Blue Stone

Monica on the platform paid no mind to whether her actions had frightened the children around her. She extended her index finger and lightly pinched up the Crystal Ball with her fingertips as if picking up a piece of candy.

"Meditate. Immerse yourself through Mental Power, sense the elements around you, draw them into your body, and merge them with your own Magic Power. This is the steadiest way to increase your Magic Power."

The Crystal Ball rotated slightly on Monica's fingertip, white arcs of bright electricity flashing within it from time to time.

"Meditation can also stabilize your mental state. If one day you realize you are about to lose control, you can try using meditation to maintain a certain degree of clarity."

Monica curled her red lips into a faint smile, as though she had thought of something amusing.

"Of course, if you can't solve the cause of the loss of control, you'll still go mad."

Monica then began teaching the new Apprentices how to enter meditation.

She had everyone choose a Meditation Diagram from the booklet before them—the one that looked the most pleasing to them, or at least the least dizzying—and observe it through the Crystal Ball.

Suppressing his discomfort, Thor quickly flipped through the booklet in his hands.

Every image made him dizzy. In the end, he could only spread open one that made him feel slightly less nauseated.

It was a diagram of several figures walking in a circle.

At the very top of the diagram was an ordinary adult man. To his left was a portrait of another man who looked almost identical, though closer inspection revealed that their poses were somewhat different.

The second man had bent his knees slightly and raised one hand.

The third looked much the same, but his arms were already visibly extended to either side of his body. As he bent his knees, one heel had also lifted slightly.

Each figure had a different pose, like animation keyframes, eventually forming a sequence showing the changing motions of walking.

It reminded Thor of how animation worked.

He followed the densely packed figures downward one by one, but when he reached the upside-down figure at the bottom of the diagram, he abruptly realized that, at some point, the figure had turned into an Octopus Monster!

The change had not been abrupt.

When Thor looked back, he did not feel that any image differed from the next. Yet the figure at the very bottom was undeniably an octopus.

A person walked and walked, then became a monster, yet along the way, he never noticed anything wrong.

As though humans had always been Octopus Monsters!

Fighting through his dizziness and blurred vision, Thor continued upward counterclockwise. This time, he paid attention not only to the changes in the figures' movements, but also to the differences in every image.

There seemed to be changes, yet there seemed to be none.

By the time he returned to the topmost image, the monster had become a human again.

Thor could no longer endure it. He suddenly covered his eyes with both hands and fell backward.

Before he hit the ground, however, a pair of hands caught him by the back and helped him upright.

Laughter rose around him.

Tears filled Thor's eyes, leaving him unable to see clearly. Thinking Keli had caught him, he merely whispered, "Thank you."

"There's nothing funny about this. He fell because he finished looking through the entire diagram, unlike you lot, who back away the moment you feel dizzy!"

Only when the voice rang out did Thor realize that it was Mentor Monica who had supported him.

By then, his eyes no longer stung so badly. He barely managed to open them and vaguely saw the woman beside him.

Monica looked at the teary-eyed little boy and could not help smiling. Lowering her head to examine the diagram Thor had chosen, a flash of surprise passed through her eyes.

But she quickly returned to her gentle demeanor.

"Exploration takes courage, but you must also know moderation. Your Mental Power is decent. Try seeing whether you can immerse yourself through the Crystal Ball."

"Thank you, Mentor."

Perhaps because Thor had gotten the hang of it so quickly, Monica actually used him as an example to instruct the other newcomers.

This made quite a few newcomers and older Apprentices immensely envious.

Thor did not disappoint. On his first attempt, he entered immersion directly.

Once he entered the immersed meditative state and observed through the Crystal Ball, the Human-Monster Walking Diagram no longer made him dizzy.

The images of humans and monsters floated up from the paper one after another and entered Thor's mind.

Very soon, everything around him became blurry, and sounds seemed to come from the distant horizon.

Everything dimmed, then quickly brightened again.

What relit Thor's world were countless little spheres of colorful light.

Under Monica's guidance, Thor immediately drew in the small sphere of light nearest to him, guiding it little by little into the center of his brow.

It went extremely smoothly. The first elemental particle obediently followed Thor into his body and merged into something like a bubble within his mind.

Thor was thrilled and immediately began his next attempt at drawing one in.

He did not notice that Mentor Monica's brow suddenly furrowed beside him.

She left Thor's side and walked around the classroom, telling the other new Apprentices to try meditating just as Thor had.

Not every new Apprentice could enter immersion as directly as Thor. Many had not even found a suitable Meditation Diagram yet.

"Keep your Crystal Balls with you. They can help isolate dangerous things and maintain the stability of your meditation. Before you reach Level Two, I do not recommend meditating directly without a Crystal Ball."

Monica returned to the front and tirelessly explained the precautions for meditation, but she no longer personally guided anyone else as she had Thor.

This left some people resentful. He was clearly a Wizard Apprentice who had passed through cheating, so how did he deserve the most attention from the mentor?

Still, no one dared voice their dissatisfaction.

The first meditation class quickly ended, yet Thor still had not come back to his senses even after everyone else had left.

Keli had originally wanted to wake Thor, but Monica stopped her.

Keli looked at Monica in confusion, only to see the latter reveal an inexplicable smile.

"You may leave. I have something to discuss with him alone."

Keli immediately gave Monica a suspicious once-over.

Being scrutinized by a little red-haired girl like that made Monica's face darken at once. But before she could lose her temper, Keli had already scampered away.

She did not forget to close the main door behind her.

Only then did Monica return to Thor's side and snap her fingers.

A string of electric sparks immediately struck Thor's forehead.

The sudden stimulation jolted Thor awake. Opening his eyes, he saw Monica's long legs standing before him.

"Mentor Monica!" He looked around, only then realizing that no one else was left.

"Sorry, Mentor Monica. I'll leave right away."

Thor apologized repeatedly and began gathering his belongings.

"Elemental perception was supposed to be the subject of my next lesson." Monica's red lips parted, but her voice was cool. "Elemental perception is actually a characteristic of Mental Power. Just as everyone looks different, no one's elemental perception is exactly the same."

"It represents your sensitivity to elemental particles of specific attributes. For example, imagine a sheet of paper that simultaneously possesses the attributes of red, yellow, and green, then place stones that are respectively red, yellow, green, and blue on it. What colors do you think you would see?"

Thor did not really understand. "You mean, a sheet of paper with red, yellow, and green colors on it?"

"Can you understand? It simultaneously possesses three color attributes; it is not painted in three colors."

Thor seemed to understand what Monica meant.

"If a sheet of paper were red, yellow, and green at the same time... then the first thing I would see would be the blue stone."

Monica nodded. "It's good that you understand. The body is like that sheet of paper. Color attributes make us insensitive to other elements. The color you can see most clearly represents the element you have the strongest perception of. The strength of your Mental Power also affects how many elements we can perceive."

After saying that, she picked up the little monster that ate human skin from the floor, swayed her waist, and left the classroom.

Leaving Thor with a bewildered expression.

"Mentor Monica, why did you suddenly tell me this?"

Thor picked up his books and Crystal Ball, unable to figure it out.

The classroom was not large, yet he walked for a long time, moving forward step by slow step, just like his sluggish train of thought.

"Only able to see blue... only able to see blue..."

When Thor's hand pressed down on the classroom door handle, he suddenly raised his head.

"I... when I was meditating just now, I don't think I saw many Dark Element particles!"

The muscles on his face twitched continuously, and the boy's features gradually twisted.

"I... I... the element I have the strongest perception of... isn't the Dark Element!"

Thanks to big boss stellr for the reward—the first reward for this book! I'm fired up!