Another World: When a Necromancer Possesses the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls

She paused, and seeing that everyone had perked up their ears, she continued:

"Meditation practice is the process of guiding the omnipresent stellar energy into the body, cleansing the meridians, and converging into the stellar vortex. This is a burden on your mental strength and your still-developing meridians. A single high-quality meditation session is nourishing; but continuous meditation without regard for the consequences is destructive!"

"An ordinary person's mental strength and meridian resilience can only support meditation twice a day at most. If you feel a needle-like or tearing sensation in your body when you meditate again, you should stop meditating. If you force yourself to continue, not only will the efficiency drop sharply and you may not retain one-tenth of the star energy you absorbed, but it will also damage your meridians and even lead to mental exhaustion. It will take several days to recover, which is completely not worth it."

She glanced at a few students in the corner who seemed to come from well-off families, and added meaningfully, "Don't think that you can cultivate without restraint just because your family provides you with recovery potions. The power of medicine is ultimately external; it cannot completely replace your own recovery abilities. Over-reliance will also leave hidden dangers and may even deplete your potential."

Regarding meditation practice, Li Xingyao noticed that it differed from the content he had searched for yesterday. Yesterday's content mainly focused on meditation methods, emphasizing the importance of star energy and how star energy levels affect one's profession level.

After a moment's thought, Li Xingyao focused intently, listening intently. He quickly discovered subtle yet crucial differences between the general meditation techniques and energy guidance methods in textbooks and the specialized skills that Teacher Lin was currently teaching—technologies refined and optimized by countless summoner predecessors. These differences were like the gap between general-purpose parts and specialized components of precision instruments, directly determining efficiency and results. Especially regarding the sections on mental power and star energy guidance, many ingenious tips and precautions brought him sudden enlightenment.

"Theory is the skeleton that supports everything, but practice is the flesh and blood that gives it life." After nearly two hours of in-depth theoretical instruction, Teacher Lin clapped his hands. "Now, everyone, immediately try to enter a state of deep meditation. Forget about how you practiced yesterday, and strictly follow the 'circulation method' I just explained to guide your astral energy, focusing on surrounding and nourishing your spiritual areas."

The classroom fell silent instantly, broken only by the barely audible sound of long, drawn-out breathing. Li Xingyao slowly closed his eyes, completely clearing his mind of all distractions, and immersing his consciousness entirely in the meridians within his body. Stellar energy flowed gently through specific meridians like docile yet vibrant streams. He attempted to use the new "Circulation Method," carefully guiding the flow of stellar energy with his will, allowing it to circulate within his mind.

The initial process was fraught with awkwardness; the flow of stellar energy was inconsistent, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and difficult to control precisely as described in theory. Several cycles nearly ended. But soon, he felt his soul strength come into play. With his continued efforts, the flow of stellar energy gradually became stable. With each successful cycle, he could vaguely perceive a thin but real warmth.

At the same time, he clearly felt that this highly targeted and specialized guidance consumed mental energy much faster than ordinary meditation. When the one-hour specialized meditation training class ended and he emerged from the deep state, he felt a deep fatigue originating from the depths of his spirit, but his stellar energy seemed to have increased.

Suddenly, Li Xingyao felt the increase in his star energy value.

"Did you all feel it?" Teacher Lin's voice rang out at the right time, breaking the silence. "Specialized meditation is more efficient and brings more direct improvements, but the burden on your mental strength also increases exponentially. This is by no means something that can be achieved overnight; it requires you to invest a lot of time after class and practice persistently until it becomes second nature. Now, take a ten-minute break to relax your tense minds."

After the break, Lin Ya returned to the podium. Her gaze swept over the students below, each with a different expression, and her tone gradually became serious:

"Meditation is fundamental; it's the basis for accumulating astral energy. But no matter how much astral energy you have, if you don't know how to use it, it's just useless energy. As a class of mages, unlike physical classes, we can't extend our strength and physique through astral energy. Even if we don't know anything, we can still fight with a weapon."

As our star energy grows, it extends into mental power, which cannot be projected outwards unless one has a specific profession or skill. Therefore, as mages, if we want to gain combat abilities, we must learn skills.

Therefore, what I'm going to talk about next is an even more crucial part of your career path—learning and mastering skills!

She turned around and clicked on a new title on the screen on the podium: [Elementary Skills System and Learning Points].

"Skills are the bridge that transforms the stellar energy within you into actual combat power. Based on their complexity, energy operation principles, and initial contact with the rules of the universe or world, we roughly divide them into several levels: low-level, intermediate-level, advanced-level, and special-level, which are also growth-type."

"Low-level skills," Lin Ya brought up several icons, such as "Spell Construction Science," "Weak Star Energy Guidance," and "Basic Elemental Perception." "These have relatively simple principles and uncomplicated structures, mainly involving basic energy shaping or mental perception."

Those with decent talent can generally master and apply the skills in actual combat through one to three weeks of diligent study and practice. For example, the core of 'Spell Construct Science' is understanding basic spell models and mental projection; with proficiency, one can reliably summon standard skeleton warriors.

She paused, her gaze sweeping over several students who seemed eager to try: "Don't get too excited yet. Basic skills are the foundation; they are the most basic manifestation of the principles of magic, the basis for your initial learning. However, in battles at higher or super-levels, basic skills will not be sufficient to meet the demands of combat."

"Next up are intermediate skills." The icons on the screen switched, displaying "Pyroblast," "Spear of Death," and "Soul Link Enhancement," among others. "For example, the fire mage's signature 'Pyroblast' and 'Crimson Light.'"

Lin Ya zoomed in on the energy structure diagram of "Fire Explosion," and the dense nodes and energy flow lines on it made many students gasp.

"See that? The complexity of intermediate skills is far beyond that of low-level skills! They involve more precise star energy circulation routes, complex rune construction, and refined mental energy guidance, and even begin to touch upon the basics of rules such as 'energy conversion' and 'mental anchoring'."

Even for a talented student, just understanding the principles and successfully executing the first attempt requires about a month of trial and error!

She emphasized her point, her gaze sharpening as she looked at Li Xingyao and several other students with high potential ratings: "And this is merely 'learning'! It's far from 'mastering'! To achieve instantaneous, stable, controlled resource consumption, and precise accuracy in the ever-changing battlefield requires months, even half a year, of continuous, rigorous practice and real-world experience!"

"I've seen too many students," Lin Ya's voice carried a hint of coldness. "They were full of vigor when they awakened, thought they were invincible after mastering low-level skills, and only scratched the surface of intermediate skills, thinking they were good enough after practicing dozens or hundreds of times."

And the result? In simulated battles or open-world combat, due to environmental or combat pressures, there are countless examples of skill execution failures, missed shots, massive energy depletion leading to exhaustion, and even backlash injuries from depleted star energy! Remember, using your most proficient skills is the top priority on the battlefield! And there are no shortcuts to skill practice!

Below the stage, Li Xingyao felt a chill run down his spine. He had only known that skills varied in difficulty, but he hadn't realized that mastering a skill could involve such a long time and a difference in the amount of practice required.

Lin Ya continued without pausing, "As for advanced skills," the screen displayed intricate icons such as "Elemental Form," "Deathly Relic," and "Group Soul Link," "For example, 'Elemental Form' allows you to briefly merge with your own elemental attributes; 'Deathly Relic' summons unknown relics from the world of the dead, and these relics possess terrifying power and unique effects."

Her expression became extremely solemn: "Advanced skills are no longer simple energy manipulations; they contain deeper levels of law power, and their complex structure is comparable to a three-dimensional plan of a city with a population of millions. The requirements for mental strength are also extremely demanding."

Just understanding its basic principles could take you years, even decades! Whether you ultimately succeed depends on luck; it requires extremely high talent and comprehension!

"And to achieve 'proficiency'? That means you need years of dedicated study, countless failed attempts, and that one flash of inspiration! This is no exaggeration. There are no shortcuts to learning advanced skills, nor are there any proven experiences to draw upon. Everyone's method and process of mastering advanced skills is different!"

Before you reach the level of a super professional, I don't recommend anyone aim too high and try to pursue those things; that would be a waste of your life and time!

The classroom was silent, and many students wore solemn or even fearful expressions. Intermediate skills require months of hard work, while advanced skills take years... The difficulty of the career path far exceeded their initial expectations.

Li Xingyao silently processed Lin Ya's words. Intermediate skills require several months to master... This meant that his initial choice to focus on "Bone Shield" and "Death Arrow" was the right one.

"Study time... practice time..." he pondered to himself, "If I restore the spirit residing within the Myriad Souls Banner, could it help me learn skills? When the time is right, I can start trying it out."

Now, take a ten-minute break to relax your tense minds. Then we'll move to the simulation training field for our afternoon's 'Basic Skills Stability Enhancement Training.'