Herag returned home and sat at his desk to write a letter, informing Lillian about his current situation, and attached his talisman stone number.
There was a mailbox in town, so Herag dropped it off the next day on his way to class.
Lady Loli’s meditation course was held in a high tower, and there weren’t many wizard apprentices attending, only five people.
Herag glanced at the others and noticed they were all first-class apprentices like him who had just joined.
He was the only one who came by ship from the sea; Moonlight Forest had more than just one source of new blood.
Lady Loli appeared to be around thirty years old, exuding the charm of a mature woman. Her attire was rather bold, with long legs draped in black silk, perfectly outlining their curves.
"Thank you all for registering for my course. I will use these three classes to explain the ’Basic Principles of Meditation’." Lady Loli opened her textbook and began to teach.
"As you all know, meditation is about sensing the ubiquitous free energies, absorbing and converting them to enhance our spiritual power, thus increasing our strength. Even without learning any meditation method, simply meditating can complete this process, but at a much slower and less efficient pace."
"That is why meditation methods were born. Although most meditation methods differ, the basic principle is the same, which is the contemplation method."
"The contemplation method involves selecting an anchor for yourself, and during meditation, using this anchor to speed up the absorption of free energy. Different anchors create different meditation methods, and the effects vary."
"Common anchors include earth, vegetation, and rivers. These types of anchors are the most common but have average efficiency. It is said that in ancient times, there were meditation methods to contemplate the sun, moon, and stars. These methods were immensely powerful and had high limits but are lost to history..."
"Relevant information has been gathered; data on meditation methods are being supplemented..."
As Herag listened to the lecture, Shenlan was also inputting and analyzing the information conveyed by Lady Loli.
Herag instantly felt enlightened by her lecture. Merely reading the textbook hadn’t given him such a profound understanding; Lady Loli’s explanation made him feel as if a veil had been lifted.
"The Starry Sky Meditation Technique is truly extraordinary..."
He realized after the first class the uniqueness of the Starry Sky Meditation Technique. Typically, a meditation method involves continually contemplating a single anchor to increase spiritual power, with limited efficiency.
The Starry Sky Meditation Technique’s anchor has no limit. With each successful meditation on a new star, his spiritual power could immediately grow.
Two days later, Herag had completed the three meditation classes. Besides gaining valuable insights, Shenlan had also collected much useful information.
"The information on the meditation method is sufficient to upgrade and optimize the Starry Sky Meditation Technique by consuming 360% magic power. Would you like to upgrade and optimize?"
Shenlan provided a prompt, which was something Herag didn’t anticipate.
He asked, "What improvements come with upgrade and optimization?"
"After optimization, the Starry Sky Meditation Technique will modify the meditation method to a combination array map method, significantly enhancing meditation speed."
"Upgrade and optimize the Starry Sky Meditation Technique."
"Upgrade and optimization underway, estimated time: 5 days, 3 hours, and 25 minutes."
Herag felt his own magic power draining slowly; this power was supplied to Shenlan for computing the upgrade and optimization.
He didn’t expect it to take so long—constructing a spell model for the Partial Petrification Technique only took twenty-five minutes.
The magic power consumption was even more astonishing. A 360% consumption meant he would nearly exhaust his magic power and have to wait for it to replenish before continuing the meditation method upgrade.
Fortunately, the magic power consumption was not all at once, and the meditation method upgrade could pause and await magic power recovery.
During the meditation method upgrade, Herag took out the book "Basic Principles of Spell Model Construction" to read; classes would start in a few days, and he needed to prepare in advance.
There was a knocking sound at the door, and when Herag opened it, he found a middle-aged man with a large package on his back, also a wizard apprentice. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NovᴇlFir(e).nᴇt
"Hello, are you Mr. Herag Merlin?" he asked, holding a note.
"That’s me, what’s the matter?" Herag inquired.
The man took out a wooden box from the large package on his back and said, "I am Ivo, responsible for delivering and retrieving things in the forest. This is something sent to you by Miss Lillian from Audustud Academy."
"Oh?" Herag received the wooden box, feeling its weight—it wasn’t clear what was inside.
"Please sign here." Ivo fished out a quill pen from his pocket, moistened it with his mouth, and handed it to Herag.
Herag carefully grasped the quill by its end and signed his name on the note.
"Thank you! If you have anything to send, just find me." Ivo smiled, put away the note, and carried the large package to his next destination.
Using a bit of force, Herag opened the lid of the wooden box. Inside was a small golden cloth bag and a letter.
He first opened the letter.
"If I don’t reach out to you, you won’t write to me, huh? This is the first time in my life writing to a man. Recently, Professor Nina accepted me as her student, and she covers all my study expenses and treats me very well."
"I asked Professor Nina about it specifically; I heard that courses in Moonlight Forest are very expensive, and you’re likely to earn gold coins and magic stones by completing tasks to procure resources yourself."
"I figured since I don’t need gold coins right now and have plenty to spare, I sent you five hundred gold coins."
"Remember, I’m lending it to you, and you have to pay it back later. But being the generous person I am, I won’t charge you interest."
"After you receive it, make sure to count them. I don’t quite trust the person delivering the items here."
"Let’s work hard together, and remember not to take on too dangerous tasks; life is long, and there’s no need to take unnecessary risks."
"Lastly, I’m still resentful about you not writing to me. Remember to add me as a talisman stone friend after receiving this letter, and be sure to write me back!!!"
"Lillian Stuart, Holy Radiance Calendar 4175, June 25th"
Herag murmured after reading the letter, "The twenty-fifth, so she wrote it the same day I wrote mine; she hadn’t received my letter yet when she wrote it."
He picked up the exquisite golden cloth bag, and upon opening it, found it filled with glittering gold coins.
"Shenlan, count how many gold coins there are." Herag immediately instructed Shenlan to count them.
"There are a total of five hundred gold coins."
"Looks like none are missing; this amount of money is a timely help." These five hundred gold coins were truly a lifesaver for Herag, as he was in dire need of money.
With these coins, he could focus on learning the knowledge he wanted, quickly enhance his abilities without expending too much effort in completing tasks to earn money.
"Does this mean I’m living off someone else’s favor?" Herag chuckled, took out the talisman stone, and entered Lillian’s talisman stone number to add her as a friend.
"Your permission does not currently allow cross-organization communication." The talisman stone displayed a message.
Herag hadn’t anticipated such a restriction, but upon reflection, he understood why.
He was just a first-class wizard apprentice, and the relationships among wizard organizations were complex, involving both cooperation and conflict. If he were an insider infiltrating, it would be easy to leak information.