In fact the handyman disciple competition was the reason he went against Gantel in the first place. He knew the way Gantel thought, hence he knew he'd get at least a month of free time, which was enough to create his first talisman.
Combined with his "Green Bull Through Planet," he should be able to finally put Gantel in his place.
Naturally he had no hopes of winning this competition. The disciples in the top three were usually all at the Third Lock Break, giving them 600 pounds of strength. Coupled with them being veteran disciples having not only age, but better mastery over the Green Bull Tendon Fist, they likely had around 1000 pounds of force.
This was also based on what Minos had seen in his last handyman disciple tournament, and he felt this estimate was about right.
Of course the first place reward of a mid-level Lock Breaking Pill was incredibly alluring. With it, one could almost certainly break through to the Fourth Lock Break, finally reaching the minimum requirements to join the outer sect.
Outer disciples are considered official disciples, which means that not only do they no longer have to do chores, they can also take on quests to earn far more contribution points.
But more important than all of this to Minos was that outer disciples could enter the outer library using points, learning new fighting techniques and having free access to all the mortal knowledge.
For other people, mortal knowledge probably wouldn't be very enticing, but for Minos who had been a beggar before he joined the Green Barrel Sect, it was critical information.
He knew very little of this world, other than the basic knowledge. The only things he really knew was the Alephora continent which he resided on, as well as the Green Barrel Sect he was in at the moment.
To master the world, one must know it, so Minos couldn't wait to absorb all that wisdom. He wanted to travel the world, not wanting to be restricted to this small handyman area.
…
The next month passed in relative peace. Just as Minos had imagined, Gantel no longer bothered with him, instead waiting for the handyman disciple competition to begin.
Meanwhile Minos had finally gotten his hands on everything he needed. At the moment he could only afford one talisman paper, hence he hoped the last month of training his calligraphy training would pay off, and he could complete it in his first try.
Minos had even gone out of his way to cobble together a little table to work on. Of course the quality of it was questionable, but it was flat and solid, so Minos was satisfied.
Laying the talisman paper down on the table, Minos picked up his talisman brush, dipping it in some water to straighten the tip before drying it off to make it firm.
The bristles on the talisman brush were made out of demonic beast fur, hence they were very firm and great for writing with.
Minos took in a deep breath before dipping the talisman brush into his beast inkwell. Minos didn't even look at the brush as he dipped it.
Pulling it out of the inkwell in one smooth motion, Minos allowed the brush to travel smoothly through the air, not spilling a single drop, before landing on the small talisman paper with unparalleled accuracy.
In this moment, it was as if Minos had shut off all other thoughts. The entire world became empty except for the brush and paper.
All irrelevant thoughts vanished from his mind, leaving behind only what he needed to know. His deep black eyes seemed to glimmer for a moment, as if the world's mysteries were contained in them, before his hand began to move.
It was as if his wrist became a gimbal, allowing his hand to move with exceptional precision.
Soon the first stroke of "Nux Gathering" was done, but this was the easiest part. To properly form a talisman, all the strokes had to connect together seamlessly. If even a single stroke wasn't properly connected, the entire talisman would be considered a failure.