As soon as Roy sat down, Ticky "Left Foot" whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Someone is willing to sell an Excellent Level Bloodline Breathing Technique, but he doesn’t want money."
Although Roy had just cultivated the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique to the Tier Five limit a week ago, he had tasked Ticky with finding an Excellent Level Breathing Technique long before that.
"What does he want?" Roy asked.
"The head of Jeremy, Count Rock Lion’s eldest son!"
Ticky looked at Roy with an awkward expression.
"An Excellent Level Bloodline Breathing Technique isn’t that precious. Tell him to make a more reasonable request."
"If he’s not willing, I’d rather just go and take one from a clan that has an Excellent Bloodline Breathing Technique," Roy replied immediately.
In Yorkshire, the most famous Excellent Level Breathing Technique was the Rock Lion Breathing Technique from the Count Rock Lion Clan.
Besides the Rock Lion Breathing Technique, several Viscount clans in Yorkshire also possessed Excellent Level Breathing Techniques.
Although storming a clan’s home to steal their Breathing Technique wasn’t exactly ideal, it was much better than assassinating Count Rock Lion’s eldest son.
Jeremy, Count Rock Lion’s eldest son, was only a High Tier Knight.
With Roy’s strength, dealing with him wouldn’t be difficult.
But assassinating Jeremy meant making an enemy of Count Rock Lion until one of them was dead.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the eldest son of a clan was the heir to the title.
In other words, as long as Jeremy was alive, he was the future Count Rock Lion.
Making a mortal enemy of Count Rock Lion before he himself was even a Great Knight, all for a single Excellent Level Breathing Technique, was a bad deal no matter how you looked at it.
"I’ve already told him that, but he insists on Jeremy’s head."
Ticky sighed helplessly.
"Then forget it. Keep looking and see if any other Excellent Level Breathing Techniques are for sale."
"Also, help me find the things on this list."
Roy took a piece of parchment from his coat and handed it to Ticky.
Ticky took the parchment and quickly scanned it.
Blood Vine, Black Leech, Ghost Head Mushroom, Foul-smelling Flower, Mandrake, Alchemy Vessel...
Ticky had assumed Roy wanted to procure some more contraband not available on the open market.
But to his surprise, Roy wanted to buy a pile of materials and an Alchemy Vessel this time.
Just by looking at the materials on the parchment, he couldn’t deduce what kind of Potion Roy was planning to make.
To prevent Ticky from figuring anything out, Roy had added many materials that weren’t in the recipes for Basic Potions.
If Ticky could still guess that he was planning to make Basic Potions used by Wizards even with this deception...
...then there were only two possibilities.
First, Ticky was an Alchemist.
Second, he had seen the recipe for Basic Potions.
After reading the contents of the parchment, Ticky’s first reaction was that Roy intended to use Potions to break through to the Great Knight level.
"I don’t know what you look like, but judging by your voice, you can’t be that old. You’re not at the point where you need to use Potions to break through to Great Knight, are you?" Ticky said.
"Better to be prepared."
"I’ll come to the tavern again in seven days."
After speaking, Roy stood up, turned, and left the backyard.
After entrusting the task of collecting the materials and Alchemy Vessel to Ticky, he wasted no time. He left Redwood City immediately and started back toward Ice Wolf Castle.
「The next morning.」
After finishing breakfast in the dining hall.
Tony led Roy to the study.
As Roy watched, he retrieved an exquisite small box from a hidden compartment behind a bookshelf and opened it with a key he kept with him.
Inside the box was the Inheritance Map for the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique.
Just a few days after crossing over into this world, Roy had secretly taken out the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique’s Inheritance Map and spent half a day mastering its rudiments in Chaos Square.
After taking out the Inheritance Map for the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique, Tony said with a solemn expression, "Although the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique is only an Ordinary Level Breathing Technique, it is our clan’s most important asset."
"Our ancestor relied on this very Ice Wolf Breathing Technique to achieve great merit on the battlefield, which led to the King bestowing upon him the title of Baron."
"You should have started cultivating the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique six years ago."
"As for the Secret Medicine required for cultivation, I’ll give it to you after you’ve grasped the basics."
"Take good care of the Inheritance Map. Don’t you dare lose it!"
With that said, Tony handed the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique’s Inheritance Map to Roy with both hands.
Roy nodded and accepted the Inheritance Map.
Under Tony’s watchful gaze, he left the study and returned to his bedroom.
Even though he had already cultivated the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique to the Tier Five limit, he still opened the Inheritance Map to look it over.
The Inheritance Map for the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique, like those for other Breathing Techniques, was made from a special kind of leather.
Roy didn’t know what specific type of leather it was.
All he knew was that this leather could be preserved for over a thousand years.
At the very top of the Inheritance Map was a magnificent Ice Wolf, standing proudly atop a snowy mountain peak, howling at the sky.
Below the Ice Wolf and the mountain were 24 special Cultivation Positions.
The four Breathing Techniques Roy was currently cultivating were all Ordinary Level.
Both the Ice Wolf and Giant Elephant Breathing Techniques had 24 Cultivation Positions.
The Black Crow Breathing Technique had 22, and the Shadow Leopard Breathing Technique had only 20.
After a quick glance at the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique Inheritance Map, which he had seen long ago, Roy locked his bedroom door. With a thought, he transported himself from his bedroom to Chaos Square.
After placing the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique’s Inheritance Map in one of the boxes in the junk pile, he began cultivating the Giant Elephant Breathing Technique.
「Time flew by.」
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
In Chaos Square.
[Giant Elephant Breathing Technique Skill Level +83]
[Giant Elephant Breathing Technique: Tier Five (1568/10000)]
Glancing at the Breathing Technique’s progress, Roy stopped his cultivation of the Giant Elephant Breathing Technique.
Although he was still a long way from the limit, he was quite satisfied.
At his current rate of cultivation, he would be able to grind the Giant Elephant Breathing Technique to the Tier Five limit in another six weeks.
By then, even if he had to face Count Rock Lion, who was already a Black Iron Great Knight, he could hold his own against him for a while.
After calming his breathing, Roy walked over to the junk pile in the corner of the square and took out the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique Inheritance Map.
Then, he returned to his bedroom from Chaos Square.
The Old Baron had taken ten days to grasp the basics of the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique.
Tony had taken five.
Just as Roy had guessed, when he returned the Ice Wolf Breathing Technique’s Inheritance Map to Tony, Tony wore a proud expression, as if thinking, ’That’s my brother, all right.’
「Late at night.」
Roy secretly left Ice Wolf Castle and once again went to the Blood and Flames tavern in Redwood City.
In the tavern’s backyard, Roy, disguised as the Dark Night Knight, asked Ticky "Left Foot," "Where are the things I wanted?"
"I still haven’t found about a third of the materials."
"As for the Alchemy Vessel, I only managed to get a similar set. See if it’s suitable."
After speaking, Ticky picked up a Deer Hide Briefcase, placed it on the table, and opened it in front of Roy.
After a glance at the Alchemy Vessel inside the briefcase, Roy nodded and said slowly, "This will do. How much for everything?"
Although the Alchemy Vessel in the briefcase was somewhat different from what he truly wanted, there was nothing to be done about it.
In fact, he would have been surprised if Ticky had managed to acquire an Alchemy Vessel that was a perfect match for the one described in the book.
"All together, that’ll be 23 Gold Coins."
Ticky rubbed his fingers together unconsciously, a wide smile on his face.
Roy had no intention of haggling. He took out his money pouch and counted out 23 Gold Coins.
Although he hadn’t inherited the title of Baron Ice Wolf, he wasn’t short on money right now.
After his persona as the Dark Night Knight became famous, he earned at least 100 Gold Coins for every commission he accepted.
"Any new leads on the Breathing Technique?" Roy asked.
Ticky shook his head and said with a helpless look, "If you wanted an Ordinary Level Breathing Technique, I could give you several right now."
"But for an Excellent Level one, that guy from last time is still the only one willing to sell."
Roy said nothing more. He picked up the briefcase containing the Alchemy Vessel and the Herb Box and left the tavern through the back door.
Once he was some distance from the tavern and had confirmed no one was following him, he stored the briefcase and the Herb Box in Chaos Square.
「Two hours later.」
Back in Ice Wolf Castle, Roy first rested in his bedroom for about ten minutes before entering Chaos Square to inspect the materials Ticky had collected.
After checking all the materials, he sighed helplessly.
The third that Ticky couldn’t find mostly consisted of ingredients needed for the Basic Potions.
Conversely, Ticky had found all of the ones that *weren’t* in the Basic Potion recipes.
Materials for 7 portions of Basic Healing Potion!
Materials for 5 portions of Basic Vitality Potion!
Sighing helplessly again, Roy sorted and put away the materials for the Basic Healing Potion and Basic Vitality Potion.
’I have the recipes, the materials, and the Alchemy Vessel!’
’Now all I’m missing is an Apprentice Alchemist who can brew Basic Potions!’
...