Great Dark Breathing Method

Ji Xun started his new job.

It went incredibly smoothly.

He became a Corpse Collector in Sinless City.

Having a profession made him feel like he had instantly integrated into this city of sin.

Three days passed in a flash.

117 East City Street, the location of the Golden Oak Security Company branch.

There stood a solitary, large house made of red brick and glass.

Behind the house, with its dark glass windows, loomed a stone tower spewing thick black smoke – the chimney of the incinerator.

This was the Corpse Collectors' workplace and dormitory.

Three levels underground.

This was the morgue.

Corpse collected from all over the eastern fifth district of Sinless City had to be stored in the morgue for a few days until their Curse Power completely dissipated before they could be cremated.

Normally, besides transporting bodies, no one ever came to this gloomy place.

The entire floor was devoid of living people, only dozens of "clients."

They were quietly packed into cold, drawer-like compartments.

The cold air condensed on the floor, forming wisps of white mist, eerily silent and chilling.

And at this very moment, in the morgue, Ji Xun opened his eyes from meditation.

He exhaled a breath of stale air and sighed, "Ah, this Great Dark Breathing Method isn't very efficient."

His expression was incredibly calm; the surrounding metal boxes holding corpses didn't instill even a trace of fear in him.

On the contrary, the quiet, private environment, free from disturbances, suited him perfectly.

Ji Xun could use the Demon Feast without restraint to devour the residual Extraordinary Traits from the corpses.

The only drawback was that most of these corpses had already been treated with Alchemical Potions by the Corpse Collectors, causing them to lose most of their Extraordinary Traits.

But even so, it was currently enough to meet his devouring needs.

This was the third day of his job as a Corpse Collector, and his physical stats had already changed dramatically.

「Ji Xun」
Strength: 1.13
Physique: 1.09
Agility: 0.84
Mental Power: 4.85
Curse Power: 65/65
Aura: Gambler of Misfortune
Elemental Affinity: Dark 12 / Light 3 / Earth 4 / Wind 2 / Water 0 / Fire 3 / Thunder 1 / Wood 3
Skills: [Demon Feast Lv0 (36/500)], [Shadow Stealth Lv0 (12/100)], [Advanced Firearms Specialization (1566/3000)], [Great Dark Breathing Method Lv1 (2/300)]

Thanks to the convenience of the Corpse Collector profession, Ji Xun's stats, which were around 0.7 in his unhealthy state when he first arrived in this world, now felt stronger than before he transmigrated.

Furthermore, his affinity with each element and his Curse Power were steadily increasing.

And this was only the result of three days.

Ji Xun could already imagine what his stats would be like after staying for a few months or half a year.

The future held great promise.

He stood up and put away the small booklet with the Qi circulation routes in front of him.

This was the Great Dark Breathing Method he had bought from the Sinless City Black Market three days ago.

The name sounded impressive, but it was just the most common Darkness-type breathing technique on the market, and it cost nearly fifty thousand yuan.

This had used up almost all the cash he had at the moment.

He bought this breathing technique to quickly improve his Dark Affinity, allowing him to use Shadow Stealth without restrictions.

Theoretically, this booklet, with diligent practice, could allow someone to cultivate to the sixth stage of Curse Power.

Three days ago, on the night he received the booklet, he had started trying to practice it.

The Comprehension +10 stat from JOKER allowed him to easily understand the obscure descriptions in the tomes.

After a few attempts, he directly grasped the "Qi sensation" that the booklet described as taking "1-4 weeks" for normal people to find.

That was the first time Ji Xun personally experienced the ridiculously beneficial effect of Comprehension on skill learning.

Then, that same night, he began formal meditation practice.

He tried circulating his meager Curse Power within his body according to the specific patterns described in the breathing technique, and indeed, he could control it.

And with every breath, absorbing the dark elements from the air, the Curse Power grew stronger after each full circulation.

The data panel showed the changes directly: one full cycle of the breathing technique increased Curse Power Value by about 0.1.

With a cycle every half hour, theoretically, meditating for a whole night could increase Curse Power by about 1 point.

As proficiency increased, the breathing technique's efficiency gradually improved, leading to a greater increase in Curse Power.

After three days, the breathing technique had already leveled up to Lv1, with elemental absorption efficiency increasing by several tenths.

This made Ji Xun gradually realize just how powerful the Demon Mark he had fused with was.

But precisely because it was so powerful, he felt a bit disdainful of the Great Dark Breathing Method.

The Epic Demon Mark, JOKER, had granted him growth in all elemental affinities. He could clearly sense various Curse Spirit elements in the air: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Light, Dark, Thunder, Wood, Metal.

This meant he could now absorb any kind of Curse Power without conflict.

And the Great Dark Breathing Method he was currently cultivating only absorbed the single "Dark attribute Curse Power," and its absorption efficiency was very low.

It was as if there were a hundred parts of free Curse Spirit elements of various kinds in the air, with dark elements making up only about a tenth or so. Then his breathing technique absorbed only a fraction of that tenth, so the final efficiency could be imagined to be quite low.

Thus, a thought, whether reasonable or not, popped into Ji Xun's mind.

He felt that if he could absorb multiple elemental particles simultaneously, wouldn't his Curse Power skyrocket?

However, this thought was merely a fleeting one.

Breathing techniques were essential skills for Spell Card Masters and were very expensive.

His own mediocre breathing technique had cost him fifty thousand yuan, and he had inquired about Black Iron Quality breathing techniques, which easily cost over a hundred thousand.

Not to mention Silver Breathing Methods.

Ji Xun currently had no money to consider buying one.

The only valuable things he had were some skill cards obtained from the Blackwater Mercenaries.

But when he got these spoils of war in the Alternate Dimension, Chu Jiu had kindly reminded him that it was best not to use them without fully mastering the corresponding elemental Curse Power.

Furthermore, the cards had hidden marks from the Blackwater Mercenaries, making them unsellable.

But there was no need to rush.

His current physical condition wasn't strong enough, and the Demon Feast would cause indigestion if he devoured too quickly.

Ji Xun planned to continue working as a Corpse Collector for a while longer.

Not long after waking from his meditation, the "creak" and "grind" of metal friction came from the dimly lit corridor.

It was the sound of the old elevator's steel cables rubbing against the pulleys in the building.

In this quiet third basement level, it was exceptionally jarring.

Ji Xun heard it from a considerable distance.

The iron gate of the elevator opened, and a slightly chubby teenager walked out.

He pushed several new corpses into the morgue and called out, "Team Two sent over a few more 'new clients.' They want us to handle them."

Ji Xun nodded and helped put the bodies into the cabinets.

This little fatty was named Gibb, only sixteen years old, and also a Corpse Collector. He had started a few days before Ji Xun.

Since they were both newcomers, the dirty and tiring work of moving corpses fell to them.

Ji Xun, however, found having more work to be quite agreeable.

The more time he spent with the corpses, the more attributes he could devour.

But for others, this job was not so easy.

The little fatty currently had a tired look on his face, with faint dark circles under his eyes.

This wasn't just because he hadn't slept well after two missions last night, but also because he had been contaminated by the corpses.

The reason Corpse Collectors were paid so highly wasn't just because the nature of the work was taboo, but most importantly, it was a short lifespan!

Uncontrolled Extraordinary Traits would continuously contaminate those nearby. Although Corpse Collectors had special treatment methods, long-term dealings with corpses, with high contact frequency, greatly increased the probability of contamination and mutation.

It was said that Corpse Collectors at the Golden Oak Security Company never lasted more than a year on the job.

After placing the corpses in the boxes, the little fatty said with a hint of apology, "Brother, those expired clients will have to trouble you to burn them again. I really can't stand being here."

The morgue contained dozens of corpses, with various contaminations leaking out; his frail body truly couldn't handle it.

Ji Xun was unconcerned, "Yeah. Just leave them here."

The little fatty still felt a bit guilty and said, "When I get paid, I'll treat you to a drink on Downing Street."

Ji Xun smiled, "Okay."

At this moment, Gibb looked at his own arm, which was a dark cyan color, like it had corpse spots, and sighed, "Sigh, it's a shame I don't know anything. Otherwise, I'd become a Treasure Hunter. Hunters are dangerous, but you might get rich if you take the risk. But being a Corpse Collector is..."

Ji Xun didn't say anything.

If he could, he planned to continue this Corpse Collector job for several more months.

The little fatty added, "Oh right, there's a free class for Card Disciples at the Hunter's Guild tomorrow. Are you going?"

"Yes, we should."

There weren't any extraordinary academies in this Sinless City, and Ji Xun was already worrying about where to acquire systematic extraordinary knowledge. The Hunter's Guild naturally offered courses on basic card knowledge, so he couldn't miss it.

The chubby guy was also looking forward to it, thinking learning some knowledge would always be good. "Shall we go together then?"

"Okay."

Ji Xun nodded.

Just as the chubby guy finished speaking and was about to leave, a voice came from the brass pipes on the wall: "A cellar full of corpses has been discovered at 17 Tailor Street. Dong Jiu, send a few people from your team to handle it. Remember to bring plenty of alchemical potions."

This was an old communication tool of the security company. The specially made brass pipes could transmit orders from the office to all parts of the building.

The chubby guy shrugged as he listened, saying with a sigh, "Looks like we have another mission."

Ji Xun nodded as well.

The Corpse Collector profession was quite ideal at the moment, except for the excessively high frequency of missions, which required them to work day and night.

With the simple folk of Sinless City, it wasn't unusual for their small team, responsible for just one district in the east, to collect several corpses from sudden deaths every day.

They had already been on over a dozen missions in the past three days.

Without daring to delay, the two of them quickly ran upstairs, grabbed their toolboxes, and then hopped onto a steam truck parked by the roadside.

The black steam truck, with its oak emblem printed on the carriage, sped through the streets.

There were five people sitting in the carriage.

Besides Ji Xun and the chubby guy, there was also Captain Dong Jiu, whose face bore a centipede-like scar, and two other veteran employees, "Baldy Liu" and "Bucktooth."

The names in this world were strange. Many people in Sinless City didn't like to reveal their real names, but some genuinely only had nicknames.

Ji Xun was already used to it.

All five wore white gloves and somber black clothes, which were the work uniforms of the Corpse Collectors.

Ji Xun and the chubby guy were organizing their toolboxes filled with various bottles and jars of alchemical potions.

Dong Jiu and the other two old employees showed no intention of helping, merely chatting idly.

"The company sent word that over a dozen bodies were found in a cellar on Tailor Street. We'll be busy today. Judging by the boss's tone, this client seems quite troublesome."

"Tailor Street? Isn't that a civilian district? How could so many people die there?"

"Who knows. Let's just hope there aren't any tricky clients today. I heard yesterday, team 7 in District 4 had an unlucky fellow who encountered a curse power overload while handling a client in the Weasel Street sewers. The corpse mutated, grew a serrated tentacle, and directly bit off the guy's lifeblood."

"Hahaha, that's really unlucky indeed."

"..."

The conversations in the carriage were casual, but they contained a significant amount of information.

Ji Xun had learned quite a bit of useful intelligence from these people over the past three days.

But even so, he was puzzled by what he was hearing now.

Having been on missions these past few days, he had already memorized most of the street names within his jurisdiction, East District 5.

He clearly remembered that Tailor Street was a residential area for ordinary people, where serious violent incidents rarely occurred.

Now, not only had people died, but over a dozen at once?

However, regardless of the circumstances, more corpses were a good thing for him.

The stronger the contamination, the better.

Thank you to 'Charging Jelly' for 500, 'Ten Thousand Industries Immortal' for 500, 'GT Ten Thousand Miles Red', 'Sprayer Grandmaster', 'AD 1', '20220812114512415', and 'Senior Cat Maru' for their reward support. Thank you very much.