Free Web NovelChapter 280: Chapter 268: Secret Technique
"A missing... part of the Nameless Breathing Technique?"
Roland’s eyebrows rose slightly at his words.
While practicing the Nameless Breathing Technique, he’d never felt like anything was missing. It was whole and self-contained.
But seeing Graham fall silent, he didn’t press the matter and simply reached out for the parchment scroll.
It felt heavy and coarse in his hand, as if it carried something far beyond its physical weight.
The edges of the parchment were severely worn, a deep brownish-yellow, with the dry, hard texture of something aged by time.
Roland carefully untied the thin leather cord binding it and slowly unrolled the Scroll.
An indescribable aura washed over him.
At the top of the Scroll, a line of ancient text, larger than the main body below, immediately caught his eye. It looked as if it had been branded with molten dark gold.
"A bloodline is a shackle one bears, and also a great power yet untapped. To wield the Thunderbolt, you must endure its searing heat."
The words carried a fateful weight and a sense of warning, every line filled with the dual meaning of power and its price.
Roland’s heart skipped a beat, and he continued to read.
The main text on the Scroll wasn’t written in ordinary ink, but rather outlined in a dark brown, almost black pigment that held a faint metallic luster.
The characters were ancient and twisted, unlike any common language Roland knew. Each one seemed like a living vine snaking across the parchment, or like the frozen trail of Energy.
He focused his mind, drawing upon all his accumulated knowledge as he painstakingly deciphered the text.
Soon, his gaze was captured by the core diagram in the middle of the Scroll.
It wasn’t a concrete image, but rather a complex geometric structure intricately woven from countless tiny Runes and streams of Energy.
It resembled a still heart, or perhaps a keyhole leading to some great depth.
The lines that formed it radiated an irresistible pull.
As he connected the painstakingly deciphered text with the diagram, Roland found himself holding his breath.
The text was obscure, filled with metaphorical descriptions like "Life Source Stream," "Inner Flame," and "Key of Shackles."
However, the diagrams—which precisely depicted how Energy gathered, compressed, and erupted at specific nodes within the body—combined with the subtle pull the core diagram exerted on his blood, finally allowed him to understand the truth.
"This is... a Secret Technique for awakening a bloodline?"
Roland couldn’t help but gasp.
This was far more than a supplement to a breathing technique; it was a dangerous key that touched the very source of life, designed to forcibly pry open one’s latent Bloodline Power.
Its core principles were "Resonance" and "Ignition."
It taught a Cultivator how to use the pure Fighting Spirit forged by the Nameless Breathing Technique to forcibly "resonate" with their latent Bloodline Power at a specific, extremely violent frequency.
It was like striking the invisible "door" deep within one’s bloodline with a heavy smithing hammer.
The diagram clearly depicted how the Fighting Spirit would form a high-pressure vortex at key nodes, then, like a fuse, ignite the dormant power within the bloodline.
The process of awakening this Bloodline Power was depicted as incredibly destructive.
Within the diagram’s human silhouette, lines representing Energy erupted from the core node in a blinding light. They instantly grew thick and twisted, like a bursting dam’s torrent scouring a fragile riverbed.
Small annotations nearby warned of things like "vessel strength," "shackle disintegration," and the "Flame of Origin," echoing the inscription at the top.
Roland’s gaze swept over the subsequent diagrams on how to "restrain" and "guide" the power after its eruption. Compared to the activation phase, however, this section was brief, obscure, and filled with uncertainty.
Clearly, controlling this rampaging power once it was forcibly awakened was a hundred times more difficult—and far riskier—than the awakening itself.
It made him recall the terrifying sight of Graham’s partial Dragonification during his battle with the Witch Demon.
"That’s right. Awakening the bloodline to obtain a Forbidden Power..."
Graham’s voice was low, as if lost in memory, yet also as if he were explaining it to Roland.
"Although you can gain Power far beyond your own after successfully activating this Secret Technique, the price..."
The Knight pointed to his already graying hair, chuckled, and continued.
"I imagine you saw it, didn’t you? So..."
His broad palm landed on Roland’s shoulder.
"Unless you have absolutely no other choice, you must never... use this Secret Technique lightly. Understand?"
"I understand, but..."
Roland retied the Scroll with its thin cord and asked with a puzzled expression.
"Dean Graham, why are you giving this to me?"
"Truthfully, I’ve been searching for a genius capable of carrying on this legacy, but..."
The Dean of the Knight Academy shook his head gently.
"I was about to give up, until you showed up, kid."
He looked at Roland, his tone resolute.
"Train hard. Don’t get bogged down by complex thoughts and worldly affairs like I did. Given time... your strength will be no less than my own."
Roland nodded at the encouragement, but confusion still lingered in his mind.
Though he had only skimmed it, he had already grasped the basic principles of the Secret Technique.
It could only awaken a Cultivator’s own bloodline.
The resulting power and consequences all depended on the bloodline itself.
’Then...’
’Graham’s physical transformation back then was clearly Dragonification.’
’Doesn’t that mean Graham has the blood of a Giant Dragon flowing through his veins?’
With this in mind, Roland chose his words carefully and slowly voiced his question.
But Graham just shook his head.
"Kid, I’ve never even seen one of those legendary creatures, let alone have any connection to one. As for a Giant Dragon Bloodline..."
At this, the Knight seemed unwilling to elaborate, brushing it off with a casual remark.
"Just a reward I got for saving an old drunkard in my youth."
Seeing Graham’s reluctance to say more, Roland didn’t press the issue.
Remembering the Wizard he had encountered in the room earlier, he thought for a moment before laying out all of his suspicions from the previous night.
"You, kid..."
Graham shook his head, opened his mouth as if to say something, but then fell silent for a moment, ultimately saying nothing at all.
Seeing his expression, Roland said slowly.
"Dean Graham, if there’s anything I can do to help..."
"HA!"
Before Roland could finish, Graham cut him off with a short laugh.
"Relax, kid. The situation isn’t as bad as you think..."
Recalling how he had parted on bad terms with his old friend the day before, Graham took a deep breath. His expression remained nonchalant, his tone even holding a hint of jest.
"Besides, even if it’s just as you suspect and the worst-case scenario occurs... with your current level of strength, you couldn’t influence the outcome at all. Not even if you were already an Extraordinary Professional. But more importantly..."
As if to prevent Roland from asking more questions, he decisively changed the subject.
"I do, however, have something I need your help with."
"Remember when I mentioned you’d be leading a team to the Golden Valley Kingdom for an exchange with their Knight Academy?"
