Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Profession, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow "You have one year to become an Elementary Apprentice. Of course, this is the deadline. The sooner you become an apprentice during this period, the higher your spiritual talent, which will also improve your treatment after entering the school." ... Ron felt as if his brain’s memories had fallen into a tumbling washing machine, being tossed and turned continuously, with fragmented memories constantly piecing together. This chaos had persisted for several days, and only now was the fusion of souls considered complete. On one side was an ordinary university student on Earth who died suddenly from staying up late playing games; On the other side was—the fifth son of Count Ralph. Without inheritance rights, he indulged in pleasure within the castle, thinking only of fooling around with the beautiful maids all day. Of course, these happy indulgent days only lasted until he turned fifteen. Ron rubbed his temples, and the memories unfolded in his mind like an ink-stained picture scroll: In the hall, the candle flame flickered unnaturally in the silence. Black candles were arranged in a circle, and the flickering flames cast distorted shadows on the masked face of a white-robed mage. The white-robed Wizard spoke, their voice like metal scraping, void of any warmth: "Spiritual power talent, barely reaching the minimum standard line." Her slender fingers brushed over a crystal ball, where the swirling dark red mist gradually condensed into a symbol, the color very dim. At the moment of hearing the verdict, his father’s expression froze, his once upright spine now slightly hunched, seemingly aging ten years instantly. Having spiritual talent was, of course, something to be happy about, but only if it was outstanding enough, or it would merely be material regularly provided to Wizards for experimentation. "According to the contract, your kingdom still owes a few seed shares to the ’Black Mist Jungle’, so I’ll take this one too." The white-robed Wizard was not using a negotiating tone, merely informing those present, then turned towards Ron, waving her magic wand. ... At this point, the picture in the memory began to look repetitive, with the white-robed Wizard taking him, along with other "seeds" from within the kingdom, to this Black Mist Jungle, provided with only that one "Basic Meditation Technique" as free mysterious knowledge. Yet, his daily efforts in meditation yielded scant results. Ron looked at the worn-out "Basic Meditation Technique" in front of him, with the frayed "Abyssal Travelogue", "Star Gate Chronicles" next to it... Except for a "Basic Magic Potion Theory", they were worthless old books. The rule in the Black Mist Jungle was simple: the school would provide them with free accommodation, food, and basic public facilities, along with various paid courses, but with a one-year assessment period. If unable to become an Elementary Apprentice within a year, they would either become materials for experiments or be directly expelled to the hazardous wilderness to fend for themselves. And there were only three months left until the deadline. "Meditate, condense the will rune..." Ron closed his eyes, attempting to guide his spiritual power according to the book. Ever since completely merging souls with the other world, he felt his spirit becoming sharper. Suddenly, a unique sensation arose within him, and a semi-transparent information panel unfolded before his eyes: [Ron Ralph] [Age: 15] [Current Profession: None] [Attributes: Constitution 0.4 Spirit 1.1 Magic Power 0.1] [Skills: Basic Meditation (Beginner), Slime Splash (Beginner), Basic Magic Potion Making (Beginner)] [Special Talent: Dual Soul (Increased Comprehension; when spiritual power reaches a certain level, double casting is possible)] [Power Level: Ordinary People] "Is this... my Golden Finger?" Ron was overjoyed but not overly surprised. Since something as bizarre as traveling to another world had happened, having a game-like Golden Finger panel didn’t seem too surprising, did it? "Like the character panel in the game I played before traveling, only I don’t know if the effect is like I imagined." He looked at the various character info displayed, quickly feeling very familiar. He began to try using his mind to operate it, clicking on the skill subpage in the character panel: [Mastered Skills: Basic Meditation (Beginner 22/100), Slime Splash (Beginner 19/50), Basic Magic Potion Making (Beginner 5/50)] Since there is an experience points hint, the effect of this panel should be what he imagined, so he decided to meditate once and try it. According to the meditation he had performed thousands of times in memory, Ron adjusted his breathing, entering the meditation state. In the dark consciousness space, training spiritual power involved drawing the most basic rune—a simple symbol consisting of three curved lines, resembling three overlapping crescents. As described in the book, this rune symbolizes the gathering of scattered spiritual power into a shape. "Deep breath, clear the mind, imagine the shape of the rune..." Ron’s consciousness turned into an invisible pen, carefully sketching in the darkness. The first arc had just been drawn when it began to twist and dissipate, forcing him to restart. After trying dozens of times, the three arcs finally maintained their shape in consciousness, but they trembled like candle flames blown by the wind. Just then, Ron sensed a faint spiritual power beginning to respond to the rune’s call, slowly gathering in the sea of consciousness. The sensation was like finding a weak flame in the cold night, making one instinctively want to get closer. "So this is what it feels like to grow spiritual power..." As time passed, sweat gradually beaded on his forehead. Maintaining the rune’s shape required extreme focus, and a slight distraction would lead to failure. Finally, when he could no longer concentrate, the panel popped up with a prompt: [Basic Meditation Experience Points +1] [Current Progress: Basic Meditation (Beginner 23/100)] [Today’s cultivation time has reached the limit, rest is advised] Ron let out a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although it only increased by 1 experience point, he could clearly feel his control over spiritual power advancing further than before. "This is the benefit of the panel, being able to clearly see my progress and consolidate it." But in the current situation, such an ability was far from the life-saving remedy he imagined. Ron looked at the data on the panel, frowning: "At this rate, I’m not sure if I can reach the next stage before the deadline. Since Meditation can only be performed once a day, this is challenging..." With time extremely tight, and three months from now being the deadline, and the experience points in Basic Meditation having just passed one-fifth, If he couldn’t complete the promotion before the deadline, he would face two choices: Either become a piece of meat on someone else’s chopping board, or be thrown into the wilderness filled with distorted creatures. Ron took a deep breath, refocused his attention on the "Basic Magic Potion Theory" before him. This book was currently the most valuable thing he had other than the "Basic Meditation Technique", costing him quite a few Magic Stone Fragments. [Basic Magic Potion Making (Beginner 5/50)] [Life Profession - Magic Potion Apprentice (One Star) After changing profession: 1. Attribute growth 2. Unlock basic professional skills—Magic Potion Refining, Herb Recognition 3. Special Additions: Magic Potion-related experience points gain speed up Spiritual power accumulation speed up Magic Affinity increase] [Profession Change Conditions: 1. Basic Magic Potion Making Skill Experience Points - (Proficient) 2. Open basic meditation experience points accumulative methodology 3. Collect specific Magic Stone Fragment amount.] This profession panel was perhaps the most distinctive system of the time when he played the game. He remembered that there were possibly hundreds to thousands of extraordinary professions from low to high, with evolution routes just as complex as a Digimon’s evolution chain. And if he wasn’t mistaken, he had used a modifier on his player panel to open a backdoor for himself... "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, activate!" In the next moment— [Current Profession Slots: 0/∞] "Woohoo! I thought such a modification couldn’t be brought over along with my profession panel..." "This time I really hit the jackpot!!!" Ron sensed that his smile was probably wider than an AK’s magazine at that moment.