The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 103: Skill Fusion

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Despite the enlightenment I went through, barely half an hour had passed, so I still had plenty of time to see a few other things. I wanted to first use some of my items above all else, especially the Skill Fusion Tickets I possess and also the other Skill-related items. I would like to learn a lot of these skills and combine them over and over again until I get something ridiculous.

The [Cursed & Blessed Blazing Starlight Relic Creation (SS)], my first and only Fusion Skill so far, was already very strong and useful, giving me the ability to create powerful equipment using blazing starlight metal, which I could imbue with either curses or blessings.

It required a lot of proficiency to level up, so right now, it is only Level 5 so far. But I’ll be leveling it steadily in the coming days, as I’ll be climbing the tower quickly. I want to at least get to Floor 10 before going back home.

We have a bit over a year before the invasion of Floor 80, and although the Gray Gates are pouring out parallel timeline threats, things have relatively calmed down a bit, except in Egypt, where those floating pyramids are becoming rather suspicious.

I had already sent my Doppelganger towards these areas to investigate, but if I spread them too thinly, their power would decrease, so I have to play it carefully. Thankfully, with my new [Primordial Heavenly Empress of Light Arts (SSS)] skill, Doppelgangers became much stronger, as I immediately began summoning them using this skill.

They can now be imbued with fragments of my Divinities, and also with Faith and more of my Essence without them exploding in the process, plus, if I merge them with my Cursed & Blessed Blazing Starlight Relic Creation Skill, they become much more durable, just like the barriers I had upgraded using that very skill.

My calculations say that within a day, I should have covered every area with Gray Gates, and I’ll be actively looking for strange things so I can stop them in time. My mind is currently divided into many parts, but they’re all capable of concentrating on their own tasks, so I should do the same with what’s in front of me.

First of all, let’s fuse Skills! If I use tickets, Skill Fusion is completely free with no Credit Cost, so I’ll do that first.

Right now, these are my current Skill-related items:

[Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (S Grade)] x2 

[Skill Copy Ticket (S Grade)] x1 

[Random Skill Book (S Rank)] x4

[Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (SSS Grade)] x3 

[Divine Skill Book (SSS Grade)] x3

[Nether Energy Manipulation Skill Book (SSS Grade)] x1

[Soul Aether Manipulation Skill Book (SS Grade)] x1

Alright, it’s quite clear that the SSS Rank Divine Skill Fusion Tickets are better than the others. But let’s do this anyway. I’ll first combine any skills I find quite not so... well, useful, and then I’ll combine them again with others.

Like this!

The ticket I grabbed was an S-Rank ticket; it quickly turned into pure light, engulfing me with its divine radiance. I quickly chose the skills I wanted to combine.

Four Skills.

Ding!

[You have used the [Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (S Grade)] to combine four skills!]

[You have combined the Skills: [Triple Elemental Magic: Fire, Ice, Lightning (A): Lv10]. [Divine Brilliant Light Magic (S): Lv10] [Divine Light Spirit Summon (S): Lv10] and [Windstorm (B): Lv10] into the [Multi-Elemental Heavenly Light Spirit Divine Magic (SS): Lv1] Fusion Skill!]

Oh, that sounds interesting—a Divine Magic Skill that combines several elements with Divinity and Light, huh?

Let’s see what else we get.

Ding!

[You have used the [Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (S Grade)] to combine four Skills!]

[You have combined the Skills: [Kicking Strike (D): Lv10] [Basic Swordsmanship (C): Lv10] [Basic Martial Arts (C): Lv10] and [Crescent Moon’s Shadow Dagger Style (S): Lv10] into the [Eclipsing Moon Shadow Weapon Martial Arts (SS): Lv1] Fusion Skill!]

A martial art that encompasses the aspects of darkness and yin and summons moonlight powers becomes stronger under the night.

Now that I’m done with those S-Rank Tickets, let’s use the SSS-Rank ones now.

Let’s move on to combine some of the skills I have in reserve. I think I can also gift them to others, but I want to see what I can get first.

[You have used the [Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (SSS Grade)] to combine four Skills!]

[You have combined the Skills: [Demon Killing Arts (B): Lv1] [Evil Cult Leader Authority (S): Lv1] [Dark Enslavement Curse (S): Lv1] and [Evil Abyssal Torture Arts (S): Lv1] into the [Abyssal Heaven’s Cursed Domain of Demonic Torture (SSS): Lv1] Fusion Skill!]

Oh?! Now that one sounds pretty deadly! It has a nice Murim-like name to it, which is catchy.

Okay, what else can I get?

[You have used the [Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (SSS Grade)] to combine four Skills!]

[You have combined the Skills: [Demonic Conquest Blade Techniques (SS): Lv1] and [Demonic Death Scythe Techniques (SS): Lv1] [Demonic Pestilence Spear Techniques (SS): Lv1] and [Demonic War Axe Techniques (SS): Lv1] into the [Demonic Asura Aura Manifestation: Bloodthirsty Demon Warlord Battle Arts (SSS): Lv1] Fusion Skill!]

Ah, this creates a manifestation of an Aura, materializing into a powerful multi-armed demon thing that can use destructive attacks. It's pretty amusing and flashy.

Now, onto the last ticket. The rest of the fusions are going to cost me Credits, but I got plenty of them. The good thing about credits is that I don’t need to have the skills at the max level. Though with Credits, I just have to pay an additional price if the skills aren’t max level anyway, heh.

[You have used the [Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (SSS Grade)] to combine four Skills!]

[You have combined the Skills: [Demonic Book of the Dead (SS): Lv1] [Bloodthirsty Warlord of the Battlefield (SS): Lv1] [Demonic Abyssal Grimoire of Deadly Curses (SS): Lv1] and [Barrier Formation (S): Lv1] into the [Archdemonic Death Grimoire of Infernal Cursed Demon Formations (SSS): Lv1] Fusion Skill!]

This is strange. Well, I did combine four weird Skills. This thing summons a big grimoire into my hands, which contains powerful spells capable of summoning phantasmal-like cursed demonic beings, which can be shaped and transformed into powerful formations with a myriad of different effects. They can also be turned into summoned demons to ravage anything.

How interesting and amusing! Fusing Skills is always quite fun.

Now let’s combine a few more Skills too, fusing the fused skills, heh.

[You have exchanged 30.000.000 Credits!]

[You have decided to combine the [First Aid (D): Lv10] [Cooking (D): Lv10] and [Family Bond (D): Lv10] Skills!]

[Skill Fusion process has begun!]

FLASH!

The three Skills came together in a slightly different way than with the tickets, yet their power was much more than I imagined.

It was only three D Rank Skills; I thought it wouldn’t be that surprising.

However, perhaps because of the strong bond I have with my family, the resulting Skill was greatly boosted.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully combined [First Aid (D): Lv10], [Cooking (D): Lv10], and [Family Bond (D): Lv10] Skills into the Fusion Skill: [Divine Golden Heaven Gourmet Bond Arts (SS): Lv1]!]

[Fusion Skills can be equipped in any of the Classless and Magic Skill Slots.]

Gourmet… Bond Arts?

So it combines the Bond Powers with Gourmet- Ah!

FLASH!

Suddenly, something within me awakened—a golden spark, inspiration for cooking arose within me, and also the warmth of family accompanied it.

It was a small vision, but it was a vision of my beloved family—my mom, my sister, her boyfriend, Merkite, Urbosa, Hekita, and many more—all together.

The warmth that the food I cooked brought, and everything else... It was rather comforting.

That’s right, the warmth that can only be created with family—this warmth I’ve been missing my entire life back in Murim.

Which I’ve already recreated a few times with everyone through cooking delicious meals, food is something that connects us all.

Of course, how could I ever forget?

This is a wonderful Skill; I think I’ll keep it and not fuse it over.

Now, another two I want to get rid of already.

[You have exchanged 25.000.000 Credits!]

[You have decided to combine the [Mirage Veil (A): Lv10] [Seducing Aura (C): Lv10] Skills!]

[Skill Fusion process has begun!]

FLASH!

Something within me fused, bonding into a single being; these were the skills within me. Every time I fused them, I felt my power, dispersed in many shapes, combine into larger ones within me.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully combined the [Mirage Veil (A): Lv10] and [Seducing Aura (C): Lv10] Skills into the Fusion Skill: [Divine Illusionist’s Veil of Mirages (SS): Lv1]!]

[Fusion Skills can be equipped in any of the Classless and Magic Skill Slots.]

Oh, the veil evolved into something even more interesting: the ability to create Mirages, not just to hide or lower one’s presence but also to create new shapes, perhaps to attract or bait others.

This certainly could be very useful! I’ll keep it too; if it's divine, it could even trick other gods.

Now… There are a few other Skills in reserve, so let’s combine them all and get over this.

They’re pretty strong Skills, so I am excited about what I can obtain from them.

[Because the Skills selected are Level 1, the Fusion Price has been doubled.]

[You have exchanged 80.000.000 Credits!]

[You have decided to combine the [Time Essence Absorption and Manipulation (SSS): Lv1] [Holy Purity of Light (SSS): Lv1] [Dark Shadows of the Deep (SSS): Lv1] and [Prehistoric Martial Arts (SSS): Lv1] Skills!]

[Skill Fusion process has begun!]

FLASH!

These four powerful Skills in reserve were all obtained from the mighty gods, or their Avatars, and also from the Primal King. Their powers were very different, creating an unstable force when I combined them; it shook me to the core.

RUMBLE!

Yet I kept it all together until I saw them merge as one.

“Good.”

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully combined [Time Essence Absorption and Manipulation (SSS): Lv1] [Holy Purity of Light (SSS): Lv1] [Dark Shadows of the Deep (SSS): Lv1] and [Prehistoric Martial Arts (SSS): Lv1] Skills into the Fusion Skill: [Primordial Divine Sentinel of the Dark Past and the Bright Future: Aeternitas’ Martial Arts (EX): Lv1]!]

[Fusion Skills can be equipped in any of the Classless and Magic Skill Slots.]

“What the hell did I make?”

A Martial Art… that uses Time, Light, and Darkness Elements?

Time itself is such an unstable element; it cannot really be used to fight in martial arts; it’s a tool at most.

But that young man I fought used time as a weapon, combining Time Essence into solid matter capable of both accelerating time and killing someone with it.

And this... an EX-Rank Skill!

Doesn’t that sound incredible?

I like this!

The power to wield the Dark Past and the Bright Future…

There was no enlightenment, mostly because I understood its foundations very quickly.

I better combine the other fused Skills too; I want more power.

Another EX-Rank Skill... Can I get another one?

[Because the Skills selected are Level 1, the Fusion Price has been doubled.]

[You have exchanged 100.000.000 Credits!]

[You have decided to combine the [Multi-Elemental Heavenly Light Spirit Divine Magic (SS): Lv1] [Eclipsing Moon Shadow Weapon Martial Arts (SS): Lv1] [Abyssal Heaven’s Cursed Domain of Demonic Torture (SSS): Lv1] [Demonic Asura Aura Manifestation: Bloodthirsty Demon Warlord Battle Arts (SSS): Lv1] and [Archdemonic Death Grimoire of Infernal Cursed Demon Formations (SSS): Lv1] Skills!]

[Skill Fusion process has begun!]

FLASH!

The four already powerful Fusion Skills came together into a single, ridiculous power.

RUMBLE!

My surroundings shook, and friends and allies around me suddenly noticed something strange was happening.

Endless darkness and demonic, crimson flames surged from my body, washing away, and burning the grasslands around me.

The sky suddenly darkened, and the ground below burned and then melted into a pool of black miasma.

“Oh my, this is a bit flashier, isn’t it? Haha…!”

To think fusing four fused Skills could produce this level of power!

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully combined the [Multi-Elemental Heavenly Light Spirit Divine Magic (SS): Lv1] [Eclipsing Moon Shadow Weapon Martial Arts (SS): Lv1] [Abyssal Heaven’s Cursed Domain of Demonic Torture (SSS): Lv1] [Demonic Asura Aura Manifestation: Bloodthirsty Demon Warlord Battle Arts (SSS): Lv1] and [Archdemonic Death Grimoire of Infernal Cursed Demon Formations (SSS): Lv1] Skills into the Fusion Skill: [Primordial Demonic Heaven Dimensional Library Domain of Abyssal Curses and Sealed Demons: Pandemonium (EX): Lv1]!]

[Fusion Skills can be equipped in any of the Classless and Magic Skill Slots.]

A Dimensional Library Domain?

This is…!

FLUOSH!

Suddenly, I felt like half of my senses were “abducted” and completely sent elsewhere.

To another dimension altogether.

A dark, endless world of old books, overflowing with demonic elements and even demons themselves.

“I created this...?”

If think Skills can create such things, just how powerful is the System to manipulate reality to such an extent?

This power… I need to be careful; I am not the only one with power over such a reality-bending thing.

Nonetheless, I’ll make sure to use this well.

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