After arriving at the Guard Team's residence in West City, it was already approaching evening.
The burly department head of the Guard Team's West City division received him.
There were a total of five Advanced Wizard Apprentices in West City, not including the burly department head himself, the other four each served as team captains.
The department head was named Barton Keith, and he took Colin to a room at the corner of the second floor.
Then he told him to stay here for the first month and peacefully practice witchcraft, as someone would be specifically responsible for providing food.
After one month had passed, he would then be assigned a duty.
Barton's demeanor was gentle and calm; he didn't seem to care that he had replaced an experienced member.
But just before leaving, he reminded him once again to swiftly learn the Hope Defense Field and the Fireball Technique.
Colin quickly agreed and nodded his thanks.
Setting down his backpack, he looked around the room.
The room wasn't large, probably about one-third the size of the stone house he had lived in before.
However, because it only contained a bedroom and a washroom, it still seemed spacious enough.
For a temporary stay, it was entirely sufficient.
Colin slowly walked over to the window.
The windows were still wooden, but he could no longer see the familiar azure sea.
He leaned out.
What met his eyes were various types of low-lying buildings.
To the left was the direction leading out of the city, where further away there were more buildings like palm huts and seaweed mud houses. They were densely packed, one on top of another, stretching into the distance, eventually obscured by the faint yellow city walls.
To the right was the direction toward the city center. As one looked further inward, the buildings became more orderly, with brown wood houses and gray-black stone houses gradually replacing huts and mud houses as the majority.
Leaning by the window, he stood for a while as the sun slowly sank.
As evening fell, the surroundings gradually darkened.
To the right, buildings in the city center had started to light up with spots of yellow light. Though not as dazzlingly colorful as the neon lights from his previous life, they still gave off an air of liveliness.
Looking to the left towards the outskirts, only scattered lights were bright; most buildings were pitch black.
In the surroundings as well, only a few households had lit their lamps.
'...No wonder everyone wants to stay at headquarters.' Colin solemnly reflected to himself.
He then withdrew his gaze and began his training.
*
*
*
Time flew by and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
Early morning.
Colin sat on the carpet beside the bed, his thoughts moved, and he summoned the Golden Paper.
Pale golden particles converged.
[Name: Colin Leonard]
[Rank: Intermediate Wizard Apprentice (2/100); Great Knight (29/100)]
[Meditation Methods: Apprentice Circulation Meditation I (35/100); Sunlight Breathing Method I (75/100)]
[Witchcraft: Zero Level Tricks: Fire-making Skill I↑ (100/100); Condensing Water Skill I↑ (100/100); Light Brightness Skill I↑ (100/100); Cleaning Technique↑ (100/100);
Zero Level Witchcraft: Steel Armor↑ (100/100); Arrow Shooting Skill↑ (100/100); Basic High Temperature Tolerance (35/100); Hope Defense Field (32/100); Fireball Technique (43/100); Detect Evil (26/100); Purification Evil Power (18/100)]
[Skill: Basic Magic Crystal Making—(Bright Crystal Making I↑ (100/100))]
[Limit Breaking Points: 18]
Just as Barton had instructed, Colin hadn't left his room the entire month and had focused on learning witchcraft.
After advancing to Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, he felt noticeably that learning witchcraft was easier than before.
In just one month, he not only brought Fire-making Skill and other tricks up to the limit once more, but he also successfully raised Steel Armor and Arrow Shooting Skill, two witchcrafts he had already mastered, to their limits.
Furthermore, the four witchcrafts issued by his School and the Basic High Temperature Tolerance witchcraft he had obtained from his exchange with Berkeley had all been mastered.
The only pity was that after advancing to Intermediate, the progression of wizard training had once again become slow…
Fortunately, progress hadn't completely stopped, and the Meditation Method could still be advanced further.
Colin gathered his thoughts and continued to examine the Golden Paper.
Fire-making Skill I, Light Brightness Skill I, Condensing Water Skill I, and Bright Crystal Making I—the witchcraft that had broken their limit once stood out on the Golden Paper with a blue outline glow.
Now, behind them, a golden outline glow surrounded the ↑ symbols, signaling they could break their limit again.
And the ↑ symbols behind Steel Armor and Arrow Shooting Skill, like the Ignition Technique when it reached its limit, were also surrounded by a blue glow.
"Blue signifies a single limit break and gold represents a second limit break..." Colin speculated in his mind.
But his gaze quickly shifted to the Cleaning Technique, which had also reached its limit.
Its ↑ symbol was enveloped in a golden glow.
Colin furrowed his brows, feeling somewhat puzzled.
After long contemplation, he still couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
So he relaxed his brows and focused his attention on the ↑ symbol after the Cleaning Technique.
On the Golden Paper, the characters representing the Cleaning Technique gradually became blurry and soon transformed into something new.
[Cleaning Technique↑(100/100)]——[Cleaning Technique (Golden)]
Colin was taken aback.
Why did the Cleaning Technique, after a single limit break, not have a I but instead the word golden?
"Could it be that this means the Cleaning Technique has reached its ultimate limit?"
He recalled the information that appeared in his mind when the Golden Paper first emerged.
"Before the limit, all practice shall see progress."
"After the limit, one can use Limit Breaking Points to break through and continue to improve."
He pondered for a moment and hypothesized,
"Perhaps, due to my own knowledge or realm... different witchcraft have different numbers of times they can break their limits. And gold signifies having reached the current maximum limit of improvement!"
He carefully understood the golden Cleaning Technique.
Moments later, he stood up and cast the Golden Cleaning Technique on the bedding he had just cleaned that morning.
Like a gentle breeze, the bedding seemed to be swept by an invisible hand, with the tiny impurities detaching and gathering into a ball, which landed in the trash can.
Colin caressed the bedding, then bent down to take a sniff, and looked up satisfied.
"No need to worry about cleaning ever again."
Then he sat down again, took out a Magic Stone from his pouch, and summoned the Golden Paper.
He began to add points frantically.
...[Fire-making Skill I]...[Fire-making Skill (Golden)]
...[Condensing Water Skill I]...[Condensing Water Skill (Golden)]
...[Light Brightness Skill I]...[Light Brightness Skill (Golden)]
...[Steel Armor]...[Steel Armor I]
...[Arrow Shooting Skill]...[Arrow Shooting Skill I]
...[Bright Crystal Making I]...[Bright Crystal Making (Golden)]
A plethora of complex knowledge rushed into his brain.
Colin closed his eyes tight, and soon sweat appeared on his forehead.
But there was no headache, nor much discomfort, as the transfer of knowledge always maintained a level he could bear, overall quite gentle.
As time passed by half a day, Colin finally opened his eyes, heart leaping with joy.
He felt stronger than ever before!
Unfortunately... there was no place for him to practice his witchcraft.
He stored the remaining 53 Magic Stones back into his pouch and kept them close.
This power enhancement had cost him 45 Limit Breaking Points.
If it weren't for the unexpected fortune of 80 Magic Stones, relying on the 18 Limit Breaking Points he had originally saved up, it would've been impossible to afford breaking the limit of all his witchcraft so lavishly.
Looking at the rows of dazzling golden characters on the Golden Paper, Colin felt a satisfying and refreshing comfort.
After all, Magic Stones were external possessions, while the strength that one attained was forever their own!