As Grace’s student, Vivian receives a batch of resources every now and then, including magic stones, magic potions, casting materials, and so on.
These resources are more than enough at the Wizard Apprentice stage, allowing her to practice and study with peace of mind.
Vivian is also very thrifty, never wasting these resources recklessly.
She is diligent and talented, consistently performing well in the assessments at the Thorn Holy Tower.
The reward system at the Thorn Holy Tower is mostly based on exams, with high-ranking students receiving substantial prizes.
This is meant to encourage Wizard Apprentices to diligently study and practice, which is a good thing for those who are talented and hardworking but lack connections.
As long as you are excellent, the Thorn Holy Tower provides sufficient resources for practice.
Nonetheless, a Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion is a significant expense for Vivian.
Duke looked at the light blue potion in his hand, thinking that he must improve himself quickly so he can repay Vivian someday.
...
Three days later.
Duke rented a Meditation Practice Room on Academy Island, which had a special Witch Array to enhance meditation practice efficiency.
The room was also filled with incense made from the resin of the Elf Ancient Tree, which helped calm the mind.
The cost of this practice room was twenty lesser magic stones per hour, not very expensive, but it would be a considerable expense if used long-term.
Generally, only Wizard Apprentices nearing a breakthrough or wanting to adjust their state would spend time in a Meditation Room.
Duke came here to complete the promotion process, needing a safe, undisturbed environment.
The dormitory area was almost entirely unsafe, crowded with many Wizard Apprentices, mixed personnel, and no security staff.
The dormitory rooms didn’t even have basic soundproofing; meditation practice could be endured at usual times, but not critical breakthroughs.
In front of Duke were a Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion and a Dawn Potion, the latter contained in a round-bellied glass bottle filled with a silver liquid.
He picked up the Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion and drank it down in one gulp.
The blue liquid quickly spread throughout his body.
Duke felt very comfortable, as if his entire body was soaked in a gentle energy.
Especially in his mind, he felt clear-headed, and managing his spiritual power became extraordinarily smooth.
Duke waited for a minute, as the Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion took some time to fully work.
He then picked up the bottle of Dawn Potion, uncorked it, and drank it slowly.
The Dawn Potion can’t be drunk all at once; it has to be sipped in small quantities.
Furthermore, every sip needs to be encased with magic power to let its medicinal properties slowly release.
The whole process has to be careful and not rushed.
The components of the Dawn Potion are deadly toxins for ordinary people; drinking it would surely cause them to die suddenly.
Even Wizard Apprentices must drink it slowly, using magic power to refine its medicinal properties, allowing the components to be gradually absorbed after refinement.
About ten minutes later, Duke refined all the Dawn Potion he had drunk.
After the Dawn Potion was absorbed, his entire body began to heat up, his blood circulation increased, and his breathing became more rapid.
Duke maintained a clear mind, monitoring all parts of his body’s state with his spiritual power.
He felt every cell in his body vibrating, constantly emitting heat.
"So hot..."
Duke’s face turned bright red, sweat continuously dripped, his body temperature rapidly increased, and white steam began to rise all over his body, a sign that sweat was evaporating from his body heat.
He circulated magic power through his body, calmly guiding the Dawn Potion’s medicinal properties to move around, keeping it from causing chaos.
Suddenly, he saw an image of Vivian in front of him, dressed provocatively, completely different from her usual style, giving Duke a seductive smile.
A gentle breeze swept through his mind, clearing his head instantly, and the scene vanished.
Duke realized that what he saw was an illusion, and the Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion had taken effect, snapping him out of the hallucination immediately.
Hallucinations are common during promotion, appearing to confuse those advancing.
If one cannot break free from hallucinations in time and becomes lost in them, the chances of a successful promotion are slim.
Duke had previously studied illusion and hallucination knowledge, but the illusions had disappeared before he could use them.
With sufficiently high spiritual power and the protection of the Spiritual Power Stabilizing Potion, the promotion process was overall calm and without danger.
About an hour later, Duke’s body temperature gradually returned to normal, and the magic power surging within him subsided.
He could feel his mind seemed to have expanded, with more space around the Skill Tree.
Duke understood that this was a sign of increased spiritual power capacity.
More than that, his muscles, blood, bones, every cell in his body underwent a qualitative change, becoming more compatible with magic power and energy particles.
Once this physical change reaches a certain level, even without using Meditation Techniques for practice, the body’s cells can automatically absorb the surrounding free energy particles, converting them into its own energy.
This capacity is typically observed in spellcasting magical beasts or Magic Life; humans are not naturally endowed with this ability but achieve it through wizard practice by gradually enhancing their Life Level.
Having personally experienced the promotion, Duke gained a deeper understanding of Life Level enhancement.
During the promotion, he also gained considerable knowledge, which seemed to flow into his mind from an unknown source.
This phenomenon is what some lucky wizards experience as knowledge capture during promotion.
Some wizards have hypothesized that this is a reward from the Wizard Plane itself for beings that have enhanced their Life Level.
Most people find promotion challenging, relying on sheer willpower to persevere, and easily miss these fleeting knowledge insights.
Due to the Plane-related nature of these phenomena, Duke found very limited information and not much detailed explanation.
When he examined the Skill Tree, he noticed an overall increase in all his attributes.
[Constitution: 12->15]
[Strength: 12.6->15.8]
[Agility: 12->15]
[Spirit: 20.2->21.5]
[Free attribute points: 0]
Constitution, Strength, and Agility, these Basic Attributes of the body all showed significant improvement, and Spiritual Power increased by 1.3.
Duke had anticipated this but did not expect such a large boost in Basic Attributes.