Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

In the morning, after having breakfast, Hughes went to the teaching area to study general courses. These courses were free and mainly covered topics such as the history of the ages, the analysis of elemental runes, and the forging of spiritual essences—all fundamental knowledge for entering the wizarding world.

As for paid courses, these are more advanced courses, and they are very expensive. This is why many first-class apprentices do tasks to earn magic stones.

Hughes decided to purchase courses such as beginner runic literature and rune structure analysis in sorcery, but each course cost at least 15 magic stones. He planned to first study potions and develop some funds for early growth.

Upon arriving at the classroom, Hughes learned that this general education class was a mental anchoring exercise in a meditative state. He arrived early at the large lecture hall, and Hughes estimated that the teacher would soon have to use a spell to amplify the volume.

A few people were scattered around the seats, all wearing the academy's uniform black robes. Hughes chose a seat near the front and waited quietly for the teacher to arrive. The number of people in the classroom gradually increased.

Many familiar faces from the airships entered the classroom. A figure walked in—it was Elena, a fifth-grade talent. Her cold and beautiful face immediately attracted everyone's attention, and her slender figure was hidden beneath her wide black robe.

Rice and Elena have been formally accepted as disciples by their family's wizards. However, compared to Elena, Rice is more like an afterthought. Although he has fourth-class aptitude, he only has third-class affinity for curse attributes.

If mental aptitude is related to a wizard's advancement, then attribute affinity determines the ease or difficulty of a wizard's future path, which in turn determines the power and energy required for a wizard to cast such spells.

The higher the affinity, the greater the power and the less the consumption. Generally, those with high mental strength aptitude will also have good affinity, but there are exceptions, such as Rice.

In fact, as long as magic can be mobilized, even if the crystal ball does not detect the affinity, the wizard can still cast magic other than the affinity, but the power will be greatly reduced.

For example, Hughes's affinity for fire is very weak. Compared to Tyrell, who can quickly condense a fireball the size of a washbasin while consuming the same amount of magic, Hughes can only condense a fireball the size of a billiard ball.

This has always been a thorn in Rice's side. Since the initial direct attack power of the curse is not high, he wants to take advantage of the situation to develop his own power and prove himself to the family.

At this moment, Rice arrived at the classroom surrounded by the crowd. He was beaming with pride, and it seemed that killing the two harpies had earned him considerable prestige. When Mor saw Hughes, he ran to his side.

"Hey, Hughes, how's it going? I've been accepted as an apprentice by a full-fledged wizard."

"I'm going to become a potion master," Hughes said without giving a further answer.

Moore opened his eyes wide, smiled, and patted Hughes on the shoulder, saying:

"Sure! We'll get a discount when we buy potions from you."

"Thank you for your kind words."

Soon, the classroom was filled with people, who must be the new students. There were hundreds of them, although many had died on the airship.

However, since most people live in the wizarding world of Maransel, they are able to respond relatively quickly and effectively to the monster invasion, and the death toll is still within the range that the academy can handle.

And this is the number recruited from the entire Maransel (excluding the center), and it is estimated that less than a hundred of them will become official wizards, and this is still within the higher academy.

Soon, the teacher who was going to give the lesson arrived in the classroom. He was a middle-aged man.

He strode to the front of the podium, wearing a white hooded robe with faint traces of flowing runes on it.

He glanced at them, didn't introduce himself, and immediately began his lecture.

The class mainly covered knowledge related to meditation. The teacher spoke very quickly, and Hughes had to understand while also taking notes on the important parts. However, one sentence startled him.

"When you can clearly feel the magic around you, you will have fully mastered the meditation method and officially become apprentices."

"If you use a low-level meditation method, it will take three days for a third-grade aptitude, two days for a fourth-grade aptitude, and only one formal meditation for a fifth-grade aptitude. As for using a medium-level or higher meditation method, that's another story."

Listening to the other person's story, and then thinking about how he, with only a third-class aptitude, had officially embarked on the path of a wizard after only one meditation session, he realized that meditation was the key to his success.

Hughes couldn't help but make a preliminary judgment about the level of the meditation method.

"..."

After a day of classes, Hughes had a deeper understanding of wizards and magic. Back in his dormitory, Hughes prepared to meditate again before beginning to study the knowledge his mentor had given him.

After getting into bed, Hughes once again engaged in deep meditation. After finishing, Hughes clearly felt an increase in his mental strength, and then he took out two crystal balls.

Hughes closed his eyes and mobilized his mental energy. He could feel an energy that he could control with his will.

He controlled his mental energy and slowly extended it toward the crystal ball containing potion science. The moment his mental energy made contact with the crystal ball, a stream of information flowed into his mind.

A rune formed in Hughes's consciousness. Hughes activated the rune, and knowledge about basic potion-making surfaced in his mind. Hughes once again marveled at the power of magic.

But this was only the second time he meditated, and Hughes's meager mental energy was completely exhausted in an instant.

After studying basic potion-making for about an hour, he slowly fell asleep, preparing to absorb the knowledge of material processing after waking up the next day with full mental energy. After all, it was not suitable to replace sleep with meditation at the moment.

As dawn broke, Hughes slowly opened his eyes. After washing up, he channeled his spiritual power to absorb the knowledge from another crystal ball, and yet another rune appeared in his mind.

With no classes in the morning, Hughes headed to the cafeteria after studying potions all morning, preparing for his afternoon general education class, which included basic anatomy.

In theory, knowledge is the foundation for wizards to dominate the world. A wizard must learn to identify materials and extract the most valuable parts from magical beasts. This has also given rise to a profession: bio-modifier.

They are familiar with and utilize the physical structures of a wide range of organisms, and some even transplant powerful biological organs into themselves. However, gaining immense power comes with various drawbacks.

However, as wizardry developed and knowledge became more comprehensive, many apprentices used this method to advance to wizardry, and biological modification became a mainstream practice among wizards.

Inside the laboratory, apprentices are dissecting a Frostwolf, one of the most common level zero magical beasts in Everfrost Spire, whose adult strength is comparable to that of a third-class wizard apprentice.

As for what happens next, we'll see how each individual evolves. With his father's knowledge, Hughes is quite adept at handling things, but it also reveals that different wizards have different understandings of the same thing...

Nothing major happened in the next few days, and Hughes continued his routine of studying at home, school, and back.