Ethereal Meditation

Some things are better left unsaid.

"Your mana is bottomed out from today's battle. Are you sure you don't need my help?"

"Mana replenishment?"

The corner of his mouth twitched, his eyes filled with immense anticipation.

"Ugh, My Lord, where is your mind wandering? This is the Ethereal Meditation."

Jeanne handed over a scroll.

Aurelian was visibly stunned, somewhat confused as to why Jeanne would give him a meditation technique.

Although he was an illegitimate son, he still possessed the orthodox meditation techniques of the Archmond family.

"This is different from the meditation techniques used for cultivating mana in the past; this one is for recovering mana."

"Recovering mana? Orthodox meditation techniques can do that too."

Jeanne shook her head, looking up at Aurelian with a serious expression. "While orthodox meditation is beneficial for cultivating mana, it is not the best choice for recovering depleted reserves. That is why an assassin, seasoned by endless slaughter, created a meditation technique that can rapidly restore mana in a short time: the Ethereal Meditation."

"This is my first time hearing of the Ethereal Meditation, but I am more curious about the assassin who created it. What was his name?"

Aurelian asked with an intrigued expression.

A blank look appeared on Jeanne's pretty face.

"I don't know. It seems his name was something like 'The Old Man'."

"The Old Man?"

How could one possibly associate that with the unsavory title of an assassin?

Aurelian took the scroll and spread it open. As the yellowed parchment unfurled, a scent redolent of the ages wafted out, revealing rows of dense, tiny characters.

His eyes scanned them rapidly. These notes were all descriptions of the mana nodes within the human body, their logic bizarre yet incisive, forming a school of thought all their own.

The human body is riddled with countless mana nodes, each with a different function.

Some refine mana, some aggregate it, and others even decompose it, among many other roles.

Gradually, Aurelian's eyes widened, filled with astonishment.

The idea of drawing natural mana directly into the body for absorption without refining it through meditation was far too insane.

Natural mana is incredibly mottled and complex in its attributes.

Every mana practitioner has their own specific mana attribute; for instance, Aurelian possesses Star Magic.

If mana were absorbed directly without refinement, the mana within the body would repel each other, leading to a violent backlash, and the practitioner would meet their end!

However, as Aurelian read further, his expression grew increasingly solemn.

The author of the scroll actually provided a solution, and an equally insane one at that: it required the mana within the body to actively adapt to and fuse with the complex external mana. By doing so, one could draw an infinite amount of natural mana into the body, reaching the bottleneck directly.

This idea was even crazier!

If anyone else saw this, they would surely curse the author of this scroll as a complete lunatic!

The notion of the body adapting to multiple mana attributes—how could that be possible?

There are the four standard elemental attributes—earth, water, wind, and fire—as well as rare attributes like Star, Dawn, and Darkness. The list is endless; how could one possibly adapt to them all?

People with two mana attributes are already considered blessed by the heavens. For example, Aurelian's sister, Fiona Archmond, possesses composite mana, wielding both Dawn and Star attributes.

Reading to the end, Aurelian was thoroughly shocked.

The author had once again provided a method for adaptation!

He listed rows of complex trajectories for human mana nodes and mana circulation paths. Clearly, this author's understanding of how the human body refines and absorbs mana had reached a level of absolute mastery.

By constantly trial-and-erroring through the mana nodes, one could find the most optimal method.

The author explained that every person's adaptation to mana attributes is different, and one must use his method to experiment continuously to find the optimal solution.

A perfect circuit would allow every type of mana to be absorbed by the body.

The author called this the Ultimate Mana Node.

According to him, this was the true treasure left behind by the Creator within the human body!

Once this series of Ultimate Mana Nodes is located, one could use them as a focal point to recover vast amounts of mana in a short time.

Recovering vast amounts of mana in a short time meant that unleashing mana freely would no longer be a concern; one could cast as much as one pleased.

Aurelian could already picture it: his sword glowing with torrential starlight, massive amounts of mana surging in all directions, firing off light cannons like rivers of stars, one after another, leaving his enemies in utter disarray.

Finish one barrage, take a short rest, then the second, the third, the fourth...

Who could possibly withstand that!

Was this really thought up by an assassin who kills in the shadows, or by a battle-crazed maniac wielding a greatsword?

Aurelian gasped, his heart pounding wildly.

This person was either a genius or a madman!

How could this even be accomplished? Trial and error—what would one use to experiment? One slip-up and the mana within the body would repel itself, sending the practitioner spiraling to their death on the spot, just like his predecessor.

Scanning through the preceding pages once more, Aurelian's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait a moment. If one were to cycle through all the mana nodes he listed, it would indeed minimize the collisions between natural mana, and then by running them continuously... That's it. Through this endless trial and error to find the optimal solution, the person who invented this method must be a monster."

Thinking of the countless mana nodes spread throughout the human body, who could claim to have a complete grasp of the function of every single one?

No one; at least, Aurelian had never heard of such a person.

Yet, this so-called old man had managed it, and not only that, he had even made modifications on top of that foundation.

It was simply terrifying. Aurelian drew a sharp breath, much like the characters in the novels he used to read.

"Jeanne, this scroll is far too precious. Are you really just giving it to me for nothing?"

Aurelian looked at Jeanne, asking in confusion.

"I've already given it to you, so just take it and use it. I've already learned everything on it."

Jeanne turned her gaze toward the other side, where Roundball was snoring away, her eyes filled with a sense of infatuation he had never seen before.

"Is that so? Then... thank you."

Even he, who usually had a face thicker than a city wall, felt a bit embarrassed; after all, there was a saying about being soft-mouthed after eating someone else's food.

"The rest is up to you, but be careful. If it really doesn't work, you can give up," Jeanne reminded him.

"I will be careful."

To ensure he wouldn't be disturbed while cycling through his mana nodes, he headed to the castle's basement.

Jeanne, meanwhile, stayed behind to look after Roundball.

Aurelian wiped a trace of moisture from the corner of his eye; he hadn't believed it before.

Now he believed it—it turned out that love really could shift to someone else.

Smoothing over the wounds in his heart, he opened the basement door.

His crisp footsteps sounded exceptionally abrupt. The place was so dark and deep that if not for the flickering candle in his hand, Aurelian might not have dared to venture forward into the gloom.

He took out an old, weathered key and unlocked a tightly sealed door.

Orange light quietly spilled out from the gap in the door, and a sense of familiarity washed over him.

This place was where he had first arrived in this world.

It was also thanks to this place being quiet and deserted that his predecessor's sudden death had gone unnoticed.

Carrying the candle inside, he found the room brightly lit with dim white candles, though the furnishings remained as simple as ever.

Placing the candle on the wooden table, Aurelian sat down in a cross-legged position.