Meditation

When he woke from his sleep and rubbed his eyes to look out the window, Ronan realized that the sun was already close to setting.

Ronan's first thought was to hurry up and cook. Once it got dark, cooking by candlelight would be far too miserable.

Besides, he was starving by then.

After washing his hands with water from the storage jar, Ronan took out the food left behind by the previous owner of his body—a mixed grain blend containing quinoa, corn, black beans, and various things he could not identify.

Outside, this stuff would probably be worth only a few copper coins, but in Hoddam Wizard Land, a pound of it cost one Magic Stone Grain.

One Low-Level Magic Stone could be split into a hundred Magic Stone Grains. In other words, one Magic Stone could buy only a hundred pounds of this coarse grain.

The prices in Wizard Land were outrageously high.

Ronan scooped two spoonfuls of mixed grain into a small pot, then added some water.

While the rice cooked, he made himself a bowl of soup with wild mushrooms the previous owner had picked in the forest and a few pine pigeon eggs.

Mixed-grain rice with mushroom egg-drop soup made for a simple dinner.

When someone was starving enough, they did not care much about texture or flavor. As long as it filled their stomach, that was enough.

By the time Ronan had eaten and drunk his fill, he waddled slowly out of the treehouse with his belly full. Outside, the sky had already gone completely dark.

The night sky overhead had turned a deep, dark blue, while faint specks of light gradually emerged throughout the surrounding forest, leaving it anything but dim.

Countless tiny creatures resembling fireflies rose from the ground in swarms, like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind, dyeing the tranquil night in a beauty that felt like a fairy-tale dream.

Unfortunately—smack!

Ronan slapped his arm hard, killing a mosquito.

"There are way too many mosquitoes in this damned place at night."

His robe could not keep mosquito bites out at all. Ronan had stood at the doorway for only a short while before he was covered in bites.

Grimacing in pain, he hurried back into the treehouse.

A moment later, he came back out.

Ronan had sprinkled a generous amount of insect-repelling powder over his robe, and he now held a small net and a translucent white gauze pouch.

Perched on a branch of the Old Oak Tree, Ronan used the net to scoop up the glowing lights dancing through the night.

These firefly-like creatures were actually not hard to catch. Before long, the gauze pouch in Ronan's hand was stuffed full.

"Forty... There should be forty. That ought to be enough, right?"

Just as Ronan hesitated over whether to continue, he suddenly heard rustling footsteps and voices from nearby.

Ronan immediately became alert and instinctively wanted to hide back inside the treehouse.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too slow.

Two figures, one tall and one short, emerged from the woods.

By the moonlight and faint glow of the fireflies, he could make out a robed man and woman walking side by side, chatting as they strolled, seemingly out for an evening walk.

Ronan froze on the branch, clutching his net and gauze pouch without daring to move. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his mind raced. Fortunately, they merely glanced at him before looking away, then vanished into the woods again in the blink of an eye.

"Hoo..."

Only after the pair had completely disappeared did Ronan let out a long breath, his tense muscles slowly relaxing.

Then he felt utterly frustrated.

"I'm practically a spooked bird now..."

"It's because I'm too weak."

Ronan sighed. He no longer had any interest in catching bugs, so he quickly returned to the treehouse with his things.

He blew out the candle in the room and hung the gauze pouch full of fireflies from the ceiling beam. A simple "lightbulb" was complete.

Unfortunately, it would last only one night.

Once dawn came, every bug in the pouch would die.

Ronan stared at his homemade gauze pouch for a while. The bright yellow glow of the fireflies spread gently through the little house like water, far surpassing candles in both illumination and appearance. Only then did he withdraw his gaze in satisfaction and sit down at the round oak table before him.

The table was already covered in books, all left behind by the previous owner.

The four Ronan focused on were—

"Basic Meditation Technique"

"Complete Compendium of Zero-Order Spells"

"Runology: A Collection of Ten Common Zero-Order Runes"

"Basics of Potionology"

These four books were his most valuable possessions at the moment.

The previous owner had spent nearly all the Magic Stones he had brought from home to exchange for these four books at Hoddam Wizard Academy.

These four books represented knowledge and inheritance. They were also keys capable of opening the door to wizardry.

A large portion of the wizards gathered in Hoddam Wizard Land were students of Hoddam Wizard Academy.

Hoddam Wizard Academy did not have demanding admission standards. Basically, as long as one had enough money for tuition, they would be admitted.

But studying at the academy, selecting courses, attending classes, eating, and lodging all cost money.

Once the Magic Stones on one's person ran out, the academy would "show" them out just as easily as it had let them in.

Thus, while Hoddam Wizard Academy had many students, very few ever gained Hoddam Academy's true recognition. Once someone earned that honor, it became synonymous with power and genius.

"This doesn't seem like a school. It feels more like a business."

Ronan muttered a couple of words, then casually opened the black-covered Basic Meditation Technique before him.

Mental power was the foundation and core of a wizard's power system, while meditation was the primary means of increasing mental power. Its importance went without saying.

Ronan had tried "meditating" several times over the past two days, but he had not succeeded once. Every time, he felt as though he was just a little short.

It seemed he had not inherited any of the previous owner's experience or insights in this area. He could only start over as a complete beginner.

"...Empty your mind, cast aside distracting thoughts, and focus your spirit on a single point."

Ronan read aloud the steps described in the book.

After reading, he closed the book, shut his eyes, and silently went over them several more times in his mind, relaxing himself in the process.

Once Ronan felt that he was ready, he stood up, drank some water, washed his hands, and then washed his face.

Then he took off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the small bed where he slept.

In truth, wizards had no particular requirements for physical posture during meditation. Lying down or lying face-down were both fine.

But Ronan had tried that. It was too easy to fall asleep.

As he climbed onto the bed, he accidentally pulled back one corner of the thin blanket beneath him, revealing a line of small words.

"The soul is the home of immortality."

Ronan read it softly, a strange look appearing on his face.

This sentence was the opening line of Basic Meditation Technique, a famous maxim widely circulated throughout the Wizard World.

Its meaning was to warn every person who embarked upon the path of wizardry that mental power was the focus of cultivation, and that pursuing the soul's immortality was true immortality.

Yet now, someone had carved it into the bed board as a reminder to themselves.

It was obviously not carved by the previous owner, because the writing looked quite old.

Perhaps it had been the previous owner of this little wooden house, or even the one before that.

Ronan's imagination unfurled. Long ago, in the same little wooden house, beneath the same dim yellow light, on the same bed board—

A boy about his age had sat in the same spot, alone, silently meditating and cultivating with hardship, dreaming that one day he would leave the Treehouse Area and enter the academy. Thinking of this, Ronan somehow found a little more courage and motivation in his heart.

The words he had discovered by chance gave him an inexplicable sense of encouragement and strength. The lingering fear from being frightened twice during the day and night gradually faded away, and his mind finally settled completely.