“Ogre!”
After showing his documents to enter the city, Folke rushed over at the first opportunity.
By the looks of it, he had probably been waiting at the city gate for quite some time.
“How is Serandic doing?” Ogre unwrapped the cloth-covered spear he was holding and handed it over, intending to return it to Folke.
Ogre liked gold coins because they could solve many problems, but he would not take valuable things that did not truly belong to him just because he liked money.
Otherwise, what would make him any different from those raiders?
“The Cleric said he's in no immediate danger for now... at least he won't die. Oh, by the way, is your teacher named Yade?” Folke pushed back with his hands, refusing Ogre's gesture of returning the weapon.
It was something he had prepared for Ogre to use in the first place.
“You saw Teacher?” Ogre was taken aback, a hint of guilt rising in his heart.
“Yeah, he took Serandic away,” Folke nodded in confirmation.
“Did he say anything...?” After a moment of silence, Ogre asked the question weighing on his mind.
“He said... not to look for him again,” Folke said softly.
“Oh...” Ogre grunted, then walked past Folke with a cold, solemn expression. “I understand...”
“Hey, Ogre, how about taking a few days off...” Lange called out to Ogre. He could tell that Ogre was clearly not himself right now.
Ogre paused, turned back to look at Folke, then at Lange, and shook his head. “No need. We'll continue tomorrow. I can do the work of two people on my own... There's no need to recruit anyone else either. Leave everything to me.”
“Ogre,” Folke raised his hand.
“What is it?”
“Are you okay...?”
Ogre tightly gripped the cloth-wrapped spear and replied, “Since I've decided to venture out, I have no intention of backing down. Folke... you're a good person, but you're not a qualified adventurer. I'll help you, I promise.”
“The usual place, then.” Folke lowered his hand, watching the boy's departing figure...
“Young Master,” Lange walked over to Folke's side.
“Lange, do you have something to say?”
Even now, Folke didn't care whether his expensive clothes were dirty.
“Is he really... only sixteen years old...?” Lange asked, watching Ogre's retreating back with a sense of wonder.
“There is always someone stronger, Lange.”
“Young Master, that's not what I meant. I just find it hard to imagine what a guy like Ogre must have gone through in the past,” Lange said, taking off his helmet.
He didn't really care where Ogre's strength came from.
Lange was simply curious about what kind of past could forge a person like this.
“Who knows? He's a poor orphan, so nothing he has faced would be surprising.” Folke recalled the information he had read about Ogre, then said slowly, word by word:
“A person's strength is never forged in a single day. Compared to those on the border, we're just lucky to have been born into privilege...”
...
After parting with Folke and Lange, Ogre habitually lowered his head and walked a few steps in the direction of the Church of Dawn.
After a few steps, he suddenly froze.
Then, with a bitter smile, he turned and walked toward his own home...
“As expected, I'm still better off alone...”
Ogre pulled out a silver-white badge, stared at it for a moment, and then tucked it away.
Upon returning home and tidying up, Ogre opened the copy of the 《Lightning Forge Breathing Technique》 he had obtained from Folke.
Because he had kept it inside his inner armor, the blood of the goblin giant hadn't soaked through; only the cover was slightly stained.
Come to think of it, Ogre hadn't thought that much when he went back to fight the goblin giant...
After taking two deep breaths, Ogre cleared his mind of any distracting thoughts.
He knew well that certain things would not change regardless of his emotions.
The only thing Ogre could do was become stronger!
All tragedies stemmed from weakness. Ogre firmly believed this.
Once he accepted this, the emotions in Ogre's eyes shifted into a deep hunger for power.
With this mindset, Ogre opened the breathing technique he had "sold himself" to acquire.
“The essence of a breathing technique is to feel the rhythm...”
This had been the very first sentence Yade taught him when introducing breathing techniques.
The Lightning Forge Breathing Technique was naturally no exception.
It contained a detailed record of a Knight's perception of the rhythm of lightning.
“Exhale, pause, inhale, absorb, exhale, inhale, absorb...”
Ogre slowly attempted this rhythm, though the chest-abdominal alternating habit from his previous breathing technique slightly interfered with the new pattern.
But after a few attempts, Ogre quickly resolved the issue.
However, integrating this breathing technique into his daily life would take some effort.
“Feel the heartbeat... Feel the blood flowing through the body, and awaken the dormant power within...”
This was usually what a Knight needed to do to perceive battle qi, but Ogre wasn't sure if a Martial Artist could skip this step.
So he did it anyway.
As his breathing rhythm synchronized and his mind settled, Ogre quickly felt his bodily functions being mobilized.
Though he hadn't felt even a shred of that so-called rhythm.
But as long as it helped his body recover, Ogre felt it was enough.
He wondered if it was just his imagination.
Ogre could feel his body recovering rapidly, and the pain in his chest had actually begun to ease...
After testing it for a bit, Ogre stopped.
“Why are the effects so good?”
Ogre extended his hand, looking with confusion at the steam rising from his palm.
Logically speaking, the quality of a breathing technique shouldn't have such a massive impact on a Martial Artist, right?
With this confusion, Ogre flipped to the latter sections of the manual, which contained the battle qi training content intended for Knights—specifically, how to harness and utilize battle qi, as well as advanced training methods using battle qi.
This section shouldn't have had anything to do with Ogre at all.
But because the effects of this breathing technique were simply too remarkable, Ogre flipped through the rest of the book out of curiosity, trying to find an answer.
To his surprise, he actually found one.
“Lightning battle qi... can be accelerated using electric currents from lightning-attribute magical beast mana cores to stimulate the body...” Ogre obtained his answer.
It turned out this breathing technique lived up exactly to its name, allowing one to draw upon the power of lightning for cultivation.
The preparatory rhythm was a method the Knight had discovered through trial and error to adapt to lightning as quickly as possible. It could utilize the damage caused by electrical currents to strengthen physical fitness and enhance recovery.
“Good stuff. It seems my casual remark back then actually came in handy.”
Ogre recalled the request he had made to Folke. For some reason, he found himself smiling. “What a meticulous guy...”
Clearly, this was no coincidence—Folke had specially sought out a breathing technique for him that could truly increase lightning resistance!
After expressing his gratitude inwardly, Ogre flipped through the remaining pages. Finding nothing else of immediate use, he set the book aside.
He resumed practicing the breathing technique, continuing until his body could rapidly adapt to it.
After that, the things Ogre needed to do were simple.
Nothing more than training with lightning, eating, and practicing his breathing technique—a repetitive, three-point daily routine.
During this process, Ogre could feel his adaptability to lightning rapidly improving.
Along with it, his physical constitution improved as well.
Staring at the blue hue fluctuating beneath his skin due to the strong current, Ogre could feel that his ogre constitution seemed to have been activated and strengthened.
“Next time, I won't let those around me get hurt so easily,” Ogre muttered to himself, clenching his newly empowered fist.
Afterward, Ogre began to wash up and organize his equipment.
He also needed to replenish some consumable supplies.
For tomorrow's adventure quest, he would not let anything go wrong again!
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