Training

The first experience with the breathing technique, especially when guided by a high-ranking Knight Commander who had practiced it for years, maximized the benefits of this initial training.

He only felt a peculiar power surging through the cells in his body, improving his physical state.

Like bamboo shoots after a spring rain suddenly breaking through the soil, Borne's short, frail body seemed to have grown a notch taller.

When Borne regained consciousness, he found himself sitting on the study carpet with two maids standing nearby; the Knight Commander was already gone, clearly having departed.

Having his body completely controlled for such an experience was equivalent to a martial arts master possessing a novice to teach them wholeheartedly, allowing him to directly acquire the master's full experience.

Such an operation was simply inconceivable!

It stood to reason that this must be a tremendous burden on a high-ranking knight as well.

As if anticipating Borne's reaction upon waking, the Knight Commander had long since instructed the maids to prepare food.

The second he saw the food, an intense hunger flooded his brain; disregarding any sense of decorum, he grabbed the food and began to eat, the first time in his life Borne felt that the food in this world was so delicious.

His stomach seemed to have been affected by spatial magic, expanding several times over; under the astonished gazes of the maids, Borne consumed three portions of food.

Feeling his stomach like a bottomless pit, Borne realized for the first time that a person could be this hungry, as if every single cell was crying out.

The food he swallowed was quickly broken down by stomach acid, transformed into nutrients, and absorbed by his body.

After feeling about seventy percent full, Borne stopped; he knew that after experiencing such intense hunger, one should not eat too much at once, as it was beneficial to neither the stomach nor the body.

Although the breathing technique had ceased, power continued to surge slowly throughout his body; the long-term weakness made him relish this feeling of possessing strength, and Borne felt that this change within him might last for some time!

Only then did he notice that his body was covered in a large amount of filth, sticky and even streaked with blood, which was not only uncomfortable but also disgusting.

Under the maids' attendance, Borne hurriedly changed out of his soiled clothes, and afterwards, it took a full three buckets of clean water to wash the filth away completely.

After the ordeal, the sky outside was already filled with red clouds; Borne ate a little more food before hurriedly climbing into bed to rest, and he slept very soundly that night.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Borne woke up early; sitting on the bed, the sensation coming from his body was no longer weakness, but a genuine sense of power.

He clenched his fists and jumped up from the bed, overjoyed!

Previously, he would have been unable to perform such a movement and would have fallen on the spot, but now, with his consciousness and physical nerves almost synchronized, he could already perform some complex actions!

He never imagined the breathing technique would be so effective!

Thinking of this, he immediately sat cross-legged on the bed and began to practice according to the breathing technique.

However, after stumbling through it once, there was almost no change; he knew he was doing something wrong, but he just couldn't correct it—whether it was his abdominal muscles or his internal organs, he could not achieve the near-perfect control the Knight Commander had.

At this moment, Borne recalled some of the messy martial arts qigong and Taoist guiding techniques he had seen on the internet.

Could he try those?

"No."

Borne immediately dismissed the thought; not only was the information in his memory incomplete, but it was also all stuff posted online by who-knows-who, and what if he crippled himself experimenting...

Before long, a maid entered; he had already grown accustomed to being served—previously it was because he couldn't do things himself, now it was because he didn't want to.

After changing into a grey-white aristocratic outfit and finishing a simple wash and breakfast, a guard led Borne to a room in the castle.

It had been set up as a classroom, and a dozen students were already seated in the back.

These were children from the castle, selected through layers of screening.

Before coming, they had all been told by their parents how precious this opportunity was; being able to enter the literate class meant their status would not be too poor when they grew up.

Moreover, accompanying the "Crown Prince" to study might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance; Borne was, barring any accidents, the heir to Ioulaum House, and the next batch of "ministers" would basically come from among them!

The children of the poor grow up early; those who could come here certainly didn't lack intelligence or emotional quotient. Even if they looked down on Borne in their hearts, they wouldn't show it. As for thoughts of making things difficult for Borne or slapping his face, those would never happen—the people hanging on the wall a few years ago were still fresh in their memories, and upon seeing Borne enter, they immediately stood up to salute.

Borne swept a calm gaze over them; most were older than him, with the youngest being five and the oldest only eleven or twelve.

At the front was the podium, and next to it was Borne's seat; status determined everything, and all of this was centered around serving Borne, with the others being mere appendages.

Just then, footsteps approached, and an elderly man with grey hair walked in, wearing scholar's robes and looking like a man of profound learning.

The old man walked to the podium, and an attendant behind him placed some books and parchment on the edge of the desk.

"My name is Rodney, a scholar, invited by Viscount Gordon to be your teacher." The old man said with a straight face and a resonant voice.

Everyone stood up to salute.

"Sit down, everyone. We shall begin the lesson now; if you have any questions, you may ask me directly." Rodney signaled for everyone to sit, the last sentence directed at Borne, knowing he was the true "patron."

"For today's first lesson, we shall study..."

Time passed day by day. At first, every morning was spent on literacy; under Rodney's guidance, they learned characters, followed by writing and conversation practice.

Only then did Borne learn that, besides the Common Tongue used by commoners, the nobility actually had their own set of Noble Language. Borne felt like cursing in his heart...

The wretched aristocratic class—not only did they have social hierarchies, but they even had their own language.

In the afternoons, Borne had to learn aristocratic etiquette and necessary artistic cultivation. Etiquette included dining etiquette, party etiquette, public etiquette, and situational simulations.

For example: how to accurately and sequentially use knives, forks, and spoons to finish appetizers, main courses, and desserts during a formal meal, and how to ensure one remained elegant and polite if one suddenly needed to leave the table during the meal...

Art appreciation was much more troublesome, but Borne knew that to enjoy the treatment brought by this class, one had to abide by the rules of this class!

The remaining time was spent following the knights to learn combat techniques. The other children were taught by other knights, while Borne, regardless of age or physical strength, was for the time being taught separately by the Knight Commander.

The basic movements of cross-sword technique: horizontal slash, vertical slash, straight thrust, diagonal chop...

Combined with footwork: advancing, retreating, sliding left and right, dodging...

The high-level combat professional had a sharp eye; he would stop just as Borne reached the limits of his body and will, then proceed to the practice of breathing techniques.

During the first few days, the Captain of the Knights had to provide auxiliary control exercises by his side, until the eighth day, when Borne was finally able to barely complete the practice on his own.

Although Borne's progress in training was merely satisfactory, he displayed astonishing talent in his cultural studies, especially his memory, which even shocked the scholar Rodney!

While others were still stuck learning the standard Common Tongue, Borne was not only communicating normally but could also write it. Rodney's teaching speed was based on Borne's progress, and the others could not keep up at all; many broke down on the spot and were carried away by guards, while others wept silently, forcing themselves to endure, yet it was all like listening to a heavenly book to them...

In reality, it wasn't just the students who were breaking down; Rodney was also under immense pressure. Borne's learning progress was simply too fast. In less than three months, he had already memorized over five thousand common words and noble scripts, and could conduct conversations and writing.

At this rate, Rodney didn't know how much longer he would be able to teach him. As a commoner scholar, although he enjoyed a certain reputation among the folk, teaching average children was more than enough for him; after all, in this era, being able to read and write could earn one a very good position with the noble lords.

Borne learned so quickly that Rodney had to take out his hidden treasures—some rare, isolated manuscripts that even Rodney himself hadn't fully understood. He could only read them to Borne verbatim, occasionally interjecting his own thoughts and insights.

After a period of time, Borne gradually understood Rodney's predicament and slowed down his learning pace, which allowed Rodney to catch his breath. Subsequently, Borne shifted his focus back to training.

After this period of persistent exercise, his originally skeletal body slowly became sturdy, and his previously pale and weak complexion improved. Borne felt that the breathing technique played a key role in this; of course, it wasn't to say that the other training had no effect, but it was relative.

Borne particularly enjoyed this feeling of becoming stronger every day. Although he lacked modern precision instruments for examination, his powerful mental strength allowed him to clearly perceive the changes each day.

A year later, Borne was four years old and could already barely keep up with the other children during training.

The people practicing together were basically all older than him, yet he could now manage to keep up, which showed that Borne's physique was no longer inferior to his peers.

Viscount Gordon had been keeping a close eye on Borne's changes. He was extremely delighted by the improvement in Borne's "illness," to the point that even his appetite had improved significantly.

Of course, the Captain of the Knights also understood that the reason Borne's body could recover so well was inseparable from his astonishing perseverance!

In the small garden below Borne's room in the castle.

After setting up the final frame, Borne clapped his hands and looked at his tactical training ground with satisfaction.

He walked to the pull-up bar, jumped up, did a few pull-ups, then quickly climbed up a vertical obstacle using both hands and feet, and dropped down just as quickly!

The Captain of the Knights watched from the side, somewhat stunned, and couldn't help but ask, "Borne, what is this for?"

"This is a tactical training ground I designed myself!" Borne said with a proud look. "By using different man-made terrain obstacles to move quickly, I can exercise every muscle in my body, making it more coordinated."

After speaking, Borne began to try and traverse the obstacles from the start. Although he had designed them himself, some were still difficult for him, either too high or spaced too closely.

The Captain of the Knights already understood Borne's intention and couldn't help but stroke his chin. He thought of much more; this method could not only quickly consume the practitioner's stamina but also serve as an excellent exercise for the internal organs.

The Captain was a high-level professional; he could control not just every muscle on his body, but even his internal organs. Someone like Borne could be directly stripped of control over his own body by him.

But not every combat professional could control every muscle in their body; many were stuck firmly at this stage when attempting to advance to a high level.

"Hmm, this is actually quite interesting!" The knight's eyes narrowed slightly.

From his superior vantage point, Uncle John, the Captain of the Knights, immediately thought of dozens of obstacles and movements that could better utilize the muscles all over the body during the practice process!

At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly that if he had known this training method years ago, he wouldn't have suffered so much...

Watching little Borne running quickly, the Captain couldn't help but marvel that he had only been training for a short time and could already design this new type of practice method himself.

Could this be the difference between a genius and an ordinary person?

He then walked forward to help Borne adjust the obstacles and demonstrated a few movements.

"Passing through like this might be slower, but it can utilize most of the body's muscles, making the hands and feet more coordinated."

Borne found it quite reasonable upon hearing this, and at the same time, he realized one thing: the memories from his past life could be used for reference, but they could not be copied entirely.

As a high-level combat professional, the Captain's experience was clearly more helpful to him. The methods in his memories could be referenced, but not fully imitated.

Afterward, every morning after waking up and in the afternoon after his martial arts practice, Borne would perform intensive training here in the small garden.

The Captain of the Knights would also come over to check on Borne's progress and instruct him to practice the breathing technique once more after each session to prevent any hidden injuries.