After breaking through the limit with the Circulation Meditation, he only needed to meditate six hours a day, but this time he intentionally made it complex, substantially reducing the efficiency.
Therefore, it wasn't until dawn broke and the morning glow faded that he slowly opened his eyes.
Looking at the pocket watch in his hand. Twelve hours had already passed!
The time spent wasn't the point; the key was the progress made in just one Limit Breaking Circulation Meditation!
He exhaled and the Golden Paper appeared.
Light golden particles converged, and a sheet of Golden Paper that straddled the line between illusion and reality floated in front of him.
Colin eagerly looked for the Apprentice Circulation Meditation I section!
In the next second, an uncontrollable joy spread across his face.
The progress behind that one Limit Breaking Circulation Meditation had reached 84/100!
Previously, if he hadn't misremembered, the progress should have been 81/100! A full 3 points increase!
An elevation of 3 points in a single meditation session?!
Colin exhaled gently and shook his head.
The true progress was slightly over 2 points, after all, it wasn't exactly 81 before but rather a bit over 81.
But regardless, if he continued at this pace, he would only need another six to eight days to push the Circulation Meditation to its limit once more!
Rising to his feet, Colin stretched and mulled over the situation.
Previously, meditating six hours a day, the rate of advancement for the Limit Breaking Circulation Meditation was about two points every three days, or one point every two days.
Now he had made the meditation more complex, extending the time to twelve hours, the rate of progress in meditation surged to three points a day, a 3 to 5 times improvement over the previous rate.
Though it didn't compare to the dozens of times difference between practicing the Blood Pattern Transformation Skill on rabbits versus humans.
The rate of advancement was still remarkably impressive!
He felt as if he was on the verge of grasping the deeper rules behind the Golden Paper.
"Practice leads to improvement," he murmured while caressing the smooth surface of the metal pocket watch in his hand.
Casting witchcraft, the complete process involved the spirit mobilizing Magic Power to cast spells.
Meditation, at its core, was using the spirit to draw Magic Power into the body until reaching the daily limit.
In common understanding—
Casting witchcraft: No matter how complex the process or how Magic Power is manipulated, as long as it's done with full effort, the Magic Power consumed is the same and unchanging. The resulting effects are fundamentally the same as well.
And meditation: Similarly, no matter how complex the process or how the spirit is used to draw Magic Power into the body, the daily limit doesn't change; this limit is only related to the Meditation Method and personal aptitude.
It's like walking, no matter how complicated the process is, it's still just walking from A to B.
But now it seems, the Golden Paper isn't judging practice simply by the A to B metric as commonly understood, but is instead measuring the entirety of the process more intricately...
'In that case...' Colin pocketed the watch with a faint smile.
This not only meant that he had found a more efficient way to practice... but also, the greatest constraint limiting his practice had been effortlessly removed!
The constraint was mainly on meditation.
Previously, the limit of his daily meditation was only six hours.
But now, by making meditation more complex and reducing its efficiency, he could extend its duration to twelve hours, or even longer!
Normally, no sane wizard would do this.
After all, even though the duration of meditation increased, it came at the cost of efficiency, and the Magic Power gained ultimately remained the same, just with an unnecessary expenditure of energy.
But for Colin, this method, while not changing the rate of Wizard Rank increase, greatly enhanced the speed of the Circulation Meditation's advancement.
And the progress of the Circulation Meditation, especially breaking through limits, would in turn further increase the rate at which his Wizard Rank advanced!
Thus, unlike for other wizards, this practice that seemed to waste energy was, for him, a shortcut!
Realizing this, Colin decided to go into seclusion.
After all, he couldn't afford the knowledge he sought to advance to an Official Wizard, and he had nothing else he wanted to buy.
So, it was just as well that he skipped the city's market!
...
Time flew by, and another five days had passed.
Today marked the sixth day since the arrival of the Black Pearl Trading Company; the day after tomorrow at dawn, they were set to set sail again.
In fact, as early as four days ago, the Black Pearl Trading Company had already replenished their long-voyage supplies from the island and were ready to leave.
On Palm Street, the highest terrain of the wealthy area.
It was just dawn.
In the master bedroom of a grey and white two-story villa, Colin opened his eyes in the Meditation Room, and without hesitation, he summoned the Golden Paper.
Light golden particles gathered.
On that translucent Golden Paper—
A dim arrow symbol ↑ slowly appeared next to the Apprentice Circulation Meditation I!
This meant he could break through the limit again!
Colin stood up contentedly, limbering up, a smile he couldn't suppress played on his lips.
For four days, he had made the meditation process for the Circulation Meditation as complicated as possible to decrease the efficiency and extend the duration of meditation.
Initially meditating for 12 hours, but later even 16 to 18 hours became doable; had he not had other matters to attend to, he could have even extended it further.
And such extensions once again accelerated the progress of the Circulation Meditation; just five days, one day sooner than the minimum six days he had anticipated, he had successfully brought the Circulation Meditation to its limit.