Chapter 43 - Merging With Looted Skills And Innate Talents.
The monster corpse that MJ integrated was the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman, and the Stats of its 5 main Attributes were sealed so that they could match my Stats in <STATUS>.
Other than that, MJ was able to use all the Skills and Fire Mastery of the Hobgoblin Shaman except for the Grade-3 Fire Innate Talent that I looted from the dead Hobgoblin Shaman.
As a Soul A.I, MJ adjusted to his new body in less than a minute. We returned to the Maze centre, and I had MJ show me all the new Loot in my <STATUS> separately.
Being in a monster\'s body didn\'t hinder his abilities as a Soul A.I even the least bit as several screens projected in front of me.
The first set of notifications was about the Spirit Items that I gained from those monsters.
After a quick glance, I turned my attention towards the Uncommon Grade Weapons of the Tier-2 Monsters.
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<Shaman Fire Staff> (Uncommon Grade)
A Spirit Staff that was made of Spirit Iron ore to suit the usage of Fire Element.
Effect: Spirit+18^
Requirements: 28 Spirit
Durability: 81/100
Inherent Skill: <Fire Damage> (Uncommon)
<Fire Damage> (Passive): Enhances the Fire Damage by 20% for every fire element related attack by the user of <Shaman Fire Staff>.
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<Two-handed Greatsword> (Uncommon Grade)
A Spirit Sword that was made of Spirit Iron ore to suit heavy attacks.
Effect: Strength+15^
Requirements: 25 Strength
Durability: 77/100
Inherent Skill: <Aura Bash> (Uncommon)
<Aura Bash>: Uses a wall of the user\'s Aura to bash a target within the range of 20 meters.
Cost: 25 Spirit Energy per use.
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<Recurve Hunter Bow> (Uncommon Grade)
A strong Bow that\'s designed for hunting purposes.
Effect: Agility+15^
Requirements: 25 Agility
Durability: 86/100
Inherent Skill: <Lock-on> (Uncommon)
<Lock-on>: By activating it, the Arrows used by the <Recurve Hunter Bow> locks on to the target within the range of 300 meters.
Cost: 30 Spirit Energy per use.
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<Aquadime Trident> (Uncommon Grade)
A Trident that was made of Spirit Aquadime ore to suit the usage of Water Element.
Effect: Spirit+16^
Requirements: 26 Spirit
Durability: 81/100
Inherent Skill: <Water Conjurer> (Uncommon)
<Water Conjurer> (Passive): Increases the Water-Element conjuring speed by 20%.
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<Aquadime Spear> (Uncommon Grade)
A Spear that was made of Spirit Aquadime ore to suit the usage of Water Element.
Effect: Strength+12^, Agility+12^
Requirements: 25 Strength, 25 Agility
Durability: 79/100
Inherent Skill: <Aqua Piercer> (Uncommon)
<Aqua Piercer>: Shoots a high pressured Water Spear from the tip of <Aquadime Spear> to pierce the target.
Cost: 30 Spirit Energy per use.
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Most of them were the weapons they had on them, and only a few were obtained through the System rewards for killing monsters.
Even with my increased Luck Attribute, I didn\'t get any Uncommon Spirit Items as rewards from the System other than some Common Grade ones.
Maybe it was because I already obtained 5 Uncommon Weapons of the Tier-2 Monsters.
Among the Common Grade Spirit Items that were used by the Goblins and the Lesser Lizardnoids, there were Maces, One-handed Swords, Bows, Daggers and Plain Tridents and Plain Harpoons and other Armour related Spirit Items.
I didn\'t pay much attention towards those Common Grade ones except for the two Spirit Items, <Aqua Shoulder Guards> and <Aqua Tassets>.
It was not that they stood out in Stats or abilities but because they were one of the 6 Armour type Spirit Items needed to upgrade the <Centauri Kavach> to Uncommon Grade.
Those 6 types were Helmet, Shoulder Guards, Gauntlets, Tassets, Greaves and Boots.
Among them, I got hands-on three types, including my <Adhesive Boots> and had to wait until I obtained the other three to upgrade the <Centauri Kavach> to Uncommon Grade.
After that, I bonded with <Aquadime Spear> and <Recurve Hunters Bow> and when I tried to bond with another Spirit Item; I learned that any life form could only bond with 7 Spirit Items at once.
So, I unbonded the <Rusted Short Sword> and formed a bond with <Two-handed Greatsword>.
The Stats from the newly bonded Spirit items were added to my <STATUS> at once as I rejected the Safety Mode that was suggested by the System.
When I entered the <INVERSE> mode, my body experienced the changes from the increase of Stats in my 5 main Attributes.
Because of that, I couldn\'t even feel any changes when I added those Stats at once.
With that, my overall Stats in <STATUS> increased from 215 to 239 and that In turn caused my overall stats in <LOOTED STATUS> to increase from 645* to 717*.
Most of the Undistributed Looted Stats I had with me were used up and only 9* of them remained.
After that, I turned my attention towards the notifications of Looted Skills that I haven\'t merged with yet.
[Lv.10<Aqua Skin>(Common): Reduces the pressure under Water by ten-fold and gains the ability to breathe underwater through Skin.]
[Lv.10<Aqua Vision>(Common): Ability to see clearly deep underwater, within the range of 100 meters.
[Lv.10<Nimble Fingers>(Common): Dexterity of Fingers increased by ten-fold.
[Lv.10<Bite>(Common)]: Jaw Strength and Teeth Density increases by ten-fold.
<Aqua Skin> and <Aqua Vision> were the Innate Skills of the Lizardnoids. Whereas, <Nimble Fingers> was the Innate Skills of Goblins.
As for the Skill <Bite>, I looted it from the Tier-1 Wolves but didn\'t merge with it back then.
I accepted all of them at once, and with my high Physical Pain Resistance, I didn\'t worry about pain.
[Lv.4<Nimble Fingers> ➝ Lv.10<Nimble Fingers>]
During the merging process, along with a burning sensation, I felt the changes in my skin, fingers, Eyes and Jaw.
But I barely sensed any pain and In less than a minute, the merging process with Looted Skills ended.
My Jaw shape became more defined and chiselled. When I bit at empty air, a thud sound resounded within the centre of the maze.
With my enhanced Jaw Strength, I felt like I could even bite a Tier-1 monster to its death.
Other than my jaw, there weren\'t any external changes in my physical appearance from merging with those Looted Skills.
As for my skin, it got tougher and was able to suck the moisture in the air within the Maze Centre with a single breath.
The sensation of breathing through skin felt refreshing, like never before. Once I merged with all of my loot, I decided to check out the <Aqua Skin> in the Crystal Lake Water.
Then I looked at the Innate Talents that I looted from the five Tier-2 Monsters.
[Grade-3<Fire Innate Talent> (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability to comprehend Fire Element and increases the comprehension speed by three-fold.]
[Grade-3<Water Innate Talent> (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability to comprehend Water Element and increases the comprehension speed by three-fold.]
[Grade-4<Spear Innate Talent> (Weapon Category): Increases the Host\'s comprehension speed of all Spear related Weapons by four-fold.]
[Grade-4<Sword Innate Talent> (Weapon Category): Increases the Host\'s comprehension speed of all Sword related Weapons by four-fold.]
[Grade-2<Precision> (Variant Category): Host\'s every action will be precise to a higher degree.]
Among them, \'Precision\' was the Innate Talent I looted from the Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer and the remaining four were self-explanatory.
I started merging with all of them at once, including the Grade-3<Wind Innate Talent> and Grade-3<Earth Innate Talent> that I Looted before.
Then, my vision started to blur and the view in front of me changed into a familiar unending pitch-black space.
I looked at myself and couldn\'t find my body. Almost as if I became the unending pitch-black space itself.
Then, I heard MJ\'s voice, "Master, once again you entered your Spirit Space."
"According to the information records from my Tier-4 System A.I access, every being that assimilates with the System has a Spirit Space and it is hidden deep in one\'s inner consciousness. Only by evolving to Tier-4 could anyone find and enter their Spirit Space."
"But the exceptions were those who have Multiple Innate Talents, as they could enter their Spirit Space after reaching Tier-3."
"With the Unique Grade Innate Talent <LOOT>, Master can even loot and merge with others Innate Talents and this merging process with Looted Innate Talents allowed Master to once again enter Spirit Space."
"Master, according to the records of the System, when someone first enters their Spirit Space they would appear in its periphery. So, try moving towards the centre of Spirit Space."
With that, I got an idea of my situation and as I willed it, I started to move towards the centre and after a minute, I could find something at the centre of the vast pitch-black Spirit Space.
It was the same golf ball-sized Orb that I saw previously, and with every passing second, the Orb continued to pulse from one colour to another.
With the Orb as the centre, there were 10 circular milky white paths, like the planet\'s orbits around the Sun.
I could tell that the golf ball-sized Orb was my Innate Talent <LOOT>.
Then the merging process started and my attention turned towards the innermost circular orbit, where 6 spheres with each having a different colour formed with the size of a thumb.
They started to expand themselves while revolving around the golf ball-sized pulsing Orb.
I spectated as they continued to increase in size and once their diameter crossed 10 meters, each of those 6 spheres started to drift farther from the first circular orbit to the second one.
By the time they reached the second circular orbit, the diameter of every sphere reached 100 meters.
Except for the turquoise coloured sphere, which was the Grade-2<Precision>, the other 5 spheres didn\'t stop in the second circular orbit and drifted to the third one as a notification appeared within my Spirit Space.
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-2<Precision>]
Following that, the Fire, Water, Wind and Earth Grade-3 Innate Talents stopped drifting any further as they reached the third circular orbit and their size got fixed at a diameter of 1000 meters.
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-3<Fire Innate Talent>]
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-3<Water Innate Talent>]
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-3<Wind Innate Talent>]
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-3<Earth Innate Talent>]
The process continued as the Sword and Spear Innate Talents increased in size as they drifted to a fourth circular object and they finally halted at a diameter of 10,000 meters (10 km).
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-4<Sword Innate Talent>]
[Congratulations! You have successfully merged with the Grade-4<Spear Innate Talent>]
Once I merged with all the 6 Looted Innate Talents, the four Elemental Innate Talents stopped revolving in their orbit and started to shake as if they became unstable.
Then MJ continued, "Master, this instability is a common occurrence for the individuals with multiple Elemental Innate talents and to deal with that instability, those individuals have to wait until they reach Tier-4."
"Under normal circumstances, Master has to wait until you reach Tier-4 before forming a stability between the newly merged Innate….."
Before MJ could even complete his sentence, the golf ball-sized Orb in the centre released an ominous hum and a silver shockwave emerged from it as a centre and collided with the unstable Innate Talents.
Then, they halted being unstable and contrary to their large sizes, those Innate Talents became docile and started to revolve around the golf ball-sized Orb.
The silver shockwave from my Innate Talent <LOOT> contained the same silver-coloured energy that flows on top of me, every time I enter <INVERSE> mode.
That made me wonder about the mysterious silver-coloured energy and my original Innate Talent that made the Elemental Innate Talents to become obedient.
Then, I was sent out of my Spirit Space and as I opened eyes in reality, a set of notifications greeted me.
[Your Unique Category Innate Talent <LOOT> formed a synergy between Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth Elements.]
[Congratulations! You are the 19th Existence in the Entire Universe to form Synergy between four Elements while just being in Tier-2.]
[Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.]