When he returned to the military tent, his four roommates had already fallen asleep. Zhao Gao could save his breath from talking.
Zhao Gao took off his armor and lay down on the bed. He began to upgrade his skills for the day.
"Storage EXP: 3 764 388""
As soon as he opened the system interface, Zhao Gao was pleasantly surprised to see his 3.76 million EXP points.
From 2200 hours last night to 2300 hours today, he had spent close to 25 hours training.
It was worth waiting for. Only by saving more EXP points could he level up comfortably at one go.
Zhao Gao did not think much about using his EXP points on the Elementary Breathing Technique.
"Elementary Breathing Technique upgrade successful!"
"Elementary Breathing Technique: Level 29 (879 080)"
"Elementary Breathing Technique: Level 30 (976 560)"
"Elementary Breathing Technique upgrade unsuccessful!"
Suddenly, the system sounded a failure prompt as Zhao Gao was clicking on the upgrade. This alerted Zhao Gao.
Zhao Gao hurriedly checked out the system interface. The Elementary Breathing Technique upgrade "↑" was lit up, but why was the upgrade stopped?
He clicked on the "↑" symbol again. Suddenly, a small panel popped up.
"Skills above the Elementary levels require the use of Evolution Points to level up. Do you want to use Evolution Points to level up the Elementary Breathing Technique?"
"Attention: Every point of Evolution is hard to come by. You must consider carefully. Once the points are used, they cannot be undone!"
"Yes or No."
"So that's how it is!" Zhao Gao understood the reason after reading that.
If he had not leveled up now, he would have forgotten about the Evolution point.
Without thinking, Zhao Gao clicked on the "Yes" option.
The breathing technique was the only skill he could gain EXP points from, for now. He need not think about whether it was important or not.
"Elementary Breathing Technique upgrade successful!"
"Elementary Breathing Technique → Intermediate Breathing Technique."
"Intermediate Breathing Technique Level 31 (1 081 000)"
As soon as he did that, Zhao Gao's consciousness was pulled to the mountain top.
As soon as he arrived, Zhao Gao's consciousness transformed him into a human shadow. He sat down cross-legged and began to practice his breathing technique.
Year after year, time passed quickly. Zhao Gao, who was practicing the Elementary Breathing Technique at the peak of the mountain, felt that something was not right.
Every time he cultivated, he felt that his breathing was not smooth.
However, he could not figure out the reason. Hence, he could only ignore it and continued to cultivate.
It was not until the 28th year that Zhao Gao could no longer endure the uncomfortable feeling of breathing.
This feeling was like a fishbone stuck in his throat. He wanted to spit it out, but he could not; nor could he swallow it.
These feelings caused Zhao Gao's mind to be thrown into chaos. He felt so frustrated that even the breathing that had fused with his body began to become chaotic.
After a long while of venting his frustration at the mountain top, Zhao Gao calmed down and began to adjust his breathing.
Not long after he sat down cross-legged again, Zhao Gao, while trying to adjust his breathing, suddenly disrupted his breathing rhythm.
However, this time, Zhao Gao felt extremely comfortable. He was like a traveler in the desert who managed to drink a sip of the coolest spring water, just when he was about to die.
Zhao Gao quickly focused all of his attention, as he wanted to find out what had happened.
At this moment, the mechanical voice of the system sounded in the sky above the mountain peak.
"Evolution starts, derivation starts with the host body. In the process of derivation…"
At that moment, Zhao Gao's consciousness began to rise.
His consciousness came out of his body and stood at heaven's view, observing what was happening to his body.
In his vision, his body was rapidly adjusting his breathing technique. His previous breathing rhythm had been disrupted.
It was as if his body had forgotten the previous breathing technique. From beginning to end, he began to learn another form of breathing technique.
Every breath he took was in accordance with the greatest comfort felt by his body.
Bit by bit, he adjusted it step by step.
It was not until one year later that Zhao Gao's consciousness was suddenly pulled back into his body.
The moment he entered his body, Zhao Gao's consciousness and mind were captivated by this comforting feeling of breathing.
He had never felt this way before. He could clearly feel that, with every breath, the energy of heaven and earth was sucked into his body. This accelerated the gain of energy his body obtained.
Moreover, Zhao Gao felt that his current breathing could be considered his own breathing technique now.
In the past, the Elementary Breathing Technique was a generic breathing technique. Now, it had been adjusted in accordance to his body and soul, and it complimented him.
If this breathing technique was given to someone else, it might not be possible for them to cultivate it as well, because everyone's body and soul were different.
What was suitable for Zhao Gao would not be suitable for others.
After obtaining a breathing technique that suited him, Zhao Gao's figure continued to cultivate on the mountain peak until after the 31st year.
It was only when this breathing technique had been engraved into Zhao Gao's soul and body that he was pulled back to reality.
As soon as he returned to reality, Zhao Gao stared blankly at the roof of the tent. He was clearly still in a daze.
After staring at the roof of the tent for a minute, Zhao Gao began to refocus.
After dealing with the memories in his soul, he remembered what he had to do in reality.
He continued to open the system interface.
"Intermediate Breathing Technique Level 3"
"Obtained 3 Freedom Stats Points."
"Talent bonus: 1.5 Freedom Stats Points"
"Current Freedom Stats points: 27"
"Of course, storage EXP: 827 748."
As the remaining 800 000 EXP points were not enough for him to continue upgrading the Intermediate Breathing Technique, Zhao Gao could only add the EXP points to his Basic Saber Art.
"Basic Saber Art upgrade successful"
"Basic Saber Art: Level 27 (704 040)"
After that, Zhao Gao took one last look at his detailed system interface before closing his eyes to rest.
"Name: Zhao Gao"
"Gender: Male"
"Level: 8"
"Storage EXP: 123 708"
"Essence: 20.5"
"Spirit: 15.5"
"Magic: 21.5"
"Talent: Greed in the blood"
"Skills: Basic Saber and Shield (10) Beginner Combat (20) Basic Archery (20) Intermediate Breathing Technique (31) Basic Saber Art (27)"
"Evolution: 0.5"
"Freedom Stats: 27"
"Evaluation: I just want to beat everyone here to death, otherwise… (there isn't otherwise)"
——————
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The next day, everyone was still woken up by the familiar drum beats.
Zhao Gao, on the other hand, felt that he had not slept for long, and it was time to wake up again.
He was still a little sleepy.
In order not to cause any delay to his training, he could only 'manually' restore his physique.
"Character upgrade successful. Current level: 9"
"EXP depleted: 189 200 points"
"All character stats to grow by 1"
"Additional growth to Talent. All stats will automatically increase by 0.5 points."
Instantly, the refreshing feeling from his body to his soul ravaged Zhao Gao's heart once again.
With regards to the pain of his muscles swelling, Zhao Gao was already immune to it.
As long as he did not think about the pain, the only feeling he would feel is refreshment.
This was Zhao Gao's way of consoling himself.