Monster Meat

At Habs Manor, Vivian was still training in her private training ground, clad in full armor and wielding a massive battle axe.

The battle axe was about six feet long, and its head was enormous, forming a stark contrast with Vivian's petite frame.

Few people knew that this was Vivian's most commonly used weapon. It weighed three hundred jin.

Vivian often sparred with members of the Nightingale Corps in the past, but now, no one could spar with her anymore.

Even experts at the Knight Level could not withstand Vivian's ferocious, storm-like assaults. There was no training value in it.

The armor on Vivian's body and the massive axe in her hands were all meant to temper herself, to push past her limits, all in pursuit of the opportunity to advance to Great Knight.

While Vivian carried out her daily training, several servants and personal guards stood nearby.

After finishing her training, she glanced at George standing in the distance and casually asked, "How is it going?"

George lowered his head and answered respectfully, "Duke successfully condensed his Life Seed. He looks like quite a promising prospect."

"Three days. He does have some talent. Next, we'll see whether he can reach the second level within a month. If he breaks through successfully, he'll have the potential to advance to Official Knight. If he can't..."

Vivian set the battle axe aside, and several servants hurried over to perform maintenance on it.

She did not finish her sentence, but George understood what she meant.

If Duke had the potential to advance to Official Knight, he was worth continued investment.

The value of an Official Knight was an extremely precious fighting force to any noble faction.

But if Duke did not have that potential, then the Nightingale Corps would merely gain another ordinary Knight Apprentice.

Without reaching Official Knight, there would be no qualitative change. The value he could provide would still be limited.

After getting started with the breathing method, Duke continued training at the manor.

He was under far less pressure now. In theory, he had already secured his place. Even if he performed poorly in the later training, he could still join the Nightingale Corps.

However, Duke remained diligent. He spent most of his time grinding the Whale Breathing Method's proficiency, temporarily setting aside Basic Swordsmanship.

But someone was working even harder than him.

Like before, Duke got up while everyone else was still asleep, only to find Xiwen's bunk already empty.

After walking outside, he found Xiwen practicing the breathing method's Stance Training.

Judging from the sweat on Xiwen's body, he had been training for quite some time.

This guy is really going all out, Duke thought.

Duke only had such drive to grind proficiency because he possessed the Skill Tree.

Xiwen truly deserved to be someone who had risen from slavery. His perseverance and temperament far exceeded those of ordinary people.

The two exchanged a glance without speaking, then each entered their training state.

It was already the fifth day of training, yet Duke remained the only one who had gotten started with the breathing method.

Other than him, Xiwen had made the fastest progress. He had already mastered five sets of Stance Training movements.

Under normal circumstances, that progress would not have been slow. But with Duke around, it did not amount to much.

[Whale Breathing Method: LV1 (11/1000)]

As Duke practiced Stance Training, he checked the Whale Breathing Method's cultivation progress.

So far, he had only gained 11 points of proficiency. The progress was far too slow.

When it was time for group cultivation, Duke could not help asking George beside him, "Brother George, how can I make the breathing method progress faster?"

He had grown fairly familiar with George over the past few days, so he asked casually.

George answered without hesitation, "Monster meat."

"Monster meat?" Duke had not expected to actually get an answer.

George nodded. "Monsters are far stronger than ordinary beasts and ferocious animals. Their bodies are incredibly powerful, and their flesh contains abundant blood essence.

After knights cultivating breathing methods eat monster meat, they can fully absorb the blood essence within the flesh through further breathing method cultivation, increasing their cultivation progress."

Then he changed the subject. "But monster meat is extremely expensive. Even ordinary monster meat costs four or five Gold Coins per jin, and it is not easy to buy."

"Four Gold Coins per jin..." Duke felt dizzy just hearing that number.

He had worked himself half to death during this period and only accumulated a little over thirty Gold Coins. That was only enough to buy a few jin.

Duke remembered the information. He still had to train at the manor and had no way to obtain monster meat for now. He could only wait until the training was over and look into it then.

The seven-day breathing method training soon came to an end. Duke was still the only one who had gotten started with the Whale Breathing Method.

Vivian no longer appeared before them. For her, all she had to do was wait a month and see who had gotten started with the breathing method.

On the manor's vast horse field, fine horses were brought before everyone.

This was their course for the next few days: Horsemanship.

Not many people in this era knew how to ride horses. Most people had no opportunity to ride one in their daily lives.

Seeing so many fine horses, quite a few people were eager to give it a try.

Not every one of Count Hardy's personal guards was equipped with a horse. They merely needed everyone to know how to ride, so they could make use of it when necessary.

There were two hundred people and thirty horses. Everyone could only line up and take turns trying them.

Soon, it was Duke's turn. After mounting, he followed the horsemanship instructor's directions step by step, first walking slowly, then gradually breaking into a trot.

[Horsemanship: LV1 (12/100)]

Before long, a branch representing Horsemanship appeared on the Skill Tree.

Duke discovered that Horsemanship proficiency was easy to gain. As long as he was on horseback, even merely walking would increase it.

If he galloped, the proficiency increased even faster.

Duke only rode two laps before his Horsemanship level rose.

[Horsemanship Level Up, Agility +0.1]

[Horsemanship: LV2 (5/200)]

Looking at the messages, Duke thought, Horsemanship levels up easily, but the attribute points it gives are pitifully few.

He knew he could not expect to gain many attribute points through Horsemanship. He could only see whether maxing it out would grant Free Attribute Points. That was the real prize.

Duke was not in a hurry now. Since Horsemanship improved so easily, riding a couple of laps every day in the future would be more than enough.

Horsemanship was taught in the morning, while Archery was taught in the afternoon.

This was Duke's first time using a bow. His first several arrows all missed the target.

The sight put many people nearby at ease. "Looks like Duke isn't that amazing after all. He can't even shoot a bow."

Many of them had already mastered Archery. They might not have been particularly accurate, but at least they would not miss the target with so many arrows.

Duke paid no attention to their looks. He had merely been getting a feel for it with his first few arrows.

After making a few minor adjustments, his powerful bodily control allowed him to plant the arrow firmly in the target.

[Archery: LV1 (1/150)]