A few days later, Ernst College.

  Lin Lei set out for the back mountain to practice after having breakfast in the morning.

  Walking on the path in the academy, Xiao Ying stood on Lin Lei's shoulder and looked around in all directions. There were not a few people who had magical beasts in the Ernst Academy, so Lin Lei having a Shadow Mouse was nothing out of the ordinary. Just then—

  "That's Lin Lei, our first-grade genuine first-rate magician." A clear voice came from a short distance ahead.

  Lin Lei couldn't help but look over at the source of the sound, and saw two lovely little girls whispering to each other, occasionally glancing over at Lin Lei. When Lin Lei looked over, the two little girls covered their mouths and giggled quietly again.

  "I've also become a famous person." Lin Lei sneered to himself.

  These days, when encountering some people, they often hear others discussing themselves. Being able to defeat the first place in the grade competition, Lande, Lin Lei has already been considered as the number one master of this year's freshman class.

  "Ah, what's in front?" Lin Lei's gaze suddenly locked onto a slender figure in the distance.

  Golden short hair, slender figure similar to Renault, the whole person is icy cold, just walking on the road with a cold attitude.

  "Dixie?" Lin Lei's pupils suddenly constricted.

  Dixie, who is also nine years old now, is even a month younger than Lin Lei if calculated by months. But this nine-year-old child has already become a third-level magician. Although it's said that the higher the level of magic, the harder it is to cultivate, becoming a third-level magician at the age of nine is still quite astonishing.

  "It's Dixie, yeah. I heard that the results of yesterday's year-end exam are out and Dixie has already become a 4th-grade magician." Some girls around seventeen or eighteen years old were talking to each other.

  By the time they were in third grade, most of them were over sixteen years old, except for Dixie, this super genius.

  "Fourth-level magician!"

  Lin Lei only felt his heart fiercely thumping, also nine years old, and Dixie was even a month younger than himself, yet he was already a fourth-level magician, while he was only a second-level magician.

  Nadic's face was icy cold as she walked past Lin Lei.

  A once-in-a-lifetime genius 'Dixie', no one of his peers can be found to match him.

  A flash of light flew out from the Dragon Ring, and Delingko Worte smiled beside Lin Lei: "Lin Lei, your gap is not that big. When Dixie entered school, his spiritual power was 68 times that of his peers. This shows that he has not yet cultivated his spiritual power to enter the third-level magician level. So in his first year at Ernst Academy, he only accumulated enough magic power to reach the third-level magician. Now that he's almost two years into school, reaching fourth-level magician is normal."

  Lin Lei also understood in her heart.

  The other party's innate talent is too high, born with a strong spiritual power, and the elemental affinity is also super, so accumulating magical power must be very rapid.

  "Now he is cultivating quickly, but from 4th level magician to 5th level magician, I estimate it will take him three or four years. And from 5th level magician to 6th level magician, it's estimated to need four or five years."

  "You are now a second-level magician, he is a fourth-level magician, but I have confidence that you can catch up with him within ten years." Deling Kworte said confidently.

  Lin Lei didn't quite believe it.

  "De Lin Grandfather, the higher the talent, the faster the cultivation. His talent is much higher than mine, and now he's even two levels higher than me, how can I possibly catch up with him in just ten years?" Lin Lei wasn't a fool, his studies at Enst Academy made him understand the difficulty of every level up for a magician.

  In the past, Delin Kowert had said that Lin Lei would reach 6th rank in ten years, but Lin Lei also had some doubts about this. After all, his current progress was not bad.

  While speaking, Lin Lei had already walked out of the back door of Ernst College and entered the mountain behind. Quickly dashing through the forest, Delingkewote suddenly said: "Lin Lei, come to a place leaning against the mountain wall."

  "Rely on the mountain wall?" Lin Lei was somewhat perplexed.

  "Don't ask so many questions, I'll tell you when we get there," said Drellin Kordovar with a smile.

  The mountainside was mostly covered with vegetation and wild grass, with various towering trees growing everywhere. However, Lin Lei searched for a while and found a place that met Delin Kowert's requirements, where there was a protruding mountain peak of several hundred meters high, and Lin Lei stood at the foot of this mountain peak.

  "Grandpa De Lin, why did you bring me here?" Lin Lei asked in puzzlement.

  Dellin Kowert laughed: "Lin Lei, you don't believe me, I can let you catch up with him in just ten years? Haha... Lin Lei, as a Saint Domain Magic Master, I actually have a way to improve spiritual power."

  "What's the way to increase spiritual power? Can't meditation training do it?" Lin Lei looked at Delingkorvath in confusion.

  Dellin Kowert smiled faintly and said, "Lin Lei, I admit that the effect of meditation training is very good, but after meditation training, the whole person will be extremely tired."

  "Of course, it's exhausting. Meditation training is all about constantly using mental energy until it reaches a bottom line and then letting it recover on its own. It would be strange if I wasn't tired." Lin Lei furrowed his brow.

  Dellin Kwalt said proudly: "My method is different, it's not consuming spiritual power at all, but an entertaining activity."

  "What leisure activities?" Lin Lei was somewhat bewildered.

  "Ah, yes, this form of entertainment is... carving!" A proud smile spread across Delingkov's face.

  "Carvings?" Lin Lei exclaimed in surprise, "The kind of stone carvings from the Prucks Museum?"

  Dellin Kowert smiled and said, "Yes, others may need to spend a lot of energy, busy with sweat all over their heads, but my carving method may be very tiring at first, but the effect is very good in the middle and late periods."

  "Really?" Lin Lei was somewhat incredulous.

  Dellin Kowert glared: "Lin Lei, don't you believe me? I'm the proud Saint Domain Magic Master of the Pu Ao Empire. Initially, several stone carvings were priced at millions of gold coins by many nobles who wanted to buy them. But how could my proud works as a Saint Domain Magic Master be given to others?"

  "How come I've never heard of your name among the great sculptors, Master Deling?" Lin Lei asked in puzzlement.

  "This, my works are all hidden in the underground chamber, no one knows, more than 5,000 years have passed, and I don't even know where my original underground chamber is." More than 5,000 years, the sea has changed, the imperial capital of the Puang Empire has been razed to the ground, who knows where his underground chamber is?

  "Oh, nobody knows." Lin Lei said with a smile.

  "You don't believe?" Drellin Kowert glared, "That punk Prucks even came to me back then, begging me to let him see my work, study it. After studying my work, that kid finally made a breakthrough and became a master of his generation. I suppose you could say he's my disciple."

  Lin Lei was stunned.

  "Prucks?" Lin Lei was really startled.

  In ancient times and now, the first person in the stone carving world 'Prucks' can even be considered as a disciple of Delingkovart.

  "Of course, if Prucks' works are pursuing perfection, my works are pursuing an extreme. My stone carving skills, which I have named 'Flat Knife' school. The Flat Knife school is completely different from any other stone carving school and has gone to another extreme. This carving method will be very tiring and troublesome at first, but in the later stages, you will taste the real sweetness." Deling Kwovate's face had absolute confidence.

  His gaze swept towards Lin Lei, and Deling Kworte revealed a smile: "Of course, in the past, there was only one person in the Pingdao School, from today on, there will be another you."

  Lin Lei had great faith in Master De Lin, and naturally decided to learn carving.

  All the more...

  If it's really like what Delin Kowert said, not only can his own strength grow rapidly, but he can also become a master of stone carving. With just stone carving alone, it's enough to support his younger brother's tuition fees.

  "There are only a few tens of thousands of years of recorded history, and in the long months before that, writing had not yet taken shape, but stone carvings already existed." Delingkov said with emotion, "Tracing back to tens of thousands of years ago, hundreds of millions of years ago, our ancestors would carve out what they saw and thought, this is the most ancient way of passing down civilization."

  Lin Lei also nodded.

  No matter what kind of art, it can't catch up with the ancient stone carvings.

  "From ancient times to the present, among countless forms of art, there is none that can be older than stone carving, nor any that can better express what people see and hear, and the joys and sorrows in their hearts. This has made stone carving art flourish for countless years without decline!"

  "The stone is hard and difficult to carve, and to create a unique charm, the difficulty is even greater. The more difficult it is, the more precious the successful work will be." said Delin Kowert.

  Lin Lei agreed in her heart.

  For example, painting, you can easily draw a natural stroke, but if you want to carve out a very natural stroke, it's extremely difficult. Because the stone is too hard.

  "The shape, texture, pattern and color of the stone contain not only a concrete image but also beauty itself. Using a chisel to cut away the excess parts of the stubborn stone allows the beautiful image within to naturally reveal itself and emerge. This is what stone carving is."

  "The method of carving is actually a way of dealing with images and space. When carving, from the outside in, step by step removing waste material, gradually outlining the 'body', and in the process of repeatedly removing waste material, the 'body' will become clearer and clearer, giving the creator a natural feeling of the work 'emerging'."

  ……

  Dellin Kwalt said about stone carving, that's all he talked about.

  But Lin Lei also felt Delingkorvath's admiration for Shi Yin.

  "Generally, carving methods require a lot of tools, such as: round knives, flat knives, slanting knives, triangular knives, jade bowl knives, axes, saws... and many other tools. The reason for having so many tools is also due to the hardness of the stone itself, they will use round knives to arrange, flat knives to cut, triangular knives..."

  Listening to Shi Shuo's account, Lin Lei also gained some understanding of the general principle behind Shi Gao.

  Dellin Kworte suddenly burst out laughing: "However, my carving method is different from everyone else's, because my carving method only uses one tool - a flat knife, so I call my carving method 'Flat Knife Style'!"

  "How is it possible, how can a flat knife be used for carving?" Lin Lei immediately retorted, "What you just said, for example, the scales of fish scales, how do you carve with a flat knife? It's simply impossible!"

  "No, others can't, but our clan's magicians can."

  "Earth-based mages can fully sense the stone itself, and with enough wrist strength, they can carve it with just a flat knife. Of course, this Flat Knife Style isn't that simple. Your task for today is to buy a sharp enough flat knife. Starting tomorrow, I'll spend three hours each day teaching you how to carve stones." - Delin Kuwate