Inside the meditation chamber.
Lynn sat cross-legged upon a soft cushion.
In front of him, behind him, to his left, and to his right… Four specially primed Light-Absorbing Black Stones had been placed, surrounding him.
He was attempting to begin cultivating the Black Moon Spirit Body.
Thanks to the effect of the Light-Absorbing Black Stones, the moment he closed his eyes, he quickly entered a deep meditative state.
In fact, aside from research purposes, the primary reason most people bought Light-Absorbing Black Stones was exactly this: to aid their meditation.
But what Lynn sought went beyond that.
He stirred his spiritual power, causing it to ripple at a peculiar frequency.
Gradually, the energy emanating from the Light-Absorbing Black Stones resonated with him, following the same rhythm.
Then, like a rising tide, a greater wave of power formed. At first, it was Lynn's spirit guiding this surge, but soon the force radiating from the Light-Absorbing Black Stones overtook his own, shifting, changing, and becoming the dominant current.
Lynn loosened his grip, allowing his spirit in turn to be carried by the tide of the Light-Absorbing Black Stones' power.
Bit by bit, he slipped into an extraordinary state.
In this state, Lynn could sense his vague spiritual body as clearly as during ordinary meditation, but not only that. He could also feel his pounding heart, the coursing of blood through his veins…
For the first time, he had a distinct perception of his flesh.
Swish, swish
Thump, thump
As these two streams of perception overlapped, Lynn gradually discovered a peculiar bond.
It was the closest, most intimate connection between spirit and flesh.
His heart leapt with joy, but he quickly reined himself in, steadying the state.
This wasn't the first time he had sensed this "spirit-flesh bond." He no longer felt the same giddy excitement that had once jolted him out of the state entirely.
After all, simply sensing the bond wasn't enough.
He still needed to manifest it, stabilize it, and then strengthen it.
The last time he used a Light-Absorbing Black Stone, he had been stuck precisely at this step.
And with no further supply of Light-Absorbing Black Stones, he had been unable to re-enter this state for a long time, let alone proceed with further training.
But this time, he had a stronger, longer-lasting effect.
Moreover, in his recent sessions of Insight, he had already gained a deeper understanding of the process ahead!
On the low table, incense curled upward, its fragrance calming the mind. The four Light-Absorbing Black Stones glimmered faintly, pulsing in and out.
No one knew how much time passed before Lynn finally completed the step of Manifestation!
In that instant, he felt as though countless branches sprouted from his spiritual body, extending outward from his brow. In the blink of an eye, they spread through his limbs and bones, weaving a tight connection with his flesh!
Lynn could now perceive the tiniest details from his body, the trickle of blood through the tips of his fingers, the subtle quiver of a single hair brushed by a breeze, all with crystal clarity.
"But… these 'branches,' though they seem to have just grown, in truth they've always been there. It is only now, through manifestation, that my spirit has become aware of them."
Lynn thought silently to himself.
He could feel the minute changes in his body, clear proof that his perception had indeed sharpened.
But this wasn't really a new enhancement of perception. It was more like a recovery.
A recovery of his innate ability to sense his own body.
Steadying his breath, Lynn moved on to the next step.
With the aid of the Light-Absorbing Black Stones and thanks to his repeated Insights, he had already mastered the entry-level knowledge of the Black Moon Spirit Body. The following process unfolded smoothly.
Before long, he had completed the full manifestation, stabilization, and reinforcement of the spirit-flesh bond.
From this moment forward, even without the help of Light-Absorbing Black Stones or a meditative state, Lynn could sense the bond at any time.
And with that, his awareness and control over his physical body had improved dramatically.
In simpler terms, Lynn could now more easily detect abnormalities in his body, such as hidden poisons or invasive foreign matter.
What's more, through sheer willpower alone, he could now do things like: force wounds to close and stop bleeding, slow down or accelerate his heartbeat at will, or even halt hair growth in a chosen area, all feats requiring extremely fine control of the body.
On the other side, Lynn's spirit also underwent many changes.
First of all, sheltered by his strengthened body, his spirit became tougher and more stable. Mental attacks would now be partially blocked by his physical form.
Normally, such attacks bypass the flesh entirely. Which meant that Lynn's resistance to most spiritual assaults had now been permanently strengthened!
Moreover, his body even granted his spirit new benefits; his mental energy grew stronger, and damage to his spirit could now heal more easily.
The Black Moon Spirit Body was indeed a profound art: a secret method of harmonizing spirit and flesh, and at the same time, a powerful body refinement technique and a powerful spiritual technique.
"But the most crucial effect of the Black Moon Spirit Body is none of these…"
Lynn opened his eyes and tried to clench his fist.
Though the change was subtle, his physical strength was undeniably greater than before his entry into the technique.
He could feel it clearly; his stronger spirit was now dragging his body upward, forcing it to grow stronger as well!
Of course, this newfound strength hadn't come out of nowhere.
Lynn noticed that half of his White Crow mana cluster had already been consumed and transformed into nourishment for reinforcing his body.
The Black Moon Spirit Body's way of balancing spirit and flesh wasn't to burn spiritual power to compensate for a weak body.
Rather, it was to let a powerful spirit lead the body, which only needed resources, no cultivation method, no bottlenecks to naturally grow until it matched the spirit in strength!
But without enough "fuel," this pulling force would stop. In extreme cases, a frail body could even drag down the progress of the spirit.
It was worth noting that the reverse was also true: a powerful body could stimulate spontaneous growth of the spirit.
Still, having an over-strong spirit with a weak body was usually manageable if things got too imbalanced; one could simply abandon the flesh.
But a strong body with a weak spirit brought far more troublesome, often fatal consequences when pushed too far.
That was why wizards typically prioritized strengthening the spirit first.
And in the case of the Black Moon Spirit Body, it usually meant the spirit leading the body, not the other way around.
Seems I'll need to make sure my resources remain plentiful whenever my spirit and body fall out of balance… Otherwise, it'll slow my progress.
Many different resources could serve as the "nourishment" required for the Black Moon Spirit Body, but the most common was refined world source energy.
For Lynn, that meant his mana and the White Crow mana cluster within his body.
He could see that his White Crow mana cluster was nearly depleted, so he closed his eyes again to begin restoring it.
Yet his recovery rate could not keep pace with the rate of consumption.
Before long, the Black Moon Spirit Body began drawing directly on his mana.
Lynn soon noticed something new: refined wizard's mana was even better for strengthening the flesh than the White Crow mana cluster, but it was consumed even faster.
And his natural recovery simply couldn't keep up with the Black Moon Spirit Body's demand.
This strengthening process could, in theory, be paused.
But after a moment's hesitation, Lynn rose and fetched a mana-release array disk. He placed a mid-grade magic stone inside and turned the device to maximum output.
The higher concentration, more refined mana released by the disk far surpassed what flowed from a normal mana vein. After only light filtering, it could be converted directly into usable mana.
Lynn's recovery speed immediately multiplied several times, just barely enough to match the Black Moon Spirit Body's consumption rate.
The price, however, was steep: the mid-grade magic stone within the array disk steadily dimmed.
An hour later, the stone worth the equivalent of 100 low-grade magic stones, enough to fully replenish his mana nearly twenty times, was drained completely.
And still, his body could continue to be strengthened.
Lynn glanced at the spent array disk and grimaced, heart aching.
Standing up, he stopped feeding mana into the spirit-flesh bond and began testing the results of his training.
In the basement, he ran, jumped, and even tried hefting the long-idle Lambiel Skimmer. At last, he came to a rough conclusion:
Compared to before the enhancement, my body's overall strength has increased by around five to ten percent.
At this rate, I'd need another thirty to fifty sessions of resource infusion like this to raise my body to a true first-rank level!
He brushed the powdery remains of the stone from the array disk, lips twisting into a wry smile.
That sounded simple enough, but where would he ever find so many resources?
At present, his wealth was around 2,000 low-grade magic stones, only enough to fuel twenty more sessions, still far from sufficient to push his body to the next rank.
If I rely solely on my own mana to fuel the strengthening, it would work, but the time required would be much longer… Looks like I'll need to find opportunities to earn more stones.
Lynn thought this as he raised his hand, gazing at himself.
Pale golden motes gathered in the air, weaving into a shimmering light-screen
[Name: Lynn Kent]
[Age: 17]
[Rank: First-Rank Wizard Apprentice (1/100); White Crow Swordsmanship (minor)]
[Cultivation Methods: White Crow Swordsmanship (minor); Hossens Meditation Method · First Rank (Proficient)]
[Spells:
0th Ring, Low-tier: …; Hawk Eye (Proficient); Wind Listening (Proficient); Soundproofing (Proficient); Water Condensation (Skilled); Lesser Detoxification (Skilled)
0th Ring, Mid-tier: …
0th Ring, High-tier: Explosive Fireball (Proficient); Rampart Barrier (Proficient); Green Vine Spell (Skilled); Serpent Sense (Initiate)
[Secret Arts: Black Moon Spirit Body (Initiate)]
[Skills: Mind Shock Crystal Plate Crafting (Skilled); Spell Arrays · Fundamentals (Skilled)]
[Innate Gift: Emerald Shadow Mark]
[Source Energy: 2.2 (Self); 0 (World); Mixed Sub-source Energy: 0]
Lynn carefully studied the display, pausing briefly on Serpent Sense and Black Moon Spirit Body.
Aside from the auxiliary spells he had already raised to "Proficient," capable of instant-casting, his greatest progress lately was in mastering these two.
The Golden Mistflight spell will be mine soon enough, and Serpent Sense is already at the Initiate level, so mobility and detection are no longer weaknesses. Now my real shortcomings… are in the two most important areas: offense and defense.
Lynn closed the light-screen, lost in thought.
But at that very moment, as the spirit–flesh bond manifested by the Black Moon Spirit Body finally stabilized within him, a strange, inexplicable sensation suddenly surfaced in his mind!
It was incredibly faint, so faint that with the slightest inattention, one might dismiss it as an illusion.
Yet it was no illusion.
Lynn's brows knit sharply together. He sat back down, cross-legged, and carefully attuned himself to this sensation.
The information it carried was sparse, but after a moment of intense focus, he realized it was a vague sense of location.
A location…? Why would I be receiving something like this?
Lynn opened his eyes, unable to avoid linking this anomaly with the Black Moon Spirit Body he had just cultivated.
As one of the most treasured secret arts of a colossal academy, what he had achieved so far was merely the entry stage. He was still far from truly understanding it.
He didn't know why this sensation had suddenly appeared, nor whether it was truly tied to the Black Moon Spirit Body…
"But if it is connected," he murmured under his breath, "then this positional sense… could very well have something to do with the Black Moon Academy."
The Black Moon Academy…
After escaping from the Crimson World, Lynn had quietly searched for information about it.
The only thing he ever found was a trace of a Black Moon Faction that had once existed in Emeraldwood City a thousand years ago.
As for the Academy itself, the vast institution that had spanned multiple worlds ten millennia ago, it was as if it had never existed in the Guern World. Not a shred of evidence remained.
Perhaps it's simply that too much time has passed… Or perhaps… some great power has deliberately erased all traces of the Black Moon Academy.
The thought of it sent a chill down his spine. An academy of such immense might, completely obliterated by whose hand? And could that hand remain in this world?
Thankfully, Lynn reassured himself, the Black Moon Spirit Body has no outward features, nor does it alter the body's structure. Unless someone performed a specialized dissection or a high-level wizard conducted a personal examination, there's no way to detect it.
His nerves settled slightly. Rising, he left the meditation room.
He followed the stairway up, intent on determining exactly which direction this strange sensation pointed to.
Outside, night had fallen. A sea of stars glittered above.
A gentle evening breeze brushed against him as he closed his eyes again, feeling for that subtle tug in his spirit.
Slowly, he turned his body, adjusting to the pull until he finally stopped, facing the direction it pointed.
Opening his eyes, Lynn saw that he was looking toward the northeast of Emeraldwood City.
That way leads beyond the Emeraldshadow Forest… Could it be the site of the old Black Rose Faction?
No… further than that…
He froze, a startling possibility flashing through his mind:
Judging from the distance… could that place be
The Silverring Academy?
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