Red Tree Inn, Second Floor Suite
Holding five lesser magic stones in his hand, Lynn slowly closed his eyes and chose to insight-read the complete third-rank apprentice stage of Hossen's ditation thod.
Before long, he opened his eyes and glanced inward.
[Skill: Hossens ditation thod · Third Rank Apprentice (Initiated)]
Although the ditation thod’s proficiency showed no visible change on the light screen, Lynn could feel his understanding of it deepen.
He got up, lit so calming incense, and prepared to begin his first ditation.
Before closing his eyes, however, his gaze fell on the slightly cluttered light screen. With a thought, the Hossen's ditation thod and White Crow Sword Technique previously listed under “Skills” were moved into a newly created “Techniques” section.
Much better.
Satisfied, Lynn closed his eyes and began to ditate.
Once an apprentice successfully ford their basic ditation rune, they could use ditation to ta and draw in magic power from the outside world, storing it in their abdon.
This reservoir was the wizard’s source of mana, known as the mana vortex.
The key difference between the mana within the vortex and the free-floating magical energy in the world was that the forr had been stained by the apprentice’s mind, becoming gentle, stable, and perfectly obedient to their will.
Only in this state could magical energy truly be called mana, capable of strengthening the mind or powering spells.
During his past confinent, Lynn had already filled his mana vortex.
Now, all he had to do was follow the ditation thod to channel his mana into strengthening his spirit.
Yet after only twenty minutes, his reserves were already exhausted.
He opened his eyes reluctantly. A faint glimr flashed in his gray pupils the sign of a strengthened spirit.
It’s a pity… my mana is still too little.
The amount of mana one could hold was entirely tied to the strength of one’s ntal power.
Lynn had only just advanced. Though his ntal efficiency had greatly improved thanks to the ditation rune, his total ntal capacity had not yet increased.
Thus, the mana he could store was still ager.
Shaking his head, Lynn began to restore his mana.
In theory, as long as the ditation rune existed, an apprentice’s mana would passively recover at all tis.
But this was only a passive effect; active focus was still needed for faster recovery.
It wasn’t long before he frowned and opened his eyes.
This is too slow.
Back at the Hossens branch in Eraldwood City, he hadn’t noticed much.
But here, in the Red Tree Inn located in the Wooden House District, the magical energy density was several grades lower than at the school headquarters.
At this rate, it would take over an hour to fully restore his mana.
And that was with the Hossen's ditation thod’s specialty being stability and recovery, which already outperford ordinary ditation thods.
At least tomorrow, I’ll be able to move into my new ho with high-grade tier-0 magical energy density…
Incidentally, apart from going to places with denser magical energy, wizards could also restore mana faster by using magic stones.
However, the magic inside stones was especially stable and required a special slow-release magical tool to be usable at least for apprentices like them.
Relaxing his brow, Lynn was about to resu recovering mana when a sudden thought struck him.
He lowered his gaze to his chest.
After breaking through to the second layer of the White Crow Sword Technique, a special cluster of magical energy had ford there, powering the technique’s air-manipulating effects.
Strictly speaking, this White Crow mana cluster functioned much like the mana vortex in his abdon.
The difference was that the mana in the vortex had been fully refined into true mana, which could strengthen the spirit and cast spells—
Whereas the cluster in his chest was still raw, unrefined magical energy, usable only for driving air currents.
Realization dawned. Lynn quickly grabbed a pen and paper and jotted down two lines:
Mana Vortex - For casting spells.
White Crow Mana Cluster - For generating sharp air currents along the blade.
It was obvious… the underlying principle behind the two was the sa!
Lynn’s heart suddenly began to pound.
Right now, the White Crow mana cluster had only one function: to coat the blade in a razor-sharp air current.
But that didn’t an it would always remain so limited.
If he could find a way to use the White Crow mana cluster to cast other spells, it would be the sa as gaining an additional mana vortex!
That would be an enormous advantage.
Because more mana ant more opportunities to cast spells!
And not just one extra mana vortex… When the second layer of the White Crow Sword Technique was trained to perfection, he could also form four small mana clusters, one at each elbow and knee.
All told, that would be five extra mana vortices.
Even if their combined capacity might not equal the original vortex, the potential was trendous.
Lynn put away the pen and paper, feeling a touch of awe.
He had thought the White Crow Sword Technique was nothing more than a crude bit of otherworldly knowledge, yet it had already surprised him more than once.
Of course, Lynn knew this was also thanks to his Insight talent.
Without it, forget about dreaming of extra mana vortices; he probably wouldn’t have been able to modify the White Crow Sword Technique to suit Guern practitioners at all.
So now, the key to refining the White Crow Sword Technique is finding a way to use the White Crow mana cluster to cast more spells!
With that in mind, Lynn recalled the low-grade zero-ring spell he had received from the school.
Small Wind Shield.
It also manipulated air currents, so perhaps it could be the breakthrough he needed.
“Small Wind Shield: A low-grade zero-ring spell that creates a half-ter-wide vortex of air within a three-ter sphere centered on the caster’s brow, for defense.
Effective against most attacks, especially poisonous mists, arrows, and other ranged strikes…”
Sitting at the table, Lynn began carefully studying the first spell he had ever learned.
Perhaps because the White Crow Sword Technique operated on a similar principle, his progress with Small Wind Shield was unusually smooth. Much of it he understood at a glance, and when he didn’t, a little study paired with recalling the feel of performing the sword technique was enough to break through.
He quickly lost himself in the work, and only when Giggs knocked on his door the next day at noon did he pull free from that tranquil focus.
“Lynn, I hate to interrupt, but it’s already midday. You reminded yesterday, today we need to move into your new ho, and there’s also that business matter…”
“Coming,” Lynn replied, rising with a heart full of satisfaction.
At this pace, even without Insight, I could master Small Wind Shield in just a few days!
Pity I have to deal with errands first.
-support in Patreon for more chapter, 100 chapters in there
/AetherTL
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