Chapter 131
After dinner, the three went out for their usual walk, specifically going to check on Wanmin Restaurant again.
There were still many people queuing.
With Xiangling's new Chef Champion reputation, Wanmin Restaurant's business would likely stay this busy for a month or two, becoming one of the must-visit spots for tourists in Liyue.
"Boss, I think I understand now why you don't open a restaurant despite your great cooking skills!"
"..."
Xia Zhi thought for a moment and said: "Let's eat at home from now on, it's more peaceful."
Both girls were delighted and immediately agreed: "Okay (Mm)!"
How wonderful! They could eat Boss's glowing dishes every day now!
They walked around the harbor area and bought some food boxes on their way back.
After bathing and saying goodnight to the two girls, Xia Zhi returned to his upstairs room and lit the incense.
He took out the [Hourglass of Time] and [Enhancement Crystal], attempted five enhancements as usual, all failed.
Xia Zhi remained emotionally stable about this, put them away, then opened the [Shop] to browse.
He wanted to try out the [Talisman Master] ability he got from Shenhe this afternoon, for which he needed suitable paper, brushes, and drawing materials.
There are usually two methods for making adeptal talismans.
The first method uses ordinary brush, ink, and paper, requiring the gradual infusion of spiritual power while drawing. The advantage is it's cheap, but the disadvantages are higher difficulty, lower success rate, and inferior final product quality.
The second method uses high-quality materials. The advantages are lower difficulty, higher success rate, and better effects, but the disadvantage is high cost. Of course, the second method can also have spiritual power infused during drawing for even better effects.
So fundamentally, the first method is what talisman masters resort to when they can't afford materials.
Beginner talisman masters usually choose the first method for practice, only switching to the second method once they can consistently create talismans.
Overall, being a talisman master is an expensive profession.
For Shenhe to become a Talisman Master at such a young age, besides her talent and diligent practice, her master must also have considerable wealth.
Xia Zhi browsed the [Shop] for a while and finally selected several items:
[Spirit Bamboo Brush]
Quality: Silver
Type: Set Equipment - Brush
Property: None
Effect: When drawing, success rate +20%, perfect success rate +10%
Hidden Effect: Activate set bonus when all three brush set pieces are collected
Price: 40 points
[Frost Paper]
Quality: Iron
Type: Consumable
Property: None
Effect: Paper with frost patterns, excellent spiritual conductivity, +5% success rate when making talismans and scrolls
Hidden Effect: None
Price: 1 point
[Crimson Ink]
Quality: Silver
Type: Consumable
Property: None
Effect: Made from various spiritual beast blood and herb extracts, excellent spiritual conductivity, +10% success rate when making talismans and scrolls
Hidden Effect: None
Price: 20 points
Xia Zhi chose to purchase them, instantly spending 61 points.
A bamboo brush, a sheet of snow-white paper, and a bottle of crimson ink appeared in his inventory.
Looking at prices alone, [Frost Paper] seemed cheapest, but actually it wasn't - it cost 1 point per sheet, and if you made a mistake while drawing, that sheet would be wasted.
While [Spirit Bamboo Brush] was the most expensive, it wasn't consumable and could be used indefinitely if not damaged. Additionally, being part of a set, once Xia Zhi bought the other two [Spirit Wood Brush] and [Spirit Jade Brush], he could unlock the set bonus, making it the most cost-effective of the three.
Xia Zhi took out the brush and ink, cut a sheet of paper to the right size, then dipped the brush in ink and began drawing carefully.
Moments later, Xia Zhi finished. The paper was covered in strange red patterns that emitted a faint glow.
The talisman was complete.
Xia Zhi put the talisman in his inventory and checked its information:
[Thunder Talisman]
Quality: Iron
Type: One-time Item
Property: None
Effect: Summons a lightning bolt when used
Hidden Effect: None
Recycle Price: 1 point
The creation process went exceptionally smoothly, probably due to the +35% success rate effect from the three items.
Making this talisman also consumed 5 points of his spirit power.
Xia Zhi then tried drawing with ordinary paper and ink, which also succeeded.
Without using supernatural materials, this meant pure profit of 1 point, though it was more mentally taxing.
Xia Zhi looked at the two talismans before him, deep in thought.
Clearly, if he wanted to earn points by making talismans, the efficiency was far below making incense and dream collecting for now.
But it had its advantages - it was more flexible. In daily life, Xia Zhi could solve many troublesome problems by simply drawing a talisman.
If it's hot, draw a [Cold Talisman] and stick it on the wall, better than air conditioning.
If it's cold, draw a [Heat Talisman] and stick it on the bed board, more comfortable than a hot water bottle for warming the bed.
If the ghost lady sneaks over again tonight, draw a [Ghost Binding Talisman] and stick it on her face...
Looking at it another way, if he drew one [Thunder Talisman] every day, after three months he would have a hundred [Thunder Talismans] in his inventory. Even though his current maximum mana was low and he couldn't cast high-level spells, throwing out these hundred talismans simultaneously could probably defeat any enemy except demon god-level opponents.
If he made different types, some of each of the seven elements, and threw them all out at once to trigger chain elemental reactions, even a demon god might get hurt?
This idea seemed feasible...
After pondering for a moment, Xia Zhi decided to allocate 20 spirit power points daily specifically for making talismans, as an extra trump card.
Taking up the [Spirit Bamboo Brush], but using ordinary paper and ink, he drew a [Fire Talisman] and [Water Talisman].
Xia Zhi suddenly stopped his brush as a thought flashed through his mind.
Elemental reactions... shouldn't be limited to just seven elements, right?
Wouldn't Light element react with any of these seven elements?
Although there didn't seem to be methods for making Light talismans in adeptal talisman techniques, it didn't matter - he was a Light Law God after all, knowing all Light spells and even some Space magic.
With this thought, Xia Zhi opened the [Shop] and found another item to purchase.
[Spell Scroll Mastery]
Quality: Silver
Type: Experience Book
Property: None
Effect: Become a Spell Scroll Creation Master
Hidden Effect: None
Price: 10 points
Xia Zhi used the experience book, and knowledge about spell scroll creation immediately filled his mind.
Although talismans and spell scrolls were different systems, as a master of both, Xia Zhi could see many similarities between them.
For example, spell scrolls could also be made with ordinary materials, just requiring mana infusion during creation.
But Xia Zhi couldn't unify them yet - perhaps only after becoming a grandmaster in both could he merge them into a completely new system.
Xia Zhi picked up his brush and created a [Holy Judgment] and a [Spatial Rift] spell scroll.
Then, he made one each of [Gale Talisman], [Frost Talisman], [Revival Talisman], and [Geo Spike Talisman].
Now he had all seven elemental talismans, plus two additional Light and Space spell scrolls.
Xia Zhi put them away, activated [Hat of Secrecy]'s stealth state, left the shop alone, and used the teleport waypoint to reach the wilderness near Dunyu Ruins.
Finding an empty space, he stacked the seven talismans and two scrolls together, stepped back, and activated [Hourglass of Time]'s time-stop invincibility state.
Moments later, people in Liyue City suddenly felt a slight tremor in the ground.
"Is this... an earthquake somewhere?"
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