After letting his mind wander for a while, Jeming finally cleared his thoughts and sat in front of the table, taking stock of the items in the box.
"Although I've passed the first hurdle, I still can't relax my vigilance. I can't ensure there's no wizard surveillance in the dormitory, so I must act cautiously. At least for now, I shouldn't openly engage in anything related to cultivation immortality..."
Since cultivation immortality is not an option, I naturally have to learn something else.
Considering Clark only gave ten days, the priority is to first master the most basic cultivation method of the wizard system, the "Basic Meditation Method."
Only by kindling the spiritual flame can one officially embark on the wizard's path.
Jeming found a comfortable position to lie on the bed, taking out the thick book that recorded the meditation method.
The pages seemed to be made of some kind of metal, with concise text, yet each word contained some strange energy.
After skimming through it, Jeming realized the core of the "Basic Meditation Method" lies in "visualization" and "depiction."
It guides the cultivator to clear their consciousness, internalize their spiritual power, and then use spiritual power within their sea of spirit to "sketch" and "construct" a specific geometric pattern.
The book says these patterns are not arbitrarily combined; they are the results of countless years of research by wizard sages, simplified forms of "Truth Runes" that highly align with the energy system of the Wizard World.
By successfully depicting these patterns in the sea of spirit, one can guide external wandering energy particles into the sea of spirit, nourishing spiritual power, and constructing one's own "spiritual circuits," which is the entry point to the wizard system.
The first meditation pattern in the "Basic Meditation Method" for beginners consists of five main components that, when combined, roughly form an abstract trihedral shape.
The book suggests that beginners should first depict these five main patterns individually and try to combine them after becoming proficient.
Jeming closed his eyes, placed the book under his head as a pillow, and emptied his external perception.
For an ordinary newcomer wanting to enter a meditative state, the first few times require this book under their head as an aid—the "Basic Meditation Method" book is made so thick not just because it is rich in content, but because it records numerous arrays that assist cultivation, helping newcomers quickly immerse themselves in the sea of spirit.
Of course, Jeming doesn't need this assistance; he does this just in case, so it is a pretensive gesture.
His consciousness skillfully sank into his sea of spirit, where he could feel his spiritual power refined to an extraordinarily concentrated state through cultivation.
Following the guidance of the meditation method, he attempted to use his spiritual power to "sketch" the prototype of the first main pattern.
This was a peculiar sensation; his spiritual power was like a tentacle, cautiously sketching lines in the sea of spirit.
Unexpectedly, this process went extremely smoothly.
Perhaps due to his years of cultivation experience, Jeming's control over his spiritual power had reached an incredible level; sketching patterns with spiritual power was as easy and natural for him as writing with a pen on paper for ordinary people.
The lines sketched by spiritual power were smooth, stable, and precise; the pattern quickly formed in his sea of spirit, only missing the final touch to complete it perfectly.
However, just as the final stroke was about to be laid down, with the first main pattern about to be successfully constructed, Jeming suddenly had a thought.
"Wait!"
He abruptly stopped that stroke, then deliberately skewed it just as it was about to land.
Boom!
The perfect pattern was destroyed just before completion, and the spiritual power converged during the construction lost its guidance, spiraling out of control instantly!
An invisible psychic shock erupted from within his sea of spirit, shaking his entire consciousness.
Jeming groaned, experiencing dizziness and disorientation as if his sea of spirit had been violently stirred by a giant hand.
Though it was painful, he quickly stabilized his mind while briskly assessing the impact of this "failure."
The feeling of being impacted by his own spiritual power... although uncomfortable, was just a slight shock to him, causing no substantial damage.
"That was close; I almost forgot the difference in control power." Jeming felt a surge of fear.
Despite not being highly cultivated, Jeming's ability to control his spiritual power was undoubtedly beyond that of novices who hadn't even gotten started.
His real skill in pattern depiction and control over spiritual power was not something a Sixth Level Talent Apprentice newly exposed to the meditation method should possess.
Conversely, unless exceptionally gifted, a normal apprentice shouldn't be able to depict the Truth Rune so easily.
Therefore, he had to disguise.
Disguise as a beginner who encounters difficulties, fails, and needs time to explore.
"It's not just the control power difference; when the depiction of the Truth Rune fails, does it actually allow the stored spiritual power to be completely released, causing a psychic shock to the sea of spirit? With this, the endurance and recovery ability issues also need attention."
Jeming's current spiritual power and related attributes were equivalent to an Eighth Level Talent Apprentice who had not begun cultivation, meaning his experiences were similar to those of an Eighth Level Talent Apprentice.
But... what if he were a lower talent apprentice?
He was currently disguising his talent level as Sixth Level, so besides control power, his reactions after enduring psychic shock also needed attention.
Fortunately, during prior testing, he had deliberately noted the spiritual strength corresponding to each talent level.
Jeming quickly performed calculations.
The intensity of the psychic backlash caused by failure was fixed, so while it was negligible for him, for apprentices with fragile seas of spirit, such backlash was undoubtedly painful and even dangerous.
According to Jeming's calculations, apprentices with a talent level below Fifth would experience considerable disturbance in the sea of spirit after such a psychic shock, requiring a substantial amount of time for recovery before attempting meditation again.
Conservatively estimated, even if trying six to eight times a day continuously was the limit, each failure would be an ordeal.
For him, who outwardly appeared as a Sixth Level Talent, while the recent backlash was unpleasant, his sea of spirit could recover for another attempt after just an hour of rest.
As for those Eighth or Ninth Level geniuses... their spiritual power and soul foundation were undoubtedly more robust, with a stronger resistance to backlash.
As long as they don't fail continuously, one or two backlashes might just feel like a mere itch to them.
Talent manifests not only in cultivation speed and potential but also in the cost of trial and error and the tolerance for mistakes!
High talent apprentices can endure more failures, undergo more trials, and naturally achieve faster entry and advancement.
"The advantages of talent are still quite obvious in the early stages... In this light, entering the entry level within ten days isn't an easy task for apprentices without high talent."