Freedom

A youth was looking at his reflection in the mirror. He just turned 15, and he was the third cherished son of Allan Moonlight and the Queen of the Lunar elves, a tribe of elves that was once a grand race but was reduced to a small tribe of a thousand elves.

Allan Moonlight was an infamous knight, who was known for his ruthlessness and terrifying strength, having been recognized in the Great War against the orcs, a decade ago, earning his title of Viscount through blood and sweat.

The Moonlight Household was, however, an ancient noble family. It had been founded 300 years ago, by an ancestor who managed to become a Grand Knight, a realm higher than Allan. Knights and Grand Knights are people who can freely use the internal energy hidden within their bodies and make use of it to empower their strength or amplify the sharpness of their strikes. And the best method to become a knight is the practice of a breathing technique.

However, only noblemen possess knight-level breathing techniques, not to mention rare Grand-knight level breathing techniques like the Moonlight Household.

The youth had two older brothers, Arthur and Frederick, the former being the Count Faraday's squire and the other wasting his days and money in brothels or beating up commoners for the adrenaline. Arthur was akin to a hostage for the Count Faraday, who took the Viscount Moonlight as a vassal. Should the latter betray him, then Arthur would not live another day.

Since Drake was tested to have knight talents, he became the favoured son, having huge amounts of money to spend, numerous gifts on a daily basis as well as a horde of butlers and maids at his service.

It first caused a few rivalries between him and Frederick, but Drake had truly inherited his ancestor's internal energy talents, being able to sense and condense it at the low age of 14! Furthermore, though he didn't inherit his mother's legendary beauty, he did inherit her genetics and agility. Having the blood of lunar elves flowing in his veins, Drake had always been tougher, stronger than his peers, even before he began training.

'It's been 15 years already, huh…'

Fifteen years passed since he reincarnated into this world along with his biochip. For fifteen years, he lived his life to the fullest, never missing a minute of fun, yet keeping training as if he was preparing to fight a war.

Eventually, his effort paid off, and the constant usage of his family's breathing technique enabled him to sense and condense something he initially didn't believe in: internal energy, a strange form of energy flowing in his body, strengthening his organs, muscles and cells constantly, improving his flow rate, increasing his regeneration rate. His body produced internal energy as if it was producing some kind of rare elixir.

It's not as if he had not seen absurd things since he was born. His father, Allan Moonlight, had been scanned several times by his biochip.

The results were completely out of the norm, and the man didn't go through 84 generations of genetic screening. It was a pure product of constant training, a man who overcame the barriers of genetics.

[Name: Allan Moonlight. Age – 45 years. Rank: Knight (Peak)

Attributes

Strength – 5.5 | Dexterity – 1.3 | Constitution – 5.0 | Internal Energy – 19.2

Skills: Moonlight Shield Mastery (knight-level, proficiency: Intermediate), Porfield Kingdom Swordsmanship (Knight-level, proficiency: beginner), horsemanship (proficiency: Advanced), …]

Each one of the attributes estimated by the biochip was based on average humans' standard.

Strength - measuring muscular power

Constitution - measuring endurance, stamina and good health

Dexterity - measuring agility, balance, coordination and reflexes

5.5 points definitely exceeded the norm by a huge margin, which first led Drake to think he had reincarnated as a monster's child. However, confusion turned into admiration, and admiration turned into effort.

Drake put the Grand Knight level breathing technique to use, practicing twice a day, following his biochip's advices whenever it gave him some. His progress quickly skyrocketed his status to a genius cherished by both of his parents. And the most fearsome trait in this story was the fact that he always hid most of his strength from others. The only ones who managed to witness his full strength were no longer here to talk about it: bandits, wild beasts, thieves all died in a miserable manner.

Of course, Drake was far from being able to stand up to an official knight, but he wasn't very far from a breakthrough.

[Name: Drake Moonlight. Age – 15 years. Rank: Preparatory Knight

Attributes

Strength – 2.5 | Dexterity – 2.0 | Constitution – 2.0 | Internal Energy – 4.2

Skills: Lunar Elven Sword Art (Knight level, proficiency: intermediate), Moonlight Shield Mastery (knight-level, proficiency: Intermediate), Moonlight Breathing Technique (Grand-Knight level, proficiency: Advanced), horsemanship (proficiency: Advanced)]

He was a preparatory knight at the young age of 15, something definitely unheard of. Preparatory knights could sense and condense internal energy, thus being of high value in armies. Though preparatory knights could not manifest internal energy to bring them outburst of strength like knights and Grand Knights, their bodies still overshadowed that of normal human beings.

In an army, having a strong general is better than having bigger numbers. The Viscount Allan Moonlight was the prime example of this saying. The Dark Legion, the most loyal and strongest military unit under his command, only accounted for 100 men (120 if you considered the would-be Dark-Legion members in training). Yet, Allan had stepped on numerous armies with nothing but the Dark Legion, sweeping the battlefields with his heavy-infantry troop.

Was Drake's progress solely due to his biochip? Of course not. He had put blood and tears in his training, pushing his body to the very limits of what it could handle. The biochip served to store data, analyse people, the trustworthiness of their words, as well as see his own progression. The last feature was exceptionally helpful in his training, as it enabled him to think of the most efficient training routine for himself. It also helped him know when he had to stop training, and when he could continue to do so.

The training was sometimes so painful that even he, who used to be a veteran soldier in the Galactic Imperial Army, cried. These weren't tears of sadness however, but a myotatic reflex of his body when it was pushed too far.

*TOC TOC*

A man interrupted his thoughts.

"Sir, your father has summoned you. He wished to make you a gift. I will be waiting outside. Please do not make the Lord wait for too long…he has a wild temper", Jean spoke in an authoritative voice.

"Let's go then, I'm already ready".

It was Jean, the Viscount's right hand, a Peak Knight through and thorough. Both of them fought alongside each other in the Great war against the orcs, and the Viscount had even gifted him a castle and a land to govern. However, no matter how much he gave, Jean would always refuse and continue to serve the Viscount by his side, supposedly 'paying off' a life debt.