Chapter 61: Chapter 60: Among the Stars...
Carefully locking the door, Ron also drew the heavy curtains over the window to ensure no one could spy on the room’s interior.
He took out a set of protective runes, a standard protection kit he recently purchased from the School’s materials store, which could moderately prevent the leakage of spiritual power fluctuations.
According to the instructions, he placed the rune kit in the four corners of the room and lit some special incense sticks containing minute amounts of spirit-stabilizing components to ease any discomfort from the first contact with the Gem Level Meditation Technique.
"First, follow Lady Allen’s advice and ensure the environment is safe," Ron murmured to himself, carefully adding the final activation rune on the edge of the array with his finger.
Accompanied by a faint energy fluctuation, the array activated, emitting a faint blue halo that lightly isolated his area from the outside world.
Everything was ready, and Ron took a deep breath, sitting cross-legged at the center of the array, adjusting to the most comfortable posture.
"Knowledge always bears weight..." he recalled Lady Allen’s warning, being discreetly cautious in his heart.
The more profound the meditation technique, the greater the risks contained within it.
Just like a famous ancient saying in the Wizard World goes— "True knowledge is a heavy burden, wisdom often accompanies madness."
The Basic Meditation Technique merely guides spiritual power in a specific path, like swimming in a safe creek;
whereas "Star Eater’s Ravings" leads the cultivator’s spiritual power into an unknown ocean, facing limitless possibilities, the danger of which is self-evident, and no carelessness is allowed.
"Let’s start by stabilizing the spiritual field..."
Closing his eyes, Ron entered a familiar meditative state.
The basic meditation runes naturally formed in his consciousness space, with the three arcs intertwining into a stable structure.
But this time, he did not stop at this stage but attempted to construct the more complex rune taught by Lady Allen based on this foundation.
It was a challenging process.
The complex structure, consisting of dozens of basic runes interwoven, was far more difficult to control than he imagined.
Whenever he tried to add a new part, the original structure would start to become unstable, almost collapsing.
But thanks to the spiritual power boost brought by transitioning to [Wizard Apprentice], Ron barely managed to control the precariously formed rune structure.
He did not get discouraged and continued to try, again and again.
As time passed, he gradually grasped some tricks. The key to its construction was not forceful assembly but understanding the interrelations between the rune parts, allowing them to naturally integrate.
It was like solving an extremely complex equation, needing to find that key variable that unlocked everything.
Finally, after who knows how many attempts, a vague but relatively complete "Star Eater’s Ravings" rune formed in his consciousness space.
The "Star Eater’s Ravings" rune formed in Ron’s consciousness space, and he felt an unprecedented power surging within him.
However, the rune’s stability was still very fragile, like a sandcastle on the beach, ready to be swept away by tides at any moment.
At this moment, he recalled another advice from Lady Allen:
"When trying the Gem Level Meditation Technique for the first time, you can use that bottle of Artificial Star Dew to ease mental stress, increase success rates... and perhaps if anything unexpected occurs, it could protect you."
Ron opened his eyes and took out the bottle of Artificial Star Dew gifted by Holt from his bosom.
In the transparent bottle, the silver-blue liquid flowed slowly like a living entity, emitting a faint starlight.
"Perhaps now is the best time to use it."
He carefully pulled the cork, and a cool yet mysteriously scented fragrance immediately diffused throughout.
The scent evoked associations of the night sky, stars, and those untouchable cosmic secrets.
Ron took a deep breath and drank the Artificial Star Dew in one gulp.
The icy liquid slid down his throat and instantly transformed into a strange energy flowing throughout his body.
He felt an unprecedented clarity, as if his brain had been thoroughly cleansed by some force.
[Artificial Star Dew effect activated!]
[Spiritual power stability increases]
[Meditation efficiency rises slightly]
[Special effect triggered: Spiritual Shield (effectively resists spiritual contamination information)]
Closing his eyes once more, Ron found his consciousness space exceptionally clear.
The once precarious "Star Eater’s Ravings" rune had stabilized considerably, with the connections between its parts becoming more apparent.
Under the influence of the Star Dew, he could understand the internal logic of this complex rune from a whole new perspective.
The parts that once puzzled him now seemed so natural, as if breathing, indeed a matter of course.
[Skill "Star Eater’s Ravings" detected as burgeoning]
[Additional Trait—Spiritual Flow activated!]
[Basic Meditation experience will directly convert into "Star Eater’s Ravings" experience]
The effect of the Artificial Star Dew allowed him to progress to the entry stage at an incredible speed, almost unbelievable.
[Current Progress: "Star Eater’s Ravings" (Entry 1/100) → "Star Eater’s Ravings" (Proficient 1/300)]
[Obtained Additional Trait: Intuition (A certain probability of obtaining unique inspiration during meditation, glimpsing traces of "reality")]
[Inspiration has currently been triggered, remain highly cautious!]
The consciousness space suddenly expanded, the original dark background tearing like thin paper, revealing the heart-palpitating scene behind.
An endless starry sky unfolded in front of him, myriad stars pulsating like living things, their distances constantly altering, as if the entire cosmos was caught in some chaotic dance.
What was most unsettling was that those stars seemed to possess their own consciousness, "gazing" at Ron in an indescribable manner, causing him discomfort like being scrutinized naked.
"Is this the true nature of ’Star Eater’s Ravings’?" Ron marveled in his heart, inexplicably feeling a sudden terror.
Lady Allen’s explanation suddenly acquired tangible meaning.
The so-called "Star Eater’s Ravings" was not merely a meditation technique but more like a novel cosmic perspective, a reinterpretation of the essence of spiritual power, a... challenge to human cognition.
In a trance, he heard a peculiar sound, not through the ears but directly resonating in the depths of his consciousness, like someone whispering in his mind.
It was a sound indescribable by any human language, neither speech nor music but a fusion of both.
More accurately, it was a sound that ought not to be heard by humans, for they contained information and concepts beyond the ordinary brain domain capacity, with each "syllable" bearing the weight to pierce through ordinary reason.
"Ravings..." Ron instantly understood the origin of this meditation technique’s name.
Though the sound’s information was not entirely comprehensible, it carried a strange rhythm, as if narrating the universe’s deepest secrets.
As he listened, the content within the ravings grew clearer.
They narrated an ancient story, about the death of stars, the decay of galaxies, and the awakening of some ancient existence in the universe.