Ma Lu was indeed very busy now.
Alerts from the Traveler's Bracelet kept coming, with 54 blessings flashing past in a short span of three minutes, some of which Ma Lu didn't even have time to look at closely because the 60-second countdown was about to end.
He could only skim over them as quickly as possible and then rely on his intuition.
Three minutes later, 17 new blessings were added to the character status bar, plus the 29 blessings obtained in three separate occasions before, the group of Bloodsucking Tail Weasels contributed a total of 45 blessings to the team.
Among them, 15 were related to basic attributes, 19 were related to psychic power, and 11 were either unclear in meaning or difficult to trigger.
Most of these blessings were blue, but there were three purple ones, which were:
[The Last Rampart: There's a 33% chance for a team member's shield to completely block one instance of damage when it gets damaged.]
[Charge with Hits: When team members adopt a defensive stance in battle, each hit they take increases their strength by 10%. The effect is accumulative and resets after launching an attack.]
[Endless Blood Flow: There's a 33% chance for the whole team's attacks to trigger a bleeding state, under which the target's bleeding amount increases by 100%.]
[The Last Rampart] and [Endless Blood Flow] are superior replacements for the blue blessings [The Final Stand] and [Localized Bleeding].
The effect was improved from the original 15% to 33%; although it still involved an element of luck, it was easier to trigger and significantly more practical.
The appearance of [Charge with Hits], a purple blessing, resolved the issue of the team's insufficient firepower.
With these three purple blessings at the core, complemented by some blue blessings, a routine based on Boggy's exclusive counterattack flow, that only he could master, was initially formed.
Afterwards, Ma Lu didn't rush to continue hunting but instead worked out a combat plan with Boggy and also tested the newly acquired blessings.
"Are you sure you want to incorporate my psychic abilities into combat?"
Boggy had just faced off against a group of over forty Bloodsucking Tail Weasels on his own. He was still excited, his hands trembling non-stop.
But when he heard that Ma Lu planned to develop his psychic power, he calmed down again.
It wasn't that he had never thought about it. In fact, no one wanted more than he did to compensate for his fatal weakness.
Teachers at school had also encouraged him, saying that there was no such thing as a useless ability, just a lack of the right situation. Yet reality was cruel.
No matter how hard he tried or how much he wracked his brain, he could never see what use that thin Water Shield could have.
The thing had no defensive power at all, and water was too precious in the desert to waste on it.
Nonetheless, Ma Lu was still excited, "How much psychic power does it take for you to create a Water Shield?"
"Creating a Water Shield doesn't actually use much power. Though it's shaped like a shield, it doesn't have any defensive capabilities. You saw it yourself last time at Little Bear Bar, a fork could easily pass through it, so the consumption is minimal."
Boggy recalled, "I've made up to a thousand water shields continuously without stopping and only used half of my psychic power."
This level of endurance far exceeded Ma Lu's expectations and gave him more confidence in the upcoming plans.
"So, how many Water Shields can you create at one time?"
"That depends on the size of the shield," Boggy said. "I can only make one as tall as a person, but if it's a small round shield worn on the arm, I should be able to create three at once."
"What about miniature shields the size of a thumb?"
"Hmm, seven... The main thing is that I need to concentrate to keep them floating in a specified position, I can't manage more than that."
The complete immunity effect brought by [The Last Rampart], a purple blessing, seemed strong, but the conditions for it to take effect were very strict.
It required the shield to be damaged, which is hard to achieve in general combats, and when this condition is met, it often means the situation has already become very critical. The combatant losing their shield, even though they may luckily trigger the immunity effect, would find the following combat much more difficult.
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It was more like a last-ditch life-saving card that hinged on luck.
However, it unexpectedly matched up well with Boggy's psychic power.
The biggest issue with Boggy's Water Shield was that it had absolutely no defensive power, the moment it was attacked, it would surely be damaged, but precisely because of that, it easily met the activation requirements of [The Last Bastion].
As for losing the Water Shield, it hardly affected Boggy at all. He could instantly create another one, no, not just one.
Ma Lu felt that he had found the correct way to use [The Last Bastion].
"From now on, you can create as many Water Shields as possible during combat."
"Hm?"
"A single Water Shield has only a 33% chance of blocking an incoming strike, but if you put up two Water Shields at once, the chance of damage prevention rises to 54%, and with three, it reaches 71%... With seven, the number goes up to 95%!
"That way, you can almost always reliably trigger damage immunity when defending. Even if you are really unlucky and fall into the remaining 5%, with your reaction speed which has now been enhanced, you'll be able to dodge most attacks before they hit.
"Furthermore, each Water Shield can activate another Purple Blessing, [Charge with Hits], when it is struck. If every Water Shield gives you a 10% increase in strength, then in theory, you could gain a maximum boost of 70% in strength with each hit. That's practically cheating."
To verify the feasibility of this plan and also help Boggy get used to his new combat style, Ma Lu even devised a special training regimen for him.
Although Boggy himself was dubious about this seemingly masochistic strategy, he was eventually convinced by something Ma Lu said.
"I have already enhanced your Water Shield. If you want to keep moving forward and hunt rarer prey, you must make good use of your psychic power."
As a Hunter, of course, one would want to take on more formidable prey, not just for the lucrative rewards and fame, but also because it's a drive ingrained in the very genes of every Hunter.
Even with the risks, Hunting Groups both large and small from the Giant Curtain were undeterred and continually pressed deeper into the desert.
Boggy was no exception.
Furthermore, he had once vowed to follow in that person's footsteps.
But after some thought, Boggy still voiced his concern, "Even if I'm willing to use my psychic power, there's not that much water to use here."
The water Boggy had brought on this trip was enough for two people for two days, but if it were used in combat, it would probably only last for one or two fights.
"Don't worry, I've already taken that into account, otherwise, I wouldn't have focused so much on the bleeding effects among the various abnormal states."
Ma Lu winked at him.
"The water content in blood is as high as 85%, which should be sufficient for you to craft shields."
The third Purple Blessing, [Endless Blood Flow], was meant for this purpose.
"Blood?" Boggy was taken aback, but later had to admit that Ma Lu's overall plan did have considerable feasibility.
With the last obstacle gone, Boggy finally agreed to join Ma Lu's intensive training program.
The training session lasted a full two hours.
It allowed Ma Lu to get a good grasp of how to use the Blessings and their combined effects, while also letting Boggy gradually get accustomed to and master the routine.
The defensive—charge—counterattack tactic wasn't complicated, and for a diligent and studious top student like Boggy, there was hardly any difficulty in getting the hang of it.
The more he practiced, the more Boggy realized the astonishing potential contained within, and the significant role that telekinesis could play in combat.
It was something he had never experienced in his past seventeen years, and it made Boggy determined.
"I think we can go a bit farther now."
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