Chapter 316: Volcanic River (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Imitating what was written in the book as per instructed, Angele slowly closed his eyes and started the meditation process through the runes recorded on the page.
The basics of this meditation technique lay in the imagination and memorization of the specific runes.
Runes were often strange and mysterious. Yet before committing to anything else, he first needed to learn how to pronounce them in his mind.
The 1st stage of the Molten Core River was easier due to it being used to build one's own foundation. The runes at this stage were simple and relatively easy to understand. At the later stages, however, there would then be the appearance of rune circles that were complicated.
There were five runes at the first stage. For an entire day, Angele consistently meditated, and the only type of food he had eaten was meat jerky. Only when the sun started setting did he finally finish comprehending the first rune.
The runes from this advanced meditation technique were different from the regular runes often used in magic circles. Angele must first comprehend the quintessence of the runes before he could memorize them.
Angele had tried to scan the runes and store them into the database initially. However, these mysterious runes had lost their properties upon the transference into his brain and these resulted in looking nearly similar to the universal runes majority of wizards knew of by then.
Due to that, he had to return to the book and memorize the rune himself. He then asked Zero to analyze the runes since he wanted to know the underlying principle of what made those runes so special.
Angele only stayed in his room for several days as he continuously studied the runes of the Molten Core River's 1st stage.
***********************
Several days later, the dim sunlight shone through the window and illuminated on the wooden floor.
Angele, with his eyes closed, sat by the window still meditating.
'Simulation complete…' The chip's mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his ears.
'Rune No. 1 of Molten Core River's 1st stage has been analyzed. Do you wish to see the report?'
Angele slowly opened his eyes.
‘Show me the results.’
*CHI*
A full screen of blue data and graphs was displayed in front of Angele’s eyes.
'Rune No. 1 of the 1st Stage of Molten Core River has been analyzed. References used: The Book of the Sage, Fundamentals of Runic Study, Fundamentals of Magic Circle Study, The Book of Maya, Notes from Christina, Laws of Fire Energy Particles…'
Countless titles of wizardry books were displayed alongside it. Such a task that had been done was complicated.
Angele ignored the bits of information that was useless to him and went straight to the results.
‘To successfully memorize Rune No. 1 of the 1st stage, you must change the frequency of your mentality wave to 42.3.’
This was the drawn conclusion from the report.
Concentrating, Angele began to think.
He must first comprehend all the runes of the 1st stage before he could completely master it.
It did sound easy, yet it was actually difficult to accomplish. According to Liv, an average Watcher required two months to complete the 1st stage of Molten Core River.
As his own progression was slow, Angele had thought he needed at least four months’ time in order to master the first stage, yet the report from the chip brought him hope.
Zero had already completed the task regarding the study of magic matrices, so Angele decided to task the chip to continue analyzing those runes.
‘Frequency is 42.3…’ Angele repeated this in his mind as he closed his eyes, then he started modifying the frequency of his mentality wave right away.
Through the compiled information from the database, the creation of a frequency scale based on the basic brain waves’ frequency was deemed possible to Angele.
Zero’s analysis on the rune was based on the number scale he had created. In other words, Angele was the sole person who could use such a unique method to hasten his own progression speed. After all, this had been specifically tailor-made for him and others might not have a similar situation as Angele.
Without the biochip, he would not be able to develop this method by himself.
Time flew by.
While Angele was seated in front of the table, the golden sunlight had gradually faded.
Night fell, and there were birds chirping outside the mansion.
Angele suddenly opened his eyes, and a ray of crimson light flickered on his right hand.
"How is this even possible?" Angele looked at his hand. He could not believe how easy the process had been.
A small portion of his palm turned crimson, which indicated that he had successfully memorized the first rune of the first stage.
Upon looking at the runes on the page, he realized that he could now see the first rune clearly, no longer a blurry shadow.
‘Mentality level increasing…Fire resistance increasing…’ The chip reported back after detecting the change.
‘The chip’s analysis will aid me greatly.’ Angele looked excited.
‘Create task, analyze the second rune of the first stage for me,’ he ordered.
‘Task created. Collecting data…Data collected…Beginning analysis…’ Zero’s mechanical voice sounded like a melody in Angele’s ears.
‘I should have used the chip earlier. I didn’t know it could manage to do something like this…’ Angele sighed with mixed emotions.
‘Wait…I once tried asking Zero to do something similar when I studied the Mask of the Black Wing, yet nothing happened. Maybe it is because I have been studying magic matrices recently?’ Angele narrowed his eyes.
The knowledge on magic matrices had indeed assisted the chip to develop a detailed system regarding runic applications. Basic runic studies were used to complete the basics of the advanced meditation techniques. The special energy from the mysterious runes was the reason why Angele could not comprehend those runes from just seeing them.
By altering to the correct mentality wave frequency, Angele’s ability to detect this certain special energy had greatly improved and everything suddenly became easier for him. The only problem was he must find the accurate frequency of each rune.
Angele stayed in his room and continued meditating while waiting for the chip to complete the task.
Two hours later.
‘Rune No. 2 has been successfully analyzed. You need to change the frequency to 55 and meditate for 3 hours on Rune No. 2.’
After taking a deep breath, Angele changed the frequency once more and began to immediately memorize the second rune upon listening to Zero.
‘Without the chip’s analysis, I would have had to spend weeks or even months to discover a method…Using Zero will speed up my progression on the advanced meditation techniques significantly. I do not even need to spend months merely trying to comprehend these runes. It seems I have made the right decision.’
There was a gentle smile on Angele’s face.
Wizards had their own methods of finding similar tricks to the one given by the chip. However, they would first encounter countless failures before they could find the right one. There were sufficient amounts of information stored in the database. The chip had utilized it well, so it quickly finished its analysis.
After analyzing the first and second runes of the first stage, Zero had collected more data and it could now analyze runes even faster. After the second rune was completed, Angele tasked the chip to analyze the three other runes of the first stage all at the same time.
During the course of the successive week, Angele stayed in his room; the only thing he did was to comprehend the runes.
Liv had been tricked by the illusion at the time when Angele sneaked out of the mansion. Therefore, she stayed right in front of his room for several days. Only after making sure that Angele was training in the Molten Core River did she return to her own room.
One week later, afternoon.
Angele finally stepped out of his room.
He was wearing a dirty black robe and his cheeks now looked thinner than before since he had not had proper meals for days.
A light pink glow had surrounded his eyes causing them to look charming. The pink glow indicated that he had already completed the first stage of Molten Core River.
‘I still find it hard to believe that I have finished the first stage so easily…’ Angele pursed his lips.
‘Check my body condition, Zero,’ he ordered.
*CHI*
Detailed information about his body was displayed right in front of his eyes within seconds.
‘Angele Rio. Strength, 12.0. Agility, 11.5. Stamina, 16.0. Mentality, 87.6. Mana, 87.2. Genetic limit reached. Healthy.’
‘My mentality was around 70 when I started training in the Mask of the Black Wing and it increased to 82 after three years of meditation. However, it increased to 87 in but a week…Molten Core River is likely the best choice for me.’ Angele was satisfied with the result.
Furthermore, with his mentality compression technique, he could still hide his true mentality wave. Other wizards would not be able to probe any changes to his mentality wave without resorting to the use of certain spells. Angele’s mentality wave did not change too much after mastering the first stage of Molten Core River.
Angele completely mastered the first stage in a month, which was faster than the Watchers. Due to his body having far too many secrets and him not wanting to draw too much attention to himself, he needed the mentality compression method to help him stay out of trouble.
‘Based on the instructions, I need a specific environment and certain materials to help me complete the second stage. The problem is, the ancient bloodline has changed the properties of my body and the materials Vivian has prepared for me are useless. I myself will have to search for the things I need.’ Angele frowned as he thought.
Zero analyzed his body and told him the requirements in order the completely master the second stage.
First, Angele must soak his body in a river filled with poison and fire energy particles.
Second, he must absorb at least ten specimens' amount of flames from Flame Scorpions.