Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"twitter--"

The sunlight and birdsong gently awaken the slumbering Emerald Forest from its sweet dreams.

"Crunch~"

The shelter hidden in the earthen slope slowly opened its door, and Dago, dressed in a linen-grey robe, walked out of the shelter.

He took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, stretched, and did a haphazard set of exercises in the open space to warm up his exhausted body.

He had been so engrossed in studying wizarding books and systems last night that he went to bed late, feeling listless and exhausted. He rubbed his empty stomach, then turned and went back into his room to prepare breakfast.

The rice jar was almost empty; there wasn't much grain left, probably only enough for two more meals.

Dago bent down and scooped two wooden spoons of rice from the bottom of the rice bin, poured them into a small iron pot to rinse, and then lit a fire by the fireplace to cook.

He finished the simple rice porridge with some pickled wild vegetables in just a few bites, and now he finally understood why his body was so weak.

The food they ate every day was so simple; for someone accustomed to gourmet food, it was pure torture.

"Looks like I'll have to head to Aynak town today to replenish my supplies, and while I'm at it, I'll report that unscrupulous merchant to him."

Dago silently made a schedule for the day.

Now, with the practice of meditation, he feels that his mind is much sharper, and he has almost completely merged the memories of his predecessor.

Dago sat at the wooden table and used his mind to summon his system panel.

[The Wizarding Universal Meditation Method (Beginner 9/100)]

After staying up all night to practice, he gained a lot of progress points.

"It feels so good to see tangible results from hard work!"

Looking at the system's light screen, Dago couldn't help but sigh.

At the same time, he also discovered that his practice of the "General Wizarding Meditation Method" was becoming increasingly smooth.

According to his predecessor's memories, there were many obscure and unclear aspects of the meditation method, which took him several weeks or even a month to successfully resolve.

His cultivation last night went very smoothly, even though he had no guidance and had to figure it out on his own. He thought the reason might be due to the system.

The system seemed to have a magical ability to "solidify" every bit of progress he made; once he made a mistake and corrected it, he would not repeat the same mistake.

After each practice of the "General Wizarding Meditation Method," fragmented insights would naturally arise from the depths of his heart, becoming nourishment for his next step of progress.

Each time he refined his spiritual power, the effect was significantly improved, but the problem of his spiritual power being affected by the soul halo persisted.

Then the rest is very simple: he just needs to keep cultivating, and he will keep improving.

Based on a rough estimate of the sun's altitude in the sky, it's probably around 8 a.m., which is still early.

The weather was lovely today, and Dago jogged all the way to the big tree by the lake to practice meditation.

A gentle breeze swept across the lake, creating countless ripples.

"The predecessor's physical condition was too poor; it took him half an hour to run a few kilometers."

Dago, panting heavily, leaned against a large tree by the lake and muttered to himself.

He rested for a while, found a patch of green space under a big tree, closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began to practice meditation.

Clearing his mind of all distractions, he instantly entered the mental space, where a mental mist permeated the area around the sphere of light, while the dark ocean below continued to churn.

The consciousness controlled the sphere of light to slowly absorb the mental mist and refine it inside, eventually transforming it into mental energy to nourish the soul at the center of the sphere.

According to the descriptions in the last few pages of the meditation manual, excessive refining of the spiritual mist by the spiritual core will produce [Soul Entropy], which is almost an unavoidable phenomenon.

This seems to be the real reason why his soul is dizzy and his mental energy is affected; it is currently an unsolvable problem in the wizarding world.

Once the entropy of the soul stagnates and blocks the core of the spirit, it will erode the soul body and cause varying degrees of damage to it.

Therefore, whenever the [Soul Entropy] inside the sphere of light accumulates to a certain amount, he must exit the mental space to rest and wait for the Soul Entropy to dissipate on its own.

After the light sphere refined the mist to a certain amount, Dago's consciousness chose to withdraw from the mental space.

The system screen in his line of sight changed, but Dago was already used to the commotion of the system panel.

[Wizard General Meditation Technique (Beginner 10/100): Progress Value +1]

[Soul Entropy] will undoubtedly slow down Dago's progress significantly.

In the world of witchcraft, there is a way to accelerate the elimination of [Soul Entropy] from the core of the spirit: taking a spirit-enhancing potion.

This is one of the main culprits behind the rampant drug use in the wizarding world.

The low-grade psychotropic drug that his predecessor drank was one of the worst kinds, but this method won't work for Dago right now, mainly because he's penniless.

Dago sighed and muttered to himself, "Sigh... I guess I'll just keep practicing and take it one step at a time."

He got up and stretched, casually checked the surrounding dangers, and then entered into meditation.

They practiced like this, stopping and starting, and before they knew it, nearly three or four hours had passed.

Having gained about ten progress points, he planned to return to the shelter to finish the remaining food.

Dago returned the way he came, and as he walked, he was surprised to find traces of human and animal activity in the forest.

"It seems I have neighbors in the forest. I wonder what kind of people they are? It doesn't matter. As long as friends come, I'll have good wine; if enemies come, I'll have hunting rifles."

Dago blurted out a sentence in Chinese to bolster his courage.

About half an hour later, Dago returned to the shelter.

He picked up the kettle on the wooden table, took a few sips, sat on the stool to rest for a while, and after a while, he scooped out the last of the rice and began to prepare the meal.

It's still just simple rice with wild vegetables, topped with the last bit of dried meat, and it's all about showing off.

"Looks like I can't go to cultivate this afternoon. I need to go to the town of Enark to resupply. Luckily, my predecessor still has some magic stone fragments left, otherwise I would really starve to death in the shelter."

Dago thought to himself as he ate.

Soon, after he had eaten and drunk his fill, he quickly cleaned the table.

He crouched in a corner of the shelter's stone wall, groped around in the cracks, and pulled out a cloth bag about the size of his palm.

He walked to the wooden table and poured out everything from his pocket onto it—small gemstones of varying colors, about the size of soybeans.

Dago picked up a gem and examined it for a while. He found that it was not much different from the gem in his previous life, except that there was some energy flowing in it, which was quite beautiful.

Dago carefully counted the small gems on the table several times; there were sixteen in total.

This was all the money he had left; he really couldn't even scrape together a single magic stone.

According to my memory, it takes about ten magic stone fragments to equal one low-level magic stone.

Of course, the size and weight of the magic stone fragments must be acceptable.

As for magic stones, they are the official currency designated by the Wizarding Alliance. Their exchange and issuance are controlled by the government, and they are guaranteed to be effective within the territory of the Wizarding Alliance.

Of course, precious metals such as gold and silver are also usable, as both are circulated, but magic stones are a superior currency to gold, and have priority in use over gold.

This is a wizard-dominated world. Gold may not necessarily command wizards, but magic stones certainly can.

"With magic stones, wizards can grind grain," is a famous saying from the Wizarding Alliance.

Therefore, the secular world of the Wizarding Alliance also recognizes magic stone currency, because it can be exchanged for gold and silver of equal value at large wizarding organizations.

Once everything was ready, Dago locked the rickety door of the shelter and strode off toward the town of Aenar, which he remembered.

Soon, his figure disappeared into the jungle.

.........

Dago walked for a long time, about an hour and a half. He opened the water pouch on his waist, took a big gulp of water, and wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead.

Before long, the rugged mountain path underfoot became wide and flat, and more and more people could be seen in the field of vision.

The town of Aynak is surrounded by vast stretches of farmland, crisscrossed by paths.

The main town and the academy on the mountain peaks in the distance are already visible. Although it is called a town, it is not small. In my memory, the total population of the town, including the floating population, is about 200,000.

The farmland on the outskirts of the town is mostly planted with rice, a little cotton and hemp, and most of the rest are unfamiliar to me.

Dago walked along the main road through the surrounding farmland and arrived at a long, gray stone wall, three or four meters high, covered with green moss and looking very weathered.

These stone walls were left hundreds of years ago, shortly after the founding of the Academy of Wizards of Aynak.

The Emerald Forest is home to many magical beasts, and beast tides often break out.

It wasn't until the surrounding monsters were gradually cleared away by the wizards that the town of Ainark gradually developed to its current size.

As Dago passed through the unguarded doorway, a brick road wide enough for three carriages to travel side by side came into view.

The streets were lined with all sorts of shops, bustling with people, and filled with all kinds of hawking cries.

Dago stopped and looked around on the street. Most of the buildings built along the main road were brick and stone buildings, all of which were two to five stories high.

They typically feature balconies or porches with doorway columns, and the railings are made of iron or wood, with unique designs.

He observed along the way and found that the outskirts of the town were filled with simple wooden houses, while the town center was filled with sturdy and durable brick and stone houses.

The streets of the town's working-class areas were littered with garbage and sewage, and the roadsides were littered with food scraps, animal carcasses, and broken utensils.

From time to time, cows, sheep, and pigs roam freely, leaving their droppings directly on the streets.

The cacophony of stench was unbearable for Dago, but the people coming and going on the street seemed to have long been accustomed to it.

Their clothes were mostly made of wool or linen, which were difficult to wash and emitted a strong smell of sweat.

In my memory, although nobles and powerful people wore high-end fabrics such as silk, they rarely changed their clothes and only improved their scent by spraying perfume.

It took Dagger quite a while to get used to the pungent smell.

He walked along the clean main street, stopping and starting, not daring to enter any of the slightly more upscale shops, only daring to stand at the door and peek inside.

He had a total of sixteen magic stone particles on him, and he really wasn't confident. In the end, he went to the commoners' district, found an ordinary bakery, and went inside.

The aroma of the toasted bread whetted his appetite, but after glancing at the price tag, he swallowed hard and decided to resist for now.

In the bakery, there was only one robust, plump, and attractive woman arranging the freshly baked bread.

It smells like...stale.

When she saw Dago enter, she immediately greeted him with a smile and asked, "Handsome young man, is there anything you need to buy?"

Do you have flour?

Yes, yes.

"How much is it? I'll pay with magic stones."

"Twenty pounds for one magic stone. I'll also throw in a cloth bag for you."

Without saying a word, Dago took off the black cloth bag from his waist, poured out a magic stone, and handed it to the plump woman.

Her face beamed with a smile like a giant chrysanthemum, and then she strode into the drying room at the back.

Dago wandered around the small bakery, observing prices and estimating the town's price level.

A short while later, the plump woman came out of the oven carrying a bag of flour.