The Sovereign Dragon Ring

Episode 47's

A few days later, at the Ernst Institute.

That's morning. Linley had eaten breakfast, and was now heading to the back mountains, preparing to begin training.

While walking on the exit of the Institute, the small Shadowmouse was on Linley's shoulders, scanning in all directions. There were quite a few people in the Ernst Institute who had companions of ferocious beasts, and thus no one cared at all that Linley had a small Shadowmouse as a friend. But right at that moment …

"That person is Linley, the number one magus among us first graders. "A clear voice sounded from not too far ahead.

Linley could not help but stare towards the sound, and saw two cute girls chatting to each other while looking at him. When Linley glanced at them, the two girls began to thin out in quiet voices.

"I became famous. "Linley mocked herself.

Over the past few days, he had often met people who discussed it. Since he had defeated Rand, the winner of the first class tournament, everyone secretly agreed that he was the number one expert among the first grade students.

"Oh, in front?" Linley suddenly saw, a slender little frame in front.

Golden short hair, with a body as smooth as Reynolds. A cold aura emanated from him as he calmly walked along the road.

"Dixie?" Disciple Linley contracted.

Dixie was nine years old as well, and was actually a month younger than Linley. But this nine-year-old boy was already a magus of the third rank. Although it was getting harder and harder to advance in the higher ranks, a nine-year-old magus of the third rank was still quite astounding.

"It's Dixie. I heard that yesterday on the annual magus assessment test, Dixie showed that she had reached the requirements for the fourth rank. ”A number of seventeen and eighteen year old girls said from the side.

Most of the students in the third grade were over sixteen years old, with only the genius Dixie as an exception!

"A magus of the fourth rank!"

Linley felt his heart tremble. They were both nine years old, and Dixie was even a month younger than him. But he was already a magus of the fourth rank, while Linley was only of the second rank.

Ice-cold Demeanor, Dixie walked past Linley.

Absolute genius, Dixie. No one his age could get close to him.

A white line shone from the Circular Dragon Ring, and Doehring Cowart appeared beside Linley, smiling. "Linley, there's really no big difference between the two of you. When Dixie signed up, her spiritual essence was 68 times that of her friends. This meant that even before training, his spiritual essence had reached the magus level of the third rank. That was why in his first year, all he had to do was gather enough mage strength for him to become a magus of the third rank. Now, he had already been at the Ernst Institute for nearly two more years, so it was perfectly normal for him to become a magus of the fourth rank. ”

Linley understood this in his heart.

This person only had too many natural talents. He was born with an incredible spiritual essence, and he had an overwhelming elemental affinity as well. Clearly, he must have gathered the mageforce very quickly as well.

“Although his current training speed is fast, I expect him to need another three or four years to rise from fourth to fifth rank. And to switch from fifth to sixth rank, he would need four or five years. ”

“Right now, you are a magus of the second rank, while he is ranked fourth. But I'm sure that in ten years, you'll catch up with him. "Doehring Cowart said confidently.

But Linley did not believe that.

“Grandfather Doehring, the more talent one has, the faster one will advance. He has more talent than me, and has two more ranks than me. How could I possibly catch up to him in ten short years? "Linley's not a fool. His studies at the Ernst Institute made him realize how difficult it was for a magus to move up the ranks.

In the past, Doehring Cowart had told Linley that he would become a magus of the sixth rank in ten years, but Linley always had doubts about that claim. After all, until now, his level of improvement had clearly not been enough.

As he said these words, Linley had already left the Ernst Institute gate and entered the back mountains. As he passed through the mountain forest, Doehring Cowart suddenly said, "Linley, go to the place next to the mountain slope. ”

"Next to the mountain?" Linley.

“Don't ask too many questions. When you arrive, I'll explain. “Doehring Cowart laughs.

Most of the back mountains are covered with weeds and many different large trees. But after a while, Linley found a place that met the requirements of Doehring Cowart. That place was a mountain peak that towered hundreds of meters into the air. At the base of the peak, Linley stood up.

"Grandfather Doehring, what do you want me to do here?" Linley asked.

Laughing, Doehring Cowart said, "Linley, do you not believe my claim that I can let you reach his level in ten short years? Haha ... Linley, as a mighty Grand Magus Saint-level, I, in fact, have a method to increase one's spiritual essence. ”

“Method to enhance one's spiritual essence? Isn't meditative trance enough for that? "Linley looked at Doehring Cowart questioningly.

Doehring Cowart smiled calmly. "Linley, I will admit that trance meditation has very good results. But after meditating, one would feel very tired. ”

“Of course I'll feel tired. Trans meditation involves me using my spiritual essence endlessly. After completely exhausting my spiritual essence, I will then let it recover. It would be strange if it wasn't exhausting. "Linley frowned.

Doehring Cowart proudly says, “But my methods are different. It does not require any spiritual essence. In fact, it is a form of entertainment. ”

"really. This form of entertainment is – stoneculpting! ”Proud expression appears on Doehring Cowart's face.

"Stonesculpting?" Linley said, astonished. "Like the statues in the Proulx Gallery?"

Doehring Cowart smiled and said, “True. When others were sculpting stones, they would exert a lot of energy and exhaust themselves. But my method is different. Although it is also tiring when you first start training in it, towards the end, the results will be very good. ”

"Are you serious?" Linley could not believe it.

Doehring Cowart looked at him. "Linley, you don't believe me? As a venerable Grand Magus Saint-level from the Pouant Empire, in the past, there were some statues I made that the nobles offered a million gold coins to buy. But how could I, a Grand Magus Saint-level, be willing to give you the sculpture that I am most proud of from others? ”

“You're that good? Why have I never heard of your name among the other grandmaster sculptors, then, Grandpa Doehring? "Said Linley suspiciously.

Doehring Cowart said awkwardly, “Yes, I hid all my work in the basement that no one knew. After five thousand years, I am no longer even sure where it is. ”Five thousand years is enough for the sea to turn into agricultural land. The entire Pouant Empire had been eliminated. Who knows where the vault is now?

"Oh ho, so no one's ever heard of you?" Linley started to chuckle.

"You don't believe me?" Doehring Cowart looked at him. “Then, when Proulx was a child, he came to me and sincerely begged me to allow him to see my sculptures. After analyzing my sculpture, that boy Proulx had a mental breakthrough that ultimately allowed him to become a grandmaster sculptor. In fact, he could even be considered as my disciple. ”

Linley.

"Poulx?" Linley was really scared right now.

Proulx, the man who has been recognized for centuries in the best sculptor in history, can be considered a pupil of Doehring Cowart.

“Of course, if one can describe Proulx's work as the pursuit of perfection, my work pursues a different extreme. I named my sculpting method 'Straight Chisel School'. The School of Straight Sculpting was completely different from all other sculpting methods. It's a totally different extreme pursuit. This method, at first, is very tiring, but as the person who mastered it, you will realize the true fruit. "The expression of absolute confidence was on Doehring Cowart's face.

Glancing at Linley, a smile appeared on Doehring Cowart's face. “But of course, in the past, I was the only member of the Straight Sculpture School. From today onwards, you will be the second member. ”

In his heart, Linley had total confidence in Grandpa Doehring, so naturally he had decided to learn sculpting with him.

And what else …

If Grandpa Doehring's words were true, and he could grow stronger while also becoming a sculptor expert, just based on his sculpting skills alone, he would be able to support his younger brother's tuition fees.

“Written, recorded history only goes back several tens of thousands of years at most. In ancient times before that, even before the writing system was invented, stone-making already existed. "Doehring Cowart said with a sigh. “Hundreds of thousands of years, or even millions of years ago, our ancestors would record their memories and visions in sculptures. It is the most ancient method of recording culture and history. ”

Linley nodded as well.

There is no cultural form at all that is older than stone.

“For centuries, sculpting has always been very difficult to do. And creating a sculpture with a unique aura was even more difficult. The harder something is to do, the more valuable that success is. “Doehring Cowart sighed emotionally.

Linley agreed in his heart.

If you want to paint one punch, you can easily do it. But if you want to carve a paint scratch, it will be very difficult, because the stone is too hard.

“The appearance, quality, grain, and color of the stone not only affects its appearance, but also its entire potential and original shape. We use chisels to remove excess parts and let its natural beauty unfold. This is stoneculpting. ”

“How to carve stone is really a way of controlling space and appearance. When cutting down stones, one had to carve from the outside inward, step by step, slowly taking out a 'shape' from the inside. And then, slowly, someone will remove the excess part, allowing the form to become more and more clear. This will allow the sculptor to feel naturally as if his artwork is 'growing' beautifully.

…

As soon as he started, Doehring Cowart could not stop talking about carving.

But Linley could clearly tell how much Doehring Cowart revered this art.

“Most stone counting methods use many tools, such as butterfly chisel, straight chisel, oblique chisel, triangle chisel, jade bowl knife, hammer, saw, and more. The reason there are so many tools is because the stone is very hard and hard. Thus, they will use butterfly chisels to draw shapes, straight chisels for the initial pieces, triangular chisels …. ”

Listening to him speak, Linley began to understand more about the basics of stoneculpting.

Doehring Cowart suddenly laughed. “But my mind method is very different from the others. This is because my fishing method only uses one straight – tool chisel! This is why I named my sculpting method, 'Straight Chisel School'! ”

"How is it possible? You carve using only straight chisels? "Linley immediately argued. “You just told yourself that more tools are needed. For example, fish scales. How do you use a straight chisel to carve it? Isn't that impossible at all? "

"Wrong. Although others cannot, we earth-style magi can! ”

Doehring Cowart said confidently, “Earth-style majors can really feel the whole shape of a rock. With enough wrist strength, we can sculpt the stone with just a straight chisel. But of course, the 'Straight Chisel School' was not easy to enter. Today, your mission is to buy straight chisels that are sharp enough. From today onwards, every day, I will spend three hours guiding you in learning how to carve stones. ”