Chapter 121 : The Second Breathing Technique! Cultivation Bottleneck!
Chapter 121: The Second Breathing Technique! Cultivation Bottleneck!
Fidis did not know what was going on. The more he thought about it now, the stranger it felt.
“Hey, Victor, if there’s a horse gathering, I’d really like to see it,” Arthur, on the other side, remained completely unaware.
He had been drinking, his cheeks flushed red, looking extremely forthright.
“Alright, Arthur.” Victor remained fairly polite toward Arthur.
However, Arthur was not his target.
He continued inviting Leo, “Sir Leo, quite a few people on our side are very interested in raising horses. They all want to ask for your advice.”
Looking at Victor’s manner, Leo felt that the other party probably already knew about his breakthrough into the Formal Knight realm.
He knew that once he went, it would definitely become troublesome, followed by endless social engagements.
He did not like these boring noble gatherings.
So he patted Arthur’s shoulder. “Victor, I still have matters to attend to. Arthur is my agent. You can discuss horse-related matters with him.”
Victor did not expect to be rejected by Leo again.
At such a late hour, dinner was already over—what could there possibly be to do?
For noble youths like them, nighttime usually meant dining, socializing, and then choosing a beautiful girl to share the night with…
“Oh, right.” Victor suddenly slapped his forehead, his expression turning enlightened.
He seemed to have forgotten something—Leo’s other identity.
After returning from the hunt, Leo had been brought here directly by Arthur and the others. He probably had not yet had time to meet the one in his heart.
Lady Manta.
Thinking of this, Victor felt he had indeed been inconsiderate. He changed his tone, “Then Sir Leo, have a pleasant evening. Please do honor us next time.”
“Mhm, next time for sure.” Leo replied with polite words, wiped his mouth, and prepared to leave.
“Then let’s go.” Arthur pulled Rog and Fidis along, eager to attend the gathering, clearly excited.
Victor personally escorted Leo to the entrance of the restaurant. After chatting warmly for a few more sentences, he finally bid farewell, “Goodbye, Sir Leo. Next time, you must give us the honor.”
He switched roles very quickly. Since the other party’s realm was higher and his future boundless, he naturally gave him full respect.
This was an important part of noble etiquette.
As Leo’s friends, Victor’s attitude toward Arthur and the other two had also clearly changed, “Gentlemen, please. I heard you are quite familiar with Sir Leo.”
“Leo? We’re brothers. I even helped train his swordsmanship.” Arthur let out a drunken burp, thumping his chest loudly.
He was a good brother personally acknowledged by Leo.
The two had learned from each other, supported each other, and done business together.
Arthur felt that his relationship with Leo was somewhat different from others.
At this moment, Rog could no longer hold back, “Victor, why do you keep calling him ‘Sir Leo’? According to etiquette…”
Fidis beside him was clearly curious as well.
In Knight’s Etiquette, “sir” was not something to be used casually. Just like between them and Victor—although they respected him, they absolutely could not address him that way.
“You don’t know? Leo has already broken through to the Formal Knight realm. I heard that in the Month of Early Summer, when the first batch of newcomers arrives this year, he will be officially knighted.”
“What! Formal Knight realm!”
Arthur’s mouth fell wide open, feeling his worldview collapse once again.
He had finally, after so many sleepless nights, broken through to the Quasi-Knight realm.
And in the blink of an eye, Leo had already reached the Formal Knight realm.
“Could there be a mistake?” Rog still found it hard to believe.
“Believe it or not, that’s up to you. We’re here.” Victor led the three into a brightly lit courtyard.
Inside, it was already lively.
More than a dozen well-dressed Quasi-Knights were waiting there with their horses.
Each of them either held fine wine or had a maid on their arm, appearing extremely carefree.
Daytime training was too exhausting for them.
Nighttime was for relaxation.
Throughout the year, most of their evenings were spent gathering under various pretexts.
Wine parties, poetry gatherings, tea gatherings, dance balls, banquets—almost anything could serve as a reason to gather.
Most of these noble youths would eventually return to inherit territories or assist their families.
These gatherings were their best social platforms.
And those invited by Victor undoubtedly had something outstanding about them—
either a prestigious family background, exceptional personal strength, or important connections.
Rog and Fidis, children of second-tier noble families, had initially not been included in this circle by Victor.
Meanwhile, Arthur looked at the elegantly dressed Quasi-Knights in the courtyard, and it seemed as if the noble blood within him had been awakened.
Recently, he had been busy making money and staying up late training, almost forgetting his identity as a member of the Xilin Family.
At this moment, he straightened his coat and looked at the luxurious courtyard, his whole body itching with excitement—he was ready to let loose.
“Please enjoy yourselves.” Victor returned to his home ground and began chatting familiarly with others.
But suddenly, he saw an unexpected distinguished guest.
In the distance, a refined middle-aged man leaned casually against a dining table, surrounded by several Quasi-Knights.
“Sir Anthony, what brings you here?”
“Just came to take a look at you all.” Anthony held a glass of red wine.
His gaze shifted slightly, as if he had not yet seen the person he was looking for.
…
After returning to his room,
Leo planned out his next cultivation schedule.
The Breathing Technique remained the top priority.
After drinking a couple of sips of the Tier 2 Excitement Potion, Leo immediately began another round of grinding the Breathing Technique.
As expected, after reaching Tier 2, the experience gain speed had slowed compared to before.
That night, Leo used the Tier 2 Body Tempering Potion for two full rounds, yet his progress did not change.
Only after dawn, when he completed the third round of the Breathing Technique, did the progress on the panel increase by a single point.
After breaking through to the Formal Knight realm, accumulating the concentration of black aura was also an extremely long process.
However, the higher the concentration of black aura, the larger and thicker the Black Aura Coating became.
The improvement to defensive power was very obvious.
This was how Breathing Technique cultivation worked—the higher one went, the harder it became.
Leo was fortunate to have the panel ensuring his progress.
For ordinary people, as they aged, their body’s ability to retain Energy Factors would decline year by year.
Even after a year of hard cultivation, they might not advance at all—or even regress.
In knight cultivation, there was no saying that one grew stronger with age.
According to general patterns, a Formal Knight’s lifespan was about 120 years, a Great Knight could reach 200 years, and as for Legendary Knights—Leo had only heard the title in Blackstone City, but never any concrete examples.
“So that’s why prodigies like Mia are so highly valued.” Leo thought to himself.
Fortunately, he was still only in his teens—everything had just begun.
Recently, he had gathered quite a bit of information about Breathing Techniques and Mia.
Back then, Mia had been directly taken from Blackstone City by the Golden Knight Order.
A so-called “special recruitment.”
It was said that Laforin had not been very willing at the time.
As for the exact reason, it was unclear.
“The Golden Knight Order…”
If calculated, Leo had actually broken through to the Formal Knight realm faster than Mia.
Could he also be specially recruited by the Golden Knight Order?
In addition, Leo had gained new understanding regarding Breathing Techniques.
Generally, after becoming a Formal Knight, cultivating the Breathing Technique would become increasingly difficult.
After reaching a certain bottleneck, progress would stagnate.
This was commonly referred to as a knight’s cultivation bottleneck.
The timing of this bottleneck varied from person to person—some earlier, some later.
But once it appeared, it meant cultivation would fall into a prolonged stagnation.
One option was to use stronger potions to forcibly break through the bottleneck.
Otherwise, one could only watch their own power gradually fade away.
However, there was another path—that was to cultivate a second Breathing Technique.
Like Laforin, knights of his age, when encountering an insurmountable bottleneck,
could choose to cultivate another Breathing Technique to strengthen their immediate combat power.
Although their realm could not break through, they could stack the effects of two Breathing Techniques, thereby enhancing their strength in another way.
However, this extension was not indefinite.
Just like birth, aging, illness, and death—no one could escape this law. But through training and maintenance, one could improve their condition and delay the decline.
Leo had considered the matter of a second Breathing Technique, but the prerequisite was sufficient resources and ample time.
Clearly, Leo currently lacked both.
“I still need to find a way to speed up my Breathing Technique cultivation.” Leo thought, sitting up.