Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Supreme Skill—Body of the Blood God

After leaving the dungeon, Chu Cheng received information on several banks that partnered with his school from his homeroom teacher. He chose Yuntai City's First Bank to apply for a personal loan. Less than an hour after submitting his application, a bank representative contacted him. After completing the identity verification, proving his personal talent, and filling out a series of forms, he secured a personal credit loan of twenty gold coins.

The loan was for three years at a five percent interest rate; after three years, he would need to repay twenty-one gold and fifty silver coins—not a significant sum.

Chu Cheng immediately contacted his homeroom teacher to request approval for purchasing supplies. Knowing that his loan had come through, Duan Yuqin asked directly, "Do you want to buy skill points or free attribute points?"

Chu Cheng shook his head. "I'm not in a hurry for that. I wanted to ask, do you have any intermediate or higher passive skills for tank professions?"

Duan Yuqin laughed. "I was just wondering when you'd finally come around. I was planning to remind you after the joint entrance exam, but you figured it out sooner than expected. Are you thinking about changing your profession?"

"Your current profession doesn't really fit your talents. You should consider switching to at least a high-level tank profession."

Chu Cheng smiled bitterly. "You've misunderstood, teacher. I haven't considered changing professions just yet. I don't have the money to buy River Styx Water to wash my profession."

"That's not really an issue—the important thing is whether you want to," Duan Yuqin said unhurriedly. "If you can get into a first-rate academy with good enough grades, the academy will provide a River Styx Water for free."

"Academies control many dungeons, and have channels for high-level, top-tier, even hero professions. Most students consider switching to a more suitable profession after entering an academy."

"Your current job is only intermediate, and it's a strength-agility melee profession—not suited to your talents. Once you get into an academy, you'll definitely want to change."

"Rather than rushing to switch later, it's better to prepare early."

"You can't switch professions just yet, but you can start preparing—like learning common tank weapon skills, such as Shield Mastery, or picking up a few tank skills now so you can use them immediately when you change."

"..."

Chu Cheng gave a dry laugh. "Let's talk about that later. Right now, I need a tank profession skill, preferably a passive one."

Duan Yuqin smiled and said nothing more. With a wave of her hand, a light screen appeared before Chu Cheng, displaying a list of skills. "The ones lit up are available now. The gray ones are in the school's inventory. Star-marked skills are elite specials—I can exchange for those if you need them."

"Intermediate skills are two gold each; advanced skills are twenty gold each."

"I'll take a look first," Chu Cheng replied.

Advanced skills were out of the question—buying one would leave him penniless. He could afford two intermediate skills, and with his golden finger, he could raise them a level anyway.

He focused on the list, browsing from top to bottom. There weren't many skills; only four were currently available, and about twenty more were grayed out. The weakest were all intermediate. Tank skills were fundamentally about damage reduction and survival, so their levels couldn't be low.

Unlike the dazzling variety of combat skills, tank skills were limited—passive or active healing and defense boosts, damage reduction, or rapid recovery.

Chu Cheng examined them carefully. When his eyes landed on one grayed-out skill, they lit up.

Without hesitation, he changed his mind and decided to spend all twenty gold he'd just received on this advanced skill.

"Teacher, I want this one," he said.

Duan Yuqin glanced at the skill, a hint of surprise on her face. "This is indeed a good skill. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Alright, just wait here for a moment."

She left the room. About twenty minutes later, the door opened and Duan Yuqin returned, handing him a scroll. "Here it is. Take a look."

Chu Cheng took the scroll, and immediately saw the skill description appear.

Skill Scroll: Bloodbath Body (Advanced)

Attribute/Passive: A powerful physique can withstand greater damage, reducing all damage by 5%. Resistance +5%, life regeneration +5. Feature: Bloodbath.

Bloodbath: Each time you kill an enemy, life regeneration +1 for 15 seconds.

Note: Bloodbath effect can stack, up to a maximum of 20 layers.

Note: Learning this combat skill requires 30 points of base constitution.

A pure tank skill, greatly enhancing survivability.

"Learn!" he chose without hesitation.

But in the next moment, he was surprised to see a notification on his panel: "Insufficient attributes. Unable to learn."

"Hmm?" He checked his attribute panel.

"I already have over 30 points of constitution?"

Looking again at the skill description, realization dawned. "So that's it—it requires base attributes."

In other words, the required attribute excludes equipment bonuses. He now had 29 points, just one short.

No problem—he still had 15 free attribute points.

He immediately allocated 10 points, raising his base constitution to 39.

He then chose to learn the skill. The scroll dissolved into light, merging with his body. Opening his personal panel, only visible to himself, Bloodbath Body appeared.

Then, the exhilarating moment arrived. The mysterious glowing orb in his mind flared, streaming into the panel. Bloodbath Body twisted and exploded, instantly transforming into a new skill:

Blood God Body (Top-tier)

Attribute/Passive: The Blood God Body can endure even more damage, reducing all damage by 10%. Resistance +10%, life regeneration +10. Feature: Blood God.

Blood God: Each time you kill an enemy, life regeneration +1 for 30 seconds; continuous kills refresh the duration.

Note: Blood God effect can stack, up to 50 layers.

Note: Effect can be dispelled; authority priority.

Compared to Bloodbath Body, the attributes doubled, the stacking limit for Blood God effect increased dramatically, and most crucially, the effect's duration could be refreshed—each new kill resets the timer.

For example, if you stack 10 layers for 10 points of life regeneration, after 30 seconds the effect ends. But as long as you kill another enemy within those 30 seconds, it will refresh to another 30 seconds.

In other words, as long as you keep getting kills within 30 seconds, the effect can last indefinitely.

That was astonishing.

At least for Chu Cheng, it was extraordinary.

With his rebound talent, killing a few minions to maintain this healing trait would be effortless.

If he stacked 50 layers, plus his existing regeneration, that would be 50 + 15 = 65 life regeneration per second. How absurd was that?

With this skill, he could pretty much discard his continuous healing bandage, and just carry two instant-heal potions from now on.

"With this, I just need to learn one or two more damage reduction and survival skills for the remaining slots."