Boiling Beast Bloodline
Chapter 1020 - 257 Kung Fu Pays Off for Those Who Work Hard

Chapter 1020: Chapter 257 Kung Fu Pays Off for Those Who Work Hard

Liu Shock expended quite an effort to placate the jealous members of his household, and meanwhile, the Olympia Scepter Festival had finally drawn to a close.

At this grand ceremony, it wasn’t just the Shamans of the Emerald Feather series who had shone brilliantly in the early stages. Golinny and Gomes, the twin children of the Swan Chief Priest, also made quite the name for themselves in the later stages. Although they only secured second and third place, it was shocking enough for the upper echelons of the Imperial City Temple, because from start to finish, Golinny and Gomes did not call upon their Magical Beasts to aid in the fight. Relying solely on their own magic powers, they overcame all obstacles and finally claimed the titles of second and third Youth Shamans, each wearing a crown of thorns. This was the first time such an event had occurred in the history of the Beamon Olympia Scepter Festival.

For a time, various speculations surged as to why the twin siblings didn’t use Magical Beasts and fought exclusively with magic. The widespread belief was that they were deliberately holding back, but as to why, only the heavens knew.

Actually, the one who truly stole the spotlight was Mourinho. The lineage of Shamans from the Swan Chief Priest series, previously known among inner circles as the "Series of Geniuses," was now unconditionally recognized and widely extolled by all of Beamon. If there were any Beamon who once scorned the term "genius series," their disdain had now completely turned into admiration—within four generations of Shaman inheritance, two Chief Priests were born, one Great Shaman Wei An, two Scepter Shamans, one Shaman of Divine Songs, and one Cambridge High Priest. And their average age was below thirty. Describing them as geniuses hardly seemed enough; there were no better words to capture their talent.

Caiyu City also made a strong showing this time. The daughter of Lord Treizegar, Fei Wenli, managed to snatch the crown of the first Youth Shaman. Her Magical Beast, a Medusa, unexpectedly turned out to be a Thunder Giant Rat as big as a sow, which completely defied expectations. This enormously sized rodent from Sunset Swamp, known for its fearsome appearance and savage nature, didn’t at all seem like the sort of Magical Beast a beautiful female Shaman should have. Over several days of competition, this unsightly Thunder Giant Rat stole the limelight. Usually considered a mediocre mid-level Magical Beast, it effortlessly defeated a high-level Magical Beast belonging to a Scepter Shaman, drawing all eyes in the arena.

The reason for its victory was not because Fei Wenli’s Thunder Giant Rat was exceptionally powerful, but purely because of a physical characteristic that significantly increased its combat effectiveness—the Thunder Giant Rat that had roamed Sunset Swamp’s pitch lakes for ages was covered in a thick layer of pitch mixed with sand and gravel, forming a natural armor. The Scepter Shaman, whose high-level Magical Beast was a Stormrage Blue-Back Magic Wolf, wielded a potent "Triple-linked Wind Blade," but when it struck the Thunder Giant Rat, aside from scraping off a few hard pieces of the pitch and gravel shell, it was effectively useless, making defeat inevitable.

Liu Shock did not attend the later stages of the Festival, so he knew nothing about it until he heard of this wonder during the Glint Sword Banquet held that evening. Deshang and Remel, the two Pier Race Scepter Shamans who told him about the battle, marveled at the stroke of luck that little miss Fei Wenli had, and then lamented a bit about why such a beauty would choose a rat for a Magical Beast and other such uneventful sentiments before moving on. But as Liu Shock listened, he became more and more stirred. Even for someone like him, with all his cunning thoughts, he had never considered such a method for enhancing a Magical Beast’s combat power—it was quite simple, in fact. Use resin, or pine rosin, or pitch; let the Magical Beast roll around in it, then sprinkle some sand for another roll. Do it daily, and in half a month, the Magical Beast would have a layer of armor. This type of armor could be more reliable and effective than a Magic Shield!

Why the hell didn’t I think of that?! Liu Shock smacked himself on the forehead, the more he thought about it, the more he felt like an idiot. But in fact, such DIY armor was an ancient contrivance, as demonstrated by, for example, the wild boars in the forests which sported a layer of pine resin and stone armor that even an Ancient Power Fire Gun could hardly penetrate.

The Emerald Feather series had always been dedicated to researching and innovating the armor of their mounts, but with little progress. Two types of flying mounts, the Two-Headed Chimera and Newton Giant Bird, if only equipped with vine armor, could not fundamentally solve the issue of protecting their flesh wings. In aerial combat, once their wings were damaged, neither mount could return home askew and battered like the Gryphon and Giant Dragon could. And the Mammoth Long-haired Elephant was even more problematic with its gargantuan body—if made to wear corresponding metal armor, not only would the Emerald Feather’s military industry be unable to keep up, but such armor would significantly limit the already mediocre charging ability of the Mammoth Long-haired Elephant. There was also a key issue—the Mammoth Long-haired Elephants’ petrified hides lacked any sense of pain except for their extraordinarily sensitive trunks. Once they were struck forcefully, they would go berserk, and everyone knew how nightmarish a rampaging Mammoth Long-haired Elephant could be!

This was a tough problem to solve; the trunks of the Elephants were so dexterous, acting like cunning hands. Whether it was the currently equipped vine nose armor or a specially tailored metal nostril guard, it would be easily removed and discarded by the playful creatures—the Magical Beast rat that belonged to Fei Wenli provided Liu with a whole new train of thought. This idea could not only be applied to mounts but also to Magical Beasts of lesser ranks, such as Qian Qian’s Three-Headed Alligator Turtle or Helen’s Super Trash Magical Beast... This type of armor was cheap and easy, not costing a dime, apart from being somewhat unattractive and perhaps a bit suffocating, there were no other issues. It was the most perfect armor...