Chapter 136: The Value of the Secret Art

George lay in the carriage and slowly raised his hand. After making a sword-finger gesture, tiny sparks of electricity flickered at his fingertips. At the same time, a faint crackling sound came out.

Seeing the effect, George smiled with satisfaction. Then, he rubbed his fingers together slightly, just like the motion of counting money before he traveled. However, the slight stinging sensation on his fingers reminded him that this ability was not yet mature.

‘Mr. Val would never guess that I have already entered the basics of the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning so quickly! But luckily, I used the excuse of wanting to understand the principle from the root to get the original Northern Barbarian Shaman’s Thunderbird Possession from Mr. Val. Otherwise, how could I have entered the basics so fast? But the problem with control is still quite big. Such a weak energy flow can already cause not-so-small harm to the body.’ George had this thought in his heart. At the same time, he saw his right hand stretch out in front of his eyes and looked at it repeatedly, muttering to himself: “Food must be eaten one bite at a time!”

“Master! Are you hungry?” Elena seemed to have heard George’s muttering and asked carefully. It looked like after the intensive training from Head Maid Sarah a while ago, Elena had made great progress in this area. In the past, she would not have been so attentive to his needs like she is now. Back then, George had to tell her clearly what to do for her to act.

“No, it has nothing to do with that. I was just making a metaphor a moment ago.” George waved his hands a few times and then rubbed his temples while speaking.

As he spoke, George thought about the first time he practiced this ability. That was on the night he received this Knight Technique from Knight Val. At that time, George had simultaneously obtained three rare abilities that made people envious: the Knight Technique Soul and Flesh Interchange, the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning, and the Word Spirit Energy Conversion.

Actually, thinking back later, George knew that even if Knight Val had a good relationship with him, he would not give such a gift just because George passed the Path of Questioning the Heart. This might be related to the Knight Technique Scroll of Qi and Blood Separation that George had given.

At that time, George had originally wanted to use this to stop a series of troubles that might arise from the Knight Technique Soul and Flesh Interchange, which he had learned by accident. Although the trading partner was not Knight Val, but a distant family from whom Knight Val had learned this Knight Technique, Knight Val had already seen the Scroll of Qi and Blood Separation written by George before this as the middleman. With his talent and knowledge, it would only take a few days for him to learn it.

Taking Knight Val as an example, he would never take advantage of a junior like George. He was probably already looking for an opportunity to compensate George with a Knight Technique he created himself; the only problem was finding a reason and an opening. And the celebration and gift after George passed the Path of Questioning the Heart was really like someone handing him a pillow when he was dozing off for Knight Val.

As for why Knight Val later gave a Knight Technique and also included a Word Spirit, after obtaining the learning methods for these two abilities, George had a rough guess in his heart—that was value.

Judging the value of a Knight Technique is a very complex matter. Before this, although George had some understanding, he was far from being an expert in reality. After all, in George’s view, it was a very distant thing for House Bolerum to trade their secret Knight Techniques with others. And although he had a System and it was not impossible for him to obtain these abilities, he had forgotten about this knowledge after so many years without acquiring it.

But just when he first obtained this kind of knowledge, he accidentally learned the ability Soul and Flesh Interchange. At that time, he was only thinking about how to solve the problem and did not have the energy to pay attention to this aspect. So he did not supplement this knowledge in time. If it were not through Knight Val, he would have suffered a huge loss in this transaction.

At a time like this, the role of connections was fully demonstrated. Through Knight Val’s operation, what could have been a settlement of the other party’s accusation became a formal transaction. And he did not lose out on the transaction price either. From then on, George knew that his knowledge in this area was weak and began to intentionally make up for it.

After the other party gave a quote beyond imagination, George finally realized that he had seriously underestimated the value of the Secret Art Qi and Blood Separation before. In the eyes of the young George back then, it still seemed very imperfect and had a lot of overlap with what he had learned. Similarly, its attached abilities and effects, except for a weakened version of Berserk, could all be obtained by learning the basic knowledge of different professions and practicing them. Commoners might need some trouble to get that basic knowledge, but for Nobles, it was just a matter of moving their lips.

But actually, this diversity of changes was also its precious point. Although it was not the main point, as long as one learned it, they could obtain many different initial abilities. The time saved here was considerable. From this point of view, it had the value of existence.

There were two points that truly made the price climb: First, its versatility. This ability, which operates by controlling and moving Qi and Blood, has unparalleled versatility. It has no restrictions on bloodline or inheritance. For Formal Knights, it is even more convenient, almost like learning and using it immediately. For ordinary Squires, it would only take one or two months to master it. Even for ordinary melee professionals outside the Knight system, they could master it through hard training and the passage of time.

Second, its development potential. Even with George’s eyes, it was quite imperfect at the moment. People with higher strength and realms could see this point even more clearly. However, it was precisely this imperfection that created it. More importantly, it took a path that no one or very few people had walked on this world before and derived theories that could guide practice. The combination of these two factors created its extraordinary development potential.

If it were quite perfect and complex, it would be very troublesome for others to analyze its essence on this basis and then innovate to develop abilities suitable for themselves. In its current state, it is like a software that has released its source code, while also having examples for improvement. Who wouldn’t drool over that?

However, George did not lose out at all by exchanging this for the Secret Art Soul and Flesh Interchange and even getting a Meditation Crystal as a bonus. Of course, as mentioned before, this was thanks to Knight Val’s mediation.

After obtaining the Secret Art Soul and Flesh Interchange, George immediately buried his mind into it. Apart from a rough reading after receiving the document from Knight Val, he began to think carefully as soon as he returned to his bedroom that night.

It was because of learning Qi and Blood Separation that George’s use of the Secret Art Soul and Flesh Interchange could be called second nature. This part of the Secret Art, which nourishes the Spirit with the Flesh, also used Blood Qi control. However, its inventor did not obtain a systematic set of rules. It could not guide people layer by layer from shallow to deep like Qi and Blood Separation, making it easy for others to learn. That is why George could master this part under Knight Val’s guidance in one go.

Similarly, the part where the Spirit nourishes the Flesh was not difficult for George either. This aspect was somewhat similar to Mage Meditation. For George, whose main spiritual cultivation method for many years had been Visualization, it was a case of drawing inferences from one instance.

The part where the Flesh nourishes the Spirit uses one’s own flesh and blood Spiritual Qi to nourish the Divine Soul and strengthen the Spirit. The part where the Spirit nourishes the Flesh consumes one’s own spiritual power to activate the whole body. This can be said to be a fundamental change at the cellular level, improving not only muscles but also internal organs, blood, and bones comprehensively. Its healing effects are far inferior to the Divine Arts of Priests, and even worse than Alchemy potions. However, it has good effects in relieving fatigue and accelerating recovery after serious injuries.

In terms of spiritual power, this increase and decrease seem to make the final growth very slow, but it allows the increased spiritual power to remove impurities and keep the essence. It is like steelmaking; steel is forged in fire and rapid cooling. That is why it is hard and fears nothing. This makes it much better than the original method of simply using the body to promote growth in spiritual power cultivation.

Similarly, in the aspect of body cultivation, this practice of first consuming the body’s Spiritual Qi and then strengthening the body itself from the root can be said to refine the body each time. Although no changes can be seen in a short time, after accumulating day by day, it can make a person’s foundation much more solid.

It can be said that although Soul and Flesh Interchange is classified as a Knight Technique, it is actually an extremely excellent cultivation method. If George’s Qi and Blood Separation and it were not so highly complementary, the other party would not have agreed so easily.

As for the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning, after being modified by Knight Val, it became a strike technique where a basic energy seed is guided by the Soul, then attached to the body surface and extended to weapons through the reinforcement of Spiritual Qi using one’s own body as a medium. Since it has both electric shock and sound wave attack effects, it is considered a quite good ability.

However, the difficulty of guiding a basic energy seed with the Soul is very great. For ordinary Knights, just this step would take a considerable amount of time, and not everyone could learn it. The key to this lies in the level of cultivation in the Spirit and the Soul. In this regard, although the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning can be considered relatively powerful, its inherent versatility is really not high.

Knight Val also knew from ordinary contact and guidance that George had great talent in this area and made good progress, so he taught him this Knight Technique. It can be said that it was chosen specifically for George himself. Even if George’s current spiritual cultivation could not meet the requirements yet, with the existence of the Secret Art Soul and Flesh Interchange, there would be no worries in this regard soon.

In the cultivation of this Knight Technique, George found that his spiritual power and other aspects had already reached the standard. Or rather, it exceeded it to a certain extent. It was like the recommended configuration and minimum configuration of a computer game. George’s basic qualities in the Spirit at present belonged to the recommended configuration for Flash of Lightning.

However, regarding the process of guidance and conversion, although George could start normally, he found it very awkward to use. Because George preferred an operation mode that was like following his heart, rather than this method that was strictly defined with no room for even a single change. Of course, following one’s heart was not completely without limits; it just gave a larger range, within which the user could change and match things freely.

Fortunately, when it seemed like there was no way out, a new path appeared. The materials George had obtained from Knight Val at the beginning to understand the principle of this skill from the root, regarding the original Northern Barbarian Shaman’s Thunderbird Possession cultivation, played a role at this time. The original version was to guide the Thunderbird Spirit that flapped its wings across nine heavens into the body, and then use the Spirit’s own abilities to trigger a series of effects.

However, this exclusive secret art of the Shaman was basically impossible for Knights to enter. Because of the different power systems, although the Knight lineage was known for inclusiveness, it would be impossible to completely integrate this thing without spending ten or twenty years. Knight Val obviously did not have such leisure time.

However, for George, it was a different situation. Through the cultivation of Primordial Qi Great Grappling, George already knew how to deal with the problem of Spirits in the body. Plus, his perception was exceptionally high. After obtaining the relevant materials, he could summon the initial Essence Spirit with ease.

For Shamans, the first Essence Spirit summoning could be said to be the most difficult. It was like capturing a wild horse on the grassland, seeking to combine with the Thunderbird Spirit in the sky. Afterward, signing a Contract with this Essence Spirit was the process of taming the horse. However, such Essence Spirits generally had good intelligence, and everything was negotiable. Basically, no violent means were needed.

Finally, after the Contract was signed, the Essence Spirit would leave its coordinate in the Shaman’s Spirit. The Shaman exchanged offerings to the Essence Spirit for the opportunity to borrow its power when needed. That spiritual coordinate was the sign for its descent. Fortunately, most Essence Spirits could only sign a Contract with one person; otherwise, if a war broke out and both summoned them at the same time, it would be hard to know who to respond to!

However, after George successfully summoned the Thunderbird Spirit with the required props on the second day, he took another path. He used spiritual energy supply and suitable offerings to let that Thunderbird Spirit leave a seed in his Sea of Consciousness. He then, through a cultivation method similar to Primordial Qi Great Grappling, aided by some guidance from the secret transmission of Shenxiao Five Thunder, uniquely cultivated a new subordinate Essence Spirit that belonged only to him. This outlandish behavior was really realized by him successfully.

It can be said that this small Thunderbird Spirit was an extension of himself. It was by virtue of the partial effects played by this Spirit that George could truly achieve great progress in one day in cultivating the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning. He could reach the level he had shown before in just two days. However, such a thing could not be revealed too openly. As the saying goes, being half a step ahead makes one a genius, but being a whole step ahead makes one a madman. The same logic applies here; George did not want to be stared at with the eyes used to view monsters.

Another point was that although using lightning to assist in attacks was the effect of the Thunderbird Spirit, the Thunderbird Spirit did not just have this one effect. As for other effects, without the guidance and reference of the Knight Val-provided materials for Flash of Lightning and Thunderbird Possession, it was not an easy thing. Ultimately, what effects could be brought out depended on George himself.

As for the last Word Spirit, Energy Conversion, George had not started cultivating it yet. Just as Knight Val introduced, this Word Spirit was originally developed based on the spells of Mages. Of course, its developer was not Knight Val himself. He had also exchanged and learned it from other Knight families while traveling on the Continent.

However, exchanging and learning had several different situations, with strict agreements on whether it could be re-transmitted. This Word Spirit Energy Conversion belonged to the re-transmittable type, while the Secret Art Soul and Flesh Interchange belonged to the non-re-transmittable part.

For George, the time required to cultivate this Word Spirit was too long. And the initial preparations were not complete. The Word Spirit Energy Conversion required spiritual power far beyond that of Flash of Lightning, but George could be said to meet this requirement. However, on the other hand, George was completely clueless about theoretical knowledge. Yes, you read that right, theoretical knowledge. This was about the theoretical knowledge of acid, cold, fire, electricity, sound waves, fields, positive energy, and negative energy. Without this knowledge, you wouldn’t even know the energy characteristics that needed to be converted, let alone talk about conversion.

So, before finding relevant learning materials, the plan in this area had to be put on hold for now. At the same time, books recording this kind of knowledge basically touched upon the scope of spells and were not easy to obtain. In order to be able to use this Word Spirit as soon as possible, George seemed to need to put in a lot of effort in this area. Of course, Knight Val might have knowledge in this area, but George could not be sure.

In short, the reason for this final situation of exchanging two for one was that the actual value of the Knight Technique Flash of Lightning and the Word Spirit Energy Conversion were both not as high as the Secret Art Qi and Blood Separation.