Above the mage

Chapter 177 Rapid Progress

An indescribable chill swept across Gao De's entire body, running along the surface of his skin.

At first, it felt as if countless tiny ice threads were moving across the surface of my skin, bringing a refreshing coolness.

Immediately afterwards, the sensation seeped into his body through the pores of his skin.

This cool and refreshing feeling, after gathering within Gao De's body, surged directly into his mind.

With a loud bang.

A muffled thunderclap seemed to resound in my mind.

Gao De felt as if his skull had become completely clear in that instant.

His mind became unusually active at this moment.

Countless thoughts surged in my mind, yet they were not chaotic; every thought was crystal clear.

Gao De was shocked by the sudden clarity in his mind.

He tried to adapt to this feeling.

But a new change occurred in the next moment.

Gao De felt that his spiritual power was like a barren land that had encountered a timely rain and was nourished, which caused a subtle change and began to slowly improve.

Although he was deeply shocked by this change, he knew that now was not the time to be shocked.

Now or never.

Gao De decisively began to operate the Apprentice Meditation Technique, attempting to materialize the illusory lotus flower that emerged from meditation deep within his consciousness.

The lotus flower, which has a total of sixteen petals, was quickly visualized by Gaode as having eleven petals.

This is his current progress in meditation practice.

In the past, Gaode's mental strength would be nearing its limit when he reached this point.

But today, he clearly still has energy to spare.

Gao De took a deep breath and, with the help of the strange power brought by the "Deep Sea Water of the Soul," focused his attention completely on the lotus flower.

He channeled his nourished spiritual energy to materialize the five petals that were yet to take shape.

At first, they were like flowers in the mist or the moon in the water, blurry and elusive.

But under the influence of Gaode's spiritual power, the illusory outline gradually became clear.

Gao De was completely absorbed in the moment, and fine beads of sweat had unconsciously appeared on his forehead, but he was completely unaware of it.

The twelfth petal slowly coalesced into a real shape.

Then the thirteenth petal slowly unfolds.

Then came the fourteenth film, and finally the fifteenth.

It was only at this point that the cool sensation brought by the "water of the soul's deep sea" completely dissipated.

The sense of clarity has also disappeared.

The rain that was falling from the sky has stopped.

Inside the bathtub, Gao De, whose eyes were tightly closed, suddenly opened them.

His heart was filled with indescribable joy and awe.

Fifteen petals!

Gao De never imagined that he would break through four levels of the Apprentice Meditation Technique in a single day, pushing him to the point of being only one step away from perfection.

Slowly exhaling the stale air from his chest, Gao De stood up, looking radiant, letting the water droplets trickle down his body.

The originally deep blue liquid has now turned back to its original clear water color.

Clearly, some of the peculiar substances contained within have been completely absorbed and consumed by Gaode.

For 99% of Dharma practitioners in the world, the progress of guided practice is far faster than that of meditation.

But now Gaode Maps has reversed the situation.

The guiding method has only reached the 14th level of magic tricks; there are still six minor levels to break through before it reaches perfection.

However, he was only one step away from mastering meditation, and had neglected the guidance method.

"Next, I just need to push forward the progress of the guidance method. Before the apprentice's guidance method is perfected, the meditation technique should be perfected as well," Gao De thought to himself.

With this jackpot, the time it took him to advance to the first-ring mage level was at least a year earlier.

"Perhaps I really can reach the third-level mage apprentice level this year and try to advance to the first-level mage level." He roughly estimated his current cultivation progress in his mind and came to this conclusion.

My joy instantly soared to a new level.

Green Leaf Month, 2nd.

Library.

Seven months later, Gaode Maps visited the second floor again.

The breakthrough in meditation techniques significantly accelerated Gaode's advancement to a first-level mage.

This is certainly a good thing, but similarly, the matter of expanding the spell library, which Gaode had not been in a great hurry to do, is now on the agenda.

He already possesses a large number of spells.

However, it still falls short of his expectations.

In the hall on the second floor, there was still that old and frail monk.

"Purchase the spell recipe." Gao De handed over his identity badge with practiced ease.

"It's you again?" Clearly, seven months hadn't made the old mage forget Gao De. He asked in surprise, "You've mastered all seven spell recipes you bought last time?"

Even in the academy, it was rare for a mage apprentice to buy seven spell recipes at once, which left a deep impression on the old mage.

"More or less," Gao De replied tactfully.

The old mage glanced at Gao De in surprise, "You're quite talented in magic."

Gao De smiled shyly.

According to the old master, it took him seven months to master seven magic tricks.

Although Gaode Maps actually spends far less time on this, it's impossible for them to reveal the actual situation.

Seven months is just right.

It allows one to appropriately demonstrate their talent in magic without being too exaggerated.

"24 credits. So the spells you can buy are the same as last time. You need to have more than 30 credits to unlock more spell recipes for you."

The old master took Gaode's identity badge, verified it on the alchemy machine, and then said this.

Fortunately, in order to compete with Yulan for the highest freshman credits, Gao De secretly took a few more courses.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, to reach 30 credits, one would have to wait until the third academic year.

Anyway, he'll definitely be able to break through 30 credits before the end of the first year.

"Regarding those spells from last time, I need the spell recipes for the four tricks: [Primal Strike], [Dancing Light], [Spark], and [Burning Fire]."

These are the four fish that slipped through the net last time due to financial difficulties, but this time Gaode has caught them all.

The old mage nodded, and after learning about Gao De's talent in magic, he no longer spoke as much as before.

He got up and took out the four spell recipes that Gao De needed from the library at the back, and handed them to Gao De.

Spell recipe +4.

Gold Coins -24.

However, even after paying 100 gold for the Spirit Water that Master Lal had "paid" last time, God's savings still amounted to 116 gold and 8 silver.

Satisfied, Gao De left the second floor of the library and returned to his dormitory, where he opened the four newly acquired spell recipes.

[Dance of Light] (Evocation, 0 Rings):

Create four torch-sized light sources within the casting range (120 feet).

During the spell's duration, the light source can manifest as a torch, lantern, or sphere of light and float in the air.

It is also possible to combine four light sources into a blurred light and shadow of a medium-sized humanoid creature.

Regardless of the method chosen, each light source can emit a faint light with a radius of 10 feet.

You can move these light sources up to 60 feet within the casting range.

Each light source must be within 20 feet of another light source, and light sources that move out of the casting range will immediately go out.

[Primal Strike] (Change type, 0 rings):

Make your own teeth or nails long and sharp, thus preparing to launch an acidic attack.

Perform a melee spell attack on a creature within 5 feet of you. If it hits, the target will take acid damage.

After you perform this attack, your teeth or nails will return to normal.

[Spark] (Evocation, 0 Ring):

It can ignite an unheld flammable object.

This spell works just like using flint and iron, but you can ignite an object in less time, in any weather.

[Ignite] (Curse Spell, 0 Ring):

A flickering flame appears in your hand.

The fire exists for the duration of the spell (10 minutes) and will not harm you or your equipment.

The flame provides bright light within a 10-foot radius around it, and dim light within a 10-foot radius beyond that radius.

You can use fire to launch an attack and use it to terminate the spell.

When casting this spell, you can throw flames at a creature within 30 feet of you and launch a ranged spell attack on it, which will deal fire damage to the target upon hit.

(End of this chapter)