Looking at the old man before him, Lin Yu took fifty copper coins out of his backpack and placed them on the table. "I'd like to borrow them for one hour."
As the old man collected the copper coins from the table, a countdown appeared once more in the upper-right corner of Lin Yu's panel.
With his first visit behind him, Lin Yu flew straight to the Basic Meditation Method, knowing the way.
Lin Yu took the Basic Meditation Method off the shelf and began reading.
This time, the progress bar below the Meditation Technique filled exceptionally slowly. It took a full three minutes to reach one hundred percent.
The moment the progress bar reached one hundred percent, a notification appeared as expected.
[Completed one study session. Learned technique "Basic Meditation Method." Experience +600]
His experience bar filled instantly, bringing him straight to level eight. After he allocated his free attribute points to Spirit, his Spirit reached 133.
Lin Yu turned his attention away from his attributes and opened the description of the Basic Meditation Method, reading it carefully.
[Basic Meditation Method Description: The most basic Meditation Technique, suitable for cultivation by the vast majority of races. Meditation: Enter a meditative state. Movement is prohibited during meditation. Continuously restores mana at a rate of approximately (Spirit × 0.1) per minute. Deep meditation: Enter a deep meditative state. Activity is prohibited during meditation. Each completed deep meditation fully restores mana, increases maximum mana by approximately (Spirit × 0.1), and grants (Spirit × 1) experience.]
"Oh, so you need a technique to increase your maximum mana! No wonder it hasn't changed even though I've allocated points so many times!" Looking at the Basic Meditation Method's description, Lin Yu finally understood why his maximum mana had never increased despite him leveling up. In this game, allocating points alone couldn't increase mana.
Looking at the Basic Meditation Method among his techniques, Lin Yu really wanted to try deep meditation right then and find out what meditation felt like.
But after seeing the countdown in the upper-right corner, Lin Yu gave up on the idea. Now wasn't the time to meditate. The most important thing was to learn magic; he still didn't know a single skill!
His greatest advantage was his exceptionally high spell power. As long as he learned enough magic, he could become a spell turret.
[Completed one study session. Learned skill "Mana Attachment." Experience +20]
[Completed one study session. Learned skill "Glimmer Illumination." Experience +20]
[Completed one study session. Learned skill "Mana Protection." Experience +20]
[Completed one study session. Learned skill "Water Control." Experience +20]
[Completed one study session. Learned skill "Ignition Spell." Experience +20]
Before he knew it, an hour had passed. In that time, Lin Yu had learned a total of 140 spells.
How was he supposed to use magic now?
After a quick search, Lin Yu soon found the casting method.
Spell Slots appeared after system casting was enabled.
There were five Spell Slots in total. Opening them allowed him to equip the spells he had learned.
Then, all he had to do was complete the hand seals and silently recite the name of the spell he wanted to cast, and the corresponding spell would be released.
Just as Lin Yu was about to try casting Glimmer Illumination, the old man at the library entrance spoke up. "Casting magic is forbidden inside the library."
Hearing the old man's words, Lin Yu stopped casting and floated straight toward the door. Now that he had learned magic, he wanted to try casting it and see what it felt like.
As Lin Yu left, all the books scattered across the floor turned into points of light. The points of light returned to the shelves and reformed into books.
"It's dark! Looks like the length of day and night in the game should be about the same as in real life! So beautiful! I don't think I've seen stars in a long time. I remember being able to see them when I was little." Looking at the stars dotting the night sky, Lin Yu spread his arms as if to embrace the entire starry sky.
"Huh? Why do I feel so thirsty?" Lin Yu stretched out his arms and relaxed his body. Having just finished admiring the beautiful sky, he noticed that something felt strange in his throat.
He opened his panel and only then noticed that his hydration had fallen to 32%, while a status called Dehydrated had appeared in the status bar. Lin Yu hurriedly opened his backpack and took out his waterskin.
Looking at the waterskin in his hand, Lin Yu pulled out the wooden stopper and began replenishing his water.
"Whew, that's better. My hunger bar is only half full too. I might as well fill it while I'm at it!" Seeing his hydration return to 100% on the panel, Lin Yu opened his backpack, took out a piece of bread, and began eating.
Before long, Lin Yu had finished the large piece of bread, washing it down with water.
After replacing the wooden stopper, Lin Yu put the waterskin back in his backpack. At that moment, he noticed a number in parentheses after the waterskin's name: 25%.
That should be how much water is left in the waterskin, Lin Yu thought.
Now that he had eaten and drunk his fill, it was time to practice and learn how to cast magic.
Where should I practice? Outside the village? No, with my attributes and no grasp of magic yet, leaving the Newbie Village now would be throwing my life away.
Then where should I go? Right, the training ground. The guide said it was quite large, so there should be space for me to practice spells.
Having decided where to go next, Lin Yu took off without hesitation and rose into the air. By the glow of the fluorite along the streets and the lights shining from the houses, he quickly located the training ground and flew toward it.
"Huh? Why does it feel like I'm flying faster?" Listening to the wind whistle past his ears, Lin Yu could clearly feel that he was flying much faster than he had at the start.
He thought about what was different from when he had started and soon settled on a likely reason.
It was probably because his Spirit had increased.
Having figured out the likely reason, Lin Yu turned his attention back to controlling his flight.
He tried flying at full speed and watched the scenery rush past him. His top speed should now be comparable to that of some cars. Having established roughly how fast he could fly, Lin Yu decided to continue to the training ground at his current speed.
It took Lin Yu only a little over ten seconds to reach the entrance to the training ground. The Newbie Village really was small.
After remarking on the size of the Newbie Village, Lin Yu entered the training ground.
He took a careful look around. Quite a few players were still exercising there. Lin Yu soon found a spot with no one nearby and quickly flew over.
I'll try the Ignition Spell first. It has a short cooldown and low cost, so it's perfect for practice.
Having chosen his spell, Lin Yu looked at the humanoid wooden post in front of him and opened his skill menu. After checking the casting steps for the Ignition Spell one last time, he closed the menu.