The martial arts arena outside Cassia Swordsmanship Hall.
This space is spacious enough to practice archery and horse riding, and Ivan, adhering to the principle of not wasting the money he’d paid, still reported here.
“Ivan, do you want to spar with me?”
Three days had passed since Ivan had learned the Gushing Breath Method, and faced with Donnie’s invitation, Ivan pondered for a moment before agreeing.
In the past, he had sparred with Donnie and was slightly less skilled overall.
He hadn’t really competed with anyone since then.
“I’m going in.”
Donnie let out a low call and advanced with a diagonal upward strike, holding the sword with both hands.
Clang!
The two swords collided, emitting a clear metallic sound.
Since the basics of swordsmanship are quite similar and neither had been practicing a Breathing Method for long, their vitality was average, making this bout merely a tussle between novices.
“Ha!” After probing for a couple of rounds, Donnie forcefully stomped the ground and hacked at Ivan.
Seeing this, Ivan, neither dodging nor yielding, stepped forward with a large stride, holding his longsword horizontally to block Donnie’s attack, causing the longsword to quiver slightly.
Ivan made a judgment in his heart — despite Donnie’s robust appearance, his strength was only slightly greater than Ivan’s, not by much.
“Ivan, can you do anything but block?” With another sword strike, Donnie’s attack had considerably weakened.
“Your stamina is draining quickly, isn’t it?” Ivan said, effortlessly parrying the sword strike.
The two were evenly matched, meaning Ivan had made greater progress than before, whereas Donnie, not one to concede defeat easily, realized after several bouts that he couldn’t win as he had in the past.
Unable to resist, Donnie asked, “Ivan, had you really not learned your family’s Breathing Method before?” Being a poor student of the swordsmanship hall, he felt a lot of pressure seeing a companion progressing faster.
While maintaining a regular rhythm with his sword steps, Ivan casually replied, “What do you think? Who would not learn the family’s Breathing Method and instead come to the swordsmanship hall? What can I do if my family doesn’t teach me?”
It’s not very difficult to get started with the Knight Breathing Method, and it wouldn’t make sense for someone not to be able to learn it if taught, especially if it’s a Breathing Method that matches one’s body constitution.
“No more fighting, no more fighting,” Donnie called out, retreating from the combat and withdrawing his iron sword.
Seeing this, Ivan also stopped.
Donnie, slightly out of breath, remarked, “Right, the Goliath Frog Breathing Method of your family is of intermediate quality, far superior. Unlike the primary blood energy refined from the Gushing Breath Method, which stands out in no particular aspect and is also low in efficiency.”
The Knight Breathing Method refines the Breath of Life within the body, which is typically stored in the blood vessels and can circulate with the blood flow. Therefore, people also refer to this Breath of Life as ‘blood energy’.
Similarly, the circulation of blood energy stimulates blood flow. Given the involvement of blood and blood vessels, the speed of blood energy circulation is bound to be moderate; too fast could affect health.
The Knight Breathing Method has already taken this into account and provided a solution.
Practicing an Elementary Breathing Method, most of the blood energy accumulates in the blood vessels of a certain body part, such as the feet. Hence, when needed, it can be summoned immediately, augmenting either the power of the feet, agility, or something else.
If accumulated in the chest and abdomen, blood energy can bolster the defense of the internal organs.
The Intermediate Breathing Method has all the characteristics of the Elementary level and can also connect to the stomach, enhancing the digestion of food.
The Upper Class Breathing Method is similar but also allows for accumulation of blood energy in special parts, such as the eyes or ears, creating abilities like ‘Eagle’s Eye’ or ‘Ear of the Wind’.
Compared to other classes, the basic Breathing Method not only has a lower efficiency in refining the Breath of Life, but it also spreads the blood energy throughout the body. In other words, during combat, it is hard to enhance any specific part of the body.
Taking everything into account, the basic Breathing Method is far inferior to the Intermediate ones.
Donnie had heard him complain about the family’s Breathing Method before and felt some sympathy for him.
Ivan’s eyes flickered, “Maybe my family has its reasons; what about yours, what’s the situation there?”
For the lowest class of commoners, 30 gold coins might represent half a lifetime or even a lifetime of savings, yet Donnie’s situation was clearly not so, as Ivan had seen him with nobility’s items numerous times.
The Donnie family should be wealthier than the Marichadon family.
“My family doesn’t have a family Breathing Method.”
Donnie took a couple of steps back as usual and gave a vague answer, with the feeling of betraying more by intending to conceal.
Ivan had expected this and didn’t mind; he focused his attention on his own field of view.
[Apothecary Skill: lv0(9/10)]
[Knight Breathing Skill: lv0(3/10)]
[Linguistics Skill: lv0(1/10)]
Having just started, the experience point gain for Knight Breathing Skill was fast.
What he cared about more was Apothecary Skill, just one point shy of leveling up, making him full of anticipation; it was not in vain that he read medical books every night and reported to Old Orio every afternoon like clockwork.
“You two, why don’t you spar with me and let your senior brother give you some pointers?” Donnie hadn’t walked far when another disciple of the Swordsmanship Hall, Henge, made the offer, a faint smile on his face.
Donnie hurriedly greeted him: “Senior Brother Henge.”
Henge was a 2nd Class knight’s page, and among all the students of the Swordsmanship Hall, he ranked third in strength.
A knight’s page is the classification before becoming a formal Knight, divided into 1st Class page, 2nd Class page, and squire.
Like Donnie and Ivan, who had just developed blood energy and could lift the 150-pound test iron block in the martial arts arena, they were referred to as ‘1st Class knight’s pages’.
A stage where pure strength surpassed that of two average adults was typically defined as a ‘2nd Class knight’s page’.
A squire was one who had reached the peak of page-level strength and was just one step away from breaking through to Knight Class.
Henge managed to maintain the third position in the Swordsmanship Hall because he was at the forefront of the 2nd Class, only slightly behind Master Sister Mellie and Second Senior Brother Avignon.
Donnie dared not spar with Henge, quickly declining, “You are too powerful, senior brother; how could I possibly spar with you?”
Henge glanced at him, then turned to Ivan, who seemed to be lost in thought, “You can come at me together, let me teach you how to handle a sword.”
“I dare not.” Before Ivan could speak, Donnie repeatedly declined, “I really couldn’t, I really couldn’t.”
Thinking of something, he covertly pulled out a small bag of silver coins and slipped it into the other man’s pocket, “You must be tired from practicing, senior brother; you need a good meal, take some good rest.”
Donnie kept uttering flattering words.
“Let me kindly remind you both, Gushing Breath Method has extraordinary potential; don’t talk recklessly in the future,” Henge said, scolding, when he saw such understanding from him, and then turned away satisfied.
Turned out it was a slip of the tongue that had brought trouble.
Donnie wore a look of regret; how had he failed to pay attention to his surroundings, allowing this nosy and pompous person to overhear.
“Don’t worry about it; he’s always like that,” Donnie said to reassure Ivan, not wanting him to seek trouble.
“Donnie, you really have money.”
Ivan wasn’t one to act impetuously; when he was outclassed, he knew to yield, why suffer an extra beating needlessly.
Donnie waved his hands generously, whispering, “That’s right, that’s right, come on, let me treat you to a meal to dispel the bad luck.”
At Donnie’s invitation, the two of them had a meal of roast meat at a restaurant on Interlock Street, the taste was not bad.
In the following time, Ivan’s days were ordered; mornings at Cassia Swordsmanship Hall, afternoons at Bat’s Eye Medical Hall, days passing by one after another.
Finally, Ivan welcomed the long-awaited moment.
[Apothecary Skill: lv1(1/100)]