As he ate the pill, suddenly, his whole body heated up, making him sweat profusely. He hurriedly began to practice the Veiled Knight Breathing Method to circulate the energy properly.
If someone were near his training room, they would be able to hear the sound of a gurgling river, which was the sound of his heavy breathing, the blood flowing through his veins, and the gathering of mana.
In fact, the reason why it was so important to have the recipe to impact a major realm of knights was that the mana on this continent was too low.
Moreover, even if you had a mana crystal (which was unlikely), you could not absorb it as efficiently as with the secret recipe.
As Ian began to breathe regularly, the Eclipse pill in his body dissolved rapidly and began to gather inside his dantian, below the navel.
While a wizard's mana core was located in their consciousness, a knight's life core was inside their dantian.
Although both seemed similar, there was a world of difference between them, as the potential and application of power were completely disproportional.
While a wizard could consciously control his mana core, a knight had to use his breathing method to channel strength from his life core. Even then, it wasn't as efficient as a wizard's, and its growth potential was almost nil.
After an hour of continuous breathing, Ian was covered with sweat from head to toe. However, the breakthrough to the High Knight realm was almost complete, as evidenced by a pea-sized life core inside his dantian that was rotating slowly.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a vast aura spread from his life seed to his body and to his surroundings, akin to a storm.
"Finally, High Knight Realm," Ian said, very happy.
He had gone from the secondary knight realm to the High Knight realm in a single day. He was now in the same realm as his father, so how could he not be happy?
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Ian realized that his mental power seemed to have improved considerably.
Although he couldn't release his mental power like a wizard apprentice, he could release it inside his body flawlessly. This gave him an advantage, as he could partially control his life seed inside his dantian.
Ian sensed the round bead in his body with his mental power and was genuinely surprised.
"It can absorb mana from the surroundings."
You know, only a wizard's mana core could absorb mana from the surroundings. A knight, instead, used the breathing method to absorb nutrients from food or monster meat and inject them into his life seed to grow.
They couldn't even absorb mana crystals like a wizard could—not that there were any on this continent, as far as he knew.
The world where Ian had transmigrated was called Aetherion, while the continent he was in was called Gravethrone.
It was believed that thousands of years ago, a major battle had occurred on this continent, resulting in the large-scale death of the wizards. That's why it was named Gravethrone.
Moreover, due to the devastating battle, the topography of the continent had changed, and mana became scarcer.
As thousands of years passed, even mana veins became hard to find. So, now only knights remained on the continent, while all the wizards had left.
As far as Ian knew, only the protagonist, Carl, had some mana crystals in his possession, given to him by his mentor, Wizard Ruther, a six-ring wizard.
Although Ruther had died and now existed only in soul form, he was still someone Ian couldn't afford to provoke. That's why Ian never thought of doing anything to the protagonist.
Another place where there might be such crystals was the Ignisia Tower. However, this was common knowledge across the continent.
The reason Lyra attended the Imperial Academy was to get the chance to have a wizard's fate from the Ignisia Tower.
Every ten years, the Ignisia Tower would open and test the youngsters for their qualifications. If someone had a wizard's fate, they could go to another continent to become a wizard.
This was the last thing left by the ancestors on this continent. As time went on, the quota to enter the Ignisia Tower had already been divided among the powerhouses of the continent.
He, as an heir of the Veilstrider family, had already gotten one. But Lyra couldn't get one and had to fight for one of the quotas given by the Imperial Academy.
The protagonist, Carl, was also after one of the five quotas to enter the Ignisia Tower; otherwise, there would have been no reason for him to attend at all.
Then the old routine would happen. Carl would meet Lyra and fall in love. Lyra would be annoyed by Ian, who was like a dog-skinned plaster. Then the protagonist would show off by trampling Ian in a duel.
However, although Lyra was disappointed with him, she didn't fall for the protagonist outright. When Ian disappeared after six months, she tried to search for him everywhere but couldn't find him.
Then, she got a quota, qualified by Ignisia Tower, and went to another continent to become a wizard with the protagonist. Ian, a passerby villain, disappeared in one chapter.
"Sigh!"
Ian sighed at his destiny. He was still tense about his situation since his destiny hadn't changed in his status panel, nor had his luck.
[Name: Ian Veilstrider]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Knight]
[Realm: High Knight]
[Scripture: Veiled Knight Breathing Method (Incomplete-Sealed)]
[Codex: Ironclad Discipline (Perfection)]
[Luck: 40]
[Destiny: Passerby Villain]
However, compared to the novel, he was now worlds apart.
'When I get that mediation method, I can become a Wizard Apprentice.'
He was still of the mind that knights weren't a match for wizards. So, he must become a wizard.
Moreover, he couldn't directly clash with the protagonist in the early stages, as Carl was backed by a six-ring wizard, Ruther.
As for making friends with him, he hadn't thought of that. After all, his destiny was that of a passerby villain, and he was already on the opposite camp, destined to be trampled on.
'If you insist on making me a villain, bring it on.'
Ian was full of energy and hope for his awesome future journey and the challenges ahead.