Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-14

Three weeks passed since Ashton came into his new home and it is only today that he's entering the Training Room.

He hadn't stepped a foot in this place since he had no reason to before but now he does. Ashton finally feel a bit confident about starting his new exercise.

This new exercise having something to do with Mana of course. If it were any other regular exercise, he wouldn't have to do it in this room specifically, he can do it in his yard.

"Pause for Identi-scan." The cold mechanical voice Mr. Security sounded in his ears and Ashton did what it said.

After he was scanned, his identity was confirmed and the doors to the Training Room was unlocked to him.

Stepping inside the room, Ashton paused to survey his surroundings. Much to his surprise, this room is quite different from what he imagined.

Being in a world where magic is real, Ashton had a different image in his head when he heard of the words 'Training Room'. He was expecting more of Dojo or like a dark room filled with pots, ritual circle and stuff, since...you know, he's a Mage and all. But what greeted him was different.

The area was clean and looked very techy. The floors are made out of square tiles each is 10x10 in measurement. There are a bunch of apparatuses inside which he doesn't know of and there are blinking green lights off the corners of the room.

It's like he's inside one of those time-chambers, and it doesn't look bad actually.

By instinct, Ashton used [Identify] to the things he saw and he was greeted by rows of information which helped him understood what this room is capable off.

[Reactive Tiles]

• Extremely Durable.

• Can turn soft or solid, can also change colors and project images throuh the main controls.

• Self-Repair Enabled.

[Dummies]

• Made out of extremely durable materials and can withstand some serious abuse.

• Each Dummy is connected to the Control Panel, the user can program them by changing their settings.

• It's a good sparring partner.

[Strength Measuring Slab]

• It does what it says, just punch it or something.

• Details shown can be modified through to Control Panel.

[Rack of Weights]

• For the Gym Rats.

[Meditation Altar]

• Must be activated through the Control Panel first.

• Costs Mana Crystals to function.

• Usable only for those who are at Warlock Stage and below.

[Control Panel]

• This is where one can change the settings of the Training Room.

• It is recommended to view the tutorial guide first before using the Training Room.

Ashton deactivated the skill and didn't hesitate to walk towards the Control Panel. As if sensing him, the screen suddenly activated and it greeted him through words. It then gave him options which Ashton obviously considered. He started with the Tutorial Guide first.

It took at least fifteen minutes for him to know more about the Training Room and it's function. Now, all his complaints about this room occupying half of his lot is gone. He now understands why.

There are many things that he can do in this Training Room. For example, with the help of the Control Panel, Ashton can edit the ambiance of this room.

If he wants to feel like he's in the middle of the forest while he's here? He can do that. If he wants to feel like he's underwater? He can do that. If he wants some inspirational background music blasting through the speakers as he fed his muscles? That's possible too!

He can insert schedules, alarms and so on. He can make the ground unstable like being on top of trampoline, make it soft like mud, make it sloped...etc. He can do so much things that the possibilities are quite endless.

Of course, things like changing the flow of time and stuff are completely out of it's reach but what it has is more than plenty for his own use.

Ashton tried several pre-sets for the theme and to his delight, it worked like a charm.

The pre-set he used was named Nature's Serenity. It changes his surroundings to a riverside in the middle of a lush forest. He can hear the sounds of a waterfall nearby and also the chirping of the birds and the crickets around. Hell, the air smells incredibly fresh and moist like he's actually there. It was bizzare

The realism of this theme was astonishing. If it weren't for the fact that he could see the Control Panel and the other apparatuses around of him, he would've thought he's actually in this place.

"Well, this is awesome. I'd use this one for now. I'll try the other pre-sets later."

Ashton didn't use the other apparatuses for now, he didn't even used the Meditation Altar although it would be very useful for him.

Instead, he found a spot near the river where he can hear the crisp sound of flowing water. He took a deep breath and he could feel himself relaxing already.

Even back at Earth, Ashton always liked the sound of flowing water and rain. In fact, he habitually play the sounds of rainfall on a loop as he sleeps since it helps him sleep better and longer so this is very nostalgic and relaxing to him.

"Alright...I've never done this before but here it goes. I hope it goes well."

Ashton sat with his legs-crossed loosely, he kept his back straight but not stressed and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and began emptying his thoughts.

He was trying to meditate for the first time ever.

According to the book he read, every cultivator must know how to do this. Those who can't will never be able to use Mana efficiently in the lives. It's kind of a pre-requisite at this point.

The weird thing that Ashton discovered was the art of meditation in this world was simpler than he initially thought. Back in Earth, there many 'rules' about meditation like; one's back must be ramrod straight, one must fold their legs into a pretzel, breath in a square - whatever that means and so on...

And the fact that doing all of that doesn't really seem to achieve anything, makes it really hard for him to believe that it's worth even trying even for the memes.

In this world though, the instructions are more flexible. The act didn't require too many restrictions for him since the real difficulty of the art happens in one's mind not their form.

Well, add this to the things that he shouldn't judge according to Earth's standards. Seriously, he should really stop comparing the two worlds. That would make his life easier.

In Meditation, emptying one's thoughts is just the initial challenge. It's just a pre-requisite to enter the 'Meditative State'. Still, this is hard to do.

On the book - Beginner's Introduction to Magic, it described human's minds as 'Monkeys who's tails are on fire'. This basically means that a person's mind is incredibly active, more than one could even imagine.

The flow of thought is ceaseless and instinctual. There's has never really been a time where a person's mind is void of thoughts. Even in sleep, a person's mind is active because of dreams. Not having a dream isn't a sign of emptiness either since it's most likely that one's mind is pre-occupied with something therefore it can't produce a dream.

This is why muting the flow of thoughts in a person's mind is far more difficult to do than one might expect. Everyone's so used to thinking about something consciously or sub-consciously that the activity turned to an instinct.

The act of voiding one's mind off thoughts, is stopping an instinct. Thus, it's difficulty could only be imagined.

Still, this is something that everyone who wants to be a cultivator must be able to do. There's just no way around it. Ashton will have to do this one way or another and since that's the case, he might as well begin at his own terms.

The Meditation Altar would've been a great help for this. One of the benefits of the Altar is to help someone get through this process much quicker but Ashton decided to not rely on that for now.

It is pride that compels him to do so. Yes. But it doesn't mean that he doesn't trust the machine or disdained to use it.

He just wanted to test things out by himself for now. He wanted to see how far he can go without any assistance for now. Additionally, Ashton knows that the Meditation Altar wouldn't be by his side at all times so he doesn't want to build any reliance on it.

And just as he expected, it's really hard.

In the span of ten minutes, Ashton repeatedly caught himself being swept away by a train of thought sub-consciously. It's somewhat frustrating but the very feeling of frustration is a distraction too which can lead to another train of thought which is another trap.

Still, it's not like this is enough for him to give-up on it. Believe it or not, Ashton felt the signs of him doing it right, it's just that he couldn't keep his focus that he loses the feeling but at least it's something.

The funny thing is, he thinks this seems like a lot of work for the simple act of sensing mana.