After returning home, Helag sat at his desk and wrote a letter to Lilian, updating her on his situation and including his rune stone ID.
There was a mailbox in town, so Helag dropped off the letter on his way to class the next day.
Ms. Lori's meditation course was held in a tower, with only five wizard apprentices attending.
Helag glanced at the others, all first-class apprentices like him.
He was the only one who had arrived by sea; Moonlight Woodland had other sources of new blood.
Ms. Lori appeared to be in her thirties, exuding mature feminine charm. She dressed boldly, her long legs wrapped in black stockings, perfectly accentuating their curves.
"Thank you all for enrolling in my course. Over the next three sessions, I'll be teaching 'Basics of Meditation Techniques,'" Lori began, opening her textbook.
"As you know, meditation involves sensing and absorbing ambient energy to strengthen one's mental power and enhance abilities. Even without learning any specific meditation techniques, one can achieve this through meditation, though the speed and efficiency are much lower."
"Hence, meditation techniques were developed. Most techniques differ in their methods, but the principle remains the same: visualization."
"Visualization involves choosing an anchor to focus on during meditation, accelerating the absorption of ambient energy. Different anchors result in different techniques, each with varying effects."
"Common anchors include the earth, plants, and rivers. These are the most common and moderately efficient. Ancient meditation techniques reportedly involved visualizing celestial bodies, which were extremely powerful but have been lost over time…"
[Relevant information on meditation techniques has been collected and is being analyzed…]
As Helag listened, Deep Blue recorded and analyzed Lori's explanations.
Lori's lecture made things much clearer for Helag. The textbook alone hadn't given him such insight, but Lori's explanations made everything click.
"The Starry Sky Meditation Technique is truly unique…"
After the first session, Helag realized the distinctiveness of the Starry Sky Meditation Technique. Most techniques involved focusing on a single anchor to gradually increase mental power, with limited efficiency.
The Starry Sky Meditation Technique, however, had no upper limit. Each successful visualization of a star immediately boosted mental power.
***
Two days later, Helag completed the three meditation sessions, gaining valuable knowledge and information.
[
Data on meditation techniques is sufficient.
Upgrading and optimizing the Starry Sky Meditation Technique will consume 360% magic power.
Proceed with upgrade?"
]
Deep Blue's prompt surprised Helag.
"What improvements will the upgrade bring?" he asked.
[Post-upgrade, the Starry Sky Meditation Technique will modify the meditation method to a combination matrix, significantly enhancing meditation speed.]
"Upgrade the Starry Sky Meditation Technique."
[Upgrading and optimizing. Estimated time: 5 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes.]
Helag felt his magic power slowly depleting, fueling Deep Blue's calculations for the upgrade.
He hadn't expected it to take so long. Constructing the Partial Petrification spell model had only taken twenty-five minutes.
The magic power consumption was also staggering. A 360% consumption meant depleting his magic power, waiting for it to recover, and then continuing the upgrade.
Fortunately, the consumption wasn't all at once, and the upgrade could pause to allow magic power recovery.
During the upgrade period, Helag took out "Fundamentals of Spell Model Construction" to study, preparing for the upcoming class.
Knock, knock!
A knock at the door interrupted him. Helag opened it to find a middle-aged man with a large package, also a wizard apprentice.
"Hello, are you Mr. Helag Merlin?" the man asked, holding a slip of paper.
"That's me. What's up?" Helag replied.
The man pulled a wooden box from his package. "I'm Ivo, responsible for deliveries in the Woodland. This is from Miss Lilian of Augustus Academy."
"Oh?" Helag took the heavy box, curious about its contents.
"Please sign here," Ivo said, handing Helag a feather pen after moistening it in his mouth.
Helag gingerly held the pen by the end and signed the slip.
"Thank you! If you need to send anything, just let me know," Ivo said, smiling as he packed up and left.
Helag opened the wooden box with some effort, finding a small golden pouch and a letter inside.
He opened the letter first.
[
If I don't contact you, you won't write to me, huh? This is the first time I've written to a man. Professor Nina has taken me as her student and is covering all my expenses. She's very kind to me.
I heard from Professor Nina that your courses at Moonlight Woodland are expensive. You'll likely need to do tasks to earn gold coins and magic stones for resources.
I don't need gold coins right now and have plenty to spare, so I'm sending you 500 gold coins.
Remember, this is a loan. You have to pay me back. But being the generous person I am, I won't charge you interest.
Count the coins when you get them. I don't fully trust the delivery people here.
Let's work hard together. Don't take on dangerous tasks. Life is long; there's no need to risk it."
.
.
Lastly, I'm still upset you haven't written to me. Add me as a rune stone friend when you get this, and write back!!!
Lilian Stuart, June 25, 4175 of the Holy Radiance Calendar
]
Helag murmured, "June 25th, the same day I wrote my letter. She hadn't received mine yet."
He opened the golden pouch, finding it filled with gleaming gold coins.
"Deep Blue, count the coins," Helag instructed.
[There are 500 gold coins.]
"Seems like nothing's missing. This money is a lifesaver," Helag thought. The 500 gold coins were timely, allowing him to focus on learning and improving his skills without worrying about earning money.
"Am I living off a woman now?" Helag chuckled, entering Lilian's rune stone ID to add her as a friend.
"Your permissions do not allow cross-organization communication," the rune stone displayed.
Helag hadn't expected this restriction but quickly understood. As a first-class apprentice, the complex relationships between wizard organizations meant potential risks of espionage.