On the Possibility of Offsetting the Side Effects of the Great Tortoise Shell Technique

"Thank you, Elder Xuan!" Lu Yuan did not put on a false show of refusal. He accepted it without hesitation.

Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber was good stuff.

Whale Rubber was a special substance produced in the brains of whale-type soul beasts. It was an extremely potent tonic of pure yang energy. Consuming it could strengthen a Soul Master's physique, allowing them to choose Soul Rings of greater age when absorbing them.

In the original story, Wang Dong had eaten so much Thousand-Year Whale Rubber that she vomited, allowing her to absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring as her second ring despite being lazy and half-assing everything.

Although Lu Yuan's physical condition, aided by his God Clan Bloodline, already allowed him to absorb Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings, who would ever complain about having too much Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber?

"Oh, right!" Seeing Lu Yuan accept the Whale Rubber, Xuan Zi added, "Whale Rubber itself has no real side effects. Its only drawback is that taking too much has aphrodisiac and virility-boosting effects. Kid Lu, remember to restrain yourself!"

After saying that, he winked repeatedly at Lu Yuan, looking utterly undignified for an old man.

After accepting the gift and watching Xuan Zi push Mu En out of the freshmen dormitory, Lu Yuan returned to his private room and summoned Elder Yi, his external brain.

"Xiao Yuan, take out that Soul Bone and let me have a look!" After setting up a Divine Sense barrier, Electrolux's Divine Sense left Lu Yuan's Spirit Sea and manifested in the room. He took the Light-Breaking Right Arm Bone Lu Yuan handed over while having him explain in detail the information related to Soul Bones on the Douluo Continent.

Generally speaking, only soul beasts of immense strength that experienced certain special circumstances at the moment of death had a chance of leaving behind Soul Bones. They were not like Soul Rings, which every soul beast possessed. Thus, Soul Bones were extraordinarily rare and precious.

According to the setting of Dragon King Legend, nearly all Soul Bones were the Soul Cores of soul beasts. After death, they became the most characteristic part of the soul beast's body. For example, spiritual-type soul beasts usually produced head bones, strength-type ones usually produced arm bones, speed-type ones usually produced leg bones, and those with powerful overall strength produced Torso Bones.

"Just as I suspected, every Soul Bone is equivalent to a condensed collection of the soul beast's entire origin during its lifetime." After listening to Lu Yuan's explanation, Electrolux shared his own speculation about Soul Bones.

The Light-Breaking Right Arm Bone given by Mu En should have come from a Light Elemental Sprite-type soul beast of eighty to ninety thousand years. Such soul beasts resembled the Snow Empress of the Extreme North, except their cultivation at death was far inferior to that of Snow Empress, third among the Ten Great Fierce Beasts.

And the Soul Bone produced by this kind of soul beast, born from pure light elements, was indeed highly compatible with Lu Yuan's Light Elemental Martial Soul.

But none of that was important.

What mattered was that Elder Yi carefully examined the Soul Bone before asking, "Xiao Yuan, do you remember the side effect of the Great Tortoise Shell Technique?"

"Of course I remember!" Lu Yuan replied.

The Great Tortoise Shell Technique possessed an absolute-effect property, and its effect distinguished neither friend nor foe. Once it rolled the die bearing the word "Death," even the host's left arm would inevitably become rigid.

"That's right," Electrolux continued. "When I first obtained the Great Tortoise Shell Technique, I also researched how to avoid its side effects. The first thing I considered was whether I could use divine medicines or immortal herbs capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bare bones, sever the rigid left arm, and regenerate it afterward."

However, after Electrolux's in-depth research, he ruled out that method.

According to Electrolux's research, the Great Tortoise Shell Technique's "Death" die did not merely disable the user's left arm. Rather, it resembled a law of "death." Under that law, a portion of the host's bodily origin affected by the "Death" die would be directly judged as "dead."

To give a concrete example, ordinary injuries were like losing health in a game, while miraculous healing medicine was like a health potion that could restore HP. But the Great Tortoise Shell Technique's "Death" die did not reduce HP. It directly reduced the maximum length of your health bar. In other words, your health bar remained full, but its maximum capacity had been cut short. After three consecutive times, the length of your health bar would drop directly to zero, and then you would die.

Under such circumstances, ordinary heavenly treasures and earthly herbs became useless. After all, they could only refill an empty health bar; they could not increase its maximum capacity. Since your health bar was still full, such treasures naturally had no effect.

That was why only the "Life" die could offset the negative effect of the "Death" die. After all, only laws could resist laws.

"But now, I've seen another possibility in the Soul Bones of this continent!" Electrolux's voice was firm and powerful.

Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent could fuse with Soul Bones, and Soul Bones were condensed from the origin of a particular soul beast. Moreover, after a Soul Master died, the Soul Bone would not disappear but would be separated from the body.

In other words, the existence of a Soul Bone was like installing an external health bar onto a Soul Master's origin health bar!

"So, we can use a Soul Bone as a substitute, letting it replace the main body as the target of the Great Tortoise Shell Technique's 'Death' die?" Lu Yuan quickly caught on.

"Exactly!" Electrolux said excitedly. "In my hypothesis, if your left arm has a Soul Bone, then when the 'Death' die appears, you can use the left arm Soul Bone to die in your place. After severing your left arm, you can use heavenly treasures and earthly herbs to regenerate it. Then, there is a very high chance that you can evade the effect of that 'Death'!"

Holy shit, Elder Yi was amazing!!!

"Unfortunately, the Soul Bone you obtained this time isn't a left arm bone but a right arm bone. And heavenly treasures and earthly herbs capable of regenerating severed limbs, reviving the dead, and restoring flesh to bare bones aren't so easy to find either." Electrolux sighed regretfully.

His plan was excellent, but the cost was still enormous. Whether Soul Bones or heavenly treasures and earthly herbs of that level, both were things money could hardly buy.

Don't lose heart, Elder Yi! I know where to find all of that!

First, the left arm Soul Bones. They appeared twice in the original story. One was the Secret Art Soul Left Arm Bone that Mu Jin lost to Zhou Yi in a bet. The other was the Golden Radiance Left Arm Bone that appeared in Shrek's Treasure Pavilion and was later absorbed by Wang Dong. Besides, with Shrek's ten-thousand-year accumulation, as the disciple of the pavilion master, wouldn't it be perfectly reasonable for me to play junior Agent Smith and reach into the academy treasury for a few left arm Soul Bones?

After all, if Mu En stepped down in the future, the futures of Shrek's inner and outer academies, the Treasure Pavilion, and all those students and teachers would rest on the shoulders of me, Elder Lu!

There might not be any heavenly treasures or earthly herbs capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bare bones, but I knew where to find Gold of Life. The Soul-Eating Dagger plus the two pieces of Gold of Life from the Golden Tortoiseshell would be far more useful than any heavenly treasure or earthly herb. After all, Gold of Life was a supreme treasure said to grant its host an "undying body" until it was exhausted!!!