Ten Years Old, Sixth Level

Lin Lei returned to the palace, his heart brimming with joy as he carried the Saint Domain magic staff gifted by Laun. The moment he saw his father the Emperor and mother the Empress, he couldn't wait to show off this precious staff. Under the sunlight, the staff shimmered with a silver glow, and the embedded Magic Crystal Core pulsed like a beating flame heart, radiating powerful magical fluctuations.

His father and mother looked at the staff, their eyes filled with amazement and relief. His mother gently grasped Lin Lei's hand and urged, "Lin Lei, Laun the Saint-level Magus thinks so highly of you to give you such a precious gift. You must heed his teachings; he truly has your best interests at heart."

Lin Lei nodded firmly, his gaze resolute as he said, "Mother, rest assured, I will. I see and remember all the careful guidance Laun has given me."

After speaking with his parents, Lin Lei returned to his private chambers. He sat on the edge of his bed, took a deep breath, and began that day's meditation session. After an unknown stretch of time, feeling his spirit gradually weary, he slowly drifted into sleep.

Spring passed and autumn came; time flew like a white colt flashing past a crack. In the blink of an eye, four years had gone by. Now ten years old, Lin Lei's body had reached the level of a fifth-rank warrior thanks to uninterrupted combat training. He had grown to a height of one meter seventy, his upright posture and determined gaze making him look like a teenager of fifteen or sixteen, if not for his still somewhat youthful face.

Mindful of Laun and Porter's warnings from that day, Lin Lei had focused solely on training his mental energy over these years, not delving deeper into the mutated Fireball. He only occasionally summoned a fireball during his spare time, staring at it quietly to carefully perceive the subtle changes in its elemental composition.

With the full support of the royal family's resources, Lin Lei's mental energy had successfully broken through to the peak of a fifth-rank mage the previous year. A two-rank increase over four years might seem modest, but Lin Lei's training schedule was extremely tight. Every morning, as the first rays of sunlight fell on the palace walls, Lin Lei began his warrior training, strengthening his body and tempering his will. In the mornings, he studied various etiquette and arts to refine his cultivation and demeanor. Afternoons were set aside for magic training, focusing on improving his techniques and learning new spells. Only in the evenings could Lin Lei settle down for meditation to accumulate mental energy.

As he grew older and his knowledge expanded, his morning etiquette and arts lessons finally ended in the past year, replaced by training in combat techniques and battle qi. This left his meditation time severely lacking.

Lin Lei had originally planned to use his afternoons for meditation, quickly accumulating mental energy to become a Saint Domain Mage as soon as possible. But once, after over-meditating, his mental energy was severely depleted, leaving him utterly exhausted and even briefly unconscious. When Laun learned of this, he strictly enforced a limit on Lin Lei's meditation time, warning him gravely, "Lin Lei, cultivation must not be rushed. If mental energy consumption exceeds what your body can bear, you won't just lose all your progress—you may leave hidden flaws that affect your future path."

A mage's cultivation naturally slows in the later stages. That Lin Lei had reached the peak of a fifth-rank mage was due not only to his innate talent but also to the royal family's lavish provision of rare resources and Lin Lei's own discovery of a method to rapidly boost mental energy.

As he broke through to fifth-rank mage, progress slowed even further. Lin Lei racked his brains, searching for a method like the Flat Blade Style that could quickly increase mental energy. After days of thought, he came up with nothing. Fire magic's fire element was too violent; using it for most tasks risked burning and destruction, making it hard to find a suitable approach.

Later, while training in combat techniques and choosing a weapon, Lin Lei suddenly recalled a weapon master from the Purple Flame Warrior Clan, one of the four ultimate warrior families that Lin Lei had once encountered. A flash of inspiration struck him: he decided to learn how to forge weapons using fire magic, hoping this might improve his mental energy cultivation.

Lin Lei found Laun and excitedly shared his idea: "Teacher Laun, I want to try forging weapons with fire magic. Do you think this could quickly enhance my mental energy?"

Laun frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "That's a novel idea. Forging weapons with fire magic does require fine control over the fire element, which might help improve mental energy. But the process won't be easy. You must be prepared for hardship."

Lin Lei nodded firmly: "Teacher, I'm not afraid of hardship. I'm willing to try."

With Laun's approval, Lin Lei immediately set to work. But how to begin was another question. On the Maya Continent, weapon masters still used ordinary furnaces for forging, and most were warriors who cultivated battle qi, using it to boost the flame's temperature when needed.

After pondering for a while, Lin Lei suddenly thought of the cultivation novels from his past life. In those stories, cultivators mostly used their own core flame for refining tools, without needing hammering—they could directly shape materials into a single form. Could he do the same? Melt the materials directly, then use mental energy to shape the molten material into a weapon?

So Lin Lei instantly cast a large fireball, maintaining its temperature, and threw various materials into it. To more directly sense the changes in the fire element, he kept the fireball going to melt the materials while pouring in mental energy to carefully perceive the elemental shifts. During the melting process, since different materials had different melting points, Lin Lei had to constantly adjust the fireball's temperature. His mental energy was focused entirely on temperature control. In this process, he felt as if he were building a closer connection with the fire element, and without realizing it, his mental energy improved.

Through this focused training method, Lin Lei reached the peak of a fifth-rank mage in less than a year after becoming one, only a hair's breadth away from sixth-rank.

Thus, Lin Lei decided to forge a suitable weapon for himself, using the concentration required to break through to sixth-rank mage. Due to his past life's admiration for Zhao Zilong, the white-horse, silver-spear hero, the image of the Dragon Gall Silver Spear surfaced in his mind, and he carefully designed a similar weapon.

During the forging process, Lin Lei threw himself into it completely, pouring mental energy into the work without pause. He meticulously controlled the fireball's temperature and flame shape, letting the molten material take form according to his design. As the weapon's outline grew clearer, Lin Lei's mental energy steadily climbed. Finally, the moment the weapon was completed, a powerful wave of mental energy burst from him, and his mental energy successfully broke through to the sixth-rank level.

Lin Lei looked at the brand-new weapon in his hands, sensing his sixth-rank mage mental energy. Joy mingled with a hint of regret as he sighed, "Pity there was no epiphany. I missed the chance for a surge in mental energy."