“You’re a freshman monitor?” the short-haired woman said, shocked.
“Cough. I’m an acting monitor,” Xiao Lin corrected her.
The short-haired woman ignored it. “A monitor indeed. Tsk, we were being disrespectful before. You won’t penalize us, will you? I’m Wu Qin.”
This woman seemed ordinary, but she acted generously. She grabbed Xiao Lin’s hand and shook it, then said with a flirty voice, “So, you’re here for Zhang Tingting?”
Xiao Lin shook his hands. “No, no, no. I’m here to practice meditation.”
Zhang Tingting glared at the few who made noise and asked in curiosity, “Why didn’t you go to the freshmen’s meditation room? Although the sophomore meditation room has a stronger elemental cluster spell; it doesn’t help much for freshmen who have yet to reach Elementary Meditation. It’s not as effective as the freshmen meditation room.”
Xiao Lin asked dubiously, “Is…is this really the meditation room?”
Dozens of faces in the classroom seemed embarrassed in that moment. Zhang Tingting was also speechless; only Wu Qin seemed to be okay. She shrugged and said, “To put it simply, our meditation level is relatively lower. Get it?”
Xiao Lin understood it then; he felt embarrassed. If these people were gathered in schools on Earth, they would have a more direct name: poor students!
Everyone was at the same starting point when they first entered as freshmen. Apart from the talented recruits, it was still hard to tell good students from the bad ones in the first year. However, it was clearer in second year.
It was no wonder that these people would come to the meditation class on weekends to chat and eat snacks. Xiao Lin thought that they were probably letting themselves rot.
Wu Qin caught Xiao Lin’s expression and angrily said, “Do you actually think that we’re giving up on ourselves? Tingting just said that the sophomore meditation room is made for people in the Elementary Meditation level. Understand?”
Xiao Lin understood it better now. These were the poor sophomore students, and they were also not at the Elementary Meditation level. They did not want to go to the freshmen’s meditation room; maybe they thought it would be too embarrassing for them.
Xiao Lin’s eyes brightened. If this group of people were all at Basic Meditation, then it would meet his requirements. The Academic Genius talent was immediately activated and he began to search for skills.
[Basic Meditation LV6; evaluation grade F; replicable]
[Basic Meditation LV8; evaluation grade F; replicable]
[Basic Meditation LV7; evaluation grade F; replicable]
[Basic Meditation LV10; evaluation grade F; replicable]
Unsurprisingly, these people were stuck at the Basic Meditation level. Moreover, he found his candidate for a LV10 Basic Meditation—it was Wu Qin.
Xiao Lin’s gaze was sharp. Wu Qin raised her brow and teased, “Monitor, why are you looking at me like that? Are you into me? If you profess your undying love, I might consider you.”
Xiao Lin was speechless. Before Wu Qin misunderstood him further, he looked away and said loudly, “I’m going to start meditating. Seniors, can you give me a few minutes? Yes, just three minutes!”
He had no choice. Meditation training required a silent environment; otherwise, it would be hard to focus on sensing the elements. If they did not cooperate in this noisy classroom, it would be impossible to do anything.
Wu Qin retracted her sarcastic look. “You really want to meditate? Right here?”
“I’m not joking.”
Zhang Tingting did not believe him. “What’s your meditation level?”
“Basic Meditation LV0.”
Xiao Lin did not want to lie about that, but he sparked a louder uproar. Dozens came over.
“Basic Meditation LV0? Oh right, freshmen have only been here for a week; it’s normal.”
“After a week’s worth of classes, you must’ve had at least two meditation classes. What’s your XP?”
“0 EXP. I know what you all want to ask. I’m not at the threshold yet,” he replied obediently to make the seniors keep quiet for a while.
“It’s useless. With that meditation level and not reaching the threshold to train it yet, you won’t get any effects, even if you went to the senior meditation room.” Wu Qin shook her head and stopped everyone else’s questioning.
Wu Qin sighed. “Fine, you have a few minutes, but know that the meditation room’s energy-gathering magic does not work better with higher levels.”
Everyone nodded in agreement; they looked at Xiao Lin with pity and compassion. Not many people were making fun of him, likely because they could relate. When they first reached the threshold to practice meditation in freshman year, they spent a long time gaining XP for meditation. However, before they could celebrate, they realized that they were still far behind the others.
It took some talent to be a good mage after all.
Xiao Lin was speechless; he felt that the more he explained himself, the more they would misunderstand him. Thankfully, he was promised a few minutes; it was more than enough.
[Activating the Replication Skill!]
[Target: Wu Qin!]
[Basic Meditation LV10, evaluation grade F]
[Successful replication!]
Xiao Lin sat down with his legs crossed. He did not even bother looking for a mat. He only had three minutes to train with the replicated skill, so he was not going to waste any time.
He shut his eyes, calmed himself down, and focused.
This time, it was easier for him to enter a state of full meditation. Xiao Lin found it very different from his last meditation. Although his eyes were shut, it was no longer pure darkness around him; there were countless grain-shaped stars shimmering in the darkness. It was like a bright galaxy decorated with twinkling lights.
He tried to catch them, but the stars blinked like naughty children running around. They were erratic. Xiao Lin failed after several attempts and he became a little annoyed. He thought to himself that if the stars could come over to him, that would be great.
Then, the grainy stars began swimming toward Xiao Lin…
As they got closer, Xiao Lin noticed that these bright spots actually came in four colors: red, blue, yellow and green. They intertwined and surrounded each other. The red spots were violent and hot, the blue spots contained purity and coldness, the yellow spots gave off stability and solidity, while the green spots were embellished with lightness and agility.
Xiao Lin suddenly understood that these were the four elements of nature—red fire, blue water, yellow earth, and green wind.
The feeling was very peculiar. The elements were completely invisible and intangible normally, like molecular atoms on Earth that were impossible to observe with the naked eye. The meditation state was like a microscope, allowing people to enter this wonderful microscopic world to feel the magic of the elements.
In fact, everyone would have a different understanding of magic. For example, Gu Xiaoyue believed that the essence of magic was like programming, while Xiao Lin believed that meditation was observing the microscopic nature of the world.
They had different ways of understanding it, but the results were similar.
Three minutes flew by in his meditation state. When he reluctantly opened his eyes again, Xiao Lin found that his skills felt different.
The LV10 Basic Meditation disappeared after the replication time was over, but Xiao Lin’s contact with the four elements during meditation was unforgettable.
[Basic Meditation LV1: 50/100]
His Meditation XP directly increased by a 100 XP!