My health recovery is incredibly fast.

“Creating an alchemical nervous system that matches the neural network of the subject based on the neural atlas is an extremely difficult task, which has stumped the vast majority of students studying biotransformation.”

"According to the temple's decree, neural maps are each person's private information, and I cannot use someone else's neural map to demonstrate for you."

"Therefore, I suggest you take a look around the teaching area of ​​the High Tower Mage. There is a library on the teaching floor where you can study spellbooks."

"You can learn a spell with the effect of internal vision to create your own neural map, and use it to study the alchemical nervous system, which will help you develop elemental energy devices."

"To exchange for such a spell, it would cost approximately 100 to 300 federal citizen points."

"Okay, mentor, I'll go take a look." Xia Zuo thought for a moment, then asked:

"Do you have any suggestions regarding spells that have the effect of inner vision? I haven't systematically studied the spirit school, and my understanding of this school is still limited to the ability to create spirit creatures."

Adanavardos led Shazo toward the classroom door, saying, "I almost forgot, you specialize in curses."

He closed the door, stood in the empty corridor, and spoke to the students:

"The spellbooks of the Spirit School are severely incomplete, but they form a complete system with unique detection, attack, defense, and support methods. Creating spirit creatures is just one of its uses."

"There are two main types of spells with the effect of internal vision. One is [Soul Vision], which allows you to observe your own body from the perspective of your soul."

"The threshold for soul vision is extremely high. Only those who can achieve a similar astral projection under the influence of meditation and secret medicine can use this spell."

Xia Zuo carefully memorized his mentor's words, but the phrase "soul leaving the body" startled him. "Mentor, what does 'soul leaving the body' mean? Does it mean the soul leaves the body?"

Adanavados nodded. "Out-of-body experiences do indeed refer to the soul leaving the body, but this phenomenon only exists in legends, and the specific methods of achieving it disappeared with the decline of the spiritual school."

He continued:

"The experience brought about by 'soul clairvoyance' is just an illusion similar to an out-of-body experience."

"Your physical body has fallen into a deep sleep under the meditation potion, but your consciousness has come out of the body. You are surrounded by darkness, and you can use your consciousness to observe every detail of your own body, including the neural network. This feeling is like an out-of-body experience."

"So that's how it is..."

Adanavardos held up two fingers.

"The second spell related to introspection is [Mind Sharpening], which teaches you how to strengthen your mind with elemental energy and use very keen intuition to detect things related to yourself."

"Its detection principle is not based on receiving energy feedback, but rather on presenting mental changes in the mind through intuition, subconsciousness, and other forms. Most people choose it to introspect their bodies."

Adanavardoston paused, giving the students some time to memorize, and then said:

"If you have a good amount of Federation Points, you can try to enter a meditative state with the Meditation Elixir. The efficiency of Soul Perspective is much higher than that of Mind Sharpening, which is very suitable for alchemists like us who spend our time on alchemical research."

The two walked and talked as they returned from the classroom floor to the office floor.

Adanavardos stopped. "You can go back on your own now, just walk through the fountain square. I need to go check on how the Plefen coupling ceremony is going."

"Yes, mentor, I'll head to the teaching area of ​​the Tower Scholars right away." Xia Zuo bowed to his mentor.

...

Adanavardos once mentioned that the Tower Scholars assigned their students a three-year study period each time, making it the school with the most generous study period among the four schools.

According to the laws of the Mage Temple, only those who have become high-ranking mages can apply to join the Tower Scholars.

This means that in the teaching tower of this school, the vast majority of students are high-level mages.

Xia Zuo's entry into the teaching area of ​​the Tower Scholars as a formal mage was somewhat unusual, and even a little dangerous.

As he stepped onto the stone steps and into the massive archway, Xia Zuo suddenly noticed many wavy patterns appearing on the marble floor in front of him.

A beam of light, almost tangible, shone down from the glass skylight in the ceiling and landed on his figure.

The alchemy card, obtained from Adanavados, floated out of Shazo's pocket, meeting the pillar of light and the water ripples on the ground. The card emitted a hazy light as it entered the pillar of light and the water ripples.

The card, the beam of light, and the ripples in the water seemed to be communicating in some unconventional language, briefly and mysteriously. In the blink of an eye, the beam of light retreated into the glass skylight, the ripples disappeared beneath the marble floor, the alchemy card flew back into Xia Zuo's pocket, and the surroundings returned to calm.

Xia Zuo scratched his head, not quite understanding what had just happened. Was it a unique procedure for checking outsiders in the Tower Scholars' teaching area, or did other teaching areas also conduct such a large-scale check on outsiders...?

Following the map in the lobby, he arrived at the archives room located on the classroom floor.

In front of the collection room, two metal statues stand on the left and right, each holding a longsword with its blade at its side. The indigo blue light radiates from the swords, and a cold mist surrounds the statues.

As Xia Zuo reached the door, he involuntarily shuddered, his steps faltering as the information from his cheat system flashed through his mind:

"The host has been affected by an unknown entity and has failed the water and wind resistance tests. The host has been granted 3 stacks of the Slow status, each stack reducing movement speed by 15%. The effect lasts until the host leaves the area affected by the unknown entity."

This... this...

Without reaching the level of a high-ranking mage, it's nearly impossible to make any progress in the high tower's mage training area.

Just as Xia Zuo was about to knock on the door despite being under the effects of the third level of slowness, the alchemy card floated out of his pocket again, projecting a beam of light onto the heavy stone door.

The chill emanating from the metal sculpture vanished rapidly, its sluggish state disappearing. With a low rumble as the stone bricks slid, a cloud of silver sand drifted out from the open doorway, condensing into a line of silver characters suspended in mid-air before Xia Zuo:

"Follow the guidance of Yinsha to area 6, read the books on the desk, and then enter the quiet room to try meditation."

Xia Zuo's gaze passed over the silver sand and looked behind the door, where there was a uniquely shaped glass ball.

The glass spheres I've seen before are all quite ordinary, made from a single hollow spherical piece of glass. After the internal monitoring and guarding are activated by the owner, elemental light appears within the space inside the spherical glass, but there's nothing particularly special about them.

The only glass ball that left a deep impression on Xia Zuo was the one that the head of the academy, Beatrice, brought out when he was promoted to expert-level poison alchemist.

Once activated, the glass ball transforms into an amber eye with vertical pupils and thorny eyelids. If this were in a game, it would be a top-tier skin, attracting a huge number of hardcore players to spend money recklessly.

The situation was similar with the glass ball that appeared behind the door of the archives.

Its base is a metal hand with the palm facing upwards. The main body of the hand is silver-gray metallic in color, with large finger joints and fingernails that are ice-blue ice shards, matching the color of the glass ball. The overall shape looks like a monster's claw holding up an ice ball.

Xia Zuo realized he had been staring for a while, so he immediately looked away, bowed to the other person, and then followed the silver sand that was floating ahead, into the elegant corridor illuminated by the dim candlelight.

On the wall at the entrance of the corridor, there is a sign that roughly marks the division of the collection room.

The Mage Temple contains 10 schools of magic, numbered according to the teaching order in the "Introduction to Schools of Magic". The Evocation school's tome is placed in area 1, the Curse school in area 4, and the Totem and Spirit schools in areas 5 and 6.

As Xia Zuo passed the entrance to Area 1, he deliberately slowed down and peeked inside. The scene inside was somewhat different from what he had expected…

There are no humanoid creatures present.

Various glass balls of different shapes rest on the red cushion next to the desk. They control the silver sand around them to help turn the pages of the book, pick up the pen to write notes, or return the book in front of them to the bookshelf and bring new books.

If the glass marbles need to communicate, they can either write a note with a pen and hand it to each other, or they can directly use silver sand to create text and show it to each other.

With no noisy humans around, the reading area was exceptionally quiet, with only the soft rustling of writing echoing in the room.

Xia Zuo continued walking deeper into the corridor. The different areas he passed through all presented the same scene: the same quiet. The glass spheres were engrossed in reading, oblivious to the formal mages outside the doors.

Could it be that... once people reach the advanced mage level, they become too lazy to go out?

Do you use glass marbles for classes, experiments, and office work? Unless you absolutely have to be there in person, do you always present yourself with a glass marble that reflects your personal style?

Hmm... that's possible. After all, not everyone has a lot of vitality attribute points. Most high-level mages worry about their waistline and lifespan. For them, saving unnecessary time consumption is more important than anything else.

Chapter 42 Try it first, pay later

The silver sand drifting ahead stopped at the entrance of reading area number 6. After Xia Zuo caught up, it led him to an empty seat.

Silver Sand drifted to the bookshelf, dragged a very thin book over, and placed it in front of Xia Zuo. Then, it transformed into a few lines of text:

"This is a book called 'Introduction to Soul Perspective' compiled by Master Gaota. After you have confirmed that you have memorized the meditation steps in the book, enter the meditation room number 608 and operate the incense burner in the meditation room according to the instructions in the book."

"Generally speaking, the success rate is highest on the first attempt at meditation, and then gradually decreases. If you cannot enter meditation after three consecutive attempts, it means that you cannot learn soul clairvoyance."

Xia Zuo nodded to Yin Sha, indicating that he understood.

Silver Sands changes again:

"After you come out of the meditation room, do not wander around. Return to this seat, and I will bring you an introductory text on mental sharpening."

Xia Zuo thought for a moment, picked up the pen on the table, and wrote a note:

"How do I pay the fees?"

The silver sand clumped together, paused for a second, and then transformed into new characters:

"Whether you can learn Soul Insight and Mind Sharpening can only be determined after you try it according to the introduction. You can pay the tuition fee after you are sure you can learn it."

Oh, I see. Try it first, then pay.

Xia Zuo has a sufficient balance on his citizen card, so he doesn't need to worry about running out of points.

He nodded his thanks to Yinsha, and after the other person floated out of the reading area, he opened "An Introduction to Soul Perspective" and began to read.

...

The Shamanic Society has two lineages: the totem school and the spirit school.

Its history can be traced back to the Second Age, another important historical event of the same age being the emergence of the power of bloodlines.

It is said that the founder of the totem and spirit school was a person with bloodline power.

His ability is very special; it is said that he can separate his soul from his body and walk freely in nature, observing things from the perspective of his soul.

These statements seem like a fantasy in this day and age, but the Tower Scholars and the other three schools of thought all firmly believe in them.

Because in the era of exploring the methods of using elements, it was the founders of the totem and spiritual schools who discovered the uniqueness of the spiritual ocean, researched methods of taming and containing elements, and proposed the method of entering deep meditation that is still used today—the method of concentration.

The long course of history has proven the effectiveness of this person's theories of elements and meditation.

Unfortunately, in the Second Era, his bloodline power was insufficient to protect himself.

While the ability of the soul to roam freely in nature is rare, the soul can never exist outside the body for an extended period.

Without a soul, the body will slowly rot, turning into bones and decaying flesh.

Without a body, the soul vanishes instantly, leaving no trace.

During a major war, this man's body was destroyed by the enemy. According to surviving historical records, his students witnessed their teacher's soul disappearing into nature.

From then on, totems and spiritual spellbooks became highly sought-after items, and the shamanic path disappeared, falling into the dust of history and remaining dormant throughout the Third Age until the establishment of the Temple of Mages at the beginning of the Fourth Age, when it finally gained a foothold.

One of the prices the Shamanic Society paid for receiving the Temple's protection was to contribute the essential spells of the Totem and Spirit schools, sharing the principles of these two schools with the Tower scholars, who then compiled a universal language version to teach the other three schools.

If Shazo had chosen the Spiritualist school when selecting his primary spellcasting style, Beatrice would have first arranged for him to try Soul Vision to see if he possessed sufficient spirituality to learn the more primitive Spiritualist spells—Soul Vision being one of them.

It's not too late to test your spirituality now.

Xia Zuo spent less than an hour adding the contents of "Introduction to Soul Perspective" to his [Knowledge Reserve].

As for my reading experience... well, it was kind of interesting.

It all started with the spirit.