Level Two

Seeing the panel, Ronan felt his spirits lift slightly.

The effects of high-intensity meditation were indeed remarkable.

His spiritual power had increased by two percent, bringing him closer to the realm of a Level Two Apprentice.

The words Energy Missile had appeared in the skill column, and its proficiency had already reached (Beginner 14/100).

"It feels so good to see tangible rewards for hard work."

Ronan could not help but sigh.

Now lying on his bed, emptying his mind and body as he reflected on a day of arduous training, Ronan slowly noticed something strange.

His process of learning Energy Missile had gone a little too smoothly.

According to the memories of the original owner of this body, it was normal for many novice wizards to spend weeks, or even a month or so, successfully mastering their first zero-tier spell.

Yet he had done it in just one day.

And that was without anyone to guide him, relying entirely on his own exploration.

"Could I be a once-in-a-million spellcasting genius?!"

Ronan shook his head. After thinking it over, he felt the reason probably lay with the panel.

This Character Panel seemed to possess some miraculous ability to "solidify" every bit of progress he made.

During his practice of Energy Missile, he had practically achieved the impossible: once he made a mistake, he would never make it again.

This became even more obvious after he had gotten the hang of Energy Missile.

After every casting, fragmented insights naturally emerged from the depths of his mind, becoming nourishment for him to cast the spell better next time.

The Meditation Technique was the same.

The time Ronan needed to enter a meditative state grew shorter and shorter, while the effects of his meditation improved significantly.

"If it's really like I think... then I'm going to be insanely badass."

Ronan muttered as he lay in bed.

He had not lit a lamp, and moonlight streamed in through the window.

Staring at the pitch-black ceiling, he felt drowsiness surge over him like a tide, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.

Ronan was too tired. After all, he still could not completely replace sleep with meditation.

Over the following days, Ronan became thoroughly disciplined.

Every morning, he rose early for training. Then came spell practice and meditation. In the afternoon, he exercised for another two hours, continuing like this until late at night.

He naturally slept less than four hours a day.

Before he knew it, half a month had passed.

"Uru, Bazidamu!"

A low chant rang out in the quiet Oak Forest.

The airflow in the woods abruptly changed. A mottled ball of light the size of a ping-pong ball suddenly appeared and shot into a patch of bushes.

Boom!

A violent explosion rang out, followed by what seemed to be a pained cry.

Amid flying grass, leaves, and dirt, the bushes were instantly cleared away, leaving behind only a complete mess.

"Hm?!"

In the distance, Ronan, who had just fired an Energy Missile, wore an odd expression as he lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought.

"When I cast it just now, I cut out two chant syllables and skipped several gestures... and it still worked."

Ronan opened his Character Panel.

Sure enough, in the panel's skill column, the Beginner label after Energy Missile had changed to (Proficient 1/200). "The skill proficiency level increased?!"

Ronan was delighted, though he was not surprised.

Energy Missile had been stuck at (Beginner 99/100) for the past day or two. This breakthrough had come naturally.

"After the proficiency increase, the chant syllables and gestures were streamlined, cutting several more seconds off the casting time."

After Energy Missile reached Proficient, Ronan felt that his understanding of the spell had deepened considerably.

The essence of casting a spell was using spiritual power to drive energy particles into resonance. Whether chants or gestures, they were merely methods to better facilitate that resonance.

If Ronan could one day completely grasp the rhythm of that resonance, then skipping the lengthy chants and cumbersome gestures to cast spells instantly would not be impossible.

"After the upgrade, the casting time has dropped to just under seven or eight seconds. It's much faster than when I started, but the cast time is still too long. If I fought a melee class, that gap would be enough for them to launch several attacks."

Ronan shook his head and walked toward where the Energy Missile had landed.

At the spot where the Energy Missile had struck was a large crater two meters wide and half a meter deep.

Inside lay a mangled wild elk, so badly torn apart that its original shape could no longer be pieced together.

Ronan crouched down, drew the dagger he carried at his waist, and began cutting edible portions from the dead elk.

Now that he had successfully mastered an offensive method, he could finally conduct some simple hunting in the nearby area. At last, meat had appeared on his daily menu.

Compared to the Energy Missiles he had cast at the beginning, Ronan's current Energy Missiles were much faster and more powerful.

Part of the reason was the improvement in Energy Missile's skill level.

The other reason

was that, a few days ago, Ronan had successfully advanced to the realm of a Level Two Wizard Apprentice!

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level Two Wizard Apprentice (3%)

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Beginner 87/100)

Energy Missile (Proficient 1/200)

After advancing to Level Two, Ronan's spiritual power had clearly increased by a large margin. His total spiritual power was now enough for him to cast Energy Missile four times in a row, with some left over.

At this rate, his Energy Missile proficiency would rise faster and faster. As he emptied his spiritual power more often, he would need to meditate more often as well. Like a snowball rolling downhill, he had unknowingly entered his own fast lane of cultivation.

"It's just that the energy particles are corroding my body faster too."

Ronan frowned and unconsciously reached up to touch his chest.

During this period, his physical training and improved diet had greatly enhanced his stamina, and the color had gradually returned to his face. Yet the faint pain in his chest when he woke each morning had never vanished. Instead, it felt like it had worsened.

Ronan felt that his lungs might have suffered corrosive damage.

"I need to find a way to curb it. The gains from training like this are too low. If only I could get a Knight Training Method—it would still be better than blindly training on my own."

Ronan recalled that when the original owner had lived in his family's Earl Territory, there had been quite a few knights under his command.

The most common trait among those knights was their powerful physiques, far surpassing ordinary people.

Unfortunately, the original owner had never trained alongside them.

Thinking this, Ronan put away his dagger.

He stood up and carried the freshly cut venison toward home.

After only a few steps, the bushes and grass ahead rustled, and faint footsteps reached him.

Ronan narrowed his eyes and quietly stopped. He curled his tongue inside his mouth, ready to chant and cast at any moment.

Several seconds later, a figure entered his field of vision.

It was a middle-aged man in a Dark Green robe, carrying a black kettle in his hand.

The moment he saw Ronan, he was clearly startled.

But his expression quickly calmed.

His gaze passed over Ronan, lingering briefly on the bleeding venison in Ronan's hand. Then he shifted aside slightly and walked past with a blank expression.

Until the two brushed past each other, neither Ronan nor the middle-aged wizard said a word.

"Phew..."

Watching the middle-aged wizard's receding back disappear, Ronan let out a soft breath, fairly satisfied with how he had handled himself.

Compared with half a month ago, he no longer bolted like a startled rabbit at the slightest sound.

He had gained courage.

It came from the strength of a Level Two Wizard Apprentice and the zero-tier spell Energy Missile.

In fact, Ronan had also realized that the "real" Treehouse Area was not as frightening as he had imagined.

Though the Treehouse Area lay in an ungoverned wilderness, most wizards who chose to live here were like him: low-level Wizard Apprentices too weak to afford the magic stones required to live in town.

He was afraid.

The others might be even more afraid than he was.

Most wizards cherished their lives and actively avoided conflict, except for certain unhinged desperadoes.

Over the past half month, as the range of his morning training expanded, Ronan had gradually gotten to know several "neighbors" living near his home.

He had even crossed paths with a few of them. The middle-aged wizard he had just encountered was one of them.