Starting with Proficiency Panel-Chapter 745: See You Tomorrow (New Book Content)

Luo Rui flashed a sweet smile and then raised her hand, saying, "I bought two buns. Do you want one?"

"Thanks, I've already eaten."

Luo Rui looked at Li Qing's face in surprise, "Brother Qing, when did you get so trendy? Did you give yourself a smoky eye makeup look?"

Smoky eye makeup?

Li Qing instinctively touched his own eyes, "Is it that bad? I didn't sleep well last night..."

"Were you up late last night?"

Luo Rui showed a hint of an ambiguous smile, "Was it because..."

Li Qing laughed helplessly, "What on earth is your little mind thinking? Last night... um, I was too immersed in studying; by the time I snapped out of it, it was already morning."

Li Qing took out his phone to check the time, nine fifteen; he still had fifteen minutes.

Luo Rui wrinkled her small face, "What!"

She thought there might be some gossip to listen to. She's been at the company for half a year, and although Li Qing likes to joke with colleagues, he's never found a girlfriend.

As Luo Rui chattered beside him about problems at work yesterday that caused her to work overtime until seven, and then asked Li Qing to check on her computer, Li Qing casually agreed while recalling last night's practice of the "Basic Meditation Technique" according to the first step.

Once inside the lift, having clocked in at the company, Li Qing went directly to his workstation in the office and sat there, slouched.

Thanks to the company having a local server room, his workstation was moved to a small partition within the room, just for himself. Although the server buzzed constantly, the soundproofing was good enough that he didn't hear much noise.

After carrying out daily system maintenance, checking that the servers had no issues, and resolving a few minor computer glitches for colleagues, he lay on his desk and stared at himself in the mirror.

The first glance left him a bit stunned.

The reflection showed him with glasses on, looking terrifyingly pale, with eyes as dark as if covered with black smoky makeup, looking like he was utterly exhausted.

So much so, that when he went out earlier to fix issues, many colleagues laughed at him.

"Is it really that mentally exhausting?"

Li Qing blinked, finally setting the mirror aside, rested his spirit through the morning, had lunch, and relaxed for a couple of hours to recuperate his energy.

He once again unfolded the paper, opened "Magic Origin," and began to read attentively.

This book laid out the basic framework of magic very clearly. Li Qing judged that the book was entirely designed for a beginner.

Magic, it seems, derives from what is called Gods, akin to those in Western mythology. Gods observed all things in the world and compiled their insights into a book, thus creating the mysterious magic book "Primordial Magic." Following this, humans, much like Adam and Eve, stole the magic book out of greed, leading to the spread of magic in human society.

But according to some old mage scholars in archaeology, this legend, while still not very reliable, can serve as one piece of evidence.

There are many magic holy artifacts present in this world's reality, according to the legend.

Another legend is similar to Prometheus, who, unable to bear seeing humans suffer in the barbaric land, stole fire and spread it, allowing humans to begin studying and ultimately creating a thriving magic era, which continues to this day...

Li Qing read engrossed, unconsciously reaching the six o'clock clock-out time.

Coming back to his senses, Li Qing quickly gathered his things, clocked out, and left.

After leaving the company, he casually found a fast-food place to eat, then excitedly went back home, set the alarm, and directly lay down on the bed to sleep.

The "Basic Meditation Technique" has already clarified that sleep is the best recovery method if the spirit is excessively used.

Utterly exhausted, Li Qing fell asleep the moment he lay down on the bed.

"Beep beep beep... beep beep beep..."

Li Qing instinctively pressed the volume button on his phone to turn off the alarm and rolled over, falling back into a deep sleep.

This repeated several times until half-past nine when Li Qing drowsily got up, washed his face in the bathroom to wake up a bit, then lay back down on the bed, closed his eyes, and meditated, sketching lines.

Three minutes later, Li Qing opened his eyes with a somewhat peculiar expression. Although today's distractions were much fewer than yesterday's, they still poured in, preventing him from centering his mind.

No wonder Taoism emphasizes taming the Monkey Mind; meditation shares many parallels with the Taoist practice of Zazen.

Li Qing instinctively touched his lower back, feeling he could still sustain a few more rounds, and then opened a hidden folder on his computer.

Nineteen minutes later...

Li Qing appeared calm and content, lying flat on the bed in a state of utter tranquility akin to a saint, slowly sketching the lines in the meditation image in a semi-empty state.

Successfully drawing a complete line would completely settle and solidify this meditation line.

If there were no obstacles, Li Qing estimated he could complete about thirty percent before Gray Magic Academy began.

But if sketched meditation lines could effectively fortify his spirit, he'd have surplus spirit to speed up the drawing.

"Basic Meditation Technique," true to its name, appears to be the simplest and most easily understood entry-level meditation method at Gray Magic Academy.

The second line started once more from the origin, slowly extending outwards, emerging bit by bit from nothingness with extreme precision...

When the second line was finished and fixed through repeated visualization, Li Qing slowly opened his eyes, then rested with eyes closed for a long while, ensuring no headache symptoms appeared, only a slight grogginess. His expression involuntarily lifted slightly.

It seemed his conjecture was correct; as he sketched more lines, his spirit grew ever more resilient, a rather evident process.

On the third day, Li Qing was still struggling with meditation, ultimately having to use a trump card.

Seventeen minutes later...

Li Qing successfully completed drawing two lines, making substantial progress.

On the fourth day, Li Qing cast his trump card again.

Sixteen minutes later...

He quickly entered a meditative state and drew three lines.

On the fifth day, Li Qing executed his trump card with extreme proficiency.

Fifteen minutes later...

On the sixth day, fourteen minutes later...

Up to three days before the start of school, real man Li Qing had completed all three hundred and sixty-five white lines of the "Basic Meditation Technique," forming a rather rounded sphere, identical to the pattern on the meditation image.

His cheeks were sunken, with deeply hollowed eye sockets and a thin body, making him look like he might topple over with a gust of wind. However, the surprising part was those unusually bright eyes, glowing as if they had light bulbs, making him look full of energy and spirit.