Apocalypse: I Can See the HP Bar, Killing Monsters Drops Loot

Chapter 953: Chapter 380 Potential Explosion

Wang Tao, to prove his hypothesis, used several mental attacks on Xu Xiaojun, each time intensifying the force.

The results were mostly as Wang Tao had guessed—if most of Wang Tao’s mental attacks went practically unnoticed by Xu Xiaojun, it was only when Wang Tao increased the force that Xu Xiaojun felt the attack, but it was just a slight sensation.

Although Wang Tao’s skills in mental attacks were not yet proficient, such attacks would have caused significant HP loss to anyone else, yet on Xu Xiaojun, they were barely noticeable…

Moreover, this awakening of Xu Xiaojun was not an active one but a passive one, which meant it didn’t consume any energy! In other words, his incredibly strong spiritual defense power would always be there!

“Should we test the limits of Xu Xiaojun?”

Wang Tao thought about it, then decided against it.

He hadn’t used his full strength just now. If he had, he might have injured Xu Xiaojun, but there was no need to do so. Since mental attacks were extremely dangerous, a slight miscalculation could lead to being killed instantly or turned into an idiot. Wang Tao was not very skilled in this area; it was better to be cautious. Knowing that Xu Xiaojun had very strong spiritual defense was enough.

“From now on, you’re going to be the toughest member of our team!”

Wang Tao said with a smile, patting Xu Xiaojun on the shoulder.

“Heh heh…”

Xu Xiaojun scratched his head.

Enhancing physical defense was relatively easy, such as exercising or wearing various equipment, all of which could increase physical defense. However, enhancing spiritual defense was much more difficult.

Wang Tao had strong spiritual power because he had merged with many spirit-related Crystal Cores, a condition not available to others; Jiang Shixue had strong spiritual power because she was extraordinarily talented, which also lacked replicability; He Jijun had strong spiritual power because he had been a soldier for many years and had experienced the front lines. Now in his sixties or seventies, his rich life experience gave him strong spiritual power…

As for others, their spiritual power might be stronger than ordinary people’s, but not nearly as strong. It would be very difficult for them to elevate their spiritual power to this level moving forward.

Xu Xiaojun was different, though; he was not strong in spiritual power—he just had incredibly strong spiritual defense.

If he were to use mental attacking abilities, the issue would not be whether he was weak or not, but that he simply couldn’t use them effectively. Even if he learned psychic-system abilities, the power would be mediocre.

But if a mental attack hit him, it definitely made the attacker question their life—when Wang Tao attacked Xu Xiaojun and saw no anomaly, Wang Tao’s first reaction wasn’t that Xu Xiaojun had a strong spiritual defense, but whether he had made a mistake…

Wang Tao felt that, under normal circumstances, Xu Xiaojun’s awakening might not be very useful, but when encountering psychic-system zombies, monsters, or humans, letting Xu Xiaojun take the lead would definitely be very effective!

However, having only strong spiritual defense was slightly unbalanced, which definitely wasn’t good. It would be best if Xu Xiaojun’s physical defense could also be strengthened!

If Xu Xiaojun’s spiritual defense could be combined with Hong Bin’s physical defense, that would truly be impressive. However, such a thing couldn’t be forced, and Xu Xiaojun’s physical condition wasn’t weak. If they could get him some high-defense equipment… then in future battles, both he and Hong Bin would be able to stand at the forefront!

As for high-defense equipment, Wang Tao did possess some. However, they would slow the wearer down, and Xu Xiaojun was not fast to begin with; reducing speed would significantly weaken him… so such equipment was usable but only for emergencies.

Wang Tao decided to keep an eye out, to see if he could get Xu Xiaojun a set of high-defense gear without such severe side effects.

After finishing the tests on Xu Xiaojun’s awakening, Wang Tao went to observe the last three people’s awakenings.

Lu Gang’s awakening was of the physical system, but unlike most system awakenings which were passive, Lu Gang’s was an active, sustained type.

[HP: 20000/20000]

[Mana: 40000/40000]

[Grade: Level 4]

[Internal Impurity: 2%]

[Awakening: Potential Explosion]

[Potential Explosion: During the duration, all basic attributes are significantly enhanced]

It was the first time Wang Tao had seen this Awakening.

Just from the description, Wang Tao always felt it was similar to Awakenings like [Resilience], [Durability], [Robust] — perhaps even not as strong as those because those are passive Awakenings that don’t consume Awakening Energy, whereas Lu Gang’s this active, sustainable type of Awakening had a duration limit.

Both are enhancements of physical condition, one permanently exists, and the other only for a certain time — obviously, the perpetual existence of passive Awakenings is stronger, isn’t it?

However, after some tests, Wang Tao realized it wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

Although Lu Gang’s Awakening had a duration, the enhancement during this period was much stronger than those of the passive Awakenings!

Lu Gang had a brief sparring session with Xiang Hongbin, and with the [Resilience] Awakening on his mechanical body, Xiang Hongbin was actually suppressed!

Moreover, Lu Gang did so not through trickery or other attack methods; he purely used physical strength to overpower Xiang Hongbin.

It was like a humanoid tyrannosaurus!

Unfortunately, Lu Gang only suppressed Xiang Hongbin for 10 seconds before he, as if deflated, was sent flying with a punch by Xiang Hongbin…

At that time, Lu Gang’s Awakening Energy limit was 100, which meant that his [Potential Explosion] must have been consuming 10 Awakening Energy per second, roughly the same as [Starfire Outbreak].

However, when Wang Tao helped Lu Gang increase his Awakening Energy limit, he discovered that [Potential Explosion] and [Starfire Outbreak] were still different.

As Wang Tao increased his own Awakening Energy limit, the duration of the [Starfire Outbreak] got longer.

But Lu Gang’s [Potential Explosion] was different. Even after increasing his Awakening Energy limit, it could still only last for ten seconds — because he couldn’t use [Potential Explosion] consecutively. He expended 100 Awakening Energy to activate the Awakening, which lasted for 10 seconds, and then he would enter a cooldown period… Lu Gang estimated this cooldown might be around an hour.

No wonder it’s called Potential Explosion; it truly only lasted for ten seconds and couldn’t be used consecutively, which indeed qualifies as an “explosion.”

Of course, even with these limitations, his Awakening was still very powerful. If timed well, these 10 seconds of explosion could claim countless victims.

But Lu Gang himself was quite conflicted, grinning broadly one moment and frowning the next, because he preferred to snipe from afar and didn’t much like close combat…

Wang Tao didn’t pay attention to the conflicted Lu Gang; his eyes turned to the last two Awakeners — Nie Siyan and Gao Hua.

Both had gained Hidden Attributes through the [Strange Poison Sac], and since their Hidden Attributes were related to poison, their Awakenings were also of the Poison System.