Although Ian encountered several Honeyfang swarms along the way, he managed to avoid them all safely, eventually reaching his destination: a plateau surrounded by towering fences.
"Finally!"
Ian couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. He was now one step closer to becoming a Wizard apprentice. Although he wasn't entirely sure if his guess was correct, the mere possibility thrilled him.
Ian didn't waste time and quickly opened the old fence door, which broke as he tried to open it.
After entering the plateau, he directly approached the center while combing through the dense bushes.
As he thought, Wizard Ruther hadn't left anything behind; the entire garden was covered with bushes and nothing else.
However, he could already see a simple cabin at the center, made of plain wood, from afar.
Ian could also feel that the closer he moved to the center, the more mana surrounded him. By the time he arrived at the wooden cabin, he could clearly sense the mana around him growing denser through his mental power, while the Life Seed in his dantian rotated slowly.
However, he couldn't meditate outside, as that would simply be courting death.
After all, along with the increasing mana, he also felt more and more uncomfortable all over, as if inhaling even a bit of it would cause something bad to happen to him.
"Thud!"
Suddenly, a loud sound of something falling to the ground shattered the peace of the entire area.
Apparently, just like the fence gate, the door of the wooden cabin was already broken.
However, Ian didn't care and began searching through each room inside the cabin.
But to his disappointment, aside from broken pots and apparatus of unknown origin, there was nothing inside the entire cabin—not even a single mana stone.
"How stingy."
Ian cursed the Sixth-ring Wizard who had left nothing behind in his abode.
"Fortunately, the meditation room is still functional."
After venting his frustration, he roughly cleaned the meditation room, which was filled with unknown runes and writings all over the floor.
These were the mana purification arrays engraved by Ruther for his practice when he resided in the garden.
Although the wear and tear made the place unsuitable for even a First-ring Wizard, it was at least sufficient for Ian to reach the First Class Wizard Apprentice rank.
After cleaning everything, Ian placed a futon in the center and sat down. From there, he could see the runes on the floor shimmering slightly, purifying and supplying mana throughout the room.
Once he sat down, he first used his Veiled Knight Breathing Method to calm his heart. Since it was his first time meditating, he didn't want to ruin it by being too eager.
When the Knight Breathing Method was active, Ian could feel some mana being absorbed by his Life Seed in his dantian. However, it was so subtle that it could almost be ignored.
"Let's start!"
Ian then recalled all the information about the Veiled Mind Meditation Method in his mind and began visualizing the complex pattern recorded there, carefully following it step by step.
Unlike the Knight Breathing Method, which required breathing in a specific pattern, the Meditation Method required absorbing and transforming mana from the surroundings to strengthen one's mental power, thereby increasing strength.
However, without an anchor point, drawing mana and transforming it into mental power was nearly impossible. The complex pattern Ian followed carefully served as the anchor point for this meditation method.
Although he didn't fully understand what the pattern was, he could feel himself slowly drawing mana from the surroundings into his body and toward his mind.
Surprisingly, some of that mana was also being absorbed by the Life Seed in his dantian, much faster than with his earlier breathing method.
As Ian began to meditate, he slowly forgot everything around him and immersed himself in his mind.
Gradually, the mana density around him thickened, with more and more mana being drawn into his body.
Time passed bit by bit, and it was already dark. The area around the plateau had become pitch black, with nothing in sight. Even the occasional flapping of the Honeyfang Butterfly had disappeared.
However, Ian was immersed in his meditation and busy visualizing the complex pattern in his mind. After an unknown amount of time, when he finally drew a semblance of the pattern in his mind, he suddenly felt refreshed all over.
If Ian weren't in this selfless state, he would have noticed the Life Seed in his dantian suddenly rotating rapidly and directly supplying a stream of energy it had absorbed earlier through a temporary channel, speeding up his meditation progress exponentially, almost as if it were a catalyst.
"Boom!"
He didn't know how much time had passed when Ian suddenly felt a massive explosion inside his mind, akin to being stunned by a loud blast.
In an instant, the mana around him surged and began drilling directly into his mind, as if a floodgate had been opened.
Ian suddenly felt an unprecedented clarity in his mind, greater than when he had reached the High Knight realm. It was almost as if he had entered the enlightenment state mentioned in his previous world.
"Hah..."
Ian exhaled deeply and opened his eyes while smiling from ear to ear.
"Finally reached First Class Wizard Apprentice."
He then looked outside the room and saw that it was already the morning of the next day. Although tracking time in this dark, forbidden area was difficult, clues from the peripherals made it possible.
"Almost 12 hours? Faster than I thought."
Ian was genuinely surprised, as he had been prepared to meditate for a day or two.
After all, his mental power was higher than that of a normal human being because of Body Synchronization and transmigration. However, 12 hours was still faster than he had expected.
Just when he thought his qualifications for Wizardry were good, he noticed that the Life Seed in his dantian was almost shriveled, rotating slowly as if it had drained all its energy.