Chapter 009: Loren's Human Skin Notes

"Boom!"

In the split second when the crimson droplets fell, a sound like someone gulping down water suddenly rang out, and the whole book seemed to come alive with visible wriggling.

The cover and pages seemed to be breathing.

Simultaneously, Richard felt the temperature in the room drop abruptly by several degrees, becoming somewhat chilly, and the light dimmed.

Outside the turret, the sharp barking of hunting dogs rang out, followed by the neighing of horses in the stable.

But soon, as if choked, these sounds abruptly.

"Snap!"

Richard's hand landed on the book's cover.

At the moment of contact, Richard felt warmth and elasticity, as if pressing onto a woman's skin.

Immediately, black ink emanated from where he pressed, spreading out like ripples.

Soon, words appeared above the previously blank area, occupying the rightful place of the book title: "Loren's Human Skin Notes."

"Loren's Human Skin Notes?!" Richard softly uttered, pausing at the last four words.

Without hesitation, Richard opened the cover and looked inside.

On the first page of the book were densely packed lines of writing.

Richard began reading from the first line: "Mortal, be quiet, listen as I tell you the secrets of the wizard..."

A sleepless night.

As daylight broke, illuminating the attic laboratory, Richard slowly closed Loren's Human Skin Notes.

Standing up, he walked to the window sill, watching soldiers, servants, and stable boys waking up inside Baron's castle.

Richard smiled rarely.

"Interesting," Richard said.

Finally, unable to resist adding, "Truly fascinating."

At this moment, Richard was excited. What he had gained overnight made him realize that his years of searching for magical creatures were correct, allowing him a glimpse into another mysterious world.

Closing his eyes, Richard quickly recalled the contents of the notes, and after a long pause, he spoke: "If these notes aren't deceiving, then becoming a wizard capable of casting spells, even as an apprentice capable of casting the simplest spells, is incredibly difficult."

Many fantasies describe the way of cultivation, often sitting cross-legged, feeling the energy between heaven and earth, absorbing it into oneself, and releasing it in battle.

The notes describe something different, more complex.

Though not completely abandoning absorption, storage, and release, each process has numerous requirements.

Richard sat down at the table in the laboratory, laid out a scroll-like papyrus, dipped a quill in ink, and began writing, organizing his thoughts—a kind of note-taking for him.

First is energy absorption.

In Loren's Human Skin Notes, this process is called meditation.

Richard understands meditation, originating in modern-day India on Earth, a technique and path to achieve meditation in yoga.

Claiming to be able to feel the ultimate universe, that's too fantastic, but it does indeed help one concentrate and calm down.

But meditation described in Loren's Human Skin Notes is deeper than Indian meditation.

If Indian meditation keeps people half asleep and half awake, then meditation in Loren's Human Skin Notes makes people completely asleep.

Ensuring clear consciousness, there is no perception of the outside world.

Richard felt that this was like a nightmare state, somewhat similar to some of the popular practices on modern Earth: "lucid dreaming" and "astral projection".

In general, to achieve this state, one often needs to suddenly wake from deep sleep.

Before the body's motor centers activate, when the limbs are immobile, only the brain is active.

However, this method's success rate is too low; it might work only once in dozens of attempts.

Moreover, slowly entering this state under normal circumstances is extremely difficult. Master-level proficiency in Indian meditation is required.

These are two points that Richard cannot achieve.

This is the first difficulty.

After this difficulty, the second challenge immediately follows.

According to the human skin memorandum, meditation can obtain some elemental energy, but under normal circumstances, these elemental energies cannot be stored in the body.

It is necessary to open a specialized mana source with consciousness to store them.

Opening a magic source requires extremely high spiritual power and requires the body to be in a peculiar state of activation.

The method to achieve this state is the second challenge.

Lastly, there is the third challenge.

The human skin memorandum states that energy is stored in the body's mana source and cannot be directly invoked.

Because a variety of elemental energies are absorbed, they must be purified and refined into pure and singular elemental energies to successfully release them into spells.

The refining process requires the body to enter a state of activation similar yet not entirely the same as opening a magic source.

When all three of these challenges are overcome, only then can the conditions necessary for casting spells be considered complete.

According to the notes, those who can pass all three challenges are considered to have a talent for becoming wizards, known as "Golden Seeds."

Among them, those who are stuck at one challenge but successfully pass the other two are called "Silver Seeds."

Generally, these Silver Seeds, with proper guidance from a real wizard, also have a good chance of becoming qualified wizards, although they often aren't as powerful as the Golden Seeds.

Most people, most ordinary people, cannot pass any of the three challenges in their lifetime, merely lingering outside the wizarding world.

These individuals are called "Black Seeds," or simply "Blacks," which is akin to the term "Muggle" from Earth's Harry Potter series, carrying connotations of discrimination and insult.

And Richard is one of them.

Richard tested himself according to the method described in the notes and found out that he is indeed an ordinary person, unable to pass any of the three challenges—a true Black Seed.

Upon learning this, Richard accepted it calmly.

Honestly, Richard never felt he had any special talents.

According to the Human Skin Folio, those with talents—Golden Seeds—are fewer than one in a hundred thousand, while those with poorer talents—Silver Seeds—are fewer than one in ten thousand.

Black Seeds make up 99.89%. Therefore, having talent is extremely rare, and lacking it is the norm.

Richard isn't disappointed by this realization.

Because for Richard, the most interesting thing isn't becoming a wizard, but studying wizards. Trying to become a wizard without talent is akin to a death sentence.

But studying wizards without talent merely offers more research directions.

Why must a wizard overcome these three challenges to cast spells?

Is there any way for a completely untalented person to successfully overcome these challenges?

What's exciting about becoming a wizard?

There's a chance to uncover the secrets of wizards, develop methods for mass-producing wizards, understand and master all the mysterious powers of this world—that's what's truly thrilling.

Richard's speed with the goose feather pen on the papyrus slowed down and finally came to a complete stop.

He looked at what he had written on the paper, the various possibilities listed, and the speculated strategies for overcoming the three challenges, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

"The three major challenges, huh? Interesting. Let me see just how difficult they really are."