The next day, Aris woke up early, feeling unusually refreshed. He'd only slept a few hours, but his body felt like it had gotten a full ten. He knew it was the breathing technique as there was no other explanation.
He put on his squire uniform and stood at attention in front of his bed. Around him, the other squires were doing the same, lined up with military precision.
Most of them wore traces of sleep on their faces; groggy eyes, slouched shoulders, the relentless training of the previous day still clinging to them.
But when Aris's gaze landed on Dylan, something felt off.
Dylan didn't look tired at all. In fact, he appeared refreshed—almost unnaturally so. There were no dark circles under his eyes, but that might be due to the dim light in the dorm. As Aris looked closer, he noticed he seemed overly alert, as if he had chugged a gallon of stimulants and meditated for a week.
On the first day and in the days that followed, Aris had assumed he was just exceptionally fit or well-trained. But now, he wasn't so sure as he had some suspicions on him.
"Could he be practicing the breathing technique too?" Aris wondered. He'd have to confirm it somehow.
Then his eyes shifted to the rank two squire, Rezi, a wiry boy, maybe age twelve or thirteen. Rezi had the same alert, ready-for-anything look that Dylan did, there were no signs of fatigue and no stiffness.
"Anotherone…" Aris's thoughts narrowed in.
He scanned further down the line, focusing on the rank-three squire. He had the same thing—sharp eyes, steady posture, and was completely awake.
Then his eyes landed on the fourth-rank squire.
There it was, he saw him yawning he had Slightly hunched shoulders, the sluggish blink of someone who hadn't fully woken up. The difference was obvious.
"That'sit," Aris thought, his eyes narrowing. "The top three are all using it. That's how they recover faster. That's how they stay ahead." Aris thought although there was skepticism on his face.
From this, Aris could only conclude one thing: the top three squires had secrets of their own.
But what puzzled him was why no one else seemed to notice. Then it hit him—he hadn't noticed either until he started practicing the breathing technique.
If he hadn't experienced it himself, he wouldn't have seen the signs. So there was no way an ordinary squire, unaware of such techniques, could spot the difference.
"But how did theygetit?" Aris wondered. "Did a noble pass it down to them like in my case? Or was it some reward for ranking at the top?"
He kept turning the questions over in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't finda reasonable answer.
The arrival of the instructor snapped Aris out of his thoughts. Just like every morning, the squires were sent running to the training grounds.
But this time, something felt different.
As Aris ran, his body moved with surprising ease. The weight he usually carried in his limbs seemed gone, like some invisible burden had been lifted. He didn't feel the usual heaviness in his chest or the early burn in his legs.
Most telling of all: he didn't start gasping for air after the first thirty seconds. It took a full two minutes before he even felt the need to breathe harder.
"Zona, what are my physical stats?" he asked inwardly.
[Strength: 0.5, Agility: 0.7, Physique: 0.6]
He frowned. "So I did improve… but not by much."
The numbers were slightly higher, but not enough to show the full impact of the breathing technique. "It's working, but the gains aren't immediate."
The usual training dragged on—grueling and repetitive—but Aris pushed through it. Five hours later, the moment he'd been anticipating finally came: mealtime.
He got in line, already eyeing the food trays. After about three minutes, it was his turn. He grabbed his portion and, instead of heading to his usual spot, he changed course.
Today, he sat somewhere new, just a few seats away from Dylan and the other two top-ranking squires.
He kept his head down, acting casual, but his focus was sharp. This was the perfect chance to observe them up close.
They then began with the broth, sipping quietly. Aris ate too, but his attention was fixed on the three squires beside him.
He had chosen this seat for a reason as it was close enough to observe them without drawing attention, and he positioned himself in a way that he could see their faces clearly.
At first, there was nothing unusual. They ate like everyone else, no special gestures, no odd behavior but only small talks between the three. Aris nearly second-guessed himself.
But then when the time to eat meat came—the one rich with that strange unknown energy Aris completely concentrated on Dylan. The moment Dylan took a bite, Aris saw it with his peripheral vision.
A subtle change in Dylan's breathing. He inhaled for approximately three seconds then an exhale, the continued, these breathing actions were not random, but controlled and deliberate.
The rhythm was off from normal breathing patterns, and to Aris, it was unmistakably what he was looking for.
"He's using a breathing technique," Aris thought, his eyes narrowing slightly.
To confirm it, he reached out to Zona in his mind. "Zona, scan Dylan. Tell me what's happening inside his body."
A second passed.
[Scan complete. Subject is performing energy-channeling breathwork. Internal absorption rate elevated. Unknown energy in meat is a condensed form of low-grade life energy. Dylan's body is directing the energy to major muscle groups and cellular regeneration pathways using the veins]
[Estimated effect: minor improvements in strength, endurance, and recovery. Rate of absorption optimized by breathing technique. Untrained individuals would receive minimal benefit.]
Aris's suspicion was now a fact.
"He's refining energy as he eats,"Aris thought. "He's training even while eating." Then, Aris remembered when Fred told him to use the breathing technique while eating "so he was hinting at this."
Dylan and the other two weren't just top squires because of talent or hard work. They had access to techniques probably given in secret, just like Aris. And they'd clearly been using them for much longer.
Then Aris scanned the other two squires. Zona gave the same response.
[Both subjects are performing controlled breathwork. Energy absorption efficiency: high. Unknown energy in meat fully utilized.]
Aris picked up a piece of the meat and took a bite. He immediately began the breathing sequence from the technique, steady and controlled.
The moment the meat hit his stomach, he felt it, the unknown energy unraveling inside him, spreading out in waves. It didn't stay contained in one place but It moved, flowing through his body in sync with his breath.
On each inhale, the energy fused with the oxygen, coalescing into something sharper, denser. On each exhale, some of it dispersed, slipping into his muscle fibers like liquid fire.
His body trembled.
"What the hell is this feeling?" he thought.
A wave of heat spread through his limbs, sharp and liquid. It wasn't pain but it was exhilaration. He almost moaned, but caught himself just in time.
He kept going, breath after breath, until the last of the energy dispersed completely into his system. Not a trace was wasted.
Still, he kept going for another full minute, just to ride the high and lock it in.
When he finally stopped, his whole body felt light, like the exhaustion had melted off him and drained through the floor.
"That was amazing. I was about to do something weird… thanks to my fast reaction I stopped myself."
He adjusted his posture and looked around casually.
He glanced at Dylan and the two other top-rankers. They were still calmly breathing their faces focused and their bodies unmoving.
When Aris was doing the breathing technique earlier, he'd felt something, it felt like cold blood was running through his veins, brushing along his legs and arms. The energy wasn't moving randomly but instead it was following a path.
The second round, it moved the exact same way. "Meridians," Aris thought. "That's what it must be moving through."
Out of curiosity, he had tried continuing the breathing pattern even after the unknown energy faded, only with regular oxygen. Strangely, he still felt a faint trace of that same path or meridian.
His mind sparked with an idea. "Zona," he said inwardly. "Scan the meridian pathways the others are using. Let's see if my plan's even possible."