At the thought, Lin Yu immediately grew excited. All he wanted now was to enter the game, learn the Breathing Technique, and then try practicing it in real life.
Lin Yu lay down in the gaming pod and entered the game.
As soon as he entered the game, a wave of drowsiness swept over Lin Yu's consciousness.
Yawning, Lin Yu decided to leave it until tomorrow. For now, he would get some sleep and restore his energy.
After a quick shower, Lin Yu lay down on the inn's wooden bed and fell asleep.
At six in the morning, Lin Yu woke up on time. He didn't know if it was because he had mastered the Meditation Technique, but after only a few hours of sleep, he felt fully rested. He was full of energy, and no one could have guessed he had only slept for a few hours.
He glanced at his panel. He was still afflicted by Weakness today. Hm? Now that his experience bar was full, [Breakthrough pending] had appeared after it. He probably needed a breakthrough or something to keep leveling up. Oh well, he would look into it when he had time.
Lin Yu got up, washed, and fixed his hair. After breakfast, he opened his panel and entered the forum. It was a way for him to receive information from other Newbie Villages, and today he wanted to see if there was any news.
He quickly browsed through it and found quite a bit of new information. For example, quite a few players who had chosen Forging-type professions had managed to make iron weapons.
When he had checked the forum yesterday, the equipment and weapons players showed off had mostly been wooden armor, wooden weapons, stone weapons, and weapons fashioned from beast bones.
But today, Lin Yu had already seen players showing off iron spears on the forum. Before long, players might even manage to make armor like paper armor, cloth armor, and plate armor.
Besides that, Lin Yu also saw posts offering to buy in-game currency. The highest rate he had seen so far was one yuan in real money for ten copper coins.
Lin Yu also learned that the prices of Vitality Powder and Beast Lure Powder had fallen because there was too much of both on the market. They now sold for two copper coins a portion.
Lin Yu had also seen Simple Blood-Activating Potions on the forum. Looking at the price of two hundred silver coins a bottle, he had to marvel at how much more the seller was charging. He had thought his own price of fifty silver coins a bottle was steep enough, but there was always someone ready to charge more. Someone in another Newbie Village had already raised the price to two hundred silver coins a bottle.
"Sigh! Once I finish this batch, I'm done making these two." Seeing that the prices of Vitality Powder and Beast Lure Powder would clearly keep falling, Lin Yu decided that once he finished this batch, he wouldn't make either of them again. If he wanted to earn money in the future, he could just make Simple Blood-Activating Potions.
After browsing the forum a little longer and confirming there was nothing useful, Lin Yu closed it.
He had a lot to do today: practice Potion Refining to earn more money, practice magic and try to master casting without relying on System Casting, and visit the library to learn the Breathing Technique. Then he needed to see if he could master the Breathing Technique in real life.
After checking the materials in his backpack, Lin Yu decided to refine a batch of potions first and use up the materials he had.
He still needed glass bottles to make Simple Blood-Activating Potions. After spending ten silver coins on five hundred bottles at the general store, Lin Yu went to the Alchemy Workshop. He checked the time remaining on his workshop key, spent five silver coins to extend it for another day, and entered the room.
"Damn, I'm exhausted! I'm never doing Potion Refining again!" Sprawled on the Alchemy Workshop floor, Lin Yu just wanted to lie there for a while. More than nine whole hours! Did you know how Lin Yu had spent those nine hours? He had spent the entire time doing Potion Refining over and over. Now the sight of a potion made him want to puke.
After lying there for a while, Lin Yu got back to his feet. Now he needed to sell the potions he had on him for money.
He opened his panel, clicked on his friends page, and selected Guan Canghai. After a quick search, Lin Yu found the button for sending pictures.
Lin Yu sent him a screenshot of the potions in his backpack and waited for a reply.
Guan Canghai soon saw the screenshot Lin Yu had sent.
Guan Canghai: I can offer 100 silver coins a bottle for the Simple Blood-Activating Potions, but only 1 copper coin a portion for the Vitality Powder and Beast Lure Powder. Can you accept those prices?
I'm Just Passing By: Yes. Where do we trade?
Lin Yu checked the forum. The price of Simple Blood-Activating Potions was still sky-high, so the offer of one hundred silver coins a bottle was clearly low.
But Lin Yu had no desire to haggle. He wanted to sell the potions quickly so he could learn the Breathing Technique and practice magic. He didn't want to waste time arguing.
After seeing the location Guan Canghai gave him, Lin Yu quickly flew over.
When he arrived at the designated trading spot, the other party wasn't there yet, so Lin Yu decided to practice magic for a while.
Before practicing magic, though, there was something else Lin Yu needed to practice. Only after he had mastered it would he be ready to practice magic.
That was his ability to control his own mana.
To cast even the simplest Glimmer Illumination spell, he needed to maintain a steady output of mana, manipulate it with precision, and use it to do two things at once. Only after he could do all that would he be ready to try mastering magic.
At present, Lin Yu's control over his mana was still fairly basic. He could only perform simple operations, such as covering part of his body with mana or releasing it. His control was also unstable: sometimes he released too much mana, and other times he could only release part of it.
The method for training mana control was simple: maintain Mana Protection. Keeping it active for a long time could train one's ability to control mana.
When beginners used Mana Protection, their mana could only cover part of their bodies, and it appeared unstable, like a flame flickering in a fierce wind.
Once they could control their mana proficiently, Mana Protection would look like flames covering their entire bodies.
Once they could control their mana with precision, Mana Protection would resemble a layer of rippling water covering their bodies.
After gaining some understanding of magic, Lin Yu finally knew what the various hand seals required for System Casting were for.
Their purpose was simple: they helped the user mobilize mana and convert its attributes.
The hand seals had been developed by top-tier spellcasters of the past to help beginners master their mana more quickly.
Lin Yu's control over his own mana was still at the beginner stage. For now, when he used Mana Protection, his mana could only cover one hand.
Lin Yu switched his casting mode to Manual Casting. While forming hand seals to maintain Mana Protection over his right hand, he spared a sliver of concentration to open his panel.
To be honest, Lin Yu was curious about what System-Assisted Casting, the option between System Casting and Manual Casting, actually did.
System Casting relied entirely on the system to cast spells. Manual Casting was easy to understand too: the user cast spells entirely on their own, without help from the system.
It was the System-Assisted Casting option in the middle that Lin Yu didn't understand. How exactly did the assistance work? Did it help construct magic arrays or mobilize mana?
Lin Yu decided to try it.