Chapter 135: The Second Variation, Skill Crystal Core - Metal Enhancement

Chapter 135: The Second Variation, Skill Crystal Core - Metal Enhancement

Clang!

Early in the morning, the sound of sword practice echoed from the training hall by Jade Peak Lake.

Last night, Lu Heng had a deep sleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he felt refreshed. After breakfast, he headed to the training hall to start his sword practice.

Due to the previous incident, he had defeated a master swordsman from the New Fusan Deer Island School, which was considered a blow to the school's reputation.

If the master swordsman of the New Fusan Deer Island School wanted to reclaim their honor, they might come looking for him.

However, the master swordsman of the New Fusan Deer Island School had been famous for a long time, and it was unlikely that they would actually issue a challenge.

After all, challenging a young man thirty years younger would be an awkward situation, and if they lost, it would be even more embarrassing.

Regardless of whether the master of the New Fusan Deer Island School came to challenge him, practicing the sword was definitely the right choice.

Currently, Lu Heng's swordsmanship had reached the fourth level, the Intentional Level.

However, he had only recently entered this level and still had a long way to go.

Additionally, he had only practiced one variation of the Seven-Section Sword Style.

So, Lu Heng began to practice the second variation.

In his previous life, he had only partially mastered a variation of the Seven-Section Sword Style, which was the variation of the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance.

The variations of the Seven-Section Sword Style were designed by each individual, ensuring that every variation was unique.

Lu Heng's self-realized second variation of the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance was named Returning Wind, but it could only be considered half-mastered.

The Mountain-Stabilizing Stance was a powerful and heavy chopping technique, but it exposed vulnerabilities on both sides during execution. If faced with a skilled swordsman, these vulnerabilities could be exploited for a counterattack.

Therefore, Lu Heng wanted to use a variation to compensate for the weaknesses of the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance, and thus, the variation Returning Wind was created.

Initially, when he imagined this variation in his mind, it seemed overly complex, and when he attempted to execute it, he found it too difficult.

In the end, he couldn't truly master it, and it could only be considered half-learned, hence the term "half-variation."

Now, with the experience from his previous life, he had two choices: redesign the variation to make it less challenging, allowing him to learn it faster, or go all out and forcefully master this technique.

Since the variation Returning Wind was too difficult to execute, Lu Heng had also considered how to make it work.

The answer was to coordinate with advanced body movement techniques, which required a high level of mastery.

Returning Wind was a variation that followed the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance, suddenly changing the attack to slash out a swirling blade of light, sealing off the vulnerabilities on both sides of the body.

This way, when an opponent attempted to attack the vulnerabilities on the sides, they would be blocked by the Returning Wind's blade path, achieving both offense and defense.

The idea was excellent, but transitioning from the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance to the Returning Wind variation was too challenging.

After careful consideration, Lu Heng ultimately decided to master this Returning Wind variation.

If it was difficult, he would break through the body movement technique's level and forcefully master this variation.

Having been reborn with two lifetimes of experience, what was the point if he didn't challenge himself?

...

So, from the morning onwards, Lu Heng practiced in the training hall, cultivating the Returning Wind variation of the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance.

He even brought the Mechanical Tiger for sparring.

According to Lu Heng's instructions, the Mechanical Tiger would randomly attack both sides with its tail after being struck by the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance.

The robot's language was indeed mechanical, and Lu Heng's command was to randomly attack both sides.

The Mechanical Tiger truly attacked randomly, showing no signs of an impending attack. After being struck by the Mountain-Stabilizing Stance, it would randomly choose a direction and swipe its tail.

At this moment, Lu Heng executed the Returning Wind, slashing out a swirling blade of light to block the Mechanical Tiger's swinging tail.

Each time the tail collided with the Aurora Blade, it resonated with a loud clanging sound.

Lu Heng exerted his full strength with each strike, chopping down on the Mechanical Tiger's head and leaving deep sword marks.

However, the Mechanical Tiger's liquid metal shell only cracked under the impact, and after a while, it would fully recover.

As long as its mechanical core wasn't damaged, it was immune to such attacks.

After an afternoon of sparring, Lu Heng had only successfully executed Returning Wind once.

After finishing his practice, he sat down to review his performance and realized that his body movement technique was slightly lacking, just a bit short of perfection.

Currently, his body movement technique was at the Subtle Level (1852/3000), still some distance away from the next level.

During sparring, not only did his swordsmanship improve, but his body movement technique also advanced in sync.

Fundamental skills required a solid foundation built step by step, with no shortcuts.

Each day, as he witnessed the steady growth of his swordsmanship and body movement technique proficiency, his confidence in mastering Returning Wind grew.

Clang!

Another sword strike landed on the Mechanical Tiger's head, almost splitting it in half.

At this moment, Lin Zeyu entered from outside and couldn't help but tease, "You're too ruthless! Such a handsome tiger has become your punching bag?"

Lu Heng had been practicing all morning and was a bit tired, so he sheathed his sword and took a break.

The Mechanical Tiger, although it looked damaged, would recover its liquid metal shell within seconds.

"Jealous?" Lu Heng retorted casually.

"Jealous! Next time, take it out as a target for gun practice, how about that?" Lin Zeyu suggested a novel idea.

After all, the Mechanical Tiger was immune to sword slashes and bullets, so using it as a target for gun practice wasn't a bad idea.

"Sure. As long as you can run faster than it," Lu Heng replied nonchalantly.

Lin Zeyu glared at him and said, "I meant using it as a stationary target."

"When I practiced with it, I didn't restrict its movements either. How come it's still limited when it's with you?" Lu Heng said, giving the Mechanical Tiger a sidelong glance.

The Mechanical Tiger, with its intelligent consciousness, understood that Lin Zeyu wanted to use it as a target for practice and let out a menacing roar, baring its teeth.

Lin Zeyu shuddered and almost fell off his stool, "It's pretty fierce!"

"What are you doing in my training hall?" Lu Heng asked.

"I've moved here, so this is my training hall now. When I'm free, I can practice with you too," Lin Zeyu said, stretching his neck and assuming a stance as if ready to showcase his martial arts skills.

"Are you sure?" Lu Heng gave him a strange look, as if he were looking at a punching bag.

...

Bang!

Ah!

Lin Zeyu was thrown over Lu Heng's shoulder and slammed onto the ground, his bones almost dislocating. He shouted, "Stop! Stop! That's enough, you're hitting too hard!"

Rubbing his butt, he quickly scrambled behind a pillar to hide.

He had originally intended to spar with Lu Heng to improve his basic combat skills, but he didn't expect to be on the receiving end of a one-sided beating, which did nothing to enhance his combat training.

However, his ability to withstand hits had definitely improved.

"I only used twenty percent of my strength," Lu Heng said, holding up two fingers.

"I'm almost falling apart. You should just keep practicing with the Mechanical Tiger. It won't fall apart," Lin Zeyu quickly rescinded his invitation to spar.

"I'm tired from the fight. Let's go home and eat," Lu Heng said, stretching his limbs and muscles, looking satisfied after the intense bout.

"Wait, I almost forgot. My Primal Energy Flash skill has reached maximum proficiency. Help me upgrade it," Lin Zeyu suddenly remembered the important task.

Lu Heng helped him unlock the skill lock, allowing him to upgrade the skill himself.

Lin Zeyu fiddled with it for a while, then suddenly exclaimed, "Something seems off. Could it be a failed upgrade?"

"It's possible," Lu Heng nodded seriously.

Divine Evolution, when unlocked, could indeed use Divine Energy to upgrade skills or perform skill fusion, but there was also a chance of upgrade failure.

"Damn! I thought it wouldn't fail. What do we do now?" Lin Zeyu's eyes widened in surprise.

"A failed upgrade isn't a big issue. Just add twice the amount of Divine Energy and try again," Lu Heng advised.

Lin Zeyu, now fully focused, quickly added twice the amount of Divine Energy, and after a moment, he finally succeeded in upgrading the skill, "It's done. This time it worked!"

Lu Heng locked the skill and asked, "What did it upgrade to?"

"Primal Energy Shock Bomb," Lin Zeyu replied.

As Lin Zeyu read the skill description, he exclaimed, "Wow... The skill effect is much stronger. This is even better than the flash bomb."

The Primal Energy Shock Bomb was indeed powerful, being a C-class skill.

This skill was equivalent to compressing primal energy into a shock bomb and throwing it, with a more potent effect than a flash bomb.

Some may have seen the effect of a "flash bomb" in games, assuming it was just a flash of light.

In reality, a "flash bomb" is a type of hand grenade, also known as a "shock bomb," "stun grenade," or "dazzle grenade."

When it explodes, it does emit a blinding light, making it hard for people to keep their eyes open.

If one were to look directly at this flash, even if they didn't go blind instantly, their eyes would be dazzled for a while, causing tears and blurred vision for an entire day.

Moreover, the "shock bomb" also produces a loud explosion, causing dizziness and even fainting.

If one were close enough to be hit by the "shock bomb," it would be challenging to continue fighting, and even returning to one's own position would be considered an exceptional feat.

Therefore, the Primal Energy Shock Bomb skill was indeed powerful.

Throwing it and causing an explosion at close range could instantly incapacitate targets within the blast radius.

Of course, metahumans had higher physical attributes and resilience than ordinary people, so they could recover from the shock bomb's effects faster.

If one were further away from the explosion, they could indeed regain their fighting ability more quickly.

Even so, the tactical value of the Primal Energy Shock Bomb remained exceptional.

"Not bad. You can consider finding a soldier from the military to practice using it," Lu Heng suggested.

"I've already been practicing. Let me tell you, I'm a pro at throwing grenades," Lin Zeyu boasted.

Then, he took out his laptop, opened the Crystal Core Dark Web, and pointed to a transaction, "By the way, I saw a skill crystal core last night. Take a look and tell me if you want to buy it."

Lu Heng glanced at the name of the skill crystal core and instantly knew its effect, not even needing to check the specific data.

The skill crystal core being sold in the transaction was called Metal Enhancement.

Lu Heng initially thought Lin Zeyu was choosing a skill for himself, but upon seeing the skill's name, he asked, "Isn't this skill meant for your own use?"

"Of course. What's the point of having this skill? Do I make the bullets harder?" Lin Zeyu replied matter-of-factly.

"If it's for the Mechanical Tiger, this skill is indeed suitable," Lu Heng commented.

"Do you want it? If you do, I'll buy it," Lin Zeyu prepared to make the purchase.

"Let me buy it. I'll handle the skills for this tiger," Lu Heng waved him off and left for home. He then logged into the Crystal Core Dark Web from his home laptop and selected the Metal Enhancement crystal core for purchase.

Without haggling over the price, the C-class skill was priced at 8 million, slightly higher than the market rate but still within a reasonable range.

Given the skill's suitability, even if the price were to double, it would still be worth it.

So, Lu Heng didn't negotiate and confirmed the purchase, transferring the money from his offshore account to the seller's designated account.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end