The warlock world operated on a strict hierarchy, and the Tower of Shadows was no exception.
According to the tower's classification, newly recruited apprentices were collectively called "Ordinary Apprentices." They could only reside in the outer ring of the Shadowlands, where everything—from basic food and lodging to cultivation resources—had to be secured by themselves. Even access to knowledge was limited to public lectures held only once every few months. Beyond the added protection of the tower, they were barely different from "wild apprentices" outside.
One rank above Ordinary Apprentices were "Inner Ring Apprentices." Upon earning this status, apprentices could move to the inner ring near the tower, where food and lodging were free, and they even received a regular allowance of magic stones. More importantly, they gained access to far more public lectures and could use the tower's library free of charge.
Except for a tiny number of lucky exceptions, most apprentices joining the tower climbed the ladder step by step, starting as Ordinary Apprentices before advancing to Inner Ring status.
"Fantastic!"
"Fantastic? It's way too soon—are you ready?"
"Yeah, I haven't prepared at all..."
For a moment, the crowd was torn between joy and anxiety.
The joy stemmed from the fact that becoming an Inner Ring Apprentice was the dream of every Ordinary Apprentice; almost everyone had been looking forward to this day.
The anxiety came because the assessment had arrived completely unexpectedly—far sooner than anyone had anticipated.
The timing of the Inner Ring assessment was not fixed. It could come as soon as two or three years later, or as late as five or six years, depending on the number of Ordinary Apprentices currently in the tower.
The last Inner Ring assessment had been held less than two years prior. Based on past cycles, everyone had expected at least another year or two of preparation time. But the date announced by Warlock Horn was clearly much earlier.
They had only just passed the initial apprentice assessment and hadn't even begun formal meditation. They were utterly unprepared.
After announcing the news, Warlock Horn flew away with his apprentices, and the crowd of Ordinary Apprentices dispersed.
"You dummy!"
Before Carter Bill could leave, Carl and Subaru approached him.
Subaru, a chubby young man, patted Carter on the shoulder, his tone a mix of exasperation and amusement. "You really took us by surprise—first place!"
Carl was equally stunned. "I never thought you'd bring a dragon! Can I touch it?"
As he spoke, Carl reached out to pet the modified fire salamander perched on Carter's shoulder. But the little creature was clearly shy of strangers: it shrank back repeatedly, bared its teeth, and let out a low growl, its fierce eyes fixed on Carl's outstretched hand.
Carter stroked the salamander's back. "Easy, Parker. These are my friends."
Parker—that was the name Carter had given the modified fire salamander. It came from the phonetic translation of a rune word, meaning "fire dragon."
With Carter's reassurance, Parker soon calmed down, and Carl finally got to touch it.
Carter scratched his head and told the truth. "I've been preparing for this assessment for ages. I've just been burying my head in practice these days."
Looking at Carter's seemingly naive demeanor, Subaru was left speechless. As someone who prided himself on being clever, he couldn't fathom how this "blockhead" had easily outperformed him—even achieving a feat he himself could only dream of.
After struggling for a moment to find the right words, Subaru finally blurted out: "Anyway, you owe us a treat!"
...
After agreeing to meet Carl and Subaru for dinner that night, Carter returned to his quarters.
First, he examined the spatial pouch—a marvelous item. Though no bigger than the palm of his hand, it held an enormous capacity. Now he could store all his materials and books inside, making it much easier to carry them around, especially for future trips.
Once he figured out how to use the spatial pouch, Carter took out a sheepskin scroll from it.
The thick sheepskin still bore traces of blood and nerve veins. Twisted, tadpole-like symbols covered its entire surface. Though the symbols were static, they seemed to squirm when stared at for too long, stirring a strange feeling in one's chest—as if one's mind was being devoured.
These were Rune Script, the special language warlocks used to communicate with the world.
And the content written in these runes was none other than the cornerstone of all warlocks' power—
The Meditation Tome.
"Finally got it..."
As Carter looked at the Meditation Tome in his hand, a smile couldn't help but spread across his face.
After all, mastering the Meditation Tome meant he could absorb natural elements through meditation to accumulate mental power. Then, using the framework of arcane knowledge, he could arrange and combine this mental power according to his will to create all manner of things in the world—what the common folk called—
Magic!
After transmigrating to this strange, alien world, all his original life plans had been upended. For Carter, almost everything about this new reality was terrible—except for magic. That was the one thing that had captivated his interest.
For an ordinary person, the allure of transcendent power was truly indescribable.
"Sizzle..."
Carter lit the white candle on his table and began to read the scroll carefully by its flickering light.
[Knowledge Carrier "Meditation Tome" Detected. Automatic Loading Completed.]
[Meditation Tome Lv0: 0/1000.]
A system notification sounded in his ear, and at the same time, a new line of data appeared on the interface before his eyes.
"Tsk, even Lv0 requires 1,000 proficiency points? The difficulty level is no joke."
After reading the Meditation Tome carefully and memorizing its key points, Carter formally began to meditate.
He emptied his mind and calmed his thoughts, and soon his consciousness entered an boundless, pitch-black space—this was the "Spiritual Sea," unique to warlocks.
It was a sixth sense, forged by guiding mental power to connect with one's five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste), constantly interacting with and tempering them until a unique mental space was created in one's consciousness.
This was where warlocks accumulated mental power, constructed spell models, and more—it was the very core of a warlock's power.
The entire content of the Mental Guidance Method was focused on how to open a Spiritual Sea. From tempering his five senses to finally awakening his sixth sense and establishing his Spiritual Sea, Carter had spent a full year and a half. He had only succeeded half a year ago.
From what he knew, his progress was already quite fast. Many apprentices still hadn't opened their Spiritual Sea even now—and naturally, most of those apprentices had failed the initial assessment.
Calming his thoughts further, Carter followed the method described in the Meditation Tome and extended his aura to sense his surroundings.
Before long, colorful light particles appeared around him—these were the elemental energies that formed the foundation of the world.
Once he had sensed the elements, Carter proceeded to the next step in the tome: he focused his will, shaping his mental power into a tentacle that reached out toward the surrounding elements, pulling them toward the depths of his Spiritual Sea's center.
There, a unique aura swirled—inside it, a few faint light particles slowly rotated clockwise.
The Mental Vortex.
This was the core of a warlock's mental aura. The light particles within the vortex were the materialized form of a warlock's mental power, and it was from here that all a warlock's power originated.
Carter's mental tentacle, which was wrapped around the elemental particles, relaxed. Drawn by the vortex's gravitational pull, the elemental particles were swept into it and began to rotate along with it. With that, Carter successfully completed one cycle of meditation.
Meditation, in essence, was nothing more than repeating this process—absorbing the world's elements to nurture one's mental aura.
Soon, a full cycle of meditation came to an end, and Carter opened his eyes.
At the same time, the system's notification sounded again in his ear:
[Meditation Tome Proficiency +1.]
[Meditation Tome Lv0: 1/1000.]