He promised to become a knight, but what the heck is Astartes?

"Now, close your eyes."

"Focus your attention on your heart and feel what is flowing there besides blood with each beat."

Upon hearing this, the fifty attendant trainees also adjusted their posture, sat cross-legged, and closed their eyes.

Rorschach did the same; after closing his eyes, he concentrated all his consciousness in his chest cavity.

At first, he couldn't feel anything except the deep, vibrant beating of his own heart.

But as Rorschach’s attention became more focused, less than three minutes passed.

Rorschach suddenly seemed to realize something!

It was an extremely faint...warmth.

This warm feeling is deep within my heart, as if there is a spark slowly burning inside my heart!

"Is this the source of vitality?"

"It feels like a gene seed."

Chapter 13 Life Cycle

This is obviously fake.

Luo Xia just wanted to test whether this intelligent system would make judgments based on his own ideas.

After all, this intelligent system believes that all knights are Astartes.

Narosha's claim that the life-giving spark in his heart is a genetic seed isn't entirely wrong, is it?

Seeing that the Wise System showed no reaction whatsoever, seemingly aloof and indifferent, Luo Xia shook his head.

The compliance test failed.

Now that things had come to this, Luo Xia focused all his attention on his own heart, on the life source that was slowly burning like a spark.

Remembering Mr. Cliff's teachings, Rorschach did not rush to touch it, but instead continued to perceive and observe.

The heat of his own life force was much greater than Luo Xia had imagined; in fact, the heat continued to rise even when he focused all his attention on it.

"Is this my life force...? It's much stronger than I imagined."

But feeling the fullness emanating from that spark of life, Rorschach nodded in satisfaction.

With his physique reaching 1.9, his vitality concentration should be two to three times that of his peers!

“If you sense it, don’t be impatient. Take it slow and calm your senses first.” Cliff’s voice came from afar. “Most people need three to seven days to sense their own life force for the first time, so don’t rush.”

Three to seven days?

Upon hearing this, Luo Xia, who had been about to open his eyes, quickly closed them again.

After all, I probably only used less than five minutes!

'But that's normal, considering my mental attribute is 2.0, and my perception is already twice as strong as the average person.'

Luo Xia was also thinking silently, deciding that he still had to play dumb to take advantage of the situation.

After all, it's one thing to have good vitality, but you can also use your strong physique to get by.

But if even the perception ability is this strong, then it is very likely to arouse unnecessary suspicion!

Moreover, the Holy Empire is far from peaceful. Besides the Abyss Demon Gods lurking in other dimensions, there are also various evil cults and black wizards in the real world who pursue the limits of the human body and illegally conduct various human experiments...

So if he gets caught and dissected, then he'll be doomed!

It doesn't matter if I die, but if the great emperor loses his loyal subject, it would be no less than experiencing another Horus rebellion!

Emperor: "If Rorschach dies, I won't hesitate to launch another Great Crusade and destroy this world!"

Who made the emperor bleed and weep?

Luo Xia was also daydreaming, after all, judging from the descriptions of each mission by this Wise System.

I've been in a spiritual communion with the Emperor for quite some time now, haven't I?

Moreover, the Emperor's favorability rating is an astonishing sixteen points!

Who would dare to imagine that!

With a favorability rating of 16, Luo Xia guessed that his status in the Emperor's heart was below that of human civilization.

You ask what lies beneath humanity?

Of course, it's humans!

"Guiding life force to flow along the meridians forms the most basic cycle, which is the basic cycle of life force..."

Now that he had sensed the life force, Rorschach began to try the second step of becoming a knight that Cliff had mentioned.

And this step is the most crucial one!

According to Cliff, whether a squire trainee can complete the basic cycle within three months determines whether he can enter the knighthood.

For most people, it takes one to two months just to complete this step.

Luo Xia also tried to use his own consciousness to touch that spark of life, thereby guiding it to circulate through his meridians.

But the moment it touches the spark of life, that warmth scatters and flees like startled fish.

This caused Luo Xia's previously focused attention, which had been concentrated in his heart, to instantly dissipate.

'That's interesting.'

But Rorschach did not lose heart; instead, he focused his attention once again.

This time, Rorschach changed his approach. Instead of actively touching the spark of life, he guided a 'channel' around it using his own will, allowing the life force to flow into it naturally according to his senses.

This is a truth that Rorschach only came to understand after spending a whole night skinning slaves in the Emperor's 'slave space'.

Because the jungle warriors of Katachon have a penchant for collecting complete animal hides, Rorschach needs to be completely focused while skinning animals if he wants to gain more professional experience.

To peel off a complete animal hide, one cannot simply tear it off; instead, one must follow the natural grain of the animal's flesh, using the skillful butcher's method to peel off the hide completely.

of course.

Although Rorschach has not yet successfully skinned a complete animal hide, it does not prevent him from applying what he has learned.

Since vitality cannot be forcibly guided, let it flow naturally along the meridians.

And that's exactly what happened.

When Rorschach changed his strategy, the previously scattered life force slowly gathered together and began to flow along the channel he had constructed with his consciousness toward the first major meridian in his chest cavity.

Although it was incredibly slow, it was definitely flowing.

Luo Xia could clearly feel that the warmth was starting from his heart and moving down the meridians in his chest towards his abdomen.

This is the prototype of the life force cycle!

"continue!"

Seeing this, Rorschach was overjoyed. He then held his breath and focused all his energy on guiding the flow of life force.

One lap... two laps...

With each cycle, the warmth becomes more intense than the last.

As the life force begins to circulate, Rorschach's body is also undergoing subtle changes.

His muscle fibers, nourished by this vitality, are strengthening at an extremely slow pace.

If this continues for a month, Rorschach's physical condition will improve.

But that's too slow!

Slow training simply cannot compare to Luo Xia's talent and hard work!

Emperor stat allocation!

[Ding ding ding! Hidden quest discovered: Forging Armor with Blood!]

[You truly are a loyal subject, absolutely devoted to the Great Emperor! Sensing life force and completing a cycle in less than an hour! This has earned the Great Emperor's recognition of your talent and his pride in your diligence, even from those on the Golden Throne.]

[As the greatest cultivator, the Great Emperor has given you special guidance: once you break through one hundred levels of the basic cycle, you can forge your blood into armor!]

[Mission Reward: +0.1 Free Attribute Points, Blood Forged Armor!]

Current base loop depth: 3

'Forging armor from blood?'

Luo Xia was also taken aback when he saw the task from the Wise System. He had only heard of "forging blood into fire," which was the war cry of the fire lizard, another way of saying that it wanted to be in the flames of war and be forged on the anvil.

And forging blood into armor, it actually sounds quite plausible?

After all, if it were a fire lizard, it would truly use its own blood to forge armor to protect mortals!

"As Professor Cliff said, as long as the life force can complete ten cycles, it can release its life force externally, thus forming a life force armor!"

"And this is also a qualitative leap from a mortal to the extraordinary profession of a knight's squire!"

Although Rorschach couldn't understand what abilities the great emperor had given him.

But it still continues to guide the cycle of its own vitality.

Fourth lap, fifth lap...

Chapter 14: The Free Things Are the Most Expensive

As the number of layers in Rorschach's life force cycle increases, the difficulty of guiding him also increases.

With each additional layer of circulation, the vitality carried in the meridians becomes more concentrated, and this concentrated vitality puts pressure on the meridian walls.

So when he reached the seventh lap, Luo Xia clearly felt discomfort in his meridians.

This feeling is like pouring an excessive amount of water into a pipe without applying pressure, causing the entire pipe wall to bear immense pressure.

"That's about it, let's stop here for today."

Luo Xia also knew when to stop, slowly stopping the circulation of life force and letting the life force in his meridians dissipate naturally.

When Luo Xia opened his eyes, the entire training ground remained silent.