Chapter 495: Skill Fusion For The First Time

The lights of Base #9 became clearer through the fog as they got closer.

They passed through the northern gate of the base.

Some of the guards placed their hands on their weapons when they saw the giant ant coming directly toward the gate, but Lian’s presence on its back made no one react any further.

When they saw an Awakened enter the base with it without the slightest concern, they quickly understood that they were not dealing with a wild monster.

After passing through the gate, he jumped down.

"Go back and rest." He said while placing his palm on the upper part of One’s head.

One’s antennae moved slightly.

A moment later, its huge body turned into particles of light and disappeared in front of several nearby Awakeneds.

[Special Colony Member — One.]

[Location: Colony House.]

The young Vorhelm changed his path toward the center of the base.

The streets had not changed much since he left. Hunters were moving around, carts full of monster parts were passing through the market, and the continuous sound of metal being hit could be heard from the blacksmith workshops.

But when he reached the transfer gate area, his eyes stopped for a moment on the large board beside the square.

Lian looked at it without moving for a few seconds and then calculated again.

"One day?"

Almost a full day had passed since he returned to Base #9.

In his own mind, this time had been divided into several hunts, finding the Wolfgrave Fortresses, fighting Two, checking the temples, and walking around for a while.

When he put all of it together, a full day had really passed.

He let out a short breath.

"I achieved too much for a short hunt."

Kain had said that he would come here after finishing his work in Base #3.

And he had said that he would probably arrive the next day.

So if everything had gone according to plan, he would not need to wait much longer.

He stood beside one of the stone pillars around the square.

The gate area was crowded.

A group of Awakeneds came out of one of the gates with broken armor.

Two carriers placed a large box that smelled of blood onto a cart, and several students were arguing about the prices near a potion shop.

In the middle of all this crowd, he opened a panel that only he could see.

[Current Fragments: 2161.]

His eyes stayed on the number for a few seconds.

Only a short time ago, this amount of Fragments would have been a very large number for him.

But this time, he did not plan to immediately go to his innate traits tree.

His recent battles had made another problem clear.

He did not lack skills, on the contrary, perhaps he had too many skills.

Some of his abilities had very similar roles, and in difficult battles, he had to activate several skills one after another just to perform a single move.

Thunder Step to get closer.

Ash Step to change his position.

Warrior’s Madness and Predator’s Frenzy to increase his combat ability, and several separate defensive skills to protect his body.

It was not a big problem in a normal battle, but against enemies like Two, even a fraction of a second was important.

He opened another part of the panel.

[Skill Fusion.]

[The ability to combine two or more compatible skill structures.]

[The required Fragments are calculated based on the number, Rank, and complexity of the structures.]

He checked the options for a few moments, and the first choice was almost obvious.

[Thunder Step selected.]

[Ash Step selected.]

[Structural compatibility detected.]

[Common path: Thunder Acceleration / Ashen Movement / Fallen Wolf Speed.]

[Fusion cost: 500 Fragments.]

[Warning: After fusion, the original skills can no longer be used independently.]

Lian paused at the last line, the fusion was not going to add a third skill to his already long list.

The two previous abilities would really disappear and a new structure would replace them, but he had used both of them together so many times that the decision was not difficult.

In most battles, he used Thunder Step for explosive movement, and exactly when the enemy read his path, he used Ash Step to break the angle, and Fallen Wolf Speed, which only increased his speed and had not been used for a long time,

Anyway, the main point was using Thunder Step and Ash Step, which required two commands to activate and consumed Mana separately twice.

[Fusion has begun.]

The three structures overlapped in his mind for a moment, the fast and direct pattern of Thunder Step collided with the scattered structure of Ash Step and the speed increase of Fallen Wolf Speed.

At first, they seemed opposite.

One moved the body with real acceleration, while the other turned the body’s structure into ash for a few meters.

But then the paths connected.

[Fusion successful.]

[Ashen Thunder Step received.]

[Explosive movement with the power of thunder.]

[The user can turn their body into ash for a short part of the movement and change the exit point within the allowed range.]

[Changing the direction increases the Mana cost.]

[The ashen part is still limited to a short distance.]

[Rank: Common (+).]

He checked the structure of the new skill for a few seconds.

It was strange.

Before, he had to decide when Thunder Step would end and when Ash Step would begin.

Now that point was practically part of the skill itself.

He could move directly forward with thunder, disappear for a moment at the end of the movement, and appear a few meters away at a different angle.

[500 Fragments used.]

[Remaining Fragments: 1661.]

He moved to the second option.

[Warrior’s Madness selected.]

[Predator’s Frenzy selected.]

[Very high structural compatibility.]

[Fusion cost: 550 Fragments.]

He read the descriptions of both again.

In practice, both had the same purpose, forcing his body and mind to fight beyond their normal state.

But activating both at the same time always caused some interference, and not to mention that he had not made much use of Predator’s Frenzy until now.

But if a single structure could do the same thing with better coordination, there was little reason to keep both.

[Coordinated enhancement of physical ability, offensive pressure, and hunting focus.]

[Reduced interference between physical and instinctive enhancements.]

[The more damage the user takes, all stats increase by 30% every minute for 15 minutes.]

[The mental weakness of Madness has been removed.]

[300 Mana is consumed every minute.]

Lian gave a very small smile, in other words, after only ten minutes, all of his stats would become three times higher, and he could fight for another five minutes with his stats increased to more than three times their normal amount.

This was a very large boost.

Of course, its cost was also very high, 300 Mana every minute, which meant 3000 Mana in ten minutes, and this was only at Common Rank.

God knows how much the cost would increase when it ranked up.

[Confirmed.]

[Fusion has begun.]

For a few seconds, warmth formed in his chest.

His heartbeat did not become faster, but simply imagining activating the new structure was enough to make him feel that his muscles and instincts knew they had to work in the same direction.

[Fusion successful.]

[Predator’s Madness received.]

[Rank: Common (+).]

[550 Fragments used.]

[Remaining Fragments: 1111.]

Lian looked at the new number for a few seconds.

One more fusion could be done, and this time, his decision took a little longer.

Three defensive skills.

[Diamond Skin selected.]

[Ossuary Armor selected.]

[Solar Forge Aegis selected.]

[Three compatible defensive structures detected.]

[Fusion cost: 650 Fragments.]

The panel displayed a preview of the possible result.

[Result Preview.]

[Multi-layered defensive structure.]

[Inner Layer: Enhances the body’s natural defense by creating a diamond layer that increases defensive power by up to 50%.]

[Middle Layer: A compressed bone structure created to distribute pressure and increase defensive power by up to 50%.]

[Outer Layer: A molten coating with the ability to control the amount of heat, increasing defensive power by up to 50%.]

[200 Mana will be consumed per minute.]

[Can be used together with external defensive equipment.]

The World-Devourer Bastion was not supposed to be part of the fusion.

That armor was an Ancient-Rank equipment.

The new defensive structure would work under it or alongside it and could reduce the pressure entering his body and the armor itself.

At first glance, this skill seemed useless and stupid, but was it really like that? Was a single Ancient-Rank armor really enough?

He thought about his battle with the Unborn Saint, and considering that he might face much stronger enemies in the future, defense would be very important.

Until now, all the fusions he had done had been made with the future in mind.

When he might face other Calamities, or when an enemy was more than twenty Levels above him,

A single Ancient-Rank armor would not be enough there, and this skill could boost his defensive power by up to 150%.