The Dungeon System
107. Basic defense techniques part 2

Looking at the cost of mastery, Adam could see that it was much different to when he had the Mastery Feature discount.

[What system would it cost me to increase my Mastery of External Hardening Techniques by 10%] asked Adam.

Adam could only see how much it would cost to increase his mastery to the next percentage, but he wanted to see how much it would cost overall before he decided whether he wanted to do it or not. 

{Home master will be charged 5285 to increase mastery of External Hardening Techniques to 10%} system reply.

It was a huge amount of system points to increase his mastery, but Adam was curious to see the effect and whether it was worth it or not.

[What is the effect of the External Hardening Technique if his Sovereignment is increased to 10%] asked Adam.

{It will make for each EESP, which the host uses through techniques, host resistance will increase by 10 points and the current limit for the amount of EESP a host can issue every minute is 2, which is the same as the current host rating. This will allow the host to increase its resistance by 20 points by issuing 2 EESP every minute} the system replies.

[That might mean that with full mastery of this technique I could increase my resistance by 100 points with just one EESP every minute, it was incredible] Adam thought to himself.

However, he felt that from the explanation he had received from his master and the system on the External Hardening Technique, and comparing it to what he had seen from the Chase technique, the two were very different.

It was as if Chase's hardening was neither a skill nor a technique and was an ability unique to him.

{That's absolutely right and it looks like your subordinates have Unique Skills like your Collector's Skills} confirmed the system.

{Unique Skills are skills that give users special abilities that cannot be replicated through ordinary skills and techniques. Unique Skills are innate and unique to any cultivator who possesses them and cultivators who possess Unique Skills are usually born with it or have been passed down to them}.

[Thank you, but since when did you give me useful information without me needing to ask for it] thank Adam who felt the system's pleasant behavior was unusual.

{Dia} scoffs at system.

Although the 5285 system points was a large number of current system points for Adam, he still decided to increase his mastery. Increasing its mastery would not only increase its effects, however, but it will also allow Adam to activate the technique faster and will also give Adam instant knowledge on how to use the technique correctly and completely rather than just slightly hardening his skin.

Spending system points on his mastery, Adam instantly felt the basic knowledge and concepts of the External Hardening Technique enter his mind as he also felt that his ability to increase the resilience of his body was increasing.

Adam was satisfied with his profit and was pleased with his decision because without wasting time started trying to learn the Energy Arm Technique.

All that was left for him was to study the Energy Arm Technique until he mastered 1%, then he could also increase it to 10% mastery and headed to the middle of the floor where he would aim to defeat the Boss Beast.

With the knowledge he gained from 10% mastery of the External Hardening Technique, Adam found it easier to use his energy to form a thin layer of Internal Energy around his body as his master had described.

Surprisingly he was wrong when he assumed that it was an easier External Hardening Technique and vice versa when he achieved 1% mastery of the Energy Arm Technique within an hour.

The Energy Arm was very similar to External Hardening in terms of effects on the user, but instead of strengthening the body itself, it would form a thin layer of Internal Energy around the user's body that would reduce the impact faced by the user, increasing their resistance.

Yet he doesn't feel bad about it in the slightest and if he takes out 2 IESP and 2 EESP every minute, he could increase his endurance by 40 points by using the External Hardening Technique and the Energy Arm Technique at the same time.

With that, he was much more confident with his fighting abilities and could sustain more damage, allowing him to face stronger opponents.

If he matched it with the 3 E+ Ranked Monkey Fur Coats he had in his inventory, which each increased all of his stats by 1 point for 10 minutes, he said, Adam would become extremely powerful and confident in his ability to defeat the Boss Beast of the 2nd Floor.

Adam could not help but be grateful for the unique constitution that integrates with the system that gave him that allows him to progress through anything by using system points. The sensation of information and knowledge entering his mind and his mind fully integrating it into Adam's body was incredible. He can use any skill the system gives him or that he has mastered through the system comfortably as if he has been practicing for many years.

Activating the External Hardening and Energy Arm Technique at the same time, in order to test his strength, Adam was struck by the feeling of security he felt by doing so.

Calling his Leporidae Summon a third time, Adam instructed him to slash his arm and Leporidae Summon did as Adam said. 

It jumped and slashed at Adam with the same amount of power as it did twice before, but was greatly shocked by the result.

With his endurance that had reached nearly 7 times that of an average human, while he activated External Hardening and Energy Arm Technique at the same time, the, the Leporidae Summoning Slash only left a small wound on his arm.

His cut was extremely shallow and he had only lost a few HP from it, when it would have left a deep scar on his arm and hurt him even more if not for the technique he had activated.

If his resistance was so capable as a rank 2 cultivator using two techniques at the same time, Adam could not help but wonder as his cultivation increased to a certain point, whether he could become bulletproof.

It would make him almost invincible, and now the weapon would not work on him unless a cultivator used it or it was an upgraded weapon like the one he stole from Angelo.

The thought of being bulletproof was of great interest to Adam, who wanted to become invincible, and he took note of himself to ensure to increase his mastery of the technique in the future.

Adam suddenly felt dizzy as he looked at his status to see that his IESP had plummeted to 0 after he practiced in the Energy Arm Technique for a long time and his summoning was automatically withdrawn when he stumbled back and fell into a tree.

He could barely remain conscious with his drained IESP as he activated his Ethereal Recovery Skill to recover his Energy Storage which had been widely used in the previous training session and also to calm his deep-seated mind also very tense.

[After I recover my energy, I will head to the middle of the Floor to face the Boss Beast and become level 20, so I can finally move to the next Floor] breaking up Adam.

He felt confident with his strength and after recovering his energy and mind to its peak state, he was ready to head to the center.

He knew that his master would be very surprised by the results Adam could achieve by seemingly sleeping, he said, but Adam could only find an excuse to cover the Underground Prison System and also would not show his master all the mastery he had.

His master would also be surprised by Adam suddenly becoming a rank 2 cultivator of LVL 16, but at the low cultivation level he had, it was not, it was not too special and unusual for one to pass through several sub-levels.

While Adam was using the Ethereal Recovery Skill to recover, he was deep in thought after all the knowledge that 10% of the technique mastery had given him, while starting to gather his thoughts and everything he knew about cultivation.