“Again, this glitched message!” Ambrose creased his brows, and soon his eyes widened in surprise. “Last time this happened, my body underwent incredible change… 𝒩𝚘𝓋𝗅𝒩xt.𝐂𝑂
“First, my body had shown signs of improvement, and now I could use Martial Online skills in reality. Could it really be…
“If my assumption is correct, do I become smarter now in real life? Wait, probably not, because Intelligence in this game isn’t directly linked to a person’s intelligence but instead to how fast one can learn things.”
Ambrose crossed his arms. “The glitched message only appears when a stat reaches 100. Next time, I should try getting something else to 100, which actually shows that my assumption is correct.
“There is only one stat that can prove it immediately.” Ambrose took a deep breath and looked at one stat in his interface. “Charm!”
He interlaced his fingers. “Intelligence isn’t physical related; that’s why it’s hard to tell whether it worked. However, Strength improved my physique, and Charm should improve my looks and charisma, if I understood it correctly.”
He currently had 45 on Charm, so it would take him six levels to find out whether he was correct in his assumption.
‘I have to try it out.’ Ambrose took a deep breath. ‘If this really works, this is ground-breaking technology. How come no one has reported anything about this?
‘There is no way that I am only one, right?
‘If it actually works, can my disease be cured?’ Ambrose shook his head rapidly. ‘I shouldn’t jump the gun; it would only make me depressed if it didn’t.
‘However, if Charm works, I will try to get Vitality straight to 100!
‘Also, what happens if one of the stats reaches 200 or even 1000? Where is the limit? If I get my Strength to 100, will I be like a bodybuilder? I’m not sure I want that…’
He then noticed the scroll on the ground and remembered that he had something much more important to do currently.
‘Can I really learn it overnight? I hope that Intelligence stat helps me…’ He took a deep breath and opened the scroll.
The scroll showed a sketched image of a man sitting cross-legged with a floating creature in front of him. However, the soul creature looked like it was letting out some kind of smoke.
Ambrose read the text found on the scroll aloud.
“To hide the soul scent, one has to make his soul disperse all of its energy into the surrounding air. That cloaks the soul behind the veil of energy, which stops the soul’s scent from leaking out.
“To do that, enter the world of souls and teach your soul to meditate on harnessing its energy and controlling its release.”
‘Huh, how can I teach my soul something I don’t know anything about?’ Ambrose covered his head and sighed deeply. ‘So, before doing this, I would also have to learn meditation at a higher level?
‘No wonder it should be impossible for me to learn this.
‘First of all, I would need to spend several months improving my meditation, then learn to control my energy, and only then could I teach my soul, which would also take several months!’
Ambrose realized that learning this would require a tremendous amount of time and effort.
‘I have no other choice.’ He put the scroll to the side and sat cross-legged on the ground. ‘Time to learn meditating!’
At that moment, one of his fingers brushed past one of the rings that were stuck on his finger.
Ambrose opened his eyes and exclaimed. “That’s right. Ring of Nature, it should increase the efficiency by whopping 50%!”
He immediately stood up and decided to go out into nature. There was no way he wouldn’t use such a convenient tool. However, since he was forbidden to enter this village, he had to act discreetly and move silently like a ghost.
Silently, he left the room and saw an empty cottage with a fire still ongoing on the hearth. He approached the front door and silently opened it.
After the door opened, he stepped outside into the cold night air. He took a deep breath, feeling the chill seep into his bones.
The village was situated at the foot of the mountains, with several wooden cottages built on the wall of the mountains, and at the end of the village, there was a glorious temple, its golden spires reaching towards the sky. A flight of stairs with several thousand steps led to its front doors.
The temple was a sight to behold, standing tall and majestic.
There was also a rather strange scene, which intrigued Ambrose.
He saw a door leading deeper into the mountain. However, it was tightly locked and appeared to have not been opened in years. The door was unguarded and stuck inside the mountain wall as if it acted as a secret passage to a cave system located inside the mountain.
‘This place…’ Ambrose had a hunch about what this place was. ‘This is definitely a Dojo Temple. I can’t be mistaken.’
He then saw a lantern light up a small area. It was coming from the stone path that led straight to Honorable Zhen’s house.
Ambrose paled, as he could be discovered if he didn’t move away. He quickly backed away and hid behind the wooden cottage.
The lantern-wielding man reached Honorable Zhen’s house and knocked on the door.
“Zhen, are you awake?” The lantern-wielding man asked, and after not receiving an answer, he shrugged his shoulders and walked down the same path where he came from.
“Whoo…” Ambrose peeked behind the wooden cottage and saw the lantern moving further away. He then took a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the grass. He then closed his eyes and began to meditate, letting go of all his worries and anxieties.
The Ring of Nature started doing its wonder as he, basically, was in nature currently.
He felt a sense of calm and connection with the world around him.
‘Whoo, harness the energy and release it.’ Ambrose whispered to himself, feeling a newfound sense of freedom and peace.
…
At Rothsmith Residence.
Inside a dark room, a single ray of blue light came from the headset, covering the face of the young man.
Jesse’s body flinched, and his fingers suddenly twitched. He opened his mouth and breathed in and out rhythmically. It looked like he was meditating while asleep.
With robotic movements, Jesse’s body sat upright on the bed, cross-legged. His middle fingers, in both hands, then pressed against the thumbs. His eyelids fluttered lightly, revealing peacefulness in his expression.
Without realizing it, both the real body and virtual avatar meditated simultaneously. It sped up the process of learning higher mastery of his meditation.
The speed was unlike anything seen before. With each passing second, he got closer and closer to mastering meditation. The speed was incredible, making even the great geniuses of temples pale in comparison.
Nothing like this has ever happened in the world of Martial Online!
…
Ambrose’s eyelids fluttered, and then he slammed his eyes open, a golden glow reflecting off his eyes.
[Mastery of Meditation Has Reached Level 2!]
‘Level 2… Not enough, let’s continue.’ He returned to his calm demeanor and closed his eyes.
The following hour moved quickly as it felt like another notification appeared before his eyes every minute or so, and soon, Ambrose opened his eyes.
[Mastery of Meditation Has Reached Level 10!]
[Harvesting and Releasing of Energy Learned!]