“Would you like to join me?” Angel still hopes to cooperate with David. The two complement each other and can always develop their strengths and avoid each other’s weaknesses, improving their overall efficiency.
David shook his head. “Forget it. I’m not interested in music boxes… Call me the next time you have other alchemy projects.”
David thought to himself, a music box cannot turn out any new waves. He still doesn’t believe that making music boxes can enter as ranked items. With Angel’s current enchantment capabilities, would he engrave Sharpened Edge Magic Patterns on the music box? Obviously not.
“All right, then.” Angel said with slight disappointment.
Heavy bell chimes were spreading all around the bell tower in the Underground Market.
“It’s already ten o’clock in the evening. It seems that I should start heading back.” Angel stood up and said his goodbyes to David.
After walking out of the alchemy shop, Angel suddenly remembered something and turned back to the shop: “David, do you have any magic pattern books in here?”
“Are you planning to learn magic patterns? Do you mean magic patterns for enchantment?” David wondered, “Don’t you already have one? The last Sharpened Edge Magic Pattern you showed me was an enchantment magic pattern.”
“I am not looking for enchantment magic patterns… just ordinary magic patterns.” Angel said.
“What do you want ordinary magic pattern books for? Those magic patterns cannot be depicted on alchemy tools.” David suddenly thought of something and gave a cry: “You aren’t trying to engage in magic array enchantment, are you?”
“If you want to depict a magic pattern’s active effect on an alchemy item, you can only depict it by using magic array enchantments. However, the difficulty of magic array enchantment is not the same as that of ordinary magic pattern enchantments. It’s hard to learn and even harder to master, and the overall effect is not as good as “blending.” In this area, almost no Alchemy Wizards have any involvement at all.”
“I’m just taking a look at it. I’m not yet ready for magic array enchantments.” Angel is a little interested in magic patterns, but he hasn’t thought about dabbling in this new subject for the time being. He just purely wants to see whether he can rely on the projections from the Holographic Tablet to make magic pattern leather scrolls.
David said with a worried look: “I say, Angel, you have only just entered the door for so long, it is not good for your profession to be so careless. This is not conducive for your profession growth. Alchemy, Sky Tower, Magic Patterns, you are now only a First Level Apprentice. Focusing on your own strengths is the right path. Even if you have good alchemy talent, but if you cannot keep up with your own accomplishments. You can only make low-level inferior alchemy items. The most important thing to do now is master one’s own realm.”
David’s remarks are quite reasonable, and Angel actually understands. However, he cannot tell David that he is not dabbling in magic patterns, but merely experimenting with the effectiveness of the Holographic Tablet.
David saw his ardent expectations but did not see Angel’s face show an expression of “repentance.” He a.s.sumed the expression was of “hating iron but not steel.”
“I have books on enchantment here, but I do not have copies of magic pattern books in the shop. Even if I did, I would still not sell them to you. I’m doing this for your own good.”
David’s demeanour is indeed quite like a senior. If Angel didn’t know David so well, he may have been impressed by his earnest words. But Angel is very clear about David’s tendency of putting on a “senior elder” expression and tone. In fact, he was not really in a mood of dissuading him from pursuing this study. The truth was, he merely has a dark pleasure brought about by “giving pointers to the younger generation.”
Watching the “care” in David’s eyes as he looked at him, Angel sighed deeply in his heart: “Well, I will try my best to give a good performance for you.”
Angel a.s.sumed an expression of “being taught.”
“You’re right, I’m really too easily distracted. From today on, I’ll meditate and practice well. I won’t do anything else.”
Angel’s expression made David stunned, and his words shocked him even more: “In fact, you don’t have to say it like that. It’s okay to practice alchemy occasionally. Just keep a balance of work and rest. “
“No, I will meditate seriously! I will try not to be the tail end of the crane.” After Angel finished speaking, he gave a n.o.bleman’s farewell and turned to leave smartly.
David was left alone listening to the howling wind.
Coming out of the Underground Market and returning to Apprentice Town, the dreary air was replaced by a fresh breath.
It was already too late in the day. Angel went to the Apprentice Town Market to buy some cooked food and hastily solved his problem of not having a meal all day.
After returning home, Angel went directly to the quiet room to meditate. Somehow, today’s meditation was surprisingly smooth and much more efficient than ever before.
After his meditation, Angel wondered to himself if he had gone from the state of “stillness of body” to “stillness of mind.”
The so-called “stillness of body” means one can still enter the deepest state of meditation under noisy environments. And the so-called “stillness of mind” refers to peace of mind.
Angel thought for a moment and played a piece of music called “Childhood Memory” on the Holographic Tablet. The music label showed the author as Bandari.
The music is soothing and gentle, and Angel was amazed by this musical piece. This song is no less impressive than “Castle in the Sky.” The unknown musical instrument gives multiple melodies performing in harmony together. These melodious notes seem to really bring the listeners to their carefree childhood.
Although this Childhood Memory is very pleasant, Angel didn’t turn on the music to just listen to songs.
With the music on, Angel quickly closed his eyes and entered into a state of meditation. Following the melodious and gentle music, Angel really did enter into a state of meditation immediately!
Is it true his state of meditation has reached “stillness of mind?” Or is it because of the song being so gentle and pa.s.sionate that it affects the efficiency of meditation?
Angel thought about it and simply closed the tablet and went to the attic.
Toby is using his two remaining echo flowers to make noise with his shrill bird calls.
Toby thought Angel was listening in on his performance and played on joyfully.
Angel endured the disorderly and sharp noises coming from the bird and closed his eyes to force himself into a state of meditation. When Angel came into his chaotic mental s.p.a.ce, he felt the noise from the outside world being slowly separated from his own consciousness.
This is different from when he was listening to “Childhood Memories.” When listening to the soothing and melodious music, even when he entered meditation, his ears echoed the music. However, Toby’s noise is isolated at this time, just like a mysterious organ in the brain which actively distinguishes between noise from music.
But even after distinguishing between noise from music, Angel can still feel a strange sense of agitation from the frequency of the noise.
In this state, Angel simply cannot calm down and meditate.
Sure enough, he did not reach the state of “stillness of mind.” According to the records, the realm of “stillness of mind” can only be understood by formal Wizards. It is normal for he not to have reached it.
Angel returned from the attic to the quiet room.
Although he did not achieve stillness of mind, he wonders why his meditation efficiency improved so much? Almost a 10% increase in his efficiency.
Angel carefully recalled what had happened throughout the day and there was nothing too out of the ordinary that he could recall. The only thing that may have been a little strange is that he was unharmed by Sylvia’s Soul Howl and Soul Absorption when he was fighting his match against Saka.
But this has nothing to do with meditation efficiency, right?
Angel couldn’t think of the reason but improving meditation efficiency is not a bad thing for him. He can only bury this doubt in his heart and find time to seek an answer from Sanders later.
…
Another week pa.s.sed, and this afternoon Angel fought with an apprentice who uses poison in the Elemental Branch Wood and Earth System for half a day. Finally, when the battle ended, he was forced to use his precious flame arrow.
After the end of his first battle for the day, Angel finally broke through to the upper limit and advanced to the thirteenth floor of Sky Tower!
The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth floors. These last three are completely different from all previous floors. These floors are the busiest and darkest floors in Sky Tower. Contestants die in matches almost every day.
Therefore, from the mouths of many apprentices, the last three floors of Sky Tower are also collectively referred to as the “Three Floors of Death.”
After Angel got to the thirteenth floor, he did not first head to sign up for a match. Instead, he found a battle arena to observe the levels of the other contestant in this layer. As a thirteenth-floor contestant, he does not have to spend money to watch contestants in any battle arena. This is the benefits given to Sky Tower contestants.
The “Three Floors of Death” are different from the previous twelve floors in terms of the distribution of battle arenas.
There are only three battle arenas on the thirteenth floor and these battle arenas are a little bigger than the lower floor battle arenas. The size of the audience has also doubled in size. Each battle arena can accommodate at least a thousand people to watch a single match at the same time!
The three battle arenas currently all have contestants competing in matches at the same time. Angel chose the battle arena with the largest number of audience members attending and walked over.
The big screen at the top displays: [Shepherd Fox Vs Hurricane Messenger]
Angel didn’t know either contestant in the arena, but the name “Shepherd Fox” reminds Angel of… some bad memories.
Hurricane Messenger is a tall, bearded, middle-aged uncle wearing a cape with green and silvery-white stripes. Displayed on his epaulettes are engraved family crests.
Shepherd Fox is dressed in a white Wizard robe with a wooden staff engraved with a fox’s head. He looked handsome and cool, and his long silvery-white hair is scattered freely. He looks like a dusty hermit. Obviously, he is young, but he had an “at peace with the world” appearance as his expression. Making a compet.i.tor can’t help but roll their eyes and spit out a complaint. There was also a habit where Shepherd Fox kept his eyes closed during his match. He did not open his eyes whether it be for casting spells or other various actions. It looked as if the Second Level Apprentice youth was going to great lengths to ridicule the whole world.
Hurricane Messenger’s name can be understood from his casting alone as a caster who controls the wind element. On the other hand, Shepherd Fox was obviously a summoner, but so far, he has not summoned any living Warcrafts. He had only summoned a phantom Warcraft to fight against his opponent.
Hurricane Messenger is clearly not as powerful as Shepherd Fox. Making this an almost one-sided by beating.
The blood red-eyed fox under the control of Shepherd Fox has completely become a phantom demon. Every appearance is a white phantom. In coordination with the graceful movements of Shepherd Fox, this match is not so much a battle but more of a personal display from Shepherd Fox.
He deliberately made big strides just to make his long silvery-white hair display more elegantly.
He also deliberately turned around to his side to cast spells, just to reveal his most perfect profile.
Of course, the above is all Angel’s own conjecture. But he has to say, Shepherd Fox’s performance has made the scene more beautiful and the atmosphere outside the battle arena more lively.
After a while, Shepherd Fox was through with his s.a.d.i.s.tic performance and had placed a strong pressure on Hurricane Messenger to win the final victory.
In this compet.i.tion, although Shepherd Fox is more into his own performance, his strength was much higher when compared to that of other compet.i.tors on the lower floors.
Even the level of Hurricane Messenger who had been beaten by his strong pressure is far above the rest of the compet.i.tors on the lower floors. Angel estimates his own strength against his. If he even wants to surpa.s.s Hurricane Messenger, he must use a small golden arrow with a magic pattern.
Even so, it would still take a long time for him to achieve victory.
It seems that his compet.i.tion strategy needs to be changed.