It was bound by a yellow thread. He dusted it off and opened it up. It was old but the text was legible. He read through the first few pages. It had that flowery language that went around in circles.

He couldn’t make out if it was real and worth anything. The vendor was setting up his things but his gaze was trained on him.

“How much is this?”

“80 stones.”

Musnuf looked up at him and smiled, “Come on, this isn’t worth that much. You know that otherwise you would’ve turned it into the task office.”

It took a bit of haggling but he drove the price down to 50 stones. He had about 60 left and he would go claim another 10 from the weekly disbursement from the sect.

He wanted to wander around and explore a little bit but he decided to go back. Cultivation needed to be the priority right now.

He flipped through the manual trying to find anything he could use that would help him in the upcoming tournament. It started from a broad over-sweeping review of illusions, explaining the basic concepts. Eighty percent of it was theory.

He decided to start from a basic version of Silent Image. A different set of pathways were utilized for this spell. Guiding his essence through them was enough of a hassle but he had to mold the essence. It took him a few hours but he succeeded. A flame-like image was floating above his right hand.

He wanted to shout out in joy, he’d finally succeeded. It was very basic and flawed but he could improve over time. The possibilities were just endless. Casting illusions on hundreds of people, changing his appearance, changing entire landscapes and casting illusions on other people for info transmission. The possibilities percolated in his mind.

He was getting too far ahead of himself, this spell was two dimensional. It looked like a realistic cardboard version of a fire. Looking at it from the side or too closely was going to set off alarm bells not to mention it was static. How about a wall instead. That might…work.

He dispelled the illusion and recovered a bit of his essence. Then he conjured a brick. That was better. It didn’t feel off if you were in front of it.

He grabbed the manual and looked for something else. Another sub-set of skills was Amplification. It allowed the caster to enhance emotions during stressful situations. However, this was only possible to do so if the opposing party was lower in cultivation level or equal and unaware. The higher their cultivation level the lower the chances of it taking effect.

The manual promised that there were ways to get around this but they weren’t discussed here.

He decided to try and create the basic structure of Amplification and practice his illusions. This was going to be his trump card. He brainstormed ways to utilize it. The days passed very quickly when he was practicing.

On the day of the exam he woke up with a start. He was in his abandoned abode because he’d been discharged. A billowing wave of essence was blowing out from the notice board area. It was like a giant alarm clock.

He rubbed his eyes, took a quick shower and went down there. There was a giant crowd of disciples there. It had to be more than five hundred people. He was one of the last arrivals. He spotted the flower sisters in the crowd and gave them a quick wave.

A raised platform had been erected in the middle of the square. A giant hulking woman with dark brown skin, a mane of pure white hair and piercing eyes stood in the middle. There were seven other elders out there. He spotted East Flower as well.

The woman cleared her throat and started speaking in a sharp voice. Each syllable was measured and weighted. “You’ve had enough time to prepare. Classes were voluntary after your previous excursion and there should be no available excuse for any of you. If the ample rewards and the demotion won’t motivate you then nothing will.” Musnuf swallowed at the mention of the demotion. He clenched his fist.

“Now, if you fail in any of the stages there will be an opportunity after the exam for makeup. However, we find that most people who participate in the makeup exercises perform roughly the same. As for the rewards. First place will receive three thousand spirit stones, three potions of mid-tier essence. This is liquid essence brewed by our very own Elder. The talisman of Moon Faeries…”

Everything tuned out at the mention of that talisman. His heart started pumping up in his chest like it wanted to burst out, the thump-thump sound drowned out everything. How can something like that be here? There were only three hundred of these.

He rubbed his forehead, a bitter taste in his mouth. He had to win this and get number one. He felt wholly unprepared.

Moon Faeries were unique creatures. He’d written about them in his webnovel; they played a pivotal role. Activating that talisman would leave a mark on the user and send out a pulse of energy through the lands. It was static and harmless for everyone except, one man had his ears out for it. The MC. He would be here, on its tail. Nothing would stand in his way when it was concerned with the Moon Faeries.

He couldn’t let it fall into any one’s hands. He had to obtain it and dispose of it. Where was this talisman during the novel? It might’ve been lost during the patriarch’s massacre.

“...the first exercise is going to occur at the Graceful Peace mountain. You have twenty minutes to make your way there.”

Musnuf was at the back of the crowd. He turned around right away and started running. His fat was jiggling up and down but he didn’t dare stop. It would mean being crushed by the horde of people behind him.

He heard a sharp snap, like a whip and someone sailed over him. This wasn’t going to be easy.