Chapter 496: The Name Is One

[Confirmed.]

The three structures merged together.

[Fusion successful.]

[Molten Bastion Body received.]

[Rank: Common (+).]

[650 Fragments used.]

[Total Fusion cost: 1700 Fragments.]

[Remaining Fragments: 461.]

He closed the skill panel, the number of his skills had become lower, but what remained was cleaner.

Three new structures instead of seven separate structures, and this satisfied him more than simply adding several new skills.

But there were still a considerable number of Fragments left.

He opened another section.

[Traits.]

Five options appeared.

[Skill Overdrive.]

[Level: 0/10.]

[First Level Effect: Skill power increases by 10% for 10 seconds.]

[Each additional Level: 10% more power and 10 more seconds.]

[Quick Mana.]

[Level: 0/10.]

[Each Level: Mana recovery speed increases by 10%.]

[Lifesteal.]

[Level: 0/10.]

[First Level: 1% chance to activate with each successful hit.]

[When activated, 2% of the damage dealt is recovered.]

[Each additional Level: 1% more chance and 2% more recovery.]

[Force Spike.]

[Level: 0/10.]

[First Level: 1% chance to increase attack power by 10%.]

[Each additional Level: 1% more chance and 10% more power.]

[Natural Armor.]

[Level: 0/10.]

[Each Level: Natural defense power of the body increases by 50%.]

His eyes stayed on Natural Armor for a while, fifty percent per level was not a small number.

But this effect was applied to his body’s natural defense, not making the power of World-Devourer Bastion or his other equipment fifty percent stronger.

And only a few minutes ago, he had created a new defensive skill as well.

For now, the other choices were more interesting to him, first was Skill Overdrive.

In the battle with Two, there had been many times when the difference between breaking through a defense and failing to break it was only a little more power at that exact moment.

The ten percent was not permanent and only lasted for ten seconds.

But those ten seconds, if used on something like Suppressing Palm, Thunder Calamity, or Glacial Reaper Claw, could make a huge difference.

[Skill Overdrive upgraded to Level 1.]

[Cost: 100 Fragments.]

"Accept."

[Skill Overdrive.]

[Level: 1/10.]

[Skill Power: +10%.]

[Duration: 10 seconds.]

[Remaining Fragments: 361.]

Lian moved his eyes to the next option.

Lifesteal.

Its first Level was really nothing special, a one percent chance and two percent recovery, and in a short battle, it might not even activate once.

But it was not going to stay at Level one forever.

If he reached higher Levels one day, long battles could become completely different.

[Lifesteal upgraded to Level 1.]

[Cost: 200 Fragments.]

[Lifesteal.]

[Level: 1/10.]

[Activation chance with each successful hit: 1%.]

[Recovery amount when activated: 2% of the damage dealt.]

[Remaining Fragments: 161.]

He looked at the final number for a few seconds, he had spent two thousand Fragments this easily, even though obtaining them had taken him one day, for other Awakeneds, it could take months or even years.

But it had only taken him a few minutes to spend them.

"The difficulty of obtaining Fragments really isn’t fair." He sighed, and this was said by someone who could obtain Fragments a thousand times more easily than others.

"Are you talking to yourself or waiting for the gate to answer?"

Lian raised his head.

Kain was standing a few meters away.

"You arrived at the right time."

"Have you been waiting for long?" His friend came closer and looked around.

"Long enough to become poor again." Lian answered in a completely serious tone.

Kain moved his eyes from his face downward.

"What did you buy?"

"Some things."

"My work in Base Three is finished. What about you? What did you do yesterday?"

Lian thought about the events of the past day for a moment.

Hundreds of wolves, hidden fortresses, a Level forty monster, and an S-Rank treasure.

"I found an interesting area."

"That’s all?" Kain waited for a few seconds for more explanation, but nothing came.

"For now, yes."

"Why have you become so lazy when talking? You weren’t like this before, but recently it seems like you don’t feel like explaining things."

The young Vorhelm said nothing, he had not noticed this himself, but if it was really like that, the only reason could be Seris.

Before leaving, they checked the amount of water, food, and potions they had. Kain bought a few extra bottles, and Lian also bought several potions to replace the ones he had used.

Less than half an hour later, they left Base #9.

They walked for the first few kilometers.

The road was still busy, and different hunting groups could be seen along the way.

When the number of Awakeneds around them finally became lower, Lian stopped.

Kain walked a few steps ahead and turned back.

"What happened?"

Without explaining anything, he activated Colony Link.

[Special Colony Member selected.]

[One.]

[Summoning.]

Particles of light gathered beside the road, at first only a vague shadow appeared, then six huge legs, black natural armor, jaws, and a few seconds later, One appeared on the ground at its full huge size.

Boom!

The dirt around its feet rose slightly.

Kain stopped in the middle of the movement he was about to make, he said nothing for several seconds. His eyes moved up from the legs of the giant ant.

They stopped on its large jaws, then on its thick natural armor, and finally returned to his best friend.

"Since when can you summon monsters?" He asked in disbelief and took one step closer.

"Wait... is this your mount, or did you really summon it?"

Lian walked beside One and placed a hand on the upper part of its head.

"I can summon it. And yes, for now, it can also act as a mount."

Kain carefully walked around One, and the giant ant also moved its antennae slightly toward him.

The young Vorhelm saw no reason to hide this part of his abilities from his friend.

Other people had seen One, and some of his friends also knew about its existence.

Hiding the fact that he had such a companion from his best friend, while other people already knew about it, was more stupid than careful.

"My god... how? Where did you even get it from? What’s its name?"

Lian thought for a moment about how much of the story he should explain, and in the end, he simply gave up on explaining.

"It’s a little hard to explain, but its name is One."

"One?" Kain became silent.

"Yeah."

"You mean... one?"

"Exactly."

The Child of Light turned his head toward the giant ant again, looked at the giant ant for a few seconds, and then looked at Lian.

"You’re joking."

"No."

"Lian, look at this." He pointed at the huge creature with both hands.

"A giant armored ant that can probably cut a person in half with one move. You could have given it a name that would scare people when they heard it. An old name, a war name, anything... and you named it One?"

"It’s a good name, it’s short, it’s easy to remember, and it didn’t complain either, besides, are you questioning my naming skills?"

Kain stared at him.

"Because it can’t talk, bastard! Don’t take silence as agreement!"

One’s antennae moved again.

Through the Colony Link, Lian received something like boredom, One apparently had little interest in discussing its own name.

It mostly wanted to move.

For a moment, the young Vorhelm thought about another member who was resting inside the Colony House.

One and a huge, imposing, and terrifying wolf whose name was Two.

Maybe it was better not to tell Kain anything about this for now.

If he was this unhappy about One’s name, hearing the name of the second member would probably not be a good experience for him.

"Let’s go." Lian ended the discussion.

"I still have something to say about this name." Kain shook his head.

"Later."

They got onto One’s back, and a few seconds later, the giant ant started moving.

One’s speed was unusual for a creature of that size.

The stone roads passed under its feet one after another, and soon the walls of Base #9 became small in the distance.

"Where do you want to go?" The young Vorhelm asked.

"Do we have a map?"

He took out World Memory, he had the completed map of the area around the base with him.

He activated the effect, and a few seconds later, old paths, ruins, and areas whose information was incomplete appeared on the map.

He held it toward Kain, and at first he said nothing, then his eyes moved across the details and he realized that it was not a simple map.

"This isn’t a simple map, is it?"

His friend did not give much explanation either.

"That’s right, it also adds the old information of this world to the map. Not all of it is reliable, some places have changed, but it’s better than a normal map."

Kain checked it for several minutes.

The borders of known areas, hunting routes, areas that had already been recorded, and finally the farthest point that the new information from Base #9 reached.

His finger stopped there.

"What do you think about going to find something that isn’t on this map yet?" After all, this map showed the discovered areas! Not the entire Ruined Realm...