Chapter 11: Golden Bell Shield, Iron Cloth, Child Skill

Five hundred meters did not yield any accidents; all the monsters were defeated, and the mission naturally progressed smoothly.

This was considered one of the easier escort missions. If it were in the intermediate area, who knows what chaos might have erupted.

The evaluation ended up as an F grade, not surprisingly; however, it was not without its benefits. He gained 10 settlement points, and now the intermediate area was available for matching.

On the other hand, the beginner instance entered cooldown, a 240-hour countdown appeared, which meant that if Gu Shanhai wanted to enter again, he would have to wait ten days.

"The First Epoch" employed a simple tactic, purely to prevent him, a temporary worker, from wreaking havoc on the beginner instance of the shadow world. Everything he brought out belonged to "The First Epoch," yet, as a temporary worker with privileges, a prolonged cooldown had to be imposed.

He didn't think too much about it. After all, the beginner instance didn't have much to offer him. He had pretty much taken what he could in one go, and there was no need to waste more time there. If he were to go, he'd rather visit the intermediate area for greater benefits.

"Four bodies of Jianghu people should be enough," Gu Shanhai quickly organized the items.

Indeed, he had also brought back the bodies of Luo Xiake and Huang Huadiao. When he had those two players escort Miss Wang, he naturally went to collect the bodies.

"We have to perform the autopsy quickly; there is no refrigeration here to preserve them."

Gu Shanhai said he needed to perform an autopsy but first took out two Cultivation Technique manuals he had acquired.

"It turned out to be the vintage 'Little Blood Bull' three-piece set. It's surprising how complete this set is, Ghost-faced Vajra is truly miserable," Gu Shanhai couldn't help but feel both amused and pity.

The first manual was naturally the Ghost-faced Vajra Secret Manual. He specialized in cross-training, and the techniques were likely from this area, but unexpectedly, it was a complete set.

It consisted of the "Golden Bell Shield," "Iron Cloth Shirt," and "Child Skill." In the past, many low-level instance enemies that resembled blood bulls would drop these three skills, and many people would specifically collect them.

Golden Bell Shield increased defensive power, Iron Cloth Shirt increased the maximum health, and Child Skill increased health recovery and actively formed a shield when implemented. Also, gathering all three pieces provided additional attribute enhancements.

Essentially, having a full set leveled up to max meant one could traverse the beginner instance without much resistance, only elite monsters wouldn't be able to affect them; only bosses could make them bleed.

Mainly because the farming was fast, there were many similar fodder enemies in low-level martial arts instances.

That made Child Skill somewhat rare to drop.

More importantly, this three-piece set could potentially be a prerequisite for higher-level skills or could reduce the requirements or conditions of certain skills, like the Thirteen Grand Protectors' Cross Training and Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill. With this set, the requirement to learn these would be significantly reduced.

"It's a pity, these three are really commonplace, and they also take too long to train." Gu Shanhai referred to the Ghost-faced Vajra as miserable because the effort and rewards of these three techniques were not balanced, as they leaned towards more realistic training methods, which meant enduring one's own body.

Pain was secondary; the main issue was the time it took.

Only Child Skill was manageable, barely able to cultivate Inner Strength. Its primary function was internal fortification, collaborating with Golden Bell Shield Iron Cloth Shirt for external training to achieve dual cultivation effects.

But it was also a time-consuming cultivation technique.

"Training this could work, just to supplement some combat strength. This thing is for external training and internal fortification; later stages can be deduced by oneself, only need to modify it a bit as the original version is really subpar."

"It's almost catching up to the Yunling Technique."

Indeed, although the Yunling Technique was an Immortal Martial Technique, all its valuable content was concentrated in forming an energy cycle with Yunling Grass resonance, the rest was terrible. To put it simply, its limit was just the first layer of Qi Refinement.

It had the edge over the 'Little Blood Bull' three-piece set because this technique could cultivate Mana, unlike Child Skill which could take fifty to sixty years just to possibly cultivate Inner Strength.

As for the other manual he found on Huang Huadiao, it was named "Butterfly Hand Strikes," focusing mainly on stability and finesse, belonging to the top-tier methods for hidden weapons, likely his penned down personal experiences.

More of a skill than a cultivation technique.

After going through it, Gu Shanhai didn't pay much more attention to it. How to put it, it was useful in a way. Although it was a hand technique, the strength traveled throughout the body, according to the training methods in it, it could improve balance, flexibility, etc.

But it was also rather useless, using this technique to launch hidden weapons was inferior to his high-pressure water gun.

He had learned it and could practice it when spare; his main focus was still on the Golden Bell Shield Iron Cloth Shirt and Child Skill. This trio of skills could enhance his physical condition, much better than the effects of Yunling Technique, as its conversion efficiency was too low.

So, he planned to derive some theories and take the best from each.

Thus, the pressing task was to perform the autopsy and gather data.

"First, use the Ghost-faced Vajra, then choose the White Ape Elder, and try to handle the other two within a day."

After organizing the order, Gu Shanhai pulled over the bodies and began the dissection; there was no need to worry about the tools as he had brought the complete set of Huang Huadiao's concealed weapons, which could temporarily suffice.

"The skin is a bit tough, showing some resistance to sharp objects; the Iron Cloth Shirt is already somewhat developed."

"The muscles are firm; the Golden Bell Shield is for defense against blunt instruments."

"The organs are robust and strong; the effects of Child Skill are quite good."

As the autopsy progressed, he quickly gathered a lot of data comparing the three techniques, but further verification would require more in-depth dissection.

"The bones have also been trained, I see. If all three techniques are practiced together, it does indeed comprehensively strengthen one, at least without any weak points. Unfortunately, even at the peak, they're still just ordinary people."

To surpass ordinary human limits wasn't an issue, but attaining grand mastery in all three techniques was necessary; mere minor achievements wouldn't cut it.

"Really, if they had been fully mastered, my Rising Dragon Fist couldn't have knocked him out in one hit; it would have taken a second strike."

Based on the autopsy and Cultivation Technique data, Gu Shanhai reached a conclusion.

Others endured decades of arduous cultivation for the effects they achieved, but they just happened to encounter someone as peculiar as Gu Shanhai.

Ordinary people wouldn't use magical treasures combined with Mana to execute Rising Dragon Fist.

"But there are also quite a few hidden injuries, even Child Skill's internal fortification can't compensate for them; it's still too damaging to the body."

As he delved deeper, Gu Shanhai saw not only the benefits but also the drawbacks.

"That being said, Inner Strength should have a decent healing effect,, at least effective in healing these hidden injuries."