Starting with Proficiency Panel-Chapter 578 - 15-minute rotation

Over the next week, Li Qing really did slack off at work doing math problems, deriving formulas, and spent his evenings after work just studying the Level 0 spell 'Mage's Hand,' a magic almost every mage has to learn.

It took a whole month, and apart from attending the monthly Q&A sessions at Gray Magic Academy three times, he spent the rest of the time either in the safe house or in his rental apartment researching.

Fortunately, time stood still in the safe house at Gray Magic Academy, so he had twice as much time for learning.

A month felt like more than three months to him.

On Saturday, Li Qing squatted at the mouth of Taigu Outer Street like a street loiterer, tightening his cotton coat as he watched the bustling crowds.

To be honest, in such cold weather, Li Qing really admired those young ladies who were still dressed in quite skimpy clothes.

The saying that ham needs refrigeration indeed makes sense.

The most prosperous street in Shu Capital was already adorned with ornate lanterns, filled with a festive atmosphere everywhere.

Street photography was all the rage on the streets, with various flamboyant young ladies strolling along the street. When they saw someone photographing them, they showed a surprised look, then covered their mouths, tossed their hair, and ran forward with a teasing backward smile. There were even faux couples where the girls behaved playfully when photographed, and the boys, like domineering CEOs, would pull the girls away.

Nearby, there was a group of people dressed in traditional Hanfu posing in various postures.

Life is truly too busy.

As for Li Qing, just like most men with nothing better to do on the weekend, he held a cup of milk tea and crouched on a public bench, his eyes darting around restlessly.

His gaze pierced through the legs that looked like refrigerated hams or skimpy skirts, and when the well-dressed women made movements that revealed more skin, he couldn't help but let out a loud 'Wuhu'!

He took a deep breath to calm himself and then slowly followed the magic flow nodes of 'Mage's Hand' to cast it.

The magic flow nodes of Mage's Hand are quite simple, with only a dozen or so nodes, initially designed to allow mages to move objects from a distance.

He focused his mind and slowly channeled magic according to the flow nodes. If he wasn't careful, and a node malfunctioned, causing a magic disruption which led to a loss of control over his spiritual power, he could blow his head off.

It's not unheard of.

About a minute later, Li Qing kept activating the magic nodes and maintaining their operation.

It worked!

Li Qing forcibly suppressed his excitement, sensing a transparent hand floating beside him, appearing to scatter at any moment.

Although it was still unstable, this was the first step toward becoming a mage!!!

"Bro, you look like you're shivering just from watching. Feeling a bit weak?"

A guy next to him leaned over with a smile and looked at Li Qing.

Li Qing instinctively looked down at himself. To be honest, due to concentrating so much on gathering magic power lately, his body had consumed too much, resulting in him becoming skin and bones, looking like a bamboo stick teetering on the verge of being whisked away by the wind...

He needed to exercise and strengthen his body. The 'Magic Theory' contains beneficial magic to enhance oneself; he needed to research it.

Li Qing retorted defiantly: "What do you mean weak? Don't look down on me just because I'm skinny. There's meat on these bones. You must know, fat can shrink inwards, but when you're lean, you highlight your strengths!!"

After offering this comeback, the real man Li Qing controlled Mage's Hand to float forward about ten meters.

That was the limit.

If it went further, Mage's Hand would become uncontrollable and dissipate. Meditation practice time was too short; if his spiritual power increased, his magic would also grow, and his control range would expand.

Alright, next let's see if he can manipulate objects.

Mage's Hand gave a fierce swipe forward, and a sudden gust of wind arose, eliciting screams from a group of preening girls up ahead.

"Wow!!"

"Wuhu!!!"

"So exciting!!!"

"Thank Heavens for the divine wind!"

Li Qing quickly dispersed Mage's Hand and walked off nonchalantly, having no interest in those mundane beauties.

Kidding, becoming a mage at thirty, nothing could replace that!

Happily returning to his rental apartment, he was about to enter the safe house in Gray when a rough voice called out to him.

"Little Li, I'm here to collect the water and electricity bill, and you're just in time at home!"

Li Qing turned around, smiling, "Sister Ni, how much is it?"

"Forty-seven bucks."

After quickly calculating the water and electricity fee, Li Qing pondered for a while. There were still two months left on his lease for this rental apartment, and he needed to move out.

Buy a house!

This had been his long-cherished wish ever since entering society, having worn down his passion and zeal, smoothed out his edges by reality.

He took out his phone to take a look.

At thirty, having lived frugally all the way, he had saved up over 280,000.

In some parts of Shu Capital, he could buy a small, old, and broken second-hand house. Though shabby and small, it was still a home of his own.

For the time being, let's not talk about that. After putting on a black robe and returning to the safe house, Li Qing opened his panel to take a look.

"Surname: Li Qing

Tier: Junior Apprentice

Intelligence: 4

Physical Strength: 0.8

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Entry Level), Mage's Hand (Entry Level)

Talent: Identification Skill (Level 1), Wise Man's Time

Character Evaluation: Damn it, I can't get out! This damn cunning villain, Gray's lackey!"

Hmm, an additional Wise Man's Time talent?!

And this character evaluation, could it be the devil's confession?

After some banter, Li Qing grew a bit curious about Wise Man's Time, and with a slight flicker of thought, the introduction of Wise Man's Time expanded quickly.

"Wise Man's Time: Talent skill acquired from being solo-single since birth for thirty years, recently activated by frequently practicing the Dragon-Catching Pillar-Hugging Skill. It's a true man's passive skill, which can greatly increase magic casting time and magic learning ability, enhancing one's agility in thinking.

Evaluation: You damned human, do you think you're an endlessly renewable protagonist?!"

It had been some time since he last looked at his attribute panel, and it certainly gave him quite the surprise. No wonder he recently felt he was much quicker in deriving formulas and doing math problems, and researching magic was also faster.

He'd study if this talent could be upgraded. If it could, wouldn't that be even more insane!

After bouncing around and stretching a bit, Li Qing continued to study 'Mage's Hand' while panting heavily.

From a whole new mathematical perspective, Li Qing felt this magic flow process, though a connection of nodes.

However, the steps of parsing, constructing, solidifying, and releasing were quite similar to the operation of programming code.

Although his work involved extremely little code development, only developing small operation and maintenance tools,