Meditation

Li Ang thought as he returned to his room.

"Cough, cough cough."

As soon as he pushed open the rotten wooden door, the stench of decay, spoilage, and mold rushed into his nostrils again.

After breathing fresh air on deck for so long, his lung disease had felt slightly better. But the moment he entered the dark, damp space below deck, he felt as though he were suffocating.

Sitting down and opening Basic Meditation Principles, Li Ang wanted to begin meditating immediately.

After all, leaving aside whether his lung disease could withstand the rough journey back and forth if he failed to meditate successfully within half a month and was sent home—

Now that he had awakened his golden finger, how could he give up the chance to become a wizard?

Following the principles described in the book, Li Ang tried to adjust his breathing into a particular rhythm of inhalation and exhalation.

His consciousness began to sink inward. Following the method described in the principles, he imagined a Mental Core floating in the void.

Then, he slowly guided the surrounding magic power into his Mental World, where it circled the Mental Core and formed a moving Astral Star...

Once the first Astral Star was formed, he could learn and cast Level-0 Witchcraft and become a Level-0 Wizard—the level where most Wizard Apprentices usually remained.

After that, meditation would no longer require those preliminary steps. He only needed to use his mental power to guide magic power into that Astral Star until it split into three, allowing him to become a Level-1 Wizard.

Just as the Astral Star was at the critical point of condensing, an urgent itch suddenly rose in his throat.

Li Ang, who had been constructing his Mental Core, was dragged out of meditation by the sudden pain and began coughing violently.

"Cough, cough cough..."

With his meditation abruptly interrupted by an outside force, Li Ang felt as though his head were about to explode, on top of the pain caused by his coughing.

He gulped down air and coughed repeatedly before finally calming down.

After resting for a while, Li Ang pulled himself together and prepared to try meditating again, constructing a mental-power Astral Star in his mind.

Yet whenever he had just entered his Mental World, the rotten air he inhaled would trigger a violent dry cough, causing his meditation to fail.

At the bottom of the damp, moldy ship cabin, his lungs felt as though someone were scrubbing them violently with a stiff brush. He simply could not concentrate.

"The air here is already foul beyond belief..."

If it were only his lung disease, he could still forcibly suppress the urge to cough through sheer willpower.

"If only there were some airflow here..." Li Ang said, clutching his chest as his face turned pale.

Suddenly, the system panel appeared before him again.

[Barrier Planking: lv0]

[Status: Can be bound]

[Binding cost: 1 point of mental power]

Li Ang was startled. He had not expected even the outer planks of this enormous four-deck wooden ship to have witchcraft barriers applied to them.

Right, the system required "mental power" to bind facilities, but how much mental power did he have?

With a thought, Li Ang opened his full panel.

[Name: Li Ang]

[Current mental power: 4 points. Can be restored to the maximum through rest and other means.]

[Current mental power limit: 5 points. Can be increased through meditation.]

[Bound facility: Gale-Sailing Canvas lv.0]

So that was it. The amount of mental power consumed by the system was effectively a simple rating of his own mental power.

In that case, as long as he persisted in meditating, he could raise his mental power limit and upgrade facilities to higher levels.

After thinking it over, Li Ang decided not to bind it for now.

This ship was not where he would settle. Even if he gained complete control over the ship, that did not mean he could escape right under a wizard's nose.

His gaze shifted to the bound facilities section, where the only facility currently bound, [Gale-Sailing Canvas], stood out conspicuously.

[Gale-Sailing Canvas: lv0]

[Current effect: Can control the gathering and dispersal of air within the ship's range, creating an environment of wind-element magic power.]

[Lv1 effect: Air gathering and dispersal capability +10%; wind-element magic power environment concentration +10%]

[Upgrade requirements: The number of Magic Starlets in the Mental World reaches 1; consume 5 points of mental power.]

"Gathering and dispersing air?" Li Ang instantly seized upon the key point.

Right. He could use the functions of [Gale-Sailing Canvas] to control the ship's course, so naturally, he could also control the circulation of air inside and outside this cramped cabin.

With a thought from Li Ang, the Gale-Sailing Canvas hanging from the thick mast immediately began to operate.

But this time, the air being gathered was no longer driving the ship forward. Instead, it slipped through cracks in the deck and other places aboard the ship, entering the lower levels and seeping into Li Ang's room.

Very soon, the air in the small room began to circulate.

Li Ang used the Gale-Sailing Canvas to automatically expel the moldy, damp air from the room, leaving behind fresh, natural air with suitable humidity—the kind best suited for breathing.

The original owner had died from depression brought on by the double blow to his body and mind. The lung disease itself was not actually fatal, at least not in the short term.

Now that he was breathing such clean, suitable air, Li Ang felt as though his lung disease was not as severe as before.

Rather than waste any more time, he followed the instructions of Basic Meditation Principles and entered meditation once again.

He adjusted his breathing rhythm, sank inward, constructed his Mental Core, and guided magic power into his body...

It was the same process as before, but this time it went much more smoothly thanks to the clean air.

"Hm?"

As he guided magic power into his body, Li Ang noticed something different from before.

The magic power in this world came in many elemental types, and under normal circumstances, wizards meditating would accept any kind of free magic power from nature without discrimination.

Yet now, Li Ang suddenly discovered that although he had an affinity for wind and water elements, causing him to guide in more wind-element and water-element magic power—

The stream of magic power entering his Mental World now contained noticeably more wind-element magic power than before.

[Current effect: Can control the gathering and dispersal of air within the ship's range, creating an environment of wind-element magic power.]

Right. Aside from controlling air, [Gale-Sailing Canvas] could also create an environment of wind-element magic power because of its Wind-Gathering Array construction.

In other words, he was now bathing in the dense wind-element magic power environment created by the array, greatly increasing his meditation speed!

Li Ang was overjoyed.

Just then, he was suddenly ejected from his Mental World.

"Ah."

The distracting thoughts and joyful emotions from just now had affected his process of constructing the Astral Star during meditation, so he had been forced out.

"Leaving everything else aside, even just emptying one's mind isn't easy to achieve..." Li Ang sighed.

At that moment, a burst of noisy voices suddenly sounded outside the door.

Li Ang listened closely and discovered that someone had successfully constructed their first Astral Star through meditation. That person was Matthew!

Did that guy really have talent in this area?

No wonder the wizard in charge had clearly favored Matthew when they first boarded the ship. He had seen Matthew's talent all along!