Mastery (Thanks to Pudding Fifty Cents for Becoming an Alliance Leader!)

Mastery (Thanks to Pudding Fifty Cents for Becoming an Alliance Leader!)

Bang!

A cloud of pale dust rose inside the small treehouse with a muffled boom.

Ronan walked out through the lingering dust, expressionless as he brushed stone chips and dirt from his robe.

It seemed this was far from the first time something like this had happened.

"Failed again!"

After the dust inside the treehouse had settled, Ronan walked in and looked at the three blank Rune Stones left on the makeshift workbench. The corner of his eye twitched slightly.

It had been nearly a month since he began researching Rune Inscription.

Three days ago, he had officially begun attempting to inscribe the Cleaning Rune onto blank Rune Stones. Yet after ruining seventeen blank Rune Stones in a row, he still had not succeeded.

"I was so close."

Ronan recalled his most recent failure. He had completed nearly ninety-seven percent of the entire inscription, and the Cleaning Rune had almost fully appeared on the stone. Yet he failed to control the final few cuts, and all his efforts had gone to waste.

The Energy Particles had even spiraled out of control, causing the entire Rune Stone to explode.

"My strength is still lacking. By the end, neither my mental strength nor physical stamina can keep up."

Ronan dipped a towel in water and pressed it to his face, wiping away the fatigue between his brows as he analyzed the reason for his failure.

Rune Inscription was an extremely draining task. Mental strength had to be expended to guide the process from beginning to end, requiring complete concentration and uninterrupted execution. There could not be the slightest pause midway through.

With Ronan's current Level Two Wizard Apprentice mental strength, by the time he reached the end of inscribing a Cleaning Rune, his mental strength was nearly depleted. His condition declined, and he lacked the strength to continue.

"Actually, my progress is already pretty fast. Most wizards probably haven't even gotten proficient at practicing on their hands by now."

The Character Panel had not disappointed Ronan. His entire rune research process had gone quite smoothly.

Whether it was copying practice or carving practice, he improved at an astonishing pace. Once he began working on actual Rune Stones, every failure also gave him plenty of new insights and experience.

Over the first seventeen attempts, his progress had increased at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Every time he failed, his next attempt would make a huge leap forward.

On his sixteenth attempt, Ronan had reached ninety-five percent. He had thought he would succeed completely that time, but he had still fallen short.

"Being close to success and being far from success makes no difference to me at all. I only have this much material. If I use up the remaining three blank Rune Stones and still fail, I'll have to consider taking out a loan or selling my belongings."

Ronan sighed softly and brought up his Character Panel.

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level Two Wizard Apprentice (13%)

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Proficient 156/200)

Energy Missile (Mastery 334/400)

Charged Weapon (Beginner 68/100)

Over the course of a month, all his abilities had improved.

His mental strength had not grown much. His progress as a Level Two Wizard Apprentice had only advanced by ten percent.

At this rate, Ronan could advance to a Level Three Wizard Apprentice in nine months.

Of course, the time might be shortened, because the proficiency of Ronan's Basic Meditation Technique was constantly increasing, and each meditation session was becoming more effective.

Ronan had trained Energy Missile beyond Proficient and reached the Mastery level, further increasing his casting speed.

Now, Ronan only needed to recite a few syllables of the spell and make a simple gesture to cast it successfully. The total casting time had been compressed to under three seconds, and the power of Energy Missile had also increased slightly.

To diversify his methods of attack, Ronan had also learned Charged Weapon, one of the five zero-rank spells.

This spell temporarily enchanted a weapon. In truth, it simply added a thin layer of Energy Particles. Whenever a "charged" weapon collided with an object, the Energy Particles attached to it would be consumed, producing an explosive effect.

Ronan was not skilled at close combat and had not put much effort into this skill. He had practiced it casually, so it was still only at the Beginner level.

Splash!

Ronan casually tossed the wet towel into the basin, sending up a spray of water. He stood up. "I should go for a walk."

Staying inside all day researching Rune Inscription was exhausting. Mental fatigue was one thing, but the cramped treehouse was damp and stuffy. Ronan's backside ached from sitting, and it was not good for his body either.

He climbed down to the ground along a long vine, then coughed hard twice. A faint pain came from the left side of his chest.

The long periods of frequent meditation had caused the Energy Particles to erode his lungs more and more severely. Ronan could already feel the effects.

"Knight Training Method... Knight Training Method... If it comes to it, I'll write home and have someone from the Earl Territory send a few copies over. I'll just have to wait a year or two."

With that thought, Ronan put on his hunting clothes and walked into the forest before him.

The secluded forest was dimly lit, and a faint mist seemed to linger among the trees all year round.

Strangely shaped trees grew wildly everywhere, while a thick layer of fallen leaves and moss covered the ground beneath his feet.

Rustle!

A faint sound came from nearby. Ronan's mental strength, which had been condensed into a ball in his mind, swiftly spread outward. After locking onto the source of the sound, he spoke several rapid, clipped syllables.

"Wu! Lu! Ba!"

He casually pointed a finger, and the air before him swiftly distorted.

A fist-sized sphere of deep blue light rapidly condensed, then shot forward.

Boom!

A shrub more than ten meters in front of Ronan exploded. Dirt and grass flew in every direction, and a thick oak tree slowly toppled over.

Ronan calmly walked over and found a mangled patch of flesh and blood in a huge muddy crater.

Judging from the bits of fur left on the crater wall, the creature that had made the sound was probably an unlucky wild wolf.

"Wizards truly are extraordinary. Spells are far too powerful."

Ronan looked at his "masterpiece" and sighed.

In the mundane world, an ordinary person would have to cultivate the knight's path to a very high level to cause this kind of destruction. Yet this was merely the effect of a low-level zero-rank spell.

The superiority of wizards over ordinary people was plain to see.

Ronan was now far more composed and confident in this stretch of forest than he had been before. Especially after Energy Missile reached Mastery, he felt that he was qualified to fight even a Level Three Apprentice.

His casting speed was far faster than that of ordinary lower-level apprentice wizards, while an Energy Missile at the Mastery level was probably two or three times more powerful than it had been at the Beginner stage.

Of course, this so-called assessment of combat ability was merely Ronan's one-sided guess. He had never fought another wizard, so he had no idea what battles between wizards were like.

Moreover, with Spell Items in the mix, there were simply too many uncertain factors in any battle.

Ronan continued forward along the route he usually took during his morning runs. The fresh air of the forest and its quiet, beautiful surroundings gradually soothed his weary mind.

When he reached a tree spring, Ronan crouched down and washed his hands and face, feeling much more refreshed.

Thanks to my good brother Pudding Fifty Cents for becoming an Alliance Leader~~