Colin had become accustomed to Shelley's style; he swallowed the chicken in his mouth and began to reply.
A week ago, after dealing with visitors from the Faction, he visited the True Knowledge Society again and chose to rent a laboratory for practice.
Shelley was on duty that day as well; she asked some questions about a Limit Breaking Steel Temperature Resistance Force Field.
Colin answered truthfully without concealment, but due to time constraints, they couldn't discuss thoroughly, so they agreed to continue the next day at noon.
At first, their discussions were only about the spells Colin had previously exchanged for points, but gradually, their scope expanded.
Now, without realizing it, they were discussing the knowledge of Spirit Particles related to the recent practice of the Spirit Fog.
Colin bit into a chicken leg and continued exchanging ideas with Shelley.
Initially, he hadn't been accustomed to this, but later, to save time, he didn't mind it.
He had even invited Shelley to join him for a meal, but it seemed she had undergone some special body Transformation Technique and didn't need to eat as often as he did.
So now, each day Shelley watched him eat while discussing issues related to witchcraft.
Over these days, Colin had been astounded by Shelley's accomplishments in the field of witchcraft.
Take the Limit Breaking Steel Temperature Resistance Force Field, for example. After several exchanges of ideas, he often needed to think for a long time before he could continue the discussion with her.
He had already mastered the second Limit Breaking of the Steel Temperature Resistance Force Field.
The first Limit Breaking of the Steel Temperature Resistance Force Field was now fully within his grasp, even including its higher-level extensions.
Still, Shelley could discuss it back and forth with him, sometimes even providing subtle insights that led to profound revelations.
This was reflected in the Golden Paper and was similar to when he first watched her manuscripts in the Neustadt laboratory. Not only had his witchcraft progressed, but the upper limit of his Limit Breaking seemed to have slightly increased as well.
This was one of the reasons why he was willing to spend an hour each day exchanging ideas with Shelley.
Click-clack.
The clock hands spun rapidly, and soon it was 12:30.
"...so, to me, the nature of Spirit Particles seems somewhat similar to the Spirit Fog."
After finishing that sentence, Shelley stopped abruptly, ready to stand up and leave, planning to return the next day.
"Indeed, it does resemble the Spirit Fog... The Wizard who created this spell named it Spirit Fog; perhaps that's part of the reason," Colin pondered silently.
Shelley had gotten halfway up, as if she thought of something, and sat back down to continue:
"I've checked in the True Knowledge Library for you, and there isn't a Third Rank Tin Saint Meditation Method."
Colin looked up, slightly startled and sighed somewhat disappointedly,
"That's... unfortunate."
"There used to be one, but about three hundred years ago, the True Knowledge Society was targeted in an attack.
The attackers were powerful, deeply familiar with the True Knowledge Society, and had a clear objective; they headed straight for the True Knowledge Library, causing heavy losses to its contents, almost half was lost."
"Were the attackers caught?" Colin instinctively asked.
"No, they were like ghosts; nobody knew their real identities, and in the end, the matter was left unresolved."
Shelley's expression was calm, showing no emotion.
Colin fell silent, his mind filled with suspicions, but he ultimately refrained from speaking.
After watching Shelley leave, he continued practicing witchcraft.
He practiced until the night deepened, around 11 p.m., before leaving the laboratory and heading home.
As he passed by the First Rank laboratory next door, its indicator crystal was still lit.
"Such diligence..." Colin silently noted with admiration.
Shelley was the user of the neighboring laboratory. Since her shift ended five days ago, she was almost always in the laboratory.
Every morning when he arrived, the crystal outside that laboratory was lit, and the same was true when he left.
After returning home and finishing the second meal that Renee had carefully prepared, Colin continued to the Meditation Room to begin his nightly meditation.
According to the current progress, after tonight, he would reach the limit of the First Rank Wizard Level. Then, only waiting for the breakthrough in Disguise Magic would he be ready to advance.
The following day, as the sky turned a dim gray, Colin rose from the soft expanse of his grand bed.
Now he required only about three to four hours of sleep each night to fully replenish his energy.
He pushed open the door and stepped out onto the balcony, where a thick mist blanketed everything in sight.
"The weather isn't very good..." Colin silently thought, before turning around to head downstairs.
"Good morning, Colin! Will Bobi come today?" Nasi immediately hollered as soon as she saw him descending the stairs.
She perched on Colin's shoulder and affectionately nestled against his neck.
The Flower Elf needed sleep too, and with Colin leaving early and returning late these days, Nasi could only see him in the morning.
"I'm not sure, but the weather isn't very good today," Colin said with a smile.
Speaking of which, it was quite interesting how Nasi and Lillian's little elf, Bobi, didn't get along when they first met.
Now, they seemed to have become very good friends.
At least, ever since Sister Lillian's last visit, she often came by, saying that Bobi wanted to play with Nasi.
"I see..." Nasi sounded a bit disappointed, then turned her head and called out to Demi not far away, "Master says the weather's bad today, so Bobi probably won't come!"
Colin couldn't help but laugh. "I only said the weather was bad, I'm not sure if Bobi will come or not."
"Good morning, Master." Demi trotted over, stopping in front of him to quietly greet him with a morning wish.
"Good morning," Colin reached out to pat Demi's head and then asked, "Have you been practicing the Breathing Skill I taught you properly?"
"Yes, I practice it every day," Demi nodded vigorously, then added, "Sister does it too, she practices with me every day."
"Mhm," Colin smiled. By this time, he had reached the doorway of his study, so he said to Nasi, "Off you go, have fun."
Nasi nodded and flew onto Demi's back.
"If Bobi doesn't come today, we'll build a snowman first, and have a snowball fight tomorrow..."
Demi walked away with Nasi, moving as gracefully as a young fallow deer.
Colin nodded in satisfaction.
Previously, the Renee sisters had been forcibly elevated to just above Advanced Knights and just below Great Knights through the Blood Pattern Transformation Skill.
Their strength was quite decent among mortals.
However, aside from being unable to further improve their Knight capabilities through their own effort, their lifespan also suffered when compared to normally trained Knights.
Forget about the 150 years of a Great Knight, even reaching the typical lifespan of 90 for most Advanced Knights was somewhat out of reach for them.
Colin had actually been concerned about this for a long time.
He had intended, when he had some free time, to attempt the Limit Breaking Blood Pattern Transformation Skill to break this limitation.
But after advancing to First Rank Knight, Colin was surprised to find he could activate the semi-formed Life Seed within the Renee sisters induced by the Blood Pattern Transformation Skill, allowing them to regain the ability to improve through training.
In the past few days, he found the time to do this, and taught the sisters the Yi Guang Breathing Skill for Limit Breaking, hoping they could break through to become Great Knights.
Colin walked into the study and began to handle miscellaneous matters.
From getting up in the morning until about nine o'clock was his fixed time at home to deal with such things.
Even though he had a narrow social circle, aside from training, there were still some things that had to be done.
Such as—reading the daily announcements from the Supreme Council, along with some newspapers from Neustadt City.
Recently, the war situation by the Sea Domain seemed to have entered a relatively calm phase, with constant minor conflicts occurring, but a major clash hadn't happened for quite some time.
Knock, knock, knock—
Not long after, as was routine, Renee knocked on the study door and entered with a steaming cup of tea.
Colin now ate only two meals a day and didn't have breakfast, but Renee would still make him a cup of tea.
If there were some matters at home requiring Colin's decision, she would typically report them at this time, like now:
"Master, I have something to report to you," Renee said respectfully after putting down the tea:
"Our rent has gone up, it was someone from your School who came by yesterday to notify us."
"Also, Lady Lillian has come to visit today, she just arrived and is currently in the living room."