**Chapter 11: Entry**
The conversation flowed more easily and casually after that.
Amy shared cafeteria gossip and newbie struggles, while Jie Ming listened, subtly building his ntal map of the academy and its relationships.
They hit it off, only noticing the late hour when the cafeteria crowd thinned.
“Alright! I’m heading back to tackle my ditation again. I won’t sleep easy until I get that first pattern down!” Amy stood, stretching like a cat.
“I’m done for today too. I’ll give it another shot.” Jie Ming rose.
“Cool! See you tomorrow! Hope we both get the hang of it soon!” Amy waved energetically and headed toward the Alchemy dorms.
Jie Ming watched her go, his smile fading into a deep gaze as she vanished from sight.
“Interesting.”
He recalled Amy’s sly eyes and her seemingly casual “probes.”
“She ca to for a reason. She knew my level-six aptitude, wanted to gauge my potential, and see if I’d seen through the academy’s ga… Smart and pragmatic.”
He shook his head, a trace of admiration rising.
“Looks like no one who makes it to Logistics on their own is simple. Amy, hopefully a good partner.”
He needed an extra intel source, and Amy fit the bill.
anwhile, as Amy walked back, her smile faded.
She muttered, “Jie Ming… level-six aptitude… sharper than he looks, every word asured, questions on point… and he’s seen through the academy’s tricks. Hmm, this guy’s the type to keep things hidden. But he’s probably stronger than that show-off. Gotta stay on good terms.”
…
Several days had passed since the Noren Academy aptitude tests.
Jie Ming felt the timing was right.
From his gathered intel, most level-five aptitude apprentices were nearing success. As a level-six “small genius,” he needed to succeed slightly earlier.
Tonight, he’d let his “efforts” pay off.
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, he sank into his ntal sea.
He deftly began inscribing the final component pattern, his ntal strength flowing like a brush, smoothly tracing each complex line.
He felt his ntal strength move and condense along specific paths, the pattern’s structure exquisitely aligned with so deep cosmic law.
This ti, he made no mistakes. The final stroke landed perfectly, connecting with the starting point.
*Boom!*
A silent thunderclap erupted in his ntal sea!
The space trembled violently, but this wasn’t the backlash of failure—it was a vibrant, transformative force!
The completed truth rune blazed with radiant light, spreading outward, as if carving a new region in his ntal sea.
Jie Ming clearly felt the pattern link tightly with his soul and ntal strength, becoming an… anchor in his ntal sea!
As the pattern fully stabilized, an insight naturally arose—he “saw” its deeper structure.
He realized the final pattern was fundantally different from the other four.
The truth rune consisted of four outer patterns and a fifth at the center, forming the abstract triangular pyramid.
The *Basic ditation thod*’s truth rune relied mainly on the four outer patterns for most of its effect.
But the fifth, central pattern felt strangely familiar. Comparing it to the *Basic Alchemy Manual*’s description of basic alchemy runes, he understood instantly.
That fifth pattern was one of alchemy’s core runes!
It represented “transformation,” the key to interacting with specific energy fields in the first truth rune!
He pulled out the *Basic Alchemy Manual* and *Basic ditation thod* for comparison.
As expected, the second and third truth runes’ core patterns were alchemy’s “fusion” and “refinent” runes.
No wonder Clark stressed mastering the ditation thod quickly, and no wonder the academy forced apprentices to choose disciplines.
It wasn’t just that mastering a discipline required imnse effort—the ditation thod itself was tailored to each path from the start.
As the first truth rune stabilized in his ntal sea, Jie Ming sensed a new, faint connection to the external environnt, unlike anything he’d felt before.
Following the thod’s later instructions, he focused on the completed pattern, using his ntal strength to “draw” that vague connection.
The next mont, faint but vibrant energy particles were pulled by the pattern, slowly gathering from the environnt into his ntal sea!
These were the “elental forces” wizards spoke of—active, diverse, and varied in nature.
As they entered his ntal sea, the truth rune absorbed them, gradually rging with his ntal strength, nourishing and strengthening his ntal sea.
The mass of elents gathered around the rune, forming a fla-like energy shape.
“So this is igniting the spiritual fla. No wonder…”
He felt his ntal strength grow more active and resilient, distinct from cultivation’s spirit-refining thods.
Sensing the elental energy flowing in, a sudden inspiration hit.
Maximizing Internal Circulation to seal his internal state from detection, Jie Ming tentatively used the Refining Essence into Qi thod, leveraging the interplay of essence, qi, and spirit to guide so elental energy into his true essence system built by Internal Circulation.
The cultivation system’s Refining Essence into Qi and Internal Circulation thods converted essence, qi, and spirit into each other, forming a self-sustaining cycle.
So when external elental forces entered his Internal Circulation system, his true essence could “digest” and “convert” them.
Jie Ming clearly felt his true essence grow slightly without refining vitality!
The chaotic elental energy, filtered and refined by his Internal Circulation, was slowly converted into pure true essence!
Though the conversion rate was low compared to absorbing spiritual qi, it worked.
Jie Ming’s heart surged with barely containable joy!
This ant he’d finally found “fuel” for his cultivation in this spiritless world!
The wizard system’s ditation thod had unexpectedly opened a door to absorbing external energy.
More importantly, this solved another problem: he no longer needed to fake his ditation progress.
By adjusting the proportion of elents converted to true essence, he could slow his ditation progress to match a “level-six aptitude apprentice” persona.
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