Three days had passed, and Ivan had used the third Magic Stone Water, his mental power reaching 3.0 graduated degrees, which was the limit for a 1st Class apprentice.
"Indeed, there is an invisible barrier between 1st Class and 2nd Class—the checkpoint between levels, stronger than the previous one."
According to the information passed down by his mentor, the first two checkpoints were minor ones, relatively easy to break through; on the other hand, the checkpoint from 2nd to 3rd Class was significantly more challenging, which he needn’t worry about for the time being.
He revisited the information in his mind and had his calculations ready.
Meditation runes and spiritual power complemented each other; higher spiritual power made it easier to delineate corresponding runes. Conversely, if the spiritual power hadn’t reached a certain level, even a master of meditation runes couldn’t delineate them all at once.
Ivan’s spiritual power had reached the limit of a 1st Class apprentice, corresponding to the first 10 meditation runes of the "Ode to Spring Trees." A day later, he delineated the tenth meditation rune in his mind.
[Meditation Skill Experience Points +2]
[Meditation Skill: Lv1(11/100)]
[Runes Skill Experience Points +1]
[Runes Skill: Lv1(1/100)]
Having leveled up to Level 1 in Runes Skill, he became exceptionally proficient with the newly grasped meditation runes under the influence of the Small Light of Wisdom.
He easily delineated the first 10 meditation runes in his mind at once. This time, he did not break through the barrier between levels, which he had anticipated, as the eleventh meditation rune needed to be deciphered first.
However, the eleventh meditation rune was noticeably more difficult; it corresponded to 0.3 graduated degrees of spiritual power, whereas the previous ones were only 0.2.
"Two Level 1s, one Level 2, and two Level 3s—it’s time they came into play again."
Looking at all the Lights of Wisdom displayed on the light membrane, Ivan was like a seasoned farmer viewing the crops in his field, wearing a gratified smile.
The next day, he attempted to decipher the eleventh meditation rune by himself. Initially, he estimated it would take nearly a month; only then did he realize the difficulty of delineating meditation runes had reached such a level.
At this rate of decoding, a 2nd Class apprentice corresponds to 10 meditation runes, with each subsequent rune more difficult than the preceding one. Compared to the first 10 runes, he estimated it could take up to three years to reach the upper limit of 2nd Class, while 3rd Class involved 20 meditation runes.
Thinking of the Magic Stone Water, he pondered thoughtfully.
In the following two days, he first used a Level 1 Light of Wisdom, settling for most of the day; the next day, he used another Level 1 Light of Wisdom to delineate the eleventh meditation rune.
[Meditation Skill Experience Points +10]
[Meditation Skill: Lv1(21/100)]
The castle was situated on a hillside, Eckerz and their quarters were almost at the same height, but they were on the left, Eckerz on the right, standing outside, they could see each other’s quarters.
"Billerie! Pearney! I know it’s one of you, come out."
"Come out, or else don’t blame me for going after your Harley and Hobson families."
At that moment, Eckerz was outside, raging, evidently provoked beyond care.
On the left side, the young men looked at each other, uncertain of Eckerz’s madness.
Although Eckerz was more revered than them and ate in the same dining hall, he had servants specifically to serve him meals, and they rarely interacted. Some servants privately revealed that Eckerz was always unpredictable.
"Eckerz, what are you yelling about!" the little green winged snake appeared and scolded Eckerz.
"Lahr, you’re just in time. A thief stole my things—herbs, potions, magic stones, magicalized items are all gone. Besides those two traitors on the island, I can’t think of anyone else capable of this," Eckerz still couldn’t contain his anger as his possessions had been swiped in one stroke.
Upon hearing this, the little green winged snake was so stunned that it momentarily forgot to flap its wings.
It was aware, despite the few guards in the castle, Sorcerer Toyennes had long ago set up warning and protective measures; no one could break in without alerting Sorcerer Toyennes.
"Are you sure?"
"Just go inside and see for yourself."
"No need to look, it can’t be Billerie and Pearney, they don’t have such skills. No, I must go back and report this to Sorcerer Toyennes."
After confirming multiple times and seeing Eckerz was telling the truth, the little green winged snake could no longer stay put and hurried back to report.
Eckerz sobered up, realizing the castle was safeguarded by Toyennes with a runes array, it likely wasn’t those two, now he had no one to scold, he was fuming with no place to vent.
On the other side, seeing that the situation was amiss, worried they’d be targeted by Eckerz, the young men had already quietly slipped back to their rooms.
When Ivan heard that Eckerz had been robbed, he had already returned to his own dorm.
"Could it be that thing?"
Stealing in mind, he recalled the thief who had swiped his Ocean Blue Potion all in one stroke on Dark Lahr, that exceedingly strange severed arm.
He remembered that night, he only realized he was robbed after the fact, only because he practiced Bat’s Eyes with exceptional hearing, otherwise he might have discovered nothing. If it was as he guessed, that severed arm must have grown significantly, even Eckerz had fallen victim to it.
The island was becoming increasingly unsafe.