"...Are you going to just keep having fun like this, or are you going to explain it and let me have fun too?"
After a moment of silence, seeing that Benjamin did not continue, the system asked helplessly.
"Thank you, I can enjoy myself alone." Naturally, Benjamin would not let go of this opportunity to retaliate to the system.
"..." If the system had five senses, it would be full of smoke at this moment.
It's not that Benjamin sincerely wants to anger the system, but that the cultivation method he just thought of is just a prototype, and if it doesn't work, he will be laughed at by the system. And he is indeed a little fed up with the system being offline. Finding some opportunities to fix the system should be good for their future communication.
Closer to home, through the experiment just now, he already has a more systematic understanding of magic.
The water element is the basis for all his magic. For him, there are two types of water elements: those gathered in his consciousness space, and those floating in the real world. He can sense and communicate with the water element in the real world, but it is difficult to mobilize it. Recalling that the only time he used water polo technique in reality before, he actually mobilized the water element in the consciousness space.
The water elements in the consciousness space gather around the magic characters, and Benjamin can control them through the characters. Every time you use magic, part of the water element will be consumed. In other words, the water element stored in the consciousness space is his "magic power".
The more water elements he stores, the more and more powerful magic he can release.
Apart from learning new magic, this should be the only way Benjamin can find to make himself stronger. If he could learn new magic, of course he would choose to learn new magic. But now he is alone, how can he study? He was not confident enough to think that he could invent magic, so he could only wait until Anne's relics were obtained.
Therefore, to simplify all complex thoughts, the only thing he can do at the moment is to increase the reserve of water element in his consciousness space.
So the question is, how to store more water elements
What else can be done, drawn from the real world of course.
From what is written in ordinary fantasy novels, the so-called meditation of a mage is probably just like this. Absorb magical elements from the world around you and store them to grow in strength.
In fact, whether it is magic, fighting spirit or other powers, it is a process of storage-accumulation-qualitative change. Unsurprisingly, the same is true for the world he lives in. As long as he continues to accumulate his magic elements, he can become stronger.
This is what he himself understood as the mage's cultivation method.
"Ah, what a genius I am!"
Once again self-taught, Benjamin felt swollen.
"So you really don't want to explain it to me?" The system's voice sounded a bit resentful.
"Yes." Benjamin answered simply.
“…”
Just do it, Benjamin immediately started trying. He closed his eyes and maximized his awareness of the water element. Although the air quality in the basement is not good, it is generally a relatively humid place, with a lot of water elements surrounding it. Benjamin tried hard to feel these free water elements, and then tried to communicate with them, trying to absorb them into his conscious space.
At the beginning of this process, Benjamin was actually a little confused. He didn't know how to absorb the water element, so he could only instinctively use his thoughts to try to command the water element, but nothing happened.
But he was not discouraged and quickly realized the problem:
He should not communicate with the water element, he should communicate with his own consciousness space.
The consciousness space is a very wonderful existence. It should be used to absorb water elements. Otherwise, even if he can communicate with the free water elements, he can only suck them into his body - what is the use of sucking them into his body? He is not thirsty. .
Benjamin began to sense his conscious space. He did not enter the space, but maintained a semi-entered state, feeling the depth of the conscious space while trying to stay in the real world.
It was a rather magical state: he was about to enter the consciousness space, but he relied on his will to hold on and kept his vision in the real world. He personally felt the slowness of his breathing and blood flow, as if his soul had left his body, watching himself from a spectator's perspective.
A wonderful feeling arises spontaneously.
His intuition told him that this was the situation.
So, he maintained his state and waited for a while. After his feeling gradually stabilized, he began to try again to feel the wandering and ownerless water elements around him.
Change occurs suddenly.
Whenever Benjamin's perception touches a small piece of water element, that piece of water element will suddenly disappear out of thin air, and in the consciousness space, a small piece of water element will suddenly appear. The whole process seems to tear apart the space. The water element is absorbed in only a short moment without any process, which makes people feel incredible.
Benjamin, on the other hand, could not stop being ecstatic.
He successfully found a way to absorb the water element!
Every time he absorbed the water element, a cool feeling would pass through his whole body, as if he was also celebrating his success, and Benjamin couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Driven by this feeling, Benjamin didn't have time to think. As if he was addicted, he allowed his perception to sweep through the basement over and over again, sucking in all the water elements within his consciousness.
The conscious space that was dry just now was quickly filled with the moist water element. After another half an hour, a feeling of fullness came from the conscious space, and Benjamin reluctantly stopped absorbing the water element.
He exited from that semi-conscious and semi-realistic state, took a deep breath, and felt a sense of relief from the inside out.
"It's so cool, even better than a big sword!"
He sighed sincerely.
"...Is this the cultivation method you developed?"
At this time, the system also appeared. Having witnessed everything, it obviously understood Benjamin's method, so at this moment, it said this with some resentment.
"Yes, you don't need to say anymore, I know I am a genius, you don't need to praise me." Benjamin shook his hair narcissistically.
"...No one wants to praise you."
Listening to the dull mechanical sound, the system was obviously holding its breath at this moment.
"Well, since you insist so much, there's nothing I can do about it. Come on, don't be stingy with your vocabulary, praise me as hard as you can!" Benjamin obviously wasn't listening to what the system was saying, and was still inflated.
The system was silent for a while, and then it seemed to get on fire, raising the volume three times. A sound like a rock concert sounded loudly in Benjamin’s ears:
"No! There are! People! Want! to! Praise!! You! Your! Method! Failed! Failed!"
Benjamin was stunned by the voice, but he gradually came to his senses, frowned, and asked, "What did you say?"
The system calmed down and said in a normal volume: "No one wants to praise you, your method failed."
Benjamin didn't take it seriously, thinking that the system was just making old mistakes again.
He asked, "Where did you fail?"
The system replied: "If you go back to the consciousness space and take a look, you will know why I said that."
Listening to the serious tone of the system, Benjamin realized that the other party was not joking, and he recovered from the giddy feeling. He returned to the consciousness space with some doubts. Everything in the space was as before, the dark environment, light blue characters, floating water elements...
Nothing seems wrong.
Wait... business as usual
Benjamin suddenly realized what the problem was.
The water element in the conscious space is the same as usual, but they should not be the same as usual. Benjamin had been working so hard to absorb the water element just now. The reserve at this moment should be much more than the so-called "usual"!
Where have all the water elements gone
"In the short time you were narcissistic, they all disappeared by themselves." The system replied.
"It was lost? Why was it lost?" Benjamin was a little frustrated. So much water element was lost all at once, which made him feel that all his efforts were in vain, and it felt a little painful.
"Aren't you a genius? Why are you asking me?" The system seemed to have learned the old lady's unique skills, and the harm to others became more and more powerful.
Benjamin didn't care, but frowned deeply and said to himself: "That's wrong, what is the reason..."
He fell into thinking again.
He had a feeling that the real answer lay in his mind. He had just missed something very important, causing problems with his thinking, just like a racing car missing a very important gear.
With such a perfect "storage-accumulation-qualitative change" system, what exactly did he miss
"Why won't it be lost? The water element stays well in the air. Why should it stay in your consciousness space? Why won't it be lost?"
While Benjamin was thinking, the system finally seized the opportunity and launched a counterattack against Benjamin mercilessly.
Benjamin no longer paid attention to the system's words, he was completely lost in thought. The entire cultivation method, the entire consciousness space, went through his mind over and over again. He felt that his idea was right, and it was a sure thing to come up with a feasible method.
But... the method was wrong.
What exactly went wrong
"Why… "
He started muttering subconsciously.
"Why, why, why is it not lost? Why is it not lost?" The system imitated Benjamin's tone and made up the words like a nursery rhyme, mocking Benjamin in various ways.
Perhaps because the system's chanting was more rhythmic and magical, Benjamin also subconsciously started chanting along:
"Why... why... why not drain..."
Why... not lost
Suddenly an idea flashed in Benjamin's mind.
Yes, the extra water element is lost, but what’s left? Why don't they disappear? Why did I keep these water elements instead of letting them disappear with them
Reversing his train of thought slightly, Benjamin discovered that the answer he wanted was far away but right before his eyes.
He raised his head and looked at the blue light in front of him. The light blue light reflected on his face, and a smile of enlightenment was outlined on his face.
How could he forget this blue triangle!
Everything comes from this triangular iron-like magic character. It is it that splits the closed space of consciousness, it is it that gathers the abundant and lively water element here, it is it that gives Benjamin the power to perceive the water element, and it is it that allows Benjamin to summon water balls.
It is it that retains these water elements. And when the water element existing in the consciousness space exceeds the carrying range of the character, the character will not be able to retain the excess water element. Therefore, they are lost by themselves in an instant.
After understanding all this, Benjamin immediately made adjustments to his training methods: accumulating water elements is not the key to becoming stronger. The key to becoming stronger is to strengthen this blue rune so that it can control more water. element.
As for how to strengthen this character...
Benjamin thought for a while and quickly came up with an idea. He suddenly mobilized a piece of water element in the consciousness space and controlled them to float towards the characters. It's still a bit difficult to control these water elements out of thin air, and they don't float very fast. It took a lot of effort for Benjamin to get them close to the characters.
Under his control, the water element comes into contact with the characters.
Buzz! The character made a roar that was completely different from before.
Benjamin felt his eyes flash, and then, he seemed to have entered a pure blue world. Various blue runes surrounded him like celestial bodies, and a mysterious and strange feeling fascinated him.
But it was only a short moment. He just blinked and returned to the dark space of consciousness, as if everything just now was just his illusion.
what is that
Benjamin squinted his eyes, looked at the triangular character still hanging in the air, and fell into deep thought again. But soon, he relaxed his brows and once again aimed at the water elements gathered around him. He controlled the water element again and floated towards the blue characters.
This time, the water element came into contact with the characters, but what happened just now did not happen. Benjamin only saw the water element integrated into the characters like a river flowing into the ocean.
The characters lit up slightly and returned to their previous appearance.
Undeterred, Benjamin began to repeat the action. He felt that he had cracked the mystery of the consciousness space and the blue characters, and all that was left to do was to prove his ideas with practice.
He controlled the water elements over and over again, letting them get close to the characters and then be absorbed by them. And this process seemed a bit slow due to his lack of control ability. Therefore, even if it is carried out in the conscious space where time does not pass quickly, it consumes a lot of Benjamin's time.
Until he merged all the water elements in the consciousness space into the runes, it had been almost twelve hours in the real world.
For a full twelve hours, if you weren't locked in the basement, it would be difficult to go on like this without being disturbed.
When the system told Benjamin that twelve hours had passed, Benjamin was also quite surprised. Although this process was boring and repetitive, for some reason, he felt that he was fully immersed in it, so intoxicated that he couldn't even feel the passage of time.
This magical feeling deepened his confidence.
This feeling was very similar to the feeling when he saw magic for the first time, as if something was calling him from the dark. If it weren't for the right method, he would never feel this way.
Thinking of this, he raised his head again and stared at the flashing triangular characters in the consciousness space.
The characters finally changed. It became more dazzling, and the blue light was like a bright star, silently confirming Benjamin's guess.
But this alone was not enough. He looked at the characters and was about to start the final verification.
After resting for a while, he waited for the depleted water element in the consciousness space to slowly replenish, and waited for about half an hour. Finally, the surrounding water elements had almost recovered, and were even denser than before.
He stretched out his hand, pointed it at the characters, and recited the water balloon spell again.
Accompanied by the clear "ding" sound of the characters and the surge of water elements, a new water ball emerged in his palm, which was more than twice the size of the water ball summoned before.
Benjamin looked at the huge water balloon in his hand, and finally showed a satisfied smile:
"Look, that's a slap in the face, I'm a fucking genius."