Wayne returned to the mansion, crossed his legs, and began his meditation, strengthening his thoughts and magical abilities.
He could maintain a highly efficient meditation for about half an hour each day. If he exceeded this time, he would end up mentally exhausted and sleepy due to excessive brain use.
The duration of meditation depended on his thoughts. Meditation consumed mental energy but also strengthened it and his magical abilities.
Wayne set a small goal for himself: to maintain efficient and prolonged meditation, squeezing out his potential to continuously strengthen his mind and magical abilities, thus making his meditation longer and more effective.
And that small goal was a full day of 24 hours!
Ensuring he had enough mental energy for meditation every day, he would begin his second small goal: to train his body to meditate, allowing it to naturally enter a meditative state without his conscious control.
"You're already a seasoned meditator; learn to move on your own!" he encouraged himself.
Despite his modest talent, Wayne felt the pressure. He didn't want to be an ordinary magician. With the best teacher and meditation techniques, he believed he should excel in magic more than others.
"Just a slightly higher talent. What's so impressive about that? Come on, let's see who can excel first," he challenged.
Wayne was determined to surpass all geniuses, even if it meant betting his hairline!
...
On March 23rd, in the afternoon, a package arrived from London at Wayne's mansion in Ennold Town. Two maids carried the wooden box into Wayne's bedroom, and he eagerly opened it.
Inside were nearly sixty books: foundational theories of magic compiled by academies, practice guides, and psychological counseling related to magic studies.
After categorizing them, Wayne found bottles and jars of medicines, including supplements to enhance brainpower and small pills for staying alert during meditation.
Most notably, there were medications for mental well-being.
Magic users always carried medications with them, along with psychological counseling courses.
Magic was dangerous, and Wayne knew the risks. Even novice magicians could develop psychological problems due to the imbalance of the four elements and the self.
There was also a note inside the package with a curriculum for basic magic theory, specifying what to learn in the first and second years. Rushing through the curriculum was not allowed.
Even for geniuses, they had to consult their mentors before advancing to the next level.
Wayne flipped through the first-year textbooks, which contained rote memorization material. With his eidetic memory, he could easily memorize them overnight.
However, he didn't rush. Instead, he opened the guidebook for practicing the Hexagram, a technique mentioned by Hifi. He had already learned how to ignite the four elements, but there was no shortcut; it required consistent practice.
As magicians captured the light points of the four elements, the elements entered their bodies, strengthening their corresponding life essence.
Earth was the foundation of life, strengthening muscles, bones, and organs; fire was the energy of life, enhancing desire; water was the source of life, balancing the desires of fire; and air was the breath of life, keeping magicians healthy and even youthful.
Together, the four elements represented a magician's basic life essence.
The "I," or the mind, would strengthen the basic life essence, making it extraordinary and capable of changing reality.
The strength of life essence varied from person to person, aside from the strengthening brought by the mind. It depended on a magician's innate potential.
As the saying goes, one's constitution cannot be generalized!
Take Veronika as an example. As a descendant of dragon blood, her constitution was extremely strong, so her life essence far surpassed that of ordinary people. Before she could consume enough earth element to strengthen her muscles, bones, and organs, she couldn't spare any earth element to ignite the Hexagram.
The other three elements followed a similar logic, with the exception of fire. The desire within the human body was already excessive, so generally, there was no need to consume more fire elements from nature.
Once the four elements satisfied their life essence, magicians could ignite the four light points of earth, fire, water, and air.
Igniting the mind was the simplest, as everyone was born with it and could strengthen it through diligent meditation.
Finally, there was the void. Igniting the void was simple in theory: read more books and acquire more knowledge. The knowledge taught by academies was enough for every student to ignite the void.
In practice, however, the key was self-control. Before igniting the Hexagram and forming a connection, magicians should not learn more advanced knowledge; otherwise, the Hexagram would be unbalanced, and they would never be able to hold hands and connect in this lifetime.
Wayne spent the entire afternoon reading. In the evening, he received a call from Hifi, who was lecturing online. She explained the doubts raised by students.
The call wasn't long, as Hifi was busy. Once back in London, she was swamped with work. The homework she assigned to Wayne was meditation, extending his meditation time as much as possible to capture more elemental light points.
Slightly disappointed with the estimated time, Wayne asked, "Teacher, why is it so short?"
Hifi, somewhat helpless, replied, "It's already quite long! You don't realize how terrifying your elemental affinity is. I estimate three months, which is already quite conservative. Normally, even talented students from the academy need three to five years of practice."
Hifi had never underestimated Wayne's talent. She just couldn't gauge his potential. Considering him as an ordinary person without a messy bloodline heritage, she defined his life essence as that of a top-tier conventional human genius.
After some calculation, three months seemed about right.
Ending the call, Wayne felt somewhat disheartened, once again struck by reality.
"If only I could become an infinitely talented super genius," he sighed.
But reality was harsh, constantly undermining Wayne's confidence. Luckily, he could still "grind," or else he would have no way to improve.
Thinking about it, Wayne complained once again about his Golden Finger. The Tome of Greed could do everything else, but it only made him look like neither a human nor a ghost.
"Can't you give me a bit more potential? Just a bit!" he grumbled.
Closing his eyes, he faced the Tome of Greed, which stared back at him with its large eye. Wayne's vision shifted, feeling as if the Tome of Greed was himself and he was the Tome of Greed.
That evening, the carrier pigeon emerged from Gentleman Hat, eagerly opening the feed bag and starting to eat.
The house's carrier pigeons were highly skilled; this one understood the principle of self-reliance.
Waiting for the master to feed them meant going hungry for three days out of nine; feeding themselves meant one meal after another.
After finishing its meal, the white pigeon played around the table and windowsill for a while, relieved itself without disturbing Wayne, and then returned to the hat.
Wayne sat cross-legged on the carpet, extending his senses to plunder any light points that couldn't evade him, absorbing them into his body.
At present, he hadn't touched the bottom of his life essence.
"It's to be expected. My talent is average, and my elemental affinity is poor. It's exhausting to earn a few hundred light points, which wouldn't even be considered scraps by geniuses. It would be a miracle if I could
Wayne felt dizzy and lightheaded. He took a deep breath, swallowed a pill from a bottle, and entered a meditative state once again.
He wasn't sure which elemental light point had leaked the news, but the earth, water, and wind elements dared not approach the mansion. Only the fire element, accumulating more and more, swarmed towards Wayne, full of enthusiasm.
The unattainable always stirs commotion, and those favored have confidence without fear.
Wayne remembered Hefei's advice well. The human body already has plenty of desires; there's no need to acquire more from the natural world. Therefore, he greeted the enthusiastic fire element with a nonchalant attitude, responding to each adoration with a casual "hehe".
Busy, he went to take a bath.
Meanwhile, the Greed Book enjoyed the retention of seventy percent of the elemental light points. It longed for the lacking fire element, but it couldn't change Wayne's will. It could only silently wait for Wayne to change his mind.
Around the large eye on its cover, several smaller eyes opened.
The Greed Book had undergone significant changes recently. The most significant change was in the four corners of its front cover, where three slightly larger eyes slowly opened.
Earthy yellow; Deep blue; Greenish-blue.
From initially being tightly shut, then opening to a dull white, and now gradually gaining some luster, the three eyeballs were being awakened by Wayne.