Allen's voice echoed in the empty practice room, clear and powerful.
Lester sat cross-legged on the cold floor, forcing his chaotic thoughts to keep up with the other's pace.
He could feel Allen's gaze lingering on him, as if diagnosing a patient.
"We'll start from the very beginning. Forget the Rune, forget Magic, forget that candle. Now, close your eyes and summon your Spiritual Power." Allen's instructions were concise and clear.
Lester did as he was told.
He carefully drew a faint wisp of power from his parched Sea of Consciousness.
The moment the power appeared, it began to destabilize as it always did, its edges starting to dissipate.
"Describe it," Allen said. "Don't use textbook terms. Tell me in your own words what it feels like. Its shape, texture, temperature."
The question caught Lester off guard. No Wizard Tutor had ever asked him something like this. They only ever said, "Focus," or "Maintain a stable output."
"It's... like a cloud of mist."
Lester struggled to find the words. "I try to squeeze it into a ball, but it won't obey. The edges keep fraying. It feels... messy. Exhausting."
Deep within Allen's consciousness, DSeek's data stream silently analyzed.
[Target Spiritual Power Model Analysis: Structure is in a state of high entropy. Subject is attempting to maintain form via external compression, resulting in a wastage rate of up to 47%. Core error: Treating Spiritual Power as a 'material' to be molded, rather than a 'fluid' to be guided.]
"Stop 'squeezing' it." Allen's voice rang out again. "You're treating it like a piece of clay you need to shape, but it's actually a current of water. Have you ever seen anyone try to grab hold of a current with their bare hands?"
'A current of water?' Lester's mind went blank.
"You don't need to grab it. You need to build a riverbed for it." Allen walked behind Lester, extended a finger, and lightly tapped him on the back, just behind his heart. "Imagine your blood flowing from your heart, from here, all the way to your fingertips."
"Don't try to 'push' the Spiritual Power. Open the sluice gate and let it 'flow' on its own."
Lester's body trembled slightly.
He tried to abandon that antagonistic form of control, instead using his mind to envision an invisible channel.
At first, his Spiritual Power was still chaotic, crashing about like the floodwaters from a burst dam.
Allen's voice remained perfectly calm, yet it pinpointed the problem with precision. "Contain it. Imagine you are etching a line on glass with the tip of a diamond blade. It must be absolutely smooth, absolutely uniform. Start slowly. Even if it's just a single unit of energy, make it run on a perfect track."
Lester gritted his teeth, sweat dripping from his temples.
He immersed his entire being into that imaginary "channel," polishing and correcting it over and over again.
He felt a stabbing pain from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness—a warning that he was overexerting his Spiritual Power.
"Don't stop."
Allen's voice was ruthlessly cold. "The pain is feedback for your calibration. Your nerves are learning a new pattern. Remember this feeling."
Vera and Colin watched from a short distance away, their hearts in their throats.
They watched as Lester's face grew increasingly pale, his body swaying as if about to collapse.
Colin whispered to Vera, "Is he going to break Lester? This looks far too dangerous."
Vera didn't answer, her gaze locked on Allen. His posture, his tone, every single one of his instructions—they all radiated an absolute, unwavering confidence.
He didn't look like someone conducting a dangerous experiment, but more like a technician calibrating a precision instrument, with a perfect grasp of every single parameter.
After what felt like an eternity, the tension in Lester's body suddenly vanished.
That once-manic, untamable Spiritual Power, guided by his consciousness, had actually formed a stable, slender stream flowing along the "riverbed" he had envisioned.
"Very good." For the first time, Allen's voice held a hint of approval. "Step one is complete. You now possess a pen that can write, not a splotch of ink that just stains the paper. Now, open your eyes and look at the candle."
Lester opened his eyes, his vision slightly blurry. He looked toward the quiet candle flame.
"Remember what I told you? Your target isn't the flame, but the space it occupies," Allen continued to guide him. "Trace the Rune the same way you just did, as if you're digging a riverbed, and then channel Magic Power into it."
"Aim, then release."
Lester raised his hand, aiming his fingertip at the intangible coordinate in space. He drove the now-tamed streamlet of Spiritual Power, following Allen's instructions to guide his Magic Power.
There was no sound, no flash of light.
In the practice room, the candle flame, which had been utterly motionless, suddenly lurched backward and went out completely. A thin wisp of smoke curled into the air.
For a moment, the practice room was so quiet you could hear a breath.
Colin's mouth hung open in an "O." Vera's eyes were also wide with utter disbelief.
Lester stared dumbly at his own finger, then at the extinguished candle, his body beginning to tremble with overwhelming excitement.
He had done it.
The candle flame he hadn't been able to affect for a week... he had extinguished it so easily, and with his Spiritual Power almost completely drained.
"Again," Allen's voice broke the silence. "This time, your goal is to make the flame lean to the left without extinguishing it."
Lester took a deep breath and raised his hand again. This time, he was more confident. Squeezing out the last of his Spiritual Power, he applied it with precision to the space on the right side of the flame. The flame immediately leaned to the left, flickering but not going out.
"To the right."
The flame leaned right.
Like a child receiving a beloved toy for the first time, Lester's eyes shone with ecstatic joy.
He looked at Allen, his voice filled with awe and gratitude. "I... I get it... So that's how it works! It's control, it's guidance, not brute force!"
"These are the basics." Allen's ten-Magic-Stone service smile vanished, and his tone returned to its usual indifference.
Allen extended his finger and traced the full structural sequence of the "Release" Rune in the air.
But in Lester's eyes, it was no longer an abstract symbol. It was a clear, three-dimensional schematic of channels formed by the flow of Magic Power. Every node, every path, corresponded perfectly to what he had just experienced in his practice.
"There are forty-five minutes left in our one-hour session." Allen glanced at the clock on the wall. "You can take a moment to recover your Spiritual Power, then practice here until you've mastered it completely. Remember, every time you cast, you must repeat that process of 'building a riverbed.' Once you're proficient, the process will take only an instant."
With that said, Allen stepped aside and fell silent. He had delivered the product worth ten Magic Stones.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lester meditated for a short while before immediately diving back into his practice.
One success, two successes, three...
Though his Spiritual Power was still weak, every bit he expended was now used with extreme efficiency.
Vera and Colin walked over to Allen. Colin lowered his voice, his tone a mixture of envy and bewilderment. "Ten Magic Stones... just like that? What he taught... it seems... it seems so simple?"
"It only seems simple because he already did the hardest part."
Vera's eyes were sharp; she understood far more. "He's selling more than just a technique. The fact that Lester failed for a week and spent five Magic Stones on a potion proves this technique is anything but simple."
Allen glanced at Vera but didn't say anything.
'This girl is more perceptive than I expected.'
「An hour later.」
Lester stopped.
He stood up, walked before Allen, and bowed deeply. His posture was as formal as if he were meeting a true Wizard Tutor.
"Lord Allen." He used the formal address. "These ten Magic Stones are the best money I've spent since I entered the academy. What you've taught me isn't just a Rune, but a way of thinking. I... I don't know how to thank you."
"You've already paid," Allen replied calmly.
"No, it's not enough." Lester's eyes were incredibly sincere. "If I have more questions in the future, can I still come to you? And for your Learning Mutual Aid Group... I'll pay whatever fee you find satisfactory."
"My time is limited," Allen said, leaving the door open.
"I understand!" Lester nodded emphatically. He had heard the opportunity in Allen's tone.
He turned and also gave a small bow to the still-dazed Vera and Colin before quickly striding out of the practice room.
He had broken free from despair, his stride firm and resolute once more.