"Thank you, I've already eaten."

Luo Rui was startled when she saw Li Qing's face: "Brother Qing, since when did you become so avant-garde, giving yourself smoky eye makeup?"

Smoky eye makeup?

Li Qing subconsciously touched his eyes: "Is it that bad? I didn't sleep well last night..."

"Stayed up late last night?"

Luo Rui gave a teasing smile: "Was it..."

Li Qing laughed awkwardly: "What's going on in that little head of yours? Last night... well, I was so absorbed in studying that by the time I came around, it was already daylight."

Li Qing took out his phone to check, it was nine fifteen, still fifteen minutes to go.

Luo Rui wrinkled her nose: "Oh, come on."

She had thought there would be some gossip to listen to. It's been six months since she joined the company, although Li Qing liked joking with colleagues, he hadn't found a girlfriend yet.

Listening to Luo Rui chirping beside him about the problems she encountered at work yesterday, leading to overtime until seven, then asked Li Qing to check her computer at her workstation.

Li Qing casually agreed while recalling the first step practice of "Basic Meditation Technique" from last night.

After getting on the elevator, clocking in at the company, Li Qing went straight to his workstation in the server room and slumped down.

Indeed, thanks to the company having a local server room, his workstation had been moved to a small partition within the server room, a room for one person. Although the server's hum kept buzzing, the soundproofing was good so you couldn't really hear anything.

After the daily system maintenance, checking the servers for any abnormalities, and solving some minor computer issues for colleagues, Li Qing lay on his workstation, looking at himself in a mirror.

The first glance made him slightly startled.

The reflection showed him wearing glasses, his face was terrifyingly pale, with dark circles like smoky eye makeup, looking as if suffering from chronic fatigue.

As a result, many colleagues were laughing when they saw him resolving issues earlier.

"Is it really that draining on the spirit?"

Li Qing blinked his eyes, finally set the mirror aside, rested for a while in the morning, and after having lunch and taking a break for two hours, he felt restored.

Unrolling the paper again, he opened "Magic Origin" and started reading attentively.

The book explained the basic structure of magic very clearly, Li Qing judged this book was entirely designed for a beginner.

Magic originates from the so-called Gods, like in those Western myths and legends. Gods observe everything in the world, turning their insights into a book, thus creating the mysterious "Primordial Magic" book. Like Adam and Eve, humans stole the book out of greed, and hence magic spread in human society.

However, according to those old mage scholars, although this legend is still not very reliable, it can serve as one of the proofs.

This legend contains many magic holy artifacts existing in the present world.

Another legend is like Prometheus, who saw humans living under harsh conditions on the barbaric land and spread fire out of compassion. Thus, after gaining extraordinary power, humans began to delve into magic, creating a prosperous magical era that endures to this day...

Li Qing read with enthusiasm, unconsciously the six o'clock clocked off time arrived.

Once he came to, Li Qing quickly packed up, clocked out, and left.

After leaving the company, he casually found a fast-food restaurant to eat, then excitedly returned to his place, set the alarm, and immediately fell asleep on the bed.

"Basic Meditation Technique" had already explained that if spirit is overused, sleeping is the best recovery method.

Already exhausted, Li Qing fell asleep the moment he hit the bed.

"Beep beep beep... beep beep beep..."

Li Qing instinctively pressed the phone's volume button, turned off the alarm, and rolled over to sleep again.

Repeatedly, until nine thirty, Li Qing woke up groggily, went to the bathroom to wash his face to wake up, then lay back on the bed, closed his eyes for meditation, sketching lines.

Three minutes later, Li Qing opened his eyes with a somewhat strange expression. Though today's distractions were far less than yesterday, they still came repeatedly, making it hard for him to calm down.

No wonder Taoism emphasizes stabilizing the monkey mind, meditation and Taoist sitting have many parallels.

Li Qing subconsciously touched his lower back, feeling he could still sustain a few rounds, then opened a hidden folder on his computer.

Nineteen minutes later...

Li Qing lay on the bed with a calm and satisfied expression, in a state of saintly tranquility, slowly sketching lines in the meditation image.

As long as a complete line is sketched out, the meditation line seems to fully settle and solidify.

If there are no obstacles, Li Qing estimates he can only complete around thirty percent before the start of Gray Magic Academy.

However, if sketched out meditation lines can effectively strengthen the spirit, then he'll have extra spirit to accelerate sketching.

"Basic Meditation Technique," as the name suggests, should be the simplest and most understandable entry level meditation method at Gray Magic Academy.

The second line starts again from the origin point, slowly sketching and extending outwards, bit by bit, emerging from the void in an extremely precise manner...

When the second line is completed and solidified after repeated visualization, Li Qing slowly opened his eyes, closed them again for a while, ensuring he didn't feel any excruciating headache, only a slightly dizzy sensation, which made his expression brighten slightly.

It seemed his hypothesis was accurate, as the number of sketched lines increased, his spirit became sturdier, representing a rather clear process.

On the third day, Li Qing still hadn't found a good way to meditate, ultimately resorting to his trump card.

Seventeen minutes later...

Li Qing fully sketched two lines, with considerable progress.

On the fourth day, Li Qing again resorted to his trump card.

Sixteen minutes later...

Quickly entered the meditation state and sketched three lines.

On the fifth day, Li Qing performed his trump card extremely skillfully.

Fifteen minutes later...

On the sixth day, fourteen minutes later...

Until three days before the start of school, the true man Li Qing had completely sketched all three hundred and sixty-five white lines of the "Basic Meditation Technique," forming a very rounded sphere, identical to the pattern on the meditation image.

Sunken cheeks, deep eye sockets, and a thin figure made him look like he could be toppled by a breeze. Yet, catching everyone's attention were his extraordinarily bright eyes, seemingly like a pair of light bulbs, with a gleaming spirit.