CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: MEDITATION POD

Kaiwen paused for a moment, seemingly finally realizing that what she had said was indeed inappropriate. She turned and fetched something from a nearby cabinet, tossing it across the air to Lin Guang. When he looked down, it was a pair of disposable unisex boxer shorts.

"This way, the collected data will be accurate."

Having said that much, Lin Guang didn’t hesitate. After removing his non-prescription glasses, he pulled at his collar and started taking off his clothes, while Dr. Kaiwen slightly turned her head away.

Somehow, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Guang’s mind—if Vishdair were here, she’d definitely be unable to resist a sarcastic remark like "Old woman, why pretend to be coy?"

Oh no, given Vishdair’s style, she wouldn’t be able to utter something so cultured.

Lin Guang quickly shook his head, casting out the Vishdair virus from his mind. He removed his clothes and donned the disposable boxer shorts, hunching his body, and climbed into the sliding coffin board, turning to lean on the cushion, which was fairly soft and supported his body.

The next moment, the sliding coffin board slowly closed, and darkness enveloped Lin Guang’s vision.

Then, he suddenly felt something warm start seeping from his back, rising rapidly, submerging his lips in mere seconds, about to reach his nostrils.

What?!

Lin Guang instinctively held his breath.

At this moment, Dr. Kaiwen’s voice came from outside, "Don’t panic, actively inhale it into your lungs. This liquid can replace air for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide."

Lin Guang forced himself to endure the discomfort, coughing a few times, and then experienced a very peculiar sensation—although his lungs were filled with a lot of liquid, he didn’t feel suffocated or choked, an oddly counter-intuitive feeling.

Once he adapted, he found this feeling very suitable for meditation, like... returning to the mother’s womb, enveloped and nurtured by amniotic fluid.

Isolated from external disturbances, the only sound he could clearly hear was his own heartbeat.

Then, seemingly due to some components in the liquid, Lin Guang gradually felt his senses becoming more active, while the scenes in the Sea of Spirit became clearer and more vivid than ever, feeling as if he could command them with ease.

At this moment, within the Sea of Spirit, the Spiritual Power started to cheer, jumping with joy, giving him an inexplicable urge to try.

"The Meditation Pod can significantly increase your meditation efficiency. The principle is to exert additional stimuli on your spirit through various means, but this will also make you tire more quickly."

"Begin meditating now; try to hold on as long as possible. Let me see your limit."

My limit?

I hope you won’t be too surprised.

Thus, with a long breath, Lin Guang slowly closed his eyes.

...

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Lin Guang slowly came to consciousness, instinctively coughing a few times.

After expelling the remaining liquid from his lungs, he suddenly realized that his surroundings were already bright.

Other than being actively used, the Eye of Omniscience and Omnipotence also improved vision, observation power, etc., allowing Lin Guang to quickly adapt to the light. Then he surprisingly discovered that Dr. Kaiwen was looking down at him, her voice still so calm:

"You’re awake."

"Mm..." Lin Guang nodded, "How long has it been?"

"From the time you entered the meditative state until you exited, three hours, six minutes, and forty-seven seconds."

Lin Guang reached out to cover his own head, feeling an indescribable swelling pain and fatigue—the proof that his Spiritual Power had been nearly depleted.

Initially, the liquid and the mysterious undulations occasionally resonating in the Meditation Pod felt like a burden, but the further it went on, these things would support him to keep going, draining the last bit of Spiritual Power he used to sketch the Equal Contract Spirit Pattern.

It was a long-lost feeling of reaching his limit.

And the Spirit Pattern of the Equal Contract that seemed to still float before his eyes told him that this meditation was incredibly effective, even surpassing what several days of meditation would achieve.

If he could maintain this speed, he felt he would level up again in just a few days.

Of course, it was just wishful thinking.

This rapid enhancement wasn’t without cost, meaning he would no longer have the luxury to substitute sleep with meditation tonight, and must use real sleep to alleviate his brain’s physical fatigue.

Lin Guang wobbled as he stood up from the machine, shaking his wet hair, stepping barefoot onto the laboratory floor.

"Did you have any special feelings?"

"Yes," Lin Guang mused, "I always felt that after sketching the Equal Contract Rune for a long time, I seemed to connect with Vishdair, able to sense her using skills, consuming Ether, yet when I tried to amplify her with talent, the talent’s activation failed... like a bad signal."

"A normal phenomenon, not an illusion, and no need to pay too much attention."

Dr. Kaiwen walked to the computer desk beside him, showing no intention to praise him or continue with a detailed explanation: "Go to the third room on the right, there’s a shower. Wash up and take the elevator upstairs directly; I’ll tidy up the data here, find me on the third floor tomorrow."

"Alright, I understand."

Grabbing the towel Dr. Kaiwen had prepared from a nearby table to wipe himself down, Lin Guang held his clothes in one hand and shoes in the other, walking to the door. He paused for a moment, looking back at Dr. Kaiwen, who had already sat in front of the computer and started organizing data: "So, how did I do?"

At that moment, with the keen insight brought by the Eye of Omniscience and Omnipotence, Lin Guang noticed her fingers paused briefly as they tapped the keyboard.

"...So-so."

After two seconds, along with the sound of typing, her voice finally emerged.

"..."

This kind of equipment wasn’t unfamiliar to Lin Guang from his gaming, so he could assert that his performance must have been quite good. Even if Dr. Kaiwen were a Five-Star Miracle Master, using "so-so" wouldn’t be fitting.

The possibility of being a tsundere...not likely. Instead, Dr. Kaiwen exuded a rational elegance.

The only explanation was that she didn’t want Lin Guang to develop an arrogant mindset.

Confirmed, despite whatever age in mindset, Dr. Kaiwen is undoubtedly an...old lady physically.

Of course, this was something Lin Guang only dared to think in his mind. He merely gave Dr. Kaiwen’s back a disbelieving look, then turned to leave the room.

And after he left, Kaiwen continued tapping the keyboard.

A cup of black coffee, undiluted by any sweetener and seemingly concentrated dozens of times, sat before the computer monitor, her legs slightly crossed, various straightforward conclusions appearing on the screen, summarized and compared by her.

[It took 15 seconds to enter the meditative state.]

[Resonance rate surpasses the average value of the same Level and Grade Talent by 203%]

[Spiritual Power activity surpasses the average value of Spirit Masters in equivalent conditions by 69%]

[Spiritual Power capacity surpasses the average value of Spirit Masters in equivalent conditions by 77%]

"Is this meditation rate due to proficiency in Contract Technique, or is it brought by talent?"

Kaiwen slightly furrowed her brows, "No, even if the meditation efficiency can be explained by proficiency in Contract Technique, being from a civilian background, without any high-tier Spiritual Materials used during infancy, taking no potions to enhance talent, having not received Miracle Master’s support since childhood, yet Spiritual Power’s activity, capacity, and resilience can reach such levels..."

"Moreover."

She gently murmured, "Heart of Terra..."

Kaiwen’s expression remained unchanged, but those emerald green eyes revealed a blend of complexity and melancholy.