Alone

"Come on now, you should know these talent orbs are incredibly expensive. If you don't take your chance now, you won't have a chance until the next recruitment." The woman goaded.

"Yeah dad, what's the worst that can happen?" Rinka said.

Her dad had always told her his talent was bad, but seeing how strong he was, she felt he must just be acting humble.

From her perspective, her dad was the best genius in the world, so how could his potential be weak?

Thinking for a moment, Minos decided he might as well give it a go, even though he could already predict the results.

Walking up to the orb, he gently placed his palms onto it as he breathed rhythmically, however as the time passed, nothing happened, not even a slight glimmer.

"This doesn't make any sense…" The woman said, as she looked at Minos, already aware that he was in the Inner Heaven Realm.

However, according to the talent orb, he didn't even have low-level talent, in fact he had what the sect world referred to as a 'wasted physique.'

These were people with essentially no talent, where cultivation was pretty much a hopeless endeavor.

"What's wrong?" Tinka asked from the side.

"According to the orb, you have a wasted physique, but then how did you reach the Inner Heaven Realm?" She asked, knowing that his story must be quite a legendary one.

"It's a long story." Minos said with a smile, not wanting to get into it.

"You're right, but still, I'm afraid it'll be hard for you to reach any higher…"

"That's impossible, my dad is a genius, he can't be a wasted whatever!" Rinka shouted, not wanting to accept the fact.

"Rinka, talent is only one part, but see this, it's more important." Minos smiled, pointing towards his daughter's heart.

"I hope you remember that when you join the sect, after all talent can only take you so far." Minos continued, rubbing his daughter's dyed black hair.

"I will dad… I'll be just like you!" Rinka said, taking Minos's advice to heart.

"That's my girl, and Tinka, take care of her, but also don't stress yourself out too much. Cultivation is no different from raising a child, it may be hard at times, even hopeless, but just like how you would never give up on Rinka, never give up on it either."

"I won't." Tinka said, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Well then, I won't say anymore, you two take care. I'll try and visit you when I have the chance." Minos smiled, waving goodbye before disappearing out of the dark room.

"I'm beginning to realize why he was so successful despite his talent." The woman couldn't help but say, having never expected such a level of wisdom from such a young man.

"My dad is the wisest, strongest, coolest, person ever!" Rinka quickly added.

"I'm sure he is." The woman said with a laugh, thinking secretly to herself that all daughters always thought that about their dads.

She was no different when she was her age, but thinking back on it, even though her dad was a mortal, he really was the greatest man ever.

Becoming slightly melancholy, she shook her head clear, turning back to Tinka and Rinka as she explained what would happen next.

…

Descending the plank, Minos gave one final glance at the ship with a long sigh before finally leaving.

However, he didn't head home right away, instead he walked a short distance before turning around and looking at the ship.

It was only after the sun began setting and the flying-ship finally took off, did Minos finally leave, his forlorn shadow stretching far across the earth.

Reaching home, Minos opened the door, the completely empty house reflective of his heart.

Walking upstairs, Minos laid onto his bed, turning over subconsciously as if to grab Tinka, only to realize that she was gone.

Sitting back up with a sigh, Minos couldn't help but look at the portrait he had hung on the wall of the room.

In the picture, he was standing at the center, Tinka and Rinka both smiling widely as they stood beside him.

Who knew that this would be the last thing he had to remember them by? Reaching out, Minos couldn't help but gently rub his fingers across the picture, wanting nothing more than to feel them one more time.

Standing back up, Minos walked towards Rinka's room, taking a look inside as he remembered his little girl.

Walking back out, Minos headed towards the balcony that faced the backyard, taking a look at the desolate playground.

To be honest, these past three months was the most time Minos ever spent with his family, after all, even back when he was at the tribe, most of his time was spent trying to come up with a cure.

Meanwhile, he had no such obligations here, and after a short day of work, he could spend the rest of the time with Tinka and Rinka.

Yet just as they got to truly appreciate what it was like being a family, they were separated once more.

But despite how much separation hurt, Minos knew it was for the best, even if it didn't feel like it.

Heading back to his room, Minos reached out through his draw for a moment before finally pulling out his flute, the same one Tinka had gifted him.

By now the flute was painted pink, a few red finger-prints left all over its surface, something Rinka had done as a surprise for him.

Smiling, he put the flute to his lips before he began blowing, not trying to play any song in specific, but rather just following his heart.

Soon enough, a melodic tune filled the room, one that was hard to explain, neither sad nor happy, but rather, somewhere in the middle.

As if nostalgic for what once was, the depression one would feel as they remembered how those days were long gone.

But similarly, the joy they would also experience as they remembered those sweet thoughts.

It was as if the more beautiful and happy the memories, the deeper the sadness, causing one to be caught in some sort of limbo between pain and pleasure.

As the tune finally reached its end, Minos gently placed his flute back into the nightstand, slowly closing the draw, as if also giving close to this stage of his life…

…

The next morning, after getting used to the absence of Tinka and Rinka, Minos headed to the Talisman Guild, deciding now was the time to finally put his master plan in motion.

Despite having not spent much time studying these past three months, Minos had still swept through a small portion of the Talisman Guild library.

By now, he was already confident in creating an even more refined Signal Talisman, and he even had ideas towards other talismans that could possibly synergize with the Signal Talisman to create an even more efficient communication system.

But to confirm all of these, Minos still had to create some test talismans, so the second he arrived at the Talisman Guild, he rented a private room.

Heading upstairs, Minos ordered the dozens of portions of the materials he needed, wanting to avoid being disturbed as much as possible.

Once the materials arrived, he shut the door tightly before clearing his mind and activating his Omniscient Eyes.

With his eyes activated, his mind was as clear as an undisturbed lake, even his thoughts of Tinka and Rinka being suppressed as his powers operated.

Having already run through this hundreds of times in his head, Minos was quick to successfully create his first refined Signal Talisman.

However, after a quick test, he wasn't completely satisfied, so he quickly drew up a new plan before creating his second version.

This time, it was a little better, but Minos knew that his knowledge reversers would allow him to push even more, so he didn't stop yet.

It was only after creating a dozen Signal Talisman's, slowly refining it with each creation, did Minos finally create his magnum opus.

This new Signal Talisman was around ten times stronger than the original, so much better that Minos felt the original name no longer made sense.

Thinking for a while, Minos decided to rename this new talisman the Grand Signal Talisman, and even though the name was practically the same, he felt it fit.

With his Grand Signal Talisman completed, he got to work on his other ideas, wanting to create a talisman that could possibly amplify the signal even further.

By now, the Grand Signal Talisman could already operate within a radius of 10,000 kilometers, but Minos wanted to make it even stronger.

His plan was to split his Signal Talisman's into two types, which he called senders and receivers.

His receivers didn't need to have as far a reach, and instead Minos just needed to create a single, or maybe a couple senders that were strong enough to communicate with all the receivers within a certain distance.

Not only would this save a tremendous amount of resources, but Minos felt like it would make the system much more stream-lined and easy to manipulate.