After equipping the four Dark Gold Quality Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armor +5, Zhang Yanhang quickly started to count the last type of equipment gains, the Crimson Marrow Hell Fingers from the Crimson Iron Hell Ants. This time, Zhang Yanhang had opened a total of 87 Crimson Marrow Hell Fingers.

Since it was the first time obtaining the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger, Zhang Yanhang picked up one and observed it briefly. He found that the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger, like the previous Crimson Marrow Ghost Claw, was housed in a box containing ten items resembling nail covers.

Upon seeing these, Zhang Yanhang immediately thought of the sharp-tipped nail covers that empresses or concubines in palace dramas wore. Moreover, the design was somewhat similar, both featuring filigree carving.

However, compared to the dark red of the previous Crimson Marrow Ghost Claw, this one leaned more toward a gold-red, likely because the Nameless Blacksmith wanted to cater to the princess's aesthetic or perhaps the typical human aesthetic.

It was full of abundant gold filigree patterns and red gemstones, and it also had some exotic plants and animals from another world crafted onto it using filigree techniques, impressing Zhang Yanhang with its extraordinary opulence. However, considering it only added a 4% Armor Penetration Effect, it seemed a bit extravagant without much practical use.

"If this Crimson Marrow Hell Finger had not been made for the princess but for that Witch Demon Mage, then it would probably just have lots of skulls on it, and it wouldn't be so lavish. Accordingly, I guess the actual enhancement effect might rise a bit, maybe from 4% to 5% shouldn't be a problem.

Alas, both power and wealth have blinded the Nameless Blacksmith, he really has fallen."

Zhang Yanhang felt deeply pained by the downfall of the Nameless Blacksmith. He had been happy about the Nameless Blacksmith returning to the human world, but now it seemed this guy was indeed only suited to return to the Crimson Iron Ore Vein to continue perfecting his craft.

"However, judging from the name Crimson Marrow Hell Finger, the Nameless Blacksmith has still kept a part of his original intention. He is fallen but not completely, there is still a possibility for him to return to the right path."

Zhang Yanhang hoped that in the introduction to the next new gear, even if the Nameless Blacksmith had achieved fame and fortune, he might still remember his original passion for blacksmithing. However, given Makarov's chaotically evil character, the chances were indeed slim, probably just enjoying life to the fullest.

After briefly examining the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger, Zhang Yanhang felt that this item might not conflict with the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claw. After all, one was a nail beauty product and the other a nail cover, which should theoretically complement each other.

If it hadn't been made for the princess, Zhang Yanhang even suspected that these could be combined into a set with the nail beauty products. It could only be blamed on the Witch Demon Mage for not stopping the Nameless Blacksmith. If the Nameless Blacksmith had given up the idea of infiltrating the upper ranks of the kingdom and not crafted nail covers for the princess but for the Witch Demon Mage, it would have likely formed a set.

Of course, whether it could be successfully equipped couldn't be determined just by theory. Practical testing was more important. So, Zhang Yanhang quickly tried on the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger on his fingers, and as expected, it was successful. The Crimson Marrow Hell Finger and the Crimson Marrow Ghost Claw activated simultaneously without conflict.

"Since the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger doesn't need modification, I can proceed with fusion worry-free."

As he spoke, Zhang Yanhang activated the Alchemy and enveloped all the Crimson Marrow Hell Fingers on the ground in the Alchemy Array. The ones on his hands? There was no rush to take them off, as there were 87— an odd number— which couldn't be fused anyway.

The fusion process was similar to that of the Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armor. It only fused up to the second time and advanced to Golden quality, then immediately flashed Dark Golden light during the fourth fusion.

This fusion tool produced five Dark Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Fingers +4, one Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +2, and one Light Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +1.

"So, the question comes, should I directly fuse the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5? I happen to have an extra Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +4..." Zhang Yanhang thought it over and decided that fusing would be better, so he immediately controlled the Alchemy Array to start the fifth fusion.

After the fusion was complete, Zhang Yanhang quickly began to check the attribute list of the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5, which was flashing with a dark gold light.

[Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5]

[Quality: Dark Gold]

[Type: Equipment]

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

[Durability: 78/78]

[Defensive Power: 55]

[Additional Attributes: Armor Penetration Effect +10% (+6%).]

[Usage requirements: Agility 65 points.]

[Score: 510 (Dark Gold Items score from 441 to 530.)]

[Introduction: Perhaps it's the outstanding effects of special hormones, even just the hormone residues separated out have certain cosmetic benefits, leading to a significant increase in the fame and popularity of the Nameless Blacksmith's labyrinth among female groups. On this day, the labyrinth welcomed a special visitor — the Princess of the Kingdom, Cecilia Josephine…]

"Directly fusing five times in one go really made a difference, the Armor Penetration Effect increased by another 6%, growing from the original 4% to 10%, which is a 1.5 times increase, averaging about 1.2% increase in Armor Penetration Effect per fusion."

Regarding this result, Zhang Yanhang could only say it was not bad, already higher than what he had expected. He originally thought that since the Light Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger only had a 4% Armor Penetration Effect, maybe fusing to Dark Golden Quality would only reach about 8%.

But now it seems, he indeed underestimated the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger at the fifth fusion. If it had just been the fourth fusion, it might have been closer to his expectation of an 8% Armor Penetration Effect.

"After advancing from Light Golden Quality to Dark Golden Quality, the usage requirement for the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger increased from forty-five points of Agility attribute to sixty-five points of Agility attribute, an increase of twenty points of Agility attribute requirement, averaging ten points of attribute value requirement per quality, which is considered a regular increase.

All I can say is, it's a good thing that my Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Intelligence are all Main Attributes, all needing enhancement, so the equipment I can meet the requirements for and wear is exceptionally numerous, or rather, there's basically nothing that doesn't meet the requirements."

"But if it were other Awakeners, say a Strength System Awakened or a Constitution System Awakened, who got this equipment, there's a great chance they'd be unable to equip it due to insufficient attribute values."

Speaking of which, Zhang Yanhang suddenly remembered that the Defense Coins and Attack Coins in his waist bag had become ineffective due to not meeting the required attribute values.

Both required his attribute values to be lower than seventy-five points, but clearly, this requirement was no longer met, so although both the Defense Coin and Attack Coin were Dark Purple Quality Equipment, they might not become ineffective due to rank limitations but had become ineffective due to failing to meet the attribute requirements.

Fortunately, Zhang Yanhang had two of each, the Defense Coin and the Attack Coin, and if he tried fusing them, he might be able to raise the upper limit of the usage requirement, say from seventy-five to one hundred points, so that he could use them until the fourth tier.

"After five consecutive fusions, the score of the Dark Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger increased from the original 310 points to 510 points, an increase of 200 points in score, averaging 40 points increase per fusion, which is quite a lot, almost equivalent to leaping from medium score in Light Golden Quality directly to high score in Dark Golden Quality.

I remember previously when I fused the Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armor, each fusion could only increase the score by 35 points, yet the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger increased by five more points per fusion, totaling an extra twenty-five points after five."

However, regrettably, Zhang Yanhang also clearly felt during the previous fusions that the fifth fusion was already the limit for the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger; otherwise, fusing it to +6 would definitely have promoted it to a quality above Dark Golden.

But being able to fuse five times is still quite standard, except for the Crimson Marrow Ghost Mask, which could be fused six times; the new equipment he obtained this time could all only undergo five fusions, possibly related to the techniques of the Nameless Blacksmith.

After checking the attribute list of the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5, Zhang Yanhang casually glanced at the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +4 and found that its Armor Penetration Effect was 8.8%, indeed quite in line with his initial estimate of 8%.

Having checked the attribute lists of both, Zhang Yanhang quickly equipped his fingers with the Dark Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5, as well as three Dark Golden Quality Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +4.

"This way, each Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +5 can provide a 10% Armor Penetration Effect, and each Crimson Marrow Hell Finger +4 can provide an 8.8% Armor Penetration Effect. Together, the three add up to 26.4% Armor Penetration Effect, making a total of 36.4% Armor Penetration Effect, which is quite good.

With every attack on an enemy, at least one-third can become an Armor Penetration Attack that ignores physical defense."

Besides, Zhang Yanhang remembered that his Death Wave Skill could also passively reduce an enemy's defense by 20%.

"If these two were added together, wouldn't that effectively ignore 56.4% of an enemy's defense? No, that might not be exactly correct, as strictly speaking, there's a big difference between the two, one being a reduction in defense and the other only ignoring physical defense.

Normal defense includes not just Physical Defense but also Energy Defense and a whole host of other defenses."

Although this was complicated, Zhang Yanhang didn't know the exact calculation method, but he estimated that even if it couldn't reach over fifty percent, at least being comparable to forty to fifty percent should be quite feasible.

"However, now that I have the Armor Penetration effect enhancement, I feel that perhaps later I could get another new piece of equipment that could enhance Armor Penetration Attack Multiplier, thus further increasing my Attack Strength."

Of course, Zhang Yanhang was just thinking about this for now; he didn't know when he would be able to obtain such equipment. However, considering that the Crimson Marrow Hell Finger, which increased Armor Penetration Effect, was obtained from the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano, he felt there was also a chance to obtain new equipment that could increase Armor Penetration Attack Multiplier.

Right, he was referring to the new equipment that might come from the loot boxes dropped by the Crimson Iron Prince Ant; if that wasn't feasible, then he'd have to think of other ways later.

"Now that the Talent is upgraded and the equipment fusion is complete, what should I do next? Should I upgrade a skill? It's not a bad idea, but..." Zhang Yanhang thought he might as well fuse the Attack Coin and Defense Coin first since he had just mentioned fusing.

Zhang Yanhang took out two Defense Coins from his waist bag for a simple fusion, considering it was just a +1 fusion, which was indeed fairly straightforward. So, after completing the fusion, Zhang Yanhang quickly started to check the attribute list of the Defense Coin.

[Defense Coin +1]

[Quality: Dark Purple]

[Type: Equipment]

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

[Durability: 100/100]

[Defensive Power: 50]

[Special Attribute: Fixedly reduces 30 points (+5 points) of Physical Damage upon encountering a physical attack, immune to attacks that are below 30 points (+5 points) of Physical Damage.]

[Usage Requirement: Constitution lower than 75 points.]

[Score: 240 (Dark Purple Items' scores range from 151 to 260.)]

[Description: Official cheats, deadliest! — From a dimension-hopping █████ unwilling to reveal their name.]

"What can I say, the fusion did happen, and there was indeed an improvement from the original reduction of 25 points of Physical Damage to now reducing 30 points, but the usage requirement still hasn't changed, still requiring a Constitution lower than seventy-five points...

Regarding the score, the score of Defense Coin +1 has grown by another thirty points, from the original 210 points to 240 points. From this perspective, it seems that it needs to be fused to +2 for the Defense Coin to be promoted to Light Golden and accordingly raise the usage requirement."

Zhang Yanhang hadn't held much hope for this fusion, so he wasn't too disappointed, after all, it's quite unlikely for the usage requirement to change when only the fusion count is increased, not the quality.

From 210 points being a medium score for Dark Purple Quality to 260 points, which is a full score for Dark Purple Quality, it's indeed unlikely that a single fusion could bridge a gap of fifty points in score, and he had never encountered equipment that could increase the score by fifty points just from one fusion.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.