Air Bullet

The woman casually lifted the cloth sack in one hand and handed it to Dago.

Dago took it with difficulty and heaved it onto his shoulder, his expression calm and unruffled.

Amid the woman's barely concealed smile, Dago walked out of the bakery.

"This strength is embarrassing. Forget it. Next, I'm going to the town's Wizard Hall to report that damned black-hearted merchant."

Dago muttered on the street.

Then, grunting with effort, he carried the sack of flour toward the grandest building by the main road.

The moment he entered, he headed for the counter handling First-Level Wizard Apprentice affairs.

He had been here before, when he bought his Meditation Method.

Under the surprised gaze of the young woman at the counter, he removed the flour from his shoulder and set it on the marble floor.

Then he explained the situation to her: a black-hearted merchant in the town's residential district was selling fake potions for profit and causing harm.

After watching the receptionist finish recording everything on paper, all that remained was to leave it to the Wizard Hall.

To him, he was like a passerby in the river of history. He might marvel at this world, but he would not have much impact on it.

After buying some other seasonings and daily necessities, he was already laden with quite a few things.

His return trip was much slower than his journey there, mainly because the sack of flour was too heavy.

As the sun sank in the west, Dago finally returned to the shelter.

After checking the "mark" he had left on the door before departing and confirming that no one had broken in while he was away, he carried the things into the cabin.

After putting everything where it belonged, Dago finally collapsed weakly onto the bed and rested for a while.

After hastily dealing with dinner, he quickly washed himself.

The sky had fully darkened, and Dago lit a candle.

He summoned the system panel. It was still the same—no progress. Dago could not stand that, so he began cultivating again.

"Meditation is the only way for me to increase my strength at this stage. The book says that only after opening Mental Sight can one capture the energy particles in reality..."

Dago sat at the wooden table, deep in thought.

Opening Mental Sight was also simple: refine and accumulate mental power in the Mental Space, then use it to nourish the soul body and condense a pair of "eyes" for it.

From beginning to end, all wizards had only one goal: achieve Soul Completion and forge an immortal soul.

Mental Sight was the beginning of the soul reaching into reality.

Only by seeing could you grasp.

"Let's do this!!!"

Dago entered grind mode and began practicing the Meditation Method.

Progress points continuously flashed through Dago's vision, but he was no longer surprised by them.

While expelling [Soul Entropy], he read books—unofficial histories and biographies left behind by the original owner.

After burning through one and a half candles, Dago could finally no longer endure.

He had calculated that he could gain roughly three progress points per hour.

Tonight, he gained thirteen progress points.

The system panel currently displayed: [Universal Wizard Meditation Method(Novice 33/100)]

Dago looked at the number with satisfaction. If he kept grinding for another two days or so, he would probably leave the novice stage.

Late at night, Dago dragged his exhausted body straight to the small bed and lay down.

He stared at the pitch-black ceiling, feeling drowsiness surge over him like a tide. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

Over the next two days, Dago became completely disciplined.

He woke early every day for morning training, jogged to the lakeside, then practiced the Meditation Method to earn progress points.

In the afternoon, he returned to the shelter and exercised for four hours, continuing until late into the night.

Before he knew it, two days passed in the blink of an eye.

At dawn on the third day, Dago walked out of the shelter with sleepy eyes.

After washing up simply, he mixed some flour into dough lumps, added wild vegetables and a little fine salt.

He set up a small iron pot and began cooking outside the shelter.

Another simple meal.

As he slurped the noodle soup from the edge of the wooden bowl, he summoned the system panel in his mind.

[Universal Wizard Meditation Method(Beginner 1/1000)]

This was the result of his two days of grinding.

As his Universal Wizard Meditation Method improved, its displayed rank had changed to Beginner.

It was just that this threshold was rather high. He needed a thousand progress points to reach the next stage.

That was truly a little outrageous.

"They might as well rename it the Workhorse System."

Dago complained inwardly.

However, after reaching the Beginner stage in the Meditation Method, he could refine more and more mental power in the Mental Space.

The rate at which [Soul Entropy] was expelled had also increased.

Although it was a system that could not "speak," it had given him tremendous motivation to move forward these past few days.

It truly was an efficient workhorse-whipping device.

Full and satisfied, Dago began practicing the Meditation Method. He calmed his mind and entered the Mental Space in one smooth motion.

Waves surged, and mist filled the air.

The sphere of light had grown much larger, expanding from the height of one person in diameter to the height of three.

Dago's soul body at the core of the light sphere was still a blurry humanoid shape, but upon closer inspection, his eyes looked somewhat different.

A pair of eyes giving off a faint deep-blue glow.

Why condense the eyes first? Because the Wizarding World believed that the eyes were a reflection of the soul.

Vision was an important means by which people interacted with the world, and the perception of one's eyes formed the foundation of the "real world."

As Dago's thoughts turned, he successfully completed his soul body's eyes with refined mental power.

At the same time, faint deep-blue light burst from the pupils of Dago's vacant body in reality.

Dago withdrew from the Mental Space. Within his originally pale-blue eyes, a halo of flowing deep-blue light had appeared at the boundary between his pupils and the whites of his eyes.

Dago could "see" scattered points of light floating within half a meter around him.

This had nothing to do with the brightness or darkness of the real world. Their existence was more like another layer of space; he simply knew those points of light were there.

Those were the legendary energy particles.

They were the medium through which wizards interfered with the material world.

He tremblingly raised a hand and gently stroked the invisible air before him.

Was this the Mental Sight the original owner had always pursued?

That meant he could advance to a Second-Level Wizard Apprentice.

The great weight hanging over Dago's heart finally fell away.

"Phew—"

After exhaling a breath of stale air, Dago's heart unexpectedly became very calm.

He did not choose to indulge in the joy of success.

With Mental Sight, he could now learn the second spell of a First-Level Wizard Apprentice: Air Bullet.

This spell was the accompanying spell of the Universal Wizard Meditation Method, essentially a free bonus.

It was used to assist in completing the final step of Meditation Method cultivation.

The interference of mental power with the material world.

Dago closed his Mental Sight. It was a skill that constantly drained mental power, so it could not remain active all the time.

He quickly entered the shelter and flipped to the final section of the Universal Wizard Meditation Method, carefully reading the casting steps for Air Bullet.

He had only skimmed this part before, but now he had finally reached this step.

"This really hasn't been easy," Dago sighed as he read.

Only when hunger struck around noon did he finish reading, the steps for casting the spell now clear in his mind.

He made himself a bowl of noodles with flour, slurped them down in large mouthfuls, and quickly finished lunch.

A gentle breeze blew as the sun tilted westward.

Wearing a linen robe, Dago once again arrived at the open ground outside the shelter.

The first step in casting Air Bullet was to activate Mental Sight and control the energy particles.

Dago's gaze sharpened. The deep-blue halos in his eyes appeared and flowed, while invisible mental power spread from his eyes.

More and more energy particles appeared within half a meter around him, as though they had leaped through space and suddenly emerged.

The second step was control. What you saw was what you got; the energy particles you could "see" were your most loyal "soldiers."

They accepted the nourishment of your mental power, making you their king.

You could not stop releasing mental power, or they would no longer obey your control.

Dago raised his right hand and slowly spread his five fingers.

As if hearing his summons, the energy particles slowly gathered into a light membrane as thin as cicada wings, forming a constantly writhing and shifting ball of air above his fingers.

The third step was compression and release: continuously output mental power and compress the air mass.

Dago silently stared at the washbasin-sized ball of air floating above his hand.

The deep-blue halo in his eyes flowed faster and faster. The writhing air sphere kept shrinking, while its internal temperature continuously rose.

The washbasin-sized air mass gradually shrank to the size of a human head.

The degree of compression depended on the intensity of mental power output.

But as time passed, his mental power gradually diminished.

He had no choice but to throw the air mass out.

The next second, the air mass shot out with a whoosh.

It struck an unlucky tree ahead and exploded against its trunk with a bang.

Dago rushed over excitedly and looked at where the air mass had landed.

A shallow indentation remained on the tree, which was as thick as a person.

"This power... is at least stronger than one of my own flying kicks."

Just as he looked it over again and again, clicking his tongue in wonder—

A notification suddenly flashed across the system panel in his vision.

[Detected skill capable of progress: Air Bullet. Would you like to choose progress?]

Without another word, Dago selected yes.

The light screen flickered and changed: [Universal Wizard Meditation Method(Beginner 11/1000); Air Bullet(Novice 1/100)]

His Air Bullet could progress as well. Though he could currently only fire a ball of air—

He believed that with the help of the Progress System, the day when his air mass became a true bullet was not far off.

Only now could he be considered to have truly stepped into the Wizarding World.

He had mastered extraordinary power beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Something called confidence had also taken root in his heart.

Dago's spirits rose. Now, he only wanted to grind until the end of time.

Originally, during the time he waited for [Soul Entropy] to be expelled, he could only read to pass the time.

Now, he had another area to improve: training Air Bullet.

From now on, the trees around the shelter were going to suffer.

At this rate, he would exhaust his mental power, then practice the Meditation Method to refine mental mist and gain mental power, making the Meditation Method progress.

Then he would use that mental power to train Air Bullet, and his [Air Bullet] would progress faster and faster.

By stepping on his own left foot with his right, he would take off right where he stood...

Only grind emperor Dago would have to suffer.

With twin moons hanging in the sky, Dago, who had trained all day, lay on his small bed with vacant eyes, staring straight at the ceiling.

[Universal Wizard Meditation Method(Beginner 55/1000); Air Bullet(Novice 20/100)]

In truth, he was looking at the system panel.

At that moment, he was fully content as he peacefully fell asleep.