Chapter 332: Counter-Shock Trait

【Golden Bell Shield: 5th Layer, Traits: Protective True Qi Level 5, Qi Accumulation Level 4, Counter-Shock Level 1】

"Counter-Shock!" Lu Yu could not help but exclaim aloud.

Just as he had thought, didn't the spikes appearing on the form of his True Qi resemble a hedgehog, capable of inflicting damage upon an opponent?

【Counter-Shock: Passive Skill. When receiving a melee attack, reflect 10% of the damage received back to the opponent. For every level the skill increases, the counter-shock damage increases by 10%.

Active activation consumes 1% of the True Qi within the body per second. When receiving a melee attack, reflect 10% of the total True Qi within one's own body back to the opponent. For every level the skill increases, the True Qi consumption doubles, and the counter-shock damage increases by an additional 10%.】

"It actually has both active and passive effects?" Lu Yu was truly taken aback; this far exceeded his expectations.

He examined it carefully once more. First, looking at the passive effect, it was easy to understand: when engaged in melee combat with an opponent, he could reflect 10% of the damage received back to them, with the damage increasing by 10% for every level the skill rose.

That is to say, if the Counter-Shock trait reached Level 2, when suffering an attack, he could reflect 20% of the force of that attack back to the opponent.

If raised to the 9th layer, the counter-damage effect could reach 40%.

If it reached the 12th layer Consummation state, the effect would be as high as 70%!

The key is that this trait requires no additional True Qi consumption—though, of course, this is under the premise of not counting the True Qi required to activate the Protective True Qi.

This allowed Lu Yu to inflict a certain amount of damage on close-range opponents even without actively attacking, increasing his own defensive and counter-attacking capabilities.

And the effect after active activation was even more astonishing! It was also a reflection of an attack, but it returned damage equivalent to one-tenth of the True Qi within his own body.

That's right, it was not reflecting one-tenth of the opponent's attack, but one-tenth of the True Qi within his own body.

In this way, if the practitioner had sufficiently abundant True Qi, an interesting situation would arise: an opponent might initiate an attack using only one hundred units of True Qi, yet potentially suffer a counter-shock damage of one thousand units of True Qi...

Such a massive amount of True Qi might exceed the sum of the opponent's total True Qi, and even if it exhausted the remainder of their True Qi, it would be difficult to withstand; the consequences would be unimaginable.

Furthermore, the increase after leveling up was also quite considerable. After the Level 2 Counter-Shock trait was actively activated, the True Qi consumed per second became 2%, but the counter-shock damage to the opponent reached 20% of his total internal True Qi.

Similarly, calculating by the ninth level, the counter-shock damage could reach 50% of his total internal True Qi!

However, as a cost, the True Qi consumed per second became 5%; that is to say, in twenty seconds, the user's internal True Qi would be exhausted.

No matter how much True Qi one has, it would be of no avail, as this is a percentage-based consumption.

If the Counter-Shock trait reached Level 10, after active activation, it could only be maintained for ten seconds, but as a cost, the counter-shock damage would also be extremely terrifying, reaching 100% of the user's internal True Qi!

"It's a pity that it can only be raised to the 12th layer," Lu Yu sighed with regret.

The 12th layer meant the Counter-Shock trait could be raised to a maximum of Level 7. To want a higher level, one would have to break through the upper limit of the 【Golden Bell Shield】, which, as it currently stood, was an extremely difficult task.

By comparison, another path was actually simpler: that's right, increasing the total amount of True Qi within the body.

Thinking of this, Lu Yu could not help but feel a mix of laughter and tears; at this Realm, it seemed everything was closely related to the total amount of True Qi.

With sufficient True Qi in the body, even without attacking, one could pose a huge threat to an opponent.

Of course, whether in passive or active form, there existed one flaw: it could only counter-shock melee attacks. If the opponent used long-range attack methods, counter-damage could not be achieved.

But this did not affect the power of the Counter-Shock trait in the slightest.

Especially when facing many against one, or encountering a Beast Tide, relying on his powerful Protective True Qi and activating the Counter-Shock trait, he could charge directly into the swarm of beasts rushing in like a tide.

He wouldn't even need to attack, because those Fierce Beasts would naturally initiate attacks themselves; by then, touching him would result in injury, and brushing against him would mean death.

"I wonder what other traits will be unlocked next," the anticipation in Lu Yu's heart grew increasingly intense.

The Experience Value consumed this time reached 2560 points.

【Golden Bell Shield: 6th Layer, Traits: Protective True Qi Level 6, Qi Accumulation Level 5, Counter-Shock Level 2】

The 6th layer did not unlock any new traits. Lu Yu did not hesitate and invested another 5120 points of Experience Value.

The Protective True Qi on his body surface grew stronger by another fraction, and what surprised him was that the "vital spot" on his right lower leg had changed from the size of a palm to the size of a fist!

This change made him ecstatic; after seven layers, the vital spot had finally changed, which was truly not easy.

【Golden Bell Shield: 7th Layer, Traits: Protective True Qi Level 7, Qi Accumulation Level 6, Counter-Shock Level 3, Patch Level 1】

【Patch: For every level the skill increases, the size of the vital spot shrinks by half.】

"No wonder the vital spot changed from the size of a palm to the size of a fist," Lu Yu suddenly realized.

According to this trait, for every layer increased, the size of the vital spot would become half of what it was before.

The higher the layer, the more the vital spot might eventually be only the size of a fingernail or even a soybean.

Of course, the vital spot could not disappear completely; even if one cultivated the Golden Bell Shield to the one-hundredth layer, it would still exist.

This made Lu Yu understand that no matter how powerful a Cultivation Method was, it was not without flaws, and how to patch these flaws became a problem he needed to think about next.

"If it's only the size of a fingernail, I feel that's acceptable," Lu Yu pondered in his heart.

Firstly, it would be very difficult for others to detect the location of the vital spot, which provided him with a certain degree of concealment in battle.

Secondly, even if they knew, breaking the vital spot would be no easy task; after all, a normal person would guard it strictly.

Thirdly, and most crucially, the defensive effect at the vital spot was roughly equivalent to the defensive effect of the entire body from the previous layer.

For example, at the 9th layer, the physical defense in other areas could reach 4.5 times, and while the vital spot was slightly weaker, it still had 4 times the effect, not breaking at a single touch as one might imagine.

This ensured that even if the vital spot existed, it would not easily become his Fatal weakness.

"There are two more layers until the 9th layer; I'll consider whether to continue upgrading then."

As Lu Yu said this, he added another ten thousand-plus Experience Value, his heart aching a little; after all, the Experience Value required for future upgrades would start at twenty thousand points.

【Golden Bell Shield: 8th Layer, Traits: Protective True Qi Level 8, Qi Accumulation Level 7, Counter-Shock Level 4, Patch Level 2】

By the 8th layer, the originally fist-sized vital spot shrank by half again, becoming a little smaller than a teacup lid.

The extra True Qi bonus reached 1.4 times, and the Counter-Shock effect also increased to 40%.

The requirement for activating the Protective True Qi increased to three thousand points. Lu Yu took a glance and continued to upgrade.

After consuming twenty thousand points of Experience Value, the Golden Bell Shield finally rose to the 9th layer.

In an instant, a strange sensation surged into his heart.

This feeling was like a clear spring flowing through his meridians, and also like a gentle breeze brushing across his soul.

A look of joy appeared on Lu Yu's face; clearly, a new trait had been unlocked.

【Golden Bell Shield: 9th Layer, Traits: Protective True Qi Level 9, Qi Accumulation Level 8, Counter-Shock Level 5, Patch Level 3, Rejuvenation Level 1】

"Rejuvenation?" Lu Yu scratched his head, feeling that this trait seemed to be a recovery-type Skill.