Are All My Skills Going to Be Monster Moves?

The next instant.

Just like last time, the four identical Goblin portraits twisted and blurred. Then three of them vanished.

The Goblin portrait in the first slot became a sturdy Goblin wearing a leather Shoulder Guard.

Rain had obtained a second Goblin Warrior portrait.

He did not stop there. He dragged the first Goblin Warrior portrait from his sixteen-slot inventory into another empty slot.

When he activated the first Goblin Warrior icon, his vision sharpened and his muscles grew taut again.

Then, with a trace of apprehension, Rain activated the second Goblin Warrior icon.

A system prompt appeared:

[Two identical bloodlines of the same tier cannot be equipped. A bloodline cannot be fused a second time.]

"No second fusion?"

"So it really won't work?"

Rain felt a little disappointed.

But he had expected as much.

If it worked, he would be unstoppable.

He would only have to keep hunting ordinary Goblins. Every four he collected would fuse into a Goblin Warrior.

The math was simple: sixteen ordinary Goblins would give him four Goblin Warriors, which he could fuse into a Goblin one tier stronger still.

He did not know what that tier of Goblin was called, but the name hardly mattered.

If he could keep going like that, he would have no choice but to become a Goblin slayer, fuse a Goblin Chieftain or Goblin King Bloodline, and equip it.

"Looks like there's no shortcut."

"I'll have to kill stronger monsters myself, little by little, to collect and equip their bloodlines."

"Still, fusing four into one is already powerful."

"I've never killed a Goblin Warrior, yet I have the Goblin Warrior Bloodline."

"In other words, if I kill four monsters of a given tier, I can fuse and equip the bloodline of a monster from the next tier."

As Rain pondered this, the group returned to Oak Village.

At the sight of the two rescued girls, the villagers young and old broke into cheers and warmly thanked the four Adventurers.

"Village Chief Kyle, we won't stay the night. I need to get back to Mill Town at once and have a doctor treat my arm." Thor raised his bandaged right arm, still looking rather weak.

"I see... Very well. Thank you again for your help." Village Chief Kyle placed a hand over his chest and bowed.

Just then, Nia, the archer at the back of the Adventurer party, turned to Rain.

"Rain, we're an Adventurer party from Dorn City. If you ever want to become an Adventurer, come find me there."

"I will. Thank you, Lady Nia."

Rain had not expected the invitation. Flattered, he hurried to thank her.

Thor showed no reaction to Nia's words, but the man with the greatsword and the man with the twin daggers were visibly surprised.

The twin-dagger wielder's eyes flickered, as though he felt ashamed.

He had nothing against Rain, the brave farmer. But in the fight against the Mutant Goblin, he had hesitated and shrunk back.

Next to Rain's courage, his own behavior looked especially cowardly.

That stung.

"Come on, Nia. Let's go." The twin-dagger wielder glanced at Rain, then spoke to Nia impatiently.

After the Adventurers left, the two girls' families offered Rain their heartfelt thanks.

Seeing the joy and gratitude on Ruth's and Lori's families' faces stirred something in him.

In his previous life, Rain had once read a line: "The ultimate value of strength lies in holding up the sky for those you love and those too weak to protect themselves."

Perhaps this is what it feels like to hold up the sky for someone weaker.

The feeling had not come from nowhere.

In his previous life, Rain's parents had died helping someone in danger. His grandparents had raised him, and kind neighbors had often lent a hand.

Later, society had changed so much that people dared not even help an elderly person who had fallen in the street. But Rain's goodwill had remained, with one condition: he would not risk being falsely accused.

In this world, the original Rain had been an orphan. Old Henry of Oak Village had taken him in as an infant.

Old Henry was a kind, unassuming villager with a limp. He had even tried to find the boy's parents.

But the only clue had been a semicircular metal pendant hanging from a thin cord around the boy's neck. With his bad leg limiting what he could do, Old Henry's search had gradually come to nothing.

Old Henry had died of illness six months ago, still talking about finding Rain's parents.

And as the boy grew up, many kind villagers in Oak Village had helped him too.

Given how alike his two lives had been, it was no wonder Rain felt this way.

Once everything in the village was settled,

Rain went straight home to a two-story wooden house with a sloping roof.

Old Henry had left the house to him when he died.

Now Rain lived there alone.

When he got home, Rain did not bother washing up. He shut the door and lit the oil lamp on the table.

Delight and excitement spread across his face. He could hardly wait to try equipping the new bloodline—the Mutant Goblin Bloodline.

His heart was racing, and his palms were damp with sweat.

He dragged the portrait of the Mutant Goblin in a linen tunic from his sixteen-slot inventory into the second of the four slots, then activated its icon.

The Mutant Goblin icon lit up!

A complex, three-dimensional pattern suddenly appeared in Rain's mind. As if by instinct, he knew how to cast the spell the Mutant Goblin had used.

"That Adventurer was right."

"It really is the Zero-Ring Spell Freezing Ray!"

But when Rain looked back at the system panel, he paused.

A separate icon had appeared beneath the Mutant Goblin icon. It showed a pale-blue ray shooting diagonally into the sky.

The system panel had changed too.

[Name: Rain]

[Profession: Farmer]

[Equipped Bloodlines: Goblin Warrior Bloodline ×1, Cold-Enhanced Goblin Bloodline ×1]

[Bloodline Talents: Rapid Reproduction lv3... Robust lv1... Dim-Light Vision lv1... Frost Affinity lv1...]

[Spell-Like Ability: Freezing Ray lv1]

[Strength: 5 (+1)]

[Agility: 5 (+1)]

[Constitution: 5]

[Intelligence: 7]

"I see."

"Robust and Dim-Light Vision are passive bloodline abilities. Freezing Ray is an active attack ability granted by a bloodline."

"That's why it has its own skill slot below the four bloodline slots."

"So if I want a monster's signature ability or spell, there's a good chance I can get it just by killing one?"

"Wait... Does that mean my skill slots will eventually be full of monster moves?"