175: Chapter 175 Purple Gold Merchant Guild! Product Introduction! Crystal Meditation Method!

The next day, early morning.

Golden Flame Castle was shrouded in a thin layer of mist.

Rowan was in the study, reviewing the territory's account books.

He had to find a way to make money!

At this moment, a light knock came from outside the door. A maid pushed the door open, bowed, and reported: "My Lord, the caravan from the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance has arrived at the castle."

Upon hearing this, a flash of anticipation crossed Rowan's eyes as he said: "Take them to the reception hall."

Then, he stood up, straightened his collar, went downstairs, and headed to the reception hall.

When Rowan stepped into the first-floor reception hall, a slender middle-aged man was standing by the window, admiring the Frost flowers outside with great interest.

He was in his early forties, wearing a well-tailored dark blue mage robe.

His entire demeanor exuded a unique temperament, a blend of a scholar's elegance and a merchant's shrewdness.

Hearing the footsteps, the middle-aged man turned around with a smile on his lips and bowed slightly, saying: "You must be the Count Golden Flame, Lord Rowan Flynn?"

"I am Julian Sinclair, a special envoy from the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance. I have been entrusted by Viscount Hawke to come and liaise with you, My Lord."

He looked at Rowan with a sincere gaze, his tone filled with flattery: "I have long admired your great reputation, My Lord. Seeing you today, you are indeed extraordinary."

Rowan smiled and walked forward, extending his hand: "Mr. Sinclair, you have come a long way. You must be tired from the journey."

The two shook hands.

Julian smiled and said: "I appreciate your concern, My Lord. Setting out from Weixino City, the scenery along the way was beautiful, so it was not exhausting at all. On the contrary, this Golden Flame Castle is even more magnificent than I had heard."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries.

A moment later, the host and guest were seated, and the atmosphere relaxed.

The maid arrived quietly with a tray, serving two cups of steaming black tea.

Rowan picked up his teacup and took a sip. After setting it down, he got straight to the point: "Mr. Sinclair, regarding the request I asked Viscount Hawke to convey, I presume you are already aware of it."

"I need a reliable mage legacy."

He paused and looked at the other man: "Now, I have more specific requirements. I need a legacy for the Water and Earth elements."

Upon hearing this, Julian did not rush to answer.

He nodded slightly, seemingly quickly organizing the information in his mind, and then gently curled his fingers together.

Three streams of light overflowed from his fingertips, intertwining and rapidly condensing into three exquisite booklets.

The covers of the booklets were silver-white, water-blue, and earth-yellow, respectively.

Julian handed over the booklets and said: "Please take a look, My Lord. These are several suitable legacy schemes I have carefully selected based on your requirements."

He pointed to the silver-white booklet: "First is the Meditation Technique. Meditation Techniques are the basic skills for all spellcasters and are universal across all elements."

Then he pointed to the water-blue booklet: "This is the complete legacy for Water-element magic from the first to the third ring, covering a series of core knowledge such as elemental theory, spiritual power and spell construction principles, and mana circuit analysis."

"From the most basic Water Control to the third-ring Frost Storm, everything is included."

Finally, he pointed to the earth-yellow booklet: "This is the first to third-ring legacy for Earth-element magic, equally complete. It includes practical spells such as Rock Shaping, Gravity Manipulation, and Earth Vein Perception."

After listening to the introduction, Rowan did not immediately reach out to take the booklets. Instead, he furrowed his brows slightly, his eyes filled with a trace of confusion: "You said just now that Meditation Techniques are universal for spellcasters? In other words, it is not limited to mages?"

Upon hearing this, Julian understood Rowan's confusion, but he was not overly surprised.

After all, the other party was a Great Knight from the Knight path, and it was perfectly normal for him to have limited understanding of the spellcaster system.

After a moment of thought, he explained: "My Lord, you should know that there are many transcendent paths in this world, and their sources of power are all different."

"Although the names, rituals, and manifestations of power for each path are vastly different."

"However, if we put aside the appearances and look only at the most essential focus, they can be roughly divided into two categories."

"The physical side and the spiritual side."

Julian held up a finger: "The most well-known path on the physical side is the Knight path."

"Its source of power is an ancient god from the Primordial Era, who has long since fallen."

"You must have a deep understanding of this path, My Lord, so I will not elaborate further."

Then he held up a second finger: "And the professions and paths on the spiritual side focus on the development and application of spiritual power."

"Its source of power comes from the True Primordial Moon that reflects all worlds."

"The Mage path is a typical spiritual-side profession, requiring powerful spiritual power as a foundation."

"And the core cultivation method for spiritual power is the Meditation Technique. Through meditation, one continuously expands and strengthens the spiritual sea."

Julian paused here, then changed the subject: "However, there is not only one type of spellcaster in the world, the mage."

"Theoretically speaking, as long as they are spellcasters on the spiritual side, such as Warlocks, Sorcerers, Priests, etc., they can all use Meditation Techniques to strengthen their spiritual power."

"Therefore," Julian paused, emphasizing: "What truly determines the essence of a mage, distinguishing them from other spellcasters, is not the Meditation Technique, but the core knowledge system exclusive to mages."

"The Star Palace and Star Ring spiritual configurations!"

"Oh?" Rowan's eyes narrowed slightly, and his body leaned forward involuntarily.

Seeing that Rowan seemed quite interested in this, Julian continued to explain in depth: "The so-called Star Palace is the core transcendent spiritual configuration of a mage, and it is the foundation of everything."

"You can imagine it as the foundation and main frame of a palace. It determines how large this palace can be built and how much weight it can bear."

"And Star Rings are the ring-shaped spiritual structures that mages use to anchor and manipulate external elemental power."

"Their models in the spiritual sea are built layer by layer around the Star Palace, just like ripples spreading outward from a center point."

"In other words, the stronger a mage's Star Palace, the more Star Rings they can support, and the higher the upper limit of their mana manipulation."

"And the strength of a mage largely depends on how many Star Rings they have constructed."

Julian pointed to himself and smiled slightly: "For instance, I myself am a four-ring mage."

His tone was flat, but a trace of hard-to-conceal pride flashed in his eyes.

"Therefore, the difference in the core transcendent spiritual configuration determines the difference in the path."

He withdrew his hand and continued: "The Star Palace and Star Rings are the configurations exclusive to mages!"

"In contrast, other spellcasters. A Warlock's power comes mostly from various sacrifices and contracts, a Sorcerer's power comes mostly from bloodline power, and a Priest's power comes from divine laws..."

"Although these spellcasters also use spells, the underlying logic of their power is completely different from that of mages."

He concluded: "Only mages are the purest spiritual-side spellcasters. They do not rely on external forces, they do not rely on bloodlines; they rely purely on their own spiritual configurations and knowledge systems to leverage the elemental power between heaven and earth."

After listening, Rowan nodded thoughtfully and asked another question that concerned him: "Then, can two paths be cultivated simultaneously?"

"For example, can a person walk the Knight path and the Mage path at the same time?"

"And how should one determine Mage talent?"

Julian smiled slightly, as if he had long expected him to ask this question: "Of course you can!"

"In fact, while there are not many people who cultivate multiple paths simultaneously, it is by no means rare."

"Mage talent comes from the transcendent attributes of the soul quality, which are mostly innate."

"As far as I know, there are several famous legendary powerhouses on the continent who are paragons of dual-path cultivation."

He held up two fingers: "This is usually divided into two situations."

"The first is cultivating different professions simultaneously. For example, practicing both the Knight Breathing Technique and the Mage Meditation Technique, tempering both the body and the spirit."

"Such individuals often possess extremely strong comprehensive combat power; they can engage in melee combat when advancing, and cast spells from a distance when retreating, making them truly all-around."

"The second is cultivating different branches within the same profession."

"For instance, a Sorcerer, because their spellcasting ability comes from bloodline talent, can choose to fuse different transcendent magical beast bloodlines, thereby gaining diverse abilities."

"For this, Sorcerers also have specialized power system knowledge used to study the combination and balance between different bloodlines."

Speaking of this, Julian changed the subject, his tone becoming cautious: "However, the cost of dual cultivation is not small."

"The further one goes, the more the demand for resources and energy increases geometrically."

"A person's energy is limited, and the path of transcendence is like sailing against the current—extremely difficult."

"Dividing one's attention means having to exert double or even more effort to maintain the synchronized advancement of both paths."

"Especially for paths like the Sorcerer, which rely on bloodlines, later advancement is extremely dependent on external resources."

"Either devouring the bloodline essence of higher-order creatures or seeking heavenly treasures to purify one's own bloodline."

"Without strong financial support, it is easy to fail on both ends, with neither side being strong enough, and instead becoming weaker than a single-path powerhouse of the same rank."

He shook his head, his tone carrying a trace of emotion: "In fact, this situation is quite common among dual-cultivators. 'Greed leads to nothing,' that is exactly the principle."

After listening, Rowan nodded slightly.

He cast his gaze back to the three booklets on the table, took a deep breath, and reached out to open the first booklet with the silver-white cover.

The paper felt delicate, and it was written neatly in a beautiful font:

1. Ancient Tree Meditation Technique

Introduction: Visualize an ancient silver-leaf tree that runs through the spirit, its canopy floating above the consciousness, with thousands of slender, transparent roots piercing into every corner of the spiritual sea.

Price: 160 Magic Crystals / 240,000 Gold Coins

2. Still Lake Meditation Technique

Introduction: Visualize an endless, lightless surface of a Still Lake. All thoughts turn into fallen leaves on the lake surface, sinking to the bottom without leaving a ripple, the lake surface forever calm.

Price: 240 Magic Crystals

3. Crystal Meditation Technique

Introduction: Visualize a six-sided, flawless crystal floating in the void of consciousness. The facets of the crystal refract all distracting thoughts, and once these thoughts touch the facets, they dissolve into nothingness.

Price: 300 Magic Crystals

4. Earth Core Meditation Technique

Introduction: Visualize an Earth Core furnace flowing with crimson lava. The spirit turns into thousands of tiny sparks that merge into the lava, scorching all stagnant areas.

Price: 360 Magic Crystals

Note: Has a slight bonus for Fire-element spellcasting.

5. Deep Sea Meditation Technique

Introduction: Visualize an abyssal blue, lightless deep sea. Your own consciousness turns into a deep-sea fish, and the seawater washes away all spiritual distractions, leaving your thoughts as clear as the sea.

Price: 540 Magic Crystals

Note: Has a slight effect of repairing spiritual damage.

6. ... ...

Rowan flipped through the pages one by one; the booklet contained over a dozen types of Meditation Techniques.

Each one had a detailed introduction and price.

His gaze wandered across the pages, sometimes lingering, sometimes skimming, his brows furrowing slightly.

He calculated quickly in his mind.

First, he excluded the first type of Meditation Technique that could be purchased with gold coins without hesitation.

His current gold coin balance was negative, and all the wealth he could use existed in the form of Magic Crystals.

Using Magic Crystals to exchange for goods that could also be bought with gold coins was, in his view, simply too much of a loss.

The remaining Meditation Techniques each had their own merits and focuses.

Just as he was hesitating.

Julian spoke up at the right moment.

His voice was gentle: "If you are prepared to use Magic Crystals to exchange for a Meditation Technique, I personally recommend the Crystal Meditation Technique."

Rowan looked up, casting an inquiring glance.

Julian explained: "The Crystal Meditation Technique is the most universal of all Meditation Techniques. It is balanced and neutral, with no obvious elemental bias and no special prerequisites."

"It is most suitable for beginners to start with. It has a low threshold, low risk, and stable results."

He paused and added a very persuasive reason: "Moreover, the Crystal Meditation Technique has an extremely precious characteristic."

"It can be converted to almost any other type of Meditation Technique with almost no loss."

"In other words, even if you want to switch to a more suitable Meditation Technique in the future, My Lord, you do not need to start over; you only need to go through a smooth transition."

"It is like..." Julian weighed his words, "a flawless, white sheet of drawing paper. You can draw any pattern on it without worrying about the previous ink leaving traces."

After listening, Rowan's gaze fell back onto the six-sided crystal pattern in the booklet.

He stared for a long time, weighing various factors in his mind repeatedly.

Finally, he slowly closed the booklet.

"Then this will be it—the Crystal Meditation Technique!"