Level 1 Runic Studies! A Chance to Make a Name for Himself

Makley was even more pleased when he heard that Tylen had gotten straight to the heart of the matter and had even thought of paving the way for his mentor.

The boy wasn't just dexterous. His mind worked so well it was almost frightening.

"Excellent."

Makley rose to his feet and patted his robe.

"Give me a live demonstration of your current skill at carving runes into bone."

"I want to see just how solid your fundamentals are."

"Yes, Mentor!"

Tylen picked up the Purple Diamond Carving Knife, his gaze instantly turning cool and focused.

He took the Purple Diamond Carving Knife, which glimmered with a faint violet light, from his robes, then bent down and pulled a clean shoulder blade from the cellar's refrigerated compartment.

"Hoo..."

Tylen steadied his breathing, his gaze instantly becoming focused and cool.

Though he no longer had the Slacker Saint Body's thirtyfold efficiency, the muscle memory carved into his bones remained crystal clear.

Over the past few days, he had practiced intensely for at least five hours a day. With the thirtyfold efficiency boost, that amounted to nineteen full days of carving without sleep or rest!

All that frenzied practice had accumulated in his muscles and nerves, becoming instinct.

Scritch, scritch, scritch.

The carving knife glided over the hard bone, making a faint, rhythmic scraping sound.

Under Makley's watchful gaze, Tylen's wrist moved with firm precision, like a finely engineered mechanical arm. It didn't tremble in the slightest.

The blade's path twisted and turned, each bend landing precisely at the optimal position of a mana node. Every stroke was cut to exactly the right depth.

Just over ten minutes later, Tylen lowered the knife and blew away the bone dust.

A small, exquisite core rune of Bone Domination, its circuit flawless, appeared before Makley.

Makley picked up the bone fragment and gently ran his fingertips over its smooth, flowing lines. His eyes filled with admiration.

"Excellent. Very good."

"I can tell you haven't been slacking these past few days. You've devoted almost all your energy to honing your craft."

"Your steady technique is already on par with that of many seasoned apprentices of the seventh or even eighth level."

Makley set down the bone fragment, the weight finally lifting from his heart.

He had absolute confidence in Tylen's academic studies.

After all, the boy had an astonishing memory and excellent logical reasoning skills.

Now that he had seen how good Tylen was at practical work—talented, even—he was completely reassured.

"Prepare well for tomorrow's competition. Make me proud."

After leaving him with those words, Makley transformed into a crow, flapped his wings, and flew out the window, disappearing into the night.

After his mentor left, Tylen didn't slack off for a moment.

He immediately shut the doors and windows, lit every candle, and laid the three weighty lecture notes on the table.

None of the three books had a proper title. Their gray covers were simply labeled by hand: Runic Studies Lecture Notes, Ritual Studies Lecture Notes, and Ancient Language Lecture Notes.

Each book was fairly thin, only a little over a hundred pages.

But the moment Tylen opened one, he was captivated. He was so engrossed that he could hardly tear himself away.

The sheer density of knowledge inside was astonishing!

These weren't the mass-market textbooks the Wizard Tower gave to its low-level apprentices. They were genuine "insider knowledge," meant for their own people.

For example, the Runic Studies Lecture Notes didn't just explain in detail how to link two rune arrays so they resonated with each other. It even outlined the procedure for "hot patching" one array if it malfunctioned while both were running.

It also covered how to use Mental Power to carve in three dimensions inside a crystal, engraving miniature arrays...

Most precious of all were the notes written in red ink.

They were the distillation of Makley's years of experience.

Sometimes the notes specified exactly how much Mental Power to inject, how quickly to control the flow of mana, the angle at which mana should turn at a junction, and how to balance the proportions of different materials...

It was like a battle-hardened veteran personally teaching you how to survive and kill on the battlefield.

Tylen read ravenously, his mind racing as he greedily absorbed the knowledge.

Next, he opened the Ritual Studies Lecture Notes.

The book focused on using complex rituals to establish contact with the vast Astral Realm and send one's mind on an astral voyage.

The techniques it described for protecting one's mind during such a voyage and avoiding contamination by astral creatures opened Tylen's eyes.

Every bit of it was priceless knowledge that could save a life!

The Ancient Language Lecture Notes, by contrast, were much more tedious.

They covered the major languages used by the classical dynasties from the First Era to the Third Era:

The "Noble Dragon Tongue" of the Holy Light Solar Imperial Court of the First Era, the foundation of elemental magic.

The "Ancient Elven Language" of the Golden Thorn Dynasty of the Second Era, the source of runes and nature magic.

The "High Lord Terra Language" of the Golden Empire of the Third Era, the common language of souls and religious texts.

These three languages were compulsory studies on the path to becoming a high-level wizard.

Tylen didn't try to bite off more than he could chew.

He focused all his attention on the Runic Studies Lecture Notes, which he would need for tomorrow. In particular, he compared the theories in the book with his hands-on experience from the past few days.

Time passed second by second.

The moment Tylen had fully mastered the entire Runic Studies Lecture Notes and integrated Makley's annotations into his understanding...

Smack.

It was as if the gray matter in his mind had begun to boil and sublime, breaking through the ceiling of his thoughts.

The data on his status panel underwent a qualitative change:

[Knowledge: Runic Studies 0.8 → 1.0 (Officially Initiated)]

It was only a 0.2 increase, but to Tylen, it felt as if he'd opened the door to a whole new world.

The instant he advanced, he clearly felt his mind expand enormously.

The runes that had once looked like nothing more than lines and shapes now seemed to come alive, transforming into flowing, three-dimensional structures with a logical beauty of their own.

Looking back at what he'd studied and practiced over the past few days—even at the Complete Collection of Basic Runes, which had given him a headache before—felt like a middle schooler who'd mastered equations looking back at elementary-school word problems about addition and subtraction.

His thinking had once shown him only a single path. Now, he could instantly see several different solutions.

He was calm, effortless, and even a little condescending.

Many concepts that had seemed obscure just yesterday, requiring rote memorization, suddenly became clear and obvious.

"So this is the power of insider knowledge?"

If Tylen had been left to figure out the many techniques and ideas in these books on his own, it might have taken him five years, or even ten.

Mastering the same techniques at sixteen versus twenty-six was a world of difference!

Tylen murmured to himself, his eyes shining with excitement.

This was a qualitative leap in his thinking, the ability to fully encompass and dominate lower-level knowledge after mastering a sufficiently advanced system of knowledge.

When he came back to himself, the first light of dawn had already appeared outside the window.

Somehow, it was already morning.

Though he hadn't slept all night, his mental excitement made him feel not the slightest bit tired.

Still, to keep himself in good physical condition, he forced himself to lie down and quickly fell asleep.

Twenty minutes later.

Tylen got up right on time, feeling refreshed.

He tidied the room, then, as usual, did an intense full-body workout.

Afterward, he munched on two apples for a quick energy boost, then took out last night's lecture notes again for a final review.

9:00 a.m.

At last, the sun dispelled the morning mist.

It was Sunday, one of the few days off at the Wizard Tower.

Large numbers of students left the Wizard Tower in groups of two or three, their faces alight with carefree smiles as they prepared to enjoy a rare holiday in the city.

Tylen, too, changed into a robe that was faded from washing but clean and neat.

He carried a specially made canvas bag containing the Blood Rune Bone Dog, folded up inside.

At the stables, he skillfully harnessed the carriage.

It was still the same black corpse-collecting carriage, with its faint smell of formalin.

With exams approaching, the Wizard Tower had shown rare mercy and suspended his corpse-collection duties.

But there were two reasons he was still taking the carriage out. One was to try his luck and see if he could pick up a couple of fresh corpses along the way.

And the more important reason...

"This is my key prop for showing off and slapping faces from here on out."

Since this was a rare chance to make a name for himself and raise his value—a golden opportunity his mentor had specially tailored for him—there was no point in holding back.

He was going to show off to the fullest.