Air Bullet

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

Dago took it with difficulty and slung it over his shoulder, his expression utterly calm.

Amid the woman's faintly amused 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 crooked merchant."

Dago muttered on the street.

Then, huffing and puffing, he carried the sack of flour toward the most luxurious building beside the main road.

As soon as he entered, he headed for the counter that handled 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 took the flour off his shoulder and set it on the marble floor.

Then he explained that a crooked merchant in the town's residential district was selling fake potions for profit at the cost of human lives.

After watching the receptionist finish recording everything, he could only leave the rest 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 influence on it.

After buying some more seasonings and daily necessities, he was carrying quite a lot of things.

The journey back was much slower than the trip there, mainly because the sack of flour was too heavy.

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

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

Once he had put everything where it belonged, Dago collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion and rested for a while.

After hastily dealing with dinner, he quickly washed himself.

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

He summoned the system panel. It was still the same—no progress. Dago could not stand that, so it was time to resume his training.

"Meditation is the only way I can increase my strength at this stage. The book says that only after opening Mental Sight can I capture 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, every wizard had only one goal: achieve Soul Completion and make the soul immortal.

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

Only by seeing could one grasp.

"Let's train!!!"

Dago activated grind mode and began practicing the Meditation Method.

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

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

After burning through one and a half candles, Dago finally could not take it anymore.

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

Tonight, he had 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 onto the small bed.

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

Over the next two days, Dago became thoroughly disciplined.

Every morning, he got up early to exercise, jogged to the lakeside, then practiced the Meditation Method to earn progress points.

In the afternoons, he returned to the shelter and trained for four hours, continuing until late at night.

Before he knew it, two days had 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, he mixed some flour into dough lumps, added wild vegetables and a little fine salt.

He set up a small iron pot and cooked it over the open ground outside the shelter.

Another simple meal.

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

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

This was the result of two days of grinding.

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

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

That was truly outrageous.

"Why not just rename it the Workhorse System?"

Dago complained inwardly.

However, after the Meditation Method reached the Beginner stage, the amount of mental power he refined in the Mental Space increased.

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

Although this 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 whip.

After eating his fill, 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 diameter of one person's height to three people's heights.

Dago's soul body at the core of the light sphere was still a blurry humanoid shape, but upon closer inspection, one would notice something different about his eyes.

A pair of eyes that emitted a faint dark-blue glow.

Why condense the eyes first? Because the Wizarding World believed that the eyes reflected the soul.

Vision was an important means through which humans interacted with the world. The perception of the eyes formed the foundation of the "real world."

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

At the same time, a faint dark-blue radiance burst from the pupils of Dago's vacant, motionless body in reality.

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

Dago could now "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.

Trembling, he raised a hand and gently caressed the invisible air before him.

Was this the Mental Sight that the previous owner of this body had pursued all along?

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

The heavy stone hanging over Dago's heart finally fell away.

"Whew—"

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 learn the second spell of a First-Level Wizard Apprentice: Air Bullet.

This spell was paired with the Universal Wizard Meditation Method, essentially a free bonus.

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

Allowing mental power to interfere with the material world.

Dago deactivated Mental Sight. It was a skill that constantly drained his mental power and could not remain active at all times.

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

He had only skimmed this part before, but 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 spell's casting steps 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.

Dago, dressed in a linen robe, once again came to the open ground outside the shelter.

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

Dago's gaze sharpened. The dark-blue rings in his eyes appeared and began to flow as invisible mental power spread from his eyes.

More and more energy particles appeared within half a meter around him, as though they had suddenly leaped into existence there.

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, so you were their king.

The output of mental power could not stop, or they would not obey your control.

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

As if hearing a summons, the energy particles gradually gathered into a thin light film, forming a constantly writhing, reshaping ball of air above his fingers.

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

Dago quietly watched the basin-sized ball of air floating before his hand.

The dark-blue ring in his eyes flowed faster. The writhing sphere of air continuously shrank, and the temperature inside it steadily rose.

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

The force of compression depended on the intensity of his mental power output.

But as time passed, his mental power gradually dwindled.

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 the trunk with a bang.

Dago rushed over excitedly and looked at the impact point.

A shallow dent 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 kept looking it over in amazement—

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

[Detected improvable skill: Air Bullet. Would you like to improve it?]

Without another word, Dago selected yes.

The light screen shifted hazily.

[Universal Wizard Meditation Method(Beginner 11/1000); Air Bullet(Novice 1/100)]

His Air Bullet could improve too. Although he could only fire a ball for now—

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

At this moment, he finally counted as having truly stepped into the Wizarding World.

He had mastered extraordinary power beyond the reach of mortals.

Something called confidence had also grown in his heart.

Dago's spirits rose. All he wanted now was to grind until the end of time.

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

Now, he had another thing 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, improving his Meditation Method.

With mental power, he could train Air Bullet, and his [Air Bullet] would improve faster and faster.

Like using his left foot to step on his right foot, he would take off straight from where he stood...

Only grind emperor Dago would have to suffer.

With twin moons hanging overhead, Dago lay on his small bed after a full day of training, staring blankly 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 completely satisfied and fell peacefully asleep.