Zane had many questions, so he composed himself and organized his mind before asking. "I'm intrigued. What kind of training does a knight undergo? How does your extraordinary system work?"
"I would love to talk about it, but before that, do you have any food?"
"Yeah," Zane nodded before reaching into his small bag to retrieve the jerky he made from the rabbit meat, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of water. "Didn't you bring your own food?"
"I did, but the moment I landed, I was attacked. One of those creatures stole my bag and ran away with it."
"You haven't eaten since yesterday?"
"No, I can hunt, "Ricardo replied as he bit into the juicy jerky. "In fact, I was just about to hunt today's dinner when I ran into one of their hunting squad."
"I didn't expect the drone to provide me with so many advantages," Zane thought. Had he not been prepared, his fate would be the same as this knight. So, from now on, Zane decided to bring it during every shift. Once he returns home, he'll not only upgrade the drone but also buy a few extras in case something happens to the main one.
"You should get yourself a drone," Zane commented.
"With what money?" Ricardo replied with a wry smile.
"I heard Rune Warriors require a ton of money. Is it the same for you guys?"
"Probably."
"You don't sound too sure."
"Our instructor warned us in advance that we would need a lot of money to buy decent weapons and armor," Ricardo explained. "I think he even hinted that it's best to buy potions for training, but his words were vague and indirect."
"What exactly happened to you guys?" Zane asked. "For us, mages, we were only sent two books and a few potions. Afterward, the tower only allowed us to select two spells."
"It does sound simple compared to us," Ricardo nodded after drinking the entire bottle in one gulp. "The day after the aptitude test, we received three potions and instructions on how to take them and in what order. The first one was a light purple potion, and after drinking it, I felt a cool feeling in my brain. For a moment, the world became brighter, and I swear I could sense everything in my room as if I were using a magnifying glass."
"Is this some kind of potion that increased mental energy?" Zane thought.
"The second potion was white, looking no different from water. If it didn't taste like burned corn, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
Zane could sympathize. These potions do taste horrible despite their wonderful effects.
"A lot of information was forced into my head, followed by a strange massage to my throat," Ricardo continued. "After everything was done, I could speak that language; what is it called. Ge-Gri —"
"Gremorian."
"Yes, that."
"So, you only drank a potion and learned the language? I had to spend time in this dream-like space and learn everything in it. There were even speaking lessons with this unrecognizable female instructor."
"It's not like we had it easy? After stuffing all that information into my mind, I had a headache for more than four hours. I almost miss a day's worth of work," Ricardo complained.
"That's still easier than what I had to do?" Zane thought, but he did not reveal his thoughts to them out loud. "Why are you getting defensive? This is not a competition. Anyway, what happened next?"
"After my head stopped feeling like it was being beaten by my ex-wife with a hammer, I used the third black potion. I followed the instruction card and poured it into a bath full of water and sat in it for half an hour, covering every part of my body except the head."
"What's the effect?"
"I don't know exactly. However, after I got out of the shower, I felt stronger, faster, and younger than before. I was full of energy, and more importantly, the constant back pain disappeared."
"Was this a form of conditioning?" Zane pondered. The Dimension Tower must have recruited people from all over the world, many of whom are malnourished or full of chronic illness. So, how can they train these people in terrible shape into powerful knights? It would not be surprising if they used potions to get them to a certain level of health before starting the knight training.
"The next day, I was teleported to this large room full of smoke with hundreds of other individuals. And that's where I met an interesting person," Ricardo stated, lost in his memories.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
As all the knight squire waited in this large room full of an unknown mist or smoke, the sound of a powerful step drew everybody's attention. An imposing human male walked into the room and stood in front of everyone. He was middle-aged, with black skin and no hair, clad in silver leg armor at the bottom and blue under armor at the top.
"My name is Klyde Anoust, a 5-star Grand Knight and the North America Commander of the Knight Training Regiment. I'm here to guide you on your extraordinary journey." A sharp gaze locked into every earthling in the room, forcing them to instinctively stand straight and pay attention.
"As a living creature, you not only have a soul, but also life energy or life force; it's the source of your existence. Its power can be found woven into every inch of your skin, every muscle fiber, every piece of bone, tissue, and organ, and even serves as the foundation of your cells.
"The path of the knight — in simple terms — is to break through the limits of the body. By using a special breathing method to control the life energy and also absorb mana into the body, a knight can combine the two into a Battle Energy Core in their heart, allowing them to concentrate all their life energy in one place and boost its powers and effects with the supplement of mana."
Klyde allowed his words to simmer for these people to understand. However, most people only showed confusion; these concepts were too foreign to them. Regardless, Klyde continued. It didn't matter if they didn't understand now; they just needed to remember what he said and understand it later.
"One Battle Core means you are an official knight. Four cores will grant you the status of Grand Knight, and six cores mean you have reached the limit of the body. If you want to go beyond that and be on par with a 7-tier Archmages, well, there is technically no further path for Knights. However, the human body and soul are adaptable, meaning there are other paths to reach higher levels. One of the most accessible is the Path of Godhood, which requires condensing a Divine Spark, Divine Flame, and Divine Kingdom."
The room was momentarily quiet until a brave earthling, who couldn't control their excitement, asked: "Sir, are you saying we can become a God?"
"Yes," Klyde answered. "Although the Knight Path stops at the 6th tier, it's highly compatible with the Divine Path, making a transition possible."
The breathing in the room became heavier. If not for Klyde's intimidating presence, a ruckus may have already started. Who could resist the temptation of divinity? Even if 90% of the people in the room did not truly understand what it meant to be a god, anything associated with divinity will always be grand, powerful, and noble.
"It's good that you're ambitious," Klyde stated before displaying an obvious sneer. "But, have you forgotten your situation? Do you think Demon Lord Shakurri will give you the time and opportunity to rise to the same level as him?"
Those words immediately poured a basin of cold water on these people's heads. Yes, they only had 5-10 years before the invasion. Is it really possible to become a God in such a short period? Look at this commander; he was middle-aged and yet, he was still stuck at the 5-star level, not even 6-star — and that's with the full support of the Dimension Tower.
"It's good to be ambitious, but let's keep our feet firmly planted on the ground," Klyde stated. "As of now, you're not even considered a Knight Apprentice, so let's start from the basics. Unlike mages, whose souls have fully mutated and awakened their mental energy, knights' perception of energy is far weaker. As such, we can only rely on our body's natural instinct: breathing.
"By breathing the correct way and listening to the sound of your heartbeat, you'll be able to enter a deep state of focus that allows you to sense and control the life energy in your body. Once that is achieved, you'll be a proper Knight Apprentice and move on to the second step of absorbing mana into your body.
"Now, follow my movement."
The sound of a terrifying heartbeat echoed in the room. At first, the knight squire thought they had heard wrong, but the sound became louder with each passing second. Everybody soon realized the sound came from the Commander, but no one cared because of what happened next.
The hearts of the trainees started following the same rhythm as Klyde, and soon afterward, their bodies also followed his whim. Every trainee started to breathe in sync: they first took seven rapid breaths, held it for 10 seconds, and exhaled 3 times. They then held their breath for 20 seconds, then exhaled five times. The third set involved taking four rapid breaths, holding for 15 seconds, then exhaling five times. The three sets formed a cycle that they repeated throughout this training.
Most people could not follow such a strange breathing practice, but since Klyde was guiding everyone, they managed it with relatively little effort. With the Concentration Incense in the room, all these trainings soon entered the required state of focus to sense their life energy.
Klyde stopped guiding the herd and took note of the individual who could continue without his help, since those were the ones with talent. He also noted how long they lasted before reporting to his superior. Knight talent involved more than that, but without a high enough budget, they can only use such a roundabout way to detect the trainee's talent.