From Prisoner to Si Chen..

Chapter 386 Digestion
It begins with this statement:

“The degree of a man’s madness and abnormality depends on the degree of divergence between his personality and his essence.”

"The closer one's understanding of oneself is to who one really is, the more enlightenment one can have. The further one's imagination of oneself is from who one really is, the crazier one becomes."

"People have never really seen their own souls, nor can they see their own souls, but they can try to understand the appearance of their souls by feeling other aspects of their own characteristics, especially the 'passion' in different situations, and thus face the truth."

"Spiritual knowledge is the vision of imagination. People's understanding of everything in the world comes from their understanding of themselves. If this understanding is too shallow, it will limit the improvement of spiritual knowledge."

"..."

Jilan kept flipping through the book "Dream of Flowers".

Its level of profundity was far higher than that of the Iron Thorn Meditation Method. It was a set of meditation methods that Pala summarized based on his profound knowledge and combined with theories related to magic and spiritualism.

Because it was too obscure and difficult to understand, Gillan found it very difficult to read.

The practice of "Dream of Flowers" requires meditation assisted by a specific magic circle. Starting from the perspective of imagination, one should look at oneself in a lucid dream, thus using oneself as a "prism" to reflect all things in the world.

When the mood changes, the scene observed will also change. The more intense the change, the more obvious the spiritual awareness enhancement effect obtained through this meditation method will be.

It has four stages in total.

They are "Multi-faceted", "Snowflakes", "Fireworks" and "Loop".

Gillan made a rough estimate.

The meditation efficiency of the first stage "Multi-faceted" of "Dream of Ten Thousand Flowers" is actually not as good as the "Twelve Thorns" of "Iron Thorn Meditation Method", which is roughly equivalent to "Eight Thorns".

However, once it reaches the second stage "Snowflakes", the meditation efficiency of "Dream of Ten Thousand Flowers" will exceed that of "Twelve Thorns" and even open up a considerable gap.

If it is the third stage "Fireworks", it is almost several times more efficient than "Twelve Stabs", which is very powerful.

As for the final stage, the "loop", the notes didn't mention it, but Gillan felt that it would inevitably reach an outrageous level just by thinking about it.

After all, meditating once on the third stage "Fireworks" is equivalent to meditating three or four times on the "Twelve Thorns"!
Wow.

After briefly browsing through them, Gillan closed the notebook, put it down, and picked up the last one.

This notebook records a secret sword technique.

It is called "Sword of the Universe".

"Gilan, this is a secret sword technique that I created after I mastered the 'Gerald Bleeding Sword' and studied the secret fighting techniques of several schools, and finally combined it with astrology."

Pala sat upright on the chair and spoke.

"It is not like the 'Bloodletting Sword', which has the effect of stimulating one's own potential and curing other people's illnesses. It is a sword used to kill enemies... At the same time, after practicing to a high level, it will also have a large-scale attack method with amazing destructive power."

"When I used the 'Philosopher's Sword', I was using this secret sword technique... or rather, it is the only one that can fully unleash the power of the 'Philosopher's Sword'."

"I see..." Jilan was a little surprised.

He calmed himself and continued to read "Universe Sword".

This secret sword technique is divided into three major stages, namely "Star Chapter", "Galaxy Chapter" and the final "Universe Chapter".

Each major stage includes four sword techniques that symbolize the four elements of the universe, corresponding to defense, offense, killing moves and surprise moves.

Of course, it can also further subdivide the variations of each sword technique into dozens or hundreds of types, which are specific and detailed, even complicated.

After a while.

He put down the black notebook, stacked the three books together, and then let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you teacher for imparting knowledge.”

Jilan lowered his head slightly and said in a deep voice.

Pala smiled and waved her hand.

"Since I have accepted you as my only student, I will naturally not keep anything from you... I don't have much time left to live, I just hope that before that day comes, you can learn as much as possible from me."

"When the time comes, you can step in to replace me."

As he spoke, he pointed to three black notebooks.

"These three pieces of knowledge are full of my hard work. The threshold and upper limit are not low. Even with your current foundation, it will probably take some time to get started."

"I won't go into detail today. When you go back, read the whole thing and get an impression of it. Tomorrow I will explain to you the essentials of getting started and some precautions for practice."

"Yes, teacher." Jilan agreed respectfully.

"Go back. Tomorrow morning is still 8 o'clock. Don't be late."

Pala nodded slightly and said softly.

Gillan stood up from his chair, took off his hat and saluted to the teacher.

Immediately, he urged his "Knight Chess" to open the door of "Chessboard Manor" and walked away.

The white-haired old gentleman was still sitting in the chair, looking in the direction where the golden light dissipated, his eyes far away.

Sigh softly:
"I hope you can master all of this soon."

...

...

The next morning, before eight o'clock.

On the 70th floor of the Triumph Building, a cry of surprise was heard from the chairman’s office.

"You...what did you say?"

The white-haired old gentleman in a neat black suit stood up from the leather chair and looked at the blond young man opposite the curved desk with surprise.

"You all succeeded in getting in?!"

Para Celsus asked incredulously.

"Yes, teacher."

Gillan nodded and spoke in a casual tone.

He seemed not to notice the old man's surprised expression, and said to himself:

"I tried to practice last night, and I was able to master the body building technique, meditation technique, and secret sword technique in one try. Now I am at the first stage."

"This……"

Pala opened her mouth but said nothing in the end.

He quickly calmed himself down and looked at the blond young man in front of him carefully. After noticing that the other party didn't look like he was joking, Pala let out a long breath and sat down again.

Immediately, he stretched out his hand to signal.

"sit down."

"Okay, teacher." Jilan sat down obediently like a good student.

Pala looked at him, and after a few seconds, he said in a deep voice:
"good very good!"

The old man's eyes seemed to be shining, and the smile on his lips could not be suppressed. "These three pieces of knowledge were created by me personally, and no one knows their difficulty better than me... I know that you have a good talent in mysticism, but even so, I originally estimated that I would give you two months to get started."

"I never expected this, Jilan, you've given me another big surprise! You've mastered all of them in just one night!"

“Maybe it’s because I’m more compatible with them.”

Gillan smiled slightly.

Although he said this, he secretly sighed in his heart. If it weren't for the help of "Ban Lan", the result would probably be exactly as the teacher expected, and it would take a month or two to get started.

The reason is simple: those three subjects of knowledge are too profound!

It's like asking a kindergarten kid to learn quantum mechanics. Not to mention understanding it, he can't even understand it. He's completely confused.

After he returned yesterday, the first thing he did was to take out the "Alchemy Array Card" that Ms. Crow had given him at the last cult meeting, and used it to call the exclusive hotline.

After accepting the commission and seeking two weeks of preparation time, Ms. Crow said that she would send the sorted intelligence files later.

Only then did Jilan hang up the phone and start the "self-study" as the teacher instructed.

He did read all three black notebooks carefully, but with little success and basically did not understand anything.

Simply relying on his extraordinary memory, he imprinted every word, symbol and even hand-drawn picture in his mind.

But when it comes to the degree of mastery, he has mastered six of the seven orifices and nothing at all.

In view of this, Gillan tried to use the mysterious points to speed up the learning process through "Colorful".

The "2808" points accumulated over a long period of time finally came in handy.

However, these three pieces of knowledge are all "big consumers of points". Among them, the body-building technique "Life Star Track" consumes a full 500 points of mysterious energy just for the first stage "Clash".

In contrast, after Jilan instantly grasped the essence of this body-building technique, after just two hours of practice, he found that his physique had been greatly enhanced.

It is approximately 30% of the original level, which is an all-round improvement in strength, speed, perception, flexibility, and resistance to impact.

At the same time, he also found that he suddenly gained 3 to 40 pounds, reaching an exaggerated weight of more than 200 pounds. However, his height and body shape shrunk a little, from the original 1 meters to 9 meters, and his muscles were also tightened a lot.

He speculated that this was due to the increase in his own muscle and bone density.

The meditation method "Dream of Ten Thousand Flowers" consumed 300 points of mysterious energy, allowing Jilan to successfully enter the first stage "Multifaceted".

However, since the effect of this stage was not as good as the "Iron Thorn Meditation Method", he invested another 600 points of mysterious energy and directly entered the second stage "Snowflake".

Using this meditation method to refine spiritual knowledge will greatly improve efficiency and completely replace the "Iron Thorn Meditation Method" to become the "main force" of Jilan's practice of mysticism.

As for "Sword of the Universe", the first chapter "Stars" swallowed up the 800 points of mysterious energy that Jilan had worked so hard to accumulate.

At this point, he only had a mere "608" points left.

While Jilan felt the pain in his body, he was also secretly excited. It was a mixture of pain and happiness... After all, this was another obvious improvement in his strength.

It's just that without actual combat, it's not known what specific changes will happen yet. But Jilan believes that at this stage, he is much stronger than before.

"Jilan, since you have already entered the door, I will try to talk about the content of the second stage today."

Pala smiled at the blond young man.

"If you can understand it, that would be great. If not, I will go back and review the previous knowledge with you until you understand it."

"Okay, teacher, thank you for your help."

Jilan collected his thoughts and said seriously.

Pala waved her hand and smiled:
"Let's start with 'Life Star Track'... The second stage is 'square'. Its meaning in astrology is the trajectory of two stars facing each other at a 90-degree angle, which creates inevitable friction."

"If the opposition of two stars is compared to an opponent, then the square is a natural enemy. This also symbolizes the relationship between our human body and the celestial phenomena. Only by going through this difficult process can we reach the threshold of conjunction..."

The early morning light shines through the sky and into the office, making it warm and cozy.

In the quiet environment, the white-haired old man quietly explained the mysteries of knowledge, and the young man listened attentively with a serious look on his face.

...

...

Time passed quietly, and two weeks went by in the blink of an eye.

During the past ten days, Jilan's daily study and practice life has been quite regular and unshakable.

After getting up at four o'clock, he would use white wax crayons mixed with silver powder to carve the magic circle of "Dream of Flowers" on the wooden floor of the master bedroom, then smear "lava ointment" all over his body and sit cross-legged in the middle to meditate.

After tempering the spiritual awareness, one will activate the "Crazy Owl State" and use the body-building principles of "Life Star Track" to perceive one's own metabolism, constantly adjust breathing, heartbeat, blood flow and even sweating, and then practice the four sword skills of "Star Chapter" of "Universe Sword".

After finishing all this, it was daybreak.

When Gillan washed up and went downstairs, the old butler Charles would be waiting at the stairs early as usual, and would have asked the cook Paula to prepare breakfast in advance for the young master.

After finishing his breakfast gracefully, Gilan drove alone for more than ten minutes to the chairman's office on the 70th floor of Triumph Building to study with Pala.

During this period, Jilan's progress in the three cultivation knowledge was not smooth. Even with Pala's meticulous teaching and answering of doubts every day, without the use of "Banlan", his progress was slow.

Fortunately, the "extreme training" of the "Crazy Owl State" has yielded good results. Now, he can maintain this state for nearly half an hour, which has greatly improved his sustained burst ability.

At the same time, due to the dual improvement of spirituality and physical strength, Jilan’s current strongest trump card "Wang Lin" has also been extended from the original short-term activation of 2 to 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

And Jilan has also developed other uses of "Wang Lin" through constant exploration, which is partial transformation.

This is a very clever way to use it, and the pressure on the body and mind will be much less. It can turn a 3-minute full-strength burst of "Wang Lin" into about 10 minutes.

Gillan was very pleased with this.

Dawn, late January, 1927.

On the 26th, after Gillan finished his occult course, Pala called him.

"The head of state has approved the document for the 'envoy to the Kingdom of Fossaka'. Gilan, you will lead the team as the executive minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bremen Empire."

"Okay, teacher." Jilan raised his eyebrows. His training life during this period was so full and busy that he almost forgot about it. "When do we set off?"

"The morning after tomorrow."

Pala said, pulling out a folder from under the drawer and handing it over.

"Here are the specific plan documents and the list of envoys. Don't worry, the accompanying diplomats and your secretary, Lanis, will take care of the trivial matters. You just need to listen to their reports."

"In addition, the folder also contains some information about the Kingdom of Fosaka... During this trip, the head of state has given you great autonomy. Whether it is the allocation of resources or the conditions for cooperation, you can make the decision yourself."

"Thank you for your trust, Mr. Leader and Teacher."

Gilan stood up and took off his hat to the old man.

Pala smiled and nodded.

"Go back, and don't forget Ms. Crow's commission."

"is teacher."

(End of this chapter)