Seven days later, on the fourth floor of Moonlight Tower, Lance slowly opened his eyes and withdrew his consciousness from the mindscape.
During the previous seven days, the Lesser Meditation Rune had shifted or deformed several times, and Lance had corrected every change immediately.
This was the eighth day.
For the first time, his morning inspection found all sixty-nine points of mental power resting exactly where they belonged. The rune showed no sign of movement.
Unless something unusual happened, the structure was now essentially stabilized.
'Teacher probably never expected me to stabilize a meditation rune this quickly.'
With that step complete, the next task was meditation itself: absorbing spell factors and converting them into mana.
Without mana, a wizard could not cast spells.
Lance thought for a moment, then called toward the door.
"Bonnie!"
The girl entered immediately.
"Did Madam Nancy question you this morning?" Lance asked.
Bonnie nodded timidly.
"What did she ask?"
"She wanted to know where you go every day and what you've been doing..."
"And what did you tell her?"
"Exactly what you instructed me to say. When I told her you planned to stay in Moonlight Tower for a while, the First Madam seemed displeased."
Lance shrugged, then smiled faintly.
"In that case, let's go back to the castle."
Bonnie looked surprised, bit her lip, but said nothing.
...
The two left Moonlight Tower and returned toward Windwatch Castle.
On the way, Lance encountered Ola, captain of the castle patrol, and asked about the two forces that had recently left the castle.
Ola laughed heartily.
"Young Master, there's no need to worry. The viscount's martial strength is exceptional, and Young Master Griffin is with him. Savage Orcs may be powerful, but they won't be a match for the two of them and the troops they took north."
"Red River Plain is a considerable distance from the castle. Just the round trip takes more than a week, and they'll also need to search the northern mountains for the orcs. Returning within a month would already be fast."
"As for Poirot, a merchant brought word a few days ago that he'd found the Frost Earth Demons' lair. They should finish clearing those creatures out soon enough."
Lance nodded and asked nothing further.
Frost Earth Demons were common intelligent creatures, although their intelligence was very limited. They produced nothing themselves and survived mainly by stealing crops and supplies from other races. In winter, groups of them emerged from underground burrows, and the bolder ones even raided isolated farms.
Their appearance reminded Lance of the goblins common in games and fantasy stories from Earth, although these creatures seemed somewhat stronger in combat.
Savage Orcs were much more dangerous predators. An ordinary human warrior might not be a match for even one.
Viscount Lane's domain lay along the western coast. The territory was not especially peaceful, but monster attacks were still relatively uncommon. Murlocs regularly appeared along the shoreline and Frost Earth Demons were familiar nuisances, but Savage Orcs were rare.
According to Ola, the last Savage Orc incursion near the territory had occurred three years earlier. Lane had personally led the extermination force then as well.
No matter what else is true, Viscount Lane is still my father.
When he's in the castle, my safety rises dramatically. The First Madam won't dare act recklessly in front of him.
With the viscount away, however, any move Nancy intended to make against Lance would probably happen soon.
'I hope that woman isn't as foolish as I think she is.'
If someone truly came after him, Lance had no intention of showing mercy.
...
Back in his room, Lance found an excuse to send Bonnie away.
Then he carefully shut the doors and windows. He even pushed the heavy desk and bookcase into place to block the entrances before confirming that he was completely alone.
Only then did he sit on the bed.
He was going to meditate for the first time.
Lesser Meditation was a basic spell, and activating it was simple once its mental-power rune had stabilized. Lance merely needed to inject an appropriate amount of mental power into the completed rune.
'Teacher said the first activation should require about eighteen points.'
Lance closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed himself.
Then he guided mental power slowly into the Lesser Meditation Rune.
The previously quiet rune suddenly began glowing with faint golden light.
A strange sensation rose inside him.
The world around him seemed to change.
His eyes remained closed, yet he could suddenly perceive countless colored points of light drifting through the air. They floated freely, passing around and even through his body.
Blue points were the most numerous around him, followed by pale cyan. Red, yellow, black, brown, and white lights were much rarer.
'These are spell factors?'
Excitement rose in Lance as he observed them.
Spell factors were fundamental to wizardry. A wizard absorbed them and transformed them into mana, while most spells also depended on corresponding spell factors as part of their operation.
The blue points represented water-aspected spell factors. The pale cyan points represented wind.
Windwatch Castle stood on a seaside cliff. The air was heavy with moisture and the sea wind was strong, so water and wind spell factors naturally existed here in greater concentrations.
To absorb spell factors and convert them into mana, a wizard relied on a spell vortex.
As Lance thought about it, a hot sensation suddenly appeared in his chest.
He could perceive a shallow vortex beginning to form there.
The moment it appeared, nearby spell factors started drifting toward it.
Lance could decide which type to absorb. Because this was his first meditation session, he wanted to test his body's affinity with different spell factors, so he chose one element at a time.
'I'll start with water.'
He controlled the vortex carefully, rejecting every factor except the blue water-aspected ones.
Time passed.
At the bottom of the vortex, which narrowed like a funnel, water spell factors accumulated in a dense cluster.
It's full.
Lance realized he could no longer draw in additional factors, so he began the conversion stage.
Lesser Meditation had only two functions: creating the spell vortex and converting absorbed spell factors.
Under Lance's control, the collected factors slowly transformed into pale blue mana and dispersed into storage throughout his body.
...
Three hours later, Lance opened his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"I absorbed three hundred and thirteen water spell factors, but they only converted into twenty-six points of mana. That's roughly twelve to one."
He grimaced.
"Looks like my affinity for water spell factors is below average."
Every person had different affinities for different kinds of spell factors, but the average conversion rate was around ten to one: roughly ten spell factors converted into one point of mana.
For Lance, water was closer to twelve to one.
The long meditation had consumed a fair amount of mental power. Excitement over finally practicing real wizardry made Lance ignore the fatigue. He paid no attention to the knocking outside his door and entered meditation again.
This time, he tested wind spell factors.
Half an hour later, the session was forced to end.
No one had interrupted him.
His mana storage was simply full.
'Teacher said a person's first meditation can reveal his basic mana capacity. A newly initiated wizard apprentice normally stores around forty-five to sixty points...'
Lance's expression turned ugly.
His own mana capacity was only thirty points.
Once he reached thirty, no matter how many additional spell factors he absorbed or converted, his stored mana refused to increase.
In other words, this body's mana capacity was extremely poor, far below that of an ordinary wizard apprentice.
'A talented apprentice starts with almost twice my mana reserve. How am I supposed to compete with that?'
His mental-power talent was outstanding, but in the far more critical area of mana capacity, he did not even reach the normal range.
His wind-factor conversion rate was eleven to one, only slightly better than water.
Both affinities were below average, and his total mana capacity was low. The results left Lance somewhat discouraged.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked again.
Lance answered impatiently, "What is it?"
Bonnie's timid voice came through the door.
"Young Master Lance, it's time for dinner."
Lance took a deep breath, set aside his frustration, then moved the desk and bookcase away from the door.
Bonnie entered carrying food that had obviously been reheated several times and began setting the dishes on his desk.
After meditating for so long, Lance really was hungry. He casually grabbed a piece of bread and brought it to his mouth.
Before he could swallow, Fox's sharp warning exploded inside his mind.
[Warning! Warning! Scan results indicate that you are attempting to consume food containing toxins. Stop immediately!]
Lance froze.
His gaze shifted toward Bonnie, who was still arranging the meal.