Upon waking, Mark activated his Mana Sense before getting up to eat. This time, he began consuming significantly more goblin meat. His plan was now set: more battles on the 1st Floor, more loot, and more meat. Once he finished his meal, he began his magic practice.
He realized he had made a mistake before. Previously, his routine consisted of meditation at the start of the day and magic practice at the end. However, the true purpose of meditation was to recover depleted mana. Consequently, he first read about Air Sense and began practicing it. Then, he activated Blind Sense and exhausted the remainder of his mana. After that came physical exercises—he constantly increased the intensity of his physical training. Once finished, he finally began his meditation. At long last, he understood what it truly meant to meditate. Yet, if he had to explain it, he wouldn't be able to. It seemed to be a unique sort of paradox.
After finishing his meditation, Mark ate once more. Now, he needed to review certain things. First, his martial arts: hand-to-hand combat and fighting with the Staff—which had been his most-used weapon so far. Then, defensive and offensive magic, as well as throwing practice using the two newly acquired Monster Cores.
Almost all of these served the same purpose: increasing his combat effectiveness. However, Mark couldn't master everything at once. Throwing practice was something he could do in his spare time. As for advanced martial arts or elite staff techniques, they weren't strictly necessary yet; the goblins hadn't managed to push him to that limit. Therefore, he focused on learning basic spells.
After some searching, he found a spell that suited him perfectly: Air Repulsion. It involved controlling the air via mana to create a forceful push outward from himself. This is primarily useful when an opponent gets too close or for defecting physical projectiles like arrows. Although it was a relatively low-level spell, it was perfect for him. His current opponents, the goblins, were light and relatively weak, and if they chose to use bows, this would be the ultimate counter-skill.
With these thoughts in mind, he began reading about Air Repulsion. After a bit of practice, he ate and went to sleep. His days began to follow this routine: every third day, he would descend to the 1st Floor to battle goblins. Fortunately, near-death scenarios like the ones before became much rarer. Even when he made mistakes, he did not retreat.
Furthermore, he mastered Air Repulsion, making his subsequent battles much safer. His overall field of perception also expanded. Mark noticed something interesting: if he could increase the radius of one sense, increasing the others became just as easy. For instance, once the radius of Mana Sense expanded, the areas for Blind Sense and even the newly learned Air Sense increased accordingly. This was a major breakthrough. His perception radius had now reached 30 meters. Combined with his other capabilities, a lone goblin was no longer a match for him.
In addition to everything else, he practiced maintaining three senses simultaneously: Mana Sense, Blind Sense, and Air Sense. This was a truly arduous task. In his recent battles, he focused primarily on this. He trained to use these senses for extended periods without overtaxing his mind, without being distracted by external factors, and all at once. There were achievements, but he was still far from his ultimate goal. If he could maintain these constantly, he could finally truly call himself "not blind."
Another development occurred—his mana capacity increased. His mana was now at E+ rank, likely approaching D rank. He achieved this mainly through the active consumption of mana followed by intense meditation. Regarding meditation, he reached a strange breakthrough. While meditating, Mark suddenly began to see a world of color. For a moment, he wondered, "Have my eyes returned?" However, the indistinctness of the surroundings and his inability to control the vision helped him realize the situation; it wasn't a dream either. Dreams are never this vivid, nor do they remain so clearly in one's memory.
As time passed, he understood: it was a memory. A childhood memory of Thaddeus from when he was about six years old. In it, he shows his father, Lucas Von Lightborn, his ability to analyze and mimic with his eyes, marking the beginning of his extensive training that would last until the age of twelve.
He approached this with great seriousness. This was a challenging area for him—one that was crucial for fully accepting Thaddeus as part of himself. Recalling ordinary memories had been different; whenever he tried to remember something, data, images, and sounds would simply surface. It felt more like recalling a forgotten fact.
However, remembering emotions was far more difficult. Until now, he had struggled to understand exactly what Baby Thaddy felt within those memories. But after experiencing that six-year-old memory as if it were his own, he finally understood Thaddeus's true feelings. He simply craved his father's attention. He had believed that by awakening and showcasing his talent, his father would finally truly look at him.
From here, two paths lay before him.
First, he had nearly finished exploring the zone on the 1st Floor where goblins appeared individually. Now, he intended to enter the area where they spawned in groups, and along with this, he wanted to learn Earth Sense. This was likely the longest-range sense, capable of picking up footsteps from a great distance, albeit at the cost of precision. Nevertheless, it would be invaluable in the group-goblin territory: he could estimate the size and location of a goblin squad from afar and plan his movements accordingly. Although he currently had a 30-meter perception radius, F-rank goblins could also sense him. Some "vile" Archer goblins could even target him from about 50 meters away. Besides the F-rank Archer, a new F-rank Goblin Swordsman had appeared; though it was quite sturdy, it posed no real threat to Mark on its own. However, if they operated as a group, it would become a problem. Thus, he needed a way to detect the goblins before they could detect him.
Second, he could commit fully to meditation to review all of Thaddeus's memories and accept them. This path was far more uncertain. Even after significant effort, there was no guarantee of a successful outcome.