The skeleton clone's bones start spontaneously assembling a complete set of skeleton armor on its body.
This armor is formed by numerous layers of bone plates precisely stacked, enhancing its defense power and giving it a more formidable presence.
The process of armor creation is like natural growth, spreading from the spine to the limbs, eventually covering the entire body.
The bone armor at each joint fits perfectly, seemingly born for battle.
The bone armor at the chest is thick and solid, protecting the fragile core within, while the head area forms a sharp bone crown, symbolizing a shift in identity.
Finally, once the full set of skeleton armor is complete, the skeleton clone's size has already surged to over two meters.
[Skeleton Armor] (White Common): Armor condensed from skeleton essence, can moderately increase full-body defense.
The Ark clenches the Bone Fist, and the entire suit of armor clinks and clanks.
Far stronger than before, this power allows him to breathe a sigh of relief.
Awesome!
He then looks at the clone's attribute panel—
[Clone] Skeleton Warriors
[Tier] Black Iron·Lower
[Attributes] Strength 30, Constitution 30, Agility 30, Spirit 30
[Equipment] Skeleton Long Spear (White Common), Skeleton Armor (White Common)
[Skills] Skeleton Monarch (Black Iron, Instinct), Skeleton Armament (Black Iron, Instinct), Brutal Strike (Apprentice, Perfection), Charge (Apprentice, Mastery), Weapon Specialization (Apprentice, Mastery), Block (Apprentice, Skilled), Battle Cry (Apprentice, Skilled)
[Soul Power] 20
Compared to before, it has undergone a dramatic transformation, justifying a month of tireless monster battles and training by the Ark.
However, Ark does not get overly intoxicated by the growth of his power.
Shortsightedness leads to future worries.
Perhaps the skeleton clone's power is considered good among black iron lower-tier skeleton warriors.
But in Ark's eyes, it's just a brand new starting point.
At least, the benefits brought by skills like Brutal Strike, Charge, and Weapon Specialization, which are apprentice-level, are no longer as obvious.
Ark, accustomed to violent overwhelming and dimensional reduction attacks, is not satisfied with these skills stopping at the apprentice level.
To master black iron-level skills, the most direct way is to exchange them in the Human Alliance Skill Library, like usual, then consume soul power for a quick entry.
However, Ark's current F-level authority only allows the exchange of apprentice-level skills, without the qualification to exchange black iron-level skills.
Even if he had the authority, a black iron-level skill book costs over a hundred contribution points, which Ark cannot afford at this time.
This route is temporarily inaccessible.
As for the other route, it's a bit more troublesome.
The apprentice-level skills selected by Ark for the skeleton clone all have great potential.
According to Ark's speculation, relying on his intellect and some help from the attribute panel, he should have a chance to deduce their upper-tier skills.
However, this imposes high requirements on his skill proficiency and soul power reserves.
After thinking it over, Ark decides to experiment with [Brutal Strike] first.
The plan is to first work hard to increase it to [Instinct] level proficiency, then attempt to consume soul power for deduction and see the results.
Before that, the skeleton clone must cautiously stay in the outer regions of Burial Wilderness, casually killing some upper apprentice skeletons to accumulate some soul power.
The path to becoming stronger is very clear, so Ark doesn't waste time.
He maneuvers the skeleton clone, already at black iron lower-tier, clad in armor and wielding a long spear, sweeping towards deeper parts of Burial Wilderness.
The upgrade principle Ark set for his skeleton clone is always violent overwhelming and dimensional reduction attacks!
At lower apprentice-tier, attack those newborn fragile skeletons.
At middle apprentice-tier, attack those lower apprentice-tier skeletons.
At upper apprentice-tier, go recklessly among middle apprentice skeletons.
Now that he has reached black iron lower-tier, naturally his opponents should be changed to upper apprentice skeletons.
...
In the dim outskirts of Burial Wilderness, a flicker of phosphorus light illuminates the silhouette of a black iron-level skeleton warrior, holding a long spear, clad in armor, impressively robust.
Compared to Ark's skeleton clone, the surrounding apprentice-level skeletons seem as fragile as toy models.
Confronted by the approaching skeleton ahead, Ark stands unmovable, with cold flares of soul fire flickering in his eye sockets.
Brutal Strike!
Then he pauses his steps, thrusting the long spear forward sharply, a keen spear silhouette cutting through the air, directly aimed at the nearest skeleton ahead.
Bang!
The skeleton long spear pierces accurately through the skull of that skeleton, pinning it to the hard ground.
As the spear is pulled out, the skeleton instantly crumbles into dust, scattering across the ground.
The faint skeleton essence contained within is absorbed into Ark's body, making the luster on his bones even more profound.
Next, the skeleton clone's figure flickers, drifting like a ghost in the wind.
With the dance of the long spear, like a blooming death flower, each stab, strike, and sweep takes away a skeleton's soul fire.
Though those apprentice-level skeletons exert themselves fully to resist, they are as vulnerable as children before a giant when facing the skeleton clone, completely a one-sided slaughter.
If these skeletons had wisdom, they would surely disdain Ark's action of bullying the weak and taking advantage of the small.
Actually, the skeleton essence and soul power Ark extracts from these apprentice skeletons are already minimal.
He's just using these excellent targets to practice [Brutal Strike], wanting to quickly elevate it to [Instinct] proficiency.
After two hours of killing, the skeleton clone's soul fire remains radiant.
Only then does Ark feel a deep fatigue of the soul surging within.
He is slightly delighted in his heart.
It appears that with the skeleton clone's tier elevation, his soul strength has likewise increased.
This also means more time for daily monster battles and leveling up.
Ark turns his attention back to the main body, filled with anticipation.
Upon gazing at the attribute panel, he joyfully notices that his tier has indeed risen to apprentice middle-tier, and the four-dimensional attributes have substantially improved.
[Attributes] Strength 3.9, Agility 3.9, Constitution 3.9, Spirit 6
Not to mention the spirit attribute, the three core attributes of strength, agility, and constitution are nearing 4.
According to Ark's estimate, Ye Fan, as a Demon Hunter combat professional, may have attributes of strength, constitution, and agility that are slightly lower than his own.
Ark then releases the skeleton long spear skill, materializing a bone spear, sensing its power has increased by at least fifty percent compared to before.
He takes a deep breath and looks at the skills bar.
"Detection: Clone [Skeleton Monarch] skill has reached [Instinct] proficiency, can be used as skill material for deducing unknown skills for the main body, estimated to consume 10 soul power points."
"Begin deduction?"