Chapter 503: Section 290: Accidental Mastery of Penetration Power
The dragon-man youth began to summarize the brave duel of the day.
First point, his offensive capabilities needed strengthening.
While Blast Fist sufficed in normal situations, it was lacking when the dragon-man youth truly faced a formidable enemy.
Second point, his defense was robust, reaching Gold Level, but it still had flaws that could be exploited by penetrating force.
Additionally, his previous weakness remained: his spirit’s defensive strength was low.
Although potions from Zi Di provided some relief, it didn’t completely change the situation. Facing a powerful enemy, this might become a significant vulnerability. The dragon-man youth was consequently subdued by the Bear Roar and Evil Eye.
Third point, regarding speed, when the dragon-man youth unleashed his strongest form, his speed would undergo a radical change.
This was also the key factor in his victory over Xiong Ju.
Speed was already the dragon-man youth’s strongest aspect, yet there was still room for improvement.
Fourth point, regarding recovery power, when the dragon-man youth went all out with his strongest form, the consumption of fighting energy was intense. His bloodline’s inherent recovery rate could no longer keep up.
The same was true for his physical ability.
In the battle against Xiong Ju, the dragon-man youth had no choice but to rely on potions to compensate for this weakness.
After much thought and consideration, the dragon-man youth came up with corresponding solutions.
For offense, he could invest in Golden Level weapons.
He also planned to carefully select some combat skills. These could complement each other to form combinations. Ideally, when facing Silver Level fighters in the future, he would be able to send them airborne.
Defense was a tougher challenge.
Compensating for weaknesses was daunting.
The improvement plan devised by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was quite good, and the dragon-man youth couldn’t conceive of a better solution.
However, to implement this plan, time and opportunity were needed.
In terms of speed, further enhancement was possible.
But the dragon-man youth needed to precisely control the power of every burst of fighting energy. This required diligent practice and would consume a lot of his energy and time.
Of course, there were shortcuts. He could seek a master in explosive fighting skills, and use the Big Arena Badge to absorb their combat experience.
For recovery, the dragon-man youth could only hope to rely on potions, equipment, and other external aids for the time being.
“My own combat power is already at the peak of Silver Level. The cultivation of fighting energy is a gradual process, a slow one that requires time to accumulate. So, to increase combat power in a short period of time, I must rely on external objects.”
“It would be great if the Mercenary Group’s potion-making capability were raised a notch; it could solve many current problems.”
At that thought, the dragon-man youth couldn’t help but shake his head, feeling that he shouldn’t put Zi Di in a difficult position over this.
Zi Di was just a ghost girl, with a Life Level of Black Iron. Having just begun her training as an Undead Mage, her Mage Level was Bronze.
Asking a Bronze Level Mage to create Gold Level potions was asking too much of her.
“After the duel with Xiong Ju, most of my capabilities were exposed. As for Teng Donglang’s information, the part regarding combat power is still vague. When facing him in the future, I will be at a disadvantage in terms of intelligence.”
“Thus, during this rest period, I need to improve my strength as much as possible, adding to my trump cards.”
“The team’s funds are ample, maybe I can follow Xiong Ju’s example and arm myself to the fullest!”
The dragon-man youth had an intense desire and urgent need for enhancing his combat power.
The future for a survivor is uncertain. At any moment, powerful figures from the Empire could come to arrest and hunt him down.
Looking at the immediate concern, the dragon-man youth was pressured by Teng Donglang, the current Gang Leader of the Saber Gang.
Having declared his challenge to this Gold Level fighter, he would naturally not back down at the last minute.
If he abandoned the challenge voluntarily, it would be a devastating blow to the reputation he had just started to build.
“Actually, there’s another way to enhance myself comprehensively, addressing all my weaknesses and needs.”
“That is the Blood Core!”
The dragon-man youth had absorbed part of the abdomen of the Sea Oil Dragon corpse before battling Xiong Ju.
This allowed him to produce a Blood Core Mutation, adding a thick and resilient layer of fat to his internal organs.
It was this layer of fat that blocked the Penetration’s lethal damage.
Thus, it completely eliminated Xiong Ju’s last glimmer of hope for victory.
It can be said that in this courageous duel, the Blood Core played an extremely important role.
Because of such an experience, the dragon-man youth would never underestimate any Blood Core Mutation.
Meanwhile, his appraisal of the practicality of the Blood Core had risen a notch.
“By absorbing more bloodlines and then undergoing Composite Mutations, I can make up for all the weaknesses and flaws discovered, and achieve comprehensive enhancements in attack power, defensive power, Recovery Power, and so on.”
“The advantage of doing this is not only convenience and speed, but also its secrecy.”
“If I were to buy equipment in Snowbird Port, it would inevitably leak information. As the local tyrant, the Saber Gang would gain early intelligence and therefore make preparations and preventions.”
“If I can collect the right raw materials, I would be able to have the corresponding Blood Core Mutations. Speaking of cost, it’s also much less than purchasing Golden Level equipment.”
After replaying his battle with Xiong Ju, the dragon-man youth summarized and planned again.
For the future, he had a clearer understanding and a stronger motivation.
The night breeze blew gently, making the flags on the ship flutter and sound.
Despite being utterly exhausted, the dragon-man youth did not rest but seized the moment, pulling out his Big Arena Badge.
He started to draw upon the rich combat experience contained within the badge.
This time, the combat experience accumulated in the Big Arena Badge was even more substantial than the last time!
The dragon-man youth took even more effort to absorb it all.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, and it took a quite while before he could gather his strength again.
When he opened his eyes again, his dragon eyes shone with brilliance, brimming with insights too numerous to be expressed in words.
There was plenty of combat experience from Xiong Ju.
The first part was about the basics of fighting.
Xiong Ju was a battle-hardened fighter!
Since he was young, he fought in the streets and alleys. As he grew up, he joined a gang and matured through street fights.
To this day, as the top leader among the six heads of the Saber Gang, the number of fights he had been in was countless.
Xiong Ju’s fighting style exploited his powerful physical strength. His attack frequency was low, but each blow was heavy and forceful. Because of his heavy body, he preferred to fight in place rather than moving around.
Moreover, Xiong Ju had some cruel and sneaky tricks up his sleeve. When used unexpectedly, they often had a surprisingly effective outcome.
He and the dragon-man youth had some similarities and some differences.
First, the similarity was the physique of both.
It was foreseeable that as the dragon-man youth continued to absorb the Dragon Bloodline and increased the concentration of the King of Flame Dragon, his stature would also become taller and more muscular. He would be as statuesque and commanding as Xiong Ju, if not more so.
Secondly, the similarity was that both were strong and forceful types.
The most noticeable difference was that the dragon-man youth preferred to keep moving in combat, breaking through rapidly. By running and charging, he increased his attack power or attack frequency.
The dragon-man youth had no intention of changing his fighting style. Therefore, in this aspect of combat experience, he absorbed what was useful to him and actively discarded what was different from his style.
For him, Xiong Ju’s way of fighting was too clumsy. It would be foolish for him to give up his advantages in mobility.
After absorbing these combat experiences, the Dragon-man youth became very shrewd in basic combat.
Xiong Ju’s combat experience was extremely rich; he could transform every part of his body into an offensive weapon.
In this regard, the Dragon-man youth was inferior to him.
The age difference between the two was evident.
Xiong Ju’s mastery of weapons was also very skillful, skillful enough to treat the Golden Flower Steel Saw as a part of his body.
During the daytime duels, Xiong Ju cleverly used the weight of the Golden Flower Steel Saw to coordinate his center of gravity.
And when it came to using weapons, the Dragon-man youth fell even further behind Xiong Ju.
These experiences were very helpful to the Dragon-man youth.
The second part of the combat experience was related to Combat Skills.
Xiong Ju had mastered a lot of Combat Skills, displaying many in heroic duels.
The Combat Skill Heavy Hammer Fist required both hands to execute.
The Combat Skill Barbaric Charge took into account both attack power and mobility.
In actual combat, Xiong Ju also used another Combat Skill, Bear Pounce, in combination with Barbaric Charge, forming the smallest unit of Combat Skill combination.
At the time, the Dragon-man youth wisely chose to evade the sharp edge of Xiong Ju, who was using the combined Combat Skills.
However, it could also be seen that Xiong Ju was really not good at moving around. To approach the Dragon-man youth, he had to rely on Combat Skills like Barbaric Charge.
The Combat Skills Sweeping Across Thousands of Troops and Great Mountain Cleaver were both used by Xiong Ju with the Golden Flower Steel Saw.
As a result, the Dragon-man youth’s golden silk chain armor was heavily damaged.
The Combat Skill Black Armor once helped Xiong Ju turn danger into safety and stabilize the position.
If not for the successful use and defense of this Combat Skill, the Dragon-man youth would have reaped the fruits of victory in the duel much earlier.
This was a Combat Skill specifically for defense, and its practical effectiveness was excellent.
But there were also drawbacks.
Because the Combat Skill involved a wide range of internal energy pathways in the body, the user often could not use other Combat Skills simultaneously.
When Xiong Ju used the Black Armor Combat Skill, he could not use other Combat Skills but instead used his Magic-like Bear Roar to force back the Dragon-man youth.
If the Dragon-man youth wanted to adopt the specialized Defensive Combat Skill Black Armor, he could imitate Xiong Ju’s choice—using his Dragon Roar to replace Bear Roar.
During the phase of the duel where Xiong Ju and the Dragon-man youth exchanged blows, Xiong Ju actively abandoned Black Armor and adopted another Defensive Fighting Skill—Silver Coating.
This Combat Skill could only defend certain parts of the body and was clearly inferior to Black Armor in terms of defense.
However, while using the regular Combat Skill Silver Coating, Xiong Ju could also use another Combat Skill—Powerful Fist.
The combination of Combat Skills Silver Coating and Powerful Fist allowed Xiong Ju to hold his own in the battle against the Dragon-man youth.
The practical effectiveness of these two Combat Skills combined was very good.
In addition to these Combat Skills, Xiong Ju also used the Magic-like Bear Roar quite a few times.
This part of the experience was also very helpful for the Dragon-man youth since Dragon Roar and Bear Roar were very similar.
The third part of combat experience was about the usage of some equipment.
The main part was Xiong Ju’s experience using the Golden Flower Steel Saw.
With this experience, the Dragon-man youth would completely bypass the novice stage when using steel saw-type two-handed weapons, directly advancing to the experienced stage.
But to reach the level of Xiong Ju, the experience provided by this lone heroic duel was far from enough.
Xiong Ju had deep insights into the use of the Golden Flower Steel Saw.
Apart from normal attacks, he could also use the side of the steel saw as a shield for defense.
He could balance his center of gravity by swinging the steel saw.
When Xiong Ju used the Golden Flower Steel Saw, he embodied his fighting style. His attack frequency reduced significantly, but the power of each strike surged, full of threat. For the usual enemy, just one hit from Xiong Ju’s Golden Flower Steel Saw meant death or injury; the consequences were grave.
It was only because the Dragon-man youth had Gold-level defensive power that he could make Xiong Ju’s primary weapon lose its luster.
Besides the experience with the Golden Flower Steel Saw, there was also experience related to Xiong Ju’s usage of Wanderer’s full-body armor and the Little Thunder God Flying Hammer.
For the Dragon-man youth, these were not very applicable.
Because both Wanderer’s full-body armor and the Little Thunder God Flying Hammer were unique weapons and hard to come by on the market.
Moreover, since Xiong Ju had borrowed these pieces of equipment, his experience with them was actually very limited.
During the actual combat, the Dragon-man youth even used the Little Thunder God Flying Hammer against Xiong Ju, taking advantage of it.
Regarding these two borrowed pieces of equipment, Xiong Ju’s control was very poor.
One point worth noting for the Dragon-man youth in this part of the experience was the absence of Xiong Ju’s use of the Evil Eye.
This indirectly confirmed the Dragon-man youth’s previous analysis during the battle replay.
But unfortunately, such minor evidence couldn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Xiong Ju, in his anger, directly destroyed the Evil Eye on the spot, inadvertently eliminating the biggest piece of evidence.
The fourth part of the combat experience was the most surprising to the Dragon-man youth.
He involuntarily stretched his limbs and stood up from the floor.
Inside the Triangular Love Ship’s Training Cabin was a humanoid Puppet. It was a punching bag specifically used for training.
The Dragon-man youth stood in front of this humanoid Puppet, brewing his energy for a good while.
He mobilized his Fighting energy and unleashed Blast Fist.
Bang.
His fist struck the chest of the humanoid Puppet.
After a loud explosion, a small hole appeared in the front of the Puppet’s chest.
The Dragon-man youth immediately went behind the Puppet.
Afterward, the hole in the Puppet’s back was larger than the one in the front.
The Dragon-man youth’s Blast Fist had penetrated the inside of the humanoid Puppet, causing an internal explosion, which resulted in such an impact effect.
A deep look of satisfaction surfaced on the Dragon-man youth’s face.
This was the effect of Penetration!
“Xiong Ju gained the enhancement through potions, giving each of his strikes the effect of Penetration.”
“And I have directly mastered Penetration by absorbing the relevant combat experience.”
In the duel, Xiong Ju repeatedly popped pills, consuming all three potions given to him by Teng Donglang.
This provided the Dragon-man youth with more combat experience.
Eventually, the Dragon-man youth grasped the secrets of Penetration.
“This is Penetration!”
Among the attack techniques used in Combat Skills, there are three classics.
Penetration ranks first among them, with a very high difficulty in mastery.
Now, due to an unexpected turn of events, the Dragon-man youth had acquired it in a single battle!