Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

Once he got in front of the barracks, Illyan handed Terren over to one of the guards who seemed to be against him going alone inside of the barracks and threw him out. However, Illyan didn’t mind at all as the entire evening was a success.

Not only did he get the thing he desired, but he also got some intriguing information.

‘I just need to get to know why the knight path is considered orthodox. The spiritual path seemed to be superior…’

While the tales Terren talked about sounded very remarkable, it still didn’t change the fact that one Frozen Worm would crush an entire army of knights. Or at least that would happen if they were only as strong as Terren recounted.

Unfortunately, Illyan didn’t know much since Terren also said only things he heard from other soldiers during training.

However, he didn’t think too much about it as his mind came to the breathing technique he just got out of the drugged young man who would not remember this tomorrow.

The technique was once again named with a simple and concise name.

[Flow Breathing Technique]

‘I will try it out tonight since I am already outside. When I am in the institute, I don’t have any place to practice.

To be honest, Illyan was already frustrated by the lack of privacy.

He wasn’t bothered when he was younger, but after he lived for years in a tent alone, the thought of living in the same room with someone was abhorring for him.

Not to mention, he had too many things to hide that it felt as if he was tied, and it felt almost claustrophobic.

Fortunately, once he becomes an academic, he would be entitled to a private room and office.

On the other hand, Illyan was still more greedy as he wanted to have land unaffiliated with the institute somewhere on the outskirts of the town. He wanted a garden to cultivate his herbs, a place to train, and also his own laboratory.

The institute was mainly an intellectual place and didn’t have places for such things.

Illyan could only hope that it would not be too expensive…

Soon, Illyan found some remote place in some abandoned alley to not be seen by guards. The curfew would start in less than an hour, and they would not be happy to see someone wandering on the streets.

There, he leaned on the wall, closed his eyes, and started to breathe the air in a rhythmic manner. The best way to do this would be in a sitting position since he was a beginner, but the ground in the town was too disgusting.

People would throw their wastes outside of their windows without caring, which made the entire town smell outrageously, especially on the rare hot days where the smell would get more intense.

Sitting on such ground would probably make Illyan’s clothes unsalvageable.

“Haah…Huuuh…” Taking a deep breath with his nose, he filled his lungs with the smelly air, but he ignored it as he exhaled through his mouth.

In this manner, he breathed while feeling what was happening in his body. He felt the circulation of his oxygen speed up and with that, the entire blood circulation sped up too. His heartbeat quickened to the point where he felt the strain on it and pain spread across his chest.

Illyan didn’t care much about the injuries, but if his heart literally exploded, then even he would be a goner. So, he slowed down with his breathing, calming his beating heart a little.

Normally, this kind of breathing wouldn’t do anything to the human body, but Illyan understood what happened.

‘The Spiritual Energy in the air.’

Through the rhythmic breathing, it became stimulated, which allowed it to be breathed in and circulate across the body. Unfortunately, it was in complete circulation where the Spiritual Energy was inhaled each breath and then exhaled. Nothing remained in the body once you stopped the technique.

In this manner, the knight's burst power during breathing was several times higher. That was if they managed to master the technique. Most people would only use it to meditate when in complete peace to condense their flow.

If they tried to use it during a real battle, then it would not be surprising if they died from self-inflicted inner wounds instead of their opponent's strikes…

Illyan could be said to be quite talented in this as he managed to induce such a reaction from his body just from the first try. He didn’t do it right, but that didn’t matter to him. As long as he didn’t go overboard, then his innards would always heal.

Even though Terren was extremely drunk and under the effect of the relaxant, which should cause the victim to stop thinking about consequences, he still reminded Illyan several times of the danger of wrong circulation.

The technique was hidden from the eyes of the normal populace, but even if it was leaked just as now, the authorities would be indifferent. Why? Well, because most people who tried the technique would be dead after the first try without someone to guide them.

As of now, Teren could only cultivate in front of his seniors who would help if he messed up. Even if he was willing to teach the technique to Illyan, he would still never do so since he believed that anyone who wasn’t in the military would die after trying.

What Illyan didn’t know was that over a hundred years ago, a young candidate of the Bakur Tribe’s Grand Shaman position also gave up on bringing this technique to the tribe because of this.

He traveled across this kingdom and the empire neighboring to it as he widened his horizons. Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring anything of worth too much since travelers like him who didn’t want to be tied with the forces didn’t have a chance to get any profound knowledge.

Only by chance, he came across this mainstream technique. But it was too risky to teach a tribe that had only a few thousand people. Not only that, it was risky, but it took a long time before it was useful.

It was at that time when he realized why his honored ancestor Kennera, who lacked talent, didn’t dwell on this technique and created her own called [The Way of the Body].

It was an auxiliary technique that didn’t strengthen the body or give additional bursts of power to the user but allowed him to control his body to the inhuman extent. She was said to be so natural with it that no tool was difficult to use in her hands, no environment was her obstacle, and no man was able to touch her with her impeccable footwork.

Together with a resource now called Kennera Lake she managed together with her husband to create a tribe that lasted longer than the kingdom where Illyan was right now.

He still wasn’t nearly as proficient in it as she was but could be said to have nimble fingers and had good climbing and jumping abilities.

Obviously, he didn’t plan to stop training in this technique.

He planned to use both [Flow Breathing Technique] and [The Way of the Body] together to reach a higher realm. It would be hard, but he wasn’t discouraged.

After all, he had time to train in it. Not to mention that there were many training dummies.

Tap Tap Tap

Sounds of legs stepping on the ground resounded as several people showed up from the edge of the street. Their faces were dirty, and their clothes were ragged. It was obvious that they weren’t regular citizens.

In truth, Illyan already noticed that someone was tailing him with Terren. While his first try to sense someone failed, after a while, he noticed someone was looking at them while hiding.

At first, he thought someone wanted to either hear the details of the technique too or the opposite, wanted to report it to authorities.

However, Terren talked quietly, and most of the explanation was about breathing so the person had no way to understand it from a distance.

Then, he realized he was probably overthinking, and this was the so-called mugging attempt.

They waited until he and Terren parted their ways and disappeared.

That didn’t mean that he changed his mind. Illyan was aware that thanks to the stories that Nord and Cara told him that most muggers came in groups in case that the one they mugged was no pushover and beat him with their numbers.

Since they saw that Terren was from the military, they didn’t risk it and came in a group of five. Even sober soldiers would be done for if they met five enemies, albeit sloppy ones, let alone drunk soldiers.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know that Illyan was not drunk even though he was in the inn the entire time and that he wasn't a soldier. But something worse.

“Hey, you!”

When they finally got closer to him they realized that he was leaning there on the wall as if he was resting on his stroll.

“Heh, is he so drunk that he couldn’t walk too far?” One of them made a remark which made others laugh a little.

“Hey!” The one who called out to him at first got angry when the guy didn’t respond and got closer. He couldn’t even see through his cape because of that black robe he wore.

“What?” Illyan finally opened his eyes and asked back languidly.

The mugger who seemed to be the leader saw in the darkness only blood-red eyes which made him a little uneasy. However, he shook his head inwardly as it was just eye color and snorted coldly.

“Who do you think you are to ignore me?! Huh?” He asked as he wanted to take Illyan’s attention for the other four to surround him before he tried to escape.

“Who do you think ‘you’ are to think I can’t ignore you?” Illyan asked in a relaxed tone. If it was a few years ago then he would be just looking expressionless at this guy while not knowing what to say.

However, in this month of time, he realized that he got innate talent that could be one equal to his battle talent.

Acting.

At first, he didn’t plan to act and be just himself when he came to the wagon. But then he realized that this kind of behavior was unusual in any kind of society and could bring him problems.

He was a loner in the Bakur Tribe because of this.

After all, it wasn’t until he became more social that others in the wagon started to talk with him. And if he didn’t talk with them then he would lose a lot of opportunities and even information he got during their talks.

He was glad that he changed his mind at the last moment.

Not only it gave him more opportunities but it also opened more windows in his self-discovery. His smiles were not so forced anymore, and his tongue was more nimble. This would overlap with his personality even if he stopped acting now.

The essence was still the same, but the aura was different. Right now he was Kaoran, a commoner physician.

“Hah?! You must be a crazy motherfucker! Can’t you see what is happening? Just give us everything you have else you will have your intestines on the ground tonight! That robe of yours also looks good so take it off!”

The mugger seemed to lose his patience as he brazenly said that he was here to rob.

“Before I do so I have a question for you…” Illyan looked him in the eyes and asked while still leaning on the wall.

“Are you from Venomous Viper or Heart Bearer Gang?”

An innocent question which stumped the leader and others ensuing in utter silence. It wasn’t until a few seconds later when a burst of laughter resounded.

“Bah! Do you think that we would go after likes of you if we-”

“Good.” Illyan didn’t waste his time and took a deep breath. Then, his muscles tensed up and with a quick jab he slammed his fist into the closest guy’s, namely the leader of the group’s, face.

Crack

His body flew as a puppet with its strings cut and fell into an unnatural position as his head was directed in the wrong angle.

The slightly sweet and iron taste accumulated in Illyan’s mouth as he swallowed it down with a slight frown.

‘My arm is numb and the burst power which should be amplified instead impedes my natural strength. Not to mention that my lungs and some vessels burst. It indeed is hard to train in. But that’s why there are targets like them.’

He turned his attention to others who couldn’t react in time as he was too quick and waited for a few seconds until his lungs patched themselves up.

“What… What the heck?!”

“Wasn’t he a scholar?!”

“Damn it, he is a skilled soldier! Attack him together!”

They have already hit the steel plate several times in the past. Yet they took down those few soldiers this way albeit with casualties. Knowing that running away would just bring their doom quicker they attacked at once from different directions. Even if he deflects three blows and returns two back he would still get one knife in his stomach while two of the muggers would live.

Even elephants would succumb to an army of ants, let alone soldiers that didn’t reach Flow stage.

Unfortunately…

With a slight movement of his hips he dodged one knife thrust going for his chest and used his arm to deflect one knife chop coming for his head which caused light gash on his hand but he paid it no heed and with a tight squeeze he held the guy’s arm. Then he shot his leg like a whip into the third mugger’s gut and launched him into the wall opposite of them.

The fourth guy was delighted as he managed to go through Illyan’s defense and thrust his knife into his stomach.

‘Huh?’

Realizing that the knife didn’t go in as deep as he hoped for, he looked up only to notice the elbow closing at high speed which hit him square in the face, cracking his skull. His consciousness quickly darkened, never to be woken up again.

“You bastard!” The guy who missed yelled out as this time he slashed horizontally.

This kind of attack was harder to dodge unless you moved out of reach, and so he flung the guy he held by arm like a weapon with his inhuman strength.

“Aaah?!” The guy yelled out in horror when he realized he was in the air for a second before he was thrown at high speed towards the ground where the last guy was.

The mugger’s eyes almost fell out of his sockets as he threw his body aside only to hear a squelching sound. When he looked back, he saw his partner lying in the mix of mud, shit, and blood from other guys while squirming in pain.

‘Shit, Shit, Shit!’

He quickly stood up and wondered what to do. He didn’t expect him to be so strong. They usually watched who their enemy was, and they were aware that this was a peasant who came from the wagon over a month ago and became an apprentice academic. They were still careful as they saw him being friend with trainee in the military yet they still underestimated him. But how come he was so strong?!

Seeing him going slowly towards the man who was squirming in pain, he used the opportunity and started to sneak off.

Unfortunately, Illyan didn’t forget about him as he took out the knife which was still embedded in his stomach. It didn’t hurt his organs as his muscles were tightened, but it would still make some soldiers incapable of fighting.

For Illyan, it was nothing though.

He held the knife and noticed it was rusty.

‘Hopefully I won’t be blood-poisoned…’ He was never stabbed by a rusty weapon and wasn’t sure if his ability would cover this too.

Then he threw the knife at the fleeting enemy. His aim could be said to be passable thanks to his proficiency in [The Way of the Body].

However, as he never used throwing knives, let alone cheap knives like this, it was a bad throw.

Crack

“Agh?!”

It still hit him. It was just not the blade but the hilt which probably cracked his spine and made him fall down.

‘Even though I aimed for the heart…’ Illyan shook his head. He wasn’t proficient in throwing knives. It should be obvious.

He quickly got closer to the squirming guy and put his leg on his chest.

Pui!

With little pressure, his entire chest cavity collapsed, and he stopped breathing.

Then, he came to the guy who was crawling with his arms while his legs didn’t move. He was paralyzed from the throw which, albeit clumsy, hid extreme kinetic energy. This would be impossible even with Illyan’s strength.

Illyan was satisfied. At the last moment, he managed to muster such burst power with his throw. Well, his arm was broken in three parts and he felt the blood in his throat again so it wasn’t perfect but that was only a small matter to him.

“Wait! Please, spare me! I will give you everything I have! I can even serv-”

With smooth movement, Illyan took the knife from the ground and slit the guy's throat.

“Guys like you are worthless to me.” Illyan muttered as he felt his muscles relax. He wasn’t tired. It was just that he felt unrest since he couldn’t move his body properly and this fight relieved his muscles and relieved his battle instincts.

‘I shouldn’t forget about this part of me despite my other interests.’

His thirst for knowledge albeit stemming from curiosity still overlapped with his thirst for power. If he were to study only for his strength to decline, then it would be like putting a cart before a horse.

“Here was the noise!”

“Quickly before they run away!”

With his acute hearing he heard from a distance that guards were ‘quickly’ closing in after hearing the ruckus, and so he took the pouches on the guys’ belts which were probably the only thing of worth on them and started to climb on the walls of the house, disappearing onto the roofs.

When the guards finally came, only five corpses were found.

“Follow them in the alley! There is no other way to get out of here!” In the end, the officer who thought this was a fight among gangs commanded his subordinates to look for culprits in the alleys unaware he was already hopping from roof to roof back to his nest…