Faced with Xiao Lin’s aggressive questioning, Song Junlang merely sighed and confessed unabashedly. He then asked in a very concerned manner, “How are you feeling? What does your body feel right now? You said it was cold, then you said it was hot. So, is it cold or hot?”
Xiao Lin took the diarrhea medication and said in exasperation, “Don’t even think about trying to get experimental data from me! Didn’t you say that there wouldn’t be any side effects?”
“I lied to you, of course.” Department Head Song said matter-of-factly. He immediately switched the topic to the results of the experiment and said earnestly, “Don’t interrupt, tell me how you’re feeling right now. It’s actually for your own good.”
Xiao Lin was furious when he looked at Song Junlang’s innocent expression. “Do you think I’d trust you again? What do you mean for my own good? It’s obvious you’re just collecting data!”
Song Junlang put down the pen and said in a very solemn tone, “You’ve been working extra hard to practice basic meditation and spells these few days, haven’t you? This experiment is very important for your training. If all goes well, you’ll achieve much more in the last few days.”
Xiao Lin was skeptical, but he had to admit that Song Junlang’s words were very attractive to him. He was somewhat sad to realize that he had gradually become a lab rat, but after a moment’s hesitation, he said, “It’s cold sometimes and hot sometimes. I can’t tell exactly what it feels like, but it’s probably both.”
Song Junlang was surprised and muttered about how interesting it was. He then buried his head and continued to jot everything down.
Xiao Lin could not help but ask, “Don’t just record everything. Tell me what conclusions you’ve made.”
“Well, I suggest you work harder on your affinity for water and fire in these couple of days. The effect is very good, but I don’t know to what extent. The floating fish’s internal elemental energy is abundant and can temporarily allow you to sense the elements much better.”
Xiao Lin was pleasantly surprised. “So, my elemental affinity will be greatly improved?”
“Uh, not exactly, because it’s only temporary. The special genetic structure of the elemental floating fish allows them to store energy, but our human body can’t do that. Drinking fish soup only temporarily strengthens your body’s ability to be more attuned to the elements, but like food that’s digested, this energy will flow away quickly.”
Song Junlang then said helplessly, “That is why I told you to eat the diarrhea medication. Your normal metabolism will speed up energy consumption, and in turn, means you have to speed up training. But it’s also very interesting when you think about it. You were able to feel cold and hot, which means that you have a high affinity for fire and water. This is really rare.”
Xiao Lin did not pay attention to the second half of the sentence. The first half sufficed for him to realize that the elemental floating fish soup had practically given him a temporarily heightened state, though that state would only decrease by the day. He hurriedly bid goodbye and went straight back to the dormitory. It was already night, and although he could continue to meditate in his room, the effect was not as good as being in the meditation room. He was already feeling much better after eating the diarrhea medication.
Xiao Lin’s Basic Meditation was still LV4. Practically all his time had been used to train swordsmanship earlier. With his initial mastery of elemental sword aura, his swordsmanship training was nearing its end. In the next few days, he intended to focus his time solely on spells and meditation.
He could see from the contents of Gu Xiaoyue’s notes in class a few days ago that Basic Meditation LV4 was actually a bottleneck. Meditation from LV0 to LV4 was only the most basic introductory stage, the contents of which were also very simple. All that needed to be done was to perceive the existence of the four basic elements from scratch.
From LV4 onward, the basic meditation process was not solely to perceive the existence of elements, but also to distinguish the types of elements. From that stage on, everyone’s elemental affinity gradually started to manifest. That was the most crucial part of learning spells, which was why the prerequisite for learning any spell was at least LV4 Basic Meditation.
Everyone’s meditation realm was different. Xiao Lin’s was a vast universe and, by then, he was already able to quickly enter his meditative state. The amalgamation of elements in the void seemed to dot the sky like stars. That was what he could perceive, but if he wanted to raise himself to greater heights, he had to recognize every single star there was.
The process was actually very difficult. Judging from the discussions in the forum, many people who took spell classes had been stagnant there for a very long time. A person’s experience would not mindlessly increase just because they meditated—doing so using the wrong method would only be counterproductive.
From Gu Xiaoyue’s notes, it was evident that she had no difficulty in distinguishing the elements. The same could be said of Chen Dao, Freshmen Class Twelve’s acting monitor, who did not face a bottleneck. Xiao Lin could find out about all that simply by looking at everyone’s mediation level.
In fact, Xiao Lin was no novice to meditation, as he started his basic meditation by copying a sophomore senior. In other words, he had previously succeeded in perceiving and distinguishing the elements. Even if the skills disappeared, such an experience would remain embedded in his mind.
Xiao Lin took only four hours—which was practically the entire night—to enter meditation and distinguish the element types. Though it seemed quite lengthy since he paled in comparison to Gu Xiaoyue’s half hour and Chen Dao’s one hour and 40 minutes; four hours was still an amazing feat if one took into account the fact that other people’s bottleneck lasted one or two weeks.
The upgrading of perception and cognition was also very concretely manifested in the microcosm of the elements. For example, in Xiao Lin’s meditation realm, the stars were no longer just fuzzy points of light, but burned with raging flames or glowed in blue-colored waves.
After opening his eyes, Xiao Lin immediately checked the level of basic meditation and found that his proficiency had indeed improved significantly. That showed that his direction was correct. The burning planet in his meditation realm was likely the fire element, while the blue planet had to be the water element. Song Junlang’s hunch was right—Xiao Lin could easily perceive those two elements, and at the same time, found it difficult to sense wind or earth.
However, distinguishing the elements was only the first step, and simply perceiving them was meaningless. Next up, he had to master control over those elements, because utilizing them was the basic premise for casting spells.
Seeing that it was already late, Xiao Lin did not continue to meditate. His terrible bout of diarrhea earlier that evening, coupled with his lengthy period of meditation, had tired him out significantly.
Before he slept that night, he remembered to take another dose of the diarrhea medication. Song Junlang advised him not to continue taking it until the monthly exam, because the cause of diarrhea was due to his body’s unfamiliarity with the sudden influx of elemental energy. In the same vein, the metabolism caused by his stomach’s intense reaction would also accelerate the loss of energy.
