From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

Chapter 431 Improving Skill Proficiency
Teres, who was far away in the ruins of Xiling City, heard that Lu Heng had returned and rushed back from afar just to see him.

After the siege by the skeletal army, the elves unconsciously began to use the word "come back" when referring to Lu Heng.

When Tyrese received the message, the messenger used the word "Come back".

It was as if Lu Heng had become a member of the Elven race, and had returned to visit relatives and friends, rather than as a guest.

When Lu Heng saw Tyrese, he reached out and gave him a high five, then they clasped hands together and pulled each other close, bumping shoulders.

No need for excessive formalities or small talk; friendships forged in the crucible of life and death can withstand any test.

When facing the Skeleton Lord, Lu Heng was controlled by the [Death Agent] class and uttered the words: "Go. I can't come back."

Tyrese felt a sudden pang of despair.

Because at that time, the city of Kolos was on the verge of falling, and once Lu Heng was controlled, no one would be able to fight against the Skeleton Monarch.

For a fleeting moment, Tyrese truly felt that the Elven race was doomed, but he immediately thought of something and solidified his trust in Lu Heng.

Because when Lu Heng said those words, his eyes were flickering, and he was clearly struggling, but he hadn't completely lost control.

However, Lu Heng, without completely losing control, demonstrated absolute loyalty to the Skeleton Monarch.

This gave Tyrese confidence, so following Lu Heng's advice, he immediately retreated, pretending to lead Queen Oriana out of the city of Kolos.

When the Skeleton Lord saw that Tyrese was about to take Queen Orianna away, he thought the battle was won and lowered his guard.

In that instant, Lu Heng seized his weakness, and after breaking free from the [Death Agent] class, he shattered his body with a single sword strike, ultimately winning the battle.

After this battle, the friendship between Lu Heng and Tyrese no longer needs to be expressed in words.

"Why did you go to Xiling City again?" Lu Heng asked when he heard that Tyrese had returned from Xiling City.

"Although the source of abyssal contamination beneath the seal of Xiling City has been cleared, the situation beneath the seal had not been checked before. It was severely contaminated by abyssal energy, and only I could enter, so I went down to take a look."

Tyrese went in to check the seal, and he had another purpose: he wanted to see where his teacher had stayed when he passed away.

"Did you find anything under the seal?" Lu Heng asked casually.

“Beneath the seal lies a dried-up moon well, severely polluted, and like other polluted moon wells, there is no possibility of restoration.” Tyrese sighed as he said this.

At its peak, the Elven race possessed many Moonwells, but now only one remains in the city of Kolos.

For centuries, the Elven race has been searching for a way to restore the Moonwell, but without success.

"Take it slow, there'll always be a way," Lu Heng said, trying to comfort him, but he didn't actually know how to restore the Moon Well.

However, as combat power increases and we come into contact with higher-level civilizations, perhaps a glimmer of hope will appear.

"I heard you brought a Dark Iron dwarf." Tyrese had heard about this on the way.

“Yes, a master blacksmith from the Black Iron tribe is collaborating with the Elven master blacksmith Kadokuchi to forge dragon bones. I was just about to mention this; if we could have them study the dragon's teeth, it might be helpful to their forging skills.” Lu Heng made a somewhat abrupt request.

Dragon Fang is the sword left behind by Teresa's teacher, the previous elven swordsman Santos.

This level of divine weapon is unique even among the Elven race, and it is usually not given to others to study casually.

Moreover, Gollum is a Dark Iron dwarf, not a native of Quel'dorei.

This means that Gollum has a chance to escape with the Dragon Fang, and as long as he runs back to Quenching Fortress, the elves will have no chance to catch him.

If anyone else had made such a request, Tyrese would not have agreed, but it was Lu Heng who spoke up. He took out the Dragon Fang without hesitation and tossed it to the ground: "Take it."

Lu Heng obtained the peerless divine weapon, the Dragon's Fang, so easily.

Dragon's Fang

Item Level: SS

[Specifications: Odd-shaped longsword, 135 cm in length, 10 cm in blade width, 60.5 kg in weight]

【Attribute: Attack Power 650】

[Special Effects: Lightning Cutter LV4, Bone Crusher LV4, Fortitude LV4]

[Divine Skill: Thunder Dragon's Wrath]

[Raikiri LV4: Each attack that hits an enemy deals lightning damage and inflicts Dragon's Might. Creatures unable to resist Dragon's Might will fall into a state of fear, causing their combat power to continuously decrease.]

[Bonebreaker LV4: The blade, forged from dragon teeth, is extremely heavy and inflicts a blunt force effect upon attack, capable of shattering the target's weapon, armor, and bones.]

[Sturdy LV4: Forged from the teeth of a giant dragon, few weapons in the world can destroy it.]

[Thunder Dragon's Wrath: Unleashes the power of a thunder dragon, unleashing a thunderstorm. The caster is simultaneously imbued with the thunder dragon's power, greatly increasing their combat strength, and every action is imbued with the might of lightning.]

[Review: A longsword forged from the fangs of a giant dragon. The fangs are incomparably sharp, gleaming with a cold light. The blade is adorned with winding dragon-shaped patterns, and dazzling gems are inlaid in the dragon's eyes, exuding a chilling aura.]

My first impression of the Dragon Fang was how heavy it was. It was incredibly heavy.

It weighs 60.5 kilograms, or 121 pounds, which is about the same as the weight of an adult.

Such a heavy sword could kill someone just by throwing it.

"Then I thank you on behalf of Master Gollum, and I believe he will gain something from this sword."

Lu Heng expressed his gratitude and then chatted with Tyrese for a few more minutes, discussing the issue of Queen Orianna being troubled by the aura of the undead.

After their conversation, Tyrese went to the palace district to see the Queen.

Lu Heng then sent the Dragon Fang to the forge, where it was given to the two forging masters, Gulu and Kadokuchi, to study.

The two master blacksmiths have gotten along quite well these past few days, and Kadokuchi has begun to change his opinion of the Dark Iron dwarves.

Dark Iron Dwarves are indeed quite rugged, but they have a very forthright personality.

The two began studying the dragon's teeth and then discussed plans for forging dragon bones.

Sometimes when opinions differ, they can argue heatedly, but overall the cooperation goes smoothly.

Having studied the dragon's fang and scoured the ancient forging texts of the Elven race, the two forging masters summarized a forging plan and began to forge the dragon bones.

……

Lu Heng, on the other hand, was searching for abyssal demons on the continent of Quel'dorei, hunting them down while simultaneously training his proficiency with the [Source Energy Armor].

This skill was obtained from the crystal core repository in the Southern Theater Command. The skill strength is good, but the only drawback is that the level is not high enough, only B-level.

Other ability users would usually stop absorbing B-grade skill cores after reaching level 40 in their source energy, since skill slots are too precious.

If there's a chance to obtain an A-grade skill core, I'll definitely go for the A-grade skill.

Lu Heng can upgrade skills, so he doesn't look at the skill level, only the skill effect.

Of course, there are still drawbacks to B-level skills. Due to the limitations of the skill level, the defense provided by the [Source Energy Armor] is not high enough.

At Lu Heng's current level 48, the attacks from his opponents will be no less powerful than A-rank. Therefore, to make this skill effective, he needs to quickly increase his proficiency. The continent of Quel'dorei is full of magical energy, making cultivation much more efficient than on Earth.

Lu Heng seized the time to hunt down abyssal demons while simultaneously improving his skill proficiency, resulting in rapid advancement.

In just ten days, Lu Heng fully mastered the [Source Energy Armor] and immediately unlocked the skill lock to upgrade it.

Consume 1500 points of divine energy to upgrade the [Source Energy Armor].

The upgrade was successful on the first try, and the skill was upgraded to rank A.

[Advanced Source Energy Armor]

Skill Level: A

[Skill Cost: 300 Source Energy]

[Duration: 30 minutes or may be interrupted by an attack]

[Defense Strength: 30 × Mental Strength (Attack power must exceed the defense strength to inflict damage on the caster)]

[Skill Effect 1: Condenses source energy to cover the body with a layer of source energy armor, resisting physical and elemental attacks, with extremely high defensive strength.]

[Skill Effect 2: Increases the defense of vital parts such as the heart and head by 100%.]

After upgrading his skills, Lu Heng unleashed his abilities, releasing a source energy armor onto his body.

A layer of pale blue light condensed on its surface, like a semi-transparent armor, which was very beautiful.

Upgrading from Grade B [Source Energy Armor] to Grade A [Advanced Source Energy Armor] increases the skill effects several times over.

At Rank B, the defense strength coefficient is 10 × mental strength, and it increases to 30 × mental strength when upgraded to Rank A.

The defense strength is increased threefold, and that's not even the most crucial point.

Most importantly, a second skill effect has been added, which increases the defense strength of key parts by 100%.

This means that when a critical part is attacked, the defense strength is equivalent to 60 times the mental strength.

Lu Heng's current mental attribute is 155 points, and the defense strength of his key parts is 9300 points. There are not many attacks that can penetrate this layer of defense.

Reaching A-level in this skill was not Lu Heng's ultimate goal.

After upgrading his skills, Lu Heng did not stop cultivating.

First, I went back to Kolos City and bought a batch of magic fruit wine.

The elves have a great fondness for fruit wine, which can be brewed using fruits native to the continent of Quel'dorei and imbued with magical energy.

Of course, the amount of magical energy is not high.

Even so, that's enough.

Drinking magic fruit wine can increase the rate of energy recovery.

After obtaining the magic fruit wine, Lu Heng continued his training outside, hunting abyssal demons while simultaneously increasing his skill proficiency. He also practiced the Sword Saint's ultimate techniques, Wind Dragon Breath Slash, Soaring Dragon Sky Hunt, and Spatial Combo Slash.

More than thirty days passed in cultivation.

Lu Heng leveled up his Source Energy from 48 to 50 in one go, upgraded Wind Dragon Breath Slash to LV4, Soaring Dragon Sky Hunter to LV2, and Space Combo Slash Modified was not far from being upgraded.

In addition, the proficiency of the [Advanced Source Energy Armor] has been maxed out again, and it's time to upgrade the skills once more.

This training has been a bit extravagant, as I have already spent more than forty days in the Elf World. Each day in the Elf World consumes divine energy, and I have already consumed more than 1300 points of divine energy.

Fortunately, I gained 10000 points of divine energy when I defeated the Skeleton Lord, which allowed me to sustain such a large amount of energy consumption.

The [Advanced Source Energy Armor] is already an A-level skill. Upgrading it further will make it an S-level skill, but it will consume even more divine energy, requiring 5000 points of divine energy to upgrade.

Lu Heng possessed this skill in his previous life, so he knew how to use it perfectly. Without any hesitation, he immediately chose to upgrade.

So far, the upgrade path to the [Advanced Source Energy Armor] is the same as the previous upgrade path; the only question is what the effect of the second upgrade will be.

Divine energy flows into the skill slot and merges with the existing energy to form an energy vortex. When the energy is completely integrated and the energy vortex is about to burst out, decisively close the skill lock.

The energy fusion was successful, forming a dazzling energy cluster, and the skill upgrade was successful.

[Divine Source Armor]

Skill Level: S

[Skill Cost: 500 Source Energy]

[Duration: 30 minutes or may be interrupted by an attack]

[Defense Strength: 100 × Mental Strength (Attack power must exceed the defense strength to inflict damage on the caster)]

[Skill Effect 1: Condenses source energy to cover the body with an energy armor, resisting physical and elemental attacks, with extremely high defensive strength.]

[Skill Effect 2: Increases the defense of vital parts such as the heart and head by 100%.]

[Skill Effect 3: While the Divine Source Armor is active, reduces mental attack damage by 30%.]

When Lu Heng saw the effect of the skill upgrade, his eyes lit up. The effect was even better than he had expected.

In the previous life, this skill was upgraded to S-rank, and the defensive strength was the same, both being 100 × mental strength.

The difference lies in the effect of the third skill.

The third skill effect in the previous life was to gain a melee counter-damage effect. When attacked by melee, the shattered energy armor fragments would splash out and damage the attacker.

The damage reflection effect is actually not bad, giving this skill a little bit of offensive capability, but it's nothing compared to reducing mental attack damage.

The Source Energy Armor skill, in terms of energy protection, can only block physical and elemental attacks.

There's a hidden factor here: it can't withstand mental attacks.

Mental attacks do not involve physical collisions and cannot be defended against by armor or skills.

This is also a weakness of the Source Energy Armor in terms of defense.

Now, the upgraded [Divine Source Armor] has gained a third skill effect that protects against mental attacks. Although it only reduces mental attack damage by 30%, the effect is already quite powerful.

Among the many types of attacks, mental attacks are the most difficult to defend against, and usually can only be resisted with the help of support-type ability users.

Lu Heng's mental attributes were already quite high, and with the mental attack defense effect provided by the [Divine Source Armor], he could basically ignore the mental attacks of other ability users of the same level.

Both mind control and mental shock techniques can be resisted, and even if affected by a mental shock, it is completely within a tolerable range.

This skill upgrade has been far more effective than expected.

……

(End of this chapter)