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

The morning sunlight shines on the clock tower.

The eager players had been waiting there for a long time, craning their necks to look into the shadows.

"Brothers, I've been playing this game for two days now, and only when I see my waifu Lily do I feel like all my hard work was worth it."

"I'd marry her if I could just see her face one more time!"

However, as the figure slowly emerged from the shadows, a collective sigh erupted from the crowd.

Instead of the petite figure in the gray robe, it was Moen, dressed in a black robe and wrapped up tightly, whom the players called the Ember Mentor.

Faced with the players' expressions of disappointment, as if to say "How come it's you?", Moen's lips twitched beneath his mask.

These fickle folks!

But he maintained his aloof mentor persona, ignoring it all, and simply raised his hand to update today's task board.

[System Announcement: The Ember Organization has issued a daily quest, "The Root of Corruption"]

[Description: Clean up the roaming, decaying corpses outside the city and attempt to find the source.]

[Rewards: Reputation +30, Experience +200, Fate Dust x2]

[Special Reward: The top-performing team will directly receive the skill "Ice Cone"]

The players' attention was instantly diverted to the mission.

"Dust of Fate? What kind of new currency is this?"

"Who cares, we have skill books! Let's go!"

The twenty-odd players who joined the organization picked up the weapons they had exchanged for in the past few days at the [Ember] reputation shop and excitedly began their monster-slaying adventure for the day.

Meanwhile, Big Pineapple gathered a few players, intending to try and get the special reward.

"Brothers, follow me. Today we're going to find the source!"

A few hours later, Big Pineapple, holding a long sword, was lying behind a bush.

"Brothers, something's not right here."

According to the organization's intelligence, the [Rotting Corpse], an undead creature whose body is covered in green corpse fluid, usually only appears in the Mordra Dead Domain under the jurisdiction of the Soul-Soothing Hall.

It's definitely unreasonable for them to be appearing around Nohanville now.

"There are footprints and tire tracks here," Big Pineapple said, pointing to the mud on the ground.

"Follow them, there's definitely a clue!"

Following the trail, the group passed through a dead forest and arrived at a secluded valley, where an abandoned camp stood on one side of the valley entrance.

In front of the camp was a place called Blackwater Rift Valley, and at this moment, a nauseating stench was emanating from the rift valley.

"Holy crap..." A viewer next to him couldn't help but gag.

The live stream chat was flooded with vomiting emojis.

Is this really okay to broadcast?

[Does Pineapple have such powerful backing? How did this even pass censorship?]

At the bottom of the rift valley, several thick metal pipes were continuously discharging blackish-green sewage. Beside the pool where the sewage gathered, there were piles of corpses, some of them animals and some of them humans.

Dozens of mutated corpses were wandering among the pile of corpses, gnawing on the severed limbs.

"Is this some kind of Resident Evil scene?" Big Pineapple's face turned pale.

"How could a newbie village like Nohanville have a place like this?"

One of the viewers who had followed asked Big Pineapple, "Boss, should we join in?"

"Let's go! Fortune favors the bold! Let's do it, brothers!"

Five minutes later.

[System notification: You have died]

Big Pineapple stared at the black and white screen, on the verge of tears.

These mutated zombies are too fierce. Not only are they poisonous, but they also self-destruct after being killed. As soon as they rushed down, they were surrounded by more than a dozen zombies and instantly melted.

"Retreat! Go back to base and call for reinforcements!"

Ten minutes later, the resurrected Diablo, carrying firsthand intelligence, rushed towards Moen.

Although he failed to completely eradicate the rotting corpses, he brought back detailed information about the Blackwater Rift and the mutated rotting corpses.

Moen reached out and handed Big Pineapple a thin, yellowed booklet: "May the embers light your way."

[Item Obtained: Basic Elemental Science: Ice Cone Spell]

"Holy crap! It really is a spell skill book!" The players who were with Diablo were so excited that their hands were shaking.

Although it's just the most basic spell, this is the first spellbook for magic users in the entire server!

After some discussion, Big Pineapple was the first to open the skill book and start flipping through it.

A short while later, an icon for Ice Spike appeared in his skill bar, and Diablo immediately struck a not-so-standard casting pose.

"drink!"

After a one-second countdown, an ice spike the size of a fist condensed in the palm of the hand and flew out with a "whoosh," piercing through a wooden barrel by the roadside.

"Awesome!!"

"Hey pro, please take me on a journey! I want to learn magic too!" The surrounding players instantly erupted in excitement, their eyes red with envy.

Big Pineapple, head held high and chest puffed out, basked in the thrill of returning home in glory, and didn't forget to post a boastful message on the forum:

First kill on a Corpse on the entire server! Ice Spike spell acquired! The Ember faction is having a field day!

In his excitement, Diablo remembered that the Fate Dust reward hadn't been given out yet, so he leaned closer to Moen and asked curiously, "Mentor, what exactly is Fate Dust used for?"

Moen waited for a long time before he finally came to ask.

Instead of answering directly, he delivered the lines he had prepared beforehand.

"Fate is not a predetermined path, but a river full of variables."

"Even the same spell will take on different forms in the hands of different people due to the disturbance of fate, and this dust is the bargaining chip that plucks the strings of fate."

"Do you want to see your fate?"

Big Pineapple swallowed hard: "I want to!"

Moen directly displayed a panel in front of Diablo.

[Feature Unlocked: Destiny Refinement]

[Note: Consuming Destiny Dust allows you to refine already mastered skills by adjusting their numerical values ​​and trait attributes.]

[Note: The results of the cleansing process are completely random; please proceed with caution.]

"Holy crap! A refinement system?!" Big Pineapple shouted in the live stream, "Brothers! This is an officially built-in gambling... oops, I mean, enhancement system!"

The barrage of comments exploded instantly:

[Gambling addict time!]

All in! A gamble, and you might just turn a bicycle into a motorcycle!

[Quickly! Quickly! Wash away that Ice Spike spell!]

Big Pineapple's teammate, [Tech Stream Old Ghost], couldn't help but lean in: "Boss, let me test the waters first? I also have two dusts."

"Okay, you can hold my hand first."

The old ghost stepped forward and threw two portions of the Dust of Destiny into the altar.

The interface suddenly shone brightly, and then a sharp blue light shot into his skill bar.

[Under the refining power of fate...]

[Gained prefix: Sharp]

[Skill Change: Sharp Ice Cone]

Damage: 85-95 (extremely stable)

[Additional effect: Ice spike flight speed +20%, penetration power +10%]

"Holy crap! This is amazing!" Old Ghost jumped up excitedly.

"Damage doubled, and with minimal fluctuation! This makes my damage output stable!"

Seeing this, Moen's lips curled up slightly under his hood.

[Mutation types already included]

now it's right!

Dust of Fate can only be recycled by Moen after the player has used it. When the recycled dust accumulates to a certain amount, it can be gathered into a Fate Stone, which is considered an additional way to obtain Fate Stones.

Furthermore, players can choose to apply the skill effects they refine to their own corresponding skills, which provides them with more room for maneuver when fusing skills later.

"My turn! My turn!"

Seeing this, Big Pineapple couldn't resist any longer. He immediately threw in his two portions of Destiny Dust, chanting, "Supreme Lord Laozi, hurry as the law commands! Give me gold! Give me gold!"

Hundreds of thousands of eyes were glued to the screen in the live stream.

The altar began to shake violently, and this time the light was not a sharp blue, but a translucent, liquid luster.

Fate has been violently disrupted...

[Gained the mutation prefix: amorphous]

Big Pineapple was overjoyed: "Mutation! This is absolutely a divine skill!"

He opened the skill panel with trembling hands.

[Skill: Amorphous Ice Cone]

[Damage: 5 points]

The air suddenly became quiet.

The live stream chat paused for a second, then erupted with a screen full of "hahahahaha".

5 points of damage? I could do more damage with my fists!

[This is hilarious, he's definitely unlucky!]

Is this the mutation? Has it mutated into a region?

"No...impossible..." Big Pineapple looked utterly devastated.

"This is definitely a bug! My tutor tricked me!"

"Don't rush, look below!"

Old Ghost suddenly pointed to the lower half of the skill description.

"There are additional effects!"

Big Pineapple looked closely, and its previously ashen face suddenly brightened.

[Additional Effect: Expansion]

[Description: This ice spike was in a liquid state before impact, and instantly froze and hardened 1.5 seconds after impact, its volume increased tenfold.]

【Effect】:

[If inside an object: Deals (100 + 200% attack power) damage]

[In open spaces: Instantly generate a huge thicket of icethorns as a terrain obstacle]

"This..." Big Pineapple was stunned.

"This isn't a useless skill, it's a god-tier sneaky skill!" Big Pineapple's eyes lit up again, and a million crazy ways to stuff this skill into the Boss's mouth had already appeared in his mind.

This is perfect for the old coin, pineapple.

[I've come up with a strange use for this skill]

Before long, the chat in Da Boluo's live stream had veered off course from skill usage to who-knows-where.

Moen watched as Big Pineapple's expression shifted from despair to ecstasy, maintaining his enigmatic demeanor: "Fate always favors those who dare to break the rules."

"Go, and in your own way, make the enemy feel fear."

Big Pineapple bowed deeply to Moen: "Thank you, mentor! I understand! I'll make those rotting corpses taste what it's like to be stuffed full!"