Chapter 11: with translation of chapter title
Mo Li didn't wander for long.
Less than an hour later, she returned to the Library and continued previewing her lessons.
But differences in their thinking and behavior had already become apparent.
After staying in the Library until evening, the two went together to the Cafeteria for dinner, then dispersed, each returning to their dormitory.
Lin Ke returned to the dormitory, rested briefly, activated the Brain Seal Technique to enter the Thought Palace and organized today's gains, then got up and went to the bathroom to wash.
After changing into pajamas, with time still early, Lin Ke went to the study again, skimmed through the four books he hadn't read during the day, then went to the bedroom to sleep.
The next day, Lin Ke woke up early again.
After washing up, Lin Ke took his books, pens, notebooks, and Portable Smart Brain, had breakfast at the Cafeteria, then went early to the teaching building where today's classes were held.
During that time, following the agreement made before they parted the previous night, Lin Ke sent a message to Mo Li via the Portable Smart Brain, calling her to act together.
But Mo Li didn't reply, and Lin Ke didn't mind; he found the classroom, sat in the middle seat of the second row, merely using his books and Portable Smart Brain to hold a seat for Mo Li.
Mo Li arrived leisurely late, only reaching the classroom ten minutes before class started.
……
Two weeks passed in a flash.
Lin Ke's life was extremely monotonous yet fulfilling.
He shuttled daily between dormitory, Cafeteria, teaching building, and Library; besides that, he never toured the academy's campus, never participated in the entertainment activities organized by the increasingly familiar Newbloods, never deliberately networked, and at most, when tired, logged onto the "forum" via his Portable Smart Brain to relax.
Um……
The "forum" function was also discovered and told to Lin Ke by Mo Li.
Mo Li's life became much richer.
She managed well the balance between study and leisure; in her free time she would sometimes go to the Library with Lin Ke to read, and also participate in entertainment activities to make friends.
Mo Li came from a noble family, had been exposed to socializing since childhood, and possessed extraordinary talent in interpersonal relations.
Soon, a small circle formed around Mo Li and several other Newbloods who shared the Storm Sea island noble background.
Lin Ke privately advised Mo Li once to focus more on studies; seeing she didn't take it to heart, yet she could still guarantee her basic daily study time, he said no more.
Each lives their own way, each bears responsibility for their own choices.
But, but……
The preliminary college of the Ruiwo Si Thought Biological and Medical Academy has its campus divided into two: the Newbloods from the many islands of the Storm Sea are in the south campus, while the local apprentices from the western coast of the main continent are in the north campus.
Interaction between the two sides was minimal, almost nonexistent.
The hidden meaning behind this, combined with the agreement that Newbloods must sign, makes one's scalp tingle just thinking about it.
To avoid becoming beasts of burden, Lin Ke chose to forsake entertainment and study desperately.
……
Effort eventually pays off.
While most Newbloods couldn't even achieve the first stage of meditation, "gathering stray thoughts," Lin Ke had already prepared for his first formal meditation.
Meditation has three stages.
The first stage is gathering stray thoughts, emptying the mind, being single‑minded.
After using the Brain Seal Technique study card, Lin Ke could do it immediately, let alone after having mastered the Brain Seal Technique to its highest level.
The second stage is capturing mental power; mental power is formless and substance‑less, scattered and drifting, and wanting to control it well, condensing it into threads and lines, is extremely difficult.
When the Brain Seal Technique was at the stage where it could freely disguise memory, Lin Ke had already achieved effortless control of his own mental power.
The third stage is opening the sea of consciousness and constructing runes.
The so‑called sea of consciousness is a term Lin Ke coined himself; mages call it the mental power ocean, but Lin Ke found it too long and awkward, so he translated it as "sea of consciousness."
The location of the Thought Palace is precisely the sea of consciousness, situated three cun inward from between the eyebrows, a place that seems both real and illusory.
Constructing runes is the true obstacle blocking Lin Ke's path.
Through studying
The structure of each rune, whether will, elemental, or rule, is highly complex and three‑dimensional.
The essence of the meditation method is to use threads of condensed mental power in the sea of consciousness to construct will runes and elemental runes, then connect the completed runes into a specific shape to form a cycle.
Depending on the meditation method, the required will runes and elemental runes differ, as do the shapes and cycles.
The academy issued meditation methods tailored to the Newbloods' wizardly aptitudes.
After finishing the course
After repeatedly reading and digesting it, confirming he had fully mastered the first layer of the meditation method—the starting stage applicable to mundane to third‑grade wizard apprentices—Lin Ke prepared for his first formal meditation.
Dormitory, study.
Lin Ke sat cross‑legged, assumed the five‑hearts‑toward‑heaven posture, calmed his mind, and fully activated the Brain Seal Technique.
In the sea of consciousness, the Thought Palace vanished, restoring the sea of consciousness to its primordial state when it was first opened.
Without a frame of reference, not knowing up, down, left, or right, it was vast and dim, vague and hazy.
Tranquility and stillness seemed to be the eternal theme of the sea of consciousness.
After a long while, a point of firelight suddenly appeared.
The formless, substance‑less mental power, under the "scorching" of the equally formless, substance‑less "divine thought fire," condensed into threads, which then five strands intertwined into a single line.
The line's tip moved along a specific trajectory, constructing in the vast sea of consciousness an intricate, layered three‑dimensional structure.
This three‑dimensional structure is a will rune, the core of the first layer of the
The newly constructed generative rune appeared highly illusory and had not yet been imprinted in the sea of consciousness.
Lin Ke controlled the mental‑power threads, repeating the construction process over and over.
The generative rune gradually shifted from illusory to substantial.
After an unknown amount of time, the generative rune finally took root and was imprinted in the sea of consciousness.
As long as Lin Ke himself does not destroy it, or suffers a strong blow from external spiritual power, the derived rune will exist permanently, truly and without falsehood.
In this process, the highest-level Brain Seal Technique played an enormous role, giving Lin Ke very powerful assistance.
It can be said that Lin Ke succeeded in constructing a will rune on his very first meditation, and the Brain Seal Technique deserves great credit!
Lin Ke, with renewed vigor, proceeded to construct a water-element aggregation rune and a wood-element aggregation rune in succession.
Thereafter, using the derived rune as the top vertex, the water-element aggregation rune as the lower-left vertex, and the wood-element aggregation rune as the lower-right vertex, he linked the three runes to form an equilateral triangle.
The first layer of the Water Wood Mutual Growth Meditation Method was thus completed!
From then on, Lin Ke was a genuine wizard apprentice.
Um……
A First Grade Wizard Apprentice who has not mastered wizardry.
(End of chapter)
End of Chapter
