As an NPC, having a lot of skills is quite reasonable, right?

"Ah! Another day has passed!"

That evening, after taking a shower, Moen lay comfortably on his soft bed.

Moen couldn't help but laugh when he thought about the dinner scene.

At the dining table, Erwin shoveled almost the entire plate of Braised Phantom Rabbit onto his and Lily's plates.

Just as Moen reached out with his chopsticks to pick up a piece of pork loin, Alvin righteously blocked him with his fork.

"Mr. Moen! The flesh of the Phantom Rabbit is rich in etheric particles, which can directly enhance the sensitivity of magical perception!"

As she piled the mana into Lily's bowl, she declared matter-of-factly, "Lily is rebuilding her mana circuits and needs this the most! And I'm the team's only spellcaster, so I need to replenish my mana too!"

"As for you and Mr. Green..."

She pushed over two bare rabbit legs, looking serious: "The conversion rate of these for warriors and pharmacists is less than 5%. To maximize the utilization of team resources, you can just eat the legs to build up your muscles. Don't waste the core materials."

Recalling Green's bewildered expression at the time, Moen shook his head helplessly.

The chief was wrongly accused; it's no wonder that Elwin was ostracized in the Star Pattern Academy.

Of course, this was just a joke; Moen watched them finish eating with a smile the whole time.

Coming to his senses, Moen decided to organize his recent gains.

Upon entering the corridor, he checked and found that he had accumulated 273 Mortal Fragments and 15 Sacred Ritual Fragments. He had also farmed all the monsters he hadn't been able to farm today.

With a thought, several statues that had not yet been redeemed appeared in front of him in the corridor.

Moen felt that the corridor was more like an image in his mind. It would become whatever Moen wanted it to be, and it was not bound by the form of a corridor, just like now.

Among the statues that appeared before them, the most imposing were naturally the [Silver Plain Tyrant - Snow Mammoth] and the [Prism Overlord - Crystal Core Tyrant], but the only remaining skill on these two statues was the Holy Ritual skill, which had not yet been redeemed.

The Snow Mammoth's skill that triggers a blizzard across the entire field costs [12 Ritual Fragments + 300 Mortal Fragments] to exchange for, and the Crystal Core Tyrant's [Mirror Warp] skill, which was interrupted by Moen and Elwin, costs [12 Ritual Fragments + 400 Mortal Fragments] to exchange for. Neither of them are affordable.

Ignoring these two, next to them are the [Floating Rock Lizard] which I unlocked in Falling Star Rift Valley, the rare monster [Sulfur Crystal Self-Destructing Bat] which I happened to unlock in Sulfur Hot Spring Cave, and the [Snowfield Gray Wolf] and [Winter Thorn Tree Spirit] which I unlocked while farming monsters today.

There are quite a few skills that can be exchanged. Moen currently has a Life Stone, but he is struggling with how to use this Life Stone to fuse a skill with relevant attributes.

This life stone looks like it has auxiliary effects, so how is it related to the martyrdom system?

As Moen browsed through the skill lists of the various statues, he tried to mentally combine them with his own skills, but he couldn't come up with any ideas.

"Never mind that, let's just exchange for the statue with only one skill first."

Moen abandoned his thought and spent 25 fragments to exchange for the Floating Rock Lizard's [Meteor Bomb]. Although his skill slots were already full, he could put it in the skill pool for later use.

[Skill: Meteor Bomb]

[Rank: Mortal]

[Description: You have compressed stellar radiation into a highly unstable mass of magical energy, which will explode upon contact.]

[Consumable: 45 MP]

[Cooldown: 20 seconds]

[Skill Effect]

[Energy Blast: Releases a rock sphere that shimmers with a purple-blue light. Upon impact with a target or obstacle, it explodes instantly, dealing (1.4x Arcane) magic damage to enemies within a 1-meter radius.]

[Radiation Erosion: The residual stellar energy from the explosion will adhere to the target's surface, reducing the target's magic resistance by 10% for 5 seconds (this effect does not stack)]

Next, I used 40 fragments to exchange for the skills of [Snowfield Gray Wolf] and [Winter Thorn Tree Spirit].

[Skill: Throat Slicer]

[Rank: Mortal]

[Description: Seeking out the most vulnerable blood vessels in living organisms—a hunting instinct ingrained in our genes]

[Cost: 30 Mana]

[Cooldown: 8 seconds]

[Skill Effect]

[Weakness Critical Strike: Pounces on the target's throat, dealing 130% physical damage. If attacked from behind, the damage multiplier increases to 150%, and inflicts a bleeding status, dealing 15 physical damage per second for 5 seconds.]

-----------------

[Skill: Winter Thorn Shot]

[Rank: Mortal]

[Description: Magic is transformed into pine needles and poured out like a torrential rain]

[Cost: 50 Mana]

[Cooldown: 12 seconds]

[Skill Effect]

[Fan-shaped Coverage: Fires three waves of pine needles in a 60-degree fan-shaped area in front, each wave dealing (0.6x Arcane) damage]

After exchanging items, Moen had 208 mortal fragments left. He temporarily set aside the bat statue and hurriedly exited the corridor to the fusion interface.

If you can't think of a suitable one, then try the brute force method. Put all the skills on the list and see the success rate. Find the most suitable one first.

After spending several tens of minutes arranging combinations, Moen discovered a pattern: as long as the fusion included the skill [Desperate Burst], the success rate would not be lower than 50%, and the success rate was highest at 72% when [Desperate Burst] was combined with [Winter Thorn Shot].

Moen carefully examined the description of the Life Stone and, considering the success rate logic given by the fusion panel, realized that his previous thoughts were probably wrong.

This life stone may represent a kind of courage to face death and live, rather than his superficial understanding of vitality and survival.

If the self-destruction of the exploding bat were also a skill, it would definitely match this life stone perfectly. Unfortunately, self-destruction is a biological instinct of the exploding bat, and there is no such skill in its skill panel.

Now another question is facing Moen: whether or not to merge.

"Screw you! Your brother Jiang mutated equipment, upgraded weapons, transmuted time-travel suits, fused guns, forged demons, cried and regretted, but he never backed down! Fuse it now!"

In the merge interface, a pure white daisy phantom slowly blooms, its petals enveloping two skill stones before dissipating.

【Successful integration】

[Gain Skill: White Thorns Bloom]

"Hmph," Moen sneered, brushing non-existent dust off his clothes. "Hei Zi, speak!"

Unfortunately, no one saw his performance.

[Skill: White Thorns Bloom]

[Rank: Mortal - Decay]

[Description: The closer life is to its end, the more tragically it blooms. Moen mixed the magic and life force within him, transforming them into countless pure white and deadly thorns, bursting forth in all directions with himself as the flower's stamen.]

[Cost: 10% of current health]

[Cooldown: 60 seconds]

[Skill Effect]

[Blood Irrigation: Creates white thorns within a 4-meter radius around the caster, dealing (80 + consumed health x 1.5) physical piercing damage to all enemies within the area.]

[Withering Stance: For 3 seconds after skill activation, your pain sensation is temporarily blocked, and your physical defense is increased by 30%]

[Born to Die: If cast when health is below 30%, the thorns will turn from white to red, the skill's range will double, and it will inflict severe bleeding on hit enemies (dealing true damage equal to 1% of your missing health per second for 5 seconds)]

good!very good!very good!

It's another area-of-effect damage skill, perfectly suited to Moen's current suicide-style warrior build!

[Semantic resonance detected]

[Entry already included: Withering]

[Three related terms have been included, and node 3/3 is activated.]

Congratulations on unlocking the first-tier mortal chain trait and gaining the passive skill: Last Stand.

[Related Hidden Class Martyr Development Progress: 3/5]

A barrage of notifications overwhelmed Moen. After placing three mortal skills with the fusion attribute on his skill bar, a chain appeared connecting them, and a passive skill icon appeared on each of them.

A desperate battle

[Description: As long as I don't die, what flows from this wound isn't blood, but a countdown to your death.]

[Effect: For every 1% of your current health lost, your final damage dealt increases by 0.4%, and your attack speed increases by 0.5%]