Earth, fire, water, and wind were the four ancient, fundamental magic attributes. Human beings had been on the blue planet for thousands of years. They initially used these four magical attributes to cultivate, and then developed additional branch attributes such as light, dark, and thunder.
Andrew knew that the development of the magic attributes was roughly divided into three stages.
The first was the most ancient period. People cultivated with the four basic attributes as well as the newly discovered attributes.
Next was the second stage. Thanks to technological developments, the people on the blue planet were able to observe the magical elements from a micro level.
For example, among the fire attributes, spells more inclined to burning and high temperature were classified as the element of molecular transformation; spells more inclined to explosions, falling meteorites were classified as the element of plastic energy. The precise subdivision of the attributes had lowered the threshold for magical cultivation.
However, for some unknown reason, after the blue planet came into contact with Star Race, the division of the magical attributes had returned to the original stage.
'Perhaps, I can learn some relevant information from Topa,' Andrew thought.
At this moment, Andrew had entered a deep meditative state. Through his spiritual structure, he could sense light spots of various colors floating in the air.
This was magical power, the strange power that was everywhere in this world. The number of red light spots that represented the fire element was much more than those of other colors. That was because the effects caused by the blazing tide a few days ago had not completely subsided yet.
"Come on."
A flicker of solemnity crossed Andrew's eyes. He dispersed the spiritual power that he had created via meditation into the air with ease and tried his best to mark all the red magical light spots. Then, he slowly activated his solid spiritual structure and absorbed those marked light spots into his body.
'The number of the marked light spots this time is almost ten times more than that when I was a beginner mage!'
'A hundredfold talent... That's so unbelievable.'
Andrew sighed with emotion and felt excited.
The next step was the most important part. He concentrated and inserted the magical power in his consciousness into his spiritual structure.
Initially, Andrew thought that this process would take a lot of effort, but it was quite easy. The magical power seemed to be alive and voluntarily enter his diamond spiritual structure. Then, it turned bright red and slowly colored the originally pure white structure into the color of flames.
During this process, a lot of magical power was merged into the spiritual structure and slowly broke into smaller particles, wanting to flow out of his consciousness.
However, what surprised Andrew was...
'It actually can't flow out at all!'
Andrew was stunned. Initially, Andrew had guessed that his diamond spiritual structure, due to its extreme compactness, could probably increase the efficiency of absorbing magical power. However, he had never thought that the spiritual structure could absorb all magical power!
Other mages could only absorb part of the magic power while Andrew could absorb all!
'Oh my god! This is outrageous!'
Andrew was dumbfounded. He knew very well that in the Moore Republic where he was located, even with a secret compound ether spiritual structure, the degree of magical absorption was barely around eighty-nine percent.
Moreover, only those who were deemed to have the potential to become legendary masters were qualified to be awarded a spiritual structure cultivation method. To Andrew's surprise, his diamond spiritual structure was much greater than the former!
'If that's the case, I'll recover the strength of a beginner mage faster than I have thought at the beginning.'
Andrew's heart was pounding in excitement.
The next moment, he was shocked again. Because he saw that as the magical power from the outside world continued to enter his spiritual structure, the color of the original red magical power darkened.
'The magical power being compressed!'
He was stunned. Through his sensing of the spiritual structure, Andrew could feel that the fire magical power in his consciousness was affected by the extremely tight diamond spiritual structure. It was compressed to only one-fifth of its previous size!
And this also meant that he was probably going to absorb five times as much magical power in total! Only then could his spiritual structure be filled.
'It's said that when advancing to a legendary mage, one needs to compress the magical power in their body to absorb a greater total amount of magical power. It was so similar to my current situation!'
Andrew's enhanced memory made him remember what he had heard from a drunk descendant of a large family when he was a soldier.
'Could it be that I can complete the same achievement as a legendary mage when I am a magical apprentice?!'
If Andrew was not meditating, he felt that he would have fainted in excitement because of this huge surprise!
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated. He used his incredible spiritual power to mark the red light spots of fire magical power and quickly absorbed them into his spiritual structure.
The originally fiery-red diamond structure turned deep-red as time passed by, until...
"Phew..."
Andrew let out a breath and opened his eyes abruptly. He still had the energy to absorb the power, but it was awkward that after sensing for a while, Andrew found that all the fire magical power within dozens of square meters had been absorbed by him!
'I absorbed all the fire magical power? It is something that only a great mage can do, isn't it?'
Andrew's expression was complicated. He couldn't continue his cultivation this day.
Becoming a basic mage was very easy. He just needed to fill a single solid spiritual structure with a specific type of magical power, and the spiritual structure that was filled with magical power would be called a node.
For example, Andrew planned to create his own fire magical node and return to the level of a beginner mage. Originally, he estimated that he would be able to fill the spiritual structure with the magical power with one practice. But at this moment, he could sense that he had only less than one-tenth of the maximum amount of magical power in his spiritual structure!
...
In the following period, Andrew lived a rather fulfilling life.
Every night, he would collect all the fire magical power that had been restored in the vicinity of his house. During the day, in order not to let his children worry, he would go out shopping. When he was in a good mood, he would even buy food and cook for Tim and Mary.
"Andrew, it's you again today."
"Yeah, it's not easy for Tim to break through to become a beginner mage. Now it is the time for him to consolidate his strength. Besides, there's a chance for Mary to promote as well. As their father, shouldn't I share the burden with them?"
Andrew chatted with the vendor who sold magical beast meat.
He felt a little helpless. If it weren't for the fact that every time he cultivated, he drained all the fire magic around him, he wouldn't have had so much free time during the day. But Andrew was also enjoying such life. During this period, he often cooked, tidied up the house, and communicated with his children. The house was full of happy laughter and cheerful voices these days.
Andrew arrived at the gate of his house as he was thinking about his cultivation. Before he took out the key, he heard two familiar voices inside.
Tim and Topa were secretly talking with spiritual telepathy.
"Tim, I've told you very clearly that the wind and the fire are indeed complementary to each other. They are of great help in your cultivation."
"But if you insist on becoming a lone mage, it would be best if you learn some plant-type spells. This is the easiest way in which you can heal yourself."
"Even if you are not very talented, with the support of my origin star power, you'll be able to produce the plant-type node within three months."
As soon as Andrew opened the door, he found that Topa was sitting very obediently on the sofa. At the same time, Topa was using his consciousness to communicate with Tim patiently.
Seeing Andrew, Tim said, "Dad, you're back," said Tim to his father. Meanwhile, Topa also greeted Andrew.
"I got it. I won't slack off." Tim then said to Topa via spiritual telepathy.
Then found that Topa suddenly fell into silence for some reason. It wasn't until Andrew returned to the study that he heard Topa speak slowly, "Somehow, I feel that your father is getting more and more powerful. Could he be a reclusive powerhouse?" Topa muttered to himself, and then denied it. "Impossible! Even a great mage wouldn't be able to scare me! If your father was that powerful, he wouldn't be just a beginner mage at an old age!" Topa became anxious.
Tim also echoed. "Yes. You're too suspicious. Don't judge everyone with doubt, okay?" He comforted Topa.
Topa, however, was not grateful to him.
"During this period, for some unknown reason, the magical power of the fire element near our house was drained by someone powerful. Isn't it normal for me to be a little nervous? If my identity is discovered, both of us will die!"
On the other side, Andrew listened to the conversation between the two guys in his room.
'Could it be that the change in aura caused by the compression of magical power was detected by Topa?'
'Forget it, I'll restore my powers as a beginner mage in one go today.'
As Andrew pondered, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. A large amount of fire power in the air surged into Andrew's body.
After a while, he opened his eyes and a certain hot aura was faintly lingering around his body.
"Good, I've finally made it."
Andrew smiled. He had become a beginner mage again.