Zhang Yanhang picked up a box of Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws to examine, and yes, it was indeed a box. To his surprise, these Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws even came packaged, each set contained within a small iron box.

Upon opening this little iron box, Zhang Yanhang discovered ten claw-like objects inside, or perhaps one could say, they resembled ghostly fingernails. Moreover, they appeared to be replicas molded from the hands of a female ghost, with dark red nails looking as if they were soaked with the blood of souls trapped beneath the claws.

"What in the world is this thing?"

With curiosity, Zhang Yanhang tried fitting one onto the back of his hand, thinking it should probably remain near the surface of his fists like Wolverine's claws, but contrary to his expectations, there was no reaction.

After the first attempt failed, Zhang Yanhang quickly began a second trial. Considering there were ten pieces and he had ten fingers, he tried sticking the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws onto his fingernails, and they immediately clung on as if a magical effect had been activated.

"Could it be... nail art?!"

Initially, Zhang Yanhang thought these items might just be Equipment crafted by the Nameless Blacksmith based on the hands of a female ghost subordinate to the Witch Demon Mage, but to his surprise, they actually turned out to be decorative hand accessories made for the Witch Demon Mage...

"No wonder the first two options were weapons while only this one is Equipment. Although nail stickers can also be used for killing, they are indeed difficult to classify as weapons."

On that note, Zhang Yanhang could only surmise that the Witch Demon Mage, being an Undead Creature, had a distinctly different aesthetic appreciation for such accessories compared to Humans.

The reason he said this was not only because they looked like a female ghost's claws but also because he saw some hollowed-out patterns on the nails filled with skull motifs, mixed with embossments of other Undead Creatures like Headless Knights, Abominations, and Stone-statue Ghosts.

"No wonder it's not a weapon; with these hollow patterns, they would probably break easily in a real fight."

Although they seemed fragile, Zhang Yanhang, after all, wouldn't use such things to fight. Besides, with an Energy Shield for protection, it didn't really matter; as long as the Additional Attributes' enhancements were effective, that was enough.

"But, wouldn't such things conflict with the Barbaric Stone Bandage and the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist?"

Earlier, since Zhang Yanhang was only experimenting, he attached a single Ghost Claw. Now, he attempted to affix Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws to all ten fingers.

After sticking on all ten Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws, he immediately felt the difference as the Equipment's effects were activated and functioning properly.

"Could it be that, like the Crimson Iron Ring, they're considered finger Equipment and thus don't conflict?"

Looking at the dark red nail art on his fingers and thinking about the mouthguard in his mouth, Zhang Yanhang felt he was straying further down the path of nonconformity.

"Good thing these Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws can be hidden..."

After switching the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws to stealth mode, Zhang Yanhang picked up four more boxes of Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws and started the fusion process to upgrade them to +1. Since it was just a +1 fusion, the process was nearly instantaneous in the Alchemy Array.

Observing the still-glimmering Dark Purple Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws +1 in front of him, Zhang Yanhang immediately began inspecting their Attribute list.

[Crimson Marrow Ghost Claw +1]

[Quality: Dark Purple]

[Type: Equipment]

[Origin: Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano, Zhang Yanhang.]

[Durability: 56/56]

[Defensive Power: 40]

[Additional Attributes: Critical Strike Damage +27% (+3%).]

[Usage Requirements: Agility 35 points.]

[Score: 220 (Dark Purple Item score ranges from 151 to 260).]

[Introduction: After retreating into the mountains to refine his skills for a period, the Nameless Blacksmith gradually began to feel bored. Mornings spent collecting Materials, afternoons crafting Items, and evenings summarizing experiences was indeed fulfilling, and his crafting skills improved rapidly, but it was truly tedious...]

"Just a single fusion, and the increase in Additional Attributes is indeed not much, with the Critical Strike Damage Bonus only increasing by 3%, from the original 24% to 27%.

However, the Equipment score has increased quite a lot. Just one fusion increased the score by 30 points, bringing the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws' score from an original 190 points to 220 points, almost from a Medium score to a high score. In terms of score growth magnitude, it's 5 points higher than the previous 25 points increase of the Crimson Marrow Ghost Mask."

After inspecting the properties of the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws +1, Zhang Yanhang quickly equipped the two boxes of Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws onto his other four hands.

Seeing himself now with a Three-Headed Six-Armed appearance and long red fingernails, Zhang Yanhang felt perhaps he wasn't so much on the path to nonconformity, but rather, becoming more like a villain. Fortunately, at least he wasn't heading in the direction of a good-natured pushover, as he didn't wish to be cursed out while being "robbed" of Gold Coins by a Little Fairy.

"The regular Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws provide a 24% Critical Strike Damage Bonus, while the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws +1 offer a 27% bonus. Together, they add up to a 54% Critical Strike Damage Bonus. Altogether, three sets of Crimson Marrow Ghost Claws can give me a total of 78% Critical Strike Damage Bonus.

With my inherent 225% Critical Strike Damage, plus this additional 78% bonus, that's a total of 303% Critical Strike Damage. Such a significant bonus effectively almost doubles my damage."

Previously, Zhang Yanhang's Normal attacks that landed a critical hit could only deal 2.25 times damage, but now it would be three times the damage. The increase was indeed substantial, but if he could also trigger an extra attack, that would almost be seven times the damage. However, while critical hits were easier to trigger, extra attacks were not so readily activated.

"All the Talent Earnings and Equipment gains from the Drop treasure box have been accounted for, now only the Soul points remain," said Zhang Yanhang as he opened his Soul point balance to check.

[Soul points: 5740254 (+2126400)]

"The four hundred and forty-three Drop treasure boxes just yielded an additional 2126400 Soul points, bringing my Soul point balance from the original 3613854 points to 5740254 points. Alas, it is still four hundred thousand points short."

"If I could just get another four hundred thousand Soul points to reach a total of six million one hundred fourteen thousand, I could level up two skills in a row," Zhang Yanhang thought.

However, he knew that he wouldn't be able to gather that many this time, but he estimated that after completing the Second Tier Stage of his cleanup plan, he'd definitely be able to fulfill this small wish. By then, not only could he possibly level up two skills simultaneously, but he also felt that with the remaining Soul points from this time, he might even be able to level up three skills at once.

"Choose! Skill Level Enhancement!" Zhang Yanhang immediately began to trigger the selection option after checking his Soul points balance.

With Zhang Yanhang's active triggering of the choice, Time Pause once again descended upon the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano. At the same time, a long list of text options, which he had become very familiar with after reading several times just this morning, instantly appeared before him.

[Would you like to enhance the Skill Level?]

[Option One: 'Gun Mastery LV.6' upgrade to 'Gun Mastery LV.7' (Consumes 204,800 Soul points.)]

...

[Option Three: 'Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil·Original LV.MAX' upgrade to '???' (Cannot be enhanced)]

[Option Four: 'Technique Immunity·Original LV.MAX' upgrade to '???' (Cannot be enhanced)]

...

[Option Nine: 'Indestructible Golden Body·Original LV.6' upgrade to 'Indestructible Golden Body·Original LV.7' (Consumes 204,800 Soul points.)]

[Option Ten: 'Fatian Xiangdi LV.6' upgrade to 'Fatian Xiangdi LV.7' (Consumes 204,800 Soul points.)]

[Option Eleven: 'Three-Headed Six-Armed LV.6' upgrade to 'Three-Headed Six-Armed LV.7' (Consumes 204,800 Soul points.)]

"After leveling up to Original LV.MAX, both Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil and Technique Immunity have become unenhanceable, just like Death Wave did. To continue unlocking further promotions, I'll have to wait until I reach Fourth Tier and increase the strength of my Multiple Choice Talent.

Even though he had previously agonized over whether to level up Indestructible Golden Body or Three-Headed Six-Armed first, the fact that Three-Headed Six-Armed, as a Third Tier Professional skill, definitely outperformed the Second Tier Professional skill Indestructible Golden Body made it clear that Three-Headed Six-Armed was the one to level up first."

Although he hadn't used the Three-Headed Six-Armed skill much in combat yet, its equipment bonuses alone had already proven to be quite impressive, making it well worth the upgrade.

"So, I choose Option Eleven, to level up Three-Headed Six-Armed from LV.6 to LV.7." Having already made up his mind, Zhang Yanhang quickly made his final decision.

...

October 29th, Thursday, the fourth day after Double Ninth Festival, also Zhang Yanhang's first day in the Ashen World, 6:05 PM, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano, Outer Zone.

After leveling up the Three-Headed Six-Armed skill four times in a row—taking it directly from LV.6 to LV.MAX—Zhang Yanhang waited a bit, but as expected, he still didn't get the option to choose additional attributes. Therefore, he thought it best to first check his remaining Soul points balance.

"Although it's the first time I've upgraded a profession skill acquired from Third Tier, it's no surprise that it consumed another 3072000 of my soul points, causing my soul point balance to instantly drop from the original 5740254 to 2668254.

Compared to before, it's not so easy now for my soul point balance to drop directly from seven digits to five, four, or even three digits, after all, the fractional part is indeed impossible to spend."

Even though I have only 2668254 soul points left, Zhang Yanhang believed his little dream of upgrading three skills at once after clearing the Second Tier Stage was still quite possible, given that the Middle Layer was indeed much larger than the Outer Zone.

"Now, aside from Alchemy, I have only four normal profession skills left to upgrade, which are Gun Mastery LV.6, Fighting Master LV.6, Indestructible Golden Body·Original LV.6 and Fatian Xiangdi LV.6.

Suddenly, I'm feeling that maybe, just maybe, I could complete all these upgrades by relying solely on the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano. No, this might not just be a feeling; it could actually be achievable."

For this, Zhang Yanhang could only say that high-level monsters indeed offered a lot of soul points, and with the addition of treasure box gains, that amount only grew. Previously, when he was clearing the Permanent Teleportation Channel, the lack of treasure box gains made it less apparent, but now, the acquisition rate of soul points had skyrocketed with these gains.

"Suddenly, I remember that although I haven't had much chance to plan the skill upgrades after advancing to Third Tier, the skills are on the verge of being upgraded completely one by one. It seems that I won't need much of an upgrade plan anymore. I'll just go through the upgrades one by one, saving Fatian Xiangdi for last."

Zhang Yanhang felt that his skill upgrades were unusually fast this time; in the past, it would take clearing an entire area to upgrade just two or three skills, but now, he could upgrade skills by just casually clearing some areas.

One could only say, after advancing to Third Tier, the efficiency of acquiring soul points had indeed become 'incomparable' to before. He had endured the inefficiency of the Second Tier early in the morning, but by the morning, he had already begun to enjoy the high efficiency of the Third Tier.

"Compared to studying the absurd soul point acquisition rate of the Third Tier, let's first take a look at the skill effect of Three-Headed Six-Armed LV.MAX, just upgraded. I'm curious what kind of additional attributes I'll gain from reaching LV.MAX."

If possible, Zhang Yanhang hoped it would be an additional attribute that could increase his hunting efficiency, mainly because he felt his current hunting efficiency wasn't quite enough.

He thought that if he could get an attribute that would allow him to split off hands or a head to kill enemies independently, it would be ideal. Although it might seem horrifying and even dangerous, considering the help from an Energy Shield, it might not be too bad. Most importantly, if the extra hands and head could help him hunt enemies, that would indeed greatly improve his hunting efficiency.

[Three-Headed Six-Armed LV.MAX (Active Skill)]

[Active Effect: Upon skill activation, the Heavenly Destiny Master can use 1050 (+300) × 8 (+2) [number of limbs] = 8400 points (+3900 points) of Energy Value to generate extra limbs. Currently, the following limbs can be generated: head x 3 (+1) [already generated: 2], arms x 6 (+2) [already generated: 4].

The extra limbs generated by the Heavenly Destiny Master using Three-Headed Six-Armed are treated as real limbs, with effects completely identical to those of the Heavenly Destiny Master's own limbs. If the main head of the Heavenly Destiny Master is destroyed, the main consciousness will automatically transfer to the secondary head and convert it to the main head.

When limbs generated by Three-Headed Six-Armed are destroyed, they can be regenerated by consuming Energy Value with no cooldown, each additional limb regenerates for 1050 points (+300 points) Energy Value.

Limbs generated by the Heavenly Destiny Master using Three-Headed Six-Armed will exist permanently but require additional Physical Strength to manifest and remain hidden when not in use.

When limbs are manifested, they provide 100% (+40%) × 8 (+2) [number of arms] = 800% (+440%) Physical Attack Bonus, 200% (+80%) × 4 (+1) [number of heads] = 800% (+440%) Energy Attack Bonus.]

[Additional Attribute: Copper Head Iron Forehead - When the head is manifested, it additionally enhances Attack Power by 60%.]

[Additional Attribute: Impenetrable - When the arms are manifested, it additionally enhances defensive power by 90%.]

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