"Forget it. There's no point thinking about this now. I don't even know what this game really is yet. It's more important to keep meditating." After letting his thoughts wander for a while, Lin Yu decided to give up on the question.
This was no time to think about such pointless things. What he needed to do now was continue meditating.
Now that he had opened a Magic Aperture, the next step was to strengthen it so it could hold more Mana.
Controlling the Mana he had just refined, Lin Yu began strengthening his Magic Aperture.
Right now, Lin Yu's Magic Aperture was still far too small compared to his Mental Sea.
Under normal progress through meditation, the size of the Mental Sea was tied to the size of the Magic Aperture. Only by meditating to strengthen the soul and increase its strength could one continue strengthening the Magic Aperture. But Lin Yu's spirit attribute in the game had not increased through meditation at all. As a result, his soul was already extremely strong, while his Magic Aperture was still at its weakest.
Here was how the Meditation Technique trained the soul and strengthened the Magic Aperture.
Every time someone meditated to refine Mana and strengthen their Magic Aperture, the Mana would also temper their soul, slightly increasing its strength and thereby enlarging their Mental Sea.
The larger the Mental Sea, the stronger the Magic Aperture, the more Mana one could refine through meditation, and the better the effect on the soul.
Another point was that the strength of a Magic Aperture could not exceed the limit of what its owner's Mental Sea could contain. Once a Magic Aperture reached its current limit, all the Mana refined would be used to train the soul and increase the upper limit of the Mental Sea.
If the Mental Sea was larger than the Magic Aperture, all the refined Mana would be used to expand the Magic Aperture, with virtually no training effect on the soul.
Lin Yu's Mental Sea was already enormous, but his Magic Aperture was still very weak. At the moment, all the Mana he refined was used to strengthen his Magic Aperture.
He continuously consumed Mental Power to refine the magic energy around him and strengthen his Magic Aperture.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Yu felt waves of fatigue coming from his soul and sensed that he had consumed more than half his Mental Power. He stopped refining Mana and strengthening his Magic Aperture.
According to the Meditation Technique, he should stop cultivating when his soul began to feel tired. His Mental Power was now nearly exhausted. Continuing to cultivate would not only be less efficient but also risk damaging his soul.
To recover Mental Power, all he needed to do was sleep. Of course, maintaining the tranquil state used in meditation could also speed up its recovery.
After meditating briefly, Lin Yu waited until most of the fatigue in his soul had faded, then opened his eyes and stopped meditating. He opened his panel and glanced at the time. It was after one in the morning.
He had meditated for about four hours this time. Lin Yu prepared to see how much he had improved.
[Mana: 927/927]
Looking at his Mana, Lin Yu did the math. His Mana should have increased more than ten times as quickly when he meditated himself as it did when he relied on the system.
Was the game designed this way to encourage players to improve by meditating on their own?
After thinking about it, Lin Yu decided to give up on the question. He now wanted to log out and see. He had already learned to control his Mental Power and opened a Magic Aperture in Era, but after logging out, could he still control his Mental Power in reality and then open a Magic Aperture there?
Lin Yu decided to log out and find out.
What if Mental Power did not exist? What if cultivating in the game was just an illusion created by the game? Although Lin Yu had always believed there was more to this game than met the eye, he was still somewhat afraid that everything he had gained through cultivation in the game was an illusion created by it.
That unease had lingered in Lin Yu's heart ever since he cultivated Mana through his own efforts. Now, Lin Yu urgently needed to verify whether Mental Power existed.
Lin Yu opened the panel and chose to log out.
After taking a while to adjust to the strange feeling caused by the change in his speed of thought when he logged out of the game, Lin Yu raised a hand to rub his temples and ease the discomfort, then sat up in the gaming pod.
Ignoring the strange feeling that still lingered in his body, Lin Yu tried to sink his consciousness into his Mental Sea.
Sensing that his Mental Sea was dozens of times weaker than it was in the game, Lin Yu could not help laughing out loud.
"Hahaha! I knew it! What's in this game really is real! Hahaha! Mental Power really exists! The supernatural is real!"
Although his Mental Sea was much weaker than in the game, it did indeed exist. He also still had the ability to control his Mental Power, though it was much harder to mobilize than in the game.
Just as Lin Yu was about to try opening a Magic Aperture in reality, discomfort from his stomach interrupted him.
He quickly got up and rushed into the bathroom to take care of his bodily needs.
After taking care of his bodily needs, Lin Yu returned to the bedroom.
Sitting on the bed, Lin Yu assumed the proper posture, closed his eyes, and relaxed his body, allowing himself to enter that tranquil state.
Next, he needed to extend his Mental Power outside his body.
He controlled his Mental Power and slowly extended it outward. Unlike in the game, where he could mobilize it with ease, Lin Yu's Mental Power was now as difficult to mobilize as if it were trapped in a swamp.
It took Lin Yu a full ten minutes to successfully extend his Mental Power outside his body.
As his Mental Power extended beyond his body, Lin Yu saw everything outside through his mental perception.
Empty.
If what he saw when he extended his mental perception outside his body in the game was a multicolored ocean of magic energy made up of elements, then reality was a void containing nothing. There was not a single element in this void, let alone magic energy formed from large quantities of elements.
The first step in opening a Magic Aperture required refining elements into one's own Mana. Only with Mana could one open a Magic Aperture in the Mental Sea.
But now there were no elements at all in reality, so Lin Yu's plan to open a Magic Aperture came to nothing.
"Ah! Looks like I can't open a Magic Aperture in reality! I wonder when elements will appear in reality? I really want to master magic in reality soon!" After that remark, Lin Yu came out of his meditative state.
"I wonder when I'll be able to cultivate in reality... Hm? Cultivate?" Stretching out his body, Lin Yu made the casual remark. When he said "cultivate," he had the feeling there was something he had overlooked, and he stopped stretching at once.
Cultivation... cultivation... What is it? Come on, remember! Meditation Technique... Breathing Technique. That's it, the Breathing Technique! How could I have forgotten about it!
Racking his brains and searching his memories, Lin Yu finally realized what he had overlooked.
His game character's physical attributes were too low to practice the Breathing Technique at all, which meant Lin Yu had never even considered practicing it.
After returning to reality, the first things he had thought of when he wanted to gain supernatural power were also the Meditation Technique and magic.
But the fact that his game character's physical condition was not good enough to practice the Breathing Technique did not mean his real body could not practice it. He could learn how to cultivate the Breathing Technique in the game, then try practicing it in reality.
My body should be fit enough to practice the Breathing Technique, right? Should be?