[To ordinary people (mortals), it was deemed "useless" because it's kind of slow, and to use it before knighthood, you had to have an extraordinary will and the knowledge that comes with it because this breathing method acts on cells, something that not many wizard civilizations discovered, particularly at the early to mid stages or not at all. Knowing their existence is one thing; controlling them is another. For official knights it's sort of easier since they can, after knowing them, access them with vitality/vital energy/life force.
[As an advantage, you have the fact that it promotes overall physical growth/evolution; the earlier you learn it, the better your physical foundation; it trains your will; while you use it, your cells become more efficient in whatever they do, e.g., thinking, regeneration, illness adaptation/resistance, etc.]
[As a disadvantage, you should remember that for the average person the fact that it's spread through the whole body means it's not useful from the gate-go; it's more like a late bloomer. Another is that it's energy intensive: since the cell's efficiency is strengthened, they work more and so consume more even though it consumes less per task than before, which means that even if the user has the will and the patience to use it, he will need even more resources to continuously use it.]
[With all I've said, you can understand that with your status, your gamer body, and the resources at your disposition, even if you don't try the knight breathing techniques in terms of stats, you will be a knight like being by your early teens compared to a simple but talented mortal that will attain that state by their early to mid twenties or thirties.]
'Let's see what we bought,' and Kevin began to look at the faint screen floating before his eyes.
[Item: [Skill Scroll: Cellular Resonance Breathing] Cost: 150 EC (Deducted), [skill story] Cost: 1500 EC (Deducted) Status: Integrated into Proficiency Panel.]
[Remaining EC: 1350.]
A strange, subtle warmth spread through his chest—not a surge of fiery mana or explosive aura, but a microscopic hum. It felt as though every tiny pore and cell beneath his skin was quietly tuning itself like a instrument string.
Kevin closed his eyes and took his first deliberate, controlled breath according to the skill's rhythmic pattern.
Inhale... hold... feel the vibration, the flow... exhale.
Bzzzz.
A sudden, sharp shock wave rippled through his body. It wasn't painful, but it felt like a small warm flow was continuously spreading in his body. He opened his eyes, sweating slightly, as a notification chimed in his mind:
[Proficiency: +1 XP per breathing cycle (10 sec).]
[Cellular Resonance Breathing Lv. 1 (1/10)] Effect: Basic Cellular Tuning. limited to 2 hrs of use before LV10. +1% to all previous final stats.
Kevin looked down at his small, three-year-old hands. They looked identical to any other soft royal toddler's hands. But when he clenched his fist, he could feel a faint, imperceptible tremor deep inside his bone marrow—a rhythmic, steady vibration waiting to be built upon.
"No flashy fireballs, no elemental glows," Kevin whispered with a satisfied smirk, wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead. "Just pure, raw biological foundation."
While his older brothers were outside in the courtyard, sweating through heavy armor to master the flashy Royal Heart—a technique that would cap out at Great Knight in twenty to thirty years—Kevin leaned back against his silk pillows and simply kept breathing.
One breath. Two breaths.
Every second he sat there, quietly enjoying his comfortable palace life, his cells vibrated, tuned, and strengthened. He had all the time in the world, and with no upper limit on his panel, a "trash"-tier commoner technique was about to turn a lazy fourth prince into a walking god.
The initial warmth radiating from his body gradually settled into a rhythmic, almost imperceptible pulse. Kevin exhaled softly, feeling a crisp sense of mental clarity wash over him. His body felt lighter, yet underneath that youthful softness, there was a faint, dense elasticity taking root.
[Cellular Resonance Breathing Lv. 1 (3/10)]
[Progress: +1 EXP]
"Two breaths, two points of resonance..." Kevin muttered under his breath, watching the progress bar twitch upward. "It's slow, but consistency is king."
He leaned back onto his luxurious goose-feather pillows, staring up at the grand painted ceiling of his bedchamber. The rest of his initial 3,000 EC balance stood at a respectable 1,350 EC after the heavy purchase of the skill and its historical record. He knew he couldn't afford to be wasteful now. The system shop was vast, but raw knowledge without a practical vehicle to implement it was useless.
"Zero," Kevin called out mentally.
[Yes, host?]
"Show me the remaining items in the Knowledge Repository under 'Royal Kingdom Standard'—specifically basic civil infrastructure and high-margin luxury manufacturing recipes under 200 EC."
A sleek, minimalistic window expanded before his retinas, sorting through tens of thousands of archived patents from extinct and active mortal realms.
[Filtering query...]
[Item 1: Blueprint - Fractional Distillation & High-Proof Alcohol Refining (Cost: 50 EC)]
[Item 2: Recipe - Bone-Char Sugar Clarification / Pure White Crystal Sugar (Cost: 35 EC)]
[Item 3: Patent—Mirror Silvering Method & Chemical Nitrate Solution (Cost: 60 EC)]
[Item 4: Schema - Basic Aqueduct & Charcoal-Sand Water Filtration System (Cost: 80 EC)]
Kevin's dark blue-red eyes gleamed as his lips curved into a subtle smile.
"In a world where nobles drink sour, low-proof wine, mirror their faces in tarnished bronze plates, and eat brown, molasses-clogged sugar, these four items alone are a literal gold mine," he mused. "And in this kingdom, gold translates directly into resources, political leverage, and eventually... systematic influence."
He didn't buy them immediately. He knew timing was everything. At five years old, sudden brilliance without a plausible cover would draw the wrong kind of attention—especially from the Empress's faction or Chief Xavier, who was likely still watching his quarter like a hawk after the poison incident failed.
He needed an errand runner. Someone loyal, easily manipulated by a child's innocent demeanor, but clever enough to execute tasks outside the palace walls.
'Tiana,' Kevin thought, recalling his personal maid who had wiped the blood from his face with trembling hands. 'She's loyal but too closely watched by the palace head servants. I need someone lower on the food chain.'
He closed the shop panel and focused back on his internal rhythm.
Inhale...
Hold... feel the cellular vibration.
Exhale...
*Bzzzz.*
[Cellular Resonance Breathing Lv. 1 (4/10)]
The subtle hum vibrating through his muscle fibers brought an oddly comforting sensation. While his royal brother is currently out on the training grounds, beginning his knight lessons under the watch of the imperial knights, Kevin was reinforcing his biological foundations while lying in bed, drinking warm broth, and resting.
"Let them train until their muscles tear," Kevin smirked, pulling the silk blanket over his chest. "I have three years before my first lesson. By the time they realize I'm playing a different game entirely, the board will already be mine."
He closed his eyes, letting the rhythmic resonance guide him into a deep, restorative sleep—the first peaceful sleep his body had experienced since his awakening.
[A late warning: because of your age and physical state, your technique time use will be of 2 hrs before LV10, by which your cells and body would already be adapted to perform it automatically.]
His eyes closed, Kevin furrowed his brows. 'That's bad, but okay. Still, how come?'
[You should know that because you aren't living in 'GAIA's earth,' things like the gamer body and gamer mind are kind of muted, so things like technique fusion and incorporation that are brutal cannot be done directly because you are more human and less digitalized than him; it's a trade-off.]
Kevin's body relaxed. 'So be it; better have you than not. A second life is already very good; not to mention a system with attributes like that is not a given, so no problem. That guy with the gamer system was really something, though. With this package, enough time and not showing off: the pinnacle of this reality is reachable.'