A New Meditation Method

"What's the most common Meditation Method? Can anyone tell me?"

"Teacher Vivian, the process of constructing a Magic Model is a kind of meditation."

"Lucia, that's right. Both involve controlling the arrangement of Spiritual Elements. Constructing magic is also a Meditation Method, but it isn't a good one. Does anyone know why?"

"Teacher Vivian, the ultimate goal of constructing magic is to cast spells, while the purpose of meditation is to increase the total amount and activity of Spiritual Power?"

"Lucia, please give the other students a chance to speak, too. Now, does anyone know another reason?"

Teacher Vivian, a woman in her thirties with an elegant, scholarly air, surveyed the classroom. The students she looked at all lowered their heads.

Vivian sighed softly and answered herself. "Practicing magic construction is preparation for battle, so you need to keep your other senses sharp. Valuable forms of meditation, however, all block out the senses and focus your entire consciousness on your Sea of Consciousness. Only then can you transform your Spiritual Power to the greatest extent."

Most third-year students had yet to advance to Low-level Magic Apprentice, so they naturally couldn't enter a meditative state. At this stage, the Academy's meditation classes mainly taught theory and compared the advantages and disadvantages of various Meditation Methods, so students with a chance of advancing could prepare early.

"We've discussed how increasing the total amount of Divine Elements and improving their activity are two ends of a balance. Now I'll explain the principle behind this. The method of increasing Divine Elements through meditation is easy to understand: compression and division. We know that Divine Elements of different properties repel one another. In fact, Divine Elements of the same type repel each other, too, but you can only feel this repulsion when two of them are very close. When we meditate, if we compress Divine Elements to an extreme, those pushed beyond a certain limit may split. The incomplete Divine Elements that result will gradually grow into complete ones. That's how Meditation Methods increase Divine Elements. But compressing them reduces their activity, making it take longer for a Mage to recover after casting a spell."

"The method for increasing the activity of Divine Elements is also simple. Keep all Divine Elements of the same type in fixed positions relative to each other, and make them revolve around a point. This produces subtle changes in the Sea of Consciousness, which can gradually increase their activity. No one has yet offered a convincing explanation for how this works, so for now, we'll follow convention and call this Meditation Method the Dance of Divine Elements."

"Of course, no one can stand compressing Divine Elements for a long time, and the Dance of Divine Elements will leave you dizzy. So most Meditation Methods are a balance or combination of the two."

"Last class, we discussed how to enter deep meditation. Those of you who are capable can try these two extreme Meditation Methods now. Of course, with the total amount of Divine Elements a Magic Apprentice has, neither method will have much effect. Think of it as practice."

Donald had heard Mr. Victor describe Meditation Methods long ago and had read about several examples, but it wasn't until Teacher Vivian explained them so clearly that he gained a systematic understanding. That was the advantage of learning in a classroom.

Divine Elements split when compressed, and their regular movement produced a certain kind of field. This reminded Donald of his earlier theories about the properties of Divine Elements. He couldn't prove whether his ideas were correct, but their known properties had given him an idea for an experiment. If it worked, he might be able to create a new Meditation Method.

When Donald first arrived at the Magic Academy, he had only gone between the Library and the small building where Victor lived. The Academy had seemed quiet and peaceful to him. Only after moving into the Dormitory Area across the lake did he see the more authentic side of the Magic Academy: a world belonging to the young.

The Dormitory Area was divided into two sections. In the more remote area stood a large cluster of neat white buildings belonging to first-year students. The students jokingly called it the "children's resort," because every year they sent everyone away and welcomed a whole new batch of faces.

Only students who condensed Divine Elements within a year—or claimed they had—were eligible to move into the proper student dormitories: the gray buildings by the lakeshore. Far fewer people lived there than in the "resort," but the area was much larger.

Donald's dormitory was in the row closest to the lake. The twelve rooms there couldn't compare with Victor's former building, but they were spacious and luxurious compared to the other dormitories. None of that mattered to Donald, though. Whenever he was in his room, he spent nearly all his time at the workbench, except when he was sleeping.

Donald had just finished practicing how to draw Runes. For the past half month, his Spiritual Power had remained at a little over one hundred and seventy in each element, with no further growth. The limit of three hundred Divine Elements needed to advance to Intermediate Magic Apprentice still seemed a long way off. Donald had to accept the truth: compared with the true geniuses who could advance to Intermediate Magic Apprentice just by drawing Runes, he didn't have much Magic Talent. His earlier miraculous progress had only come because he'd unlocked the secrets of Runes.

Even so, Donald still drew Runes in the required quantities every day. He was preparing to draw Magic Arrays. After months of practice, he could draw Runes much faster, and just as Victor had said, he could feel a faint magical pulse in his hand after completing each one. The absentmindedness he'd experienced at first had never returned.

Donald set down his pen and turned over the hourglass on the workbench. He rubbed his eyes, leaned back against the broad chair, and shifted until he found the most comfortable position. He began imagining himself on the familiar patch of grass atop the cliffs of Lant Island, feeling a gentle sea breeze. Starting from his toes and fingertips, he relaxed one part of his body after another until his limbs and torso were completely at ease. Above the island stretched a clear blue sky, where the five-colored Divine Elements drifted...

Focusing all his attention on the colorful Divine Elements, he soon entered deep meditation.

Donald first arranged the bright red Fire Elements evenly within a circle, then set them revolving around its center. As they spun faster and faster, a strange change occurred at the center. The Fire Elements near it became livelier, as though their particles had grown larger.

As they continued to spin, Donald quickly felt the dizziness Teacher Vivian had described. He stopped at once. Next, he would try something new.

He arranged the Fire Elements and Water Elements into two interlocking rings, then made them revolve around the same center in opposite directions. It was difficult to control two kinds of Divine Elements at once and make them move in completely opposite ways. But Donald had expected that. He didn't rush to increase their speed; he simply guided them around slowly, accelerating by small increments within his abilities. Not bad. He felt almost no dizziness.

Their speed gradually increased, becoming faster than that of the single element before. Donald knew he would have passed out long ago if a single type of Divine Element were spinning at this speed. Now the two rings counteracted each other's motion, greatly reducing the dizziness.

As expected, the strange field appeared again as the Divine Elements revolved. Donald could even feel that it was made up of two superimposed fields, one produced by the Fire Elements and the other by the Water Elements. The two didn't interfere with each other.

The next step was the most crucial.

Donald slowly reduced the radius of the outer ring of Fire Elements while keeping up its speed. The bright red ring and the deep blue inner ring drew closer and closer until they finally merged. The red and blue Divine Elements now spun rapidly in opposite directions along the same ring.

Nothing happened.

Donald kept trying, forcing the intertwined red-and-blue ring to grow denser until it was little more than an extremely fine purple ring.

He didn't know how much time had passed. Just as Donald was about to give up—

Boom!

It felt as if he'd been struck by something. His meditative state ended instantly, and his head throbbed as though it had exploded.

The intense pain gradually eased. Donald slowly opened his eyes. The hourglass had long since run out; at least two hours had passed. Anxiously, he inspected his Sea of Consciousness. As expected, several tiny fragments of Divine Elements had appeared there, half red and half blue, while one complete Fire Element and one complete Water Element were missing.

"Just as I thought! The Divine Elements split into lots of pieces when they collided at high speed! If Teacher Vivian was right, each fragment will grow into a complete Divine Element."

Outside the window, the night was hazy. Inside, the boy had just created a new Meditation Method. It would eventually be named Donald's Collider—but that wouldn't happen until much later.