Chapter 169: Affinity
Daina felt as if she had just woken from a grand dream. She vaguely remembered experiencing something extraordinary, but when she tried to recall the details, nothing came to mind.
She only remembered a dazzling, colorful brilliance that was incredibly beautiful, and the torch behind the brilliance, which made her feel warm and trusting.
She slowly opened her eyes, feeling soaked through. Her clothes were dripping with sweat without even being wrung.
Her mental power felt extremely listless, and her body felt very weak, as if she had just engaged in intense exercise. Suddenly remembering something, she quickly covered her slightly developed chest.
Ace felt a splitting headache. The chubby cowlick on his head was limp and motionless, seemingly exhausted.
Ace took a deep breath and struggled to open his eyes, finding all the apprentices listless and soaked. He had no time to appreciate the faintly visible figures of the female apprentices. He tried to steady his breathing and said:
“My apprentices, strive to keep your spirits steady. Open the fourth page of your Grimoires, activate your appropriate meditation method, and use meditation to restore your mental power!”
He then ignored the apprentices and used his scant remaining mental power to communicate with his Soul Sanctuary.
Inside the Soul Sanctuary, nearly a hundred Soul Runes had settled at the bottom layer. Dozens of planar Spell Models composed of these runes floated quietly in the mid-air of the Soul Sanctuary.
Ace’s mental power triggered the Spell Model Reinforced Advanced Apprentice Meditation. This Spell Model was an improvement on the original Advanced Apprentice Meditation, incorporating the Lesser Mana Sensitivity Rune and Lesser Insight Rune discovered by Bayen. It could enhance Mana sensitivity and mental perception.
Unfortunately, Ace’s mental strength had already reached the limit of an Advanced Apprentice. Meditation could not help with the final leap, the sublimation of life level.
As the meditation began, Ace felt his dry mental power recovering bit by bit. Under the nourishment of Mana, his body also improved gradually.
Gradually, the sun set. Ace woke from his meditation. The apprentices had already finished meditating, and their mental and physical states had recovered well. Their clothes had dried in the wind—though who had seen those beautiful sights remained unknown.
Seeing Ace open his eyes, all the apprentices stood up and approached him, expressing their concern all at once.
This was the indelible impression left by the experience in the Subconscious Sea. All apprentices naturally felt close to Ace, involuntarily trusting and revering him.
To use an imprecise analogy, it was as if Ace had solidified a talent: Supreme Wizard Affinity.
If one were to investigate the reason, it was because he and the Spirit of the Book acted as the hub, connecting all Wizard Apprentices and forming the Collective Conscious Mind of the Wizards.
Furthermore, because the Spirit of the Book is a quasi-rule creature, the Collective Conscious Mind was guided by the hub into the Sea of Illusion and Reality, opening up the embryonic form of the Wizards’ Collective Subconscious Sea. The hub and master of this Wizards’ Collective Subconscious Sea were Ace and the Spirit of the Book.
As the hub and master of the Collective Subconscious Sea, Ace naturally became the object of affinity for all Wizards. Not just the current Wizards, but future Wizards would also be influenced by the Subconscious Sea, unconsciously feeling close to Ace.
At this moment, Ace felt a strong urge to write a thesis, expressing all his thoughts, investigations, hypotheses, and questions about the Subconscious Sea.
However, there were still things left unfinished. He suppressed the urgency in his heart and the bellyful of questions he wanted to ask the Spirit of the Book, activating the Mechanized Mind Spell Model in his Soul Sanctuary.
His heightened emotions cooled instantly. He began to think and express himself rationally.
“My apprentices, do you have many doubts? Can you tell me what you felt?”
Hearing Ace’s words, the apprentices felt incredibly close to him, each scrambling to speak.
Ace looked at them, surprised that the Subconscious Sea had such an effect. The apprentices, who used to be somewhat fearful of him, were no longer afraid but instead exceptionally affectionate and trusting. Although it felt good, it was a bit noisy.
He spoke slowly and gently: “One by one. Arno, you speak first.”
Arno, having been called upon, said excitedly: “I feel like I had a dream. I forgot everything when I woke up, but I remember it was very warm. I feel like we are a whole, and I want to protect this whole!”
“Bayen, what feelings and memories do you have?” Ace called on him next.
Gray-robed Bayen looked somewhat solemn. He said: “I also feel like I had a dream. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but a consciousness in my heart tells me that as a Wizard, I must abide by the Five Cornerstone Principles and the Three Primordial Covenants!”
Ace asked several other apprentices, and their answers were largely the same. None of them seemed to remember what specifically happened in the Subconscious Sea, only that it was warm and that they naturally had to abide by the Cornerstone Principles and Primordial Covenants.
Ace was quite satisfied with this result. Although he didn’t know why the other Wizard Apprentices had no impression of the specific events, the outcome was excellent.
Ace possessed a natural affinity with the Wizard collective, and the Five Cornerstone Principles and Three Primordial Covenants were imprinted in the apprentices’ subconscious, compelling them to obey instinctively. This achieved almost everything Ace wanted.
However, Ace wanted to hear a different perspective.
“Warren, what about you?” he asked gently.
Red-haired, freckled Warren’s face flushed even redder. He seemed a bit excited, taking a deep breath before saying:
“My feeling is similar to Arno’s, but I have many doubts. Why did we enter that dream-like place? Why can’t we remember anything clearly? Can this strange experience be replicated? What can we Wizards gain from it? What is the truth behind all this?”
Ace stared at the red-haired, freckled boy. His gray eyes were not particularly bright, but the burning thirst for knowledge within them was almost overflowing. This was excellent tinder, superb fuel!
Ace waved his hand, motioning for the apprentices to sit down. He stood opposite the crowd, opening his arms, his black robe hanging naturally. The sun had set. Tonight was a new moon, pitch black, accompanied only by the sound of the murmuring stream and the crows of the night.
He used his mental power to trigger a Spell Model in his Soul Sanctuary. Controllable Light Orb activated. A glimmer of light appeared between Ace’s hands, slowly growing larger.
As he raised his hands to the sky, this glimmer quickly grew into a gentle sphere of light the size of a person, emitting a cool radiance. Under Ace’s command, the cold light orb flew above the crowd, hovering in mid-air like a bright moon, illuminating the surroundings.
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