Chapter 149 Fourth Strengthening

Several weeks later, at the Empire Hunter Outpost.

Hunters with excess energy gathered in the tavern every day, drinking and boasting about their hunting achievements, making a boisterous racket.

At this moment, in the lively tavern, Jayson was wiping the blade of Fiery Wrath in the midst of the crowd, taciturn and out of place with the atmosphere.

The other hunters were used to it. After spending half a year together, the hunters in the outpost were already familiar with his style, knowing that he generally didn't speak in lively settings.

In placement mode, Jayson wouldn't take the initiative to speak. Even when he did, he kept it brief.

Suddenly, Jayson paused his blade-wiping. His usually indifferent eyes lit up.

—Silently, he exited placement mode, Zhou Jing's consciousness descending upon the Star Realm Apostle.

"Finally switched over."

Zhou Jing twisted his neck, the feeling of formidable power filling his entire body, making him sigh with satisfaction.

This kind of muscular build is the real deal! Nothing like the flimsy chickadee physique of Bill.

He had used Bill to make the Three-Style Potion in Gold Fort, then patiently waited for the daily return. When he transited again, he chose to switch apostles, this time personally projecting into Jayson.

This was a temporary switch, in preparation for taking the new potion for the fourth strengthening. If nothing went wrong, next time he planned to switch back to Bill, await Roman's reply, and personally come forward to negotiate – these delicate diplomatic tasks were best handled by himself, to properly control the attitude.

Zhou Jing didn't delay. He immediately got up and left the tavern, heading straight for the workshop in the outpost.

Bill had already made Jayson's share of the Three-Style Potion and handed it over to the workshop, just waiting for him to apply for it.

The other two test subjects in the same batch hadn't taken the new potion yet, still adjusting their condition. The king wasn't urging them either.

Zhou Jing submitted his application at the workshop at noon. By the afternoon, the Three-Style Potion was delivered to him by a dedicated person, a relatively efficient process.

It was a vial of shimmering, silvery-blue potion, like a mass of liquefied lightning.

"Aurora Dragon Potion, ranks among the highest in electric shock intensity of all the fatal-level exotic beasts that can discharge electricity. It's one of only three current formulas for electric-type Three-Style Potions…"

Zhou Jing played with the potion, feeling happy.

This time, the Exotic Blood Potion was personally made by his own apostle, with quality control completely in his grasp.

The Three-Style Exotic Blood Potion in his hand was of the best quality, a potent level. Bill had made a full six finished products before creating this one potent potion – using public resources was perfect for pursuing ultimate effects. Anyway, the king's family was rich and powerful, and there was no point in wasting the opportunity.

Zhou Jing put away the potion without delay. He took Ross and left the outpost to find a deserted place for the strengthening.

Because Bill had provided assistance, the king had adopted the suggestion to respect everyone's strengthening habits and give the hunters a certain degree of trust (mainly because the potion formula was difficult to reverse-engineer) – so when Zhou Jing left after receiving the potion, he wasn't stopped.

…

The sun gradually set, and the starry sky hung in the firmament.

After trekking all day, Zhou Jing arrived at the forest where he had strengthened last time.

He checked around, confirming that no one was following him, then had Ross stand guard while he took out the Three-Style Potion and drank it down without hesitation.

The taste was stimulating and numbing, like swallowing electric chili water, almost making him choke.

"It all depends on this wave. Time to test my luck! I'm so handsome, it should increase the success rate by ten percent."

Zhou Jing wiped his lips, throwing the empty bottle aside, trying to be optimistic.

He was already very familiar with the Exotic Blood strengthening process, obediently sitting down under a tree, patiently waiting for the potion to take effect.

Before long, a sense of electric shock was born within him, becoming more and more intense.

Soon, it was as if his whole body was connected to high-voltage electricity, a burnt smell permeating the air.

Zzzzz—

Zhou Jing could hardly breathe, his eyes rolling back, feeling as if all his organs were being electrocuted and shriveling up.

This time, the pain was far more intense than any previous strengthening.

Under the dual effect of [Intermediate Lightning Resistance] and the first-tier resistance trait [Elemental Resistance], his body barely withstood the burst of electricity, preventing the damage from reaching an unbearable level, reducing the mortality rate.

"The strengthening process of the Three-Style Potion really requires related resistances to withstand… Luckily I chose the Elemental Resistance trait, otherwise I'd probably be unable to bear it."

Zhou Jing gritted his teeth, enduring the constant electric current flowing through him.

Zzzzz—

The pain sometimes rose to a peak, causing him to twitch and gasp for breath, and sometimes fell to a trough, allowing him to sweat profusely and catch his breath. The pain came and went, tormenting him to the point of ecstasy and death. Several times, he was so shocked that he lost consciousness, and large chunks of memory floated before his eyes uncontrollably, like a revolving lantern of his life. When he came back to his senses, he realized he was still conscious.

After suffering for an unknown amount of time, Zhou Jing finally felt the pain gradually subside, replaced by a comfortable, numbing sensation, accompanied by intense hunger.

The body that had been out of control gradually returned to his command, the feeling of swelling power endless.

At the same time, a new sense was born, as if an extra controllable, intangible limb had appeared out of thin air.

Zhou Jing subconsciously manipulated the newborn sense, feeling a sudden surge of numbness in his chest, as if a rat was charging left and right inside his body, looking for an exit.

In a flash of inspiration, he instinctively raised his hand.

Chila!

The next moment, forked lightning shot out, striking the ground several meters away in the blink of an eye.

Crackle! A pile of dead leaves was instantly ignited.

"Success?" Zhou Jing was overjoyed.

Yes! Finally, he could shoot something!

He couldn't wait to open the panel, his new attributes appearing before his eyes.

[Jayson Wood – Eternal Apostle]

[Transcendent System [Exotic Blood Warrior], Tier Increased]

[Exotic Blood Warrior: Fourth Strengthening (Aurora Dragon)]

[Effect: Fitness +16, Resistance +15, Perception +10, Spirit +6, Energy +15]

[Current Attributes: Fitness 79, Resistance 58, Perception 40 (Tier 1A), Spirit 12, Energy 20]

[Fourth Strengthening Attached Attributes: [Mighty Dragon Strength 2], [Rapid Stance 2], [Advanced Lightning Resistance], [Quick-Lightning Sense] (Special), [Lightning Release] (Special)]

——

[[Mighty Dragon Strength 2]]

[Effect: Possesses the formidable physique of a dragon species. The strength of muscles and bones is further enhanced, greatly increasing strength and impact resistance.]

——

[[Rapid Stance 2]]

[Effect: Your movements are more agile, motor nerves are enhanced, and attack, parry, and movement speed are greatly increased.]

——

[[Advanced Lightning Resistance]]

[Effect: You have a high tolerance for lightning strikes and are unlikely to be affected by electric shock-related abnormal states.]

——

[[Quick-Lightning Sense] (Special)]

[Effect: Sixth sense is slightly improved, senses become more acute, and danger can be predicted to a certain extent. At the same time, if you are subjected to electric shock, nerve reaction speed and perception will be greatly enhanced.]

——

[[Lightning Release] (Special)]

[Effect: Cells undergo mutation, allowing biological transmutation. You can absorb free energy from nature or consume body energy (stamina) to release lightning. Electric shock intensity, stamina consumption, electricity recovery speed, and killing range depend on the "Energy" attribute.]

——

"This wave of effects is strong. Last time, the total attribute increase was 45 points. This time it's a 62-point increase!"

Zhou Jing was beaming.

Most of the increase was in the Energy attribute, which must be the characteristic of the Three-Style Potion strengthening.

The total attributes of the fourth strengthening were only twenty or thirty points short of the fifth strengthenings like Klayber and Irene. And the single attribute of Fitness had completely reached the level of fifth strengthening.

This was partly thanks to mastering more than a dozen Hunter Breathing Techniques. The newly learned Hunter Breathing Techniques were all at LV4 Proficiency, giving 5 points of Fitness, 3 points of Resistance, and 2 points of Perception.

During this period, Zhou Jing had been mainly buried in practicing "Hunter Breathing Technique · Forging", because after comparing them all, he found that this breathing technique had the most attribute bonuses and the highest cost-effectiveness. It wasn't far from leveling up now.

The fourth Exotic Blood strengthening had many attribute bonuses, but the trait that helped the most with combat power was [Lightning Release]. Having a means of energy attack directly created a qualitative gap with other Exotic Blood Warriors.

"While fighting, suddenly give someone a lightning strike out of the blue, paralyzing the enemy, and then take the opportunity to chop off their head to directly end the battle. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Zhou Jing was in high spirits, carefully experimenting with his abilities.

Electric lights constantly lit up in the forest, making crackling sounds, exploding with sparks and shaking the trees.

After testing for a while, Zhou Jing roughly figured out the effect of [Lightning Release].

The electric shock power could be adjusted, with different stamina consumption. The maximum power was weaker than ordinary lightning in nature, but the intensity was also considerable, with additional effects such as high temperature and explosions… According to the ability's definition, the stronger one's Energy attribute, the greater the electric shock power.

Because of the [Internal Discharge] trait, he already had the ability to store electricity. After this strengthening, a full charge of electricity could probably continuously shoot out five lightning bolts at maximum power, or maintain maximum intensity for a few seconds of continuous discharge.

Once the stored electricity was used up, there would be an interval between each shot, waiting for the electricity to naturally accumulate, or squeezing stamina to quickly generate lightning… Zhou Jing had tried it, and the stamina consumption was not small.

If he only fought with discharge, he estimated that he would collapse after releasing thirty or so lightning bolts in a battle. The energy utilization efficiency and cost-effectiveness were not as good as melee combat, so it could only be used as a special trump card and couldn't replace regular close-quarters combat.

In addition, the effective killing distance of the electric shock was about 35~50 meters. Any further than that, the power would be greatly reduced. At 80 meters, it would basically have no lethality. In this regard, it was far inferior to lightning in nature.

After some research, Zhou Jing combined his knowledge and roughly judged that this discharge ability was similar to a superpower. The power and distance depended on the individual's strength, mainly the Energy attribute.

Because Jayson only had 20 Energy, the lethality of [Lightning Release] was not very strong… But if he could keep improving it, wouldn't he become an Electro-Man?

"Perhaps it can be understood that the role of the Three-Style Potion is to awaken 'superpowers'?"

Zhou Jing's heart surged.

In addition to ranged electric shock, he also thought of other uses for the ability.

For example, attaching it to the body or weapons to add electric shock to melee combat; or stimulating the body with [Internal Discharge] at the same time, a two-pronged approach to strengthening and accelerating his speed to a new level; or acting as a lightning rod in thunderstorms, maybe he could hug an enemy and go for a mutually assured destruction, struck by lightning from the heavens.

He could even use it to stimulate his scalp and make all his hair stand up, giving himself a sky-high hairstyle.

After figuring out the limits of his ability, Zhou Jing stopped researching.

The Eternal Apostle Jayson had reached fourth strengthening, and this ability was added to the pool of abilities that could be transferred to the main body, making him feel happy and satisfied.

Having both a transcendent body and an electric shock ability similar to a superpower gave the main body more possibilities.

Seeing the forest being messed up by lightning, Zhou Jing quickly started putting out the flames everywhere to prevent a forest fire.

Because he was worried about incontinence during the strengthening, he had emptied his bowels before going out. Now his stomach was rumbling, hungry.

But he had prepared in advance, having Ross bring a lot of food.

Ross, with his intelligent eyes, was waiting on the side, carrying cooking utensils and large bags of ingredients. Under Zhou Jing's orders, he started cooking.

Although Ross's cooking skills were limited to cooking the food, without any thought for color or aroma, Zhou Jing was so hungry that he didn't care at all, devouring everything that could be eaten.

Before long, Zhou Jing had finished the food for seven or eight people, barely getting half full.

He sighed comfortably, stroking his stomach, and pondered:

"Luckily, I succeeded this time, and didn't die suddenly, otherwise it would be troublesome. Looks like I'm lucky…

When I go back this time, I'll find Klayber for a fight. My attributes should allow me to exchange blows with him, and I won't be instantly killed. I can show the Empire my combat power after strengthening and see how strong fifth strengthening really is."
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