Mortal Shell 2: How to Get and Use the Glimpse Stone

Glimpse is the resource that raises a Shell’s Bond Tier in Mortal Shell 2, and it normally does not respawn once you pick it up. The Glimpse Stone changes that math. It is a Fragile Tarstone you buy, equip, and then deliberately wear down in combat until it shatters and pays out Glimpses.

Quick answer: Buy a Glimpse Stone from Merrick at Marrow Keep for 250 coins, slot it into one of the active slots on the character screen, then kill 20 enemies of any type. The stone breaks at 0 durability and grants 3 Glimpses.

Glimpse Stone stats and break reward

The item card in your inventory spells out the whole mechanic. It is tagged FRAGILE, its durability line reads “Decreases as enemies defeated,” and the break effect reads “Grants Glimpses.” Nothing about it is conditional on enemy type, boss kills, or location.

Detail	Value
Type	Fragile Tarstone
Price	250 coins
Seller	Merrick, Marrow Keep (Tarstones tab)
Durability	20 / 20
Durability loss	1 per enemy defeated, any type
On break	3 Glimpses
Starting stock	5

Note: Fragile Tarstones also yield a Tarcore when they break, which is why they are worth burning through rather than hoarding.

How to buy the Glimpse Stone from Merrick

Fast travel to the Marrow Keep beacon and head toward Merrick, the merchant stationed in the keep. He is a short run from the beacon, so there is no combat detour required.

Armored player character running through a torch-lit cavern on the way to Merrick at Marrow Keep — The short run from the Marrow Keep beacon down to Merrick’s spot. Image: Cold Symmetry

Interact with Merrick and open the Merchant menu. His stock is split across MAPS, MATERIALS, RARE FINDINGS, and TARSTONES, with SELL, TALK, and LEAVE options alongside them.

Merrick's Merchant menu open in Mortal Shell 2 with the Materials category highlighted — Merrick’s shop categories, with Materials open. Glimpse Stones sit under the Tarstones tab. Image: Cold Symmetry

Switch to the TARSTONES tab and scroll to GLIMPSE STONE. It sits alongside his other stones, including Egon’s Stone, Auspicious Stone, Deadeye Stone, and Berserker’s Stone.

Buy as many as you can afford at 250 coins each. Merrick starts with five, and you will see a “GLIMPSE STONE 2 ACQUIRED” style confirmation as each one lands in your inventory.

If Merrick’s shop will not open at all, that is expected on your very first visit to Marrow Keep. Fast travel to any other point on the map and come back, and the shop becomes available.

Equipping the stone and breaking it

A Glimpse Stone sitting in your inventory does nothing. Durability only ticks down while the stone occupies an active slot.

Open the character screen and look at the active slots along the bottom row. Drop the Glimpse Stone into one of them.

Confirm the counter reads 20 / 20. That number is your kill budget, and it is the only progress tracker you need to watch.

Go fight. Any enemy counts, so the fastest route is a dense patrol route or a camp near a beacon rather than anything dangerous. Each kill drops the counter by one.

Player character sprinting along a forest path with the HUD visible while working through 20 enemy kills — Any 20 enemies will do, so a familiar patrol route is the quickest way to drain durability. Image: Cold Symmetry

On the twentieth kill, the on-screen message “GLIMPSE STONE FRAGILE TARSTONE BROKEN” confirms the stone is gone and the 3 Glimpses are yours. Slot the next stone immediately if you bought more than one, because the empty slot earns nothing.

If the counter is not moving, the cause is almost always one of two things. Either the stone is still sitting in your inventory rather than an active slot, or you are watching a different Tarstone’s durability.

How Merrick restocks Glimpse Stones

Merrick does not hold unlimited stock, and buying him out does not permanently end the supply. His Glimpse Stone inventory refills as you push the story forward and take down bosses, so it is worth returning to Marrow Keep after each major milestone to check the Tarstones tab again.

Merrick's dialogue appearing on screen as the player character moves through a dark cavern in Marrow Keep — Merrick’s stock refreshes as you clear story milestones and bosses. Image: Cold Symmetry

Merrick also sells a single Glimpse outright for 500 coins. At 250 coins for three Glimpses, the stone is the far cheaper option if you are willing to spend the kills.

What to spend Glimpses on

Glimpses are handed to Zhirelle in Marrow Keep. Spending them there raises a Shell’s Bond Tier, Shell Points capacity, and Shell Revive Efficiency, and unlocks Memories that open up more of that Shell’s unique Abilities. Each Shell has its own track, so Glimpse demand adds up quickly if you plan to invest in more than one.

Outside of Merrick, Glimpses are pickups. They cluster around Beacons you cleanse in the overworld, appear inside Corrupted Gates, and turn up in hidden areas and dungeons. Those copies do not respawn, which makes the Glimpse Stone the only repeatable supply short of a New Game Plus run.

One more source worth knowing about: with Night Mode active, returning to each location where you originally picked up a Shell yields eight extra Glimpses in total. Some of them are tucked away rather than sitting in the open, so search the area around the exact spot the Shell was found.

Treat the Glimpse Stone as a background task rather than a farming session. Keep one equipped whenever you are clearing routes or pushing through a dungeon, and the 20 kills will pass on their own while you play.