Chapter 5: Transcendent Knight Breathing Method

He opened the black briarwood box.

What met his eyes was a parchment scroll emitting a silvery-white radiance.

On the parchment, simple lines outlined one after another small figures sitting cross-legged.

If one gazed intently, one would notice that some dashed lines on the bodies of these outlined figures were gently flowing.

And the radiance flickered in tandem with the flow of those dashed lines.

As a conventional transcendent text,

if one relied solely on images and words to comprehend it, one would clearly be unable to truly master or even understand the content of the transcendent text.

Any acquisition of transcendent information requires a medium of contact to build a bridge for acquisition; this process is abbreviated as 'medium-touch reception.'

Gunie, a见习法咒师 who, as a spellcaster, intended to follow the path of '法咒师,'

Gunie's medium was the spell runes he himself had mastered.

Slightly lowering his head, Gunie silently recited in a low voice using the 'Lange Emic language.'

With each syllable of the Lange Emic language silently recited, faint spell fluctuations stirred around Gunie.

As Gunie chanted, part of the radiance from the parchment bearing the knight breathing method transformed into a rotating channel as thick as a thumb, like a flowing stream, connecting to Gunie's brow.

The luster continuously surged into the depths of Gunie's mind.

For an ordinary见习法咒师, receiving a basic transcendent spell or other type of basic transcendent text would typically take over thirty seconds, and some with lower mental strength might even need forty to fifty seconds.

But Gunie, in less than ten seconds, swiftly severed the medium-touch channel established by the spell.

In these mere seven or eight seconds, Gunie had already completed a perfect medium-touch reception of this transcendent knight breathing method.

Having finished the reception, Gunie quickly stuffed the parchment back into the black briarwood box and then fastened the runic seal.

'The energy consumed is very minimal; I can easily perform one or even two more medium-touch receptions.'

'Selling it off to the transcendent knights in the Transcendent Academy should still net me a small profit,' Gunie thought to himself.

Then, Gunie began to examine this knight breathing method in his mind.

After a moment, Gunie understood why this transcendent knight breathing method, though structured as an intermediate knight breathing method, only had the effect of a basic one.

The reason was:

This method, called the 'Pious Knight Breathing Method,' was not a purely physical breathing method.

Rather, it was a breathing method combining both soul and body.

If one were a knight or warrior with devout faith, or an ascetic with a resolute will,

then the 'Pious Knight Breathing Method' would be highly effective.

However, in the three hundred-plus years since the steam revolution rose across the continent of Oya,

transcendent studies had emerged and flourished.

The mysterious aura of religious faith had been continuously dissected by numerous transcendent scholars.

Religious mysteries had also been repeatedly proven to be systems of transcendent power.

Once the mystery of religion faded,

the number of believers naturally dwindled.

Moreover, as the power of the royal rulers, beneficiaries of the steam mechanical revolution, grew stronger, they began to continuously suppress divine authority.

Some radical scholarly societies even promoted the theory of divine parasitism.

They believed that gods were nothing but parasites feeding on people's faith.

Although several major churches suppressed these heretical theorists,

the decline of the church and divine authority was an undeniable fact.

Hence, the number of temple knights serving the church decreased significantly.

Naturally, ascetics with firm faith also became much fewer.

Hmm... that's a bit of a digression!

'Powerful will, powerful body, dual breathing method?' A smile curled at the corner of Gunie's mouth.

'This... is simply perfect for me.'

As a spellcaster, Gunie's soul and will were undeniably powerful.

And Gunie's physical body was comparable to that of an average transcendent meat-shield knight.

This 'Pious Knight Breathing Method' seemed tailor-made for Gunie.

He opened the system's [AFK] page.

At this moment, the idle page displayed several rows of idle slots, each row containing five idle slots.

Among the five idle slots in the first row.

The first four were already lit.

The fifth was in the process of energy accumulation, and it wouldn't be long before this fifth idle slot was also lit.

At this moment, these four idle slots.

First: Bone Element Potion Secret Incantation.

Second: Rocket Spell.

Third: Ring Spell Bombardment.

Fourth: Bull Breathing Method.

These four idle secret incantations and scriptures.

Every ten seconds, experience was gained once.

Take this Bull Breathing Method for example; it had already been cultivated by Gune to the fourth level.

Each time experience was gained from the Bull Breathing Method, it could obtain 5 points of experience.

The acquisition of these 5 experience points represented the growth of the Bull Breathing Method's own experience gain.

It also represented that, through the Bull Breathing Method, Gune's physical body underwent an exercise of the same amount of experience.

Now that Gune had obtained a transcendent breathing method, this ordinary Bull Breathing Method naturally should step down.

Gune removed the Bull Breathing Method from the fourth idle slot and placed the "Pious Knight Breathing Method" on the fourth idle slot.

Ten seconds later.

On the idle slot where the manifested parchment of the "Pious Knight Breathing Method" was located.

A "+8" symbol quickly appeared and then disappeared.

Having just acquired the "Pious Knight Breathing Method," it directly had a +8 experience gain.

It must be noted that Gune had practiced the Bull Breathing Method for over three months, reaching level four before obtaining a 5-point experience gain.

And this "Pious Knight Breathing Method," just acquired, started with 8 experience points.

Once its level increased, it would become 10+, or even 20+.

Moreover, the upper limit of the "Pious Knight Breathing Method"'s tempering of the physical body was far higher than that of the Bull Breathing Method.

"Hoo... breathe..."

With a gentle exhale, Gune's slightly delighted expression gradually faded, returning to his usual ordinary state.

"From the several instances of experience gain just now, I clearly felt a slight improvement in my body's absorption of natural source energy."

"The effect is truly immediate. No wonder it's a transcendent knight breathing method."

"After ten days or half a month, when this 'Pious Knight Breathing Method' reaches level two, my physical body will begin a new round of improvement."

"A strong body ensures I can hold my ground, and holding my ground gives me the capital to contend with enemies."

His gaze briefly swept over his two spells: the remnant transcendent spell "Ring Spell Bombardment" and the ordinary spell "Rocket Spell."

Gune pondered briefly.

"Although Ring Spell Bombardment has reached level five, and Rocket Spell has reached level four, both are quite powerful."

"Killing an ordinary spellcaster can be done with one spell. Even ambushing a mid-rank spellcaster, if they don't detect it or lack effective defense, could directly kill or severely injure them."

"But... I am ultimately not a true transcendent spellcaster."

"I cannot engage in deeper cultivation of spellcasting, such as Source Pool, Secret Crossing, Acceleration, Repetition, and other powerful and effective means of spellcasters."

"Father Cohen doesn't have information on the 'Transcendent Relic' for spellcasters either."

"The path to transcendence is not easy!" Gune sighed softly.

"If there's no trace of the Transcendent Relic before graduation, perhaps I should reveal my abilities as an alchemical alchemist and join the Yulan Transcendent Association, where there must be a Transcendent Relic for spellcasters." Gune mused to himself, rubbing his fingers.

If there were other options, Gune would try to avoid organizations as massive as the Yulan Empire's "Transcendent Association."

...

After a brief period of quiet cultivation, Gune rose and left his cultivation chamber.

He couldn't miss the small gathering around eight o'clock tonight.

Forming an adventure group was one thing.

On the other hand, these children of wealthy families and members of noble cliques all possessed abundant resources.

Simply put, they were rich second-generation and official second-generation.

In the past, Gune had traded many useful resources from them.