Chapter 269: The Pale Guard’s True Ether Energy Trait

Chapter 269: Chapter 269: The Pale Guard’s True Ether Energy Trait

After completely unlocking this Specialty,

Lance could clearly feel a violent tremor from his Ethereal Melting Furnace.

He raised his right hand.

He began to try and coax the Ether Energy from the Melting Furnace to slowly flow out of his body.

The sensation this time was completely different from before.

The Ether Energy now floating above his palm had undergone a visible change in color.

The proportion of silver light at its edges, which represented the Pale Guard’s Trait, had clearly increased.

It eventually transformed into a metallic red sheen.

Lance gazed at the mass of Energy in his hand.

He finally understood what additional trait the Pale Guard Profession bestowed upon his Ether Energy.

Lance focused his Spirit.

The ball of metallic red Ether Energy in his hand began to stretch rapidly outward under the control of his will.

It was no longer a scattered, dancing flame like before.

Instead, it had transformed into an Energy Long Spear with a tangible, metallic texture.

Lance then gripped it tightly in his hand.

This newly awakened Ether Energy Trait was named "Heart Intent Martial Structure" by the system panel.

Its truly incredible aspect was that it could follow the user’s thoughts.

It could freely shape Ether Energy into various melee weapons, achieving true versatility in combat.

Lance tried dissipating the metallic red long spear in his hand.

As his thoughts flowed, the mass of Ether Energy reconverged, stretched, and compressed in his palm.

Just two seconds later,

a heavy two-handed broadsword with a scale-like texture covering its surface appeared in his hands.

Immediately after, the broadsword’s form disintegrated and reformed again.

A dagger, a Tower Shield, a Longbow...

All sorts of melee weapons cycled through his hands in rapid succession.

This experience of shaping weapons at will felt incredibly novel to Lance.

However, during his testing, he quickly discovered the ability’s current limitations.

The base material stats of these initial weapons, formed purely from Ether Energy, were quite mediocre: Hardness 2, Sharpness 2, Resilience 2.

Weapons of this strength might be passable against some Low Level Demons, but if used to clash head-on with fully armed Advanced Professionals, they would probably shatter into dust on impact.

But this didn’t mean these Energy Weapons were useless, because they were not incapable of growth.

Lance also finally understood why the outrageously difficult prerequisite for the Pale Guard Profession forced candidates to arduously train in so many different Combat Skills.

Because the core cultivation method for this Heart Intent Martial Structure was hidden within these hard-forged skills!

When a Pale Guard cultivated a certain Combat Skill to the MAX (max-level) realm,

they could take the insights contained within that skill and feed them as a unique "nutrient" directly into the Melting Furnace of the Heart Intent Martial Structure, allowing it to absorb them and grow.

It was a very conceptual power.

Lance didn’t hesitate for a moment.

He immediately called to mind all the max-level skills he currently possessed.

These included Castro Swordsmanship, Frost Winter Guard Array Spear Skill, Frost Wind Tail Whip Gun Skill, Levin Archery, Ice Chisel Strike Gun Skill, Thunder Sting Reflex, and the extremely high-grade Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique.

He dumped all the skills he had painstakingly trained to their peak during this time into the Melting Furnace’s Light of the Heart.

With a tremor deep in his soul,

the Light of the Heart began a drastic transformation.

The fusion of these seven skills brought about an astonishing qualitative change to the Heart Intent Martial Structure’s initial attributes.

All told, they increased the stats of the condensed Energy Weapons by a total of: Hardness +1, Sharpness +2, Weight +50 kg, and Resilience +1.

The numbers didn’t seem like much, but these bonuses could be stacked onto any weapon he materialized!

Among them, fusing Thunder Sting Reflex gave birth to a combat trait called "Thunder Phase Shift."

This Trait reduced the delay when Lance switched between different weapon forms to a minimum.

Furthermore, in the instant a weapon was switched and reformed, it would generate a powerful, high-frequency vibration. This vibration could be used in close-quarters combat to forcibly break an enemy’s Parry stance and catch them off guard.

And among these seven skills,

the one that provided the strongest enhancement to the weapon’s traits was, without a doubt, the Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique.

It directly granted the Energy Weapons a special quality named "Dragon Remains Crystal Phase."

This special quality completely changed the nature of Ether Energy, which would normally dissipate upon leaving the body.

It caused the surface of the weapons Lance condensed to form a stable shell resembling a Dragon Remains Crystal.

This shell allowed the Energy Weapons to maintain their existence in the air for a period of time even after leaving Lance’s grasp.

The most terrifying part was,

when these crystallized Energy Weapons hit a target, or when Lance proactively detonated their internal Ether balance, they would instantly create an explosion with high-temperature and Armor Piercing properties!

This was equivalent to,

in the future, as long as his Ethereal Melting Furnace wasn’t depleted on the battlefield,

he could condense countless Crystal Spears anytime, anywhere.

Then, like a humanoid mobile catapult, he could bombard enemy positions with an infinite barrage of ranged projectiles!

With the enhancement from this brand-new Energy Trait, Lance’s combat system became more flexible and multi-faceted than ever before.

From afar, he could bombard the field with spears; up close, he could switch to a Heavy Sword or long spear for close-quarters Armor Piercing.

This was the truly terrifying combat system of the Pale Guard, a Heroic Profession!

After digesting the huge leap in power from his upgrade,

Lance planned to strike while the iron was hot and use the 50 points of Satori Essence he had painstakingly saved up from his time in the mines.

He would forcibly unearth a new Specialty branch hidden within the Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique.

The potential contained within this Skill, created by the First Hunter King, was simply immense.

Just as he focused his mind, preparing to activate the Satori Essence and firmly targeting the core of the Dragon Hunting Breathing Technique deep within his memory,

Suddenly,

a warning box popped up on his panel.

[Warning: Deep Specialty excavation attempt detected!]

[This operation will trigger an internal energy reorganization and requires the interruption of all currently active sustained skills.]

[Cease the constant circulation state of ’Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique’ immediately?]

Seeing this notification, Lance felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him, and he instantly sobered up.

He quickly stopped all channeling actions and broke out in a cold sweat internally.

’I almost forgot about that critical detail!’

He was currently in the middle of a very crucial Heroic Profession trial.

The trial required him to continuously maintain the constant state of his Breathing Technique for a full month.

If he interrupted the Breathing Technique at this critical juncture,

all his hard work over the past month would have been for nothing.

"Whew... Looks like I’ll just have to hold on a bit longer."

Lance mentally calculated the days. At this point, he only had two or three days left to complete the Heroic Profession trial.

’It won’t be too late to excavate after I’ve secured the Heroic Profession.’

He glanced up at the clock on the wall.

He saw that it was almost time for the midnight ranking reveal.

He casually picked up a towel, quickly wiped the sweat from his face, then pushed open the door and strode toward the Central Square of the Public Safety Zone.

...

By now, the atmosphere in the Central Square of the safety zone was electric.

In the very center of this massive plaza carved from rock stood an Obsidian Stele dozens of meters tall.

The front displayed the individual leaderboard, while the back showed the team leaderboard.

Currently, the names of the contestants on the individual leaderboard were all obscured by a thick magical fog.

But everyone in the square knew that in just a little while, when the clock struck midnight,

the fog would disperse, revealing the true names of the top 50 to the public.

The terrain of the Central Square was a huge, sunken basin.

Therefore, when Lance arrived at the edge of the square, he found himself standing on a higher slope on the periphery, giving him a commanding bird’s-eye view of the entire area.

He could see clearly.

In the core inner circle, closest to the Obsidian Stele,

the space was now firmly occupied by several distinct teams.

These were the top teams on the current team leaderboard.

Standing to the left of the stele,

was Iron Throne, the team currently holding first place on the team leaderboard.

The sense of pressure emanating from this team was terrifying.

The dozen or so core members of the team were all clad in ridiculously thick, black iron full-plate Heavy Armor.

Even their faces were completely hidden by fully-enclosed, cross-slitted metal helmets.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were looking at a row of steel statues.

Lance had heard people discussing this team in a tavern before.

They definitely had the skills to back up their long-held top spot.

According to reliable intelligence, this military-backed team, Iron Throne, was the only team among all the contestants in this season’s Summer Crown where every member was a Level 5 Professional.