Knightly Training

After his first session of the Knight Breathing Secret Method, Sean felt mentally exhausted, but his entire body was warm, and a faint sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

Originally, Sean could only train for about half an hour at a time. This time, however, he had continued for more than an hour before finishing. The effects felt several times better than before, which made Sean quite pleased.

At the same time, Sean was curious about the sensation of perceiving his own attributes during training. He muttered to himself, "I heard that transmigrators all have Golden Fingers. Could that feeling just now have been mine? But what use is it?" After saying that, Sean closed his eyes again and tried to sense his own attributes.

Soon, that mysterious sensation surfaced in his mind once more.

Strength: 1.231 Constitution: 1.245 Agility: 1.340

After trying several more times, Sean discovered that as long as he consciously wished to check, his attribute data would appear in his mind.

Although he had not deliberately memorized the figures during his earlier training, comparing them with the current numbers in his mind revealed that his attributes had increased slightly. As for exactly how much they had increased, he had no way of knowing since he had not remembered the previous values.

Sean returned to the living room and casually found a chair to rest in. He thought, If I can clearly calculate how much my attributes increase every time I practice the Knight Secret Method, then that would be a pretty good Golden Finger for me.

Sean had played online games in his previous life. Every time players killed monsters, they gained experience points. By accumulating them bit by bit, characters could level up. That was why some players would grind monsters and level up day and night.

You reaped what you sowed. Most people understood this, but only a few could persist silently until the end. Yet if they could directly see the results of their efforts after every attempt, then most people would probably find it easy to keep going until the end.

Besides, if he could directly observe and calculate his own attribute values, he would presumably become a Formal Knight more quickly.

Once Sean had thought it through, he immediately got up and returned to his bedroom. His quill pen and ink sat on the desk. He took a seat before it, picked up the quill with his right hand, and drew a blank sheet of Parchment from the drawer with his left.

Sean looked at the sheet of Parchment in his hand, upon which he had recorded his physical data. He had deliberately written it in the language of his previous life on Earth so that others would not understand it. After the ink dried naturally, Sean carefully folded the Parchment in half, removed the Knight sword from his waist, and used it to pin the Parchment down on the desk.

He planned to bring it with him during tomorrow's training so that he could accurately calculate how much each session of the secret method enhanced his attributes.

Every session of the Knight Breathing Secret Method left the practitioner mentally exhausted. Training again on the same day could lead to unpredictable and severe consequences.

Therefore, when practitioners first began training, their elders would solemnly warn them that they could not practice the secret method again until the sun rose the following day. There was no logic to it, but that was simply how it was.

Sean had only just recovered from a serious illness, and the secret method had left him mentally exhausted. He immediately decided to go to bed early that night. Whatever ideas he had could wait until after he had rested.

After washing up, Sean changed into a white cotton nightgown. Thoughts of his parents from his previous life and the brand-new life ahead left him lying in bed, too excited to sleep. He did not know how long it took before he finally drifted off.

Early the next morning, Sean looked at the faintly brightening sky beyond the small bedroom window. He got up and lit a candle. The clock on the desk showed that it was not yet six in the morning. Clockmaking in this world was quite advanced; both its precision and craftsmanship were comparable to Earth's eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in his previous life. In most other respects, however, it was only comparable to the twelfth through fifteenth centuries.

After washing up, Sean prepared to leave. He carefully tucked last night's Parchment into his pocket and hung the Knight sword from the belt at his waist. Then he closed the door behind him and left the dormitory. The morning was clear and sunny, perfectly matching Sean's excitement.

Sean arrived at the academy's back mountain, the place where he had been struck by lightning three days ago and Chen Mo had taken over his body. He had always been accustomed to practicing the secret method here. Few people came nearby, making it quiet and spacious.

There was no industrial pollution in this world, and the air was extremely fresh. He began stretching his limbs, knowing that thorough warm-ups could prevent unnecessary injuries. Once he had finished warming up, he checked his attribute data again and confirmed that it was no different from what he had recorded on the Parchment last night.

Sean drew his sword with his right hand and began practicing one move after another—chops, slashes, thrusts, upward cuts, and more. The swordsmanship he used had been passed down by his family's ancestors. It was a system of sword techniques his forebears had developed through years of war, refining and summarizing their experience. Whether for physical training or practical combat, it was far superior to the Military Swordsmanship taught at the academy.

He ran through the entire set of sword techniques, thoroughly familiarizing himself with every movement. After making a few adjustments, he began training with the sword in coordination with the Knight Secret Method. Soon, he entered that mysterious state again.

As his sword moves shifted continuously, the warm current within his body gradually grew stronger, slowly yet steadily strengthening him. Back and forth he went, sword light flashing across the clearing in intersecting streaks as he chopped and slashed. Before he knew it, more than an hour had passed. The strengthened warm current suddenly spread rapidly toward Sean's limbs, followed by a wave of fatigue that swept over him. Sean knew this session of secret method training was over. Without hesitation, he immediately sheathed his sword, stood still, and calmed his breathing.

Sean steadied himself. After recovering a little strength, he could not wait to meditate and sense his attributes.

Strength: 1.235 Constitution: 1.249 Agility: 1.345

After comparing them with his previous records, he found that Strength and Constitution had each increased by 0.004, while Agility had increased by 0.005. Seeing that his attributes had indeed risen as he had expected, Sean could not help feeling excited.

Sean had also heard that high-level Knight Secret Methods could grant additional enhancement to a particular attribute. Clearly, the family secret method he practiced gave Agility an extra degree of improvement. It was not especially advanced, but it was still quite decent.

As he thought about it, Sean could not help frowning. If he calculated based on the increase in Strength from this training session, then after practicing continuously 250 times, he would gain an additional point of Strength—equivalent to doubling an ordinary person's physical capability.

This world had twelve months per year and thirty-three days per month. In less than two years, he could increase his attributes by nearly two points. Sean found that utterly unbelievable.

Sean had begun his education at the age of five and started learning swordsmanship and the Knight Secret Method from his father at seven. When he had been sent to the academy at twelve, his father, Yus Winchester, had personally given him a Knight sword—the very sword Sean still used now.

The sword was forged from Fine Iron and weighed fourteen or fifteen kilograms. During the first two years of training, Sean had used a Wooden Sword in its place. It was only at the beginning of this year that he had barely become capable of training with the iron sword.

Assuming Sean's Strength attribute had been between 0.7 and 0.8 at the age of twelve, then even counting generously, his Strength had only increased by around 0.5 over the past two years. Physical development had certainly been a factor, but such rapid training progress still required him to remain cautious.

No world lacked examples of people becoming enemies due to jealousy, envy, and similar reasons. People did not fear scarcity so much as unfairness. Moreover, Sean had secrets he could not reveal, all of which forced him to be especially careful.

After completing this round of knightly training, Sean returned to his dormitory. It was already past seven in the morning. He recorded his new attribute data after this training session on the Parchment, once again using the language from his previous life. One could never be too careful. Then he washed up briefly and prepared to head to the dining hall.

The academy dining hall was not far from the student dormitory buildings. About ten minutes later, Sean strolled inside. The entire hall covered more than three hundred square meters and contained dozens of long dining tables. More than a dozen round wooden chandeliers hung evenly from the ceiling, each packed with densely arranged candles.

Buildings in this world generally had small windows and no glass panes, only wooden ones. Their lighting was therefore extremely poor. Even at noon, candles sometimes had to be lit.

More than a dozen Noble Cadets were already eating in the dining hall. Whether they knew him well or not, they smiled and nodded in greeting when they saw him enter. Sean likewise returned their greetings with polite smiles. As students born into nobility, etiquette was something they had to maintain at all times until it became second nature.

If you were someone who did not value etiquette, you would be rejected and distanced by the other noble students. This was one of the rules of this world, and it concerned whether Sean could smoothly integrate into it.

At the third long table in the row on the left sat two teenage students, side by side and occasionally speaking in low voices. The moment Sean stepped through the dining hall doors, they noticed him and stopped talking. Naturally, Sean noticed them as well. After greeting the other students, he walked directly toward their table.

One of the two youths was blond, powerfully built, and dressed in a black training uniform. He was Sean's cousin, Jim Horton, the second son of Sean's uncle, Baron Horton. The other was black-haired and plump, dressed in a sky-blue training uniform. He was Ben Tels, the youngest son of Sir Tels. Both were in the same year as Sean, and they were close to him. They were among Sean's few friends at the academy.

When they saw Sean walking toward them, both wore happy expressions. Sean sat beside his cousin Jim Horton. Soon, a dining hall attendant approached with a menu. Sean casually ordered several dishes he often ate and dismissed the attendant.

"Oh... my dear cousin, look at you. Your complexion is truly excellent today..." Jim Horton said with a teasing grin as he leaned closer after Sean had finished ordering. Then his expression turned serious, and he asked with some concern, "You're all right now, aren't you?"

"Good heavens, Jim! Our dear young master Sean looks like he could kill a fierce tiger," Ben Tels said with a laugh before Sean could answer. He first raised his eyebrows at Jim Horton with a grin, then nodded smilingly at Sean. Sean even caught a hint of ingratiation in his gaze.

The Tels family had only held a knighthood for less than twenty years. A century ago, with the approval of the Imperial High Noble Council, the Imperial Emperor and the cabinet jointly issued an order: any Imperial merchant who transported grain and supplies to the Northern Frontier War Zone at fair prices would be awarded Military Merit. Once their accumulated Military Merit reached a certain level, they could pay to purchase a title.

However, the title could only be that of knight, and it came with no fief. Knight had originally been the designation for a minor noble's heir before inheriting the title. If Sean were the heir, he could be called a knight, while heirs to earldoms and higher titles were called lords.