At Habs Manor, Vivian was in her exclusive training ground, still clad in full armor, wielding a massive long axe for training.
The long axe was about 1.8 meters long, and the axe head was extraordinarily large, forming a stark contrast with Vivian's petite figure.
Very few people knew that this was actually Vivian's most commonly used weapon, weighing three hundred pounds.
In the past, Vivian would often spar with members of the Nightingale Team, but now there was no one who could spar with her.
Even those at the Knight Level couldn't withstand Vivian's storm-like ferocious attacks, making sparring ineffective.
The armor on Vivian and the giant axe in her hand were all for honing herself, aiming to break through her own limits, just to grasp the opportunity to advance to a Great Knight.
During her daily training, several servants and personal soldiers were around.
After finishing training, she glanced at George who stood in the distance and casually asked, "How is it going?"
George bowed his head and respectfully answered, "Duke successfully condensed the Life Seed; he seems to be a very promising talent."
"Three days, indeed shows some aptitude. Next, it depends on whether he can reach the second layer of training within a month. If he can successfully break through, he will have the potential to advance to Official Knight. If he cannot…"
Vivian placed the giant axe aside, and several servants hurried over to maintain and care for the axe.
She didn't finish her sentence, but George understood her implication.
If Duke possesses the potential to advance to an Official Knight, he is worth continued investment.
The value of an Official Knight is an extremely precious combat power to any noble faction.
But if Duke doesn't have such potential, he would just be another ordinary Knight Attendant in the Nightingale Team.
Without reaching Official Knight, there will be no qualitative change; the value created is still very limited.
...
After Duke entered the Breathing Technique, he continued participating in training at the manor.
He didn't feel much pressure now, theoretically being in a "guaranteed admission" situation, where his later performance in training didn't matter much, and he'd still be able to join the Nightingale Team.
Nevertheless, Duke was still working hard, spending most of his time grinding the proficiency of the Breathing Technique, temporarily setting aside basic swordsmanship.
But someone was even more diligent than him.
Just like Duke previously, when others were still lost in their dreams, he got up, only to find Hewen's bed already vacant.
Once he stepped out, he discovered Hewen engaged in pile skill training for the Breathing Technique.
Judging by the sweat on Hewen's body, he had been training for some time.
"That guy is really pushing himself," Duke thought.
He had a skill tree motivating him to fully grind proficiency.
This Hewen, no wonder he could rise from being a slave—his willpower and disposition far surpass ordinary people.
The two exchanged a glance and didn't speak, entering their respective training states.
It was already the fifth day of training, and Duke was still the only one to have entered the Breathing Technique.
Apart from him, the fastest progressing was Hewen, who had already mastered five sets of pile skills.
Normally, such progress wasn't considered slow, but with Duke present, it no longer seemed impressive.
[Giant Whale Breathing Technique: Level 1 (11/1000)]
While performing pile skill training, Duke checked the progress of the Giant Whale Breathing Technique.
So far, he only had 11 proficiency points; the progress was exceedingly slow.
Once collective training time began, Duke couldn't help but ask George beside him, "Brother George, how can the training speed of the Breathing Technique be increased?"
Having grown more familiar with George these days, he asked casually.
George, without any hesitation, said, "Magical Beast Meat."
"Magical Beast Meat?" Duke hadn't expected to receive a real answer.
George nodded and said, "Magical beasts are considerably stronger than ordinary wild or fierce beasts; their physiques are incredibly robust, and their flesh and blood contain rich blood essence.
When knights practicing the Breathing Technique consume Magical Beast Meat, and then proceed with the practice, they can fully absorb the blood essence within, increasing the practice progress of the Breathing Technique."
He then changed his tone: "However, Magical Beast Meat is very expensive, with ordinary Magical Beast Meat costing four to five gold coins per pound, and it's not easy to purchase either."
"Four gold coins per pound…" Hearing this number made Duke a bit dizzy.
Despite struggling with all his might recently, he had only managed to accumulate a little over thirty gold coins, just enough to buy a few pounds.
Duke remembered this information, but since he was still training at the manor, he couldn't go looking for Magical Beast Meat, deciding to consider it once training ended.
The seven-day Breathing Technique training quickly ended, with Duke still being the only one who had entered the Giant Whale Breathing Technique.
Vivian no longer appeared before the crowd; she only needed to check one month later to see who had entered the Breathing Technique.
On the expansive pasturage within the manor, several fine horses appeared before the crowd.
This was their next few days of coursework—Riding Skills.
In this era, not many people knew how to ride; most people didn't have the chance to do so in their daily lives.
Seeing so many fine horses at this moment, quite a few were eager to have a go.
Not all of Earl Hardy's personal soldiers were equipped with horses; it was just necessary for everyone to know how to ride so that they would be prepared when the need arose.
With two hundred on site and only thirty horses, everyone had to take turns lining up to experience.
Soon, it was Duke's turn. After mounting his horse, he followed precisely what the riding instructor advised, first slowly walking, then gradually trotting.
[Riding Skill: LV1 (12/100)]
Soon, a branch representing Riding Skill appeared on the skill tree.
Duke found that acquiring proficiency in Riding Skills was relatively easy; merely walking on horseback could raise the proficiency.
If running, the proficiency increased even faster.
Just by riding the horse for two laps, Duke's Riding Skill level upgraded.
[Riding Skill level increased, Agility +0.1]
[Riding Skill: LV2 (5/200)]
Looking at these pieces of information, Duke thought to himself, "Although it's easy to increase the Riding Skill level, the attribute points gained are quite meager."
He realized he couldn't rely on Riding Skills to gain many attribute points; he could only hope that maxing out the level might award free attribute points, which would be substantial.
Duke wasn't in a rush; since enhancing Riding Skills was this straightforward, riding a few circles each day would suffice.
In the morning, Riding Skills were taught; in the afternoon, it was Archery.
This was Duke's first contact with archery, and his first few arrows didn't even hit the target.
This scene brought some sense of balance to people nearby: "Seems like Duke isn't all that, he can't even shoot an arrow properly."
Many of them had already mastered Archery skills; they might not be incredibly accurate, but at least didn't miss the target as much.
Duke wasn't concerned about the looks from others; his first few arrows were just to get a feel.
After making some adjustments, with his strong bodily control, he hit the target steadily with his next arrow.
[Archery: LV1 (1/150)]