Dual-Cycle Method
After answering Qin Lang's baffling question, Su Luo opened his skill panel, his eyes shining.
[Meditation (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
[Basic Visualization Method (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
There were also several other mental skills, of which he had studied and absorbed a few chapters.
As soon as the dungeon cooldown ended, Su Luo entered it again without hesitation.
Time slipped quietly by as he focused completely, and in the blink of an eye, it was the fourth day after the Monster Tide ended.
During that time, Su Luo devoted himself entirely to exploring and constructing his mental domain, free of distractions.
[Meditation (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
[Basic Visualization Method (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
[Zen Meditation (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
[Spirit: 12.6 (↑2.5)]
[Mana: 27 (↑6)]
Once [Meditation] and [Basic Visualization Method] reached their maximum levels, his attribute growth stopped. He studied [Zen Meditation] in depth purely to absorb its essence and complete his own body of knowledge.
What was knowledge for?
Application!
[Meditation (green) Level 20 (MAX)]
[When active, mana recovery speed increases by 250%]
[Meditation] could construct an efficient, stable internal cycle. Like a precision-built internal pump, it primarily drew in and purified energy and mana from the outside world. It operated gently and continuously, providing a steady source of mana while also slowly raising the upper limit of spirit.
[Basic Visualization Method], on the other hand, involved drawing on external forces and expanding through brute force. By visualizing complex images, it intensely consumed and stretched mental power to stimulate growth. Its effect on mana recovery was more of a byproduct, achieved through a rougher method.
Su Luo's idea was to fuse the two into a basic mental discipline that belonged to him alone.
What was the word for it again?
A cultivation technique!
In practice, however, it was far harder than he had imagined. As he tried to control his mental power to run both skills at once, Su Luo was troubled to find that it was too difficult.
The two followed different paths and even conflicted with each other.
Meditation was an internal cycle, and it operated relatively gently.
The Basic Visualization Method belonged to the external cycle and relied on comparatively forceful expansion.
Simply piling them together by brute force would only cause mental disorder, reducing efficiency rather than increasing it.
By a stroke of luck, however, Su Luo had another mental skill he had focused on: [Zen Meditation].
[Zen Meditation] did not directly produce mana. It sought mental "stillness" and a state "as clear as a mirror and as still as water." By casting aside distracting thoughts and resisting inner demons, it tempered the "purity" and "strength" of the mind itself. It improved the "quality" and "control precision" of mental power, while also increasing its "capacity."
Using Zen Meditation as a bridge to balance the two skills, Su Luo began to experiment...
"Actively running Meditation and the Basic Visualization Method both consume mental power, while Zen Meditation itself doesn't produce any additional energy... I need to make the Zen Meditation skill a constant 'state' of my own first..."
After roughly twenty-odd hours, Su Luo's face was pale, and he downed a [Stamina Potion] and a [Mana Potion].
"Again! This time... I can do it!"
Su Luo closed his eyes again.
His consciousness sank into his mental world. His jumbled thoughts quickly subsided, and his turbulent emotions became a clear, silent lake without a ripple.
Empty and clear, pure and clean.
Su Luo carefully introduced the internal energy circulation model of [Meditation], placing it at the very bottom of the lake.
He slowly adjusted the flow of his mental power and mana until the lake was calm once more.
Once he had set it in place, Su Luo looked up and summoned a starry sky. It flowed slowly, like a melting oil painting.
This was the image used by the Basic Visualization Method.
Su Luo disliked the image. With a thought, the countless stars shifted and gathered into a blurry human figure.
This was Su Luo himself.
Su Luo made sweeping changes to the Basic Visualization Method, turning it from a tool for stretching the mind into an external, virtual pressure field, visualizing a rotating nebula within his mental domain.
The nebula descended and pressed down on the lake, then slowly condensed into a human figure.
The mana flow produced and absorbed by the meditation model at the bottom of the lake slowly rose. The once-restless mana calmed the instant it passed through the lake's surface, then was guided through the pressure field to be compressed and tempered. It circled the human figure, returned to the lake's surface to be stabilized again, and was fed back into the meditation model, drawing more mana into the cycle.
It worked!
Su Luo was overjoyed.
This feels great!
As for AFK cultivation...
Although the increase in the upper limits and quality of mental power and mana was only a drop in the bucket,
Every beginning was difficult, and it was better than nothing.
He decided to give this cultivation technique a name.
He would call it the Dual-Cycle Method.
As it stood, the cultivation technique had at least five uses for Su Luo.
Efficient mana recovery: when not actively running it, his mana recovery speed was 80% higher than before. Note that this was a constant state, greatly improving his endurance in battle; when actively running it, his mana recovery speed increased by 360%.
Mental tempering: whether running AFK or actively, his mental power was continuously tempered and purified. Running it over a long period could slightly raise the upper limits of his spirit and mana attributes.
It made it easier to enter a state of deep cultivation, greatly reducing the risk of interruption and strengthening mental resistance.
It made him more sensitive to the flow of his own mana and the energy fluctuations in his surroundings.
AFK cultivation! Although running it AFK was far less efficient than actively running it, at least he could leave it running.
He checked the time. It was just time for the rankings to settle on the fourth day after the Monster Tide, and he was still in the top ten on both rankings.
Su Luo took out the settlement rewards from the past four days and picked out a few useful things.
[Multifunctional Scalpel (Fine)]
[A precision tool for analyzing biological structures]
[Apprentice Robe (Fine)]
[When equipped, moderately increases your defense and slightly reduces mana consumption]
[Clown Shoes (Fine)]
[When equipped, moderately increases your mobility and slightly increases your evasion]
After putting on the equipment, Su Luo took another look at the rankings.
[Level Rankings]
[Top 10: Su Luo — Level 4 (29%)]
[Kill Rankings]
[Top 9: Su Luo]
He was close to falling out of the top ten on both rankings. Su Luo took a closer look at the top hundred on the [Level Rankings] and could not help remarking:
"The heroes of this world are as numerous as carp crossing a river... More than thirty survivors have reached Level 4."
He looked at the top of the rankings again.
[Top 1: Song Shige — Level 5 (100%)]
[Top 2: Ye Xu — Level 5 (100%)]
Those two were still far ahead in level.
Why haven't they gone into a dungeon to get a [Profession Certificate] yet?
Puzzled, Su Luo began browsing the forum.