A few days later, William left his room early in the morning to fully explore the Academy and get his meditation technique.
The streets were definitely nicer than the capital. There was a building for everything. For example, the blacksmith building, the pet building, the potion building, and dozens of other similar buildings.
The places he was most curious about were the Mission Building, the Training Building, and the Cultivation Building, where there were large spiritual energy formations that gathered certain elements.
He couldn't enter the cultivation building right now, even if he wanted to. He knew that the moment everyone joined the academy, there would be no contribution points.
From the Mission Building, he would have to earn them slowly and spend them after completing missions.
Today, his first stop was the Techniques Building.
It was a huge four-story building with a gray color.
As he entered, he saw a few people sitting in the lobby, reading or chatting. The whole academy was already a bit quiet. In fact, it was as if this was a holy place of education and the students were righteous, faithful believers.
He immediately came to a table arranged so that only the head of the person inside was visible.
He spoke softly. "Hello, I have come for the meditation technique. I'm at the iron level, although I just joined. Can I get a technique suitable for my level?" he asked.
Behind the desk was a young girl in her twenties. She looked so cute with her long hair in two tails.
But William knew that she was definitely an Iron Level warrior. There was no weak person in this school.
The girl rolled her eyes at him. "Let's see first, give me your seal," she said.
William took out a hand-sized seal from his dimensional bag that the teacher had given him the day after he had placed them.
This seal was truly magical. It had the same function as an identity card. In addition, it also recorded the contribution points from the missions he earned. Right now, there was zero on it.
The girl took the seal and sent Qi into it. After confirming that she saw an image that matched William's face, she began to stare at a larger-looking seal in front of her.
After a while, she lifted her head. "William, you are lucky. The teachers have written that you can receive a meditation technique of the Iron Level. Then she handed him a small token. "Take this to the first floor. You have half an hour to choose, and half an hour to copy. Choose a meditation technique that suits you." She said.
William thanked her after receiving the small token and his own seal. When he reached the 1st floor, it was almost empty. Next to a desk in the entrance, a man, like a librarian, was quietly reading a book. When he saw William coming, he looked up and held out his hand.
"Give me your token." He said.
William handed over the token he had just received.
The man took it and said, "You have half an hour. Choose quickly." He said.
William had been thinking about this for a few days. He had two affinities and the metal affinity was slightly better. Moreover, he was very optimistic about his defensive power. Even though his attack techniques were cooler, he still had one life. He still had a long life that he wanted to live.
So he started walking towards the area where metal techniques were listed.
There weren't many techniques here. But there was a library full of meditation techniques from every element.
He thanked the man who had organized this place a thousand times. Otherwise, he would have to read them all and might not find anything suitable.
When he arrived at the shelf that said Metal Techniques, he was very surprised.
Although there were at least hundreds of techniques on other shelves, the metal element meditation techniques were almost half as many. The shelf was only half full.
He didn't want to waste time, so he took the first ordinary leather scroll.
The meditation technique is called "Metal Hyena Tooth". Its brief description was, "Bite hard like a hyena. It was nice for people who practiced spear techniques.
He found the name funny and dropped it with a small smile. He didn't want any meditation technique that would contribute to his attacks, so he continued to stare.
But no matter how much he looked, it was all about the attack. He only had three scrolls left.
It was true that the metal element had a clear advantage over the warriors when it came to attack techniques. But he could close the gap with normal techniques.
He took the third scroll from the end. This was going to be more interesting. The meditation technique was called Heavy Body.
This technique had three levels.
The description only said what the levels brought.
It said that it strengthened metal techniques by 10% at level 1, 20% at level 2, and 30-40% at level 3.
It was an absolutely brilliant technique. He thought that his defensive power was forty percent stronger and decided that it was a good technique. He looked at the names and descriptions of the other two and decided that only the one he had was the best for him. So he immediately took it and asked the Teacher's permission to copy it.
The teacher pointed to a table in the corner. William sat down and began to copy.
If a person wanted to move up from the Iron Level to the Bronze Level, he had to compress his spiritual energy in the form of qi. With this compression, he would gain one drop of qi at each level.
The strength of these drops could not be underestimated, as each of them was at least equal to the total qi power of a strong Iron Level warrior.
There should be a total of three drops. After combining three drops of qi, he had to combine these three drops to advance to the bronze level.
Meridians determined one's life and death, and levels determined one's strength. The reason why people got stuck at those levels was because they couldn't do things that required complex thinking, like compressing phases.
In this way, William was able to quickly complete the techniques he had already learned. Of course, for people in a modern age like this, who only care about strength and have almost no knowledge of subjects like mathematics, physics, and physiology, the comparison could not be made.
He had begun to think that he was at an advantage because of this, but he could not be sure.
It was good for him anyway. So he didn't think much about it.
He quickly copied the scroll, thanked the teacher, and left.
He was in no hurry to try meditation. He walked slowly through the academy. After a while, he found himself in front of the mission building.
The door was always busy. Some came in with big bags and left with happy faces, some came in with sad faces and left with sad faces.
Curious about what kind of mission they had, he decided to take a look inside.
It was more crowded inside than it looked from the outside. A huge billboard greeted him with papers hanging from it. There were thousands of them. He understood that these papers were missions.
He quickly approached and read a random mission.
[Mission Name: Earthworm's Blood
Mission Location: 100 km east of the Black Forest, Worm Mountains.
Mission Danger Level: Three Stars.
Mission objective: Take a barrel of earthworm blood and bring it back unclotted.
Mission Reward: 5 low-level soul stones or 50 contribution points
Recommended level: Peak Iron level.
Note: The anticoagulation potion will be given to you upon receiving the quest.]
William was very surprised. He had not thought that they could fit so much necessary information on a tiny piece of paper.
Almost everything about the mission was written down. The only thing missing was the most important part, like the strengths and weaknesses of the Earthworm. But he could understand why, because one could not expect everything from the other side. You should have read some books or learned from experience.
William considered taking the mission but decided against it. After all, he would not be able to kill a creature with a recommended peak iron level on his own. He knew his limits.
Besides, the reward for the mission was not enough to make it worth doing as a team.
He discovered that there were many unknown creatures in the missions. He thought he should go to the academy's regular library. In this academy, the only place you could enter with gold coins was the regular library.
It was also very expensive there. He had heard that it cost ten gold coins a day. Fortunately, the rich brats in the academy, including himself, were not short of money.
Meanwhile, a mission caught his attention. It was the same mission. Fearing that the other mission would not be accepted, the requirements were lowered. This time, the location was written as "the foot of the mountain, the rocks."
The quest reward was not as much as the other one, but it was still considered good. Because from the beginning, he wanted to finish it himself. He didn't think he needed a teammate for now.
He tore off the mission sheet for the 3 Soul Stones Reward, which had a two-star danger level.
He quickly went to the table where the people were lined up to register that he had taken the mission.
After a while, when it was his turn, he quickly registered the mission and left for the library. With a rough map of his destination, he wanted to know the level of the creatures he would encounter.
Although the library was extremely large, it was very quiet. An old man led the way.
He quickly took out the ten gold coins and asked.
"Is there a book about the creatures in this area?"
The old man replied wearily. "Fifty-first bookcase, fourth shelf from the bottom."
William thanked him and ran to where he had said. But the book was already taken. He went back to the same man. This time he asked for a book for items like plants and ores he could collect on his way, not for creatures.
He found the book easily. The herbs or ores he collected could also be sold to the Academy's Treasury Building for contribution points or soul stones. The fact that people left this book alone meant that all the plants in this region might already have been collected. However, he still wanted to know. If he came across a plant he didn't know, he could at least determine whether it was valuable or not.
Thousands of plants were mentioned in the book. It was obvious that it would take him a long time to read it. He read the 'Encyclopedia of Plants' until noon and a book called 'Mountains and Ores' in the afternoon. The book about ores was relatively short. It had given him a considerable amount of information about the geography of the surrounding area. This region of the Black Forest consisted of thousands of mountains, valleys, and lakes.
It was a rich region in terms of habitat, and the diversity of creatures was abundant. Strong creatures, on the other hand, were not reckless enough to come before the Academy.
In particular, the growing plants attracted his attention. Some plants were very valuable because they contained rich spiritual energy.
Of course, there were also some forbidden areas. Even a silver-level teacher might not be able to get out of those areas.
He wrote them down in his mind as areas to stay away from. Of course, there were also mountains that had an abundance of metal elements, but they were usually inhabited by powerful creatures.
An example would be the Worm Mountains he wanted to go to. The strongest worms usually lived deeper inside the mountain. And it was here that the metal and earth elements were most concentrated.
William made plans to gradually explore these mountains and tunnels. With each mission, he would get stronger, and as he got stronger, he would go deeper. The tricky part was that it wasn't easy to reach the Worm Mountains. The area was a bit chaotic. Because of the abundance and diversity of the creatures, he might encounter a very powerful creature on the way there and lose his life.
This was the reason why the academy had such a high death rate. Half of the new students who joined every year would surely die. Of course, it was all for the sake of power and money. Their families who sent them to the academy also knew this.
The academy produced very few graduates every year. But those who did graduate were certainly strong-willed.
Compared to the people who cultivate outside with their own means, the people who have developed through hard work and effort were naturally superior.
After reading the two books and putting them on the shelf, he went out to eat.
He was also happy that the meals were free. As long as it was a normal meal, one could eat enough. Of course, there were also special meals that could be ordered privately, but the price had to be paid with either soul stones or contribution points.
William already knew that he could eat the flesh of magical creatures in the Black Forest in abundance since he always wanted to go on missions. So for now, normal food was enough.
The next day, William walked into the Black Forest early in the morning, showed his seal to the guards at the east gate, and announced his departure. He had planned a three-day journey for himself. One day to leave, one day to hunt, and one day to return. Several other teams entered the forest with William, but no one cared about William. After walking through the forest for a while, William realized he needed a mount. This area of the forest was mostly swamps. Sometimes he would sink into the mud and have to struggle for a long time to get out. When he walked until noon, he was finally able to get out of the swamps. He had never seen a man or a creature before. When he came out of the swamp, he was greeted by small hills. These hills were covered with various trees and were uncomfortably humid, though not as dense as a rainforest. He was worried that he hadn't seen any creatures since the morning, but after a while, his worry turned out to be unnecessary. He encountered a silv
William became a prisoner of his greatest desire. While gaining strength was his greatest desire in this world, wealth was his greatest desire in his previous world. Right now, looking at the piece of black iron in his hand, he could feel both. He wanted to go down and look at the tunnels below. He thought, "I'll just take a look, if I don't find it, I'll come back." He went into the tunnel where the worm came from. He pointed his flaming sword down and saw that it was big enough for him to pass through. He rolled up his sleeves and went down. He could not walk completely upright, he was slightly bent. 'How big would a worm have to be to make this tunnel?' The walls of the tunnel were smooth and clean, almost as if they had been cut by a machine. Some places were even bright enough to reflect the light of his sword. As he walked about fifty meters deep and another hundred meters into the center of the narrow tunnel, he felt the metal element intensify. If there was something, it h
By the time he arrived at the Academy, William had barely made it to his room. Though his wounds would heal in a few days, the exhaustion he felt right now was enough to kill him. He immediately sat down on his bed and quickly pulled a small box from his dimensional bag to bandage his wounds. It contained healing ointments, long thin cloths to bandage his wounds, and needle and thread. His wounds didn't need stitches. So he just rolled over. Then he quickly lay down on his bed and fell asleep, not even thinking about the reward for the mission. When he awoke, it was not yet dawn. Being so tired, his stomach began to growl with hunger. Since he was exhausted, the snake meat he had been eating for a few days was his only remedy. He cooked and ate on his sword as usual. The next day, he woke up very rested, although parts of his body hurt. But he felt energetic. As he watched the sun rise slowly from his small window, he felt that today would be a good day. He dressed early and wen
[Days and nights I'm walking alone Like the wind, nowhere I belong...] William removed his hand from the guitar strings and looked at the others. All of their eyes were shining. This time not only the girls, but also the trio that had come with him looked at him with confused eyes. They thought he was just going to play something simple and funny, like an ordinary bard. But this song almost made them cry. As they listened, they dreamed of a lonely wanderer on the roads. It dragged them along for days like a grain of sand in the wind. Loneliness had penetrated their hearts. They imagined their faces in the wanderer. "William, do you have any more?" Venil asked. The tears in the corners of her eyes were like a climber holding on to a branch to avoid falling. William replied with a smile. "There are, but I can't guarantee you'll like them." "It doesn't matter, if it's like that, it doesn't matter at all." The four girls said at the same time. William found it hard not to laugh. "T
" Etha was a strong man. He was at the peak of gold level. At present, the principal of the academy is also at the gold level, but one is at the top while the other is at the beginning. At the top of the Mage Tower, there is only a third-tier mage. From what I've said, can you guess his strength?" "Yes, but isn't there another gold-ranked warrior besides the academy principal?" "This is where things get complicated, and yes, there is absolutely no one stronger than the academy principal!" "Why is that?" said William in surprise. Actually, he had just received the answer to this question from Teacher Yura this morning. "Before I answer that question, let me tell you about the illusions in Etha's first book." He took a sip from his beer. " The empires that Etha suspects in his book are unfortunately not on our continent." "What do you mean, not on our continent?" "Yes, I know it may be shocking, but we actually live on an island!" "Is...island?" William felt that things were gett
The sun was setting when William came into his room. William really wanted to relax and play computer games. In reality, however, he knew that he would soon have to learn the techniques he had just learned. A week later he would have to go hunting with Baldur. Becoming stronger always occupied at least half of his mind. Now that thought only grew when he learned that he was trapped in a place that looked like a prison. So he quickly sat down on his bed and took out the copied scroll of the Execution Sword. The techniques were already done. They had given William the copy, not the original. That was fine, there was no change in the content. As he read, this technique took advantage of every bit of his interest. It was a very nice and useful technique. For a moment, he thought he was one of the characters from the famous movie in his old world. In this dream, he held a lightsaber in his hand. Dressed in an all-black cloak, he said "All too easy" after pushing his opponent off a hug
Six days later, at dawn, William arrived at Baldur's house. He knocked on the door. Baldur's voice came from inside. "I'm coming!" After a few breaths, Baldur opened the door. He invited William in, but William spoke before he entered. "Come on? Aren't we going?" "I'm having breakfast?" Baldur replied in surprise. "Breakfast? Are you crazy?" "Why, what happened?" "Dude, there is breakfast everywhere in the Black Forest. Also fresh! Why are you eating here?" Through the opening between Baldur and the door, William had seen a few pieces of bread, sausages, and what looked like cheese. "Come on, pack up quickly, we'll have breakfast in the forest." He said. Baldur was someone who had hardly ever been involved in anything like this before. He had always been sheltered. Even though his huge body made him look like a strong and fierce person, he was usually either in the library of the Mage Tower or in his laboratory. He had hardly left his lab since his arrival at the academy whe
Running at full speed, they were out of breath by the time they reached the Worm Mountains. William spoke out of breath. "One day I will kill all these wolves. They annoy me every time." "Why is that?" Baldur was in better shape. "I don't know, but I think it's because of that little wolf. He's as smart as a fox, and I don't even know what he's up to. Anyway, let's go." He said. He was rested. He had avoided the last mountain he had gone to when he had taken Baldur to the Worm Mountains. He didn't want anyone to know about the metal heart inside of that mountain. Last week he was able to get some information from some books. This information was about the metal heart. Most of the information he read was just a guess, but even that was enough for him to realize the value of the metal heart. This type of elemental heart would indicate that a creature was platinum level or higher. And it's a powerful one, even among the platinum levels. It was the embodiment of a creature's power.
William didn't notice, but even his posture began to change. Now his chest was further forward and, most importantly, his nose was a little higher in the air. With his height, he began to look down on people.Worst of all, William didn't even realize it. Arrogance was slowly seeping into his blood, taking over his body without him wanting it. Since William was not aware of it for the time being, he entered the main hall of the mansion, thinking that he would show his usual behavior.He was wrong, as he thought he would only meet the City Lord. There were more than ten people in the room, and they were all sitting quietly in their seats, discussing something passionately. As soon as William and Doravoli entered the hall, the woman sitting at the front raised her hand and everyone suddenly fell silent.Then the woman stood and smiled.William recognized the woman. She was one of the three people who had helped him survive the attack of the mysterious bandit mage and complete his mission
William was watching the bedroom of a house five hundred meters away from the roof of a two-story house. His eyes and face could not be seen in the darkness of the night. But a person standing next to him might have the impression that William was deep in thought.Strangely enough, William wasn't thinking about anything at that moment. It was as if there was a black hole in the bedroom of the house he was watching, and it was sweeping everything away, including William's gaze and thoughts.William felt lifeless right now, like a rock with no IQ.'How did this happen?' William had been on this roof for two hours and had asked himself the same question hundreds of times.Doravoli and Elasha for a few minutes, thinking they would leave after a farewell kiss, but he had listened to the lustful voices of the duo for two hours.'How did this happen?' At first, everything was normal. There was no conversation that contained any suggestive hints. These were normal everyday conversations and s
Elasha thought this was the most boring day of her life. Following his sister's agreement, she was forced to come to Valimar and open new trade routes to several surrounding cities and towns. Opening these trade routes was never easy, as Valimar and the surrounding cities were surrounded by incredibly dense forests. Cutting down these trees and establishing observation points and crossing points were time-consuming tasks. And the hardest part was finding apprentice mages to work at these points.Nevertheless, she succeeded as usual because she was surrounded by hardworking people. Everyone loved her and her sister, except for a few people who didn't care much about money. If they did their job right, money would automatically fill their pockets.Meeting Enid had been a bit eventful. At first, she wanted to refuse Elura's deal, but Enid and Elura's plans gave her enough reason to be convinced.Elura had started making plans as soon as Elasha had left the White City to start the purific
"Then we agreed. I'll get you the best flame I can find. But first I have to find it, you know they are very rare." William smiled and packed up the camp. They had spent enough time here.Just as they were about to start their journey deep into the forest after packing up the camp, William felt a vibration from his dimensional bag. He immediately took the vibrating device out of his dimensional bag.It was the seal of the Expedition Organization, and it contained a message from Fabian.[Go to Valimar. Find Enid, the City Lord. She will explain everything to you].William's face darkened. Valimar had not left him with good memories. Elura named woman had been a real nuisance to him, and while he had forgotten that story, taking on a mission like this spoiled his mood.Frankly, he wanted to relax in the White City for a few months. His journey had improved him enough, and he was ready to make another breakthrough at any moment. Of course, the most important problem on his mind was Dorav
"Have you finally woken up?" Doravoli looked at the weak William lying in the shadow of the rock. He had a sad, tearful expression on his face. He was sitting across from William, gnawing at the flesh of a small creature. It was a small lizard.He had a bandage on his cut foot.William felt more tired than ever, but when he discovered that he could move his hands with a snap of his fingers and a little bit of mana, he pulled hundreds of useful items from his ring. Most of these items were healing potions and blood crystals.He spoke with difficulty, as even the movement of his jaw was painful. "Blood crystals, put some in my mouth."Doravoli was also very tired. He even hunted down the small lizard he had gnawed, using his magic only because the lizard was too close. He waved his hand and, controlling his mana, took some of the blood crystals and brought them to William's mouth. Then he used some himself.Half an hour later, William regained some consciousness. He could move a little
"Absolute Cut!" William shouted at the top of his voice, attacking the real body between the two copies with the strongest ability he had.The wind blade that came out of the tip of William's sword flew unblocked toward its original target, too fast for the two clones to react. The moment William's sword emerged, it struck the man's body. William knelt in weakness, but he still had one eye on the man. He wanted to see him die with his own eyes.When the ability hit the man, his body split into two, just as William expected, and the two clones vanished instantly. The sword in the hand of one of the copies fell to the ground as if it were a real object and not a spell."Hğğğğğ..." (Blood-filled guttural sound.) A growl came from the body of the man who had been cut in half.William barely raised his head and looked at the man's body in surprise.Two separate body parts were resisting falling to the ground. He was still standing. The six-centimeter gap between them was covered by an invi
"No matter what happens, I will be with you and we will fight together." Doravoli heard everything that was said and realized that this man was after William. Even though names like 'Storm God', 'Nicolas', and 'Nak'kato' were unfamiliar to him, Doravoli would help in any way he could because he was his friend. -He knew who Nicolas was, but he didn't understand why the man in front of him cared about Nicolas.-William bowed his head. At the slightest movement of the man, he was ready to pull dozens of potions from his ring and cast his spells. He knew that this was a classic cliché and wasn't surprised that he found himself in it, but he only remained on the dark side as to why.While William was in deep thought, the man's voice filled his ears."I...You..." Suddenly the man froze. He made incomprehensible noises and his body bent slightly. William knew this was the perfect moment to attack, but he held back, for soon the man straightened his body and showed his old smile again.He rai
"Hey Doravoli, you can't carve that wood like that!" William grabbed the flat chisel and the piece of blue ironwood out of Doravoli's hand."You never listen to what I say! Look at it again and pay attention." William began to get angry. Today was two weeks after he started teaching Doravoli blacksmithing. The two of them had almost reached the middle of the rocks. They were a little slow, but it was an acceptable pace.William held the piece of blue ironwood in his left hand and tucked it between his knees. Then he supported it firmly with his left hand and began to "float" the flat chisel on the surface of the blue ironwood with his right hand."Look, if you hold the flat chisel like this, none of the lines you make will be crooked. You have a strong body like mine, so this shouldn't be a problem for you. But you stubbornly insist on holding the flat chisel sideways, and that causes you to make little notches in the wood. Doravoli, if you want to do something of quality and worthy o
The two guarded the area for a day and had fun until the next day. The townspeople never set foot in the area because Lennard had warned them. Occasionally, a few brave official mage-level adventurers would stop by, but thanks to William's ability to throw cups, the wounds they received from hundreds of meters away, and a few minor scoldings, escaping became their priority.The next day, Fabian appeared again like a meteor over Greyscar. The way he flew was so dominant, like an unstoppable rocket. It seemed as if he could crush anything that came his way. William realized that day that Fabian's speed was even slightly faster than the strengthened Lennard.Fabian came alone. There was no one behind him, and as soon as he arrived, he looked at William briefly and then quickly examined the surroundings. He didn't speak at all, and although that made William a little uncomfortable, he didn't care. He acted the same way in the first ruin he discovered. The second time he saw Fabian, he rea