Chapter 754: Chapter 389: Keldim, Astrology Apprentice
Ronan stood up from the ground, surveying the room before him.
On the wall he faced was a star map, which had previously caused him to have an illusion.
But upon closer examination, he discovered that the star map before him was merely a simple spell projection, with the wall behind the projection coarse and thin, indicating the identity and status of this body.
Ronan looked around, the room he was in was narrow and humble, akin to a tiny pigeon cage.
Aside from a narrow wooden bed barely half a meter wide, there was no other furniture, with two slightly different jars placed in the corner—one holding water, the other urine—and a few uneaten dry biscuits scattered in an iron basin.
The blurry star map projected on the wall was probably the most valuable thing in the room.
"First-level astrologer... registered disciple..."
Ronan absorbed the original memories of this body, his eyes slightly moved, and he couldn’t help but mutter: "This time, I have arrived at... the Keldim Wizard Empire period!"
A very good piece of news.
This is a "world" with real wizards, and moreover, during the strong and prosperous Keldim period.
The bad news is that Ronan was born lowly, being a registered disciple of a certain first-level astrologer in the Keldim Wizard Empire. Calling him a disciple was practically no different from being a slave.
Judging by his current living environment, one could feel it.
Under extremely scarce material conditions, he still had to undertake extremely cumbersome and heavy calculation work daily, subjected to the cruel mental exploitation by the so-called "teacher."
To the extent that Ronan felt a fierce sense of weakness from the beginning of his "Awakening."
"If this continues, I’m afraid I won’t last through two years before exhausting my heart’s power and dying."
Ronan thought, mentor exploitation of disciples was a commonplace occurrence, not only in ancient times but also in the current Wizard World, where for many wizards, disciples were considered some form of "consumable."
Aside from needing to complete numerous heavy tasks assigned by the mentor daily, in critical times they also had to serve as "live material," willingly climbing onto the experimental platform.
Those with luck could survive by chance, while those without luck could only be swept into a pile of corpses, perhaps even refined into undead servants, to be consumed a second time in battles between mentors and opponents.
But at least...
"This body possesses wizard potential..."
Even if very poor, almost like Ronan initially.
But this alone was better than each of his previous "dream entry" beginnings by an unknown amount.
"As long as I can advance to a Level 1 Wizard, my lifespan can be extended to over two hundred years, enough to break through the current bottleneck in ’Spirit Heart Amber’..."
With wizard talent, Ronan had vast operational space.
And his cultivation in "dream" was no longer merely limited to the memories of the Ancient Spirit Text, meditation techniques, spells, magic potion studies, etc., opening up many possibilities.
According to Ronan’s consistent process in prior "dreams," the first step was to find an opportunity to escape the current life, then find a place where no one could discover him, hide and train hard...
But this time entering the dream, he entered a "world" with the presence of wizards, and it was precisely the Keldim period.
Ronan was filled with curiosity about this powerful empire "lost" in history, so his thoughts underwent some slight changes.
"The Keldim Wizard Empire seems to value the development of astrology quite highly, the significance of astrology to Keldim wizards even surpassing traditional wizard techniques like magic potion, alchemy, enchantment, and second only to rune studies.
Consequently, the era and environment have birthed the special profession of astrologers..."
"Every astrologer commands a large number of astrology apprentices to assist in daily astrological research..."
Ronan was organizing the pathetically simple and meager memories left by his predecessor when suddenly, he heard a series of urgent knocks on the door outside the house.
"Bang bang bang—bang bang bang—"
Someone was forcefully pounding on the door of Ronan’s small room.
Ronan’s eyes sparkled for a moment, as he slowly stepped forward and opened the small door.
"Damien!"
Standing outside was a teenager about the same age as Ronan now, about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Gray hair, jade-green eyes, and a noticeably malnourished pallor on his face, wearing the uniform gray linen robe of astrology apprentices.
Both in appearance and temperament, the teenager in front bore a resemblance of five or six points to Anand from the Astronomical Society.
Ronan was still searching in his mind for the name of the other, but the gray-haired teenager had already grabbed his arm urgently: "Damien, what are you still doing here?
A gathering notice from the mentor was issued before an hourglass ago, we’re about to be late!"
Anand.
Let’s just call him Anand.
Ronan was pulled out of the room by the gray-haired teenager who closely resembled Anand, passing through several long corridors, finally stopping in a great hall adorned with sun, moon, and star patterns.
The hall was already filled with teenage apprentice peers like themselves, with a middle-aged man dressed exquisitely and looking stern standing at the center of the grand hall, beside a gigantic metal sundial over ten meters tall, casting a cold stare at the two.
Anand, like a quail, tugged at Ronan’s sleeve, quietly sitting in the group of apprentices, then listened to the middle-aged man continue his unfinished speech.
"...Starting tomorrow, I will assign each of you new calculation tasks, the workload will be roughly two to three times what it was previously."
"Of course, your living standards will rise to a daily silver coin’s amount!"
"...Each of you must remember, this is an unprecedented great project! It concerns the prosperity and development of Keldim over the next ten thousand years!"
"Once successful, not only will my name, but yours too, each one of your names, be inscribed in history!"
"For the next hundred, thousand, even ten thousand years, people living on this continent will be grateful for every precise data contribution you make!"
"This is the ultimate honor, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity..."
After a brief yet passionate speech ended, the middle-aged man hurriedly left, leaving only a group of young people still standing in the hall, excitedly discussing the contents of the lecture they just heard.
"Did you hear that, Damien!"
The gray-haired boy Anand was obviously successfully brainwashed by the speech. His entire face was flushed with excitement, and his emerald eyes looked even more shining than the stars in the sky.
"The empire’s astrology masters predicted the existence of the ’Core Hub’!
It resonates with the stars in the sky and the tides on the ground!
Once we find it, we can harmonize the water flow and energy of the entire continent, recreating the strength and prosperity of the Ancient Wizard World...
By then, not just those adults, we, everyone on this continent, will benefit!"
Anand clenched his fists in excitement, as if the fate and responsibility of an era had already been placed upon his thin and frail shoulders.
Almost every Astrology Apprentice behaved no differently from Anand.
"It turns out, this was when Keldim’s underground waterways hadn’t begun construction, and Quivada Oasis hadn’t been discovered yet...."
Ronan stood quietly among the excited and agitated young people, lost in thought.
The news of the "Core Hub" was spread nationwide under the imperial announcement. This was an unprecedented grand plan and also an unprecedented large and cumbersome project.
The wizards needed to precisely know the trajectory of every star in the sky, the flow direction of every river on the ground, the rules of the tide, the movement of the wind, the distribution of energy.....
Only then could the location of the "Core Hub" possibly be calculated.
Countless manpower and resources were invested, countless airships and carriages were dispatched to every corner of the continent, almost all astrologers large and small from the entire empire were gathered, working day and night to observe, deduce, and calculate....
Each astrologer had a large number of Astrology Apprentices under them, tirelessly dedicating themselves for this cause.
Three months later, due to continuous errors in multiple star track calculations, astrology apprentice Ronan Damien suffered severe punishment, and was mercilessly expelled by the astrologer mentor under whom he served.
....
In Keldim Imperial City, inside a shabby little house in a remote alley.
"Damien..."
Anand, with red-rimmed eyes, looked at the boy lying on the bed, wrapped in layers of bandages, his face pallid.
"I’ll try to plead with the teacher about this matter. In astrology, your talent has always been much better than mine... He shouldn’t give up on you so easily."
Ronan shook his head, his lips cracked, too weak to even speak.
"The punishment of twenty-five lashes is too severe; it could almost beat a horse to death alive... What mistake can’t be remedied?!"
Anand gritted his teeth, speaking with indignation, but in fact, he was not in much better condition himself.
His eyes were full of bloodshot, his hair a tangled mess, and he carried a strong stench as if he hadn’t bathed in months.
"No.. need.."
Ronan said hoarsely in a low voice, "It’s my problem.. I really cannot handle this job."
"No!"
Anand vigorously shook his head, his emotions a bit agitated as he said: "You should strive harder no matter what, you know, someone has already been taught the Meditation Technique by the teacher.. This is suffering, but also honor and opportunity!
Damien, we’ve always wanted such an opportunity, and now it’s right in front of us!"
Ronan remained silent, but Anand hastily stood up.
"I’ll fight for you, you take care and heal first.
I only have the time of two Hourglasses to be out, and now I have to leave, Damien, I’ll come to see you next time!"
After finishing, Anand cautiously took out a small cloth pouch from his pocket, placed it by Ronan’s hand, and quickly headed out the door.
After Anand left, a glint of light started to quickly emerge in Ronan’s dim eyes.
He slowly sat up from the bed.
The punishment of twenty-five lashes, which Ronan intentionally endured to escape control, had almost shattered the frail body and will to live of a sixteen-year-old boy, but for Ronan, with his extraordinary will, this pain was not nearly enough to push him to the brink of death.
On the contrary, his real "training" has only just officially started now.
Ronan picked up the small cloth pouch Anand left, opened it, and saw it was filled with copper coins of the empire, with a few scattered silver coins.
Ronan set the bag down, sat quietly on the bed, and slowly adopted the Body Forging posture for Ascetic Body Refinement.
The progress of wizard cultivation was even faster than he had imagined.
Though the soul quality of this body was poor, thanks to the special characteristics of the character panel and the bonus from the Master-level Basic Meditation Technique, just in three months’ time, with occasional meditation, his spiritual power had already grown to the level of a Level 3 Apprentice.
When he reaches the standard for an initial Star Disk Calculation and shifts to the Ancient Star Meditation Technique, the pace will become even faster.
Now, Ronan’s goal became very clear.
——To remember Ancient Spirit Text, meditate, cultivate, and.....
Stay here, in the heart of this powerful empire, and silently witness... the occurrence of a transformation of the ages!