New techniques

[The skill [Pain resistance] has evolved into [Pain immunity]]

[Description: 50% more resistant to pain]

[The skill [Toxin resistance] has evolved into [Toxin immunity]]

[Description: 50% resistance to toxins, venoms and poison]

[The skill [Bleed resistance] has leveled up to Lv 10]

[Description: Take 50% less damage from bleeding]

[The skill [Strengthen] leveled up to Lv 10]

[Description: Increases strength by 50% upon use.]

[Mana cost: 5 mana/sec]

[The skill [Detect] has leveled up to Lv 10]

[Description: Scours the surroundings in 500 meters for life]

[Mana cost: 250]

[The skill [Adrenaline] has leveled up to Lv 5]

[The skill [Enhanced reflex] has leveled up to Lv 10]

[Description: +50 dexterity, extra dexterity point every level up]

[Available skill points: 30]

'Alright this is enough for now, I need to save some skill points for later.'

"Baub!"

As soon as Aster called his name, someone burst through the cell door.

"Yes, sir!"

"Get me that blood cultivation manual"

"Right away, sir!"

After Baub left, Aster took a small vial full of green liquid and drank it one go. His face scrunched

"Ahh, so bitter. Can't I get a bitter taste resistance?"

[You can acquire taste nullification]

"Yeah, I will do that later. I know I will drink more of this stuff later on."

The liquid Aster drank was the venom of Advanced Stalker Snake, after it is injected, it persists in the body of the victim for days and gradually paralyzes it while destroying it's organs and cells. When the victim is completely paralyzed or too injured to move, the snake comes in and drinks it's liquified innards.

Aster has been taking this poison a lot as it takes some time for it's true lethality show, he can take it in the morning and increase his toxin, pain and paralysis resistances during the day before drinking the antidote before he sleeps.

'Gotta make use of the time I have left. I have a bad feeling I don't have much left.'

After having his breakfast, he got out of his cell. He didn't have time to move into a more comfortable room since he was grinding non stop.

He wore the Bloodhound gang's uniform but he decorated it as he did not want to be affiliated with them. Instead of being blood red, his jacket was dark blue with white stripes going along his shoulders and arms, from his right and left side of his waist along with his legs. He wore black combat boots along with black pants and fingerless black gloves. He had white circle outline on his back as he felt his uniform was too plain. He had a black mask that hid half of his face. His suit was pretty good in terms of defense, it had 10% pierce damage reduction and +20 defense.

If anyone saw him then the last words that would come to their mind was 'Blood Tyrant'. 'Damn those bloodhounds and their naming sense.'

As soon as he stepped out of his cells, his self proclaimed 'bodyguards' greeted him, and Aster greeted back with a few punches.

"Damn, he's so fucking cool. Resorting to violence first thing in the morning."

"I told you he's awesome. I'm glad to be in this gang."

"But he doesn't wear red though, he is dressed in blue yet why is the gang called 'Bloodhound'?"

"Because he's not the founder of this gang. He came here few days ago and claimed the gang as his own. The original leader called it bloodhound because it's apparently related to the cultivation method he uses. But who cares about that old fucker anyways? We got a new Tyrant now."

"So doesn't that mean we need a name change? "

"Your damn right, let's call a meeting"

Aster grimaced 'They are 17 yet they are already brain dead, *sigh* I thought beating them would scare them away from gang life but they got even encouraged.'

'Whatever, I'm not responsible for them.'

Aster roamed the corridors of the bloodhound base and was met with many admiring gazes and a few with animosity. He took care of them though.

[EXP: 591/2100]

[Obtained Basic soul fragment×6]

[Obtained Essence of Lust×3]

[Obtained Essence of Wrath×9]

[Obtained Essence of Pride×4]

Soon, the bloodhound gang was completely purged and only the Aster fanboys remained.

Aster reached the leader's office soon. He entered the room and saw Baub with a briefcase.

"Here it is, Sir!" He reported and handed the briefcase.

With a nod, Aster opened the briefcase and took the book inside it. It had red leather cover and a title that said 'Blood circulation cultivation method'. Aster transported it to his spatial ring, a must have for any self respecting system holder.

"Alright, time to go shopping then" he says before going to a secret room following Baub.

The room was pitch black but as soon as the door slammed shut, particles emerged from the air and manifested into a woman in a black silken dress in the middle of the room. She had pale skin, blonde hair, extreme hourglass figure and a pretty face.

"Hello, sir Baub. How may I help you today? The usual? And who is that behind you?"

"Don't mind him, he's an acquaintance, I would like to search for cultivation manuals." Baub replied in a disinterested tone.

The woman raised an eyebrow "What kind?"

Baub looked at Aster, prompting him to speak.

"I would like physique strengthening cultivation methods, preferably defense."

With a bemused expression, the holographic woman raised her arm and waved, causing a few holographic books to materialize out of thin air.

Aster, feeling impressed, read the description of the book closest to him.

<<<Iron skin cultivation manual>>>

<Use the element earth to reinforce your skin to become as tough as metal while retaining its flexibility.>

<Price: 500 gold>

"I take it that that person is the one buying?" The woman asks.

"Ah, yes, register him as anonymous"

Instantly, the price flickered before updating.

<Price: 2 platinum>

"What the fuck!?" Aster yelped out loud.

"The market charges extra for anonymous users." Baub explained.

Originally, Baub was supposed to visit the Trove of Greed market himself and buy what Aster wanted but the items refresh every now and then so Aster had to be present to make his choice.

'Let's look at more products before I make my judgment'

<<<Steel skin manual>>>

<Price: 4 platinum>>>

<<<Mithril skin manual>>>

<Price: 6 platinum>

<<<Titanium skin manual>>>

<Price: 10 platinum>

<<<Monster core absorption(vitality)>>>

<Price: 25 platinum>

"What the fuck are those prices."

"I can assure you, the Trove of Greed market does not overvalue the products we sell. While buying anonymously does increase the price a bit, it's ultimately your choice."

"I see, but still."

"I want to see a cultivation method that uses mana."

Swoosh-

<<<Mana quality enhancement manual>>>

<Enhance the quality of your mana>

<Price: 4 platinum>

"I want to buy this one."

"The payment has been deducted, the item will be delivered to you shortly."

"Buy iron skin cultivation manual."

"Hmm, let's go to the alchemy section."

The holograms in the room changed once again, now showing a bunch of rare herbs and recipes.

"Buy the alchemy beginner pack, thrice."

"Buy the body purification elixir."

"Buy..."

***

An hour later, Aster and Baub emerged from the pitch black room, completely draining the Bloodhound gang's money.

Aster bought Iron skin cultivation manual, Mana enhancement manual, few recipes for basic potions, elemental magic manuals and bunch of potion ingredients.

He wanted to buy divine and demonic cultivation manuals but they weren't available.

'I wanted to become an angel demon hybrid. *Sob*'

But even without divine and demonic cultivation manuals, Aster was aware that he got a great harvest.

Not even 10 minutes later, a few agents from the market came to deliver the goods and without further ado, Aster immediately picked the body purification elixir and drank it. It was a painful process and he had to go to the toilet every 5 minutes but it was worth it. Feeling pure like a baby, Aster took the Iron skin manual and read it.

With his increased comprehension, he memorized the entire book within two or three reads. Then he sat down on the ground to practice.

He sensed the golden brown particles of the earth and tried to fuse it with his Aura, similar to how he fuses it with Mana to perform magic.

Although it was hard, he nevertheless succeeded with relative ease with his almost 9 times higher Aura affinity. His control over it improved drastically and it was showing.

He fused his transparent aura with the golden brown particles, giving it the same color and circulated it within the pathway he constructed on his astral body. It's effects on the insides were minimal but the changes in his skin was noticeable.

His base defense was 60 due to his vitality, extra 50 is added with [Fortitude], totaling 110 defense.

[[Iron skin cultivation technique] has been learnt]

[+1 defense]

[+1 defense]

[+1 defense]

Although defense increases along with vitality, it wasn't the case with Iron skin. While his defense increased drastically, his vitality remained the same.

***

[Defense(external): 114 (+50) (+20)

Defense(Internal): 50 (+50)](A.N: The numbers in the () are separate)

After 4 hours, he had gained 54 points of defense. Now, it's believable if he said he was a tank even though he didn't have the class and the necessary skills to prove it.

[Iron skin cultivation technique(Intermediate)64/100]

Aster smiled meekly "This should be enough."

There's a reason why he chose to increase his defense to this extent, it's the blood circulation manual.

Basic body strengthening uses the astral body as a medium to strengthen the body, which has its own risks but ultimately doable to the majority of people who practice cultivation. Blood circulation on the other hand, as the name sounds, uses blood as a medium to directly strengthen the body.

That has a lot of risks including exploding from the inside out so he strengthened his skin in hopes that it will stay whole and not burst open.

Feeling excited and a bit paranoid, Aster took the manual from Baub's hands and got to reading.

'High comprehension is really nice, I feel like my brain became a high spec computer.'

Within 30 minutes, he had memorized the entirety of a 60 page book and got to cultivating.

He first separated his aura from the earth particles as he didn't want his blood to turn into mud, then he carefully focused on his own body.

His breath, the rushing flow of blood and his ever beating heart.

[[Focus] has been activated]

In a completely concentrated state, he willed his transparent aura to gather in his heart, it felt hot.

Then he tried to control the aura in his heart to follow the blood flow. It went through the right ventricle and into the pulmonary arteries in the lungs and then through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, to the left ventricle and through the body and repeat.(A.N: I may have fucked up with biology so help me out here and give feedback, please)

First trial, successful!

He then gathered more aura in his heart and did the same, and he succeeded again.

He then repeated the process with gradually increasing aura.

His abnormally big aura cloud is putting him at disadvantage in this particular cultivation method.

Until finally, he gathered all of his aura in his heart. At this point, he was one step away from combustion. His skin was bright red, visible smoke was being emitted from him and his veins were bulging. If he didn't strengthen his skin then it would have burned off by now.

However, his current look could not transmit the pain he was feeling right now. The overwhelming aura of his was putting pressure on his poor heart, threatening to make it go boom.

The pain was making it hard for him to concentrate and continue the process. If he lost focus and lost control of his aura then his death would be inevitable. It would be a very painful death.

Baub was looking at the person he swore to obey struggle visibly and felt disappointed.

'If he can't even handle this much then why would I continue serving him? Not after he just spent the entire life savings of me and my brother. If he can't finish soon then I would just kill him, to relieve him of his gruesome death.'

Aster was in hell, he started to lose grip on his aura.

'Is this the karma of me killing those gang members? But they deserved it! Are you telling me I had to behave like a shounen protagonist to live???'

[-267 hp]

[Hp: 333/600]

Aster puked up liters of blood, instantly painting the ground and his suit red.

[Status effect: Internal bleeding has been inflicted. 40 damage per second]

[Hp:293/600]

[Hp:253/600]

Baub, staring at his pathetic state, sighed and got up. He took a wide stance and pulled his left arm back, preparing to end his suffering but something held him from attacking.

'You know what, I will just wait until he actually dies. No need to dirty my hands with the blood of my liege.'

[Hp:93/600]

Aster had completely lost control of his aura, his death was near.

[Hp:53/600]

'Fuck, I want to live, fuck, fuck, fuck'

[Hp:13/600]

[The skill [Aura sensitivity] has been acquired]

[The skill [Aura control] has been acquired]

Instantly, as the new skills have been acquired, Aster quickly took control of his wild aura that was rampaging in his body.

He got up and grabbed a potion that was placed near him with speed he never had and drank all of its contents in one go.

[Medium healing potion has been used]

[Hp fully restored]

"Haaa.... ha...haha, I lived." he said between his breaths.

"But why... hah... couldn't... I get.. that skill... before?"

[Aura sense and control is a skill that requires aura affinity of at least 1.00 point to be acquired and even then, the proficiency required for it is simply high. When a person gets near death, they learn faster and thereby the proficiency increases much much faster. The hosts 500% proficiency trait ability also extends to the proficiency boost one gets near death and as such, the host acquired skills that would take many people years to acquire]

'So that's how it is.'

After a break, Aster got back to cultivating once again but this time, he will succeed.

And he did. After one full circulation with all of his aura, he heard a familiar ding sound.

[[Blood circulation technique(Beginner)] has been acquired]

[+20 vitality]

[+20 endurance]

[+15 strength]

[+15 agility]

[+10 dexterity]

[The skill [Bleed resistance] has evolved to [Bleed immunity Lv 1]]

[The skill [Regeneration] has leveled up to Lv 10]

"Ahhahaha, almost dying was worth it."

***

Don't forget to add this book to your library and vote if you have any power stones.

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