Necromancer: Becoming a God Starting with Skeleton Clone

Chapter 379 Skill Advancement, Top-Tier Rare Items, Combat Power Soars!

Chapter 379 Skill Advancement, Top-Tier Rare Items, Combat Power Soars!

The former [Bone Shield] has been upgraded to the fully covered [Bone Armor].

[Bone Armor] (Black Iron, Mastery): Channels necromantic power to form an invisible bone armor, providing all-around protection to the target. It effectively defends against all direct and indirect attacks, reflects a certain percentage of physical attacks, and has a chance to reflect magical attacks. When the armor is broken, it will paralyze surrounding enemies. Defensive capabilities, spell effects, and cooldown time are determined by Spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

The [Skeleton Shackles] have also evolved into the more strategic [Skeleton Cage].

[Bone Cage] (Black Iron, Mastery): Condenses necromantic power into a shapeless, combinable bone cage. Once bound, it vibrates with silent waves, silencing enemies and making them unable to move or use skills. The binding strength, cooldown time, and casting range depend on your Spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

It is particularly worth mentioning that, under the personal guidance of Master Sandru, the original [Bone Wings] skill has successfully transformed into the more practical [Bone Flash].

[Bone Flash] (Black Iron, Mastery): Uses necromantic power to conjure multiple skeletons within a short distance, then removes all control effects on the user and can freely swap positions with these skeletons for a certain period. Duration, flash distance, and cooldown time depend on Spirit attribute, Constitution attribute, and skill proficiency.

The Bone Blade has been upgraded to the Bone Armory.

[Bone Armory] (Black Iron, Proficient): Guides necromancy to unleash incredible transformations on the bones of skeletal undead creatures according to your will, growing the skeletal weapons you desire. The type and power of the generated skeletal weapons depend on your Spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

Under the effect of this skill, apprentice-level skeletons can acquire their own skeletal weapon in advance.

The Black Iron-tier Skeleton Warriors, like the Ark's skeletal clones and the Berserker Spirit Olaf, can acquire an additional piece of skeletal armor on top of their existing skeletal weaponry.

This will undoubtedly greatly enhance the Skeleton Warriors' ability to fight head-on.

After all, in Iron-level battles, the difference between having weapons and armor is like night and day.

Death Ripple, a new skill formed by the fusion of [Bone Arrow Rain] and [Mental Shock], can be loosely considered a bone-based skill.

With the help of Sylvanas and Willow Dance, Death Ripple absorbed the essence of the skills [Corruption Web] and [Plague Explosion], successfully advancing to [Bone Shockwave].

[Skeleton Shockwave] (Black Iron Tier, Mastery): Consumes necromancy to unleash a shockwave at enemies within a certain area. Multiple attack modes are available, including an invisible mental shockwave, a visible energy shockwave, and a skeletal physical shockwave, dealing physical, mental, corrosive, and death energy damage. The shockwave explodes upon hitting an enemy, causing secondary damage. The number, power, and range depend on your spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

In the enhancement skill tree, many key skills have been deduced and improved, and have successfully advanced to the Iron level.

Among them, the original "Dominate Skeletons" skill has evolved into the more comprehensive "【Dominate Bones】".

【Dominate Skeletons】(Black Iron, Proficient): Passive skill, slightly increases the four main attributes and intelligence of the skeleton undead creatures under your command. The increase depends on your own spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

The skill 【Dominate Skeletons】 originates from the 【Skeleton King】 skill of the Corpse Clone, and therefore is currently only effective against skeletal undead creatures.

However, based on Ark's experience, when the skeletal clones break through the Bronze level in the future and receive the blessing of the Blood Moon of the Dead again, evolving into beings similar to the [Zombie King], the effect of [Dominate Skeletons] will be expanded, thereby affecting more types of undead creatures and granting them greater power and intelligence.

Another important skill, "Resurrection of the Dead," has also been successfully upgraded to the Iron-level "【Resurrection of the Dead】".

【Undead Resurrection】(Black Iron, Proficient): Consumes undead mana to heal undead creatures under your command. The healing effect and number of creatures healed depend on your Spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

After absorbing the essence of the [Undead Lieutenant], the "Death Coronation" skill was successfully upgraded to the Iron-grade "[Undead Coronation]".

[Undead Coronation] (Black Iron, Mastery): Channels undead mana to create a resonant energy field for allied undead summons. At the cost of a slight decrease in the combat power of other undead summons within the resonant energy field, this greatly enhances the combat power and battlefield command capabilities of the designated undead summon. The coverage area and amplification effect depend on the Spirit attribute, the number of undead summons, and skill proficiency.

In addition, skills such as Brutal Aura, Iron Wall Aura, and Horror Aura have all been upgraded to Iron-tier aura skills.

More importantly, they gained passive buffs, truly becoming aura skills in the truest sense.

This means that as long as the caster is present, these auras can continuously provide buffs to friendly units or apply debuffs to enemy units.

Whether it's increasing attack power, improving defense, or creating fear, these aura skills can play an important role in combat, enhancing the caster's support capabilities and tactical versatility.

Taking the Black Iron-tier Brutal Aura as an example, the advancement of this skill marks another significant step forward for Arknights in the realm of necromancers.

【Brutal Aura】(Black Iron, Mastery): Passive skill, slightly increases the movement speed, attack frequency, and damage of your undead minions. It can be actively activated by consuming undead mana, granting your undead minions various energy attributes such as physical armor penetration, death energy, and putrefaction. The magnitude, duration, and area of ​​effect depend on the caster's spirit attribute and skill proficiency.

In addition, the two soul-based skills that Ark currently possesses have also been upgraded accordingly.

The Soul Nemesis skill has automatically advanced to the Iron-tier level, so Ark doesn't need to worry about it much.

With the accumulation of experience in the Ark, the Soul Vision skill has successfully advanced to the Black Iron level [Soul Eagle Eye].

[Soul Eagle Eye] (Black Iron, Mastery): Consumes necromancy to briefly open a window to the soul realm, sensing soul fluctuations in the surrounding environment and accurately marking more active souls. Sensing distance, effect, and number of marks depend on soul strength, mental attribute, and skill proficiency.

The wide array of Black Iron-level skills greatly increased Ark's combat power, making him a strong contender among all lower-tier Black Iron professionals.

No one would believe that such a luxurious skill list could be mastered by a professional who had just broken through the bottleneck and advanced to the Black Iron rank less than two months ago.

However, as the price for the burst of inspiration from the Ark, the vast amount of soul power he had accumulated and hunted during this period was completely exhausted.

Although he still had some contribution points remaining due to the rewards for perfecting his skills, his progress had to be slowed down.

This caused Fangzhou some private distress.

If only there were a way to obtain a large amount of soul power.

Even if it costs his contribution points, it would be well worth it.

Of course, during this time, Ark not only mastered the artificial skeleton skills developed by Master Sandru, but also applied them to his own training.

However, as Ark's strength continued to rise, these apprentice-level undead creatures were clearly no longer able to keep up with his current combat needs and were gradually eliminated from his combat ranks.

In addition to the opening of their personal undead space, the necromancers are still clueless and have not made any substantial progress.

Therefore, the research topics of artificial undead and portable undead spaces have temporarily reached a bottleneck.

Due to the scarcity of soul power, the Ark can no longer lavishly burn its soul power as it did in the past to enter a state of bursting inspiration and seek out those fleeting flashes of brilliance.

As the old saying goes, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Faced with this situation, Ark made a realistic choice: to invest its limited soul power into improving its current combat strength.

In addition to the development and enhancement of necromancer skills, Ark has also made significant progress in the field of alchemy over the past two months.

Just as Chu Chengxiu, the Sky-Splitting Sorcerer instructor at Haicheng Military Academy, taught, alchemy can not only help mages better understand the nature of the world, but also provide additional support in actual combat.

Under the careful guidance of Instructor Su Xinyan, Fangzhou's alchemy skills quickly improved from apprentice to beginner level.

Of course, the power of the soul also provided considerable assistance in this process, making Ark more adept at learning and practice.

With the advancement of his alchemy skills, Ark is now able to craft white, common-quality artifacts.

With the strong support of the Longxia Federal Military Department, the resource depot of the Haicheng Military Academy Logistics Department has been replenished with a considerable amount of undead attribute alchemy materials.

The abundant supply of these materials, along with the reserves provided by Master Sandru and Sylvanas Academy, ensured that the Ark would not lack undead alchemy materials for some time.

This provided a solid foundation for his alchemical practice.

If a workman wants to be good, he must first sharpen his weapon.

Based on this, Ark made full use of his improved alchemy skills and abundant undead attribute materials to meticulously craft a set of artifacts exclusively for necromancers.

During this period of training and learning, Fangzhou gradually realized that although the artifacts of professionals are not as restricted as equipment, they cannot be blindly piled up in quantity or randomly combined.

Real-world combat is not like turn-based combat in games, which has a fixed order and rules.

On the battlefield between humans and demons, battles are often unpredictable.

In a life-or-death struggle, the time left for professionals to react on the spot is extremely limited.

In such a high-pressure environment, professionals have almost no opportunity to think about which skill or artifact to use to resolve the crisis.

If a player is not familiar with their skill combinations and does not have a clear understanding of the specific uses of artifacts, then an overly chaotic combination of artifacts can seriously interfere with their combat performance.

On the battlefield between humans and demons, such interference often means the difference between life and death.

Therefore, under the guidance of Instructor Su Xinyan and Master Sandru, Fang Zhou began to refine the various artifacts in his possession, striving to maximize their effectiveness in actual combat.

Aside from retaining some artifacts for daily life and cultivation, Ark reforged five different types of white, common-quality artifacts specifically for combat.

Each artifact was designed with great care, aiming to enhance his survivability and combat effectiveness on the battlefield.

These are the Bone Armor Amulet, Blink Bracers, Ring of Impact, Bone Imprisonment Sigil, and Bone Warhorse Reins.

First is the [Bone Armor Amulet]

This wondrous item was created by strengthening the Bone Shield Crystal, which was previously enhanced from the Rock Shield Crystal, by inheriting the original crafting techniques and using undead alchemical essence for further enhancement and upgrade.

[Bone Armor Amulet] (White Common, Rare Item): An upgraded version of the Bone Shield Crystal using Necromancer Alchemy Essence, a rare item exclusive to necromancers. It allows for two uses of the Black Iron-level [Bone Armor] skill without cost. After using up all uses, it requires one day to recharge naturally.

Secondly, there's the [Ring of Impact].

This extraordinary item was also enhanced and upgraded based on the original.

It is based on the Ripple Ring, which is an enhanced version of the Burning Ring. It inherits the original crafting concept and is further enhanced and upgraded using alchemical essence with undead attributes.

[Ring of Impact] (White Common, Rare Item): An upgraded version of the Ring of Ripple, enhanced with Necromancer Alchemy Essence. An exclusive rare item for necromancers. It allows for two uses of the lower-tier Black Iron [Bone Shockwave] without cost. After using up all uses, it requires one day to recharge naturally.

As for the Blink Bracers and the Prisoner's Bone Sign, these are the latest alchemical achievements of Arknights.

Unlike inscribing direct-attack spells into alchemical artifacts, Ark prefers to choose utility skills such as movement or control.

After all, the various attack spells he personally casts, enhanced by his equipment and innate affinity, are far more powerful than attack skills cast directly using undead artifacts.

【Blink Bracers】(White Common, Rare): A Rare item exclusive to Necromancers. Allows for two uses of 【Bone Blink】 with the power of a lower-tier Black Iron weapon without cost. After the uses are exhausted, it requires one day to recharge naturally.

[Bone Prison Sign] (White Common, Rare Item): A rare item exclusive to necromancers. It allows you to cast [Bone Cage] twice with the power of a lower-tier Black Iron spell without consuming any resources. After the cast is used up, it requires one day to recharge naturally.

Bone Armor Amulet, Blink Bracers, Ring of Impact, Bone Imprisonment Sign.

These four necromancer-exclusive artifacts encompass combat skills with different elements such as area-of-effect attacks, defense, movement, and control.

In the lower Iron rank, this is already a top-tier, luxurious setup for a necromancer.