Chapter 356: The Secret of Frugality

To be honest, Liszt had considered the possibility that the secrets of combat aura techniques might be hidden within the pages of books—specifically in the covers and pages.

Thick parchment, although quite dense, would still make it very difficult to hide another sheet containing the secrets of a combat aura technique. Moreover, the pages containing hidden sheets would obviously differ from the others, making them easy to detect, thus rendering the act of hiding them pointless. For this reason, he focused his search on the covers.

One by one, he sliced through each cover, but halfway through, he had found nothing.

However, he was not discouraged. The collection of magic books in the castle only made up two-thirds of his collection; the remaining third was partly in a seaside villa, and the other part was at Cris's home.

As they say, luck favors the prepared.

When he sliced open the cover of a magic book wedged in the corner of the bookshelf, a silver page peeked out from the slit. Soon, he pulled out the entire sheet. The silver paper was densely covered with Serpent Tongue script, and on the back, there was a diagram of human combat aura circulation.

"Is it a tradition for families possessing combat aura technique secrets to preserve their techniques in this manner?" Liszt rubbed the silver paper, determining it was made of silver. "However, it is clearly one grade lower than the golden paper of Stephanlan, the Griffon Knight."

Having obtained the combat aura technique secret, he did not immediately examine it but instead flipped through the magic book.

The title of the book was *In Search of the Overlord Among Jawed Beetles*. He dimly recalled skimming through it once; the content was not particularly engaging, or rather, it was quite specialized, recording the morphological characteristics of several types of jawed beetles. However, the book ultimately did not document any beetle overlord.

"So, does this magic book have no connection to *The Expedition of Stephanlan, the Griffon Knight*?"

Two different books, one a knight novel and the other a magic book, yet both hid combat aura techniques in the same manner, and both ended up in Flower Town.

Liszt couldn’t fathom what drove this strange sequence of events.

For example, what caused the leakage of the combat aura technique secrets, or why were they placed inside books, and how did they travel thousands of miles to end up on Coral Island?

There was no way to know.

It could only be attributed to luck.

His gaze turned to the silver paper, where the true mystery lay. At the top, a relatively large line of Serpent Tongue script read: "Mana Attenuation Combat Aura Technique - Stephanlan, the Griffon."

"Hmm?"

Liszt stared at the title, certain he had not misread it. The writer of this combat aura technique secret was indeed named Stephanlan, the Griffon Knight, a sky knight who rode griffons in the kingdom of Blastfurnace. The "Magic Eye" combat aura technique originated from Stephanlan.

From his gem space, he retrieved the golden paper that recorded the "Magic Eye."

A comparison of the two revealed that the names, paper craftsmanship, and Serpent Tongue engravings were eerily consistent: "This means that these two combat aura techniques both originate from Stephanlan. He may not have created them, but he must have obtained them... He is definitely not an ordinary sky knight!"

The Count was a sky knight, even one at the level of a sword saint, yet he possessed no combat aura technique secrets at all.

The Longtaro family certainly had combat aura technique secrets, but as a grandson, Liszt was unaware of what they were. Every noble family kept their combat aura technique secrets strictly confidential. These were treasures passed down through generations like spirits, with immense value.

It was almost certain that they were passed down to male heirs only.

"What could be the reason for Stephanlan to secretly disseminate his combat aura technique secrets?" Liszt shook his head, decisively choosing not to delve further into it.

He began to study *Mana Attenuation.*

The content was quite complex, and the combat aura circulation method was particularly tricky and strange, but it was slightly less difficult than *Magic Eye.*

As the name suggested, its effect was to attenuate one's own aura, significantly reducing the constantly emanating mana—serving two purposes: one, to play the weak while being strong, preventing others from accurately judging one's mana level; and two, to reduce the consumption of mana.

The relationship between a knight's body and mana was like that of a bucket and water.

However, it wasn't a perfect bucket; it constantly leaked. Thus, a knight had to continuously train and supplement their nutrition; otherwise, the body's refined mana couldn't keep up with the loss, and the total amount of mana would continuously diminish.

When taking potions, the surge of magic power can overwhelm the body, breaking its defenses and leaving it vulnerable, like a sieve.

Only by continuously supplementing with new potions and absorbing more nutrients can one constantly refine their magic power, maintaining its total amount and continuing the training of magic power.

The value of "Breath Diminishment" lies in its ability to minimize the loss of magic power by coordinating the way it operates, thus saving resources by reducing consumption and enhancing the foundation of training.

Basically, Liszt used to need a large piece of magic beast meat each day to compensate for his body's loss of magic power. Now, perhaps only a small piece would be necessary. When taking potions before, a large amount of magic power would dissipate outward. With "Breath Diminishment," one can significantly save on potions and increase their efficiency.

In the final notes, there is a record of the effects of the magic secret technique by Stephanland Vulture.

"'Breath Diminishment' can slow down the dissipation of magic power within the body but will become less effective as magic power increases."

"An elite Earth Knight can slow down the dissipation of magic power by up to 75%; a regular sky knight can reduce it by about two-thirds; a sword saint-level sky knight can minimize it by roughly 50%; a master sky knight can reduce it by about two-fifths; the stage of dragon knight is unknown."

"Because of the reduced magic power dissipation, it can mislead other knights in assessing one's strength. A sky knight can appear to be an Earth Knight."

It can be confirmed that Stephanland Vulture was a master sky knight when he wrote this magic secret technique.

"The stronger one becomes, the less effective the reduction. However, at the elite Earth Knight stage, reducing 75% of magic power dissipation is truly remarkable!" Liszt was extremely pleased with the effects of "Breath Diminishment." Saving resources was important, but the ability to disguise his strength was even better.

Playing possum was a skill that every transmigrator must possess.

Without "Breath Diminishment," he could still pretend to be an ordinary Earth Knight in front of the count. But in front of Marquis Merlin, he would have been exposed immediately.

With this magic secret technique, he no longer had to worry about his strength skyrocketing and making himself too high-profile: "Genius can sometimes be a burden. Now I can finally continue to be an ordinary lord and enjoy a peaceful noble life. No longer under the spotlight that someone of my age shouldn't bear."