Chapter 118 - Titanium Body
“Think about it yourself!”
Shi Qiang withdrew slightly due to Tu Hong’s reprimand. However, he still did not understand how he had lost the match.
Many people were clueless like him. Lin Yao was the one who had broken his sword and his arm after the match. Everyone was bewildered.
“What’s happening?”
Many people were surprised, but some people also thought of something and gave Lin Yao a kind look.
“Instructor, just tell us.”
“What a fool. Lin Yao, who hid his abilities earlier, hit you on the shoulder, so you did not suffer serious injuries. But what if he’d hit your temple?”
“How is it possible…”
Shi Qiang initially wanted to say that Lin Yao couldn’t possibly hit him. However, he soon realized that when Lin Yao had dealt the final blow, he had been totally defenseless. If Lin Yao had really hit his temple with a heavy punch, things would have been completely different.
Lin Yao would still have broken his arm in the end.
However, instead of having a dent in his shoulders, he would have had a dent in his temple then. If his temple had been hit by a powerful force, it would not simply have had a dent. His head…
With this thought in mind, Shi Qiang felt disheartened and told Lin Yao gratefully, “Thank you for showing mercy. You have won this match.”
“You are also very strong. I am not your opponent in a face-to-face fight.”
He was not being polite. Shi Qiang was really very tough. Lin Yao had activated his accelerated thinking for the final blow and used the electric current to break the body shackles, exert twice the strength, and gather and integrate all his strength.
In the end, the punch that he had gathered all his strength to deliver had only left a dent in Shi Qiang’s shoulder, while his arm had been broken at the impact. The difference in physical power between the two of them was really huge.
Of course, this did not give Lin Yao a shock. What made his heart palpitate was that Shi Qiang was only a small genius in Ninghai No. 4 High School. There was still Ninghai No. 1 High School, which was levels higher. Besides, there were more than 600 schools at the city level in the country that were equal to Ninghai No. 1 High School. Apart from the schools in the cities, there were also high schools at the provincial level, true disciples from various dojos, as well as children from large and established families.
Moreover, the country did not reign supreme in this current world. Russia, America, the United States of Europe, and China could be considered four equally powerful players in the world. In that case, Lin Yao had no idea how many geniuses there were in this world.
‘Modern martial arts are much more powerful than I thought. My current talent is not the strongest. I can’t be careless. I must do my best to become more powerful.’
With this thought in mind, Lin Yao looked at Shi Qiang before he looked at Yan Yan and the other two people who were stronger than Shi Qiang and sighed.
‘Sigh… It will not be this easy to get the Bodhi Leaf.’
Since the battle had ended, Lin Yao temporarily stepped back to be treated by a doctor.
Fortunately, his bones were still very hard after his advancement. They did not break, and the injuries were easy to treat.
There was no need to undergo an operation. The doctor twisted his arms and managed to fix his bones.
However, the doctor also gave him a gentle reminder.
“Before the bones heal totally, don’t exert force with your right hand.”
Upon hearing this, Instructor Tu Hong also spoke up.
“Lin Yao ranks fourth for now. Those who want to challenge him can wait until he has recovered from his injury.”
“I owe Lin Yao a favor. If you want to challenge him, you must first defeat me.”
Now that the instructor had made this announcement and Shi Qiang had offered to help, Lin Yao had officially completed his challenge and could rest.
However, he did not leave. He looked for a window to bask in the sun. Meanwhile, he turned on his cell phone to search for information regarding the Titanium Body.
It could be said that Shi Qiang had mastered four types of martial arts. Among them, the Dragon Elephant Prajñā Technique and the Lion’s Roar might be good, but Lin Yao would not envy him for having such martial arts skills. However, he was very interested in the Titanium Body.
‘That body is very hard and impenetrable. I really want to achieve that.’
Although he was not eligible for more redemption, he was able to browse through the techniques due to his talents.
After some searching, he finally found the description of the Titanium Body in the forum of the Abnormal Ability Department.
To Lin Yao’s surprise, this combat skill had turned out to be a diamond-level skill instead of a king-level one.
[Titanium Body]
[Level: Diamond]
[Description: A combat skill developed by the New Metal Research Institute. This combat skill is not an ancient martial art but a scientific martial art. Before learning it, the special talent of metal fusion is required.]
[Ability: If one has the metal fusion talent, one can fuse metal into one’s body. After some research done by the New Metal Research Institute, they have created a special “recipe” for metal fusion geniuses. If one follows this recipe and undergoes special training, it will allow the user’s body to have special steel characteristics. When one achieves real success, the body will be able to survive in the vacuum of the universe, volcanoes, and Antarctica. The final form is swallowing a lot of metal, turning into a Transformer, and becoming a truck, fighter, mecha, space battleship, and so on.]
After reading the description of the Titanium Body, Lin Yao widened his eyes in shock, thinking that the people who conducted research on scientific martial arts were very good at thinking out of the box.
As for scientific martial arts, the corresponding term was ancient martial arts.
Since the Spirit Energy Revival, when people had been able to practice martial arts, ancient martial arts had been revived as well, and many people had been practicing ancient martial arts.
In the feudal era, mankind would only have been able to take this path. However, the 21st century was already the age of technology, and even with the Spirit Energy Revival, mankind would not give up on technology.
For this reason, the evolution path guided by science and technology had emerged. The in-depth development of Project Thunder God was such a path. The Titanium Body was also a way of development. The United States of Europe and Russia were the most radical in this aspect. Both were ready to merge foreign genes or rewrite the gene map of the human genome.
Of course, Lin Yao did not care about the difference between scientific martial arts and ancient martial arts. Right now, he preferred the Titanium Body.
‘In the beginning, if one has a body of steel, one can be impenetrable and adapt to most environments. The next step is fusing and assimilating a large amount of metal to transform into a small car. The highest stage is transforming into a space battleship. I can also learn this technique. I’ll be able to use lightning and solar energy as energy sources and fire laser cannons and railguns when I transform into a space battleship.’
The more Lin Yao thought about it, the brighter his eyes became. He looked forward to this technique.
However, just as Lin Yao started getting excited and was about to decide to accumulate meritorious service and start to learn a new technique, he saw a line of red words in the fine print.
[Warning: People who practice the Titanium Body will gradually turn into a body of metal and will not be able to practice physical techniques. One can only…]
‘One will completely turn into metal?!’
Lin Yao was stunned by these words.
‘Forget it, I’ll try another method.’
The Titanium Body was good, but it would be troublesome if that was the only viable option.
After closing the mobile app, Lin Yao watched the battle from the sidelines.
The challenge continued. After Lin Yao’s turn, it was Di Qiang’s turn to challenge someone. Lin Yao was the least surprised when Di Qiang chose the same approach as him. When he got on the stage, he also challenged Xu Qingyang.
After a fierce battle, Di Qiang ended up winning the match. However, after defeating the opponent, Di Qiang did not have the ability to continue fighting.
It was still difficult to cope with continued medium-range and long-range attacks.
The ensuing battle did not interest Lin Yao. He was only interested when Shi Qiang went on the stage.
He did not challenge Lin Yao. Instead, he directly looked at the three advanced martial artists.
Given Shi Qiang’s strength, he should be able to fight someone beyond his rank.
Lin Yao thought highly of Shi Qiang, who was a powerful person. However, the final result exceeded Lin Yao’s expectations completely.
Shi Qiang was defeated, and he was defeated by someone that Lin Yao knew.
Shi Qiang, who ranked fourth, challenged Yan Yan. Lin Yao, who had experienced his physical rigidity, thought that Yan Yan could not break through Shi Qiang’s defense.
Indeed, Yan Yan did not break through his defense. However, she still won the match.
Against Shi Qiang’s offensive attacks, Yan Yan released dozens of ice swallows into the air. They looked exactly the same as when she had practiced against Lin Yao, but the ice swallows this time around were lethal.
Although the ice swallows that were controlled by Yan Yan were still small and exquisite, their wings were as sharp as blades. A dozen or so ice swallows were controlled by Yan Yan and made to soar over the arena like real petrels before they pounced toward Shi Qiang from all sides.
Lin Yao was surprised upon seeing the flying birds. Apart from using the Deafening Thunder Roar to freeze Yan Yan, he had no way of dealing with a dozen ice swallows all at once. After all, even a sword master from Japan could only slash three swallows with one swing of his sword.
Of course, this was not a problem for Shi Qiang. Although the ice swallows had sharp blades, they could only make white marks on Shi Qiang’s body. On the contrary, layers of ice powder were wiped away from the wings of the ice swallows.
However, although the ice swallows could not defeat Shi Qiang, he could not resist Yan Yan’s cold attacks.
As the ice swallows hit Shi Qiang, Lin Yao could clearly see that Shi Qiang’s movements seemed to slow down after he was hit by the ice swallows. In the end, Shi Qiang’s jaw was stiff, and he was freezing in the arena.
‘It’s a pity. Shi Qiang must have just started to practice his Titanium Body. Right now, he could only swallow ordinary metal. He is impenetrable against metal, and he could even defend himself against pistol bullets. However, he could not resist an abnormal state.
‘When he proceeds to the next stage and swallows metal with magic resistance, he will be more difficult to deal with.’
The Titanium Body was undoubtedly very powerful, but Shi Qiang had just started to practice it.
After a few rounds of battle, the final top three were Yan Yan, Tu Ying, and Zhang Feng. Lin Yao ranked fourth, while Shi Qiang ranked fifth, and Di Qiang ranked tenth.
After the challenge, no one left. The instructor of the top class, Tu Hong, walked until he stood in front of everyone.
“Very good, it looks like the ranking is all set. Now, let’s talk about your subsidies for this month.
“The top three rankings have not changed, and the subsidies will remain the same. All of you should know about the subsidies given, so I won’t say anything else. People who ranked in the fourth to tenth place will receive the same subsidies, which are 30 bottles of nutrition drinks, 9 hours of training in the gravitational training ground, 9 hours of training in the spirit energy training ground, and one gold combat skill of your choice.
“The rankings of Di Qiang, Lin Yao, and Xu Wanqing have improved. Therefore, the three of you can get one more gold combat skill.”
After he said this, he paused for a while and then turned serious as he reminded them, “Keep in mind that it is more important to be proficient and have useful combat skills than to have many combat skills. Remember, don’t be greedy.”
The top class had fairly good subsidies. The first four people got 30 bottles of nutrition drinks per month, which were already worth 300,000 yuan according to the market price, not to mention the gold combat skills.
At the same time, there were also the gravitational training ground and the spirit energy training ground, which had been built by the school with a lot of money. It could be said that ordinary young geniuses would definitely improve if they enjoyed such benefits.
It was a pity that Lin Yao got a large amount of supplies from the Abnormal Ability Department and had not taken a fancy to the subsidies given by the school. However, he was not disappointed.
‘The subsidies I’ve received from the Abnormal Ability Department are also the best compared to the subsidies of gold geniuses, and there must not be many gold geniuses in the city. If I compare them based on the rankings, only the city’s top ten geniuses could have the same subsidies as me. The subsidies given to a top class are really nothing.’
The ranking of a top class of an ordinary school was nothing, but the ranking of the city was different. Lin Yao was more interested in the ranking of the city.
However, he had a headache after thinking about it.
With his current abilities, he could barely defeat Shi Qiang, and Shi Qiang was unable to dominate the top class of ordinary schools. This also meant that in the other two schools, there were still eight or nine people who were stronger than Shi Qiang.
Ninghai No. 1 High School was the strongest in the city. Since all the geniuses were gathered in that school, there would likely be 30 to 50 people who were stronger than Shi Qiang.
‘So, given my current abilities, I might not rank among the top 50 youths in the city.’