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nThree days later...

nAt 6 p.m. New York time, inside a bedroom in one of the houses within a moderately prosperous district community. Spotted a handsome man sitting cross-legged on the bed with two closed eyes with his face and body sweating profusely.

nIt had been more than 12 hours since Jeremy had started his meditation to gather enough mana to form a whirlpool inside his upper dantian.

nIf there was anyone nearby, they would be able to tell that Jeremy's conditions were not good at all. Sometimes, his body would tremble slightly and then stop, and sometimes, sweat droplets would ooze out of his body unstoppably.

nEven with the 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) temperature from the air conditioner within the room, it couldn't stop the sweat at all.

nIf this continued on, Jeremy might be dead from dehydration. Fortunately, in the past 3 days, he had been drinking water and food vigorously like a greedy pig.

nNevertheless, even after 12 hours of gathering mana particles, he knew that it still didn't reach even half of the required amount needed to form a whirlpool.

nUsually, for ordinary people, they shouldn't do meditation for more than 2 hours at once. On the contrary, a gifted person who had a very high affinity to magic and mana could do around 3 hours at most.

nThat meant everyone had a different optimum time frame to meditate exclusively to themselves.

nBecause initially, when a person meditated, it would certainly help that person improve and boost their body, mind, and amount-cum-density of the mana.

nBut nothing good lasted forever, there was a limit for everyone's mind and body to handle the strenuosity from practicing meditation for more than a specific time limit.

nThat's why after every session of meditation, every practitioner must take an extended break to cool down their body, mind, brain, and soul.

nThat was also the case for Jeremy.

nWhen he was a sage, he could meditate for more than 10 days straight, and he wouldn't even feel that tired at all. Because his body, mind, brain, and soul had been trained and honed to the very highest stage a mortal could reach.

nHowever, right now, he was a puny mortal who didn't even train his body and mind for long, but this time, he had meditated for more than 12 hours straight already.

nThis alone was an achievement that should be recorded on the Akashic Records for eternity.

nRight now, Jeremy could only persevere, persevere, and persevere. He was currently trying his hardest to maintain the 10th stage of meditation while adjusting his breathing technique nonstop.

nThis way, he would be able to alleviate most of the burden that his body had to face to the minimum degree possible.

nEven so, after the time count had hit 10 hours, he felt that his body would break soon enough if he didn't do something to fix the problem.

nAnd this time, Jeremy came prepared...

nTherefore, he started to exert his mind power of which originated from his very being, in other words... his soul. He was overclocking his very own soul.

nHe used his mind power and willpower originated from his soul to sustain all of the pressure from the continuous meditation and let his body take a short rest.

nThis was already his second to last measure.

nHe couldn't manage to stop his meditation right now, or else his almost half-done whirlpool would dissipate into thin air really fast.

nHe knew too well that if he stopped here, he could not re-do the meditation again in a short time because of his exhaustion.

nIf it was like that, he had to take a long rest and wait for 2 or 3 more days before he could do it again.

nBut he wanted none of those; he only wanted to successfully step into the Associate Mage stage as fast as possible. He didn't want to waste 4 or 5 more days again because the time for the tutorial was coming closer every day.

nUntil 14 hours later...

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n14 hours later...

nJeremy's face was as white as a sheet of paper,, but he stopped trembling and sweating like previously.

nAt this time, he only felt that his soul was almost shredded apart by the shear stress from exerting his mind power too much.

nAfter sustaining the meditation by using most of his mind power for 14 hours straight, he almost hit his limits. So, he decided it was time to meditate in the standard way, using both his mind and body.

nAs a result of using his will and mind powers to sustain the meditation, the efficiency and effectiveness were only half as good as when using both body and mind.

nThus, right now, he could only gather around 60% of the required mana particles to form a whirlpool.

nHe had already realized by now that the chance of him succeeding was less than 30%. But he wouldn't give up that easily.

nAnd after another 8 hours of meditation with total concentrations to attract as many mana particles as he could. The amount of mana had already reached 90%.

nBut the conditions of Jeremy were nowhere near the word 'normal'.

nHe was shaking like a leaf facing gust wind. His body and bed were drenched with sweat and got smellier with the passing seconds.

nRight now, he was hesitating whether to continue gathering the mana or to stop it at this point and then re-did it again in the future.

nHe understood that when a person used their body and mind to the absolute limit. The only outcome would be 'becoming a vegetable'.

nA senseless half-dead human...

nAfter pondering about the dilemma for a short while, finally, Jeremy decided that it would be better to stop now.

nHe would rather be safe than sorry...

nHowever, he wouldn't go down without a final struggle.

nWhether they were human or beast, they would struggle the hardest when cornered.

nThis was his last measure...

nHe believed that there was still a chance for him to accomplish the feat successfully if he handled it carefully enough.

nHe was a former great sage of humanity after all.

nSo, he...

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