Grey walked back to his room in silence, the stone corridors of the mansion echoing beneath his boots. The flickering torchlight danced across the walls, casting fleeting shadows that mirrored the thoughts swirling in his mind.
Once inside, he shut the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. His eyes settled on the quiet corner where his training mat lay, and he let out a slow breath.
"The ship will arrive in the next two years," he murmured to himself. "That gives me time to practice the knight breathing techniques. If I can reach the level of a Great Knight by then it might be enough to keep me alive during those first years."
To any ordinary person, the thought would've sounded like madness. Great Knights were rare across the entire empire. Those who achieved such a rank were revered, their names etched in the annals of history. Not a single legendary knight had emerged in the past hundred years.
But Grey was no ordinary man.
For a true Spirit Wizard in reincarnation, such a feat was merely a stepping stone. Even a peak Wizard Apprentice could accomplish what seemed impossible to others.
Without wasting another moment, Grey settled into position and began practicing the Starfall Breathing Method a technique long lost to this world, but familiar to his soul.
The next two years passed like a fleeting shadow.
Grey shut himself off from the world, his focus unshakable. He ignored the bustle of the outside, the calls of comfort and distraction, and instead poured his entire being into mastering the knight breathing method.
One day, as the sun dipped below the horizon and cast a crimson hue over his room, something extraordinary happened.
As Grey inhaled, seated cross-legged on the cold stone floor, a pulse echoed in his chest. His life seed, nestled deep within his heart, began to stir. It started drawing in life energy from the surroundings, as if the entire room were holding its breath with him.
The process continued for hours.
And then, it happened.
A faint glow shimmered across his body, forming into a protective layer a Life Armour, vibrant and alive, encasing him like a second skin. It clung to him not as a burden, but as an extension of his will.
Grey opened his eyes slowly, a quiet satisfaction flickering in them.
"A beginner knight can only channel life energy for ten to twelve strikes," he thought. "Intermediate knights? Maybe twenty to thirty. Advanced ones, forty to fifty. But a Great Knight"
He stood, flexing his fingers as the life armour gleamed under the candlelight.
"A Great Knight can wield life energy two hundred, maybe three hundred times. And the difference between a strike with life energy and one without it's like heaven and earth. Even a simple wooden stick, infused with life force, could slice through steel like paper."
His gaze turned toward the window, where stars had begun to pierce the night sky.
"The wizards will arrive in two months," he mused, "and in the wizard continent, the most valuable currency is magic stones."
He paused, his eyes narrowing.
"In this barren land, only a few nobles have them. My father has none. The fact that the wizard ship is even stopping here, in a mere viscount's territory, is a miracle in itself no doubt due to my father's lingering reputation."
A cold edge entered his thoughts.
"I'll need those stones. I'll need power. Which means, I'll have to kill. And take what I need."
Without another word, Grey slipped out of his room, out of the mansion silent as the wind, leaving behind everything, and everyone.
No one saw him go.