Orthodoxy and Cannon Fodder

"Phew... Qi Refining Level Three."

Benjamin slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, sensing the pure True Essence flowing through his body like a babbling stream.

Now that he had sufficient points, Benjamin no longer made his stomach suffer. All kinds of high-energy food went into his mouth.

Large amounts of food that strengthened his foundation and replenished his essence, combined with the dual nourishment of "Purple Qi of the East" and the momentum of his ever-improving Meditation Method, sent his Cultivation soaring as though it had been fitted with an accelerator.

Only half a year had passed since Benjamin enrolled, yet he had climbed all the way from Qi Refining Level One to Qi Refining Level Three.

His True Essence had formed a broader, deeper lake within his dantian. With every circulation, he could feel his strength growing.

Nourished by True Essence, his body became increasingly resilient and clear, while his five senses grew sharper as well.

At the same time, his wizard Meditation Method had also advanced by leaps and bounds.

Thanks to the Immortal Cultivation System's nourishment of his Spirit Sea and soul, the assistance of a higher-grade meditation room, and the fact that, after being deemed a "genius," he no longer needed to conceal his cultivation speed, Benjamin had successfully inscribed the fourth Truth Rune of his wizard career. The fifth Truth Rune was also on the verge of completion.

Benjamin focused and looked inward.

Within his Spirit Sea, the first three runes representing the foundations of Alchemy—"transformation," "fusion," and "refinement"—shone brilliantly. Immediately after them, the newly inscribed fourth rune also radiated powerful spiritual fluctuations.

Benjamin had given the core choice for his fourth Truth Rune long and careful thought.

During the Wizard Apprentice stage, one needed to inscribe nine core Truth Runes. These runes often laid the foundation for a wizard's future school direction and abilities.

Although he specialized in Alchemy Studies, the wizard school system was vast and complex, and the runes of many schools could be used universally or as support.

In the end, Benjamin anchored his fourth core rune on "stability," one of the three core runes of the Potions School.

This "stability" rune could balance energy and material structures, suppress runaway reactions, and was an indispensable foundation of Potions Department.

At the same time, it was also one of Alchemy Studies' secondary runes. Many Alchemy-related experiments in the later stages required a stability rune to suppress energy.

Choosing it would not only deepen Benjamin's attainments in Alchemy Studies, but also lay a foundation for his future research in Potions Department.

Benjamin had already decided on his future path. He intended for all nine core runes during his Wizard Apprentice period to come from Logistics Department schools—namely, the core runes of Alchemy Studies, Potions Department, and Runology.

This choice was quite rare even among Logistics Department wizards.

After inscribing three to six core runes from their own school, many Logistics Department wizards would choose to inscribe combat-oriented runes such as amplification, energy, shield, casting, and elements, using them to make up for their shortcomings in direct combat ability.

But Benjamin was different.

Because apart from the Wizard System, he had another cultivation system!

The Great Dao Library recorded countless exquisite combat spells and body arts, as well as methods for crafting all sorts of talismans and Dharma Treasures. He had no need to worry about lacking combat methods.

Therefore, when choosing Truth Runes, he could completely disregard combat power and devote all his efforts to accumulating Logistics Department knowledge, laying a solid foundation for the higher-level integration of his two systems in the future.

"Phew..."

After adjusting his breathing, Benjamin did not end his cultivation state. Instead, taking advantage of the vigor that followed his breakthrough, he shifted his attention to the center of his Spirit Sea.

Surrounded by four Truth Runes was the first Wizardry Model that was about to take shape within his Wizard System.

Wizardry study in the Wizard World was not simply "incantations plus hand gestures." Like the cultivation process of a Meditation Method, it required one to construct a Wizardry Model within one's own Spirit Sea.

Since constructing a Wizardry Model also consumed spiritual power, many Wizard Apprentices and even official wizards would not inscribe too many Wizardry Models, lest it affect their cultivation progress.

Moreover, the difficulty of constructing these Wizardry Models was frighteningly high.

In Wizard Civilization, every wizard could be regarded as a researcher, while a Wizardry Model could be understood as a "research achievement" successfully completed based on their own body of knowledge and research direction.

The wizardry released was the specific application of that "project."

Thus, no two completely identical Wizardry Models existed in this world.

Even for the most common basic wizardry of the Alchemy School—Alchemy—the Wizardry Models constructed by different wizards would vary due to differences in their accumulated knowledge, personal understanding, and subtle differences in research focus.

The advantage was that Wizardry Models constructed this way were not rigid, unchanging "dead things," nor did they have any clear division of ranks.

As a wizard's body of knowledge grew, their understanding of the world deepened, and their techniques improved, the model would continually be optimized and strengthened.

Because of this unique learning method, most wizards in this world did not truly master many "original" Wizardry Models... just as many researchers in his previous life had only a few genuinely valuable research achievements in their entire lives.

Of course, that referred to Wizardry Models mastered "properly."

Beyond the "proper" kind, the Wizard System naturally also had an improper crooked path—one could forcibly inscribe a Wizardry Model already constructed by another wizard into one's own Spirit Sea through rote memorization.

That way, even if one completely failed to understand its principles, one could still cast the corresponding wizardry.

It was merely that such "pirated" Wizardry Models lost any possibility of advancement or optimization.

Furthermore, when conquering other planes, if they encountered incompatible rules or other issues, this rote-memorized wizardry was highly likely to fail. It could not be adjusted and adapted to actual circumstances at any time like "proper" Wizardry Models built upon one's own understanding.

And these improper Wizardry Models were often what those Combat Department wizards were most eager to learn.

They needed to rapidly acquire all manner of direct and effective offensive or defensive methods. Principles meant nothing to them; as long as it worked, that was enough.

But in Wizard Civilization's planar invasion wars, the normal procedure was to first gather data on the enemy plane, then adjust Wizardry Models at any time according to the collected data and information.

Because of the differences between the Combat Department and Logistics Department, adjustment and countermeasures were generally handled by the Logistics Department. As for the source of information, naturally, it relied on those Combat Department can... wizards.

What Logistics Department and Combat Department? They should obviously be called the Orthodox Department and the Cannon Fodder Department... Having understood the essence of the Wizard System's "research" and "application," Benjamin could not help grumbling inwardly.

No wonder that wizard Jack had said Logistics Department wizards were the orthodox ones. Looking at it now, Logistics Department wizards were the people who had grasped the essence of wizard power.