Chapter 79 - 77: Unbalanced Focus, Haste Makes Waste

Chapter 79: Chapter 77: Unbalanced Focus, Haste Makes Waste

Roy had no idea that Catherine had invited Tony to Rock Lion Castle to discuss a marriage alliance.

At this moment, he was like a tireless, emotionless cultivation machine, practicing his Secret Techniques in Chaos Square.

After reaching the introductory level for Secret Techniques like Flame Slash and Tornado Slash, he formulated a more detailed cultivation plan for himself.

First, he would grind the Ghost Leopard Breathing Technique to the Tier Seven Limit and use it as fusion material to upgrade the Ice Wolf King Breathing Method to Tier Eight, allowing him to break through to the rank of Silver Great Knight.

Then, he would grind three Secret Techniques—Dragon’s Battle Roar, Frost Slash, and Blood Mark—to Tier Two.

After that, he could temporarily set aside his Breathing Technique cultivation and grind Ice Flame Slash, Flame Slash, Tornado Slash, and Earth-Splitting Slash to Tier Two.

Finally, he would grind Fierce Strike, Earth Trample, and Heart of Fury to Tier Two.

During this period, he would also find time to practice Forging and other Life Skills.

As for the Purgatory Dragon Meditation Method...

It had now become his substitute for sleep. He would cultivate it whenever he felt tired, so he didn’t need to specifically schedule time for it.

If possible, Roy wanted to push through in one go, grind his Breathing Technique to Tier Nine, and advance to the rank of Golden Great Knight.

But he couldn’t do that right now.

To grind the upgraded, Tier Eight Ice Wolf King Breathing Method to Tier Nine, he would not only need to grind the method itself to the Tier Eight limit, but also grind another Speed Type Breathing Technique from scratch all the way to the Tier Eight limit.

From the introductory level to the Tier Eight limit required a total of 121,000 Skill Level points.

Even if he cultivated the Breathing Technique nonstop for 24 hours a day, at his current efficiency, it would still take 21 days.

Adding the 50,000 Skill Level points needed to grind the Ice Wolf King Breathing Method to the Tier Eight limit, it would take a total of 29 days.

Looking at the number alone, 29 days didn’t seem long.

But even if he advanced to Silver Great Knight, it would be impossible for him to cultivate continuously for 29 days without rest.

Never mind a Silver Great Knight; even a Golden Great Knight couldn’t do it.

Besides the practical limitations, there was another important reason why he planned to slow down his advancement to Golden Great Knight.

His intuition told him that before advancing to Golden Great Knight, it would be best to polish his physical attributes—Power, agility, Physique, and so on—to a perfect state.

This idea came to him not just because he wanted to become a well-rounded Hexagon Knight with no weaknesses, but for another important reason as well.

He had discovered that the probability of a Golden Great Knight advancing to a Legendary Knight was abnormally low.

Thousands of years had passed since the birth of Breathing Techniques.

And in those thousands of years, only 12 Legendary Knights had ever emerged.

As for Golden Great Knights, there had been at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand.

Such a low advancement probability couldn’t be explained away simply by saying the promotion was difficult.

Roy had yet to meet a single Golden Great Knight.

But he instinctively felt that if nothing unexpected was at play, the low birth rate of Legendary Knights was likely related to Golden Great Knights not having comprehensive enough physical attributes, or perhaps not having cultivated enough Breathing Techniques.

Different types of Breathing Techniques resulted in different physical enhancements.

And the Knights of this continent typically only mastered one main Breathing Technique.

In other words, the vast majority of Knights had severely "lopsided" physical attributes.

Perhaps this was also why the vast majority of Golden Great Knights were unable to create their own unique Legendary Breathing Technique, push open the door to the Legendary realm, and advance to become a Legendary Knight.

Roy didn’t know if his guess was correct.

However, he didn’t mind staying at the Silver Great Knight stage for a while longer to cultivate a few more complementary Breathing Techniques, build a solid foundation, and make his physical attributes as perfect and comprehensive as possible.

Take his current situation, for example. His Power and Agility Attributes were much higher than attributes like his Physique and Perception.

As the saying goes, more haste, less speed!

He was only 18 years old and had plenty of time. There was no need to rush his advancement to Golden Great Knight.

More importantly, even if he spent extra time at the Silver Great Knight stage, with the Skill Proficiency Panel and Chaos Square at his disposal, he was fully confident in his ability to reach the Legendary realm.

Time trickled by. Once he had increased the Skill Level of the newly-learned Secret Techniques like Flame Slash by 30 points each, Roy ended his cultivation session.

He sat on the ground of Chaos Square, recovering some of his stamina and energy.

Afterward, he walked over to the corner where he kept his miscellaneous items and stored the sheepskin scrolls for Flame Slash and the other Secret Techniques in a small, exquisite box.

Once he was done, he looked toward the gray fog in front of him.

The next second, the gray fog enveloping Chaos Square acted like a security camera, displaying the situation in his tavern room.

After confirming the room was empty, a thought flashed through his mind, and he returned to it.

Without any hesitation, he immediately climbed out the window and left the room, preparing to head to the Golden Snow Rabbit Restaurant for dinner.

Not long after leaving the tavern, he noticed that nearly every passerby on the street was discussing the murder of Count Rock Lion and Catherine’s inheritance of the Count’s title.

It wasn’t just the pedestrians on the street. After arriving at the Golden Snow Rabbit Restaurant, he discovered that a few men sitting near him were also discussing the same topics.

"What do you think Catherine paid the Dark Night Knight to make him openly go and assassinate Count Rock Lion?"

"It’s not certain that Catherine hired him. Maybe the Dark Night Knight approached her, and they teamed up for revenge."

"They definitely didn’t team up for revenge. I heard from someone that the Dark Night Knight defeated Count Rock Lion in just two or three moves and intimidated all the other Knights present."

"Catherine made a move too, but she only killed Nox and his men. She didn’t attack any of the other Knights."

"Supposedly, when Catherine killed Nox, the other Clan Knights just stood by and watched, not making any move to stop her."

"You weren’t even there. How could you know so much?"

"I have my sources, of course."

"Sources, my ass! You definitely just heard it from somewhere else."

"I heard that Count Rock Lion was planning to marry Catherine off to Vincent, the Ironblood Duke’s younger son."

"Now that Catherine has inherited the title and become a Countess, I wonder if she’ll still marry Vincent?"

"Are you trying to say that if she doesn’t marry Vincent, you think you’ve got a shot?"

"If she’d have me, I certainly wouldn’t object."

"You’re dreaming! She’s not just a Countess, she’s a Peak Knight. She wouldn’t look twice at you even if she were blind."

"Speaking of which, I have a feeling she and the Dark Night Knight have something going on. The Dark Night Knight had no beef with Count Rock Lion before, so for him to suddenly show up and assassinate Jeremy for no reason seems fishy no matter how you look at it."

"She probably wouldn’t be interested in the Dark Night Knight. I heard he’s really ugly, which is why he wears a mask all day and doesn’t dare show his real face."

"What do you know? Even if the Dark Night Knight is as ugly as sin, as long as he’s a Black Iron Great Knight, he’s worth winning over."

"If I had his kind of power, I wouldn’t mind being a little ugly myself."

...

’You’re the one who’s ugly!’

’Your whole family is ugly!’

Roy immediately started cursing out the men at the next table in his head.

After his silent rant, he calmed himself down and waited patiently for his dinner.

Before long, the waiter brought over the dinner he had ordered: roasted snow rabbit legs, pan-fried rabbit head, and other dishes.

Without any hesitation, he immediately began to dig in.

Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, he paid the bill, left the restaurant, and started back toward the tavern.

...