Insufficient balance

  After nearly a month of rest, my body has finally recovered to its original state.

  "Longbow, you've pretty much recovered too, let's start class today."

  "Alright, Teacher Di, what are you going to teach me then?"

  "Let me take a look at your current level of magical abilities first, so I can tailor my teaching to suit you!"

  "I don't know what level I've reached either."

  "What extent of magical power can you now think of?"

  "It's been a long time since I've made any progress with my magical powers, and I feel like I've already reached the limit of what I can do. No matter how much I think about it, I just can't seem to break through this barrier."

  "Then your magical power should be at the higher level of intermediate magicians, not bad. Do you know why your magical power can't progress?" Teacher Di asked with a smile.

  I scratched my head and said "I don't know."

  "Let me give you an example, how much water and air can a bottle hold?"

  "How much space is in a bottle can hold how much." Teacher Di's question is so stupid.

  "Is the volume of water and air in that same bottle the same?"

  "Of course it's the same, just a different space, only holding different things." Such a simple brain teaser still wants to stump this genius.

  Mr. Di nodded in approval, "You're absolutely right, the same bottle can hold as much water and air. If you turn the water into steam, will the bottle still be able to hold it?"

  I think I now understand what Teacher Di wants to say but it's still a bit vague.

  Teacher Di saw me lost in thought and didn't disturb me.

  "Alright, that's all for today's lesson and the homework I've left you with. Think carefully about it and connect the questions I asked earlier. Magical knowledge mainly relies on your own understanding, as the saying goes 'the master leads you into the door but cultivation is up to the individual', how much you can understand depends on yourself. I'll take my leave now, there are still over two months left in this semester, you'll be training here for a month and then return to class with everyone else. The purpose of your training is mainly to prepare you for the annual Magical Competition at the end of the semester."

  "Ah! Participating in the tournament, Teacher Di, am I up for it? After learning about Haidi's magic, I don't have any confidence in myself anymore."

  "How can you not be okay? You're my student, don't lose face for me, practice well." Teacher Di turned to leave.

  "Can't I not participate in this competition, teacher?"

  "Of course not, this competition is the final exam for all students at the end of each semester. If the score is too poor, there's a possibility of being held back." Hmph! This stinky kid wants to slack off? No way, I'll go change the school rules right now.

  Looking at Teacher Di's somewhat sinister smile, I feel like I've been schemed against. Anyway, I'll start practicing magic properly, and we'll see about it later.

  After Teacher Di left, I started thinking about the homework he left for me.

  Water vapor air bottle, what's the relationship?

  Water vapor can become water, a bottle can hold so much water (I gesture with my hand), and it can also hold so much water vapor. If the water vapor becomes water...

  Ah! I get it, so that's how it is. Speaking of myself now, I'm just a bottle, and the water vapor is my current magical power. My magical power can't grow anymore, but if I compress it like water vapor into liquid water, then I'll be able to hold more magical power!!! Ah!!!! I'm too clever!

  After I figured it out, I had a feeling of sudden enlightenment, okay, let me try now.

  I started pondering, this time not sleeping, I retained my consciousness and introspected the magical power within my body. Suddenly, another question popped up - how to compress these magical powers? Never mind, I'll try it out anyway.

  I use my spiritual power to separate about one-fifth of the magical power inside my body, dispersing the rest throughout my entire body. I then gather this one-fifth of magical power at the Upper Dan Tian (which is between my eyebrows), and attempt to start compressing it using my spiritual power.

  It's so troublesome, they seem to be unwilling to be compressed, desperately opposing me, no matter how hard I try, I just can't reduce their volume. What's going on? In my heart, I say to these light elements: "Everyone, uncles and aunts, why are you so far apart, creating so much distance? It would be more lively if we were together, come on, help me out, move in closer."

  The light element in my body seemed to have understood what I said, and it began to compress gradually, forming a small ball of light that was only about one-fifth the size of the original. I succeeded! I successfully compressed the light element, which made me extremely excited, and I immediately fell asleep. (Compressing magical elements is very mentally exhausting, my mental energy has been used up to its limit, so naturally I fell asleep.)

  The next morning, as soon as I got up, I felt that the light element in my body was much fuller than before. The high-purity light ball that I compressed yesterday is still there at the Upper Dan Tian, and the part that I released has automatically refilled (I've been secretly cultivating while sleeping, haha). Yes, this feeling is really great!

  Teacher Di pushed open the door and walked in. He didn't say a word, just stared at my face fixedly. After a while, I felt a bit uneasy under his gaze.

  "Teacher Di, what's wrong? Why are you always staring at me?" I asked tentatively.

  "Longbow, you really didn't disappoint me, you're the fastest person I know to grasp compression magic power, and you're still so young, your future is boundless! Hahaha, I've picked up a treasure, oh yeah!!" Di Laoshi suddenly jumped up like a little kid, excitedly.

  "What's with you? How did you know I grasped the method of compressing magical power?" I asked in surprise.

  "Look at yourself in the mirror, silly kid."

  "Oh, really? Let me take a look."

  As I stood in front of the mirror, I was shocked myself. Is this me? My complexion used to be good, but compared to now, it's like heaven and earth apart. Now my face has a warm glow, with a radiant light flowing under my skin, like jade, stunningly handsome.

  "What's going on, Teacher Di?"