The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 788 Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 55
An unlimited exploration pass—this is a reward tailor-made for her!
Being able to freely enter and exit various high-level star mirror spaces is of irreplaceable value to her in collecting advanced card-making materials and improving her strength.

"It seems... I absolutely have to win this national championship." This thought became incredibly firm in Moran's mind.

Yan Shuang keenly caught the fleeting expectation in her eyes, understood, and continued her analysis:

"Your mental strength has reached the eighth level of the first star, which theoretically allows you to support four first-star skills."

With your current mastery of 'faint illusion', coupled with the planned 'flash of white light', and your nascent combat swordsmanship, you are more than capable of dealing with the vast majority of one-star Mirror Beasts.

If you further enhance your physical fitness and martial arts skills through continuous physical training, and acquire a sharper weapon, you will be able to put up a fight even against a two-star Mirror Beast.

At this point, Yan Shuang paused: "Therefore, I suggest that after you have extracted the White Light Flash skill, you should stop extracting new beast core skills at the one-star stage."

Seeing the confusion in Mo Lan's eyes, Yan Shuang slowed her speech and explained in a simpler way:
“Every skill imprinted in the mind sea, regardless of its level, will permanently occupy a portion of mental power…”

Moran nodded; she already knew that.

"...To be honest, the effect of a one-star skill is limited. Comparing the power of a one-star Flame Ray and a two-star Fireball, the latter is clearly much more solid and powerful."

Many powerful martial arts techniques, when mastered to a high level, possess explosive power or subtle variations that can rival or even surpass low-level skills.

Given a fixed total amount of mental energy, if you use too many one-star skills in advance, consuming too much mental energy, then when you advance to two stars, the mental energy available to support and unleash stronger two-star skills will be relatively reduced.

However, if you can resist the temptations in the early stages and save your precious mental energy to continuously cultivate and grow, you will have more mental energy to use when you break through to the second star.

With the same mental energy expenditure, you can unleash your attacks more often, naturally resulting in far greater combat endurance compared to others of the same level.

Her tone was slightly serious: "This path is destined to be more difficult. Before reaching the second star, you will be lacking in skills. When facing opponents with multiple skills, you will need to rely more on the subtlety of your martial arts, the grasp of the battle situation, and the limited number of one or two skills to maneuver. The margin for error is even lower."

However, her eyes were full of affirmation for Moran: "But for you, this may be the best path to accumulate strength and then unleash it."

The talent you have shown in martial arts and physical training is rare in my life, and it is enough to be your most solid support in the early stages.

And the speed at which your mental strength improves is extraordinary, which means that your so-called 'weak period' will be much shorter than others.

She even mentioned some examples: "Those geniuses in Mirror Ruins University who are extremely talented in martial arts, body tempering, and mental strength, and have extremely strong combat power, may even choose not to extract any beast core skills before reaching the three-star level. They rely purely on their unparalleled martial arts skills and incomparably strong physical bodies to fight. Once they start extracting skills, they start at the three-star level, and their strength will instantly undergo a qualitative leap."

Finally, she returned the choice to Moran, her tone returning to its usual coolness: "Of course, I haven't walked this path myself, this is just a suggestion based on my experience."

Whether you choose a smooth transition in the early stages or opt for this more challenging but potentially more promising path, the final decision is in your hands.

But… if I had the chance to start all over again…” She paused, then spoke again, her tone carrying a certainty that had settled after countless experiences:

"I will definitely restrain my greed for the number of skills when I am at a low level and extract fewer skills."

This last sentence doesn't sound like advice from a teacher to a student; it sounds more like the honesty of a strong person about a small regret from the past—a piece of advice that transcends time, given to both themselves and the student with the potential in front of them.

"I understand!" Moran understood what Teacher Yan Shuang meant.

In fact, she felt it was a waste of spiritual energy to imprint the beast core skill, which is why she hadn't used the method of the Three Thousand Mirror Ruins Explorer to extract the beast core skill.

Although analyzing beast core skills and constructing spell structures using the method of the mage Valen is a bit troublesome, it can free up one's mental energy.

In a sense, the underlying idea is the same.

"Alright, is there anything else you want to ask? If not, let's continue practicing our martial arts!" Yan Shuang said, "If we want to extract more low-star skills, our martial arts strength must be strong enough!"

"Yes!" Moran quickly said, "Teacher, I want to ask, how can I have my own small mirror space?"
Having your own mirror space to rest in while exploring the mirror space would make things much easier and smoother!

Yan Shuang stared at her silently for a few seconds, her gaze seemingly able to penetrate one's heart.

Just as Moran thought her intentions had been exposed, Yan Shuang slowly spoke, her tone still calm:

"It not only requires amazing luck, but also an absolutely strong mental strength and a talent for observation."

If your mental strength is not strong enough, even if you are lucky enough to find an unclaimed mirror space core, you will not be able to firmly imprint your own mental mark on its violent spatial rules and complete the recognition of ownership.

Your Mirror Insight talent determines your 'efficiency' in manipulating spatial rules. The higher your talent, the less mental energy you need to consume to recognize a master and maintain the mirror space, and the higher your affinity with spatial rules. This allows you to achieve twice the result with half the effort during the recognition process and is more likely to gain favor from the 'spatial consciousness' instinct, requiring far less mental energy.

Even with a perfect talent for Mirror Exploration, one needs at least a six-star level of mental strength to be considered qualified to attempt to claim a small, stable mirror space as their master.

As for the portals to the mirrorless space... they can appear anywhere with 'mirror' properties, and whether you encounter one depends entirely on chance.

If you truly harbor this desire, then the only thing you can do now is to diligently cultivate and continuously improve your strength.

In this way, perhaps one day in the future, when an opportunity truly presents itself, you will have enough strength to seize it, instead of watching it slip away.

These words are both an answer to the Moran question and a veiled warning and guidance.

“Now,” Yan Shuang said, taking out a training wooden sword, “let’s see how much sweat you’re willing to put into your martial arts for that perhaps unattainable dream of becoming the ‘Mirror Master.’ If you can’t even master martial arts, then everything else is just empty talk.”