Magic Tower

Suye was immersed in the joy of learning, and the class bell didn't shatter that joy—but Teacher Niedern's voice did.

"Suye, come out with me."

Suye once again became the focus of the class, and Horton and the others let out another round of malicious laughter.

Suye glanced at Horton and noticed he was still grinning, emboldened and unafraid.

"His attitude is off..." Suye pondered as he followed Niedern out.

Niedern kept walking, even entering a small grove of trees. Suye had no idea what he was doing, so he could only follow.

After a long while, Niedern finally turned around.

"Do you know why I called you out?" Niedern's expression was extremely serious.

"Teacher, rest assured, I definitely won't be late tomorrow! This time it really wasn't me slacking off—I was late because I was studying." Suye's expression was utterly earnest.

The severity on Niedern's face slowly melted away, and he said, "You really don't know?"

Suye had a bad feeling about this. The way he was talking, something didn't add up.

"You're already a Magic Apprentice!" Niedern said in exasperation, guessing from Suye's expression that he'd misunderstood.

"Huh? You must be mistaken." Suye didn't believe it at all.

The books made it very clear: after entering the Divine Light for the first time, one only absorbed a portion of the power, and the body was only partially strengthened.

Only after prolonged cultivation could one advance to Warrior Apprentice or Magic Apprentice, generating battle energy or magic power.

Although others always mocked Hote for being stupid and failing to become an apprentice after five years of training, in reality, even if everyone in All of Greece trained daily, at most one percent could become a Warrior Apprentice or Magic Apprentice within five years.

Most people trained for over a decade or even longer before their first advancement.

There were those who advanced to Magic Apprentice upon their first contact with the Divine Light, but such people either had powerful talent or had undergone long periods of study and accumulation.

Suye was self-aware and always thought of himself as ordinary. He'd studied magic for a full day at most... no, he'd only taken one Meditation Class. How could he possibly become a Magic Apprentice directly? He wasn't a genius.

Having reasoned it out, Suye shook his head firmly and said, "Teacher, you must be mistaken. If someone like me could advance to Magic Apprentice with just one meditation, then everyone else would be a Fool."

Niedern was left speechless for a moment, then said, "Did you not read Chapter Two of Meditation Study?"

"I only previewed Chapter One," Suye said.

Niedern said, "In the few hours after each advancement, we emit some aura that only those of a higher rank can sense. So, I'm certain you've already advanced to Magic Apprentice. Chapter Two clearly states that after entering the Divine Light for the first time, you should perform a second meditation as soon as possible. If you haven't advanced to Magic Apprentice, you'll directly enter the Divine Light again. If you have advanced, you'll find yourself in a hazy, unreal building, misty like a dream, as if looking through a Semi-Transparent Water Screen."

"That place is the Magic Tower of us Greek mages. Of course, the Magic Tower isn't unreal—it's just that your level is too low. Even I can't see the Magic Tower clearly. It's said that only mages who have reached the highest realm of meditation can see it clearly. That realm is called Internal Observation, meaning you can observe the Magic Tower from within."

Suye thought to himself, Internal Observation? That doesn't match my understanding. Internal observation can mean observing the inner self, the true self, but in the magic world, does it mean observing the Magic Tower from the inside?

Niedern continued, "Next, perform a second meditation. But since you're too weak, don't focus on the Magic Tower—no matter how hard you try, you won't see it clearly. Just confirm that you have a Magic Tower and have become a Magic Apprentice, then you can withdraw."

"Here?" Suye looked around.

"Here." Niedern waved his right hand, and a carpet slowly materialized in Mid-air, floating half a meter off the ground.

The carpet was a full finger thick, covered in gaudy patterns. Though the colors were tacky, paired with elegant designs and symmetrical layouts, it had an artistic beauty.

"Is this the Persian mages' Magic Carpet?" Suye asked curiously, reaching out to touch it. It felt as smooth as an ordinary carpet.

"No, it's just a common little Magic Artifact, only good as a bed. Sit on it." Niedern said.

Suye looked down at his feet, covered in mud and grass, and felt helpless.

"It's fine, Magic Artifacts aren't afraid of dirt." Niedern raised his own equally dirty foot.

"Thank You, Teacher!" Suye sat down on the Magic Carpet and immediately began meditating.

Since it was just a quick meditation, Suye didn't use the time-consuming scanning meditation method this time. Instead, he focused directly on his breath and quickly entered an internal observation state.

It took only one minute.

Niedern stared blankly at Suye, his eyes filled with an indescribable hue, as if all the colors of the carpet had poured into them.

He hadn't expected that Suye, despite his poor grades, was a meditation genius.

Though he didn't know what level Suye's meditation had reached, being able to enter deep meditation so quickly was already at the level of a Golden Mage.

This meant that, while Suye might lack talent in other areas, in meditation, he had at least Holy Domain potential.

"This kid..." A faint smile curled at the corner of Niedern's mouth.

While Niedern stood there stunned, Suye in the spiritual world was also stunned.

After entering deep meditation, just as Teacher Niedern had said, he entered the Magic Tower.

But Niedern was only half right.

Because Suye found that the building he was in wasn't blurry at all—it was exceptionally clear, so clear he could see the texture of the floor, the unevenness of the rock on the walls, and even feel that the Magic Tower was a bit cold.

"What the hell? Did I come to the wrong place? Did I break into someone else's Magic Tower?"

Suye observed the Magic Tower in disbelief.

Unlike the towers he'd imagined, this so-called Magic Tower at first glance looked like a circular room, about thirty meters in diameter, very spacious.

But upon closer inspection, the black granite floor wasn't circular—it was a regular polygon, and he couldn't immediately count how many sides it had.

The white marble walls weren't curved or a single continuous surface, but countless trapezoidal walls, wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, pieced together.

The whole thing was thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top, indeed shaped like a tower, but it only had one floor.

There was no dome above this tower; instead, a polygonal skylight smaller than the floor opened overhead. Through the skylight, a dense beam of pure white Divine Light descended, with red, gold, and gray Light Spots dancing within it.

The Divine Light landed in the very center of the Magic Tower's room.

There stood a one-meter-tall sapling.

The sapling was entirely like Black Crystal, but its surface was dotted with many yellow, red, blue, and white Light Spots.

It had only one branch, and only one Black Crystal leaf.

Strangely, the sapling had four roots, each partially above ground, aligned precisely to the four cardinal directions—yellow, red, blue, and white.

Suye vaguely sensed that each root was buried deep within the Magic Tower, drawing power from some unknown space.