Chapter 274: Convergence

"Killing Chosen was really good stuff."

It paid off far better than killing a beast ever could, because a Chosen didn't just drop a single ability—they dropped skill lines, entire structured paths of power bundled together like layered rewards. And that alone made them ten times more valuable to me, especially now that I knew I could share those full lines with my goblins instead of just bits and pieces.

Beasts were simple. One kill, one skill.

Chosen, on the other hand, were walking treasure chests.

And now that I had finally wrapped my head around the existence of skill lines—and how they slipped past the ten-skill limit like a quiet loophole—it was time to get back to the actual distribution.

After adding [Poison Craft] and [Toxic Core] to Flogga, I still technically had room to give her two more skills or even two more entire lines, depending on how far this loophole stretched. The thought alone made my pulse pick up, because the potential for min-maxing here was insane.

But I forced myself to steady my breathing and take the sensible route.

Two poison-related lines were already a major shift in her build, and pushing more onto her right away could easily overwhelm her or complicate things before I even understood the long-term impact. Even if the system wasn't stopping me, piling too much onto one goblin this early felt reckless.

So for now, I decided these two were enough.

There would be more chances to experiment later.

Right now, building a strong foundation mattered more than stuffing her full of everything I had.

Both [Toxic Core] and [Poison Craft] fit her perfectly. They tied into her natural mutation, amplified her strengths, and made her a true poison-specialist rather than a half-baked hybrid. With these, she wouldn't just fight well—she would be terrifyingly efficient in her own unique way.

Watching the new skills settle into her list felt... right.

Poison Craft in particular tied everything together. It granted her a deeper understanding of toxins, venoms, and corrosive substances, letting her create them with higher success rates and better potency while keeping them stable in combat. With that skill alone, she would stop being a goblin who "had poison" and start becoming someone who commanded poison, someone who could craft, manipulate, and weaponize it with actual intent.

She might be annoyed that I took away [Flame Orb], considering she used it as her personal lighter half the time, but I doubted the irritation would last once she felt Poison Craft kick in. The skill opened a completely different path for her, one far more aligned with her nature than throwing fireballs ever was.

So I clicked on [Share], selecting only [Unyielding Will] as the passive.Cursed Regeneration and Focus were locked inside their own skill sets, and because the system treated them as part of a larger package, I couldn't share them individually without handing over the entire bundle.

And despite the excitement pulsing in my chest, there was still that small, nagging fear that dumping too many full skill sets on my goblins might come with consequences I hadn't uncovered yet.

So I held back—for now.

After finalizing her new set, I moved to Narg.

He required no hesitation.

The skills I had available for him now completely overshadowed the ones I had shared with him before.

The suitable skills were [Graveborn Nexus], which had the sub skills: [Decay], [Blackflame Surge], [Soulrot Hex], [Witherfield], and [Spirit Leech].

They were all shaman-type skills, and each one of them leaned into Narg's natural role as the clan's spiritual backbone. Dark magic, decay-based curses, essence manipulation... these weren't just skills he could use; they were skills he was built for.

And if that wasn't enough, I could also give him Hissra's fire-based set [Inferno Core]:

[Hellbrand (A)],[Heatwave Pulse (C)],[Inferno Domain (A)],[Overheat Ascension (S)].

Those were pure, aggressive flames, the kind of power that turned someone into a walking furnace. If Narg wanted destructive force, this was it.

Then there was Jael's set, [Umbral Ink Core], equally dangerous but in an entirely different way:

[Deathroot (S)],[Black Grasp (C)],[Ink Consumption (A)],[Abyssal Spread (S)].

Semi-sentient cursed ink that rotted vitality, corroded defenses, and infected everything it touched. Terrifying, versatile, and perfect for someone who already works with spiritual corrosion.

Narg was my second-in-command. If anyone besides me deserved to walk around with the most terrifying combination of powers in the clan, it was him. Making him the second strongest wasn't just favoritism; it was strategic. If something ever happened to me, the clan needed someone who could hold everything together and crush anything bold enough to attack.

But actually picking which skills to give him... that was where things became complicated.

I kept asking myself whether I should start him with a single skill set and let him develop around it, or push things further and test how well he handled two.

Graveborn paired with Inferno Core had its appeal, and Graveborn with Umbral Core could work just as well.

Either way, Graveborn wasn't optional. It fit his class too naturally to leave out.

The real question was whether I wanted him to grow into a pure specialist who mastered one devastating element or build him into a hybrid monster who commanded multiple paths.

Out of all the skills I'd shared before, [Danger Sense], [Stealth], and [Mana Shield] were definitely worth keeping, and the new passive [Unyielding Will] I'd pushed out earlier was basically mandatory at this point.

I could also add [Battle Instinct] and [Blood resilence], which weren't associated with a skill line.

That alone took up six slots.

But they didn't matter much here. They weren't going to get in the way, and nothing he already had would clash with what I intended to give him.

So the only thing left was choosing how far I wanted to push him right now.

Narg still had four open slots to work with, which meant I had room to experiment... but even then, I couldn't just dump all three sets on him.

That would turn him into something stupidly overpowered, and not necessarily in a good way.

Power without direction was just chaos.

I let out a slow exhale, feeling the weight of the decision settle in my chest.

Choosing blindly could either create a monster or cripple him if the skills clashed the wrong way. And with skill lines being this complex, one wrong combination might overload him or cause problems I couldn't fix on the spot.

So the question lingered.

What exactly was the right move here?

After a few minutes of thinking it through, running the options over in my head, I finally decided it was best to...