The basement level of the castle.

A secret underground room that Levi had never been to.

The mechanical stone table slowly emerged from the ground.

A worn, aged parchment scroll lay quietly flat, with all sorts of scribbled and random little human figures painted on it with scarlet paint, in strange postures and various movements, arranged in a circle.

Outside these little men is a giant black-scaled snake that seems to be big enough to surround the entire castle. The snake has an abstract appearance, with its tongue sticking out. A simple candle stands on its lower jaw, dispelling the darkness and illuminating all directions.

"This is the breathing method passed down from the ancestors of the Snake family: the Black Snake Breathing Method. It is the powerful foundation of the Snake family, and the Snake blood flowing in your body is the key to unlocking all of this."

"This excellent breathing method is more precious than this Black Water Valley."

Knight Fred said solemnly.

Levi's breathing became heavy. He could finally embark on the true path of knight training!

As far as he knew, the knights divided the breathing techniques into four categories according to their sophistication and growth potential: crude, excellent, perfect, and legendary!

Among them, 90 percent of the breathing methods are of superficial quality.

Many people who practiced this kind of shallow breathing method would only be able to do nothing at the knight's squire stage throughout their lives, and would never be able to step into the realm of knights. It was already a stroke of luck to be able to condense the "seed of life" and step into the realm of formal knights, and it was basically impossible to step into the realm of great knights, such as the "Serpent Vulture Breathing Method" practiced by Knight Fred.

Of course, excellent quality breathing techniques are only the stepping stone to becoming a great knight. To become a great knight, you still need 90% talent, 9% opportunity, and 1% sweat.

The perfect level of breathing techniques is probably only possessed by the duke families, and there are not many of them in the entire kingdom.

As for the legendary breathing method, like the legendary knight, it almost only exists in legends, so it is better not to mention it.

An important feature of breathing methods of excellent quality and above is that most of the breathing methods inherited from families require family blood to practice. The knights are not clear about the specific reasons. This type of breathing method is also called "bloodline breathing method" or "secret practice method."

The Black Snake Breathing Technique is a blood breathing technique that is unique to the Snake family!

In history, there have been cases where knights have robbed other nobles of their ancestral breathing techniques. The end result was either a lifetime of mediocrity, or they became possessed and died from burst blood vessels throughout their bodies.

Some people say that this is a curse from the spirits of the noble ancestors in heaven on those who blasphemed their family.

But Levi is not worried about this, he starts out as a noble with pure Snake family blood flowing in his body, he is the "Descendant of the Black Snake"!

The Black Snake Breathing Method was too expensive, so Levi did not take it out of the secret room. Instead, he began to practice it in the secret room under the guidance of Knight Fred. This lasted for half a month.

During this period, Knight Fred was always by his side. Although he did not know the Black Snake Breathing Technique, he was knowledgeable and was more than capable of teaching Levi the basics.

On this day, Levi woke up from a strange posture. Although it seemed that he had not done any intense exercise, he was sweating all over, his veins were bulging, his face was red, and his breathing was rapid.

He felt as if his blood was boiling, circulating and metabolizing at an unusual rate. The energy stored in his body was being burned madly, and he felt extremely hungry, making him want to eat a whole snow rabbit raw.

"Hungry!"

Levi spoke like a wild beast, in a low and hoarse voice.

Seeing this, Knight Fred was well prepared and brought a plate of roast meat, a bowl of goat's milk, and a large portion of white bread rolls wrapped in a layer of fragrant jam and boiled cabbage.

This kind of food combination contains carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. In fact, the nobles in this world rarely eat vegetables. They think that vegetables grown in the ground are inferior food and food for the poor. However, Levi knows the importance of balanced nutrition, so he always asks his servants to cook a combination of meat and vegetables.

He inhaled the food like a storm, gobbling it up ravenously. His hunger disappeared and his expression relaxed.

He just ate twice as much as a normal man, but was only 80% full.

New skills have appeared on the proficiency panel in his mind:

Levi Sneak -

Black Snake Breathing Technique: Level 1 (1/1000)

…

According to Levi's previous experience, once a skill appears on the proficiency panel, it means that he has already gotten started.

The next thing to do is to practice step by step to improve your proficiency.

At the same time, the initial mastery of breathing techniques is also a sign of becoming a knight's squire.

"Shield attendants, sword attendants, and would-be knights."

These are the three apprenticeship stages before becoming a formal knight, collectively known as "Knight Squires."

In the shield attendant stage, in addition to practicing breathing techniques, you also need to learn the basic use of a shield. Regardless of whether you will need a shield in the future, learning to fight with a shield is a required skill for a knight.

At the swordsman stage, one has to start learning real sword skills, not the childish stuff like basic swordsmanship.

In this world, what can be called "skills" are all extremely advanced combat techniques, which require years or even decades of persistent practice. Besides breathing techniques, they are the most important things for a knight to improve his strength.

Simply put, breathing techniques are internal martial arts techniques, while sword skills or other advanced weapon usage techniques are the means to unleash the power of breathing techniques, and are external martial arts techniques.

When one has made some progress in breathing exercises, one will become a quasi-knight. This is a crucial step, because the next step is to condense the "seed of life".

If you succeed, then the sky will be the limit for you, and you will become an official knight who is invincible on the battlefield; if you fail, it will be extremely difficult to unite again.

"It seems that the young master has already mastered the Black Snake Breathing Technique. Although it is much slower than your father who mastered it in three days, it is still above the average level in the history of the Black Snake Family."

“In addition, you should have also felt that when you truly learn the breathing method, you will consume a large amount of food every day when practicing, so in the future, before practicing, you must prepare enough food in advance.

Otherwise, the exaggerated feeling of hunger will dominate your mind and destroy your will like a gluttonous demon. Driven by the instinct of hunger, you may do some crazy and depraved things. Many of the notorious "knight madmen" who were burned to death by the church came from this.

These crazy poor souls are basically civilians who want to practice the Knight's Breathing Technique. They want to become stronger to protect their families, to have enough food and clothing, and to live a life of luxury.

They walked on the edge of madness again and again, thinking they were different, thinking there would be many lucks and miracles in the world, but in the end some of them ate their old fathers, some ate their wives and children..."

Knight Fred said with complicated eyes.

He was a knight born in a commoner family, and he knew that feeling, so he was very grateful to Levi's father for saving him at the critical moment.