As impatient Rui was to undergo the breakthrough to the Squire Realm as soon as possible, he managed to retain self-control. Optimizing his breakthrough to the Squire Realm was much more important than ensuring it happened as soon as possible.

In his last training session, he had come across the Mind Switch mental technique. It was a grade-three mental training technique that would condition the mind and the brain to trigger certain mental and neurological phenomena when the user took certain physical stances or performed certain actions by creating associations between the desired neurological phenomena and the trigger actions.

This was generally a training technique that was used to allow the user to enter a calm and rational state of mind when the user performed the trigger stance that the calmness and rationality were associated with.

It was an Apprentice-level version of association therapy that existed on Earth. Association in the field of psychology of Earth referred to a mental connection between concepts, events, or mental states that usually stemmed from specific experiences. Association therapy was a form of treatment that applied this mental trait to treat and often even cure mental disorders.

In the world of Gaea, it had been elevated to an Apprentice-level technique that could be applied in combat in order to optimize the state of mind that the user of the technique. Rui had seen this technique more than half a year ago when he had scoured the Apprentice library for a technique for his previous training session.

Back then, he had an idea of how he could apply the technique to make the most of his breakthrough to the Squire Realm and optimize his Martial body as much as possible.

He intended to verify whether his application of the technique was possible or not, if it was, then he intended to master it before undergoing the measurement procedure and the breakthrough procedure to the Squire Realm.

('If it does work like I think it does... then I might be able to harness the power of autophagy.') He noted.

Autophagy was the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components. It allowed for the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components for the continued sustenance of other living cells. In the case of extreme starvation, the process of autophagy was highly accelerated and maximized in order to maintain energy and nutrition for surviving cells.

In other words, it was a metabolic phenomenon that naturally increased stamina. Something that was a constraint to the configurations of the Martial body, after all, you couldn't give too much power and speed, otherwise, energy consumption would rise resulting in very low stamina.

However, autophagy was a phenomenon that could potentially aid in mitigating the issue. However, extreme autophagy only occurred in cases of high starvation, it was not something that the body normally did, unfortunately.

('That is where the Mind Switch technique comes in.')

The Mind Switch technique allowed him to associate any neurological phenomenon with a trigger and, thus, trigger said neurological phenomenon whenever he wanted. When Rui had first seen that technique, he had thought of the possibility of using the Mind Switch technique to be able to trigger the neurological phenomenon associated with starvation, which would then go on to trigger accelerated autophagy.

Thus, he would be able to tap into the power of autophagy in order to enhance stamina in a very natural way. With greater stamina, the constraint over his speed, power, and healing would also be lessened. After all, the greater the amount of stamina, the greater the availability of energy for various purposes such as strength, speed, and healing.

If possible, it would likely allow him to obtain a Martial body that was a cut above the norm. He still planned to choose an all-rounder Martial body, of course. But each of his raw physical parameters would be above what someone of his natural physical prowess undergoing the evolution process would have thanks to his naturally higher energy reserves.

('However, that holds true only if the Mind Switch technique works the way I think it does.') Rui mused.

After all, if the technique didn't work like Rui had hoped it would, then it would all be in vain. The worst part of it all was that due to their primitive understanding of cellular biology and biochemistry, he highly doubted that the Martial Union could provide him with an actual answer on the matter.

Not even he was sure whether it would help despite his scientific background on Earth.

('I guess I'll just have to try it anyway and hope for the best.') Rui sighed.

Although this would result in a slight delay in his breakthrough to the Squire Realm, it was worth it if he could obtain a more powerful Martial body. After all, that would be an advantage that he would retain for the rest of his life.This is property © .

He reached the Apprentice library of the Martial Union, entering it for the first time.

('It's bigger than that of the Martial Academy.') Rui realized.

There were many more Martial Apprentices browsing the library than there were in the Martial Academy, which made sense given the population disparity of the groups of Martial Apprentices that the two libraries catered to.

He didn't even bother browsing through the techniques, after all, he knew exactly what he was looking for. He could simply request one of the librarians to procure the techniques for him. He didn't plan to purchase and master any other techniques. He didn't want to delay his Squire breakthrough evolution procedure by any more than he had to.

He could focus on expanding his Martial Art after he becomes a Martial Squire, until then, everything was about breaking through to a higher Realm of power. If it weren't for the fact that the potential benefits were immense, he absolutely would not have detoured to master a mental technique just before the procedure.

('This shit better be worth it.') He groaned inwardly.