A Knight Order, as the name suggested.
Was composed entirely of members of the traditional profession [Knight].
[Knight] was a second-tier profession. In other words, even the weakest members of a Knight Order were second-tier classholders.
However, although Knight Orders were composed entirely of those with the [Knight] profession, that did not mean just any group of [Knights] could form a Knight Order.
The selection criteria for members of a Knight Order were extremely strict.
First, the [Knights] of the same Knight Order had to practice the same Breathing Technique, so that the battle qi they produced shared the same origin. When a high-tier [Knight] used a secret technique, all the knights' battle qi could then merge into one.
For traditional classholders, energy had already been cultivated within their bodies at the second tier, but it was too weak to be drawn outside their bodies.
Under the guidance of a high-tier [Knight], however, the [Knights] of a Knight Order could draw out and merge these faint traces of battle qi.
This made Knight Orders extremely powerful in combat.
Moreover, selecting members of a Knight Order required more than physical strength and mastery of martial skills. The [Knight] also had to personally subdue a horse equivalent to a second-tier creature.
Normally, second-tier creatures were stronger in combat than humans of the same tier. Being able to defeat a creature of the same tier already counted as exceptional talent, and subduing one was even harder than defeating it.
Every country had ranches dedicated to breeding and training tiered horses.
Those things were manageable, since the state provided them.
The main issue was that every knight needed a full set of equipment, including full-body armor, a two-handed greatsword, and a lance.
Knights essentially had to provide all of this themselves. Although the state