Harvest 3

"Is this the Gray Seal?"

Lin Sheng felt a bit dazed; he hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise to come so easily.

He just wasn't sure if this thing was actually effective.

He quickly flipped through the book to browse the meditation instructions.

The notes recorded by the person named Anselia mentioned that this Gray Seal wouldn't last much longer.

Yet, looking at it now, wasn't it still perfectly intact?

Lin Sheng quickly memorized the meditation method, then flipped back to the page containing the Gray Seal.

Below the Gray Seal was a line of small, exquisite text.

'Gray Seal: Sanctuary.

Note: The mental requirements for meditating on the Gray Seal are extremely high. Failure during the initial meditation will result in severe consequences for the practitioner.'

"Sanctuary? Is that the name of this Gray Seal?" Lin Sheng's heart stirred.

Having read this book for a long time, he already roughly understood that every Gray Seal had different effects.

Furthermore, different Gray Seals were mastered and passed down by the Temples in different regions.

Because of this, Temple Knights from different regions developed various combat styles based on their unique lineages.

The Gray Seal before him was the Gray Seal of the Black Feather City Temple, known as Sanctuary.

"I'll try it first and see. The worst that can happen is death." Without another word, Lin Sheng decisively fixed his gaze on the Gray Seal symbol.

The incident with the White Card Gang had greatly provoked him.

Although no further trouble had arisen and the White Card Gang had backed down, sending word to Russell's family that it was all just a misunderstanding, a fire still burned in Lin Sheng's chest.

The White Card Gang had clearly only given face to Russell's family; otherwise, a gang of that cutthroat caliber would never have let the matter rest.

He needed to become stronger!

Ever since acquiring his dream ability, this was the first time he had felt such an urgent need for strength and influence.

He had to stare continuously without blinking. Only by exceeding twenty seconds could the first recording of the Gray Seal be considered complete.

Lin Sheng opened his eyes wide, staring fixedly at the Gray Seal without moving a muscle.

Time ticked away bit by bit.

His eyes grew sore and painful. He felt a stinging sensation on the surface of his eyeballs and an overwhelming urge to blink.

But he forced himself to endure it.

Soon, the twenty-five seconds he was counting in his mind had passed.

Afraid that his counting might be off, he had added an extra five seconds to ensure he didn't fall short.

After closing his eyes to rest for a full minute, Lin Sheng opened them again.

To his surprise, he discovered that the Gray Seal seemed to have taken root in his mind; whenever he wanted, he could recall it with ease.

It wasn't just a simple memory; every single detail and line of the seal was incredibly vivid.

"Success on the first try!" Lin Sheng let out a sigh of relief.

According to the book, this phenomenon was the sign of a successful first recording of a Gray Seal.

What puzzled him, however, was that the book stated that usually, only those with an exceptionally strong will and spirit could succeed on the first attempt.

Most people required at least ten tries or more to record it completely.

He knew his own situation; while he had some self-discipline, calling his willpower "exceptionally strong" would be a joke.

"Could it be related to all those memory fragments I absorbed?" Lin Sheng suddenly thought of a possibility.

Having hurriedly memorized the Gray Seal Sanctuary, Lin Sheng closed the book and shut his eyes to recall it. The Gray Seal was truly, magically, imprinted in his mind.

With just a slight shift in his thoughts, it would immediately appear before his eyes like a photograph.

"Amazing!" he marveled inwardly.

Since the church didn't seem dangerous, he simply stayed there and began to test it repeatedly.

The book was also very thick, and there was still plenty of content he hadn't finished reading, so he wasn't in a hurry.

Lin Sheng stood before the prayer altar, carefully flipping through the rest of the content.

Unfortunately, aside from a few bits of information about the Gray Seal, the rest of the book was filled with various hymns praising the gods.

And the deity worshipped by the church was Hill, the god who held dominion over light.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but when Lin Sheng felt his consciousness beginning to blur, he realized his time in the dream was up.

Closing the book, he walked down, went outside to quickly lock the iron gate of the courtyard, and then pulled the church doors shut. This gave him an extra sense of security.

Finally, he sat down on one of the rows of neat benches to rest.

Only then did his consciousness completely fade into darkness.

With a sudden flip, Lin Sheng jumped off the bed.

Having just woken up, his heart was filled with anticipation.

He hadn't expected that his desperate, death-defying charge into the city this time would finally lead to a breakthrough.

The Gray Seal, that miraculous cultivation system of the Temple, had actually been obtained by him with such ease.

If time hadn't been so tight, he would have originally intended to search the church a bit more.

He might have found something good, like equipment or the like.

Sitting down at his desk, Lin Sheng calmed his breathing, closed his eyes, and began to recall the Gray Seal symbol.

To his surprise, the Gray Seal rune, which was touted as being extremely difficult and demanding high mental willpower, appeared clearly in his mind in an instant, every detail visible.

The Temple's meditation method was very simple.

It involved clearly visualizing the Gray Seal rune in one's mind, then focusing one's attention and staring at a section of the rune's lines.

Then, one had to move their focus, tracing the rune all the way to the end.

As long as one successfully completed the movement once, it counted as one cycle of meditation.

Without a second thought, Lin Sheng immediately began to try.

To his surprise, while the step of visualizing the rune in his mind was simple, focusing his attention and moving his gaze along the lines was exceptionally difficult.

He only succeeded once after three consecutive attempts.

Moreover, he felt nothing special after succeeding. After completing one cycle, Lin Sheng refused to give up and successfully meditated two more times.

Only then did he feel his mental energy was severely depleted, and as sleepiness surged, he went back to bed and fell asleep.

This time, he didn't enter the dream world and slept soundly until dawn.

Early the next morning, Lin Sheng left home alone with his sword on his back, taking a vehicle to the club.

The previous incident had planted another plan in his mind.

He had gotten through the crisis this time thanks to Russell's grandfather, but what about next time? He couldn't rely on others forever, could he?

He knew his own situation; with his dream ability, he would sooner or later walk an extraordinary path. Rather than waiting for trouble to come knocking, it was better to be prepared in advance.

The vehicle passed stop after stop, and after one transfer, Lin Sheng soon arrived at the Steel Scale Club.

Getting off the vehicle, he walked quickly into the entrance.

The girl at the front desk nodded and smiled at him politely.

"Teacher Lin, good morning. You're here so early today?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep, so I came over to take a look. Have they arrived?" Lin Sheng asked casually.

Over this time, he had become familiar with everyone else in the club, and his speech had become much more relaxed.

"Miss Xiayin is here, but the others haven't arrived yet. While you were away, they only came by occasionally," the front desk girl replied in a low voice.

Lin Sheng nodded and walked quickly to the second floor.

Passing by the various practice rooms, he soon arrived at the only room with an open door and turned right to walk inside.

Xiayin was standing by the window, talking on her phone.

Seeing Lin Sheng enter, her pretty face froze in slight surprise, and she quickly finished her conversation before hanging up.

"Teacher, you don't have any classes today, so why are you here?" she asked, puzzled.

"I thought of something, but I need to get your consent," Lin Sheng said calmly.

"What is it?"

"I'm planning to start a self-defense club and, at the same time, run a training course on self-defense and counter-attacks," Lin Sheng said calmly.

"Self-defense?" Xiayin blinked.