Zane woke up, feeling the most relaxed and refreshed in his life. Even before his imprisonment, he never had such sound sleep as he did in the past three days. One would think spending the entire night speaking another language with another woman would tire him, but each day he woke up full of energy, which only deepened his study.
His eyes shifted to the book on the corner of the floor, and he could not help but sigh. He learned an entire language's writing system in three days, and he even became as fluent as a native with a higher education. Magic was truly magical. Unfortunately, he never received a title.
'I wonder what the rules and mechanisms are for these titles?' Zane pondered as he glanced at the crest on his left hand. His worldview had fundamentally changed, but sadly, there was too little information to help him form a new understanding. Zane sighed before taking the bag containing the potions. In the past three days, he had drunk 9 blue potions and 3 green potions, leaving a few at his disposal. While Zane was pondering what to do with them, he suddenly noticed another book that wasn't there. And unlike the other one, the title was not in English, but in Gremorian.
"Beginner Meditation," Zane muttered, his eyes shining brighter than before. He realized the key to truly becoming a mage might be with this book. He instinctively reached out and opened the first few pages.
[All living creatures (the broad definition) have a hidden higher-dimensional organ called the soul. All souls are valuable and unique in their own ways, but some are more malleable than others. Through the proper ritual or methods, souls can be mutated to awaken a creature's ability to sense and control cosmic energies that exist across all realities. Cosmic energies vary, but they allow all races to bend reality to their whim or break the limitations of their bodies, souls, and minds.]
Zane paused briefly, remembering the test his director, Keldithas, administered to all the participants. As a mage, it was determined that Zane's soul had fully awakened, and now, he finally understood what that meant — at least, in the broader sense. Although he didn't feel anything during the test, he wouldn't question the ability of someone who held the title of [Director] at such a powerful company or entity as the Dimension Tower.
[Mana is one of the most powerful high-dimensional or cosmic energies in existence. It is the bread and butter of all mages, and one of the broadest and most extraordinary transcendent paths in the Astral Cosmos. Mana is…]
Zane controlled the urges to roll his eyes. Whoever wrote this book spent more than two pages praising mana without saying much of value. Although Zane doesn't know about other cosmic energy, he wouldn't just unquestioningly believe in some unknown author he had never seen. More importantly, he heavily suspects the author's purpose was to brainwash children into believing in the superiority of mana and magic in general.
Regardless of how he felt, he read every word and analyzed it. The important part should be in the next few pages, but he did not skip through this tirade of praise and blatant worship. And he was glad he did because of the last sentence:
[Young mage, remember the motto of all mages: Magic is omnipotent, but mages are not. Those wise words uttered by Arcane Emperor, Jo'si Delphina, have remained our guiding light for countless eons. Use them as an anchor for your magical journey.]
Zane paused and mulled over these words. He understood. As wonderful as magic is, he could foresee how easy its power could get to a person's head. With the power to create things out of nothing, bend reality, control space-time, and perform miracles such as reviving the dead — how can someone not become arrogant and develop a God-Complex? Surgeons only operate on people, and they are the most arrogant people in the world, let alone mages.
"This saying is not only to warn mages that there is always more to learn, room to grow, to keep their arrogance in check, but also to tell them that as humans, they have certain limitations; there are rules that even they cannot break unless they can become [Magic] itself," Zane pondered. He felt these words were meant for him.
As someone who is ambitious and strives to be the best at everything he does, he knew that he would try to push the limits of magic as long as he understood it well enough. Without this warning, he might actually try some absurd things. As for developing a complex because of magic? He was also susceptible to such a thing. Before he met Cindy, he was an arrogant, self-centered, know-it-all who thought his intelligence was a sign of his superiority. Although there was some childhood trauma that caused him to develop such a terrible personality, his past profile indicates he was quite susceptible to developing a God-Complex once he was a powerful enough mage.
"I will remember these words," Zane muttered to himself. He reached out to take his phone and change the password to:miobman-acjd, which is the abbreviation for this saying, along with Arcane Emperor Jo'so Delphina's initials. Zane nodded in satisfaction before muttering, "I wonder who this person is and how he could get such a wonderful title as [Arcane Emperor]?" For their words to become the motto of all mages, Jo'si Delphina should be an extraordinary mage; he hoped to meet them one day, if they were alive.
The next section of the book was the real knowledge Zane truly thirsted for; it introduced the key to the mage's extraordinary power — meditation. For the next few hours, he read the book from cover to cover, and even read it a few more times. A pang of hunger hit him around four in the afternoon, so he ate some food and called his mother and sister before returning to the matter at hand.
The lotus position seemed to be universal in whatever civilization the Dimension Tower originated from, as it was the standard practice for mage meditation. The book described it as the optimal position for activating the soul and boosting the circulation of energy. Zane would have preferred a quieter location, but his small room and bed would have to do for now.
He closed his eyes and followed the instructions by visualising the [Meditation Magic Circle]. The diagram in the book was a bit complex, with more than nine geometric shapes drawn inside circles and numerous runes that Zane had no idea what they meant. Regardless, his memory was borderline photographic, so he focused his mind, ignored all external stimuli, steadied his breathing, and visualized the magic circle.
Time became relevant, and the meditation allowed him to enter a serene state of mind; his focus increased with each passing second, making the magic circle in his mind clearer with each moment. At some point, the diagram became as clear as day; it was as if there were no difference between picturing it and looking at it directly.
Crack!
Zane heard something breaking, but did not panic. On the contrary, a deep sense of joy overcame him, almost breaking his focus. A cool sensation rushed into his head for a few seconds, a sign that he was condensing his mental energy, also known as the energy of the soul. Everything proceeded according to the book's description, and thanks to his luck or the ancestors' blessing, none of the potential anomalies materialized.
Zane focused on the magic circle, and it trembled. His mind, or maybe his senses, escaped his body and entered a new world with a breathtaking sight: Myriad blue lights were scattered everywhere around him.
"This should be the ambient mana in the environment," Zane thought. Time was of the essence, so he stopped his pointless admiration. Utilizing the deep focus state, the magic diagram in his mind started rotating slowly, releasing a suction force that pulled or extracted the ambient mana in the air and injected it into his body.
"The book said I may feel a bit strained when the circle starts to rotate, but that doesn't appear to be the case," Zane observed. "In that case, let's speed up things."
The diagram's speed of rotation drastically increased, pulling mana at an even faster speed, only stopping when he felt a terrible headache. Accepting his current limitations, Zane continued the process, which required intense focus for an hour, before the blue world collapsed and he could no longer visualize the magic circle.
"What a terrible headache," Zane groaned as he caressed his temple; the pain lasted for more than five minutes before abating.
"Am I now an Apprentice?" Zane muttered to himself as he sensed the changes to his body. He did not grow stronger or faster, but he sensed something else flowing through every part of his body. Unable to contain his excitement, he tried to control it, and at first, there was a bit of resistance, but with repeated effort, it became as easy as moving another limb.
"What a wonderful feeling," Zane thought. He had no idea how to use the mana inside his body, nor did he suddenly become a powerful mage. However, he knew he had taken a crucial step in fundamentally changing his life. Just as Zane was admiring his new power, he suddenly sensed something and took out the necklace his mother had given him.
"Hmm?" he muttered. In his eyes, this was no longer an ordinary necklace but something with a strange power; it was not mana — he could tell as much, but it wasn't any power he recognized. Regardless, he knew this amulet was a true protective artifact with genuine magic woven into it. "So, Earth does have its own unique magic?" His mother, aunts, and grandparents always spoke of magic and spirituality. Even his father boasted of having a few Oudou Priests in his lineage. But Zane always assumed these people were speaking nonsense — he only believed in science.
"That tester mentioned how Shamanism ran through my blood. I guess she was telling the truth," Zane pondered. The idea that he could learn Shamanist Art from his family greatly intrigued him. Although he also worried it might clash with his magic learning.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Zane's heart skipped a beat. "Who is visiting at such late hours?"