New Course

Wizard Stone gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, his gaze settling on Luo Lin with a scrutinizing look.

"You are the apprentice who hunted the Crystallized Scorpion Lion leader alone? Luo Lin?"

"Yes, sir. I was fortunate," Luo Lin replied.

"Luck alone cannot kill a magical creature with strength approaching that of an Official Wizard."

Wizard Stone's tone was calm.

"I reviewed the mission records. You used an acid-based spell?"

"And it seems you employed some unique techniques."

Luo Lin's heart stirred slightly. He did not know why this wizard from the Elemental Academy cared about this.

"Yes. I made some attempts to compress Acid Spray."

A flicker of interest passed through Wizard Stone's eyes.

"Acid spells are considered an obscure branch among elemental factions, but when used properly, their power should not be underestimated."

"The fact that you independently explored compression techniques while still an apprentice shows that you have some talent for energy particle manipulation."

Wizard Stone paused before continuing.

"Next month, the Elemental Academy will offer a short elective course on microscopic energy particle manipulation. I will be teaching it, and it is primarily intended for promising Third-Rank Apprentices."

"Are you interested in attending?"

Luo Lin froze for a moment, then delight surged within him.

A course taught by an Official Wizard, focused on energy particle manipulation—this was undoubtedly an exceptionally precious learning opportunity!

It would be immensely helpful for understanding the essence of spells and optimizing his own spell models.

He immediately looked toward Wizard Eric.

Wizard Eric showed little expression and merely said, "Wizard Stone has profound attainments in the field of energy particles. His course should help you."

"Whether you go or not is your own decision."

Luo Lin understood that Wizard Eric did not object. He might even welcome it.

Luo Lin then turned and bowed to Wizard Stone. "Thank you for granting me this opportunity, sir. I am willing to attend."

Wizard Stone nodded and handed Luo Lin a silver badge.

"This is your attendance token."

"The badge contains the specific time and location of the course."

"Remember, my course has strict requirements. If you cannot keep up, you will not be qualified next time."

With that, he gave Wizard Eric a gesture of acknowledgment before turning and leaving.

Only after Wizard Stone departed did Wizard Eric look at Luo Lin and say, "That fellow Stone has quite a sharp eye."

"He must have taken a liking to your sensitivity toward energy particles and your potential for manipulating them."

"It would do you good to attend. Exposure to the ideas of different factions will not harm you."

"However, do not forget your foundation."

Luo Lin answered solemnly, "I understand, sir."

He knew Wizard Eric was reminding him not to stray from the path he had built for himself, one more inclined toward knowledge and research, merely because he had come into contact with the elemental school.

With a touch of unexpected joy, Luo Lin left the laboratory.

Not only had he obtained access to the Elemental Well, he had also gained an opportunity to attend a course taught by an Official Wizard.

He felt that his path as a wizard was quietly broadening through these seemingly ordinary accumulations, day after day.

He glanced at the silver badge in his hand, then touched the warm jade token for the Elemental Well tucked against his chest.

In the days ahead, he would need to work even harder.

Whether it was meditation at the Elemental Well or Wizard Stone's course, both were rare opportunities that he had to seize firmly.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day to use his Elemental Well qualification finally arrived.

Luo Lin chose the middle day of the access period. Once he had adjusted himself to peak condition, he followed the guidance within the jade token to an entrance on the academy's back mountain, guarded by strict spell formations.

After he presented his token, the supervising steward opened the passage. A dense, active aura of energy rushed toward him, mixed with the sharpness and agility unique to wind elements.

The Gale Element Well was not a well in the true sense, but a massive naturally formed cavern that extended deep underground.

At the center of the cavern was a spring that continuously spewed pale cyan currents of air.

That was highly concentrated wind elemental energy.

Several stone platforms floated around the spring, each separated by a transparent energy barrier. These were the meditation stations.

Luo Lin stepped onto his assigned platform, and the energy barrier sealed shut, isolating him from the outside world.

In an instant, Luo Lin felt as though he stood at the heart of a storm. Endless howling cyan currents surrounded him, while pure and immense wind elemental particles seeped into his body and Mental Sea almost without needing any guidance.

Seeing this, he immediately calmed his mind and activated the Basic Meditation Method.

Meditating here was far more efficient than meditating outside.

His spiritual power became active at an unprecedented speed, like parched earth greedily absorbing sweet rain.

Those previously somewhat obstructed mystical nodes became exceptionally smooth in such a dense energy environment.

Remembering Wizard Eric's warning, Luo Lin did not blindly pursue rapid growth in spiritual power. Instead, he focused most of his attention on tempering his Mental Sea.

He guided the incoming energy, carefully sorting through the structure of his spiritual power, removing minute impurities within it, and sensing the process of his spiritual power becoming denser under the high-pressure energy environment.

At the same time, Luo Lin devoted part of his mind to comprehending the active wind elemental particles around him.

Within the special environment of the Elemental Well, he could more clearly "see" the movement paths of these particles and the faint force fields through which they interacted.

This transformed his understanding of energy particles from descriptions in books into a more direct experience.

The six hours of meditation passed in an instant.

When the energy barrier around the stone platform opened again, Luo Lin slowly opened his eyes and felt the changes within himself.

His Mental Sea had clearly expanded and become more solid, while his mana limit had also increased.

More importantly, his control over spiritual power and his perception of wind elemental particles had both improved noticeably.

The bottleneck of the Basic Meditation Method still remained, but he felt that the barrier seemed to have thinned somewhat, and its connection with his Mental Sea had grown closer.

This experience at the Elemental Well had added considerably to his foundation.

After leaving the Elemental Well, Luo Lin did not rest. Following a brief recovery, he immersed himself in digesting and consolidating the gains from his meditation.

He tried to incorporate some of the principles he had grasped regarding energy particle movement into his ideas for optimizing Acid-Erosion Ray, considering how to guide and compress energy more efficiently.

Several days later, Wizard Stone's course on "Microscopic Energy Particle Manipulation" began as scheduled.

The course was held in a tiered classroom at the Elemental Academy. More than twenty Third-Rank Apprentices attended, including Kyle Silverglow.

When Kane saw Luo Lin, a clear flicker of surprise and a barely perceptible gloom passed through his eyes.

Luo Lin paid no attention to this. In his view, he and Kyle belonged to two different worlds.

Though both walked the path of wizardry, there were ultimately still differences between them.

For now, they merely stood side by side at the starting point. Once they became Official Wizards, they would surely never cross paths again.

Before long, Wizard Stone entered the classroom and began the lesson.

Wizard Stone's teaching style was much like the man himself: rigorous and direct, without a single unnecessary word.

He did not teach any specific spells. Instead, he began with the most basic classification, characteristics, and interaction forces of energy particles.

He explained in simple yet profound terms the roles played by particles of different attributes when forming spell models, as well as the rules they followed.

He placed particular emphasis on the importance of perception and guidance.

"Most of you merely fill spell models mechanically when casting spells."

"But true manipulation lies in understanding every portion of energy you guide and foreseeing the changes that will arise once they combine."

As Wizard Stone spoke, he casually traced patterns through the air. Several energy particles of different colors danced around his fingertips like obedient sprites, forming simple geometric shapes before instantly dispersing.

"For your after-class exercise, try using your mind to guide a fire elemental particle and a water elemental particle simultaneously, maintaining their balanced coexistence before you."

"The duration must be at least ten minutes. I will inspect your results next class."

Wizard Stone assigned the first homework.

This assignment made most of the apprentices look troubled.

Fire and water elements were naturally opposed. Making them coexist peacefully required extremely precise control and a deep understanding of particle characteristics.

Luo Lin, however, was very interested in this exercise.

It happened to align perfectly with his recent research into energy particle interactions.