Free Web NovelThe Astronomical Clock was already completed, and the next step was to learn the "Star Prayer Meditation Method" and the "Star Sensing Method."
As one of the sources of power in this world, the stars were far less dazzling than the sun and moon, but many Transcendents had still taken notice of their special nature. Driven by a thirst for power, quite a few schools began pursuing the power of the stars, and from this pursuit, different schools gradually emerged.
Several hundred years ago, the "Mithril Clock" school was once called the "Clock School." At that time, it had not yet involved sensing or applying the power of the "Alien Star." It was only after the Named One "Abellid" successfully acquired a portion of the Clock's Authority that the school introduced the cultivation of the "Alien Star's" power.
As an Aspect, the "Alien Star" appeared extremely early, even earlier than the "Proud Sun" and the "Phantasmal Moon." However, it truly manifested its power and saw a massive emergence of beings at the "Alien Star" rank during the Fourth Epoch, the Star-Beast Epoch.
The "Primordial Beasts" that gazed at the stars gained wisdom from the starlight, gradually grew stronger, and became the overlords of that era. Then, in the Sixth Epoch, the Fairies defeated the "Primordial Beasts," corrupting them. The rank of all beings with the "Primordial Beast" Aspect was lowered, and they were converted to the "Beast Fang" Aspect.
At the same time, to suppress the descendants of the Primordial Beasts and prevent them from growing strong again, the Fairies began an extremely grand project. They pieced together the countless islands floating throughout the world, planted the World Tree, and used its massive Root System to unify all the land.
In that era, the sun and moon were controlled by the Fairies. The World Tree's enormous canopy also obscured the starry sky, allowing the sun and moon to travel beneath it. Deprived of the enlightenment of starlight, the wisdom of many beasts declined once more, becoming ignorant and savage. The Fairies, in turn, entered their most prosperous and glorious period.
Thus, it continued until the "Snake Lizard" that roamed the deep seas emerged from the distant oceans where the World Tree's canopy could not reach...
In the Eighth Epoch, the great war triggered by the descent of the Alien Star finally subsided. Some powerful beings from that alien world also remained in this world, becoming stars embedded in the World Wall. Compared to the dangerous and unknown alien stars, these celestial stars in the sky were safer. And so, the "Star-Gazing School" was born, dedicated to researching how to channel their power.
This school divided these stars into different star palaces, selecting the twelve most powerful as the main stars. When members of the school reached the Third Tier, they would each choose one of them, inscribing that star palace onto their Core Card. This granted them the protection of that star palace and allowed them to summon and wield its power at any time in the future.
The Star-Gazing School once flourished, spreading their methods of observing the stars and determining the calendar far and wide. But this very prosperity ultimately incurred the displeasure of the Hours. This was because the order of time and the calendar were already the Hours' Authority. Secondly, those stars were ultimately beings that had descended from another world. If the Star-Gazing School continued to expand, it would inevitably empower these alien star beings, threatening the foundation of this world.
After that, the Star-Gazing School suffered a massive blow, with many traces of its existence erased. Sylutia knew all this because the "Astronomical Clock Page" contained a detailed account of this history, serving as a warning for mages who walked this path.
Nowadays, the Hours' attitude toward these "alien stars" was to hope that these star palaces would serve as a Barrier for the world, blocking the intrusion of alien forces. But they also did not want these stars to grow powerful and become uncontrollable. Therefore, research and application on a small scale would not be overly interfered with by the Hours. However, once it began to expand, it would invite the Hours' suppression.
No wonder she rarely heard of schools primarily cultivating the "Alien Star" Aspect. She guessed that the "Mithril Clock" school was able to inherit this system only because they had reached some kind of agreement with the Hours.
The "Star Prayer Meditation Method" was a secret art left behind by the Star-Gazing School, now improved upon by the Mithril Clock School to make it safer. It could use starlight to temper one's own Mental Power, making it stronger, and also enhance one's resistance to "Alien Star" erosion.
Many beings of the "Alien Star" Aspect carried the aura and power of another world. With even the slightest carelessness, one could be eroded by it. In mild cases, it would cause a trance-like confusion; in severe cases, one would be bombarded by alien information, twisting their entire worldview, leading to madness and chaos.
After studying the knowledge of the 'Star Prayer Meditation Method,' Sylutia came to the back garden of Black Rose Palace on a night with no clouds obscuring the sky. She found a stone slab, cleaned it off, then slowly sat down, closed her eyes to concentrate her spirit, and began to sense the vast, distant starlight of the night sky.
It was said that the hardest part of this meditation method was establishing the first connection. Many people could never grasp the elusive, thread-like power of starlight.
A few minutes later, Sylutia felt her spiritual world grow completely still, and she began to immerse herself in the pitch-black, vast night sky.
Gradually, points of starlight flickering like fireflies began to emerge, and she perceived them. According to the instructions, she should now choose one of these points of starlight and continuously deepen the connection until she finally established a stable link with it. Then, she could move on to the next step and use the starlight to temper her spirit.
However...
Sylutia noticed one star in the night sky was like a giant searchlight. It directly resonated with her, with a massive form vaguely surfacing behind it.
Was this... the star of the 'Lion Palace'? And what was faintly taking shape within the star palace was the image of a vulture-lion.
Should she choose it? Sylutia was actually a bit reluctant. After all, her name "Sylutia" had been too deeply tied to the 'vulture-lion' before this. And now she was in the Mage Alliance.
But to reject such an active signal of goodwill seemed a bit like spurning the other's intention. After hesitating for a few seconds, Sylutia still chose to connect with this star.
A shooting star streaked heavily across the sky.
Within her consciousness, another star also streaked across. The scattered starlight that fell brought a refreshing coolness to the girl's consciousness, and then her mental will seemed to become clearer and sharper.
("Star Prayer Meditation Method" cycle completed, completion rate +240)
[Star Prayer Meditation Method Lv.1] (Alien Star): Sense starlight, bathe in the starlight radiance, gradually tempering the spirit. (Mental Power tempering +3, Alien Star erosion resistance +1)
Opening her eyes, Sylutia checked and felt the effect. The "Star Prayer Meditation Method" was roughly three times more effective than the basic meditation method. However, from what she read in the Astronomical Clock Page, in the early stages, the "Star Prayer Meditation Method" held no advantage over the basic method. In fact, it was even more difficult and its effects were slightly worse.
This was because most beginners could only sense and channel very faint starlight, far inferior to the meditation methods of the three moon-Aspects. Among all the various meditation methods, the three moon-Aspects were also much more powerful.
The Star Prayer Meditation Method wouldn't surpass the basic method until it was cultivated to Level 3 or above. It would only match the training effect of an intermediate-level meditation method by Level 6. After that, it would hold a slight advantage over other intermediate meditation methods.
The true advantage of the 'Star Prayer Meditation Method' lay in its other effect: enhancing resistance to Alien Star erosion. This meant that mages who cultivated this meditation method could, through rituals, summon certain Alien Star creatures to fight for them. For example, during the opening competition, the student Xavier had summoned the "Morning Star" octopus.
Other mages who directly summoned Alien Star creatures would be easily eroded by the Alien Star's power, affecting their spirit.
It was probably due to the influence of the Lion Palace. After all, it was impossible for an ordinary mage to sense and establish a connection with such a powerful star palace in the early stages.
After finishing her training, Sylutia assessed her condition. She estimated it would take about three days to fully digest the power of the starlight she had channeled this time before she could perform the Star Prayer Meditation Method training again.
During this time, she would need to learn how to construct the Page using the power of "Secret Word," as well as the final "Star Sensing Method." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
It was almost time, the girl thought to herself.
Next week, she could officially begin the advancement ritual.
