Free Web NovelChapter 45: Chapter 43: Treasure Assessment
Mo Ning suppressed his excitement and recalled the details of his first Meditation, soon falling deep into thought.
He had once read a sentence in a book: "When you are aware that you are meditating, you are no longer meditating."
He had only skimmed through it at the time, without truly understanding its deeper meaning.
Now, Mo Ning completely understood.
During Meditation, one’s consciousness becomes immersed in the Meditation World.
The bustling city, the familiar classroom, the charming face of the class beauty—all of it was an illusion woven by his consciousness.
The most terrifying part was that the consciousness would completely accept anything irrational and treat it as a matter of course.
While roaming the Meditation World, one’s spirit would use the basic Meditation Mark as a bridge to form a wondrous connection with the Ocean of Magical Power, thereby promoting the growth of one’s Spiritual Strength.
But the moment one realized, ’I’m meditating,’ their consciousness would be instantly pulled from the Meditation World, severing the connection to the Ocean of Magical Power.
That was why the book said, "you are no longer meditating."
Mo Ning’s expression turned a little strange as he thought back on his high school days. ’To think I’d actually see Zhang Xiaoxiao.’
To him, that name felt rather "distant."
After graduating high school in his previous life, he had never seen that face again.
He later heard from a classmate that Zhang Xiaoxiao had met a rather tragic fate. She married after graduating from college, only to divorce less than two years later. Shortly after, she suffered a major illness, and in the end, no one knew where she went.
By then, he had already been working for five years and had matured considerably. He no longer held any lingering feelings for his high school crush.
Of course, in the context of the Wizard World, calling her a "great beauty" was a bit of an exaggeration.
The Female Wizards, Female Apprentices, and noblewomen of this world commonly used cosmetics infused with Spiritual Power, and each was more beautiful than the last.
Anya, who had presented herself to him, was a prime example.
Compared to a Noble Lady, his old class beauty could only be considered plain.
What truly astonished Mo Ning was the Meditation World’s ability to "weave beautiful dreams."
In reality, Zhang Xiaoxiao would never have been his deskmate, much less say something as brazen as "come to my place tonight."
But in the Meditation World, everything had become "reality" according to his heart’s desires.
The Meditation World was like an incredible "dream-fulfiller," taking all the suppressed, forgotten, and even unnoticed desires from the depths of one’s heart and putting them on display, immersing a person so deeply that they wouldn’t want to wake up.
No wonder the books warned that if everything felt too perfect, one could become completely lost within.
More principles of Meditation from the books naturally surfaced in Mo Ning’s mind:
"Principle Two: Meditate in a safe place, where help is available.
"Principle Three: The closer a Meditation World is to reality, the better the effect, but the greater the danger.
"Principle Four: First-time meditators lack experience and must never attempt to create a realistic Meditation World. Otherwise, there is a twenty percent chance you will not be able to return.
"Principle Five: For safety, it is strongly recommended to create a fantasy world, or a Meditation World with many fantasy elements. This will greatly reduce the danger of one’s consciousness being devoured.
"Principle Six: Once you possess a stronger will, you can gradually transform your Meditation World, making it closer to reality little by little..."
Mo Ning suddenly had an indescribably wonderful feeling.
He realized that as a Transmigrator, he possessed an unimaginable advantage in Meditation.
’According to Principle Three, wasn’t the Blue Star World from my past life a real world?’
’Of course it was!’
’Every city, every street, every building—they were all real things.’
’They truly stood upon the earth, operated in reality, and carried the lives of countless people.’
’So, I can be certain the effect of the Meditation would be excellent.’
According to Principle Four, such a Meditation World should have been extremely dangerous.
But on the contrary, it wasn’t dangerous in the slightest.
Mo Ning’s subconscious knew that he had long ago transmigrated to the Wizard World and mastered miraculous Witchcraft.
This was an unshakable core cognition.
In other words—a Cognitive Anchor.
This Cognitive Anchor was rooted deep in his consciousness, and no matter how turbulent the storms of the Meditation World became, it could not be uprooted.
So, when the first signs of indulgence appeared—when he started enjoying his intimacy with Zhang Xiaoxiao and feeling smug about beating Liu Zihao—
the Cognitive Anchor instantly surfaced and clashed violently with the illusion.
As a result of the clash, the Cognitive Anchor kicked him right out of the Meditation World.
As Mo Ning reviewed the events, the corners of his mouth turned up involuntarily. ’I never thought transmigration would have this kind of benefit.’
He didn’t plan to continue his Meditation.
Because over-meditating was not only harmful but also held unpredictable dangers.
A book he had read explained: "The Ocean of Magical Power is a very strange existence. With moderate contact, one can draw power from it.
"But prolonged contact is by no means a good thing. It will attempt to assimilate your spirit and soul with its vast Magic Power, continuously draining your Spiritual Power.
"When your Meditation ends spontaneously, that is a clear signal—your soul is unwilling to touch the Ocean of Magical Power any longer.
"Furthermore, many strange entities are active in the depths of the Ocean of Magical Power. We call them—Magic Energy Condensation Bodies.
"If one’s spirit remains connected to the Ocean of Magical Power for too long, one might be targeted by these entities."
Mo Ning had read about a case so bizarre it made his hair stand on end.
Many years ago, a First Level Wizard from the Black Tower Academy had gone mad during Meditation without any warning.
Dark green flames erupted from all over his body at once, as if something had exploded inside him.
His body began to melt, like a candle placed over a flame.
Skin, muscles, bones—everything began to soften, deform, and flow.
The melting parts dripped to the ground with a SIZZLING sound, leaving behind puddles of a thick, black liquid resembling asphalt.
The Wizard collapsed, rolling frantically on the ground and wailing the same phrase over and over:
"So cold... So cold..."
Just a dozen seconds later, it was all over.
All that remained on the ground was a pile of incredibly viscous black paste, bearing no resemblance to a human form.
This tragedy quickly alerted the Black Tower Academy.
The academy dispatched several Second Level Wizards to conduct a detailed investigation, even using Tracing Witchcraft to reconstruct the scene of the incident.
They ultimately reached a chilling conclusion: the unlucky Wizard had been meditating for a day and a night and was unfortunately targeted and killed by a Magic Energy Condensation Body.
As for information about Magic Energy Bodies, Mo Ning had only found a few scant entries in the Royal Library.
One of them clearly stated that in the various Wizard Academies, one had to become a First Level Wizard to access knowledge related to Magic Energy Bodies.
This was enough to prove that the danger posed by Magic Energy Bodies far exceeded the limits of what an Apprentice could handle.
His Meditation had just ended on its own, and his Spiritual Strength had increased by 0.01 points as he’d hoped. That was enough for one day.
After all, he had no desire to run into a Magic Energy Body during his first successful Meditation.
Mo Ning moved a chair to the floor-to-ceiling window and quietly admired the prairie bathed in the afterglow of the sunset.
This was the first time he had felt so at ease.
Lately, he had been as busy as a fully wound clock, never stopping for a moment—attending classes by day, researching by night, his mind even working through Divination Formulas while he ate.
Having successfully mastered the Divine Statue Technique today, he could genuinely see the possibility of condensing his first Spirit Ring within two years.
He allowed himself a moment to relax.
A wind rushed in from afar, sending a distinct wave rippling through the prairie grass.
The figures of three Earth-Shaking Gray-Horned Rhinoceroses were faintly visible amidst the distant waves of grass.
The sight had the poetic feel of "wind blowing the grass low to reveal the cattle and sheep."
Mo Ning glanced at it a few times, and a question flashed through his mind: ’Why is the grass on the prairies of this world so tall?’
In many places, it was nearly a person’s height, and in some areas, it even surpassed three meters.
In his previous life, at the age of thirty, he had taken a solo road trip across the northern grasslands of Great Xia.
The local herdsmen had told him that even in the best locations, the finest grasses like needlegrass and leymus grew to a meter tall at most.
But for the grass on this prairie before him, one meter was just the starting height.
’Is it because of Otherworldly species, or is it due to Magic Power?’
The part of him that loved to research began to stir restlessly in his chest once more.
He began to search his memory for the books he had read in the Royal Library—books about Spiritual Plants, the effects of Magic Power on ordinary plants, and how organisms evolved in a magic-rich environment.
Just then, an indescribable flash of Spiritual Light suddenly struck Mo Ning’s mind.
The sensation was bizarre—as if something had been gently plucked deep within his consciousness.
His brows furrowed slightly as he desperately tried to grasp the wisp of Spiritual Light before it vanished.
One second, two seconds...
It didn’t dissipate.
On the contrary, the wondrous power of the Spiritual Light began to string together seemingly unrelated fragments, one by one, like pearls on a thread.
These fragments gradually developed in the darkroom of his consciousness, forming a complete picture.
Mo Ning blurted out, "I understand! This is a hidden assessment!"
Back at Lakefront Manor, he had heard a rumor: some of the random assessments were hidden very deeply.
Without exceptional perception and acuity, you couldn’t find them; without an incredible accumulation of knowledge, you couldn’t even find the clues.
The academy’s Apprentices preferred to call them by another, more heart-pounding name—Treasure Assessments.
This was because, like treasures sunk at the bottom of the sea or buried deep in ruins, they lay quietly in wait, ready to be unearthed by a discerning individual.
The other meaning of "Treasure" was that the rewards for these assessments were much higher than those for ordinary ones.
Not just a little higher, but—a whole lot higher.
But such generous rewards, naturally, didn’t come for free.
Because Treasure Assessments were so well-hidden and their difficulty far surpassed other assessments, at most only four or five were completed in the entire academy each year.
Some years, not even a single one was completed.
Mo Ning shot to his feet, his nose almost pressing against the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window.
One thought after another flashed through his mind:
’The first day, it was the Birch Forest. The second day, it changed to sprawling snowy mountains. The third day, a surging great river. Yesterday, a colossal waterfall, and today, a vast prairie...’
As his thoughts raced, the [Insightful Secret Eye] silently appeared.
The illusory eyeball trembled slightly, and a series of incredibly clear images flashed one after another, as if dredged up from his memory by an invisible hand.
These were "screenshots" of the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
Five scrolls, lined up in a row.
They hovered before Mo Ning’s eyes, motionless, like five windows to different worlds.
At first glance, aside from the breathtakingly magnificent scenery, there was nothing unusual about them.
But Mo Ning keenly perceived that a deeply hidden secret had been engraved within the landscapes.
