It's been three days since his return and Marcus has barely had any sleep.
He had created a rigorous schedule for himself and the entire estate.
Wake up in the morning to train. Currently, his mana was barely helping his body grow, so Marcus decided to use his two hours of morning training to try to reach the Entry level of the Mind's Eyes technique.
After training, he would have a quick breakfast, then back to training again, but this time, it would be his knights and the apprentices that would be training under his will.
This would last for three hours, only stopping once the clock hit nine in the morning.
After that, he would focus on completing the project for which he had initially saved achievement points.
Marcus would spend the rest of the day in his workshop, sometimes shuttling between there and the newly built smithy, to ask Dorian to build some things for him.
Once it was eight o'clock in the evening, he would return to train his Mind's Eyes technique.
Today was the morning of the fourth day since his return.
Waking up from his slumber, Marcus walked to a bucket and cupped water in his hands before washing his face.
The night was coming to an end. Its soft breeze cooled his face, taking whatever drift of sleep that was left in his eyes.
Marcus immediately sat down on the ground, crossing his legs and bringing his mind to a still.
He inhaled and exhaled a few times.
Search for the breath of life in each intake. Grasp the Breath of Life, locate the Pulse of Thoughts, and the Pulse of Seeing.
Marcus chanted silently within himself.
I can now sense the breath of life.
The Breath of Life is not air, not mana, nor blood force. It is the stillness before the first heartbeat, the silence after the last word.
A spark that does not flicker. To find it is to find yourself. To lose it is to forget you ever existed.
A constant kindling that existed in the world.
The first problem he encountered with cultivating this technique was trying to grasp the breath of life.
But he was quickly able to overcome this. The next obstacle was locating the Pulse of Thoughts.
Thankfully, the knowledge he received from when the art was bestowed upon him contained a guide on what the Pulse of Thoughts was.
Unfortunately, it didn't have anything on the Pulse of Seeing.
And this was Marcus's current bottleneck.
At first, he wondered if this Pulse would be found around his eyes, lo and behold, he did find Pulses by his eyes, but he doubted if it was right.
Marcus sighed and broke his concentration. "Do I just attempt it? The Pulse of Seeing… is it any different from sight?"
This question has been hanging on his mind since he hit this bottleneck.
"I'm not getting anywhere with all this thinking. Might as well go to the workshop and get a head start today." He muttered and left his room.
"Good morning, Milord." A group of apprentice blacksmiths greeted him when they saw Marcus, and he responded with a simple nod.
The mansion was already awake, with people moving about.
Very rarely would this mansion of his go to sleep.
At this point, calling it a mansion wasn't even appropriate anymore.
It didn't take long for Marcus to get to his personal workshop.
Laid on his table were hundreds of scale-like pieces, made from Marc Steel.
They were so thin, one would think they would break with just a bit of force.
Each scale had a hole and a notch on its body.
"Oh, Dorian must have worked hard just to complete this much. He complained that it would take a week but he's a quarter done in just three days." Marcus smiled.
Next to these iron scales, were several blueprint prototypes that Marcus had drawn.
This wasn't something he purchased from the system, rather, it was another invention of his… sort of.
Before dying, Marcus's goal was to save enough achievement points to purchase a Gordarion Armor.
An armor he saw listed on the system for two thousand achievement points.
Just from the snippet he was allowed to see from the description of the armor, it could grant the user four times their normal strength.
Three times their normal speed, and ten times their defense.
No Blood Force was needed to power this thing, however, mana was a requirement.
Or mana crystals as a substitute.
The armor couldn't be called an enchanted armor as no formation arrays would be drawn on it.
It was just a pure mechanical machine that needed an ample source of energy to work.
Since he can't afford it anytime soon, he decided to come up with his own version.
Even if he can't, it wouldn't hurt to try.
Success or failure, he wasn't going to think about that now.
Marcus had only drawn up prototypes for his arms and legs, hoping to create something that could aid him in physical battles.
Besides, he was going to enchant his own armor.
He sat down and began assembling the scales according to his first prototype, part by part.
His hands moved steadily, but his mind… deep in thoughts.
The Pulse of Seeing. If sight isn't seeing, then what is? Doesn't one need sight to see?
Marcus didn't know how, but as he was working, his mind and body fell into a state of flow.
No, for such an art, the directions would be exact as one mistake could ruin a person. The Pulses by my eyes are of sight… without my sight, can I still see?
Unknowingly to Marcus, his hands began moving fast, very fast.
Does it refer to what I see, or how I see? No, the former wouldn't apply to this. Then it has to be referring to how I see the world. The reflection of the world in my eyes.
The moment this thought appeared in his head, Marcus's body came to a pause.
His eyes became dilated as enlightenment filled his mind.