Improvement

"Unnamed individual. Strength: 1.7. Agility: 1.5. Constitution: 1.5. Status: Good."

"Unnamed individual. Strength: 1.8. Agility: 1.9. Constitution: 1.8. Status: Good."

"Unnamed individual. Strength: 1.6. Agility: 1.8. Constitution: 2. Status: Good."

Several Knight Apprentices were training frantically on the field ahead, honing their bodies.

Standing at the edge of the training ground, Arthur sensed the information fed back by the Chip within him and gained an intuitive understanding of his body's condition.

Though he had rough comparisons from his memories, they were nowhere near as direct and clear as the data.

Every one of the apprentices before him had been trained as warriors from childhood. Even the youngest was two or three years older than Arthur, while the oldest was more than ten years his senior. Yet in terms of physical ability, although they were far stronger than ordinary people, they were nowhere near the thirteen-year-old Arthur.

This showed Arthur's talent. Even among those with knightly talent, he was absolutely among the best and fully deserving of being called a genius.

Arthur turned his gaze toward a corner of the training ground. There, a young man of around twenty was training in black fitted clothing, wielding a greatsword as he swung it freely.

His movements were rhythmic, every action free of waste. He swung the greatsword in his hand at high speed, creating a gust of wind pressure that pressed outward, faintly perceptible even to Arthur several meters away.

"Unnamed individual. Strength: 2.7. Agility: 2.4. Constitution: 2.3. Status: Good."

This man's physical strength was the greatest among the five people opposite him. Even before Arthur had been injured, they would have had to fight to determine the victor.

"Ding! Basic swordsmanship movements recorded."

After the other party completed a set of swordsmanship training, the Chip's familiar voice sounded in Arthur's mind.

The other man seemed highly focused on his training, and Arthur was standing in a rather secluded spot, so he had not noticed him.

The man walked to one side, pondered briefly, and began training again.

However, this time he was not practicing swordsmanship. It looked more like some unique training method that Arthur could not recognize.

This is the Knight Breathing Technique! Arthur was shaken, his eyes gleaming as he had the Chip record the man's movements.

"Chip, reverse-engineer the Knight Breathing Technique from his movements."

Watching the man's training, Arthur gave the Chip the command.

"Task established. Analysis template creation initiated!"

A vast stream of data surged forth, continuously breaking down and slowing the man's movements and breathing in an attempt to analyze his Knight Breathing Technique.

However, the result disappointed Arthur. Although some things could be analyzed from the man's movements, too many crucial elements were missing, making it practically useless to him.

But this was within his expectations. The reason the Knight Breathing Technique was called a breathing technique was that its practice required internal bodily movements, breathing rhythms, stimulation of the Life Seed, and a series of other complex forms of coordination in order to continuously strengthen the body. If it could be analyzed merely by watching, these Knight Apprentices would not train out in the open so freely.

"Incomplete Knight Breathing Technique data detected. Improve it?"

The mechanical voice echoed in his mind, leaving Arthur stunned.

Two versions of the Knight Breathing Technique appeared in his mind. Their differences and discrepancies were specially marked by the Chip, indicating that there was still room for improvement.

Right. The Chip itself possesses immense computational ability. As long as it has enough data, it can rely on its vast calculations to continuously deduce and improve things. Even the Knight Breathing Technique is no exception.

But in that case, I'll need to gather more data to improve and perfect the final Knight Breathing Technique. The eventual results will be better as well.

With that thought, Arthur's gaze gradually shifted toward the others.

Those who trained on this training ground were basically Knight Apprentices, and most of them were nobles with their own family's Knight Breathing Technique.

These people were all valuable material. Their movements could be used to deduce portions of their original breathing techniques. Though incomplete, they were sufficient as foundational data for improvement.

Thinking this, Arthur forced himself to calm down.

"These Knight Apprentices train here often. Unless they have a mission, they won't leave. The most urgent matter now is to find a way to heal my body as soon as possible."

With those thoughts in mind, he gradually calmed down, suppressing the urge to remain here and walking into the distance.

As he walked, the cane in his right hand occasionally struck the ground, making faint sounds that drew someone's attention from above.

"Arthur, what are you doing here?" The young man with the strongest physical abilities looked surprised at Arthur, whose body was covered in injuries. "I heard you were badly wounded on the battlefield and sent back. I was planning to visit you later."

Arthur felt somewhat helpless. Looking at the young man, he followed his memories and called out the other's name. "Dier, I've just been inside for too long. I wanted to come out for a walk."

On the training ground, hearing Arthur say this, the young man said nothing. He merely nodded and picked up his greatsword again to continue swinging it.

Slowly, some time passed. As the road ahead gradually widened, Arthur reached an open area.

A burst of floral fragrance drifted over from ahead, carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees.

Arthur glanced across at it. Many plants stood motionless there, gently swaying in the breeze.

He shook his head and looked around. The gardener who usually watched over the place was nowhere to be seen.

There were many plants in the garden. It contained not only all kinds of flowers, but also various beautiful or rare plants, all gathered and planted here.

Arthur remembered that Count Polia's wife seemed to be fond of all kinds of flowers and plants. This exquisite garden before him might well have been built especially for her.

Without thinking too much about it, Arthur laboriously walked forward while the Chip inside him frantically analyzed the characteristics and possible effects of these plants.

However, visual observation alone was not enough for a precise analysis. He also needed to know the compounds within these plants in order to determine their specific properties and their effects on the human body.

In the past, Arthur could have slowly analyzed them through various experiments. But he clearly did not have such favorable conditions now. He could only put them in his mouth and chew them, allowing the Chip to analyze their components at close range through contact.

"Agave. Contains substances beneficial to the body. Soak in hot water for ten minutes, then directly consume the petals. Eating ten flowers daily for over thirty days can increase Agility by 0.1."

After walking a few meters and tentatively trying several unusual-looking flowers and grasses, the Chip's mechanical voice sounded in Arthur's mind, bringing him to an abrupt halt.

Arthur was delighted, his gaze falling on the golden flower before him.

The golden agave was very beautiful. It had been carefully tended where it grew, and its quiet floral fragrance continuously spread with the moving air, creating a pleasant sensation.

In Arthur's memories, it was merely an ornamental flower that even contained trace amounts of poison. He had not expected it to have such an effect.

Thinking this, he pondered, Does it only work on me, or does it work on everyone?

"Host body's physical structure differs greatly from ordinary humans. This method is only effective for you." Almost instantly, the Chip's mechanical voice sounded in his mind again.

"As expected." Arthur unconsciously touched his ears, which differed from those of ordinary humans, feeling somewhat surprised.

In Arthur's memories, his father was an entirely ordinary human. Though much stronger than most due to being a prospective knight, he should not have transcended the structure of humanity.

Then this difference should have come from Arthur's mother, whom he had never met.

Arthur carefully searched through his memories and discovered several anomalies.

From childhood to adulthood, although his father had loved and indulged him greatly, giving him whatever he wanted, he had never mentioned Arthur's mother. Not only had he refused to reveal her identity, he had even deliberately concealed it, as though he did not want Arthur to know something.

This situation gave Arthur much to think about. He understood that there had to be some issue behind it.

But at the moment, this was not something important.

He turned to look at the garden, then laboriously made his way inside, searching for agave that might be growing there.

The garden appeared quite large, at least seven or eight mu in area. But to Arthur's disappointment, there were not many agave plants here—only several dozen at most, far from enough for his needs.

Still, this was only normal. Although agave was not a particularly precious variety, cultivating it to this standard was difficult. Moreover, it was neither medicinal nor in high demand, so there was no need to grow it in large quantities. Having these few dozen plants for decoration was already quite good.

To continue for at least thirty days, consuming ten flowers each day, and with each agave plant producing only one flower, he would need at least three hundred plants. The number here would not even be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

"Chip, can wild agave be used as a substitute?"

After standing there and thinking for a while, he asked the Chip in his mind.

Agave was not particularly precious, and there was quite a lot of it in the wild. However, because of the variety and growing environment, it was nowhere near as well-grown as the plants here. Not only did it look ugly and grow unevenly, but even its fragrance could be foul. It looked exactly like a wildflower.

"Ding! Probability of substitution using the same species: 87.4%. Effective substance content may decrease. Daily consumption must be increased to achieve the effect." In an instant, the Chip swiftly responded in his mind.

Only then did Arthur relax. "As long as it works, that's enough. This isn't as precious as the ones in this garden. It's everywhere in the wild."

With that thought, he looked over the flowers and grass covering the ground, directly reached out with his right hand, placed the leaf of a black plant into his mouth, and began testing them one by one again.