Li Yan's Guidance

In the afternoon, during the physical combat class.

Li Yan still wore his cold, hard expression. The training intensity had only increased, not decreased. Today's focus was on explosive core strength and strike resistance.

During a break in practice, taking advantage of Li Yan's patrol, Chen Guan stepped forward to ask for advice.

"Instructor Li Yan, regarding my combat style... I mainly rely on this coffin for defense and attack, but sometimes I feel my power delivery isn't smooth enough. Also, I'm worried that intense collisions will cause unnecessary shock to the inside of the coffin. May I ask if there are any techniques to improve this?"

Chen Guan organized his words, trying his best to express his problem clearly.

Li Yan stopped in his tracks. His falcon-like eyes looked at Chen Guan, then glanced at the coffin beside him. He was just cold and hard, but he never skimped on guidance.

"You have two problems."

Li Yan's voice remained cold. "First, power delivery. You treat it as a dead object and just swing it hard. That wastes energy and is highly inefficient. You need to treat it as an extension of your arm. The transfer of power must be smooth, from your feet to your waist, to your back, then to your arm, and finally to the coffin. Use technique, not brute force."

"Second, shock absorption."

Li Yan walked up to the coffin, reached out a finger, and knocked twice on the coffin wall, producing a clanking sound. "Top-tier material, extremely high rigidity, but lacking in buffering. Internal force is transmitted directly. You need to learn how to make micro-adjustments with your body at the moment of impact to disperse some of the shock. At the same time, consider adding some flexible, energy-absorbing padding or structures inside the coffin. That is, if you don't want the person inside to be shaken into meat paste."

That there was a person inside the coffin was already considered an open secret.

His words were as direct as ever, even a bit harsh to hear, but every sentence hit the nail on the head.

"As for power delivery techniques, I can teach you a few basic heavy weapon stances and energy-channeling methods. You can practice them yourself. As for shock absorption... that's a material and structural issue. Go ask Dean Situ or the people at the Equipment Research Building. They are more professional."

After saying that, Li Yan didn't waste any more words and directly began to demonstrate to Chen Guan a few simple power delivery postures and energy-channeling routes used for heavy blunt weapons.

The movements were not complex, but they required extremely precise control over body muscles and strength.

Chen Guan memorized them with full concentration and tried to imitate them. Having the foundation of heavy weapon mastery, he understood them much faster. Although his movements were stiff and awkward at first, he quickly grasped the main points.

"Practice on your own until it becomes instinct," Li Yan dropped a sentence and turned around to drill the other students.

Chen Guan felt grateful in his heart. Although Li Yan was strict, he held nothing back when giving guidance.

He immediately walked to a corner of the training room and practiced those power delivery movements over and over against the air, feeling the sensation of power rising from his heels, transmitting along his spine, and pouring into the weapon through his shoulders and arms.

At the same time, he was also pondering Li Yan's advice on shock absorption. Adding padding inside the coffin? That was a good idea, but ordinary materials probably wouldn't work. He needed special materials capable of absorbing massive impact forces... Perhaps he could use his D-rank exchange privilege this time? What a coincidence.

The training class ended in sweat and repetition. Chen Guan felt he had gained a lot. Not only had he achieved a preliminary mastery of power delivery techniques, but more importantly, he had clarified the direction for his next step of improvement.

He really liked this feeling of getting stronger bit by bit.

Chen Guan suddenly had a slightly absurd thought: he and Long Ao seemed to truly be the same kind of people.

Returning to the dorm, he immediately opened his personal terminal, connected to the academy's resource database, and entered the code for his D-rank exchange voucher.

Instantly, a dazzling virtual light screen appeared before him, listing a massive amount of D-rank resources in various categories: medicinal herbs, ores, mutated beast materials, spiritual energy crystals, low-level magical artifacts, technical blueprints, knowledge scrolls... The sheer variety was dazzling.

Chen Guan directly filtered for the material category, and after entering keywords, the list quickly refreshed, revealing dozens of materials that met his criteria.

Chen Guan carefully browsed the detailed introduction of each material. He first eliminated options that required spiritual energy for activation or maintenance. After weighing his options repeatedly, he chose a material called Spider Silk Woven Lining.

The reason was simple: the spider silk lining was thin and light, yet highly durable, capable of withstanding significant impacts. Furthermore, the spider silk itself possessed a certain degree of tension, allowing it to better disperse force.

After making his selection, Chen Guan submitted the exchange application. Once successfully submitted, the screen displayed that the item would be delivered to his designated dormitory within 24 hours.

Having done all this, he closed the terminal and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Next was just waiting for the lining to be delivered, and then figuring out a way to properly install it inside the coffin.

This might require some manual work. Perhaps he could ask the senior students at the Equipment Research Building for advice. The school had an internal forum where he could post a request for help.

Or, he could just ask Dean Situ Ming in passing when he went to see him over the weekend.

...

Late at night, only the sound of even breathing remained in Room 304.

Chen Guan had not fallen asleep. Instead, he sat cross-legged on his floor bed, plotting how to use his remaining popularity points.

As time passed, his popularity points had once again reached 1621 points.

He needed a weapon.

The coffin was an irreplaceable shield and bulwark, but in previous battles, he had clearly felt its limitations. It was heavy, lacked flexibility, and its attack methods were one-dimensional. When facing high-speed, agile enemies or those with special abilities, it would appear clumsy.

Especially when he needed to precisely attack weak points or perform mid-range crowd control, a giant coffin was far less effective than a handy weapon.

Moreover, Li Yan's words had also given him some inspiration. No matter how much he defended, there would still be harm to Old Me inside the coffin. If an alt-account died, it could be resurrected, but if Old Me died, he would truly be dead.

Although the Black Iron Coffin was awesome, it wasn't an indestructible material either.

Therefore, a weapon was a necessity, like An Changqing's longsword. Even Su Yuehe, who leaned towards a support role, had a short flute as a weapon.

System store, weapon category.

Swords, spears, axes, hammers, bows, and crossbows... The variety was vast, ranging from cold weapons to firearms, containing everything one could expect. The prices also ranged from a few hundred points to tens or hundreds of thousands.

Chen Guan's gaze quickly swept over them.

For the ones that were too cheap, their materials and power were probably worse than a sturdy iron rod he could just pick up anywhere. The ones that were too expensive, he couldn't afford. Besides, better weapons were usually heavier. This time, Sys couldn't give him a cheat code, so he might not even be able to lift them.

Right now, he needed a highly cost-effective weapon that suited his current combat style and physical attributes.

What was his combat style? Strength-focused, decent endurance, average speed, and improving technique. He was used to wide, sweeping moves, but constrained by the coffin's bulkiness and the concern of protecting his main body, he also needed a certain degree of control and precision.

A weapon that combined a sense of power with a certain range of control, yet wasn't too flashy or difficult to master...