<h4>Chapter 85 Intermediate Apprentice </h4>


    Three days passed quickly...


    Vicente''s group continued to operate in the two previous taverns, with a few incidents but nothing as severe as Jax and Brody''s visit earlier.


    As far as the Peters family was concerned, no one, not even Brody, had been looking for trouble with Vicente''s people.


    They were even watching what those people were doing, but this family was not moving, just waiting to see if Vicente would try to approach the Viscount.


    If that happened, it would be a worrying sign for them!


    But as long as that didn''t happen, they wouldn''t do much more than keep an eye on Vice''s group.


    With something so valuable from them in hand, Vicente wouldn''t have to worry about any attacks or problems with this family in the short term!


    But apart from the people in Vice''s group and many of the customers in the taverns he protected, who noticed the increasing peace around them, he and Rory had been working hard thest few days.


    They still had more failures than sesses in making new deals with businessmen in the area they were in, but they had gotten a new establishment to protect the day before.


    With this new deal, the group''s "territory" had increased by 50% fromst night to this morning!


    But it wasn''t just the group''s area of influence that began to increase!


    ...


    Having made several business attempts in the past few days and ns for the future, Vicente and Rory decided to take a day off today.


    After the incident with the Peters family, Vicente''s resources left at his house were brought to their headquarters, where he and Rory were at that very moment with their magic pills!


    The whole building was in a state of alert, with the men in their positions to defend the property in case of need.


    As a group that had already countered about a dozen people in the past few days by avoiding trouble on their territory, trouble coulde their way at any time.


    Knowing this, while their leaders tried to improve their forces, the men there quietly held their positions, watching the surroundings of their headquarters, guns pointed at the street.


    Meanwhile, in the main training room in the basement of this building, Vicente and Rory were meditating in two corners of the area.


    They were both sitting cross-legged onrge cushions, shirtless, with only the clothes on their lower bodies.


    A glow of various colors surrounded them as the mana and elements of the environment focused on them.


    Rory was covered in an orange haze, but something colorless circled his body as if he were the center of a cyclone.


    Where Vice stood, small bluish rays spread through the area while the ground beneath his meditation pillow seemed to melt.


    The Magic Gems of these two young men glowed brightly as free mana flowed in the air toward their foreheads.


    But something in their stomachs was also providing them with a lot of energy and different elements.


    Enlightenment Pills were made with many minerals and ingredients, things with different elemental affinities.


    Even if the alchemist behind their production did not have an elemental affinity for most elements, these pills could still help in terms of their elements, the one who consumed them.


    Obviously, such a pill would benefit the most those with the same elemental affinity as the alchemist, but in general, any magician could benefit greatly from consuming such resources.


    Vicente felt it now, noticing a chill in his stomach as he felt a stronger connection to his two elements.


    While absorbing the essence of the pill he had taken 40 minutes ago, Vice felt something strange in his Magic Gem.


    It was as if this gem was a vase of water, and he was slowly pouring more water into it.


    As he meditated and felt the mana in the air and in the pill diffusing into his being, he felt the ''reserves'' of his gem rising and felt more and more the sensation of being satiated.


    But he tried to meditate as long as he could, feeling that he could reap better results by taking his meditation to the point where he could no longer bear to continue.


    As the ''reserves'' in his first magical gem became more abundant, spell ideas strangely began to pop into Vicente''s mind.


    ''The academy teachers were not wrong. As we be stronger, our understanding of our own abilities will evolve!'' Vicente thought excitedly.


    The stronger and more talented one was, the better their understanding of reality and how to manipte its elements to create fantastic effects would be.


    Spells, for example, would naturally arise in the minds of magicians as they became stronger since spells were nothing more than ways to use one''s power.


    There were the moreplex spells that could only be developed through years of study. Still, there were also many more straightforward spells that a magician would only need to get a little ahead of the ''game'' to be able to think of something new.


    Vicente realized new ways to use Earth and Lightning as he absorbed the essence of this pill, gaining far more than he had expected in this short meditation session.


    But he didn''t let that distract him and quickly focused everything he had on raising his magic level as much as possible.


    As he did this with Rory in the room, time passed, and the pointers of the clock soon marked the middle of the afternoon.


    At 3 p.m., the mes surrounding Rory''s body calmed down and he slowly left his meditation state.


    When one meditates for several hours, one cannot quickly leave the state of concentration.


    It was dangerous to leave the state of concentration rapidly!


    Meditation was something that was absolutely necessary for magicians to be stronger, but it was also a weakness for such people. During meditation, one could not be disturbed and could even be a cripple if one lost control over the elements and the mana prating one''s being.


    In simple terms, think of meditation as the process of filling a bucket with water. However, while water contains ''n'' different kinds of substances, the bucket in question could not contain all of these substances, only a small part of them.


    The bucket was the magical nature of these beings, while the substances were the elements.


    During meditation, one would do the process that, in the case of filling the bucket with water, would be done through a sieve that would only allow what waspatible with it to remain in the bucket.


    If you lose control of this selection, unfamiliar elements, sometimes even contrary to your affinities, could ''stick'' to your essence and cause ''n'' different problems.


    Because of thisplexity, leaving the state of concentration was something that had to be done calmly.


    But after 2 minutes since the mes around his body had died down, Rory finally opened his eyes, satisfied with the results of his hours of hard work absorbing the essence of this pill.


    But when he looked at Vicente, Rory''s expression suddenly changed as he saw something he wasn''t expecting.


    "What? How is that possible?"