Returning to the Mysterious Era

Cassius wasn’t sure what rank his Golem Covert Martial Arts would be classified as. The development of this martial art was based on his newly remodeled body, so normal martial artists wouldn’t even be able to grasp the basics of it. To them, it would be nothing but garbage, useful only for its combat techniques.

For Cassius, who perfectly suited the Golem Covert Martial Arts, this martial art clearly surpassed the third-rate Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts or the second-rate White Water Sword. It was absolutely of first-class caliber. After all, the best Covert Martial Arts were those tailored to oneself; that was certain.

Even if a first-rate Covert Martial Arts technique were placed in front of him, Cassius would never trade his Golem Covert Martial Arts for it.

Cassius pulled his thoughts back to the present. He glanced around at the mess around him where he stood in the middle of the house, and then down at his naked body. His figure vanished in a flash.

This was the outskirts of Beiliu City, and though it seemed remote, there were several villages and towns nearby. Since Beiliu County was the capital of the Eastern Six Counties, there was a fairly dense population here.

It was early morning in White Cloud Town, a small town on the outskirts of Beiliu City, and the white mist was slowly dissipating. Faintly sparkling dewdrops clung onto the leaves of plants in the corners of the walls. The ground in White Cloud Town was paved with neatly arranged gray tiles, making it easier for people to walk on. In places where there were indentations, shallow puddles of rainwater filled them. Clearly, there had been a light rain the night before or early in the morning so the temperature was slightly cooler than previous days.

Nearby, villagers from neighboring settlements were driving carts of vegetables and fruit which occasionally jostled as their wagon wheels sank into the ground. The yellow wooden carts were overflowing with locally grown produce brought to town for sale.

At the end of the first street on the eastern side of town stood a breakfast shop that was open for business.

The aroma of fried fish and chips mixed with the scent of hot milk wafted through the air. Many people had already begun to queue up. In no time, it was a blond figure's, who was about 1.7 meters tall, turn.

The person in front of him looked too refined. Their skin was pale and rosy, with golden hair framing an exceptionally striking face. It was hard to tell from appearance alone if they were a man or a woman. However, the sharp and dominant aura emanating from their eyes and brows made him think the person was most likely a man.

The young man, whose looks could rival that of a noble's, was dressed in a rough, oversized garment that didn’t quite fit, making him appear even more slender and frail. There was an odd sense of dissonance in his appearance.

"Boss, give me five orders of fish and chips, fifteen sausages, five eggs, five sandwiches, and five cups of milk…" The words that came out of the young man's mouth were startling.

It wasn't just because this enormous order was coming from such a thin person—the real shock came from his deep, robust voice. It was low, rich, and carried a strangely magnetic charm. There was even a slight huskiness.

If one were to close their eyes and just listen, they might think it were a grizzled, middle-aged man with weathered features, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and arms crossed as if he were holding many untold stories. Perhaps there'd be a few scars marring his face or hands.

But that wasn't the case; a pale, handsome young man stood before the owner. Hearing such a voice coming from those thin lips created an oddly jarring sensation, like eating wasabi-flavored ice cream. The owner couldn’t help but pause again in confusion.

The boy furrowed his delicate brows, pulling out a few Hongli Federation dollars from his pocket. "I’ll pay first. How much is it?" he asked.

Five minutes later, under the watchful eyes of those still in line, the blond boy walked away, carrying a large bag full of food.

Cassius was quite annoyed. He had already seen his newly transformed looks in the mirror. His delicate, refined face carried a hint of Li Wei’s charm as well as features from Cassius’s original self. Mix them together, and somehow, this was what came out of it.

It was the perfect form of the dark creature transformation where the Golem took on a human appearance, though with the dark transformation process interrupted.

Li Wei’s body had already been altered beyond recovery. Cassius could only modify it according to the principles of the Golem Covert Martial Arts, and the final body he was reborn into ended up looking like this. It didn’t have exaggerated muscles; it just had a normal physique.

At 1.7 meters, he appeared to be a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old. But in reality, he was once a thirty-something man with a body full of scars and a rugged, battle-worn face.

Once he found a quiet place, Cassius devoured everything in the bag. There was enough food there to feed an entire family for breakfast, yet, he only felt about a third full. Having a stronger body and two blood circulatory systems meant that Cassius needed significantly more sustenance to sustain his energy. He had only temporarily sated his hunger. To maintain his strength, he would need food with a much higher caloric content.

Cassius got into a black horse-drawn carriage on one side of White Cloud Town. In medium to large towns close to city areas, such carriages were common, and were like the archaic equivalent of taxis.

There weren't a lot of paved roads in his current era. The approximately eight kilometers from White Cloud Town to Beiliu City's urban area were mostly dirt roads. Though not as bumpy as cobblestone paths, driving a regular car would still be quite difficult so carriages were the best way to travel.

While the coachman watched, slightly stunned, Cassius handed over half the fare before turning and slipping into the relatively tidy carriage. A minute later, the black carriage began to trundle slowly forward.

Lifting the curtain, Cassius gazed outside. There was a patch of green grass on the east side of White Cloud Town, where the tender leaves glistened under the sunlight. A few scattered trees dotted the area, their leaves fluttering down from time to time, radiating a vibrant greenery.

He glanced at the progress bar on the top right corner.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Physical Body Stage, 95.1% (Total Three Stages)]

That's right. The moment Cassius created the Golem Covert Martial Arts, he had risen almost immediately to the peak of the first stage. In the Physical Body Stage, the minor culmination was the complete transformation of all veins, while the major culmination was the transformation of the heart.

To reach the pinnacle of the Physical Body Stage and break through to the next stage, it required continuous practice of the Golem Breathing Technique, aligning the three life frequencies to create a powerful life magnetic field resonance, similar to that of a dark creature like the Golem. This resonance would gradually transform the body, strengthening its essence. It was both a powerful and lengthy process.

Cassius had already conducted self-experiments and estimated that if he relied on instinct only to run the Golem Breathing Technique, it would take about two years to break through the final 5%. If he consciously practiced and trained the breathing technique, it would take around ten months.

There were, of course, other, faster methods.

The Golem Covert Martial Arts, created using nine units of the Blood of the Spirit, were far from simple. They had already tapped into the mysterious concept of life magnetic fields, and by resonating with the Golem's life magnetic field, Cassius could strengthen his own.

It was similar to the effect of high-concentration energy transferring to low-concentration energy. In other words, Cassius could use the life magnetic fields of other creatures to enhance his own.

Firstly, the other creature couldn’t be human because Cassius himself was human. Even though he had undergone physical modifications and had even been reborn, he was still human. Human life magnetic fields were too similar, and their frequencies were too close to have any effect.

What Cassius needed were life magnetic fields vastly different from his own; the stronger, the better. This would create a resonance with his life magnetic field, and the resulting vibrations would be channeled into his body. For example, certain giant beasts or dark creatures…

That was one of the key functions of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. Its manifestation was capturing dark creatures to use for training, somewhat akin to how the Blood Race would absorb human blood to become stronger.

However, the fundamental logic was completely different. The Golem Covert Martial Arts didn’t absorb energy or matter. In fact, it didn’t even extract the life magnetic field itself. Instead, it relied on the resonance and collision between an external life magnetic field and Cassius's, creating a vibration that would subtly but steadily strengthen his body.

It was as if he were using the heart rate, blood circulation rate, and breathing rate to simulate the Golem's life magnetic field. The Golem's magnetic field would collide and resonate with his own, and the rest of the training process would follow the same path described earlier.

This resonance and collision would obviously damage the external life magnetic field. Thus, any creature that Cassius used for training would gradually weaken and eventually die.

As for why Cassius himself wasn’t affected, it was due to the power of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. The vibrations generated by the collision of the two life magnetic fields were channeled into Cassius's body, strengthening his physique. As he grew stronger, it would, in turn, reinforce his life magnetic field, making the damage caused by the collisions easily manageable.

Lowering the curtain, Cassius felt the carriage sway as he assumed a strange posture. He sat cross-legged, with his right foot resting on his left knee and his left foot on his right knee. His body leaned backward, head tilted skyward, while his arms stretched in a highly flexible motion in a somewhat semblance to the yoga poses he had seen in his previous life.

Fortunately, in his current youthful body, he had enough flexibility and resilience to perform such a difficult maneuver without strain. If he were still in Li Wei’s former body, it would have been so much more challenging to execute and even if he did manage to do it, the stretching would have caused considerable discomfort. He held the bird-like posture for some time.

Thump, thump, thump… Thud…

Amid the continuous rhythmic heartbeats, a dull sound echoed, the first coming from his left chest, and the latter from the right.

Thump, thump, thump… Thud, thud, thud….

In this quiet state, the two hearts operated at different frequencies, each driving its respective blood circulation.

Shhhh…

Cassius could hear two distinct streams flowing through his ears—one on the left that sounded lighter and faster while the one on his right felt heavier and more deliberate. This state lasted for about two minutes. Immediately after, he initiated the Golem Breathing Technique.

Sssiii…

It was an exceptionally forceful and intense sound of breathing. Cassius's slender body arched like a drawn bow, and a stream of air formed a visible white vortex beneath his nose and mouth.

"Shuu!" He released another long breath.

The Golem Breathing Technique was slow yet powerful, with each inhale and exhale stretched out like a bellows being pressed. Soon, waves of air were surging through the carriage, creating a faint whistling sound.

The coachman at the front, concentrated as he was on guiding the horses, didn’t seem to notice, though the horses appeared somewhat restless.

"Gary, what's wrong?" The coachman patted the rump of the black horse on the right. "Are you hungry? I'll get you some hay once we reach the city."

Inside the carriage, the three frequencies were gradually converging into one.

Buzz… The Golem Breathing Technique.

Buzz… The miniature Golem heart.

Buzz… The Golem’s blood circulation diagram.

All three frequencies reached a fixed point, perfectly simulating the Golem’s body frequency. Immediately, a faint magnetic field was born within Cassius, one entirely different from that of a human and unlike Cassius’s own field. Two magnetic fields now coexisted within a single body.

In that moment, there was no need for him to do anything. The two fields began colliding at once, their forces battling in every corner and crevice of his body; life magnetic fields were something that naturally affected the whole body. As the collisions continued, resonance occurred.

Buzz!

Cassius felt as though his brain had been hit by a sledgehammer. A vibration from deep within his bone marrow spread rapidly throughout his body. His bones, muscles, veins, and skin were all hit, and he could feel every organ in his body subtly writhing in response.

His internal organs became more solid, his blood more vigorous. A powerful vitality roiled deep within his body. Cassius was so immersed in his training, he completely lost track of time.

"Miss, miss? We've arrived at Caesar Street in Beiliu City."

The voice from the front tugged Cassius back to reality, and he could hear the coachman tapping on the carriage. Cassius took a deep breath, realizing that his clothes were drenched in sweat, the coarse fabric sticking uncomfortably to his limbs.

What a powerful effect. Cassius clenched his right hand. In terms of pure physicality, this body had already reached the level of a combat artist.

"Miss? Did you fall asleep?" the coachman called out again from the front.

Cassius cleared his throat in his deep voice and immediately exited the carriage, handing the coachman the rest of the fare. No tip.

Under the coachman’s puzzled gaze, he walked along the gray concrete road of Caesar Street, shaking his clothes to loosen them from his sweat-soaked body.

Cassius thought to himself that it was high time he bought a long trench coat to accentuate the hard contours of his shoulders, along with a black wide-brimmed hat.

A few minutes later, he stood in front of a white detached house. It had been four to five days, and he couldn't help wondering how those two little kids were doing. He had left enough money in the house, and with Toma’s wits, buying groceries and cooking shouldn’t be an issue.

He checked the street, making sure no one was watching before a light tap of his feet launched him over the wall. He landed softly on the edge of the flowerbed with a gentle tap.

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