On the way back to Oval, Overton said to Ryan, "Ryan, is this what you said would happen to Master Ren today?"
"It should be," Ryan said. "If it wasn't for your master pulling him away today, he would probably have died at the hands of the zombies. It can be said that you are the noble person in the prophecy."
"Oh, really?" Overton said. From the smile on his face, it was clear he was satisfied with Ryan's statement.
After returning to Oval, the master and apprentice resumed their daily cultivation routine. Finally, a week later, the plants that Ryan gave to Overton were planted. So, Overton immediately packed up and prepared to go back to Scotland to report the good news.
After sending off Overton, Ryan told his two brothers that he was going to the provincial capital to see the elders and left Oval.
After turning a few corners to a place no one noticed, Ryan chose to return to Tim Hortans' grocery store.
Back at the grocery store, Ryan began to count his gains:Change the plot, 20 offset points.Obtained the full set of Cummins' Liam inheritance, divided into five parts: mental techniques, spells, miscellaneous studies, side practices, and physical arts.A pile of yellow paper, cinnabar, and other items sold in the town before.After taking inventory, Ryan was satisfied with the relatively complete set of British practice methods he had obtained this time. Although this was a practice method from a declining spiritual world, where the upper limit was not very high, orthodox Catholic methods were still convenient for cultivation. As a foundational method, although this orthodox mental technique was slower to cultivate, it helped lay a solid foundation.
In short, Ryan was satisfied with his harvest and began to absorb it into his own strength. The first instillation was the part of miscellaneous studies and physical arts, each consuming three offset points. Miscellaneous studies mainly involved feng shui, matching cinnabar, and other knowledge, while physical arts included fighting and footwork, making them relatively cheap since they did not involve extraordinary power.
Next came spell training. Since spells required extraordinary power to be drawn, it cost 15 offset points to learn them. Once the knowledge was instilled, Ryan replaced his mahogany sword with a wand and tried to draw symbols in the air using his magic. It worked, but the power consumption was much higher than stated in the book, and the spell's effectiveness was only half of what was described.
Unwilling to accept this, Ryan took out a brush and cinnabar, then used the only aura in his body to draw talismans on yellow paper. After several attempts, he successfully drew a simple corpse-suppressing charm. After analyzing it, Ryan found that the talisman's effect was nearly identical to those drawn by Overton, at least for basic charms.
It seemed that these power systems complemented each other. Right now, only simple spells were showing signs of incompatibility, but forcing more complex spells with magic could potentially cause a dangerous backlash.
Moving on, Ryan studied some miscellaneous techniques, mainly concerning spiritual power applications like manipulating human puppets and methods of controlling corpses. Though Ryan thought these were not very useful, he still learned them just in case, consuming seven offset points in the process.
Finally, it was time for the main cultivation method. Ryan attempted to infuse his body with spiritual energy, hoping to speed up his training. Since he had already successfully cultivated by himself before, he only needed to infuse power this time. However, the system informed him that his body could only receive one year's worth of infusion, which would cost 20 offset points.
After much deliberation, Ryan gritted his teeth and chose power infusion. A beam of light enveloped him, making him feel as if he were soaking in a Black Pool Sand hot spring, completely relaxed and unwilling to move.
When the beam disappeared, Ryan was astonished to find that his level of cultivation was now comparable to Mulder, who had trained for nearly ten years. After some thought, Ryan realized that cultivation was inherently difficult in a declining spiritual world, whereas Tim Hortans' grocery store worked based on normal environments, which explained the discrepancy.
After these upgrades, Ryan looked at his remaining five offset points and sighed. Spending all his saved-up points in one go was distressing, but he could at least console himself with the fact that his strength had greatly improved.
After circulating his spiritual power a few times, Ryan stood up, tidied himself, and checked his reflection in the Mirror for Aid. Once he confirmed that everything was normal, he chose to return to the real world.
Stepping through the space door, Ryan reappeared in the toilet cubicle where he had left. Since it was after dinner, most students were gathered in the common room or library, leaving the nearby bathroom relatively empty.
After washing his face at the sink, Ryan headed back to Gryffindor Tower's common room. Though he had spent nearly half a month in the world of "Dr. Zombie Bruce," only an hour had passed in the main world. This time difference felt surreal, and all Ryan wanted to do was sleep and adjust his internal clock.
That night, Ryan went to bed around 8 PM and woke up early the next morning. As he left his dormitory, he was surprised to see Hermione already reading in the common room.
So this is what a true scholar looks like, Ryan thought with sincere admiration.
After exiting the common room, Ryan decided to go for a run inside the castle. At 6:30 AM, Hogwarts was mostly empty, with only a few hurried students and a half-asleep headmaster in pajamas.
Taking advantage of the quiet, Ryan went down to the second floor to check out a location he might need soon: Myrtle's bathroom.
The abandoned bathroom was located in a secluded corridor. While many students passed through the area when heading back to their lounges from the auditorium, the bathroom itself was in a state of disrepair and had been unused for a long time.
Just as Ryan was about to investigate further, a misty figure emerged from the wall. "Good morning, Ryan. You're up early—what brings you here?" It was Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost.
"Good morning, sir. I'm exercising," Ryan replied. Since he had an interest in history, he often chatted with ghosts to learn from their firsthand accounts. As a result, he had built a good relationship with many of them, including Nick, who always greeted him warmly.
"Oh, exercise! That's a good habit. Back in my day, every wizard practiced physical training, but modern wizards seem to have abandoned it," Nick sighed regretfully. As he shook his head, it nearly fell off, forcing him to hurriedly reattach it.
"Magic is useful, but it doesn't solve everything," Nick continued. "If I had been more dedicated to my training, maybe I could have escaped my pursuers, even without my wand."
"But Hogwarts doesn't have many places suited for exercise. Running in the castle is my only option. You've been here for a long time—do you know any good spots for physical training?" Ryan asked.
Nick thought for a moment before replying, "Actually, I do know of a place that might suit your needs…"
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