Levi felt addicted to this newfound power.

“I must be fully capable of fighting against a QuasinKnight! I can’t do that, however. Blood will be shed.”

Levi put his sword away; it had been a year since he started practising his breathing method. He should be able to reach Level 3 by the end of this year.

At that time, he would become a Quasi Knight in the true sense.

All he had to do was condense the seeds of life to become an official knight.

That means he will have the power to defend himself and step into the ranks of powerful people in this world.

In general, breathing techniques are often harder to cultivate than weaponry.

He decided to continue training after a short celebration.

It was repetitive, boring even, but each time he saw the +1 appear on his proficiency panel, he felt that it was all worth it.

The month of winter soon came. It had been three years since the Millennium War broke out between the Emerald Kingdom and the Tuva Empire.

Small-scale conflicts continued between the two countries.

In essence, it wasn’t the countries at war but the church.

The Holy Church believes in the Heavenly Father, while the Storm Church believes in the Storm Emperor. In order to expand their own influence, they want to expand their territories. Of course, it is difficult.

Today, there are seven large kingdoms and empires, and each of the people has their own beliefs.

Various forces are constantly fighting against each other—peace simply isn’t an option for them.

The purpose of the churches in these seven countries is to spread their faith. Therefore, the evolution of civilization seems inseparable from religion.

Meanwhile, in the Blackwater Valley

In the dense forest, hundreds of mountain wolves surrounded a giant silver-white bear who had just woken up from hibernation.

The bear stood at a height of 1.8 meters, and it was as long as 4 meters.

This was the beast of the North—the Dire Bear of the North.

In adulthood, they are as strong as knights, and the best among them is as strong as a high-levelled knight.

Opposite the bear, the Wolf King leads the wolves. They are far inferior to the bear, however. But they have a numerical advantage.

However, even a pack of hundreds of wolves rarely provokes a giant bear.

This year’s food has been relatively scarce for them, though.

This was originally the Wolf King’s territory, but the female bear broke into it and competed with it, hunting its wolves from time to time.

Today, while the bear was hibernating, the Wolf King planned to deal with the female bear once and for all.

Unexpectedly, the bear was vigilant even in its hibernation. It wanted to run, but of course, the wolves caught up with ease.

Of course, it would not back down without a fight. It stood on its hind legs, and the wolves saw it as a god towering over them.

Many wolves began to retreat, but the Wolf King roared in order to boost his people’s morale.

And the wolves and the bear fought against each other.

Countless mountain wolves pounced towards the bear, and the bear would slap them away. The wolves who didn’t dodge its slap would be splattered into a pile of gore instantly.

Even a knight in armour would succumb to shattered bones.

In the end, the bear died after killing one-third of the Wolf King’s pack.

The Wolf King pounced forward, biting into the neck of the bear, and the wolves immediately pounced forward to enjoy their meal.

The bear’s roar sounded through the forest; there could only be one ruler in this territory.

This bear should be able to last the pack for about a month. What the Wolf King didn’t know was that, in a den more than ten miles away, three little bears the size of calves cried out in the direction of their mother’s cries, running aimlessly and in a panic.

They were born in this spring season; bears need more than seven years to mature, and they are less than a year old. They were big, but they had no idea how to hunt.

All they could do was sneak into human villages at night and scrape at the garbage to eat.

These three bears followed each other aimlessly, stumbling towards the Blackwater Valley, and what greeted them after was still unknown.

Living was difficult.