He converted the water ball into a bubble and enveloped himself in it. He then punched the bubble.

d.a.m.n, it hurt!

Benjamin felt like he just punched a piece of bulletproof gla.s.s. The bubble did not move an inch. It did not shatter, no, it did not even tremble under the impact. This bubble was hard as if it made out of armored gla.s.s!

As he recalled the battle between the holy knights and the elder mage in the outskirts, Benjamin felt that even though his bubble was not as strong as the water barrier, it could probably withstand one strike from the blessed sword.

Combining the attack and defense powers, he could already defeat one holy knight by himself. It would not even take much for him to do that.

The Water Elemental Crystal gave him a leap in his abilities!

He was reluctant to part with it at first, but now, everything was worth it!

Not only the magical power in him, his elemental affinity also improved tremendously under the influence of the triangular symbol. He noticed that the water ball he created to consolidate the new emblem was gathering faster than before.

At this pace, he would be able to learn new magic in a few days.

This was basically a double blessing, and Benjamin could not be more happy about this.

If he had a few more Water Elemental Crystal, he might as well shoot to the stars; there was no need for meditations anymore — this method of training would not have limits anyway!

However, those things were best left in dreams.

According to the two mages, Elemental Crystals were very rare. Unlike those gemstones in the Taoist Cultivation novels where mining spots are present, these Elemental Crystals appeared irregularly. They were entirely unpredictable, and the discovery of the crystals depended on the luck of those who sought for them.

Thus, he would not expect himself to get another one in the near future.

It was best for him to train diligently.

He still needed to walk the roads ahead of him, one step at a time.

Thus, even though he had a leap in his capabilities, Benjamin continued to execute the daily magical tasks he had. Immersing himself in tranquility, he started meditating.

After the symbol absorbed the Crystal, Benjamin’s water elemental affinity became more advanced. The productivity of his meditation increased immensely too. The number of water particles that he could manipulate and inject into the triangular symbol in an hour was twice as much as what he could do before.

If he continued his training using this method, would this mean the more he meditated the speedier his magic would work?

This training method sounded amazing!

After an afternoon of meditation, Benjamin got his question answered.

From his observation, he found out that although he was faster in his meditation, the ‘appet.i.te’ of the symbol increased as well. Now, the symbol needed at least double the amount of water particles for it to grow. Benjamin’s progress did not improve, instead he seemed to have slowed down as time pa.s.sed.

As expected, there could not be any hack to the process of learning magical.

Benjamin’s fantasy where he could leap for the stars in no time was officially shattered.

He estimated that once his magical capabilities reached a certain level, the elemental requirement of the triangular symbol would increase tremendously although his productivity with meditating would improve. The Water Elemental Crystal would be of no use to him - the water particles would probably be less than what he could get if he meditated for an hour!

He knew it. It was impossible for something to be that effortless; or else if someone else got a bunch of Elemental Crystals and unlocked the s.p.a.ce of their consciousness, they would become the most powerful mage in the world overnight!

It would be extremely difficult to tip the balance of the worldly matters.

The wisest way to do things was to just give constant effort and determination.

…...d.a.m.n, he was turning into a ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ person. Even the banters and arguments in his head sounded very ‘Chicken-Soupy’ after he decided to pursue water magic.

He could not help but to think of it this way.

This opened the curtains to Benjamin’s dreary lifestyle.

Since the church and Mich.e.l.le left him alone, Benjamin would attend military training every morning, and meditate with his remaining time. He also jump started the plan for Jeremy to dig out Annie’s effects; in between Jeremy’s usual errands, Benjamin would a.s.sign Jeremy the mission to uncover Mich.e.l.le’s location, the so called ‘third tree at the old place’.

After two attempts, Jeremy still did not manage to find the third tree. Benjamin was not anxious, though. The bishop provided him eight locations that might be Mich.e.l.le’s location. Jeremy could take his time finding the effects.

Benjamin’s progress in the military training was acceptable too, and he could feel his physique improving. Dean also taught them quite a number of practical combat skills. Most of them were tailored for combat with a pistol, which Dean referred to as ‘Gun Fighting Drill’.

To train the recruits’ Gun Fighting Drill, Dean allowed them to have physical contact with guns — toy guns. Benjamin believed that Dean would start the actual shooting practice soon.

He was uninterested, though; with the shooting interface, there was no need for him to practice. However, once the shooting training started, it would be easy for Benjamin to take the opportunity to steal some bullets home. It would probably go under Dean’s radar as long as Benjamin behaved and only stole an insignificant amount.

He had no choice; Benjamin only owned 16 of the blessed bullets. He was very reluctant to use them.

Benjamin took the time to read the Enchantments section that was mentioned in "Magic 101". Unfortunately, he could not find a suitable environment for him to train his enchanting skills. There must be a physical object for the enchanting process to take place, and Benjamin was afraid the Cleaners would sense the magical disturbances during the enchantment. He could not train it in the real world, neither could he bring any objects into his s.p.a.ce. Hence, he had no choice but to put enchantments aside for now.

Also, he did not investigate the method to open the treasury of the Lithur household. He would not dare to comply with Mich.e.l.le’s orders. Once he started listening to one of Mich.e.l.le’s orders, he would then be required to follow another one. Since he already decided to buy his time with dealing with Mich.e.l.le, he might as well feign ignorance as long as the curse would not act up.

If the curse attacked him again…... He would suffer in agony for a while, and then proceed to pretend as if nothing happened.

This was a test of tenaciousness, and Benjamin already decided that he would put up with Mich.e.l.le.

He would never let himself become Mich.e.l.le’s puppet.

Benjamin felt that Mich.e.l.le would probably lose her patience after a few days. She would then show up for a negotiation, and potentially break this hard-earned peaceful life of his. He had no idea how to deal with that yet, and he decided to only figure things out when the urgency required.

Unexpectedly, it was Jeremy who broke his peace and quiet.

Something happened to Jeremy.

"Apologies, Young Master Benjamin, but something happened to Jeremy as he went missing without explanation after executing your errands yesterday. We could not find him throughout the day, hence if you have any needs, feel free to let us know," the butler told Benjamin after he knocked on his door just as the youngster was planning to meditate after his lunch.

Benjamin was dumbfounded.

He suddenly realised that the order he gave Jeremy the day before was for him to find the ‘third tree’ at the third of Mich.e.l.le’s bases. If there was a ‘third tree’, Benjamin told Jeremy to unearth the tree and bring back whatever that was buried under the tree and bring it back to him.

How could he go missing?

The third base was in the outskirts, and it was a relatively safe and peaceful one unlike the Prison Ruins where no one populated the area. He sent Jeremy out there in the day, too!

Something out of the norm must have happened.

A few unfortunate scenarios flashed before Benjamin’s eyes.

Perhaps Jeremy accidentally came across Mich.e.l.le and was captured by her; or maybe he was killed by a mage like the one that Benjamin had met, or other criminals; or maybe he was caught by the people from the church after he found Annie’s possession and was sent for a brainwas.h.i.+ng session.

If it was the third scenario…...

Benjamin shuddered uncontrollably.

"Alright. Please help yourself with your tasks at hand. I’ll be fine here," Benjamin told the butler as he made up his mind.

The butler nodded and left.

Benjamin stood up and prepared himself to go outdoors.

No matter what happened to Benjamin, he must leave for the outskirts. Jeremy was his servant, and if he went missing because of Benjamin’s errand, Benjamin could never be able to meditate calmly at home, as if nothing had happened.

If something did happen to Jeremy, Benjamin must rescue him. Or else, his conscience could never rest.

Even if it meant getting captured by the church.

With a heavy heart, Benjamin left the Lithur manor and once again departed for the outskirts.