Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 26 Secondary Mental Shock (Please continue reading)

Back in his dorm, Richard immediately took out a half-burnt copy of "Rodriguez's Meditation Method" from his desk drawer and began to read it carefully.

Several hours later, Richard had basically finished reading the meditation manual in his hand.

At first glance, it appears that the apprentice-level Rodrigo meditation method requires the circulation of seven runes per cycle, which is two more runes than the Ignis School's basic meditation method mentioned in formal wizarding lectures during public courses.

But is that all the difficulty?

Do not!

The key to the difficulty lies in the last two runes in this meditation manual. They are top-tier beginner runes with a difficulty level close to that of intermediate runes. For a first-level wizard apprentice, it is extremely difficult to draw them out, and even second-level wizard apprentices find them very difficult to cultivate.

However, you reap what you sow. The Rodriguez meditation method during the apprenticeship stage has a rather special effect after completing a major cycle. After mastering it, in addition to rapidly increasing the total amount of mental energy during daily meditation, it can also enhance the concentration of mental energy, which is something that ordinary meditation methods, such as the basic meditation methods of the school, do not have.

Besides the special effects mentioned above, are there any other advantages?

Have!

Once the mental energy can flow through all seven runes in one go, that is, the great cycle is successful, a specially condensed strand of mental energy can be automatically generated in the mental sea, along with a special level zero sorcery - [Secondary Mental Shock].

This is a level zero mental magic spell that was originally only available to third-level wizard apprentices with a total mental energy exceeding 20 standard units.

Therefore, Seras's assessment was very fair. This was a meditation technique that Richard could use until he reached the peak of a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice without having to change it. Unfortunately, when Seras obtained it from exploring the ruins, it was already incomplete!

However, from another perspective, if the Rodrigo meditation method were complete, then Seras would absolutely not have given it to Richard.

Because a meditation technique that can lead directly to the wizard level is forbidden knowledge, no wizard will teach it to you without paying the corresponding price.

Richard took a deep breath, his expression hardening, and began practicing the first rune of the "Rodriguez Meditation Method".

A shape that looks like a "ζ" with a horizontal line in the middle when viewed from the front. This shape is not two-dimensional, but three-dimensional. You need to visualize the exact shape in your mind. If you don't visualize it accurately, it will quickly disappear and is very unstable.

Richard tried several times but failed to successfully sketch the first rune in his mind, but this was all within Richard's expectations.

[Host detected practicing Rodriguez meditation. Should energy be consumed to gain inspiration for practicing Rodriguez meditation?]

This time, looking at the numbers 1 and 2805 at both ends of the slider, Richard thought for a moment and decided to go big. He wanted to use his resources wisely, and now was the time to do so.

He immediately dragged the slider to 805 and selected "Yes!"

In an instant, Richard found himself in a dreamlike state, as if his soul had left his body. The dream took place in a deep cave with several braziers burning around it, and he was possessing a tall figure sitting cross-legged.

Once he possessed the body, Richard and the tall figure became indistinguishable. The first rune was slowly outlined in his mind by his mental power, but it quickly failed.

Another attempt, and it failed again.

But failure is the mother of success. As the number of failures accumulated, Richard's inspiration surged. Soon, the first rune in his mind began to disappear, then disappeared more than halfway through, then disappeared again after being barely completed and unstable, until finally he successfully drew it in one go!

After hundreds, even thousands, of attempts, Richard quickly sketched out the first rune and began sketching out the second rune in his mind.

The second rune is created after the first rune, by visualizing a three-dimensional pattern resembling the symbol "ξ" in your mind.

However, once you have successfully drawn one rune, it becomes much more difficult to draw another one in succession. It's like running 10,000 meters and then immediately running another 10,000 meters.

In other words, the difficulty of drawing two runes in succession is not 1+1=2, but close to 3!

Although the difficulty increased dramatically, Richard's progress, fueled by a wealth of inspiration, grew at an almost visible rate.

Because if Richard fails, he will have a flash of inspiration and immediately find out where the problem lies. Then, when sketching next time, he can learn from the experience, avoid previous mistakes, and thus make progress!

Similarly, the second rune went from being half-drawn and then disappearing, to being more than half-drawn and then disappearing, to being completely drawn but the rune was wobbly and unstable, until finally being drawn almost perfectly!

In this way, through repeated trials and errors, fortunately it was in a dream, each failed attempt at sketching barely consumed Richard's mental energy. If it were in reality, he would probably have consumed more than half of his mental energy after only a few attempts.

After successfully completing the second rune, Richard continued to work on the third.

The fourth rune.

The fifth rune.

The sixth rune.

As Richard began to sketch out the initial form of the sixth rune, suddenly, his whole body trembled slightly, and his soul returned to his body!

Richard opened his tightly closed eyes, brought up the panel, and his face lit up with joy. The panel's witchcraft section displayed the following:

[Witchcraft]: Rodrigo Meditation (Beginner 83%), Manipulation of Skeletons (Proficient 16%)

Richard was pleasantly surprised, but also deeply shocked. It had cost him 805 energy points to trigger the inspiration, yet the Rodrigo Meditation Technique was still stuck at the beginner level. This had never happened when he was learning other witchcraft or skills!

"No wonder Professor Seres had that expression when he heard I chose the Rodrigo meditation method that day. He probably thought I lacked self-awareness!" Richard thought to himself.

Richard, having mastered the key principles outlined in the first five runes, smoothly progressed to the sixth rune.

[Host detected practicing Rodriguez meditation. Should energy be consumed to gain inspiration for practicing Rodriguez meditation?]

The prompt text reappeared.

After careful consideration, and taking into account the duel that afternoon, Richard decided to only give him a basic introduction to meditation. So, he dragged the slider to 500 and selected "Yes!"

In an instant, Richard returned to the dream cave, possessing the towering figure, and began using his mental power to continue sketching the sixth rune in his mind.

However, this sixth rune was extremely difficult. As expected of a top-tier beginner rune with a difficulty level close to that of a medium-level rune, Richard found that he failed far more times than with the previous five runes. Fortunately, after each failure, he would be inspired by all sorts of inspirations and ingenious ideas.

Finally, the sixth rune has been successfully drawn!

Now, only the seventh rune remains to be drawn, which is the last rune.

(End of this chapter)