Progress

When Natasha opened her eyes, she caught sight of Matthew who had been absent mindedly observing her.

Since she was about finished with her practice of the day, she decided to go tell Matthew her decision to head home.

As she got close, she changed her mind and asked for advice in a vague way.

"Teacher, if I am stuck in place for a long time, what should I do?"

She felt like she didn't need to be specific since Matthew could see through her with one glance

Matthew was not really surprised to receive such a question, it was normal for her to feel frustrated after failing to sense mana for so long.

He nodded slightly to express his understanding,

'Although Natasha is stubborn, not bright-minded, and easily deceived, it must be said that her pursuit and persistence in becoming a mage is truly commendable.'

While thinking so, he slowly spoke some words that he had prepared in advance:.

"The key is to observe your body with a clear mind, cultivate your true intention, and ponder it carefully. If you can understand this, you will be able to make progress."

Matthew didn't even understand what he saying, but he felt that such mysterious sounding words without any roots were the best to use in such situations.

After finishing speaking, Matthew left leisurely with his hands behind his back, showing his demeanor of an expert.

At this moment, Natasha was excited, after all, since her teacher said these words, then she would definitely be able to break through if she can get the hidden meaning.

She murmured softly to herself:

"The key is to observe your body with a clear mind, cultivate your true intention, and ponder it carefully… It sounds really mysterious and extraordinary. I must understand it carefully!"

"This must be secret to refining gold bones. If I can understand it, I might be able to understand the mysterious secrets I might even be able to refine diamond bones, so refining golden bones is without doubt!"

At this moment, Natasha was completely immersed in thinking about Matthew's inexplicable words.

In her mind, she kept repeating the words over and over again, trying to understand something from them.

However, she still couldn't understand anything from it until the sun set in the west.

"It's too mysterious!"

"I thought I already had a very high perception and a very deep understanding of bone refining, but it seems that I still can't understand the profoundness of it."

"Sure enough, it is as the teacher said, if I can understand it, I will be able to a big leap forward."

"Natasha, you can definitely do it, you can definitely understand the teachers meaning, you can definitely refine the golden bones!"

Natasha kept encouraging herself.

Her eyes were firm and she was not discouraged at all.

She had only been at it for less than a day., so she thought it was normal for it to take a bit longer, maybe even three to five days, to comprehend such a mysterious technique.

…

Before going to bed, Matthew saw Natasha still standing there, muttering to herself with her eyes closed.

'I didn't break her, did I? No, this is probably due to her own latent brain problems.'

Not able to bear seeing her like this, he said to her:

"It's already late, you should also go to sleep!"   

Natasha came to her senses in a daze and hurriedly saluted.

"Yes, teacher!"

Matthew nodded.

Although his silly student was a little confused, she still listened to her teacher's words, so it was not a big problem.

At worst he will take out a few bottom of the box, motivation quotes he had read on the internet in his past life to calm her down.

With this in mind, Matthew went back to his room to sleep.

Natasha took a deep breath and said to herself:

"Enlightenment lies in timing and inspiration. If I try too hard, I will only get derailed. "

"I almost lost myself there, it is a good thing the teacher woke me up!"

"I should rest and recharge my batteries, to recover my mind so that I will be in the best shape to continue tomorrow."

"Teacher's advice is so mysterious that it cannot be understood overnight, it might take a few more days to comprehend

After Natasha sorted out her thoughts, she promptly went to rest.

…

Three days passed by in the blink of an eye.

Like usual, Natasha kept, practicing, growing vegetables, weeding, feeding the chickens, raising rabbits, cooking, etc.

Her schedule had not changed at all.

The only thing that changed was that she allotted some time to comprehending the advice Mathew had previously given her.

As she was stuck at the stage of copper bones, the time allotted to comprehension was very large.

Unfortunately, after so long, she still hadn't understand the mystery behind it.

Three days passed and nothing was found.

"If I can't even understand just two sentences, and can't refine golden bones, how can I become an apprentice mage?"

"This is just some basic level stuff."

"The techniques that the teacher will impart to me after I become an apprentice mage are bound to be more mysterious and unpredictable than this!"

"When the time comes, what will I do? How would I be able to continue to practice?"

"Be calm and don't be impatient! Teacher often says that I shouldn't be impatient, I shouldn't be too ambitious, be down-to-earth… I must have missed something."

Natasha did her best to calm down and relax.

"The teacher said that if there is no woman in my heart, my cultivation speed will be faster than the speed of light."

"This is a state of mind. This is to get rid of the biggest distracting thoughts in the heart… young people are always easily attracted to matters between men and women, which easily disturb their minds."

"The teacher uses a woman as a metaphor for the biggest distracting thoughts in my mind must have deep meaning…"

"This shows that teacher is reminding me not to indulge in distracting thoughts."

"What are my distracting thoughts?"

Natasha thought about the sentence, "there is no woman in my heart, my cultivation speed will be faster than the speed of light,".

She worked her mind to make up a series of profound meanings, and then fell into deep thought.

If Matthew knew that Natasha was so good at thinking, he would definitely exclaim: "It looks like it is not that her brain does not working well, but that her imagination is too big!".

"All my thoughts are about practicing hard to become a mage… can this be considered to be distracting thoughts?

"I finally get it!"

Suddenly a light flashed in Natasha's mind, as she seemed to realized something.

"Practicing to become a mage is a kind of pursuit, a kind of belief, and a kind of will, but I just stayed on the attachment aspect, and so it became a distracting thought!"

"I should abandon the obsession with practicing to become a mage and focus on the present…"

"Forget about external objects and superfluous perceptions…"

"Forget everything, even myself self, and I should devote myself to carefully understanding the teachers words .."

For Natasha at this moment, it felt like something that had blocked her from the light was moved aside, and inspirations kept on coming to her.

The true meaning of Matthew's advice, that had felt like it had been covered shadows and could not be seen before, was exposed to the light, and she could finally get a glimpse of it's meaning!

"I understand!"

Natasha's eyes were shining, and her face was filled with excitement.

"I shouldn't be impatient. Now is the time to cook, so I should relax, calm down, and devote myself to cooking."

After finally understanding the meaning, Natasha's steps were brisk, and her whole person seemed to be different.

At this moment, her thoughts were clear, and she felt relaxed, comfortable, open-minded and cheerful.

"The teacher's words and deeds all have profound meanings. It turns out that I could only make progress by understanding the true meaning of, "there is no woman in my heart, my cultivation speed will be faster than the speed of light.."!"

"I have become a little dull after all."

Natasha sighed inwardly.

…

Watching Natasha happily prance around, Matthew was slightly confused.

Why did his stupid apprentice seem to be so happy today?

Her steps were brisk, her expression was pleasant, and her whole person was very energetic.

She no longer had the solemn and respectful attitude of the past, and returned to the free and easy spirit that a young person should have.

"Could it be that she feels that she has made progress in her practice? Did she sense mana?"

"Haha, it's impossible, I made it up. How could she really sense mana?"

"Forget it, it is a good thing for her to relax and feel more happy."

"That way I don't have to worry about her becoming depressed or having mental breakdowns."