Heaven's Greatest Professor

Read the pattern and you'll learn what to do next. That was the gist of what the strange white-haired girl mentioned before she flew off.

Warden set aside his sword and sat down with his runic stylus. He didn't try to make the anti-gravity runes anymore; instead, he put his undivided attention into interpreting the wind pattern.

He let his awareness drift into the swift ambient wind and spent a good quarter of an hour entering the flow. Instantly, it appeared as if he had grown a third eye, as his awareness began to pick up on the intricacies of the pattern, linking with the ambient energy flow.

It wasn't the wind that created the pattern... No, it was the ambient energy all along. Warden just failed to see it until now. Warden could enter the flow state in two ways: once when he was wielding his spear to his greatest capabilities or when he got too invested in runesmithing.

He hadn't been using his spear for quite some time, but he had spent a good half-day here runesmithing. Unfortunately, he was so invested in completing the anti-gravity scripts quickly, he failed to notice the intricacies in the pattern of ambient energy.

Hmm, could it be called ambient energy, though? It was clearly man-made... or by some other supernatural creature. But considering how it transformed the energy flow into an orderly chaotic flow, Warden had no other words for it.

Warden had been searching for rune formations and traps since he first experienced the wind blade. It turned out they were hidden in something very delicate and complex. It was before his eyes, but he couldn't see.

The pattern in the ambient energy wasn't like chains after chains of runes. No, they were more like a swirl of energy, curling around one another, connected to one another, ever-flowing in a slow swirl. They were like knots in the air, countless thin strands of energy connected through countless knots.

Warden linked his awareness, his aura, to one of the knots and gathered his willpower to pull. The swirl rushed in his direction, and a swift rush of wind followed soon after.

"So this is what she mentioned," Warden said brightly. He stood up and began to drift his stylus in the air, drawing in more swirls of energy knots. He pulled faster and faster, and the calm swirl of air turned swifter like the blade of the wind.

Moreover, it appeared any kind of movement affected the pattern as the knots of energy swirled faster and lashed out with wind blades. But now, he wouldn't have to fear the wind blades... but what about the vortex? Warden didn't think he could challenge that at this moment.

"I'll think about it when I get to it," he muttered and began walking on the path.

The wind blades lashed at him at the first step. Warden dodged the first round of them, getting a better overview of the pattern. For the next wave, he controlled them completely, drawing their pattern at will, making the wind blades swirl around him before they dispersed.

Warden's expression brightened with his accomplishment. He hadn't thought it would be so easy to grasp the pattern. Then again, he hadn't stopped to think about it on his first day.

Now, the climb didn't seem as impossible anymore. Still, there was a long way to go.

With his spirit lifted, Warden crept upwards on the path. The intensity of the attacks rose, as Warden had to grasp more energy knots to ease his climb. He wasn't weightless like the white-haired girl—hell, he was likely close to five hundred pounds by now. It was nearly impossible for him to fly just by using the wind. Yet.

The more he stayed in the flow, the closer and more intimate it became. He had become one with nature, the ambient energy. His energy recovery rose to an unprecedented level—Warden had achieved that before. In this state, there felt like no end to the source of his energy. But of course, that couldn't be the truth.

Even if he could tap into the raw power of nature unlimitedly, his body couldn't continue relentlessly. During his heavy runesmithing work, Warden could keep up for almost half a day without resting if he put his mind into it. Of course, it would leave him drained for the next few hours.

However, tapping into the natural flow more actively to manipulate the wind blades was a tougher job. It needed far more control of his aura... and only having high points in spirit weren't enough for the job. It needed high points in Mind as well, and Warden's Mind attribute had been abysmal from the beginning.

His rank, which represented the quality of that attribute, mattered a lot as well. The white-haired girl had told him to come back when he was Gold—but that was still far away.

So, in the end, all he could do was clench his jaw, strengthen his will, and keep on.

He was exhausted beyond measure within a couple of hours. But in these couple of hours, Warden had moved close to five whole kilometres. Not to mention, the new way of aura manipulation he had learned.

Warden genuinely believed he hadn't learned something like this before his memory was wiped out. Yes, he could manipulate his aura to present himself as someone ordinary, or someone of high ranking, someone commanding, but this was something else. The former needed a more delicate and deep idea of his intention, while the latter was far more demanding, and it required delicate control as well.

Warden lay flat on the ground, pondering how else he could implement what he had learned in the last two hours. Staying in the flow for two whole hours—if he were capable of such a feat during combat, he would never have to worry about running out of energy.

True, the ambient energy was very different from Void or the Radiance essence; however, it was still better than any kind of recovery potion out there.

Warden lay there in silence and thought. How long would it take him to master such power?

Unwittingly, he fell asleep for an indeterminate amount of time. But when he woke up, it was nighttime again, and he had no interest in continuing on the path yet.

Instead, he sat cross-legged and began to contemplate his gains.

Something became clear to him. Master, Grandmaster, Sage—these weren't absolute ranks like Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold. No, they were more like thresholds, highly dependent on the comprehension of the path.

A Master was someone who barely touched into the flow, could tap into the natural power, as far as he interpreted it. This was why everyone was so impressed with him when they learned he was a Master at both Spear and Runesmithing when he was barely a copper ranker.

Well, tapping into the raw natural power came easier to Runesmiths, or something like an alchemist, as they always had to deal with things like synergy and harmony between different elements.

It was somewhat different for a master in other professions. They likely drew into the raw power instinctively.

However, once they learn to tap into the power at will... they were Grandmasters of the game. Of course, Warden didn't think he had reached that mark yet. Far from it, to be honest. Even most Master rank business was convoluted in his brain. However, he could see a clear path ahead of him.

It might take a while to get there, but it wasn't impossible.

Warden took a deep breath. It was early dawn, the sun barely risen, when he finished meditating.

He had no clue what kind of comprehension one needed to possess of the vast universe to gain the title of a Sage. Well, it likely fell more into the transcendence business—even in his full power before he lost his memory, he was likely far from any sage business.

So many things to look forward to, he mused.

Warden ate the leftover food from yesterday and continued on the path again. He didn't want to reach the top as soon as possible. That would eject him out of the trial. It wasn't every day he got access to such a top-tier training ground.

No, Warden would consolidate more on his Title of Master before attempting to climb to the top to meet the immortal.

Besides, he didn't think it would be all so easy.

Dealing with the vortex was difficult, but avoiding it was easier if he could just sit down for a while. Nobody seemed to direct the attacks on him, as all the wind blades or vortexes came and went at their own pace. Warden avoided them for now, as he took a more roundabout way of climbing.

He probably would never catch up to the nameless white-haired girl at this rate. But he couldn't help it. Besides, she was merely a figment of her records, a memory of long past... No matter how talented she seemed, she was but a small speck in the sea of time.

Suddenly, an attack of devastating wind power came out of nowhere and lashed out at him. Warden began to pull more strands of energy flow to work against the power, but with the little time he had, he was unable to even slow down the attack to dodge it.

He was flung away a dozen metres and crashed into a huge tree.

"Welcome, challenger," a voice roared. "May you be worthy to advance to the next point."

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A lot exposition on the magic system... I usually do not give details of them like this...