Dirin went back to his dorm and saw Keith and Markus playing a game on the TV. He didn't remember having a console or any form of game that they were able to get on the TV in the dorm. He looked at what game they were playing, and it looked like a puzzle-based game that required at least two people to play. Dirin sat down on one of the seats and watched them play, while they were too engrossed in the game to notice him right away.
He could see Keith eyeing his phone, and Markus would shoot him a glare and smack his hand away whenever he reached for it. Keith would shake his hand and circle the room again, checking every corner and spot he could. It looked like they were stuck on this level for a bit, and Dirin just watched the screen as he leaned back.
This wouldn't be a bad way to train my mind, I guess. Might as well join in and see if I can figure it out before them. Dirin watched and noticed a big door with six big Xs on it. Three of them were lit bright red, while the other three were still dim and black. He then noticed that there were levers and platforms that they had to flip or press down to light up the Xs.
Seeing this brought him multiple theories that he saw them checking. He thought of a floorboard that they might've had to interact with to light one up, or something like pulling a false book in a bookshelf, but there were none for them to pull, so that idea was already out. He figured that something could be on the ceiling, but he couldn't figure out how they would reach it with how high their avatars were able to jump.
Dirin then saw a slight imprint on the floor that was barely visible due to its being too small, and Keith and Markus turned their screens too fast for him to get a good look at it. Definitely one way to light up an X. Now the other ones could be similar to it and could only be hidden because Keith and Markus are too impatient to take their time. Dirin had to hold back a smile as he noticed the issue.
As he started to pay more attention to the floor and other things, he slowly found the other two Xs and tried to figure out a way to hint at it in a subtle way so they could think they found it themselves. He tried to tell them to be slower, but they were startled at his sudden appearance that which made them go even quicker since they were being watched.
Dirin sighed and slowly pointed out all of the activations to them with more words, but they didn't get it, so he became more direct until he was telling them what they had to do. Once they finally got all of the Xs lit up, they jumped up and cheered, which caused their neighbors to politely visit them and ask to be a little quieter.
"So, Dirin, what did the headmaster ask you?" Markus closed the door and put his controller down after Keith saved the game.
"He just wanted to offer me some help for learning everything." Dirin showed them the papers that he got with all the information. "It seems like I'll be busy for the next couple of weeks with all of this." Dirin looked at all of it and shook his head. He was happy that he didn't have to find all of this information himself, but now that he saw all the information in front of him, he could really understand how much it truly was.
Dirin left them and went to his room to start studying. He lit the candle and felt a sense of calm wash over him. His mind was cleared quickly as he smelled the incense of the candle and felt the soft heat that came from it. Even the light that it emitted seemed to soothe him with just its presence. That was until it flicked out quickly, and he felt a small headache. He went to light it again, but the flame flared up and burned his hand.
The flame went back to its calm state, and Dirin felt his mind become even clearer than before. He didn't waste any more time and started to study all of the information and material recorded in the papers he was given. He sped through them quickly and absorbed almost all of the information better than he would've ever done. His progress was quick and steady as he gained all the knowledge on various concepts and the best and quickest ways to train them.
He learned about mana flow and basic principles of magic while also learning about life energy and its relations to the bodies of various creatures, such as humans or even dogs. He learned how to project his spirit most optimally without hurting himself, and all the things that could heal his spirit and their side effects on him. He learned a lot about human and animal physiology and other races that he didn't even know existed as well.
It was a lot of information, but he was clearing it with ease with the help of the candle. After a couple of hours, the candle flickered off again, and the headache came back with a bunch more focus on the center of his head as well. He backed away, half expecting it to light back up again.
Most of the information he learned stayed with him, but only a couple of small bits were left as his head cleared. He rubbed his head as he realized there was a drawback. The longer he was under its effects, the greater the backlash he would feel. It was like feeling withdrawal as he started to sweat. He had to take a shower before lying down in bed and going over what he remembered from what he learned.
He quickly came up with a plan for what to do tomorrow at the training field. Keith was going to go back to studying while Ritchard was going back to Weapons Basics to learn from a couple more people. Tillie was going to go back to studying by herself, so he was going to be alone in the training field. He wondered if he was going to have the drive to even complete the whole day without them to fill in the silence.
He closed his eyes and finally went to sleep. He had a lot to do in the morning if he wanted to make any real progress on his very large list of things to do, so he was going to need to wake up early.
In the morning, Dirin went over to the training field and greeted Mr. Till once again before heading back over to his corner. Mr. Till didn't like watching Dirin much. This was obvious to him since Mr. Till preferred to close his eyes instead of watching what he was doing the majority of the time. Dirin pulled out his paper on things he needed to train and got started with exercising. Apparently, working on stamina with sprinting wasn't enough, but he also had to improve upon his speed quite a bit before he could be considered done with it.
Dirin was also going to meditate and try astral projection to practice magic and train his spirit body. These were the three biggest things on the list since they were the most well-developed by people over the course of history when they were made and discovered.
Dirin was training these things for a couple of hours by himself. He felt immensely bored now that he had no one here with him to keep him entertained or motivated. His training was long and boring as he sent it through mechanically. He tried to keep himself entertained, but his mind wandered elsewhere.
I wonder if Markus will ever make a move on Hammer. When will Ritchard finish his training? What is the point of even training every weapon anyway? How will Keith and Tillie be able to control their elements once they reach Rank 1?
Dirin focused on everything else but his own training, and despite all the people that were now piling into the training field, he couldn't find any way of keeping himself present and active. He was slowing down in his training and was making less and less progress compared to what he did with the others with him.
Mr. Till saw this and shook his head as he racked his brain on what to do. He clearly saw what was happening and understood it since it was a problem everyone faced at some point, but for some people who went onto particularly large paths, it could drive them to rank up prematurely and end up weaker than they would've been. He looked around and finally decided on what he was going to do to help Dirin.