Chapter 4: Cultivation "I didn't expect the Chip's analysis function to work on this world's Knight Breathing Techniques too!"
Leilin exclaimed in wonder: "Optimize immediately!"
"Optimization initiated. Estimated time required: 125 minutes."
"Hmm, 125 minutes — that's just over two hours. I can wait!" Leilin seemed to relax.
After an anxious wait, he finally made it through the two hours, and the Chip's voice rang out right on time: "Breathing Technique optimization complete! Execution time reduced by 5 minutes and 23 seconds. All effects enhanced by 5%! Physical damage side effects eliminated!"
"Excellent!" The result was deeply satisfying to Leilin.
A 5% boost per optimization might not seem like much, but after dozens or even hundreds of rounds, the gap would become enormous.
"It's said that the Cross Sword technique and its accompanying Breathing Technique were obtained by the first patriarch of our clan from the corpse of a Knight, after fighting through dozens of bloody battles. Among the many Knight families, it's considered above average!"
"But with the Chip's optimizations, this Breathing Technique is probably on par with the secret manuals hoarded by minor kingdoms!"
Leilin mused to himself, then said with barely contained eagerness: "Chip, transfer the optimized Breathing Technique to my memory cache!"
The Chip faithfully carried out the command, flooding Leilin's mind with a wealth of Breathing Technique training scenarios.
After a few minutes, the transfer was complete. Leilin rubbed his head. "A bit dizzy, but that's perfectly normal!"
His mind was now filled with a vast repository of Breathing Technique cultivation memories, along with all sorts of practical experience to go with them — saving him from making many of the mistakes an ordinary person would.
"I never really felt it before, but here, having the Chip gives me an absolutely massive advantage over ordinary people!"
Leilin muttered to himself: "With the Chip, I can gain through simulation and analysis in an instant what would take others ten years of bloodshed and struggle to achieve. All I have to do is follow the Chip's instructions, and I can stay on the most correct path from start to finish!"
Breathing Technique cultivation came with many taboos, and some of them simply could not be conveyed through verbal description alone.
One had to cultivate personally, make a few wrong turns, before finally gaining true understanding.
But all of that had been sidestepped entirely through the Chip's modeling analysis.
"Let's give it a try!" Leilin thought as he lay flat on the ground with his limbs spread wide.
According to the Breathing Technique's description and the Chip's recommendations, cultivating the breathing method paired with the Cross Sword didn't require any special movements — all he needed was to find the most comfortable position he could.
"First, hold your breath for sixty-five seconds, then perform three long breaths followed by one short one. The length and frequency should be…"
Following the Breathing Technique's instructions, Leilin gradually slipped into a state of cultivation.
His entire body seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, though his face flushed crimson and his temples bulged rhythmically, as if some intense exercise was taking place within.
As time passed, Leilin's face grew redder and redder until finally, a thin, dark-colored sweat began to seep from his skin.
The process lasted roughly twenty-some minutes before Leilin opened his eyes and exhaled with a sharp breath.
Hoooof!
A long expanse of breath tinged with dark gas surged out from his mouth.
Crackling sounds echoed from various parts of his body.
Leilin rose to his feet and stretched his limbs, feeling warmth suffusing his entire body, as though he had just finished a bout of vigorous exercise.
"Chip, display my body data!" Leilin commanded.
"Leilin Farell. Strength: 0.4. Agility: 0.5. Constitution: 0.4. Condition: Minor injury."
Leilin's expression remained unchanged. "Switch the data display mode — extend precision to ten decimal places, pull up the pre-cultivation data, and run a comparison."
At his command, the light screen before him flickered. The numbers representing his physical attributes expanded by nine decimal digits, the last three still fluctuating rapidly.
"Ding! Comparison complete. After Knight training, Subject's strength has increased by 0.005, agility by 0.006, and constitution by 0.004." The Chip reported back faithfully.
"Mm! The numbers are still slightly inflated since this was the first session!" Leilin analyzed.
"Just over twenty minutes of cultivation, and the improvements are already significant. As long as I keep at it, matching those black-robed figures' physical stats is only a matter of time!"
"So that means those dozen or so black-robed people are Knights!"
Leilin mused calmly. "What a pity — according to my memories and the Chip's analysis, the Breathing Technique has usage limits. The method passed down through the Farell family can only be practiced once per day. Doing it more than that not only yields no benefit, it actually causes harm to the body!"
"Chip, is there any way for me to practice the Breathing Technique multiple times a day?" Leilin asked.
"Medicinal supplementation is required!" the Chip replied in a flat tone.
"List the required medications!"
"Quinolinone, Marchite 21, magnesium peroxide…" The Chip rattled off a dense string of drug names — all medicines from Leilin's previous life.
"Can any of these be replaced with alternative drugs or animal or plant ingredients?" This was clearly an impossible ask, but Leilin frowned and pressed the question anyway.
"Samples must be provided for pharmacological analysis. Insufficient data currently!" the Chip prompted.
"As long as there's a method!" Leilin let out a breath of relief.
He looked down at himself. The massive amount of filth that had seeped out from his body during Breathing Technique practice clung to him from head to toe. It felt sticky to the touch and deeply unpleasant.
Leilin grimaced. "Looks like I need to take a bath."
He slipped out of the carriage. It was already the dead of night. The noble youths who were resting had all fallen sound asleep in their tents. Leilin tiptoed away from the carriage and made his way toward a nearby river.
"Warning! Human presence detected!" the Chip's alert sounded in his mind.
Leilin pretended he hadn't noticed anything and kept walking.
"What are you doing?" A voice came from directly behind him.
"So fast!" Leilin's pupils contracted. "I was already on guard, yet I still couldn't detect how he got behind me. If he had any ill intentions, I'd have absolutely no way to resist!"
Outwardly, he put on the act of someone who'd been badly startled. "Ah… who? Who is it?"
He turned around and looked behind him. There stood the black-robed figure from earlier in the day — the one who had been distributing food. Leilin remembered his name was Angelei.
"Y-Your Excellency! Lord Angelei! I just got a little dirty and wanted to go take a bath!" Leilin's face had gone quite pale, as though he'd been genuinely frightened. Even his speech came out haltingly.
"A bath?" The black-robed figure furrowed his brow and sniffed. He could indeed smell the stink coming off Leilin's body.
"Fine. It's dangerous out here at night, especially for a soft young noble like you. Make it quick and get back!"
With that, Angelei in black paid Leilin no further mind and turned to walk back toward the center of the carriage camp, where his tent stood.
"Thank you for the warning, Lord Angelei!" Whether the man heard or not, Leilin still bowed and spoke.
Caution had always been his guiding principle in life.
Only after Angelei had completely disappeared did Leilin set off, walking toward the little river.
Once Angelei entered his tent, he pulled back his hood to reveal a face that had been split clean in half.
"The bodily impurities expelled from practicing a Knight's Breathing Technique? Now that's a nostalgic smell! Seeing them in their infancy reminds me of how green I used to be!"
"What a pity. If I'd been born a noble back then, I wouldn't have had to risk myself as a test subject for a
Angelei murmured to himself, his figure blending into the tent until he was almost indistinguishable from it.
Leilin walked along, casually plucking wild flowers and weeds from the roadside, occasionally even popping them into his mouth.
"That black-robed Angelei probably noticed something. But it doesn't matter — a noble heir practicing a Knight's Breathing Technique is about as normal as it gets."
"Besides, he obviously has his own physique and his own Breathing Technique. There's no way he'd be interested in mine. And even if he wanted it, it wouldn't matter — I'd just copy it for him…"
Facing such an enormous gap in power, Leilin had absolutely no intention of keeping secrets for the Farell family.
But it seemed Angelei had no interest in a minor noble's Knight training method either.
The grass roots chewed in his mouth had a bitter taste, but Leilin didn't mind. If anything, it brought back a faint sense of childhood.
"Analysis complete. No beneficial components for the subject detected!" the Chip's voice rang out.
Leilin spat out the grass roots and swapped in another plant.
"Archive the morphological composition of the previous plant. Proceed to the next analysis!" Leilin commanded in his mind.
"Task initiated. Begin component collection. Commencing simulated experiment analysis…" Through the luminous screen before his eyes, Leilin could clearly track the Chip's progress.
"Beep! Experiment complete. Unknown plant compound — minor numbing effect detected!"
"According to Leilin's memories, this should be called Three-Night Grass. Chip! Name it Three-Night Grass and store it in the database!"
"Beep! Archived!"
"Hmm! These are 'red fruits,' and they taste pretty good!" Leilin pushed aside a thicket of bushes, discovering several bright red plant fruits.
The fruits were about the size of Leilin's thumb, growing at the tips of thorn-covered vines, and looked quite beautiful.
Leilin carefully avoided the thorns and plucked one of the red fruits.
Biting into it, a crisp sound rang out as sweet juice burst forth, filling his mouth.
"Mmm! The texture is like an apple, just a bit sweeter," Leilin remarked.
"Chip! Analyze..."
...
Along the way, Leilin had stored information on over thirty types of plants, but unfortunately, none of them were useful to him.
Reaching the bank of the small river, the gurgling water rushed over the rocks, making a sound that seemed even louder in the quiet night.
"Chip! Scan the surrounding environment!" Leilin commanded. Even without Angelei the Black Robe's warning, he could rely on the Chip to avoid danger.
"Beep! Surrounding environment scan complete! No dangerous situations detected within a twenty-mile radius!" The Chip faithfully relayed the information.
"No danger is good. I'd hate to be forced to flee back to camp for help halfway through a bath—that would definitely make me the biggest laughingstock..."
Leilin muttered, removing his coat and undergarments, his bare body entering the river.
The icy water hit his body, making him shiver.
"This water is so cold! I'm starting to miss my old water heater!"