely avoided catastrophe.

It also just so happened that the two finally arrived at the guild, and with the upcoming exam, Onald seemed to completely lose interest in the topic, allowing Minos's heart to fully settle.

Walking into the building, the two saw a small group gathered near a corner, seemingly waiting for the exam to begin.

Heading to the front desk, Onald talked to the receptionist for a moment, handing over a card, before being allowed through.

With Onald's turn done, Minos walked up to the receptionist, his ID card already ready in hand.

"Identification." The lady asked.

Handing the card over to the lady, she put it through a strange device, and after a second of whirring, the device released a green light.

"Are you here for the Four-Moon Talisman Certificate Exam?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a Three-Moon Certificate?"

"No."

"Then you'll have to pay a 100 Nux Stone fee. Rest assured, if you pass the exam, the money will be returned to you."

Despite thinking the fee was quite steep, Minos had no other choice, so with a reach into his robe, he pulled out 100 Nux Stones and handed them over.

Taking the Nux Stones, the receptionist nodded, letting Minos join Onald and the other's who were waiting.

"You don't have a Three-Moon Certificate?" Onald couldn't help but ask.

"I've never actually joined the talisman guild, my skills are self taught." Minos replied.

"Then you must be some sort of genius! I hope you pass though, after all, 100 Nux Stones isn't cheap."

"I should be fine." Minos said with a confident smile.

Before the two could talk anymore, a middle-aged man walked out of the backroom, taking a quick scan at the group before clearing his voice and speaking.

"Those who are here for the Four-Moon Certificate Exam, follow me."

With his words, Onald and Minos gave each other a quick glance before walking ahead, entering the other room under the lead of the man.

"I'll be your examiner today, you can call me Jebron. As for the rules of the exam, it's simple, no cheating." Jebron said as he entered a large room with dozens of desks.

"Alright everyone take a seat, I'll go over the exam process one time for those who don't know, so listen closely."

"I'll present you with a talisman and you'll have three attempts to create it. Those who can create one will receive an average grade, those who can do two will receive a superb grade, as for three, well they will receive a perfect grade."

Hearing the differences in grades, Minos couldn't help but be slightly confused, having just thought that you either passed or failed, but it seemed that it was a bit more complicated than that.

"Any questions?" Jebron asked.

"Mister Jebron, can you explain what the differences between grades are?" Minos asked with a raised hand.

"In simple terms, your grade is a reflection of your potential, the better the grade, the better the treatment. Of course if you fail to maintain your grade, your treatment will naturally drop accordingly."

"Thank you."

"Alright, then let's begin." Jebron said, before heading to the front of the room and unfolding a large picture on the front wall.

The picture was a massive talisman, as if a regular one had been expanded a hundred times, and using this picture alone, the students had to replicate the talisman.

However this wasn't to say replicating talisman's in reality was so simple, after all, most talisman masters would fill their talismans with false strokes that didn't actually serve any purpose other than to confuse those who sought to copy it.

But given the nature of this test, this talisman naturally had no false strokes, but even then it was an incredible challenge to copy it.

"Begin."

With Jebron's words, the whole room went silent, their eyes glued on the large talisman picture, trying to burn it into their brain.

Activating his Omniscient Eyes, Minos only had to take one glance, the picture immediately scanned into his brain perfectly, no different than if he were to look at it with his own two eyes.

Picking up his talisman quill, Minos immediately got to work, his quill gliding smoothly across the talisman paper as he recreated the picture flawlessly.

His control over his body had long since reached a realm of perfection, and as long as he could think it, he could do it.

And paired with the added bonus of his Omniscient Eyes, this level of perfection was raised even higher, as if he was a machine rather than a man.

Walking through the classroom, Jebron looked over the exam takers shoulders, checking their progress as well as making sure no one was cheating.

As he walked past Minos, however, he couldn't help but freeze, his pupils dilating as watched Minos's process.

Within only ten minutes or so, he had already created a talisman perfectly, already working on his second one.

Not even bothered to question him, Jebron snatched the first completed talisman from his table, inspecting it closely as if to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

But no matter what angle he looked at it from, this talisman was perfect, and even a master like himself couldn't tell the difference between this and the one at the front of the room!

His breathing couldn't help but become a little rough as he realized he may have stumbled upon a genius, and not just any kind of genius, but the most demonic kind.

While Minos was concentrating on creating his talismans, he was also watching Jebron's reaction, having already anticipated such a thing.

He was originally faced with two choices, to either be mediocre and hide his talent, or explode and show his true genius.

After a quick thought, he decided on the second choice, after all, this was no longer the wild where there were no rules, only chaos.

Rather this was the Aleph Empire, and the security here was infinitely better, not to mention, if he had the backing of the talisman guild, he had even less to worry about.

Not to mention he was no longer as weak as he was all those years ago, where he could only hide his genius in fear of being exploited by those more powerful than him.

It was now the time to finally enjoy the blessings of his talent, of course, he also knew not to be too greedy, so he only planned on showcasing his talisman talent, keeping the others hidden.

Meanwhile, Jebron had finally calmed his breathing, watching Minos with full attention as he waited for him to finish up his final talisman.

With another few minutes, Minos was finally finished with the third talisman, placing it aside on the desk.

Once again, Jebron snatched the talisman, and once again, he was both shocked and joyous to find it was an exact replica.

By now he had fully confirmed that Minos relied fully on talent, and hadn't just gotten lucky.

After all, someone could get lucky once, or even twice, but three times in a row? The odds of that were next to nothing.

"What's your name?" Jebron asked as he stared deeply into Minos's eyes.

"Minos."

"Minos? Well done Minos, but saying you've passed with a perfect grade is an understatement. I'd give you a higher grade, but I'm afraid one doesn't exist, so I can only let you suffer a little."

"No, no, no. There's no suffering, I'm more than happy with a perfect grade." Minos said as he waved his hands about.

"This is about what you deserve, and the Talisman Guild always gives its members what they've earned, so don't fight it." Jebron insisted.

"Well then I'll thank you in advance, Mister Jebron."

"Don't call me Mister, just call me Jebron, better yet, call me brother." Jebron said with a gentle smile, as if trying to ingratiate himself with Minos.

"Uh, alright, Jebron." Minos said, returning the smile.

"Well let's not talk too much here, after all the other exam takers need all the silence they can get, but again, congratulations."