Chapter 31: Two-Star Spiritual Apprentice

The afternoon sun bathed the farm in light, and the fields of the summer season were lush and vibrant. Farmers were working diligently in the fields, and spiritual plant users could be seen waving their hands in the breeze.

They are unlike arcane mages who directly manipulate spiritual energy and knights who tirelessly cultivated robust battle energy.

Spiritual plant users themselves had weak abilities, yet they could synchronize their breath with plants and then harness the natural energy surrounding the plants to aid their growth.

Duke picked up a wooden stick with the carcass of the hedgehog impaled on its end.

Striding boldly, he passed by the main road of the farm. Knight patrols passed by in groups, not sparing him a glance, leaving behind a trail of kicked-up dust.

Dust brushed against his face.

Duke held his breath and waved his hand in front of him.

Once the dust settled, the natural atmosphere of the farm road returned. Duke continued walking, observing his surroundings. Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable sense of enlightenment.

Following this feeling, he reached the side of the road.

He sat down cross-legged on the roadside. Taking control from Xiaoyi's automatic meditation, he adeptly entered a state of meditation.

The free-floating spiritual particles around him continually flowed into his body. Suddenly, Duke sensed a different experience within these particles.

Seemingly hidden within the multitude of free-floating spiritual particles were specific particles that rose from the fields around him. These particles mingled within the torrent of spiritual particles and were absorbed by his body.

"This is..."

As he noticed this, the specific particles within the torrent of spiritual particles flowed joyfully toward him, increasing the rate at which he absorbed free-floating spiritual energy.

"So that's it!"

Duke suddenly understood.

The free-floating spiritual energy in the air was not composed of singular spiritual particles but rather a collective of particles emitted by all things. By successfully sensing one type of spiritual particle through the "Field Meditation Technique," he seemed to develop an affinity with that particle. This accelerated his body's absorption of the corresponding spiritual particles.

"No wonder the 'Field Meditation Technique' is suited for those with perceptive genius. The higher the perception, the more one understands, and the more affinity there is with spiritual particles. This leads to faster cultivation speed!"

"And now, I've comprehended it once!"

Having grasped this, Duke couldn't help but want to perceive more during meditation and develop a greater affinity with more spiritual particles.

However, after struggling for a while, he still couldn't grasp anything more.

"It seems perception requires luck and coincidence... Oh well, I'll let Xiaoyi handle the meditation." Duke was about to stand up, but the next moment, he felt a change in his Sea of Spirit.

The once expansive spiritual liquid within his Sea of Spirit, under the augmentation of meditation absorption, seemed to have reached its limit in quantity.

The following moment.

Various understandings of the energy circuit flashed through his mind, breaking down and reforming, flickering along different paths.

"Arcane paths!"

Duke's heart was filled with understanding as he immediately grasped the patterns of these flickering energy circuit traces, learning arcane paths.

The incredible mysteries of spiritual magic were concealed within these ever-changing arcane paths. They were then manifested in the external form of energy circuits.

In an instant.

For the first time, Duke truly captured arcane paths. In his Sea of Spirit, a vast expanse of spiritual liquid condensed rapidly into a slender, luminous line.

Energy line!

All the spiritual liquid condensed, converged, and transformed into a thin, luminous energy line.

But he could clearly sense that although this energy line was slender, the spiritual power it contained was not any less than that of the previous vast expanse of spiritual liquid. At the same time, his control over spiritual energy greatly intensified with the formation of the energy line.

At this very moment.

Quantitative change had finally led to a qualitative leap.

Opening his eyes, the world before Duke appeared exceptionally bright. He smiled faintly, "Very well, the condensation of liquid into a line signifies that I've now advanced to become a Two-Star Spiritual Apprentice!"

Essentially, from a One-Star to a Five-Star Spiritual Apprentice, one couldn't establish an independent "ring," which was necessary to construct the most fundamental spell models of spiritual magic.

However.

After the liquid had condensed into a line, representing a significant increase in control over spiritual energy, he could now officially begin crafting cards.

Of course, Little Sam's card repair shop was already on track, and Duke didn't need to focus on card crafting. After all, the income from card crafting was slower than the money he could make by running errands to Chenjiao City.

But his goal was to become a card-crafting scholar among the arcane mages.

Accumulating experience through card crafting would greatly benefit him in the future.

Standing up, the corner of his eye caught sight of a signpost by the side of the road.

Walking over and taking a look, it turned out to be a notice for rentals and sales: "Undeveloped farms available for sale in South River Bay. They can be purchased outright or leased for ten years. Those interested, please inquire, purchase, or lease at the Snakehead Tower."

"A farm?"

Duke squinted.

He had never really considered owning a farm before. After all, farms were located on the outskirts of the town and were more vulnerable without their own defenses compared to the interior of the town.

However, now that he had begun cultivating battle energy and his physical attributes had greatly improved, advancing to a Two-Star Spiritual Apprentice, and his Desert Eagle upgraded to version 1.0, his strength had skyrocketed, providing more than enough self-defense capability.

"I need to cultivate battle energy, practice marksmanship, and take care of Xiao Dou. All of these require secrecy... Would having my own farm make it easier to conceal these activities?"

With this thought in mind, he hurried back to Little Sam's card repair shop and handed over the hedgehog carcass to Aunt Abby for processing. He then hurriedly made his way to the town center.

The town center was surrounded by four streets: First Vertical Street, Second Vertical Street, First Horizontal Street, and Second Horizontal Street. Many tower-like buildings were constructed, with the tallest one being the Snakehead Tower.

It served as the central hub for the town's administrative operations.

A green arcane card was flashed, allowing Duke to enter the Snakehead Tower smoothly. After inquiring, he arrived at a window located in the corner of the first floor.

"The map of farms in South River Bay. Look at the price for the plot you're interested in." The staff member's attitude was not particularly enthusiastic as they handed him a map and began nonchalantly munching on sunflower seeds.

Duke carefully examined the map.

The farms in South River Bay were divided into twenty plots, distributed along the bay of a small river. The map also depicted water channels, which ensured basic irrigation for each farm.

Six of them were marked with red X's, indicating that they were already sold or leased.

Duke set his sights on a small farm on the southern bank of South River Bay. The farm covered an area of 100 acres, roughly the size of eight to nine standard soccer fields— a typical family farm.

Many spiritual plant users would accumulate enough money and eventually buy a small farm to manage.

Duke's past self had often dreamed of doing this, but after his failure to open his Sea of Qi, he had abandoned the idea.

"The ten-year lease for one acre costs 10 Silver Dragons, so the lease for 100 acres over ten years would be 10 Gold Dragons... Buying, on the other hand, would be 1 Gold Dragon per acre, so 100 acres would be 100 Gold Dragons..."

"It's really not cheap!"

Duke certainly couldn't afford 100 Gold Dragons, but he could probably scrape together 10 Gold Dragons, though it would take time.

"Never mind, I'll think about it later..." Duke handed the map back. He hadn't made up his mind about leasing a farm, especially since Little Sam's card repair shop still needed him.