Chapter 32: The Path to Creating a Breathing Style
Regarding the method of developing a personal Breathing Style, Natsuya had recently grasped a vague idea.
The core of a "Breathing Style" wasn't the sword techniques, but the "Breathing" itself.
Although each style was named after an element, fundamentally, they were all techniques for controlling breathing rhythms.
By increasing the load on the lungs, heart, muscles, and limbs, one could push the body's physical capabilities to the limit in a short burst.
The difference lay in the focus.
Different Breathing Styles emphasized different body parts and functions.
Take Wind Breathing, the one he knew best. Its core lay in enhancing limb extension and explosive power, specifically strengthening the ligaments and muscle groups of the core and lower body.
Although his mastery of the other styles wasn't deep, he had formed a blurry understanding.
It was like allocating 100 stat points across dozens or even hundreds of different sub-stats.
The overall power level of the styles was similar. But because the allocation routes were different, the resulting "Intent" and combat style varied wildly.
Even more granularly:
Even when targeting the same body part, different styles used completely different enhancement protocols.
Using Natsuya's own sensations as an example:
Stone Breathing enhanced the heart by increasing the maximum volume of ventricular expansion by ~30% and valve closure efficiency by ~20%.
Water Breathing, however, improved heart rate regulation by ~10%, ventricular nerve conduction speed by ~10%, and maximum volume by ~20%.
As for the rest of the body, the number of tunable variables was staggering.
When he first learned Water Breathing, Natsuya had tried the [Fusion] method to create a new style.
It was a crude, brute-force approach.
He dismantled the rhythm of Wind Breathing into segments and tried to insert or replace parts with Water Breathing rhythms.
The result? He cramped up.
Not only did it fail to boost his stats like a normal Breathing Style, but it also caused a burning, suffocating sensation that nearly sent his lungs into spasms.
After that, he constantly adjusted the ratio and connection of the two styles. He found that only by compressing one style's ratio to below 10% did the suffocation and burning sensation drop significantly.
But... this cobbled-together [Hybrid Breath] was even weaker than using a single style.
Fundamentally, it was a degraded experimental product.
After mastering Stone Breathing with Matsuyama, Natsuya tried a second approach: [Tuning].
Adjusting the rhythm of a specific Breathing Style.
If a Breathing Style was essentially allocating points to different branches, then the default allocation might not fit everyone.
The previous [Degraded Fusion] was like forcibly merging Code A and Code B. The moment the human body tried to run it, the system threw error codes.
The second method involved exploring the force, movement, and frequency of every single breathing action, understanding their combined mechanics, and then tweaking them micro-scopically.
Observing the changes and effects.
It was like a non-programmer trying to debug someone else's code. Reverse-engineering the source code based solely on the client-side effects through trial and error.
Natsuya believed this logic was sound.
But the sheer scale and difficulty were beyond human imagination. Even with Wind Breathing, his most proficient style, he still hadn't fully grasped its underlying logic.
Maybe... it would be feasible once a style reached LV.4 or even LV.5.
Honestly, if this weren't a game but the real world, Natsuya would have to admire the founders of the Five Basic Styles. Each of them had managed to derive a stable, optimized stat-allocation plan from an ancient, primal breathing technique.
And now...
In Nikaido Mei's dojo, Natsuya found a third path.
It was a rare moment of reliability from the Cultivator who usually spent her days soaking in shochu and violence.
She proposed another suggestion.
Don't force yourself to understand every part of the Breathing Style. If you don't understand the code logic, fine.
Just grab the parts you do understand and tweak them. As for the rest? As long as it runs, it's fine.
Nikaido herself didn't have experience creating a style, but her disciple did.
A swordsman named Uzui Tengen.
He had stayed with her for less than three months before losing his patience and insisting on taking the Final Selection early.
He had only learned the basics of Thunder Breathing.
But after grasping a partial understanding of the mechanics, relying on his natural talent and his background as a Shinobi, he brute-forced a derivative style called Sound Breathing.
Yes, a Ninja.
Back then, Nikaido wanted to keep the kid in the dojo longer to temper his character. Even as a pragmatist, she wouldn't send a student to a high-mortality exam after only three months.
The result? She failed to "persuade" him.
Or rather, physical persuasion failed.
Nikaido couldn't suppress the white-haired youth who constantly shouted about things being "Flashy" and "Festive."
Sound Breathing had decent strength. But that wasn't why he could suppress Nikaido.
A rookie Thunder Breathing user or a prototype Sound Breathing user couldn't truly threaten her.
Uzui Tengen graduated early solely because of his monstrous physical stats and his Shinobi foundation.
In Japan, Nikaido was taller than most men. But Uzui was a head taller than her. Nearly two meters tall, with a physique of pure muscle.
Not to mention, the kid had rich combat experience and sword skills. Nikaido could tell he had killed people before. Multiple times.
If it were just that, she might have called him a prodigy.
But that brat... he used BOMBS in the dojo!
Small bombs packed with gunpowder that exploded on impact! He called it some "Flashy Ninjutsu."
He blew up a corner of her Electric-Thorn Dojo on the spot. To this day, the roof was covered with a tarp because repairs were dragging on.
Furious, Nikaido threw him and his bedding out the front door. Go plague the demons instead!
Every time she mentioned this, Natsuya saw her grinding her teeth.
But it was indeed a viable path.
Natsuya tested it with his LV.3 Wind Breathing, and it worked.
The System gave him a prompt, respecting his effort.
[Detected Prototype Breathing Style Modification]
[Potential Assessment: Degraded Breathing Style]
[Current Compatibility: 83% (Can be improved later)]
[WARNING: Creating a Custom Breathing Style will occupy the Character's Exclusive Skill Slot (Unique). Please decide carefully.]
Natsuya naturally declined.
The game only allowed one Custom Breathing Style. Just seeing the word "Degraded" made it an instant rejection. A combat skill not recognized by the System couldn't be leveled up with points.
Now, Natsuya faced two choices.
Wait until high levels to fully understand the mechanics of his most compatible style, then create a perfect custom style. (High Requirement, High R&D Cost, No Power Loss)
Take his most compatible style and strip it down, quickly creating a simplified version that fit him better. (Low Requirement, Low R&D, High Compatibility, Low Power)
Or in gamer terms: [Thunder Breathing · Custom] vs. [Thunder Breathing · Lite Edition].
And Natsuya...
Naturally chose neither!
He was going to learn all five styles. Then, using the most compatible one as the skeleton, he would master its mechanics and fuse the essence of the other four into it.
After all, he had already grasped the basics of Wind, Water, Stone, and Thunder.
He could already vaguely feel a common thread connecting them.
He even suspected that these four—perhaps all five—were just degraded, simplified versions of a much stronger, higher-requirement ancient style.
He wanted to try it.
Once he mastered the Five Basic Styles to a certain degree, he would use them as puzzle pieces to reverse-engineer the lost "Original Breathing Style."
Besides, Natsuya felt that learning all five styles would definitely trigger a special event.
If he were the game designer or scenario writer, he would absolutely include a reward for that.
Gather seven Dragon Balls to summon the Dragon... Collect four Shikon Jewel shards...
So, gathering the Five Elemental Breaths to synthesize a "Chaos Void Limitless Thunder-Unity Breath"?
Totally reasonable.
At least, Natsuya thought it was extremely reasonable.
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