Fusion: Five-Star Skill Card—Salted Fish Thrust

This time, he chose not to break it down, but to extract the skill from the card.

So when the Magic Cube spun, what appeared was not the Creation Energy produced by breaking down the Three-Star Resource Card earlier, but a tiny ball of light.

Next, Lin Xiao extracted the last Two-Star Skill Card, "Severe Pain," turning it into an even smaller ball of light.

His plan was simple: use Thrust as the core skill, fuse it with Severe Pain, then use the Creation Energy from the broken-down Three-Star Resource Card as nourishment to strengthen the fused skill. This would create a more powerful skill combining the advantages of both Thrust and Severe Pain.

After mentally mapping out the process, Lin Xiao willed it into motion. Under the Magic Cube's control, the two balls of skill-light slowly drew together, rapidly merging like two bubbles. Then, the Creation Energy permeating the Magic Cube's space rushed into the light sphere. The originally white sphere began to brighten rapidly as it absorbed the Creation Energy.

"Hmm? There are two enhancement paths?"

Lin Xiao raised a brow. After a brief consideration, he chose one of the options.

Ten seconds later, all the Creation Energy had fused into the sphere, and the Magic Cube stopped spinning. He reached out and pressed it. The Magic Cube swiftly shrank in his palm before finally disappearing, replaced by a ball of dazzling light. Before his eyes, it gradually flattened into a card that emitted a faint glow.

Five-Star Skill Card—Unknown Skill (Epic): Limited to piercing weapons. Cross a distance of fifty yards at extreme speed to attack a target, dealing damage equal to five times maximum attack. The attack ignores 50% of defense.

This was the enhancement path he had chosen: pure burst damage.

The other path dealt only triple damage, but its attack ignored 50% of defense and possessed four special effects: piercing, armor break, bleeding, and tearing.

After comparing the two, Lin Xiao ultimately chose the fivefold burst option.

A real man had to go head-on.

He casually named the newly fused skill "Salted Fish Thrust" and set it aside. Then he took out the two cards he had put away earlier: the four-star Murloc Card and the Five-Star Breeding Card. These two cards could also be fused.

Using the Gray Mist Fishman Summoning Card as the base, he would break down the Species Propagation Card, extract the Propagation Rule contained within it, and fuse it into the Gray Mist Fishman Card. That would produce a new card. He swiftly tossed the Gray Mist Fishman Card into the Magic Cube, breaking it down and extracting a ball of light. Then he threw in the Species Propagation Card and extracted the Propagation Rule nurtured within it.

It was a strand of golden light finer than a hair, radiating an intoxicating charm.

Strictly speaking, if this Propagation Rule were powerful enough and supplemented with a great amount of Faith Points and divine power, it could potentially be refined into genuine Procreation Divinity. With that as a foundation, one could become a demigod, then invest a huge amount of divine power to eventually condense a Procreation Divine Position.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao did not have many Faith Points right now, and this Propagation Rule was incomplete. Completing it would be far too difficult.

Shaking his head to cast aside those random thoughts, Lin Xiao controlled the strand of Procreation Divinity and fused it into the Gray Mist Fishman Summoning Card. Soon, a new card appeared in his palm.

Five-Star Species Card—Gray Mist Fishmen (Epic): Gain 400 Gray Mist Fishmen at once. They possess twice the fertility rate and twice the offspring survival rate of their kind.

The summoning quantity had not changed, and the effect of the Propagation Card had been weakened by 50%. However, the effect had changed from a ten-year buff into an innate species trait. That alone made this card's direct value more than ten times greater than the two cards combined, while its potential value was over a hundred times higher.

Lin Xiao could not help extending his hand to look at the Magic Cube outlined by threads of light in his palm. He clicked his tongue. "Too powerful."

After all, it was of Epic quality.

The golden hand clenched, and the Magic Cube merged into his palm. Lin Xiao soared into the sky and appeared high above. The two cards floated before him. He rubbed his hands together, but instead of loading them immediately, he first spent ten thousand units of Faith Points to preload the skill.

So-called preloading meant loading it onto designated Kinfolk in the Divine Domain first. However, it could not yet be used; certain conditions had to be met before it could be activated.

The condition Lin Xiao set was simple: one had to reach the True Believer level of faith before the preloaded skill could be activated.

For Deities, believers were ranked from highest to lowest as follows—

Saint, Fanatic Believer, Devout Believer, True Believer, Nominal Believer, False Believer, Non-believer.

Saints went without saying—they were incredibly difficult to obtain. Even true gods might not have one. Fanatic Believers were the most fervent followers of ordinary demigods and weaker true gods. Devout Believers formed the backbone, usually serving as priests within a Sect, while True Believers were the core of the faithful and also the largest group among a Deity's followers.

Below them were Nominal Believers, also called Light Believers. They were basically of little value; ten Nominal Believers could not compare to a single True Believer.

There was even less need to mention False Believers. They were the sort who normally did not believe in Deities at all, only clasping their hands and offering a bow when they happened to see others worshipping. Deities did not consider such people part of their faith.

Normally, Divine Creatures like Lin Xiao, who had only just opened a Divine Domain, could not display miracles, making it difficult to raise faith. These Gray Mist Fishmen were his initial Kinfolk and received a bonus, which was why there were so many high-quality believers. If he went to preach among the natives of the Outland instead, it would be hard to say whether he could even establish a foothold in ten years.

After loading the skill, Lin Xiao also preloaded the other Species Card into the Divine Domain. Then he turned into a streak of golden light, descended into the Divine Domain, and directly entered his usual descending vessel.

The Murloc Chieftain, who had been fishing with his tribesmen, suddenly paused. In the next second, golden light flashed through his pupils before they returned to normal. The surrounding Murlocs were swimming through the shallows chasing a Sardine School and did not notice that their chieftain had become someone else.

The descended Lin Xiao swiftly gathered the Murlocs, who had spent most of the day fishing, and led them back to the tribe. At the same time, he activated the preloaded skill and became the first to learn Salted Fish Thrust.

When they passed a reef halfway there, he suddenly let out a series of croaks and shouted to the other Murlocs, "The great Lord of Gray Mist has just bestowed new power upon me."

The other Gray Mist Fishmen looked at him strangely. Lin Xiao drew the Bone Blade from his waist and pointed it at a stone pillar over thirty meters away, protruding two meters above the sea and blackened by years of seawater. In the next second, the water beneath his feet exploded, and a phantom Murloc trailed a long ribbon of wind through the seawater before slamming into the pillar.

"Boom!"

The thick stone pillar exploded from the middle, sending countless fragments flying more than ten meters away.

All the Gray Mist Fishmen stared at him in stunned silence, frozen with their mouths open in shock. After a long moment, Lin Xiao slowly turned around and raised the shattered Bone Blade, only half of it remaining, letting out a thunderous roar. Only then did the Murlocs react. They surged forward excitedly, surrounding the stone pillar he had shattered with a single blow and croaking as they discussed it.

Ten minutes later, a group of Gray Mist Fishmen escorted Lin Xiao back to the tribe. Under the astonished gazes of the other tribesmen, they rushed to the Altar in the center of the tribe, knelt before it, and began to pray continuously.

Almost instantly, Lin Xiao sensed that more than ten Faith Threads had thickened during this time. Ten Light Believers had become True Believers.