Introduction to Meditation

The corners of the petite teacher's mouth twitched constantly. She had spent an hour explaining to the freshmen what the four elements were, what spells were, and what meditation was. As a senior of exceptional ability, she explained using very technical concepts, which left everyone feeling mystified and unable to entirely grasp the concepts. 

On the other hand, Gu Xiaoyue summarized the contents of that one-hour lesson in two simple sentences. Most importantly, the reactions on everyone's faces made it clear that those two sentences had greater impact than the Lolita's own lecture!

Gu Xiaoyue demystified it by using a more conventional method of understanding. While the Lolita did not explain anything wrong, it had been years since she returned to Earth. Taking into account the time ratio, she would have been gone for an amount longer than a dozen Earth years, thus making her unable to use Earth's current way of thinking to consider the issue in front of her.

She took in a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm her anger. Her pretty face deadpan, she said, "That's just the basic theories of meditation, but if you understand it, then you'll be able to successfully cast spells! Don't assume that learning spells is easy. In the past five years, the ratio for graduates in the spell classes compared to warrior classes are about one to four. "

"Anyone can learn spells, right?" the students whispered among themselves.

"I used spells during the admission test."

The Lolita's tone became serious. "The spells used in the admission test are only a byproduct of the magic wand and only require you to activate the spell to trigger magic. By no means does that make you a real mage!"

The spell attached to the wand was akin to a complete program, only requiring one to type in a command to get the result. On the contrary, a real mage did not just need to input it—they also had to understand how to program it and how to write elemental codes in order to create the program.

Admittedly, Gu Xiaoyue's simple and straightforward explanation made it easier for many people to understand what the teacher said.

The teacher continued, "Many of the students in the previous batch gave up on spell courses halfway. Even sophomores and third-years would rather take physical courses again. Having said that, I'd like to tell you that the foundation for all spells is meditation. Even when you graduate from here in the future or enter postgraduate studies, meditation courses are still essential! The speed in which you can enter the meditation state and the speed of your meditation itself will determine whether you are suitable for learning spells.

"This is a meditation room that contains an assemblage of magic circles, condensing the four elements in a density far beyond that of the outside world. It's specifically dedicated for newbies to use for meditation. It's now three o'clock, so the cut-off point will be six. I'll come back and check on you after three hours," the Lolita took out a watch to confirm the time. "Alright, you may begin!"

Were they supposed to start just like that?

As they watched the Lolita push the door open and leave, everyone in the meditation room looked at each other. Although she had explained the basics of meditation to them, they only had a smattering of knowledge about it. Everyone thought that she would remain in the room and instruct them from the side, since it was their first meditation lesson after all. However, the Lolita immediately left them to their own devices.

"Are we supposed to sit and chant?" Xiao Lin muttered to himself. He knew what it meant to meditate like a monk. Sitting cross-legged with his hands on his knees, he closed his eyes and paid attention. A few minutes later, he received a prompt.

[Basic Meditation LV0: 0/50]

Xiao Lin immediately opened his eyes. Many people had the same reaction as he did. With faces full of surprise, they whispered amongst each other.

Unlike ordinary weapon mastering skills, the initial level of Basic Meditation was LV0 instead of LV1. Although it only differed by one level, it signified that they were not even considered at the entry level as of then.

Many people were randomly assigned magic wands in the admissions test and had accumulated some EXP, but it had nothing to do with meditation, and yet was different from physical close combat. Basic Wand Mastery only affected one's proficiency when using Magic Enhancement Tools, and not one's inherent magical ability.

Gu Xiaoyue said that meditation was to meditate and chant. Xiao Lin trusted her judgment but, meditation and chanting were actually two different processes. They had no sutras to chant yet, so the first thing they had to do was to enter the initial process of meditation.

After a brief hubbub, the meditation room fell silent again. The process of meditation required absolute silence. It was fortunate that everyone was aware of that particular point.

The purpose of meditation is to sense the four elements. The Lolita said that the meditation room was an assemblage of magic circles, had a strong concentration of elemental energy, and was specially set up for new students. Nevertheless, everyone still underestimated the difficulty of meditation.

There was only darkness before Xiao Lin. The completely sealed off room was so quiet that he could hear a needle drop. He had read many novels with magic and watched many similar movies. According to Professor Dai, many fantasy things on the earth were actually described by dropouts who had their memories erased.

For example, the four elements of wind, fire, water, and earth was something he had seen in many settings. Xiao Lin therefore had reason to believe that it had something to do with magical spells. However, elements were invisible, intangible, colorless, tasteless. They did not even have a specific shape. Who would know whether an element was round, square, long, or flat? To actually perceive them was a very difficult thing to do.

Time passed by the minute and someone quietly opened their eyes. There were no clocks in the meditation room and no one knew how much time had passed. The Lolita had switched off all the lights in the hall before she left.

The first hour passed quietly and Xiao Lin's Basic Meditation EXP remained at 0. He tried very hard to perceive something out of the endless darkness, but he came up empty.

The second hour was fleeting and Xiao Lin's heart gradually became irritable. His EXP at 0.

The restless Xiao Lin could barely concentrate in the last hour, even though meditation focused heavily on concentration.

When the Lolita reopened the door to the meditation room, the white light above their heads came on again. Xiao Lin opened his eyes and wore a thoroughly disappointed look; his three hours of meditation was but a futile exercise. He could not even get a tiny grasp of any of the four elements and his Basic Meditation value still remained at 0.

Many people in the room had similar frustrations. The Lolita had previously warned about how difficult it was to learn spells, but many took her words with a grain of salt. Only then, they realized that her advice was not at all exaggerated.

The Lolita seemed to have anticipated the outcome long in advance. She clapped her hands and said, "Those whose Basic Meditation EXP is still at 0, please stand up."

Everyone waited and looked at each other. There was some reluctance, probably out of embarrassment, and no one stood up.

The Lolita snickered. "I have access to everyone's meditation results!"

Finally, some people began slowly getting up from the cushions. As the number of people increased, the total number accounted for nearly half of the entire meditation room, and it soothed everyone greatly. Although they were in last place, at least there were dozens of people who were tied with them!