My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

The morning light peeked in through the gaps in the curtains.

Xia Ya suddenly opened his eyes and got out of bed. He felt clear-headed like never before, and his whole body felt refreshed and invigorated.

The book "Meditation Method" states that mental strength, magical power, and physical strength are the three most important basic attributes of a magician.

He has roughly figured out their operating logic in the past few days.

Visualizing, inscribing runes, and constructing shapes consume mental energy, but every time he wakes up, he feels that his mind is sharper than before.

Just like muscles, mental strength expands with each training session.

Mental power is responsible for the finesse and perception of magical manipulation.

Once the runes are drawn, the soul is strengthened. The soul is then primarily responsible for drawing magic power from the surrounding area, much like a water pump; the stronger the soul, the greater the pump's power.

Once the magic is drawn up, it needs somewhere to go.

The body's nervous system, blood vessels, and muscles are all channels. The thicker and stronger the channel, the more magic can flow through it. In other words, it can "hold" more magic.

Conversely, when magic flows through, it also stretches these channels wider. Of course, not in a biological sense.

After a quick wash, he opened the door, and the hallway was already filled with a strong, bitter fragrance. The sound of porcelain clinking came from downstairs.

He walked down the stairs. This time, the curved staircase didn't move, obediently supporting his steps.

In the living room, Einstein was already sitting on the sofa by the window.

Coffee sits on the coffee table, one cup empty, the other full, steam slowly rising from the rim.

"Good morning," Einstein said.

Xia glanced at the hand-cranked coffee grinder and bread on the coffee table, casually picked up a piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth, then took a few big gulps of coffee.

"Slow down, slow down," Einstein chuckled. "Who drinks coffee like this? There's still time."

As he spoke, Einstein slowly rose and put on the magic robe that represented a sixth-order archmage. The white robe was embroidered with gold thread patterns, the craftsmanship intricate, making him look like a solemn saint.

He patiently waited for Xia to finish eating, and then said.

"Let's go."

The mist in the valley had not yet dissipated.

Sunlight streamed in from the eastern cliffs, piercing through the mist and breaking into beams.

The classroom was located to the east of our residence, in a place called the First Encounter Tower.

The white tower stood tall in the morning light. Its body was seamless, as if carved from a single piece of stone.

Pushing open the door, I found the classroom to be quite large, capable of seating over a hundred people, but less than half of it was occupied at the moment.

Sunlight streamed in obliquely through the arched windows high up, cutting patches of light onto the dark wooden floor and illuminating the dust motes in the air.

Behind the podium was a black stone slab, polished shiny by chalk, with its edges covered in graffiti left by students from previous years.

The ceiling was higher than I had imagined, and a brass chandelier hung from the beam, but it was not lit and was not needed during the day.

The old wooden door made a loud noise when it opened and closed, which attracted the attention of some people.

Time seemed to stand still when they saw that white robe with gilded tassels, a garment that only a sixth-order archmage could wear.

"I'm just here to audit the class and learn about your school's teaching methods," Einstein said with a formulaic smile. "You can just pretend I don't exist."

How can we pretend it doesn't exist?!

The classroom was silent. A sixth-order archmage personally auditing a freshman class was something that might not happen even once in decades at the Tower of Truth.

Char felt many eyes on him, some envious, some jealous.

Clearly, they attributed Einstein's presence here to him.

If it weren't for the stark difference in appearance between Char and Einstein, they might have suspected that Char might be Einstein's biological son.

To have a sixth-tier archmage personally accompany you in your studies is probably a privilege even your own son wouldn't receive.

Einstein clearly didn't care what they thought; he didn't look at them, but simply found an empty seat in the last row and sat down.

Char followed behind.

As class time drew closer, the classroom filled up with more and more people. Char saw several members of the Golden Family whom he had met briefly at the banquet, including Viktor.

He also saw many other people sitting at the same table at the banquet. These people must all have backing from powerful forces on the ground. Otherwise, at a normal meditation pace, it would be impossible to carve two runes in about ten days.

A few minutes later, the teacher in charge of the class walked in.

He remembered that the teacher for this class was a fourth-level instructor, I think his name was...

As the magician who pushed open the door revealed himself, Xia's expression froze.

—Bourne. Meredith's student.

Bourne stood on the podium, his gaze sweeping across the classroom. His eyelid twitched when he saw Einstein in the last row—a fleeting moment, but Char caught it. Then he looked away, as if he hadn't seen anything.

"Raman has something come up." His voice was flat, devoid of any extra emotion, yet it seemed to possess a certain magic, audible to everyone in the classroom. "I'll teach this class."

The atmosphere in the classroom subtly shifted. Several students who knew about the confrontation in the square exchanged glances.

Char turned his gaze to Viktor, who seemed to sense something and turned to meet Char's eyes.

A subtle, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his lips.

Byrne didn't continue looking at Einstein, nor did he exchange pleasantries. He turned around and drew a diagram on the blackboard—two runes joined together, resembling some kind of intricate mechanical structure.

"This is the second-order basic configuration we will learn today, and it is also the first configuration that most mages will learn."

It is not deeply affected by attributes; a mage can easily solidify it in their sea of ​​consciousness with a slight modification.

You have probably already previewed the content of "The Method of Meditation".

The enhancement of a mage through a configuration is based on the same logic: the process of creating a configuration strengthens mental power, a successful creation strengthens the soul, and the soul draws magic power to strengthen the body.

Moreover, the enhancement brought by configuration theory is far greater than that of rune inscription, which is also the main difference between them and high-level mages.

Xia nodded silently. He and Einstein had previously considered whether they could use the advantage of the twenty-four runes to directly inscribe a sixth-order configuration in their sea of ​​consciousness—but they quickly realized that this was impossible. Without training in lower-order configurations, there wouldn't be enough mental energy to support higher-order configurations.

Bourne raised his hand and gently rubbed his fingers together. A small flame flickered on his fingertips, like an orange-red flower.

"This is a first-tier spell. It can be cast by directly inputting magic power into the runes representing 'energy release' and 'conversion,' but it's not much different from street magic."

He pulled his hand back and took a deep breath.

"And this—"

He raised his other hand.

Everyone in the classroom felt the magic emanating from his palm.

It felt like a gust of wind was blowing from the direction of the podium, hot and carrying a burnt smell.

"call--"

A cone-shaped flame shot out from his palm, shooting straight out three or four meters away. Waves of heat swept over, blowing the hair of several students in the front row backward.

Bourne continued speaking.

"This is called the Burning Hand."