Corrosion

"Excessive meditation caused a large buildup of energy particles inside the body that could not be expelled, which then eroded the internal organs and damaged bodily functions to varying degrees?!"

Ronan searched through the previous owner's memories and finally found the cause of this "symptom."

"Too much meditation can hurt the body too?!"

His expression immediately turned rather grim.

He finally understood why this body's constitution was so poor.

He had assumed the previous owner had been born a young nobleman who lacked restraint from an early age and had ruined his body with wine and women.

But now it seemed the main reason was prolonged erosion from energy particles.

"Because his talent was poor, he had to spend more time meditating than others.

"A huge number of energy particles accumulated in his body, and he couldn't afford potions to neutralize them, so his health kept worsening until he was even weaker than an ordinary person."

Ronan's expression darkened.

The memories he had fused were fragmented and incomplete. Combined with the fact that his Meditation Technique had not yet reached the entry level before, he had never noticed this.

Only now, looking back through them, did he realize that energy particle erosion was actually a problem many wizards suffered from.

Yet it was not taken very seriously.

It was still because of the opening line of the Basic Meditation Technique—souls were the destination of immortality.

For wizards, the ultimate goal of cultivation was the pursuit of so-called eternal souls. Other than that, there was nothing that could not be discarded.

Including their own fleshly bodies.

Besides, when a Wizard Apprentice advanced to become an official wizard, their physical body would receive a slight enhancement.

And afterward, they could still modify their bodies through spells.

"No wonder every wizard this guy had seen in his memories either looked exceptionally old or bizarrely ugly. Is this the state of bottom-tier wizards?"

Ronan felt powerless for a moment.

He was not someone who cared much about appearances, but while he could accept looking a little worse, he could not accept having the body of a sixty-year-old at sixteen.

If he kept cultivating at this rate, it felt like it would not be long before he needed a cane just to walk.

He probably would not even be able to climb trees anymore. Then he would have no choice but to eat, drink, piss, and shit in the tree every day.

"That would be fucking awful..."

Ronan imagined himself trembling as he clung to a branch and pissed all over his pants in midair. He truly could not bear the thought.

Solving the problem of energy particle erosion was actually simple.

One method was to control the frequency of meditation.

Meditate fewer times and increase the intervals between sessions.

After one meditation session, he could wait for his body to slowly expel the excess energy particles before beginning the next. The situation would improve considerably.

But that would undoubtedly greatly slow his cultivation speed, making Ronan's already abysmal talent even worse.

The other method was to take potions.

But that was even less feasible.

The cheapest neutralizing potion cost more than ten Low-Level Magic Stones per bottle. With that money, Ronan would be better off buying supplementary medicine that could directly increase his spiritual power.

If he wanted neither to slow down his cultivation nor spend money, then there was only one option. "Train."

Ronan let out a short breath and said gloomily, "From now on, physical exercise is officially included in my daily cultivation routine."

This was the dumbest method.

He would train his body until it was strong, then fight those invading energy particles head-on!

Poor people could only rely on themselves.

After half an hour of work, Ronan had collected a whole jar of morning dew.

This was a relatively easy-to-obtain wizard material. After reading several books last night, Ronan had begun consciously gathering it.

He placed the jar full of morning dew in a cool spot, plucked a handful of sage leaves, crushed them, and stuffed them into his mouth to brush his teeth perfunctorily. Then he began preparing breakfast.

Breakfast was simple as well: a small pot of mixed-grain wheat porridge.

There were no side dishes to go with it, so he added a little Stone Honey left behind by the previous owner, though he had no idea how long it had been stored.

Unexpectedly, it tasted quite good.

Holding his bowl, Ronan squatted at the entrance to the hut and slurped down porridge, opening his Character Panel in passing.

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level 1 Wizard Apprentice (86%)

Skill: Basic Meditation Technique (Beginner 5/100)

Over the course of the night, his Strength Progress had not budged at all, but the proficiency of his Meditation Technique had increased by five points.

Ronan was no longer as excited and delighted as he had been last night.

Mainly because he had spent the whole night studying this panel and discovered that, aside from displaying his cultivation status in real time, it apparently had no other use.

"So I still have to grind it out myself."

Ronan felt somewhat depressed. He hurriedly finished breakfast, washed the bowl, and climbed down from the tree along the long vine in front of the house.

It was the perfect time for morning exercise.

Strengthening his physique was an urgent task, so Ronan acted at once.

He roughly planned out his morning running route.

"Follow this path straight ahead, turn right beneath the fourth oak tree, then go around to the left when you see a mud pit."

"If I run into danger, turn back immediately the way I came!"

Once he felt it was about right, Ronan began jogging slowly along the forest path.

The paths through the woods were difficult to traverse, uneven and often blocked by rocks or fallen trees.

But that was perfect for exercise.

After running for a while, Ronan had already begun sweating, and his breathing had become much more labored.

If it came to exercising, the grassy shore by the lake would have been ideal.

But ever since encountering the wizards' fight yesterday, Ronan had temporarily decided not to go there.

The grassland had an open field of view. If something happened, there would be nowhere to hide.

His robe was soaked through with sweat, clinging damply and uncomfortably to his skin. Its oversized sleeves and hem also got in the way.

Ronan thought that he should change into something else later. He remembered that among the clothes left behind by the previous owner was a lightweight hunting outfit, which was more suitable for moving around in the forest.

"I've fallen this low already, so why bother with wizard etiquette? Wearing a Wizard Robe doesn't necessarily make someone a wizard."

Ronan panted heavily from exhaustion, even the roots of his hair soaked through.

He pushed aside a patch of bushes and saw water bubbling out from a tree hollow beneath a large tree ahead. He gradually slowed his pace.

"I've probably run seven or eight li by now."

Ronan was not sure either. He casually took a golden pocket watch from his clothes and checked the time.

Nearly an hour and a half had passed since he set out from the treehouse.

A few parts of his body had been accidentally scratched by branches, leaving streaks of blood that stung fiercely after coming into contact with sweat.

"Good thing there aren't any large beasts in this area. Otherwise, I really wouldn't dare go this deep."

Thinking this, Ronan walked toward the water-filled tree hollow ahead.

When he reached it, he scooped up a handful of water and tasted it. It was remarkably clear, cool, and sweet.

After washing up briefly, Ronan took off his shoes and soaked his feet in it.