Chapter 4

This time, he did not choose to decompose but to refine, extracting the skill from the card.

So, after the magic cube rotated for a while, what appeared was not the creation energy from the decomposition of the three-star resource card, but a small light ball.

Then, Lin Xiao refined the last one-star skill card, "Severe Pain," into an even smaller light ball.

His idea was simple: to use the skill "Pierce" as the main skill, fuse it with another skill "Severe Pain," and then use the decomposed three-star resource card as nourishment to strengthen the fused skill, thus obtaining a more powerful skill that combines the advantages of both "Pierce" and "Severe Pain."

He constructed the necessary operations in his mind. With a thought, under the control of the magic cube's power, the two skill light balls slowly approached each other, merging quickly like two bubbles. The creation energy in the magic cube space rapidly flowed into the light ball, and the originally white light ball began to brighten rapidly as it absorbed the creation energy.

"Hmm? There are two directions for enhancement?"

Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and chose one of the options.

Ten seconds later, all the creation energy was absorbed into the light ball, and the magic cube stopped rotating. He extended his hand and pressed it against the magic cube, which quickly shrank in his palm and finally disappeared, replaced by a light ball emitting a blinding light. It then slowly flattened before his eyes, transforming into a card emitting a faint glow.

Five-star skill card — Unknown Skill (Extremely Rare): Limited to piercing weapons, it attacks a target at ultra-high speed across fifty yards, causing five times the maximum attack damage, and ignoring 50% of the target's defense.

This was the direction of enhancement he chose, pure burst.

The other direction of enhancement caused three times the damage but had four special effects: piercing, armor penetration, bleeding, and tearing, while also ignoring 50% of the target's defense.

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

A real man must be tough.

He casually named the newly synthesized skill "Salty Fish Pierce" and set it aside. Then he took out the two cards he had previously stored: the four-star Merfolk card and the five-star Reproduction card. These two cards could also be fused.

Using the Fog Merfolk Summoning Card as the main card, he decomposed the Species Reproduction Card, extracted the reproduction rule it contained, and then fused it with the Fog Merfolk Summoning Card, resulting in a...

He quickly threw the Fog Merfolk Summoning Card into the magic cube, decomposed it, and extracted a light ball. Then he threw the Species Reproduction Card into it, decomposed it, and extracted the reproduction rule it contained.

It was a thread of golden light finer than a hair, emitting a captivating charm.

Strictly speaking, if this reproduction rule were powerful enough and a large amount of faith and divine power were invested, it could potentially be refined into a true reproduction divinity, forming the basis for becoming a demigod. With further investment of divine power, it could ultimately coalesce into the Reproduction Divine Domain.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao had little faith, and this reproduction rule was incomplete, making it extremely difficult to complete.

Shaking his head to clear his mind of these chaotic thoughts, Lin Xiao controlled the thread of reproduction divinity to fuse with the Fog Merfolk Summoning Card. Soon, a new card appeared in his palm.

Five-star Species Card — Fog Merfolk (Very Rare): Grants 400 Fog Merfolk with twice the fertility rate and twice the survival rate of their young.

The summoning quantity remained unchanged, and the effect of the Reproduction Card was reduced by 50%, but the effect changed from a ten-year buff to an inherent species characteristic. This alone made the card's direct value ten times higher than the combined value of the two previous cards, and its potential value was hundreds of times higher.

Lin Xiao couldn't help but look at the magic cube in his palm, which was outlined by light threads, and whistled in amazement:

"Too powerful."

After all, it was a very rare quality.

With a golden palm, he grasped the magic cube, which merged into his palm. Lin Xiao soared into the sky, appearing high above. He placed the two cards in front of him, rubbed his hands, and did not immediately load them. Instead, he first consumed 10,000 units of faith to pre-load the skill.

Pre-loading means loading the skill into a designated follower in the divine domain, but it cannot be used immediately. It must meet certain conditions to be activated.

Lin Xiao set a simple condition: the faith level must reach the True Believer level to activate the pre-loaded skill.

For deities, believers are ranked from highest to lowest as follows:

Saints, Fanatics, Devout Believers, True Believers, General Believers, False Believers, and Non-Believers.

Saints are not worth mentioning; they are extremely difficult to obtain, and even true gods may not have them. Fanatics are the most fervent believers of ordinary demigods and weak true gods. Devout Believers are the backbone, usually priests of the religion. True Believers are the core of the believers and the largest group among the deity's followers.

General Believers, also known as shallow believers, have little value; ten of them are not as valuable as one True Believer.

False Believers are even less valuable; they are people who do not normally believe in the deity but only pray when they see others doing so. Deities do not consider these people part of their faith.

For a divine being like Lin Xiao, who has just established a divine domain and cannot yet display miracles, it is very difficult to increase faith. The initial Fog Merfolk followers have a bonus, which is why they have so many high-quality believers. If he were to go to a foreign land to spread the faith, it might take ten years to even make a dent.

After loading the skill, Lin Xiao also pre-loaded the other species card into the divine domain, then transformed into a golden light and descended into the divine domain, directly entering his usual avatar.

The Merfolk leader, who was fishing with his tribe, suddenly paused. The next second, his pupils flashed with golden light and returned to normal. The surrounding Merfolk were swimming in the shallow sea, chasing schools of sardines, and did not notice the change in their leader.

The descended Lin Xiao quickly gathered the Merfolk who had been fishing all day and returned to the tribe, activating the pre-loaded skill. He was the first to learn "Salty Fish Pierce."

As they passed a reef, he suddenly let out a strange cry and shouted to the other Merfolk:

"Just now, the great Fog Lord bestowed upon me new power."

The other Fog Merfolk looked at him with strange expressions. Lin Xiao drew the bone knife from his waist and pointed it at a stone pillar about two meters high and blackened by seawater, thirty meters away. The next second, the seawater exploded under his feet, and a Merfolk shadow, trailing a long wind trail, broke through the seawater and struck the stone pillar.

"Boom!"

The thick stone pillar exploded in the middle, and countless pieces of debris flew more than ten meters away.

All the Fog Merfolk stared at him, mouths agape in shock. After a while, as Lin Xiao slowly turned around, he raised the shattered bone knife and let out a thunderous roar. The other Merfolk finally reacted, excitedly gathering around the stone pillar he had shattered with one strike, discussing it.

Ten minutes later, a group of Fog Merfolk escorted Lin Xiao back to the tribe. They rushed to the central altar amidst the surprised looks of the other tribespeople, kneeling before the altar and praying continuously.

Almost instantly, Lin Xiao sensed that more than ten faith lines had thickened, and ten General Believers had become True Believers.