" Meditation leads to a buildup of energy particles in the body that cannot be discharged, which then corrodes the organs, causing various degrees of physical damage?!"
Ronan flipped through his predecessor's memories and finally discovered the cause of his "symptoms."
"Meditating too much can harm your body?!"
His face darkened.
Now, he understood why this body's constitution was so frail.
He had initially thought that his predecessor, a noble's spoiled son, had ruined his health by indulging in excesses from a young age.
But it turned out that the primary reason for his physical weakness was prolonged energy particle corrosion.
"Because his talent was poor, he had to spend more time meditating than others. With so much energy accumulating in his body—and no money to buy potions to neutralize it—his health deteriorated until it became worse than that of an average person."
Ronan's expression grew gloomy.
His merged memories were fragmented and incomplete. Combined with his previous lack of success in meditation, he hadn't noticed this problem until now.
Looking back, he realized that energy particle corrosion was a common issue among sorcerers.
But it wasn't taken seriously.
It all stemmed from the opening words of Basic Meditation: "The soul is the eternal refuge."
For sorcerers, the ultimate goal of cultivation was to achieve the so-called immortality of the soul. Beyond that, nothing was truly indispensable—not even the body.
Besides, when a sorcerer apprentice advanced to a full-fledged sorcerer, their physical body would undergo a slight enhancement.
And later, there were spells to modify the body further.
"No wonder the sorcerers in this guy's memory were either exceptionally old-looking or bizarrely deformed. So, this is the harsh reality of low-ranking sorcerers?"
Ronan felt a wave of powerlessness wash over him.
He wasn't someone who cared too much about appearance, he could tolerate looking rough—but he couldn't accept having the body of a 60-year-old at 16.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he needed a cane to walk.
Climbing trees would become impossible, and he'd be stuck living entirely on the tree, eating, drinking, and sleeping there forever.
"That would suck… big time."
Ronan imagined himself trembling on a tree branch, trying to relieve himself and wetting his pants in mid-air. The thought was too ridiculous to bear.
There were solutions to the energy particle problem, though.
One was to control the frequency of meditation.
By meditating less frequently and increasing the interval between sessions, his body could naturally discharge the excess energy particles. This would help reduce the damage.
However, this would greatly slow down his already terrible cultivation progress, making his miserable talent even worse.
Another option was to use magical potions.
But this solution was out of reach.
Even the cheapest neutralizing potion cost at least 10 low-grade magic stones. With that kind of money, Ronan might as well buy an auxiliary potion to directly boost his spiritual power.
He wanted to maintain his cultivation speed without spending money. That left only one option…
"Train."
Ronan exhaled a short breath and muttered, "Starting today, physical exercise will officially be part of my daily training routine."
It was the dumbest solution.
He would train his body to be strong enough to resist the invading energy particles!
A poor man had no choice but to rely on himself.
After about half an hour of work, Ronan had collected a full jar of morning dew.
Morning dew was a relatively easy-to-obtain sorcerer material. After reading several books last night, Ronan decided to start collecting it consciously.
He placed the jar of dew in a cool spot, grabbed a handful of sage leaves, crushed them, and used them to brush his teeth. Then, he began preparing his breakfast.
It was simple—just a small pot of mixed grain porridge.
He had no side dishes, so he added a bit of stone honey left by his predecessor, which had probably been stored for quite a while.
Surprisingly, it tasted good.
Ronan squatted at the cabin door, holding the bowl and blowing on the steaming porridge as he ate. He also opened his status panel.
[Name: Ronan Damien]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: Non-attribute Affinity]
[Strength: Level 1 Sorcerer Apprentice (86%)]
[Skills: Basic Meditation (Beginner 5/100)]
After a whole night, his strength progress hadn't budged, but his meditation proficiency had increased by 5 points.
At this point, Ronan was no longer as excited as he had been last night.
The reason was simple—after a night of research, he realized that aside from showing his cultivation status in real time, the panel didn't seem to have any other special functions.
After a whole night, his progress toward advancing his overall strength remained stagnant, though his Basic Meditation skill had gained five points of proficiency.
By now, Ronan's excitement from the previous night had faded significantly.
The reason was simple—he had spent hours studying the system panel, only to realize that apart from displaying his current progress in cultivation, it had no other functions.
"So, in the end, I still have to grind everything myself..."
Feeling a bit frustrated, Ronan quickly finished his breakfast, cleaned up, and climbed down the vine hanging from the front of his treehouse.
It was the perfect time for a morning workout.
Improving his physical condition could no longer be delayed.
He carefully mapped out his jogging route in his head:
"Follow this path straight ahead, turn right at the fourth oak tree, and when you see a mud pit, circle to the left. If I run into any danger, I'll immediately head back the way I came."
With that plan in mind, Ronan began jogging down the forest trail.
The forest path was rough, uneven, and full of obstacles like rocks and fallen branches, which made running more challenging—but that was exactly what he needed.
After a short while, sweat started dripping from his forehead, and his breathing grew heavier.
In truth, the grasslands by the lake would have been a much better place for exercise.
However, after witnessing the sorcerers' battle there yesterday, Ronan decided to avoid that area for now.
The open space around the lake left little room to hide in case something dangerous happened.
His long robe, now soaked in sweat, clung to his body and felt increasingly uncomfortable. The wide sleeves and long hem only got in his way.
"I should change into something more practical next time," Ronan muttered to himself. He remembered that his predecessor had left behind a set of lightweight hunting clothes—perfect for moving around in the forest.
"Forget about sorcerer etiquette... Who cares what I'm wearing if I can't even survive?"
By this point, Ronan was panting heavily, his hair damp and sticking to his forehead.
He pushed aside a clump of bushes and spotted a large tree with a hollow at its base, where clear water was gurgling out in small streams. Ronan slowed his pace and approached it.
"I must've run about seven or eight miles..."
He wasn't entirely sure, so he pulled out a gold pocket watch from his pocket and checked the time.
Nearly an hour and a half had passed since he left his treehouse.
A few scratches marked his arms and legs where tree branches had caught him, leaving stinging cuts that burned when sweat touched them.
"Luckily, there aren't any large beasts in this area. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to come this far."
Still catching his breath, Ronan bent down and scooped up a handful of water from the hollow. After tasting it, he found it fresh and pleasantly sweet.
After washing his face and arms, Ronan took off his shoes and dipped his feet into the cool water. A sigh of relief escaped him as the refreshing chill spread through his body.