Cultivation, Breakthrough

Green kept an extremely low profile aboard the ship and rarely left his room. Even his meals were delivered by the sailors. Green spent almost all his time meditating. Though he did not flaunt himself, there were hardly any secrets on this small ship.

Green's room was second only to Lilian's and Bru's, so naturally, everyone kept an eye on him. Whenever Green left his room to relax on deck, it always sparked a round of discussion.

Green had also asked Bru whether George and the others had been recruited. According to Bru, however, their talents were nothing special, and George had no talent at all. No White Wizard organization would likely take them in.

Upon hearing this, Green could only silently pray that the Black Wizard organizations the other five entered would not be so cruel. George's lack of talent was perhaps a blessing in disguise; he could return home and inherit the family business.

"Almost there. I'll soon solidify my twelfth rune." Green sat cross-legged on the bed in his room and let out a deep breath. With the powerful physique of a Grand Knight, he could easily endure the dizziness brought on by meditation. Having stayed in his room for so long with little sunlight, he suffered no ill effects thanks to his robust body, but his skin had gradually turned fairer. Combined with his lean build, he looked rather like a pretty boy in robes.

"Solidifying twelve runes makes one a Second-Class Apprentice, marking the first modest leap in mental power. Since I cultivate the Modified Limit Meditation Method, I should gain even more." Green looked at the projected model within the Chip, his heart filled with joy.

"A Second-Class Apprentice... Nearly four months have passed since I advanced to a Third-Class Apprentice. A wizard's meditation only becomes harder the further one progresses. With the Chip, I can completely ignore the need to comprehend meditation methods, saving more than half the time. Now that I've switched to the Extreme Meditation Method and have double the cultivation speed, I'll only be faster." Thinking of this, Green's mood grew even brighter.

"Chip, instill the modified Extreme Meditation Method into my brain."

[Instilling: Extreme Meditation Method · Modified]

Taking a deep breath, Green entered a meditative state once more. This time, however, he was not meditating on runes, but switching to another meditation method.

As knowledge continuously poured in, Green gradually came to understand everything.

"So that's how it is! No wonder the Extreme Meditation Method has such enormous potential."

Unlike ordinary meditation methods, the Extreme Meditation Method had only one rune: a massive hollow sphere. Its surface was covered in intricate, exceedingly complex patterns, displaying a chaotic yet beautiful elegance.

The meditation method of the apprentice stage was to construct a sphere within one's entire mental space, a sphere equal in size to the mental space itself.

"So that's the principle. Constructing such an enormous sphere takes far longer than an ordinary meditation method. If the creator of the Extreme Meditation Method hadn't ingeniously divided the sphere into multiple sections, forming a structure like mortise and tenon joints that could be built piece by piece and assembled in the end, no one would have been able to fully construct this spherical rune."

Green looked at the diagram in his mind and marveled at the imagination and genius of the meditation method's creator.

However, when Green looked at the even more detailed spherical structure in his mind, he revealed a wild grin.

"Chip, begin the first step."

Green stirred his mental power. With the Chip's assistance, his mental power began seeping into every corner of the runes, continuously striking the runes in his mind. The runes that had already been solidified began to break apart under those impacts.

Time passed in the darkness. All the runes were shattered by Green's mental power. Within his mental space, fragments of runes and all manner of lines floated about.

[Beginning reconstruction]

At the Chip's prompt, Green began manipulating the rune fragments in his mind, constructing the spherical structure of the Extreme Meditation Method.

"No wonder they say the higher a wizard's level, the greater the price of switching meditation methods. Reconstruction alone is a hurdle. If the two meditation methods are too incompatible, or even conflict with each other, I'm afraid more than half the rune fragments would have to be discarded. Not to mention that after long-term meditation, one's mental space gradually takes on the attributes of the runes. If they conflict, the mental space might reject the solidified runes, causing severe mental damage." Green looked at the runes floating in his mental space and muttered to himself.

With the Chip's support, Green did not need to consider factors such as stability at all. Under the Chip's command, he manipulated one rune fragment after another as though building with blocks. The spherical structure of the Extreme Meditation Method slowly took shape.

As the final useful rune was added to the sphere of the Extreme Meditation Method, a three-fifths-complete sphere appeared within Green's mental space.

Even so, a large number of useless rune fragments remained in Green's mental space.

"Fortunately, I switched early. If my level had been higher, the price would have been even greater. Still, watching the things I painstakingly meditated on go to waste really does hurt." Green looked at the wasted rune fragments and spoke regretfully.

Green slowly dispersed these rune fragments within his mental space.

"Chip, activate Double Meditation." Green looked at his mental space and activated the Chip's function.

Green's mental space changed in an instant. The originally vast mental space split into two, one large and one small.

Two different fluctuations of mental power appeared around Green at the same time.

Meditation began. Under the effect of mental power, runes slowly formed within both spaces, but the fluctuations they emitted were entirely different. One belonged to the Extreme Meditation Method, while the other belonged to an ordinary meditation method.

As the rune fragments slowly took shape, a connection appeared between the two previously separate spaces. The runes meditated from the ordinary meditation method entered the space containing the Extreme Meditation Method through the passage.

The fragments formed by the ordinary meditation method seamlessly joined the spherical structure of the Extreme Meditation Method.

Seeing this, Green smiled. As long as he collected more compatible meditation methods, his meditation speed could rise even further.

No longer paying attention to the Chip's operations, Green threw himself wholeheartedly into meditation.

More and more rune fragments formed, embedding themselves one after another into the rune sphere of the Extreme Meditation Method. The entire sphere grew larger and larger. When it was nearly two-thirds complete, Green could feel his meditation becoming increasingly difficult. The side effect of meditation—intense dizziness—grew stronger and stronger.

In one push. Green silently encouraged himself before continuing to meditate.

A rune fragment shaped like a triangular pyramid slowly formed in Green's mental space. The violent dizziness nearly forced him out of his meditative state.

Looking at the sphere before his eyes, which had begun to distort, Green knew he could not delay any longer. He was about to reach his limit. If not for Green's powerful body, which could replenish mental power in return, an ordinary apprentice would have already collapsed from such dizziness.

Green laboriously controlled the rune, slowly moving it toward the rune sphere. As the rune fragment gradually inserted itself into the sphere, the instant the two completely merged, Green felt the rune sphere faintly glow. A cool sensation arose from within and swept through his entire mental space.

The violent dizziness vanished, replaced by a feeling of comfort, like drinking a mouthful of cool water in the scorching summer heat. His entire body felt refreshed.

Green could feel his mental power slowly expanding outward. He could sense the energy present in the air. Green could even sense a massive source of energy radiation and a smaller one aboard the ship.

"The two powerful energy sources should be Teacher Lilian and Senior Bru." Aside from Green, there was only one wizard and one apprentice on this ship. Green easily identified them.

Green slowly withdrew his mental power.

"Chip, check my attributes."

[Green]
[Strength: 6.1]

[Speed: 6.1]

[Constitution: 6.1]

[Mental Power: 16] (Second-Class Apprentice)

[Talent: Life Barrier] (Grand Knight)

[Spell: Wizard's Hand]

Looking at his attributes, Green grinned, a sense of accomplishment welling up within him.