Flesh Armor

For now, he could only see the bare-bones descriptions of the classes.

Getting four class options was an unexpected delight. They represented four different class paths, each corresponding to a different Specialty Attribute.

Option A: Berserk Blood Fighter. It should be a Strength Specialization, a berserker-type class.

Option B: Blood Curse Hunter. It was most likely an Agility Specialization, an assassin- or marksman-type class.

Option C: Blood Armor Shield Guard belonged to Endurance Specialization, a tank class mainly responsible for soaking damage as the MT.

Option D: Blood Magic Sorcerer was a Mental Specialization, a mage class.

Bai Pu did not hesitate for long before choosing Option C: Blood Armor Shield Guard.

Although the other three options were tempting, Bai Pu remained rational in choosing his class. He needed something compatible with his Evolution Heart talent, something that could produce an effect greater than the sum of its parts.

Of Evolution Heart's two major talent skills, the first, Self-Adaptive Evolution, had a damage-reduction effect against targeted damage. It was practically a tanking godskill.

The second, Pure Blood Guard, mainly directed Aberrant servants in battle, making it half a summoner class.

Everyone knew that summoners feared decapitation tactics the most.

Once the summoner was killed instantly, no matter how many summons they had or how powerful they were, they became useless.

By choosing a tank class, Bai Pu himself became the strongest line of defense, greatly increasing his safety.

There was one final reason: tank classes were generally difficult to obtain. A trial participant had to demonstrate the ability to withstand massive amounts of damage during a trial before a tank-class advancement option could appear.

When trial participants entered the Spirit Realm, they generally only had a few dozen Health Points. How would they dare tank damage? They always let the natives take the hits while they hid in safe positions and dealt damage.

As a result, Endurance Specialists capable of serving as tanks were extremely scarce. Most teams simply had Strength Specialists stack Health Points and fill in as tanks.

It was no exaggeration to say that a main tank, or MT, was the bedrock of a squad or even an entire team. Having an exceptionally powerful MT, solid as a steel wedge, was what many teams relied on when challenging formidable leaders.

After he made his choice, a notification from the Spirit Realm Will arrived:

You have chosen the Reinforced Elite class: Blood Armor Shield Guard.

Blood Armor Shield Guard main attribute: Endurance. Each time you level up, you will gain 2 Strength, 2 Agility, 4 Endurance, and 2 Mental.

Based on the Reinforced Elite class trial reward, you have gained (10) points in your main attribute.

Your Endurance +10.

You have gained a total of (3) Priority points, including 1 base Priority point as an Awakened and 2 Priority points from the Reinforced Elite class.

Based on the characteristics of your class, Blood Armor Shield Guard, your Health Points-to-Endurance ratio has increased to 20:1. Each point of Endurance represents 20 Health Points.

You have gained *Heavy Armor Mastery*: Wearing heavy armor will not affect your movement speed. While wearing heavy armor, you gain the Stability trait, making you harder to knock into the air or knock back.

You have gained a special energy bar: Blood Battle Qi.

A flash of light passed by, and warmth flowed into Bai Pu's heart before circulating through every limb and bone.

Bai Pu felt subtle changes in his body. The density of his bones and muscles had increased. Though his physique had not grown larger, his weight had definitely increased by a considerable amount.

A newly born energy flowed through Bai Pu's veins. This was Blood Battle Qi, though Bai Pu could not yet control it freely.

The special energy, Blood Battle Qi, was a resource consumed only when the Blood Armor Shield Guard used skills. Ordinary attacks could not draw upon Blood Battle Qi to increase their damage.

You have comprehended the class skill: *Flesh Armor* (Two-Star).

Flesh Armor: You may inscribe Flesh Runes upon heavy armor equipment. Activating the Flesh Runes will absorb the flesh-and-blood energy of nearby enemies to strengthen your defense. At any given time, you may only inscribe runes on one piece of heavy armor equipment.

A stream of information flooded into his mind, and Bai Pu automatically grasped the methods for inscribing and activating Flesh Runes. This was also a branch of Flesh Alchemy. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the Spirit Realm Will's restrictions, Flesh Runes could not be strengthened through independent study or taught to others.

Bai Pu checked the detailed data for the Flesh Runes.

Flesh Rune: Deals (1–3 points, depending on the enemy's injury level) of Dark Attribute magic damage per second to affected enemies, while continuously granting you an equal amount of shield value for 120 seconds. Shield Priority is (5), with a maximum of (30) points.

As for "Priority," it was the judgment rating used when skills conflicted during battles between Awakened.

For example, when Bai Pu's Health Points dropped to 1, he activated the class skill Flesh Armor, whose shield had a Priority of 5.

If an opponent used a penetrating attack that "ignored shields," and its Priority was below 4, Bai Pu could use the shield to block the damage. If its Priority reached 5 or above, Bai Pu could only pray for the best.

"I feel like you've changed," Qin said as she studied Bai Pu.

"Yes."

Bai Pu nodded steadily.

Because the Blood Armor Shield Guard's Health Point ratio was as high as 20, Bai Pu's 15 points of Constitution gave him a full 300 Health Points! Compared to the mere 50 Health Points he had when he first entered the Spirit Realm, his survivability had increased severalfold.

Trial participants and true Awakened were simply not on the same level of strength.

Thinking back to how Bai Pu's Trial Mission had actually been to fight an Awakened squad, the difficulty was truly terrifying. The Spirit Realm Will's S-rank difficulty was absolutely hellish.

"When are you leaving?" In Qin's eyes, Bai Pu had already achieved his goal and would not remain in this world for long.

"Another half month or so," Bai Pu said.

After completing the Trial Mission, the nearly eight days remaining also became Bai Pu's free exploration time. Added together, Bai Pu could freely explore the Flesh Plague: Origin Plane for another sixteen or seventeen days.

This sort of free exploration time was extremely valuable. Awakened could use it to uncover Side Quests, challenge powerful monsters, and earn all kinds of rewards. Even if they encountered danger, they could leave the Spirit Realm and return to reality at any time, while the rewards they had already obtained would not disappear.

Bai Pu planned to use this time to wipe out the remaining strongholds of the Blood Ring Vanguard.

The Blood Ring Vanguard's elite Aberrant monsters, due to the Blood Ring Curse Seal, obeyed only the orders of their superior general—Blood Hand Colen.

After Blood Hand Colen died, they lost their commander. Like watchdogs guarding their homes, they remained at their own garrison strongholds and would not take the initiative to attack.

This was a good thing. It prevented excessive chaos in the Brandenburg Northland, allowing the Brandenburg faction to clear them out gradually.

Bai Pu planned to join the fighting.

Although he was now a Reinforced Elite with formidable attributes and powerful class skills, his Combat Expertise was still low, and his combat skills were completely blank.

To put it another way, Bai Pu was like Duan Yu after he had just absorbed the internal energy of a group of disciples from the Infinite Sword Sect. He possessed considerable internal energy but did not understand practical combat techniques, making it difficult to fully display his strength.

Fighting the Blood Ring Vanguard's remaining enemies was not particularly dangerous, but it could temper Bai Pu's combat skills. He had already decided to practice using one-handed weapons and shields, raising both Combat Expertise skills to the Advanced level at minimum.

Basic Expertise was the level of trial participants. Advanced Expertise was the benchmark for Awakened.

During breaks between battles, Bai Pu planned to follow Qin and systematically study the knowledge of "alchemy."

Flesh Plague: Origin was an Origin Plane.

Much of the knowledge in Origin Planes could be learned and brought back for use in the real world, because Origin Planes were formed from a certain historical era of real-world Earth and bore an extremely high resemblance to Earth.

With the guidance of natives and systematic study of an Origin Plane's knowledge, a small number of Awakened could comprehend related "secondary classes"! Many major forces in the real world were desperate to recruit secondary-class talent.

Bai Pu certainly would not return to the real world early. After suffering this setback, the Superpower Corporation would definitely retaliate against him in reality! Although Bai Pu already had the beginnings of a plan, too many variables remained, and the enemy had far too many ways to take revenge. Under such circumstances, every bit of strength Bai Pu gained gave him that much more room to respond.