Chapter 174: Infinite Fusion—Success

[Synthesis has reached Level 3.]

[Synthesis has reached Level 4.]

[Synthesis...]

Notifications constantly flashed in Aurelius’ vision as his Skill Points rapidly decreased.

Aurelius didn’t know whether it was because of his increased Luck or simply because he had failed many times while trying before today and the Goddess of Luck decided to help him, but when Synthesis reached Level 5, there was a sudden change.

"Ding!"

"Synthesis has triggered a Divine Intervention!"

"Synthesis is undergoing an evolution..."

The Player Panel flickered.

Then...

"Synthesis has obtained a new effect: Skill Master."

...

[Skill Master: Having mastered a large variety of skills, your Synthesis has been upgraded. The chances of producing a successful Synthesis have increased by 20%. The power of synthesized skills has been increased by 10%.]

...

Under normal circumstances, Aurelius would have paid more attention to the improvement in the resulting skill’s power.

Yet at the moment, the first part was far more useful.

The chances of a successful Synthesis had increased by 20%!

Although it was still far from being certain, that effect was already extremely precious.

After all, Synthesis was the key to his advancement to Rank 3.

If he could increase his chances of success, even by a small amount, it could potentially determine whether he succeeded or failed at a critical moment.

Thinking of this, Aurelius did not hesitate to continue pouring his Skill Points into the skill.

He wondered whether he would be able to trigger another Divine Intervention.

Unfortunately, his luck seemed to have run out after the first time.

[Synthesis has reached Level 8.]

[Synthesis has reached Level 9.]

[...]

Nothing extraordinary happened. Divine Intervention was silent.

Until finally...

[Synthesis has reached Level 10.]

Aurelius was about to continue. But just then, several new notifications emerged.

"Ding!"

"Synthesis has undergone a transformation. It has been upgraded to Infinite Fusion!"

"Infinite Fusion has reached the current maximum limit of the Taboo Arcanist Class. If you want to upgrade it further, please raise your Rank."

...

[Infinite Fusion: The ultimate evolution of Synthesis. The user can fuse two or more skills, Talents, abilities, or Laws into a new ability. The resulting ability will inherit and combine the characteristics of the fused abilities. Its power, effects, and potential will depend on the user’s Luck, the abilities being fused, and the level of Infinite Fusion.]

[Skill Master: Having mastered a large variety of skills, your Synthesis has been upgraded. The chances of producing a successful Synthesis have increased by 20%. The power of synthesized skills has been increased by 10%.]

[Myriad Skills: Infinite Fusion can simultaneously fuse up to 15 different skills or Talents.]

[Perfect Fusion: The more compatible the fused skills are, the greater the chance of producing a successful fusion. If the fused skills share a common origin, attribute, or fundamental principle, the resulting ability will be significantly strengthened.]

[Mastery of All Things: The user’s mastery of the skills being fused can increase the chances of a successful fusion. The greater the user’s understanding of the fused skills, the greater the improvement. The maximum improvement is 50%.]

...

Aurelius was caught off guard.

He had never expected that upgrading Synthesis to Level 10 would directly cause its transformation.

Infinite Fusion!

Just from its name, it was easy to understand that it was far more terrifying than the simple-sounding Synthesis.

Its effects had already revealed that.

Whether it was Myriad Skills, Mastery of All Things, or Perfect Fusion, all three were functions that massively improved the original Synthesis’ capabilities or directly gave new ones.

Unfortunately, this transformation came with a drawback.

Aurelius looked toward the notifications, focusing on the last one at the very bottom.

"Infinite Fusion has reached the maximum limit of the Taboo Arcanist Class..." he whispered with faint regret.

He had originally planned to upgrade Synthesis as much as he could before moving on to the other skills. But now, it seemed that his plan had been for nothing.

Of course, this was not necessarily a bad thing.

’Given the new effects of Infinite Fusion, its Level 1 version is not any weaker than a Level 20 or even higher Synthesis.’

’The only drawback is that I can’t trigger Divine Intervention with it. If I had triggered some extraordinary evolution, it could have helped me greatly.’

Aurelius shook his head.

Whether he wanted to or not, that was reality.

He could only accept it and hope that Infinite Fusion’s capabilities would exceed his expectations.

’Infinite Fusion has already reached the limit of my current Rank. It should be more powerful than other skills, right?’ he could only try to convince himself.

Trying to distract himself and stop thinking about it, Aurelius moved toward the other skills.

He had already decided to upgrade them before he used Synthesis. Now, with the effect of Mastery of All Things, that idea had only been further reinforced.

After all, the appearance of Mastery of All Things meant that this capability had strengthened even further, enough to become an effect of its own.

Having reached this point, Aurelius would not be careless. He would try to obtain every improvement he could get.

He focused on the ten skills he had carefully selected.

Death’s Grace. Undead Seal. Underworld Soul...

All ten skills shared something in common:

They were directly related to the power of Death or the Underworld.

Their actual effects differed. However, they all worked based on the power of Death.

That was more than enough for Aurelius. Or at the very least, it was the best he could do at the moment.

He didn’t believe he would have the chance to obtain another Rank 6 inheritance with his current strength. This was the limit of what he could achieve as a Taboo Arcanist.

Knowing this, he didn’t waste any time.

After glancing at his remaining Skill Points and confirming they were enough, he directly consumed them to upgrade these ten skills.

[Death’s Grace has reached Level 2.]

[Death’s Grace has reached Level 3.]

[...]

[Undead Seal has reached Level 2.]

[Undead Seal has reached Level 3.]

[...]

[Underworld Soul has reached...]

[...]

The notifications were never-ending.

Although Aurelius had been prepared, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of heartache upon watching his Skill Points deplete.

However, he knew that now was not the time to hesitate.

With a ruthless look in his eyes, he continued consuming them.

The flashing prompts continued for several minutes, occupying his entire vision.

Near the end, Aurelius almost became dizzy from the flood of notifications.

Fortunately, everything soon came to an end.

The skills had been upgraded to the maximum limit that they could reach with his current Skill Points.

Seeing this, Aurelius took a deep breath.

He knew that the time had come. There was no turning back now.

With a move of his mind, Infinite Fusion was activated.

Although Synthesis had transformed, its outward appearance had remained the same.

The moment Infinite Fusion was cast, Aurelius’ vision rapidly shifted, as though he was ascending in dimension.

Soon, he found himself in a dark void, surrounded by dozens of lights.

When he had first activated Synthesis, these lights had only been a few and could be made out with a single glance.

Now, however, given the number of skills he had learned and copied, the lights numbered in the hundreds.

For a moment, Aurelius felt as though he had entered the starry sky, becoming the sun and being surrounded by countless celestial bodies.

Thankfully, he quickly snapped out of it.

His gaze moved through all the little stars. He instinctively knew what each of them represented.

And so, he was able to pick them out.

Death’s Grace. Undead Seal. Underworld Soul.

Nether Flames. Aura of the Dead. Soul Reaping.

One after another, the selected skills appeared before him.

Skill after skill came toward him, while those he ignored faded away into nothingness.

Time slowly passed.

In the blink of an eye, the vast majority of the stars had disappeared.

Only ten lights remained—the skills Aurelius had selected earlier.

Watching them revolve around him, even he became a little dazed.

The ten lights were different in appearance, yet they all carried the same profound aura.

Death.

Aurelius stared at them without speaking.

He knew he was extremely close to advancing to Rank 3.

As long as the following Infinite Fusion succeeded, he would directly advance! This was the final step.

Surprisingly, Aurelius found himself strangely calm despite facing such a tense situation.

He stared at the lights with an indifferent expression.

His mind stirred, and the Spirit in his body rushed out.

The ten lights erupted with an even more terrifying brilliance, illuminating the surrounding dark void.

The entire dimension trembled.

Then, the lights’ brilliance fused together!

Each light originally had a different color. Yet as they approached each other, that color changed.

Slowly, they grew closer to gray, until they finally fused together into pitch black.

Aurelius had initially expected that the fusion would take some time.

However, perhaps because the skill had transformed, the actual synthesis was nearly instantaneous.

Only a mere moment later, the extraordinary brilliance had retreated.

In its place now stood a single black light.

The moment it appeared, a torrent of information flooded Aurelius’ mind.

At the same time, a set of notifications appeared.

"Ding! Synthesis was successful!"

"You’ve acquired..."