Chapter 59 59: Armored Swordsman
After not having a dedicated training session for three months, Yoze missed the time he could put everything to the side and focus on becoming a stronger martial artist. Now that they had arrived at New Swampscott City and hired an investigator, all Yoze had to do was focus on improving as much as possible to prepare to start hunting demons.
After looking at both of the books in front of him, Yoze took a deep breath as he knew he had a lot ahead of him. To start with the manual that he had been carrying around for a long time, the Iron Skin body Cultivation manual.
This method of body cultivation had only three levels corresponding to the three ranks of martial artists. The first level required Yoze to create a special paste and apply it to his skin for 4 hours a day to absorb it. After a month or two he would have made it to the first level and have reached the peak for third-rate martial artists.
The second level requires yet another special paste that Yoze had to wear for 6 hours a day and after three months he would have started producing the Iron Skin Inner Vigor. Three months after that Yoze will have made it to the peak of the second level and be a peak second-rate martial artist.
The third level changed the method of cultivation and required Yoze to be inside boiling water for as long as he could. The longer he was able to withstand the heat the more inner vigor his body would be able to produce. At its peak, Yoze\'s skin would be able to turn as hard as iron at will and be able to take the attacks of most first-rate martial artists.
"This is as incredible as I thought it was but it says nothing about my insides. My skin might handle the damage but my insides will be hurting."
After years of training in martial arts and having a high talent for comprehending martial arts he was able to see the weakness of such a great body cultivation method. And he understood why there existed the Iron Muscle body cultivation manual on the second floor of the Martial Court Yard\'s library.
"Iron Skin is most likely part of a sect of body cultivation manuals. How deep does that set of body cultivation manuals go? Does it go as deep as someone\'s organs?" Yoze wondered if he would ever have the chance to go back to the Court Yard\'s higher floor to see if they had more versions of the Iron Skin body cultivation method.
"Training in Iron is simple but time-consuming but I can still train my other stuff while training it."
Yoze turned his attention to the martial art set he had recently acquired and looked at it with admiration.
"This martial art set is incredible. It can handle and mix different types of Inner Vigor!"
The Blood Swordsman martial art set forced anyone who wanted to train in this art to reach the Blood Master Realm to start at the very beginning. Yoze had to first reach the peak of the Armored Swordsman body cultivation manual along with its techniques.
Only after reaching the peak of the Armor Swordsman body cultivation method could one begin to train in the Blood Swordsman body cultivation and its respective techniques.
Even though this was a massive blow to anyone that had reached the peak of their respective body cultivation and didn\'t have enough talent for another one, Yoze felt that it was worth it.
Because once he cultivated Armor Swordsman to its peak and began to practice the Blood Swordsman he could add his Big Golem inner vigor to the Blood Swordsman\'s inner vigor. Making his Blood Armor and Blood Sword become extremely heavy.
The best thing about it was that there wasn\'t a limit on how many different types of Inner Vigor he could add to his armor and sword. Once Yoze cultivated his Iron Skin inner vigor he could add it to strengthen the defensive properties of his blood armor.
"Okay, let\'s put that aside for right now and see how I am supposed to train in the Armor Swordsman method." Yoze reluctantly moved away from the Blood Swordsman section of the Blood Master martial art set and focused on the beginning portion.
The Armored Swordsman had six levels and every two levels corresponded to a martial artist rank. The first and second level was tied to being a third-rate martial artist. The third and fourth levels meant that Yoze had reached the skill of a second-rate martial artist. And the fifth and sixth levels could only be challenged by fellow first-rate martial artists.
What Yoze found interesting was the way he was supposed to train in the Armored Swordsman was tied to his proficiency in his sword skills. He had to practice two sword techniques that came with the body cultivation method, The Armored Swordsman Slash and The Armored Swordsman Shuffle.
The Armored Swordsman Slash was an offensive attack and the Armored Swordsman Shuffle was a movement-type skill. Both had six levels to them and only by reaching the level of both skills could he reach a specific level of the Armored Swordsman body cultivation manual.
Yoze saw that these techniques were dual purpose just like his Blood Fist, Twin Blood Fists, and Mindless Blood Legs. These techniques both served as a way to train and improve himself but also had incredible uses as battle techniques.
His Twin Blood Fists technique saw the most use when Yoze fought and had become a core technique of his fighting style. As for Mindless Blood Legs acted more as constant body training as Yoze could never turn it off.
Armored Swordsman Slash and Shuffle acted similarly to his blood techniques and served more as a direct means of improvement. While his blood techniques served more as supplementary techniques and great ways to break his limits.
"I even have to go buy some armor to practice these techniques. As a part of a Blood Master Martial Art Set, it makes sense that it had a higher requirement to practice."