Chapter 705: Fused Ability (Third Update—Requesting Base Monthly Votes)

Black... in fortune, this signifies a disaster related to one's own death... the lack of intensity means this disaster might lead to death, but isn't certain—there's still some hope of overcoming it? Hmm, I should observe others' fortunes more; perhaps I'll find dense black, which might mean that once a corresponding branch is chosen, death is already destined... Lu Mi maintained his observation of Fu Lan Ka and "Hela"'s fates, making this inference.

Since the branches constantly shift, Lu Mi couldn't clearly grasp the target's future fate, only glimpsing fragments here and there; the black "markings" allowed him to intuitively identify the critical points.

This was not mentioned in the esoteric knowledge inherent to the "Fate Hunter" power—Lu Mi strongly suspected that elevating "Observing Fortune" to "Observing Fate" had merged with the "Reaper"'s "Weakness Detection," forming this unique ability:

Just as one discovers weaknesses in a target's body and soul, one discovers weaknesses on the level of fate—the branch leading to death!

As I previously guessed, two abilities from the "Hunter" and "Fate" paths that both use the eyes to observe have fused... Lu Mi then glanced again at "Hela" and Fu Lan Ka's rivers of fate, discovering he could now perceive fragments of their past and present fates, just as he had when using "Fallen Mercury" to harvest others' fates.

Unlike then, he could now see directly, without extending his spirituality or relying on other abilities to touch the illusory river shimmering with mercury light, composed of intricate symbols.

That is, he could "see" part of a target's fate without the target noticing.

Of course, compared to using an ability to touch the corresponding river of fate, seeing with the eyes was clearly limited—the majority of life scenes within the mercury-colored river appeared extremely blurred in this state, and the closer to the present, the clearer they became; similarly, the less they involved higher-level entities, the clearer they were.

In this regard, the life fragments of Fu Lan Ka and "Hela" formed a sharp, powerful contrast:

In "Hela"'s river of fate, the mercury-colored ripples revealed past and present fragments that were partly shrouded in mist, partly hidden in darkness, nearly impossible to discern, with only a few barely visible; Fu Lan Ka's, however, were far clearer, especially those from the past one or two weeks—Lu Mi could see all except those involving high-tier entities like the "Night Kingdom," "The Lady of Judgment," or the "Black Witch."

During this experimental observation, Lu Mi suddenly froze.

After two or three seconds, he uncomfortably averted his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Fu Lan Ka asked, curious and concerned. "If you don't want to reveal the specific ability, you don't have to."

Only then did she realize she had been too eager, directly asking about the "Fate Hunter" and possible fused abilities in front of "Hela" herself.

Lu Mi unconsciously swallowed, steadied himself, and looked at "Hela":

"There's nothing I can't say.

"I'm no longer just able to observe fortune—I can now directly see your rivers of fate, from trunk to branch, but most are unclear; only when actively using the fate-harvesting ability can I sense them clearly, and that has a time limit.

"Hmm, among the branches I've seen in the river of fate, one leads to death..."

Lu Mi briefly recounted his initial hypothesis, his eye color gradually returning to normal.

"If it's not certain death, it should be called a 'death calamity.'" Fu Lan Ka's attention shifted to the symbolic meaning of "black."

Lu Mi and "Hela" both turned to Fu Lan Ka, waiting for her explanation.

Fu Lan Ka gave a slightly embarrassed laugh:

"Simply put, it's a disaster, crisis, or event that could bring death—but if handled well, one might survive it."

I see... Lu Mi thought for a moment and said:

"Then this ability should be called 'Eye of Calamity'—the eye that sees death calamities."

He didn't care much about the name; what mattered was usefulness and practicality.

Lu Mi then began assimilating the esoteric knowledge that had entered his body with the "Fate Hunter" power:

The core of the "Fate Hunter" is, in fact, harvesting fate—but this splits into three abilities.

The first is "Harvesting Fate," directly "harvesting" a desired fragment of the target's river of fate through contact.

This differs somewhat from "Fallen Mercury"'s ability—it doesn't require killing the target to harvest their fate, but it takes time; the lighter the fate fragment, the faster the harvest, the heavier, the slower.

—The weight of a fate fragment refers to its importance to the target's overall fate.

Of course, Lu Mi could also harvest a target's fate fragment by killing them, and since the target's overall fate then freezes and no longer changes, the time required to complete the harvest becomes very short.

As a "Fate Hunter," Lu Mi can permanently store two fate fragments on himself, exceeding "Fallen Mercury"'s limit of one.

—Normally it's three, but Lu Mi never became a dancer, never played a mendicant monk, and didn't even complete the required number of special contracts—meaning, during the first three stages of the "Fate" domain, he had barely drawn closer to the power's benefactor in daily life, resulting in poor fusion.

Had he not faithfully practiced the core spirit of the "Ascetic," he might now be able to store only one fate fragment.

The second ability is "Exchanging Fate," swapping a stored fate fragment for a fragment of the target's fate.

The weights of the fragments should ideally match—light for light, heavy for heavy—or the exchange will be slow, perhaps taking five or six minutes.

Weight matching is one factor; the inherent importance of the fragments themselves is another, significantly affecting exchange speed—but overall, it's faster than directly "harvesting" fate, except when killing the target.

Both "Harvesting Fate" and "Exchanging Fate" currently have a restriction: no further attacks on the target can be made until the process is complete.

In this regard, it's less convenient and flexible than "Fallen Mercury."

The third ability is "Pushing Fate"—expending immense spirituality to directly push the target's future toward a specific branch.

This ability wasn't originally like this; it used to involve rituals, curses, or other methods to influence the target's fate. After merging with the "Reaper"'s traits, it became direct pushing.

Combined with the "Eye of Calamity," this gave Lu Mi glimpses of certain possibilities.

Of course, after evaluating, he judged that with his dual spirituality as a "Reaper" and "Fate Hunter," he could currently push only twice.

"The core abilities of the 'Fate Hunter' are all deepened and simplified versions of 'Transferring Fate'..." Lu Mi made an overall assessment.

After becoming a "Fate Hunter," his maximum contract capacity as a "Contracted One" rose to twelve, and the endurance granted by the "Ascetic" also increased significantly.

This made Lu Mi consider signing two or three more contract abilities later, to diversify his combat style and gain additional trump cards.

But he wouldn't actually sign all twelve—even ten was too many; that would make the intensity and variety of negative effects exceed the "Ascetic"'s endurance capacity. Lu Mi had no desire to become a subpar extraordinary being like Father Guillaume Béné, easily vulnerable and predictable.

Another major change from the "Ascetic" was that "Accumulation" now extended to storing incoming fate fragments, truly becoming a core component of the "Fate Hunter."

Rituals like "Beast Creation" were also greatly simplified—for instance, Lu Mi previously needed to wrap the target in ritual parchment to transform them into a sheep by chanting; now, merely covering them symbolically with sheepskin sufficed as a prerequisite.

The flexibility of the "Dancer" also improved significantly; Lu Mi could now perform grotesque, unbelievable movements—if one saw only the projections, ordinary people would think they were monsters.

Additionally, Lu Mi's spirituality had noticeably increased; the simplest measure was that he could now use "Spirit World Transit" sixteen or seventeen times.

But whether from the "Fate Hunter" or the "Reaper," the physical strength gains were quite limited.

After confirming his changes, Lu Mi thanked "Hela," asked about the next "Curly Baboon Research Society" gathering time, and returned to the real world with Fu Lan Ka.

After returning the "Fool" gold coin to Jianna, Lu Mi briefly mentioned the "Fate Hunter"'s abilities, concluding:

"Since I can now directly see fragments of fate, I'll decide on a specific plan after observing Morane Avigny up close."

"Agreed." Fu Lan Ka wholeheartedly supported any measure that reduced risk.

Lu Mi immediately stood up and said to Fu Lan Ka and Jianna:

"I'll leave first—during this time, please ask at your esoteric gatherings if anyone has the 'Harvest Priest' potion recipe and corresponding extraordinary materials."

"No problem." After seeing Lu Mi off, Fu Lan Ka turned back, puzzled, and asked Jianna, "Why does he seem so strange? Usually he teases people, cracks jokes, then leaves."

Jianna also found this unusual, falling into thought.

Suddenly, her expression changed slightly.

Jianna lowered her head, gazing at the book in her hands, and mused:

"Perhaps his newly acquired divine power is still unstable—he needs to return and rest immediately."

"That makes sense." Fu Lan Ka instantly relaxed.

She didn't dwell on it, nor did she care to; the night was too beautiful to waste on unimportant matters.

………

In the Shade Avenue District, outside the Rose Conference Hall of the Champs Hotel.

Many reporters stood before the hotel's most iconic indoor golden fountain, waiting for Minister Morane Avigny of the Ministry of Industry to emerge after completing cooperation negotiations with the Ruen Kingdom delegation.

Lu Mi had donned his long-prepared black wool overcoat, a half-high silk top hat, and carried a rented, brand-new, no-tripod black-and-white camera, blending in with the crowd under an ordinary, unremarkable face, posing as a forged journalist.

PS: Third update—requesting base monthly votes~

(End of Chapter)