Ethan read in silence.
In his mental sea, the information that had exploded was being organized, categorized, and absorbed at an incredible speed.
The information pollution that could cause an ordinary Third-Tier apprentice's mental sea to collapse couldn't even stir a ripple in his.
However, Ethan didn't read too much.
He stopped after turning only a dozen or so pages.
After all, many people were watching.
That should be enough.
Seeing Ethan close the book, the Energy-Eating Insect shifted its body. “Oh? Not continuing?”
Ethan raised a hand to rub his brow, his face showing just the right amount of fatigue. “It's enough. My mental power can't keep up.”
The Energy-Eating Insect's compound eyes swiveled on top of Ethan's head, a flash of 'just as I thought' appearing in its gaze.
Being able to flip through a dozen pages of high-level knowledge in one go was already monster-level for a Third-Tier apprentice; it was only normal that his mental power couldn't keep up.
“What a strange kid.” The Energy-Eating Insect flew off his head and circled him once, the vibration frequency of its six wings quickening slightly. “Fine, you've got the knowledge. Follow me to collect the meditation method.”
Ethan was stunned for a moment. “Ah? Don't we need to go to the Knowledge Exchange first?”
“Do you want to deal with all that trouble?” The Energy-Eating Insect landed back on his head, its six thin legs shuffling through his hair. “I still have the final say here. Follow me.”
The Energy-Eating Insect directed Ethan through the corridor and into a side hall.
The walls on both sides of the side hall were covered in glowing vines, their pale green light making the entire corridor look as if it were submerged underwater.
After walking for about a few minutes, the Energy-Eating Insect told him to stop in front of a set of double wooden doors.
The doors weren't high and were constructed entirely of deep cyan wood.
There were no runic patterns on the door, only a pattern of a lush, leafy tree carved in the center.
“Push the door and go in,” the Energy-Eating Insect said.
Ethan pushed the door open.
Behind the door was a study.
The room wasn't large, about thirty or forty square meters.
In front of three of the walls stood floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, packed with various books, scrolls, and wooden slips.
Directly opposite the door was a wide wooden desk, with several open parchment scrolls and a quill resting on a pen holder.
“See that pile of books on the table?” The Energy-Eating Insect poked half its body out from his head and pointed a front limb toward the center of the desk.
Ethan looked in the direction it pointed.
Stacked in the center of the desk were three massive volumes, each one as thick as a massive dictionary standing on its end. Dark yellow covers were traced with extremely faint emerald patterns, and several ancient characters were carved in the center of the covers.
Myriad Forest Meditation Method.
“Lord, is this really okay?” Ethan's mouth twitched as he looked at the three books, which were as thick as bricks. High-level meditation methods were just sitting there on the table without even a sealing light membrane.
“Stop your nonsense, kid. Give me the magic crystals, and the things are yours.”
Ethan pulled magic crystals out of his storage ring.
One hundred magic crystals were neatly stacked on the desk.
The Energy-Eating Insect flew down from his head and landed on the desk, its six legs quickly scooping them up and tucking the magic crystals into the gaps in its carapace.
“Jie-jie-jie, the transaction is complete. Let's go. If we don't leave now, the Tower Spirit will kick us out.”
Just as the Energy-Eating Insect finished speaking, a humanoid silhouette of light condensed out of thin air across from the desk.
The silhouette was pale green and its outline was blurry, only vaguely identifiable as a female form.
The moment the silhouette appeared, the temperature in the entire study plummeted several degrees, and the books and scrolls on the shelves all trembled slightly.
“Stupid bug, what did you say?” The Tower Spirit's voice was cold and clear, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
Ethan clearly felt the Energy-Eating Insect on his head freeze.
Its six legs tightly gripped his hair, its wings stopped vibrating, and its entire body lay motionless on his head like a stone.
“Uh, heh... heh heh... heh heh heh... Well, Tower Spirit Sister, I... I... I...”
Before the Energy-Eating Insect could finish, Ethan saw the silhouette raise an arm and give a casual wave.
A gentle but irresistible force surged from all directions.
The surrounding scenery instantly distorted and folded. The study, bookshelves, desk, silhouette, and the Energy-Eating Insect all vanished from his sight in the blink of an eye.
The feeling of weightlessness lasted only a moment. When his feet touched solid ground again, Ethan found himself standing on the stone path in front of the Wizard Tower's main gate.
The Energy-Eating Insect on his head was gone as well.
“Unlucky bug,” Ethan muttered to himself and turned to walk toward the living quarters.
He had only taken two steps when a sharp scream echoed from deep within the tall tower behind him.
The sound pierced through the tower walls, the corridors, and the closed doors, echoing across the entire stone path.
“Ah! Tower Spirit Sister! I was wrong! I was really wrong!”
The Energy-Eating Insect's voice squeezed out of a high-level window of the Wizard Tower, its tone pitched high and sharp.
Another scream followed, louder and more miserable than the last.
“Ah! If I want to give away the Master's meditation method, I'll give it away! It was a transaction! I didn't give it for free!”
“You dare talk back?!”
The Tower Spirit's angry scolding drowned out the screams, her clear voice carrying a hint of frustration that it wasn't living up to its potential.
Then came a series of clattering and banging sounds, as if something was being slammed against a wall and bouncing back repeatedly.
Ethan paused for a moment, his mouth twitching.
He didn't look back.
It was better not to see such things; it was easy to get caught in the crossfire.
After all, the whole situation clearly looked like an act.
What kind of Wizard Tower wouldn't have soundproofing?
The door of the treehouse closed behind him.
A familiar conscious ripple surged over.
“You're back, you're back! How long are you staying this time?”
“For a while.”
“Oh ho, that's good, that's good.”
Ethan walked to the wooden table and sat down, taking out the three volumes of the Myriad Forest Meditation Method from his storage ring.
The books landed on the table with a dull thud.
Tsk, it's so damn thick.
He opened the first volume.
The characters on the pages flooded into his consciousness the moment his eyes met them.
The entire meditation method was divided into a complete atlas of thirty-six runes. The visualization methods, mental power output precision, and stabilization techniques for each rune had detailed instructions that were almost draconian.
Besides the cultivation methods, the books also included a large number of precautions and techniques. The section on “Seven Hundred and Seventy-Seven Common Deviations and Correction Methods for Inter-Runic Energy Resonance” alone took up nearly half a book.
It was ridiculous.
Ethan flipped the pages at a moderate speed, the content of each page being completely absorbed and digested the moment it was turned.
He didn't immediately switch to this meditation method; now was not the time. All thirty-six of his runes had already been condensed, and his mental sea was at full capacity. Forcing a change now would only cause his existing runic structures to collapse.
It wouldn't be too late to switch after he returned to the Wizard World.
After finishing the three volumes, Ethan put them back into his ring and took out the book of high-level knowledge.
The text on the pages was even denser than the meditation method, with every character carrying a faint trace of information pollution.
Those pollutants were crushed the moment they touched his consciousness, leaving only pure knowledge to flood in.
Rate on N.U.
