Chapter 46: Woah, what?
The shop screen unfolded like a scroll snapping taut, and Kian’s eyes widened before he could stop them.
[Divine Arts Shop]
[In the Divine Arts shop, you can buy martial arts techniques and cultivation techniques. The system can only show the techniques available for sale in the city that you are currently in.]
’Eh, only those?’ Kian was a bit disappointed, but his heart still couldn’t stop beating in excitement.
Normally, only Stage 6 Qi Builders could practice Martial Techniques and Combat Spells. Since he awakened it with the system, could he train them at stage 5?
Ding.
A scroll opened before him again.
[Low level techniques]
[Iron Skin Technique: 11,000 low grade spirit stones]
[Hawk Eye Art: 1,500 low grade spirit stones]
[Wind Step: 7,000 low grade spirit stones]
Rows of techniques marched down the translucent blue panel, each one labeled with a name, a rank, and a price in Fortune points that made his recent windfall feel suddenly inadequate.
[Mid level techniques]
[You need minimum of Stage 6 cultivation to unlock mid-level techniques]
That was not surprising to Kian at all. But did that really mean that he would be able to practice low level techniques right now?
For the opportunity, Kian didn’t even mind spending some money. He could always earn more money. There would always be more Hua Shulongs in the world.
Curious, he clicked the most interesting technique among the bunch. The one that stood out to him immediately.
[Iron Skin Technique: 11,000 low grade spirit stones].
The system screen expanded.
[Iron Skin Technique]
[Turns your skin as hard as iron but as flexible as human skin at its highest level.]
[This is the signature training spell of one of Mullberry Gate city’s three Martial Dojos. They sell it during their sect’s new disciple trials, and it is one of the most widespread technique of the city. But only a few ever manage to train this technique to even mid-level skill.]
[Buy now.]
With only a second of hesitation, Kian clicked the buy now button.
A man must be bold.
[Purchase successful.]
[Martial Technique Iron Skill, initiation begins.]
Warmth bloomed at the base of Kian’s spine, a thread of Qi unspooling from his dantian.
Then, a sudden awareness of a Qi pathway appeared in his mind, along with qi guidance.
Kian did not hesitate to follow the guidance and let his Qi flow along the path.
The Qi threaded upward through his meridians in a pattern Kian had never felt before, a spiraling braid that wrapped around his bones like hot wire.
It split at his shoulders, surged down both arms, and pooled in his palms until his hands glowed faint orange through the skin. He watched with something between fascination and alarm as the glow spread to his fingers, his knuckles, the fine skin of his lips.
Heat followed.
Not the comfortable warmth of a bath but a dry, prickling burn that started at his fingertips and rolled inward, layer by layer, until his entire skin felt like parchment held too close to a flame.
Sweat beaded on his forehead and evaporated instantly, and when he exhaled, steam curled from his nostrils in thin white ribbons.
The air around him shimmered, and the dust motes floating in the afternoon light popped and vanished as they touched his bare arms.
A chime cut through the haze.
[Iron Skin Technique initiated. Proficiency: Initiate.]
[Skin is as strong as leather of wild bears.]
The heat receded like a tide pulling back from shore, leaving Kian’s skin tingling and strangely tight, and when he flexed his fist the knuckles cracked with a sound that felt denser than before.
He stared at his hand, turning it over in the dim light, and grinned.
Then, his eyes moved back to the system.
[Upgrade Proficiency: 100 Fortune Points.]
Kian stared at the number.
One hundred Fortune points to upgrade a technique he’d owned for less than five minutes. His mind ran the calculation cold and fast: he had two hundred from the quest completion and he didn’t need them anyway.
That settled it.
He clicked the upgrade.
[Iron Skin Technique: Initiate → Low.]
The heat returned, but sharper this time, a needling burn that sank past the surface and threaded into the meat beneath.
Kian’s jaw locked.
"Grrh!"
His fingers curled into fists on his thighs, and he watched the skin of his forearms shift—not visibly, but he *felt* it, a tightening at the cellular level, fibers weaving into something denser and harder and still somehow supple enough to let him flex his hand without resistance.
Steam rose from his shoulders in thin curls, and the wooden floor beneath his bare feet creaked from heat expansion. The pain crested, held for three heartbeats, then dropped away so abruptly he almost pitched forward.
He exhaled and the air left his lungs tasting of copper.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt heavier. Immediately, a weird sensation or feeling filled his heart.
His senses hadn’t changed, but the confidence in his body had—that primal, bone-deep certainty that a blade would skitter off his forearm and a fist would break before his ribs did.
’I have to test it!’
He stood, rolled his shoulders, and the joints popped once.
The wall across the room had a crack running from ceiling to floor, and on impulse Kian walked over and drove his knuckles into the plaster beside it.
The wall cratered. His hand didn’t even tingle.
[Proficiency Upgraded succesfully]
[Skin is now as hard as forged bronze]
The system didn’t leave him hanging. Before the crater in the wall had even stopped shedding dust, another line of text scrolled across his vision.
[Upgrade Proficiency: 100 Fortune Points.]
The button was still present.
Kian’s eyes flicked to his status.
The two hundred Fortune he’d earned from stealing Hua Shulong had already been halved.
One hundred left.
That was enough.
He clicked the button.
Might as well go all the way!!!!
The third wave was worse. Heat didn’t just needle this time—it burrowed like molten glass injected straight into his marrow.