SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

Chapter 139: Testing Out Spirit Bombs

Zich did not choose many. He only selected a few of the lowest level skeleton tombstones, reducing the number from ten to seven.

As soon as the selection was confirmed, the tombstones trembled lightly at the same time before transforming into gray white soul particles. They rose from the dark mud and gathered toward his palm.

The rain fell onto those particles but failed to scatter them.

Soon, a black blue sphere of light about the size of a fist appeared in Zich’s hand.

The sphere was not large, but the aura inside it was extremely oppressive, as if the lingering resentment of several undead creatures had been forcibly kneaded together.

Zich looked at it, his interest growing even stronger.

"Just a few low level tombstones can produce something like this."

He walked to an open area of the graveyard. After confirming there were no important tombstones nearby, he raised his hand and threw the black blue sphere forward.

FWOOOSH!

The sphere landed on the ground. After a brief moment of silence, the explosion erupted violently.

BOOOOM!!!

The dark mud exploded outward, leaving behind a crater the size of a washbasin. Cold soul energy spread in all directions, and even several nearby low level tombstones were shaken enough to sway slightly.

Zich stared at the crater in silence for several seconds before the smile on his face slowly widened.

This was only a few low level tombstones.

What about ten?

Twenty?

Thirty?

What if an entire batch of ordinary undead materials were compressed together?

What kind of result would that produce?

His eyes instinctively shifted toward the Devouring Bone Giant’s tombstone in the distance.

The massive black tombstone still stood quietly in the rain. The dark red cracks on its surface glowed faintly, and its sheer presence made it impossible to ignore.

Zich imagined what it would look like to create a Spirit Bomb using a Boss level tombstone.

But he immediately suppressed the thought.

That would be too wasteful.

Materials of that level should be used to create stronger summons or strengthen Tiamat, not be spent on a single explosion.

Even so, merely imagining that kind of power made him unable to stop smiling.

This talent suited him more than ordinary skills.

It gave value to every tombstone in the graveyard.

Weak materials were no longer just trash. Old summons were no longer just burdens. Even the most ordinary undead remnants could become bombs capable of changing the course of a battle, as long as there were enough of them.

Zich turned to look at the rows of tombstones filling the graveyard, and a trace of genuine excitement appeared in his eyes.

"From this moment onward, there is no such thing as something completely useless in this graveyard anymore."

...

A few days before the Chosen One Tournament officially began, the human region of the First Layer became livelier than ever before.

Huge promotional posters started appearing throughout the streets of Stoneheart City. The Player Association’s notice boards were updated almost daily, and discussion threads on the forums refreshed page after page. Even ordinary people who normally paid little attention to matters related to Ascension Mountain began talking about the upcoming tournament in restaurants, train stations, and markets.

This was not an ordinary player sparring event.

The Chosen One Tournament represented potential, resources, backing, and the qualification to enter higher layers in the future.

For ordinary families, if someone from their household could make a name for themselves in a tournament like this, it could mean their fate would be completely rewritten.

And among the names that were being repeatedly mentioned lately, Zich Grave, a name that had once been insignificant, was appearing more and more often.

Because of his strange background, it was enough to make people take a second look, let alone all of them being attached to the same person.

Subtle changes also began appearing around the Grave family cemetery.

In the past, most people who came here were ordinary individuals handling corpses, discussing burial costs, or arriving with heavy expressions because a player had died. But over the past few days, some people entered the cemetery with noticeably more respect in their voices. Some even made a point of walking over to Leon and saying, "Your son is amazing."

Whenever Leon heard that, he could barely contain the smile on his face.

"Hahaha, of course he is! That’s my son!"

His voice was loud enough to be heard from the other side of the cemetery.

"I told everyone long ago that the boy would make something of himself sooner or later. He was just keeping a low profile before!"

Lorain stood nearby with pride on her face, though the worry in her eyes never completely disappeared.

She understood better than Leon that fame did not always bring good things.

Especially in a place like Ascension Mountain.

When a young player suddenly became famous, it meant resources, but it also meant enemies.

Still, whenever someone praised Zich, she could not help smiling a little more warmly.

After all, he was her child.

Meanwhile, throughout the First Layer of Ascension Mountain, the major human shelters also became increasingly busy.

Scouts from powerful guilds, observers from different factions, representatives of financial groups, private sponsors, and even agents from forces in the Second Layer began arriving one after another.

None of them openly announced their purpose, but everyone knew why they were there.

They were observing the candidates.

Observing who was worth investing in.

Observing who was worth recruiting early.

Observing who might become a true high level player in the future.

Helen Magnus’s information was easy to compile.

The daughter of the Association President, possessing powerful fire abilities, excellent control, stable combat judgment, and already enjoying extremely high public attention.

Jayden Smith’s information was not difficult to compile either. However, recent rumors regarding his conflict with Zich caused some organizations to add an extra note to their evaluations.

Mira Vale surprised many organizations.

A farmer class player who spent most of her time in resource fields and dangerous growth zones, rarely participating in ranking activities. Yet during the qualifiers, she displayed extremely impressive terrain control abilities and was listed as a priority observation target by many team based guilds.

As for Zich Grave, his profile was the most troublesome, and many intelligence personnel frowned after reading the report.

Because compared to a powerful person, an unknown powerful person was far harder to evaluate.

As for the main topic, he barely participated in any of the excitement outside.

While discussions about him on the forums became increasingly exaggerated, he spent most of his time inside his mansion or within his personal crypt.