"I see," Pin Zhoulun nodded. "The first task will be to describe all of this, and preferably to justify it from the perspective of magical theory. I will give you all the necessary books for a better understanding of the subject."
"All right," I replied, putting the daggers into my spatial bracelet.
After that, we returned to his office, talked a bit, and he told me many new things about magic, which slightly improved my understanding. However, this mostly concerned theoretical aspects that would be of little use in real combat. After a couple of hours, my pass card was brought, on which my new pseudonym, Favonius, was listed. Immediately after, I picked up a bunch of books on magic theory and artifactics, exchanged contacts with Pin Zhoulun, and left the Guangzhou Mage Association.
My path again led to the vicinity of the city of Bo. There, I found a place where no one would find me. Plus, of course, that area, due to the long presence of the holy spring, was itself enriched with energy for many miles. Unfortunately, an ordinary mage would not be able to feel it, as it requires an understanding of internal energy. Perhaps Sei Lei decided to serve in this place for this very reason.
By the end of the next day, I was already near the city of Bo. A few more days later, I reached the territory of the lightning wolves. First, I found a relatively safe cave where I could feel calm and took out the elemental lotuses. I was eager to know what power I could gain by absorbing them. If not for my iron will and desire to conceal my development as much as possible, I probably would have finished cultivating in one of the hotels in Guangzhou.
Opening the box, I looked at the two lotuses. Immediately after, a huge stream of energy, which I hadn't felt in the treasury, flooded me. This was strange; the circulation of my magical energy was even slightly disrupted by such a flow, but I didn't pay attention to it. Before starting cultivation, I carefully examined these two lotuses, trying to understand where such a sharp surge of energy came from. Only after about half an hour was I able to understand that they resonated with each other, thereby increasing their potential.
Initially, I planned to cultivate separately with the lightning lotus and then with the wind lotus. But seeing such a picture, I concluded that it would be better to cultivate with both at once. Taking each of them in my hand, I concentrated on the energy that literally burst from them, gradually, drop by drop, I began to draw it out and direct it into my body.
Of course, the fact that my energy from the inner body flows into the external world is bad. But this means that I can directly direct energy into the nebulas without using magical pores on the body, but the entire body, its entire surface, the skin, to absorb energy first into the body and then direct it into the inner world.
One might think that this can also be done with the energy of an attacking spell, but alas, it is not so. Absorbing energy from the external world requires great concentration and self-control, so even I cannot keep track of everything that is happening around at that time. Plus, absorbing large amounts of energy in this way can harm both my body and my inner world, which is not good.
Gradually, the energy from the lotuses flowed through my body, entering the inner world, where it was directed to the nebulas along golden threads. My seeds received a powerful response to this energy, beginning their growth. Naturally, it was weak and barely noticeable, but confident and constant. Gradually, the seeds approached the high level of spiritual seeds.
I absorbed the energy of the lotuses for about three days, almost continuously, after which I was severely exhausted. Immediately after the process was completed, I collapsed on the ground without strength and immediately fell asleep. I woke up only the next day. However, these three days of hard work were worth it; my seeds reached a high level and now enhance all my magic by three whole and six tenths. This was a good result.
After that, I began practicing with my artifact. This time, I decided to train with two daggers at once, which was quite difficult. Although achieving the second stage of space helped, it didn't help much. I started using both hands for control, so I had no idea how to control a third dagger. The connection between me and the dagger that was flying ahead was too weak; it needed to be improved somehow.
I came up with a solution very quickly: I tried to use spatial claws in the form of tentacles growing from my back, with the daggers at their ends. It was even more difficult to implement, but I felt the effect; I could feel the entire length of the tentacle. It was as if my back was connected to the dagger by a thread; it was a completely new sensation that I didn't fully understand.
But by practicing, I was able to get used to it, and even if the dagger was behind my back, I could accurately determine its location. This significantly increased my maneuverability.
All this took about a week. Quite a long time, but I achieved a major breakthrough in controlling daggers. The next step was to practice dagger attacks while I myself was in motion. Of course, I had already tried my new method in real battles, and besides, all week I had been hunting, accumulating the necessary resources for prototypes of a new artifact.
Usually, my control also relied on hand movements, but if I started moving myself, dodging, or running somewhere, it became impossible to use my hands. It was also difficult to keep track of the daggers' positions while I was changing my location. My first training targets were small groups of wolves. I simply burst into the center of their group, released the daggers, and tried to touch each wolf before it fell to the ground dead.
This trained not only dagger control but also my overall reaction speed, the use of wind magic, particularly wind step and wind rush simultaneously. It also trained my coordination and spatial awareness; I began to feel where my target was, even if it was behind me. I could accurately hit it and then touch it before the corpse fell to the ground.
In addition to these training sessions, I studied the books that Pin Zhoulun and the old man had given me, increasing my knowledge of magic. I also recorded all my observations and the results of my thoughts on stars and ways to build them into star paths and maps. A little time, just before bed, I spent experimenting with star combinations.
When I first started, I acted blindly; now, I had an understanding of what the star path of a particular spell should roughly look like. But there was also a difference in how much energy different spells required. No, no one forbids pouring more than necessary into them, but if you don't give enough, the spell won't work.
Gradually, through trial and error, I managed to find a couple more spells. The first was a lightning orb, the essence of which was to surround you with lightning, keeping everyone away. Gun Han used something like this during our fight. I wonder if he invented it himself, or if the Gun family has ancient methods of composing stars, like the guardians? Only, unlike that spell, which could only last for a second, I found a combination that lasted about three seconds.
The next spell was wind boots. This can be considered an evolution of the wind dash, only focusing on the legs, creating a whirlwind, something like boots. The power of this spell was less, but it could be used longer than the dash, which made it more like a wind step. Wind boots allowed for several good jumps, covering a large distance or quickly changing one's position. In particular, I understood its full potential when I once again tried to touch all the wolves killed by my daggers, but using this spell. I succeeded for the first time.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to constantly use this spell, like the wind dash; the body would be overstrained and one could get injured. But I had a huge advantage over other mages, as my body was much stronger than theirs. And the longer I practiced here, the stronger and more powerful it became.
I also remembered my old idea, namely the merging of magic. Before, I couldn't do it because I couldn't compose two star paths of different elements simultaneously, but now it didn't seem impossible to me. Trying it the first time, I failed. And not because I couldn't build two star paths, but because I couldn't connect two spells.
I realized that both star paths, when merged, must be unique and somehow complement each other, but what exactly these paths should be was difficult to figure out. After about a couple of weeks, I found the right combination.
Standing in a clearing, in front of a large boulder, I began to build the star paths of the spell. It was still difficult to concentrate on two nebulae simultaneously. But now I understood that the talent that the queen of changes of the Alpine University originally had, namely the ability to cast three spells simultaneously, was not such a great talent. It could be learned if enough effort was put in.
Soon the spell was finished; combined energy of lightning and wind flowed towards my hands. I easily waved my right hand, and following my movement, a wind blade appeared in the air, within which electric discharges churned and sparkled. Immediately after, this lightning blade shot towards the stone, shattering it into pieces, and also charring them quite well.
The second swing was directed at the nearest tree, which, scattering into splinters, caught fire from the lightning discharges. I had to quickly put it out. I didn't want to start a forest fire, otherwise I would have to run away from here myself.
In total, I spent about two months here, packing up to go back around mid-May. There was only a month left until the entrance exams for Minchzhu. I was practically not worried about them. In this month, I managed to completely fill ten soul vessels of the servant level and two for the pack leader.
Also during this time, my cultivation and body tempering increased significantly. I think my wind and lightning elements need a little more to reach the second stage of the intermediate level. As for space, it still had a long way to go to the third stage. My body had almost reached the capabilities of a high servant, but the stage of accumulating internal energy was still about halfway. It would take a lot of time before I could move on to its concentration.
Returning to Bo City, I wanted to try visiting the military base, but changed my mind, remembering that Lin Yun Jiaxing had visited there. Remembering her, I also remembered Linb Yun Er, with whom I hadn't talked for a long time, which was logical, as there was no signal in the mountains. So, having reached Xiamen, I quickly sold all the souls I had collected, getting about sixty million. In total, I already had eighty-five, but I couldn't decide what to spend it on. Of course, I once wanted good armor, but after that, I decided to make all the artifacts myself, so the need for it disappeared.
After walking around the market, I spent about five million on replenishing my supplies for accumulating internal energy. I bought a couple of items for cultivating my elements, as well as for creating artifacts. Yes, I must admit that I got a little carried away with spending, but oh well.
After the walk around the market, I headed to the airport, from where I flew to Xi'an. I wanted to meet Lin Yun Er in person before entering, to find out if she would enter the university right now, or wait a little like me. Although my problem was a little different, not because I wasn't ready, but because it was necessary for my game to be able to participate everywhere it was needed.