After returning to New York from Huaxia, Lin Hai and the others quickly settled back into their routines.
The new year brought fresh beginnings, new goals, new challenges, and the need for even more persistent effort.
Lin Hai practiced Spear Zen every day without fail, monitored and managed his acquisition of Stark Industries stock, and used a slender thread of Life Force each day to probe the dark energy of death inside the crystal.
Little by little, he guided his Life Force to adapt to that utterly opposing energy and tried to bring the two into harmony. The subtle changes in the energy that returned to him kept accumulating. Progress was as slow as expected, but Lin Hai remained patient and practiced every day without interruption.
Meanwhile, the people around him were pushing forward in their own ways.
Through persistent study at Kamar-Taj and countless hours of magical practice, Gwen had left the title of "Novice Mage" behind and officially entered the ranks of Intermediate Mages.
In Kamar-Taj's system, someone who went from knowing nothing about magic to successfully casting a few basic spells could be considered an initiate and qualify as a "Novice Mage."
Advancing from novice to intermediate, however, was another matter. It required not only extensive knowledge of Magical Theory, but also the ability to understand and cast more complex spells involving higher-dimensional laws or deeper applications of energy.
Many mages of ordinary aptitude spent their entire lives stuck at the threshold of Intermediate Mage, unable to advance any further.
For Gwen to become an Intermediate Mage with an exceptionally solid foundation at Kamar-Taj while still in her early twenties, through her own talent and hard work, was a remarkable achievement.
Her advancement was marked by her initial mastery of two powerful intermediate spells with broad potential.