Biochip

"First, I must hold my breath for 65 seconds, then take three long and one short breaths. The duration and frequency must be..."

Ourin followed the description of the breathing technique and gradually entered a state of cultivation.

He looked unconscious; his face was bright red, and his temples throbbed as if carrying out some kind of exercise.

As time passed, Ourin's face grew redder, and eventually, he began to perspire out some faint black colored fluid.

After he had maintained this process for over 20 minutes, Ourin opened both of his eyes and opened his mouth to exhale.

Phew! ! !

A black colored breath was exhaled just like this. Within his body, some cracking noises could be made out. Ourin stood up and moved his body, stretching and realizing that he had become slightly more flexible. This was most likely related to his agility increasing. His whole body was warm as if he had just undergone vigorous exercise, and he could feel his muscles completely sore.

Breathing techniques were the reason why nobles managed to keep their power over the centuries. With breathing techniques, knights are capable of increasing their physical attributes on a cellular level, and it was complementary to physical training. This meant that a noble having access to a breathing technique would progress several times faster than a commoner who possess the same amount of talent.

But even that was slightly wrong. Nobles could not marry commoners and there was a reason for this code of conduct. Noblemen were the fruit of dozens of generations of inter-breeding with other noble families, giving birth to ever-stronger heirs. This was like a natural genetic selection, giving advantages to those born within the nobility circle, and the result was pretty evident: their genetic limits were higher than regular commoners.

Just as he finished, Ourin was shocked to hear a mechanical voice reverberating in his head.

[Beep! Connection with the new host completed...]

Ourin's eyes widened. He could not believe it. Since he did not have a biochip before, he thought that there was no way he would reincarnate with one.

"Seems like fate decided to favour me!", Ourin exclaimed, "Biochip, please optimize the Ironguard Breathing Technique!"

He knew that optimizing techniques were the cheat-like features of the biochip.

However, there was no reaction from the biochip, only a dead silence. Only after a couple seconds did the biochip react

[Connection with the new host has been successfully established. However, the biochip's capability has been slightly damaged. The biochip's abilities are now limited to memory storage, and body analysis]

Ourin bit his lips. He had hoped for a moment that he would be able to walk the same path as Leylin, and become an alchemy genius. Still, memory storage and body analysis would greatly help him in his arcane studies. Since he had lost hope of getting a biochip, even a damaged one made him happy.

'I can settle for that, I guess...'

The memory storage was priceless, since it would help him a lot in learning all the magical theories of the magical academy he would join. Years of study to learn one spell would turn into months, if not weeks depending of the difficulty of understanding it. Ourin was confident in his intellect, which enabled him to attend college and get away with side hustles without spending too much time studying.

However, the body analysis might be even more valuable. It allowed him to seize numerical values about his opponents. This was a priceless artefact capable of telling him when to fight, and more importantly, when to flight.

[Scan Complete! Ourin | Strength: 2.2, Agility: 1.8, Vitality: 2.1, Status: Healthy]

Ourin remained impassive: "Change the method of display and move the data back to 10 decimal points. Also, make comparisons with the data before the application of the breathing technique. With Ourin's orders, the image flickered, and the body statistics had shown 10 more decimal points. The last three numbers had not stopped changing.

[Beep! After comparison, undergoing the Ironguard Breathing Technique increased the Host's strength by 0.0005, Agility by 0.0006, and vitality by 0.0005]

"Mn! Since my body has been reached the peak of the preparatory knight realm, I guess this is not very surprising to see that the gains are minimal" Ourin analyzed and said, "Still, I guess this is surprising to still grow considering my current stats..."

"A.I. Chip, are there any methods to let me increase the number of times I can practice the breathing technique?" Ourin asked

[Scanning host's memories...Medicinal items are required as a supplement.] The A.I. Chip feedbacked.

"List all the necessary medicinal items!"

[Dragon's Breath Fern, Moonlight Orchid, Starlight Blossom, Phoenix Root, Silverleaf Herb, Serpent's Tongue Vine, Stardust Lily, Thunderberry, Faerie's Balm, Dreamroot...]The A.I. Chip listed a whole bunch of medicinal items, which were all from this world.

These probably came from the books Ourin was forced to read in his childhood.

"As long as there is a way, then it's alright!" Ourin heaved a sigh of relief. Although the plains of death were quite dangerous, they were also plenty of medicinal plants inside it. As long as he played his cards right, he would be able to significantly increase his growth. Although the biochip could no longer complete complex analysis, he still had its memory storage feature, so any herb he encountered once in a book was in his brain as if he had forcefully learned it by heart. He would be able to find a Serpent's Tongue Vine in a haystack without difficulty.

He looked at his own body again. Because large amounts of sticky substance had been produced after the breathing technique training, his body felt very sticky, which was extremely uncomfortable to the touch.

Ourin frowned: "Looks like I'll have to wash up first!"

He began to make his way out of the horse carriage. It was midnight by this hour, and the various young nobles were all sleeping soundly in the tent. Ourin quietly stepped out of the carriage and ran towards a small river that was nearby.

Suddenly, Ourin turned around and drew his blade. However, seeing that it was just a black-robed knight, Ourin sighed in relief. For a moment, he thought that it was an enemy.

"Apologies, sir. I thought you were a wild beast for a moment", Ourin said

However, the black-robed knight merely groaned: "What are you trying to do so late in the night? Several apprentices have died already trying to venture in the night"

Ourin naturally took advantage of the situation to assess his abilities.

[Name: Unknown, Gender: Male | Strength: 3.3, Agility: 2.5, Vitality: 3.2]

These were on the level of a monster, but Ourin smiled.

'So this is the standard of knights in this world...How much stronger can I get before I reach my limits?', he thought inwardly

Ourin revealed his sweaty shirt, and the pungeant odor made the black-robed knight nod: "Be quick. The waters are dangerous too, so be careful not to touch anything you don't know. Well...since you discovered my presence and reacted promptly to this, you should be fine, I suppose..."

The black-robed knight seemed to have lost interest in Ourin. Wanting to wash up in the river was not uncommon, and Ourin had just proved him that he was capable of defending himself. The black-robed knight retreated, his speed surprising Ourin, but he was capable of grasping all of his movements, meaning that he was not that far from this realm.

Weeks...Months perhaps would be required for him to become a knight. However, he would become one. This extraordinary physique...Ourin wanted to have one too.