Conflux System: I Can Merge Anything

Chapter 58: Opportunity Over Violence

The human animal is a beast that dies and if he’s got money he buys and buys and buys and the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting. Which it never can be.

However, Zane had to buy something.

He was going to the Citadel tomorrow and people like him were killed on the road, so one can only imagine what would happen when he would enter the home of such murderers.

Therefore, he needed something for him to stand a chance or at least escape from a problem.

He could buy three things from the shop and all of them cost six Merge Points. He had eight so he would still be left with two after a purchase.

He read all three items and decided to eliminate what he didn’t like.

Faint Pulse is nice. I can act like a dead body but I shouldn’t underestimate their hatred. What if they strike me even after I am acting as a dead body just to feel good? Yeah. I don’t want it.

Zane moved on to the next one.

Cracked Rib blade.

I do need a weapon. But something better. It isn’t durable and I don’t own anything I can merge it with to make it stronger. And I am not strong enough to make the weapon effective. That’s also out, I guess.

Now only one product was left and it sat right with Zane for one reason.

I can escape from wrong places. It inclines on survival and for the first purchase, it is good. A weapon gives certainty. A tool gives opportunity.

Zane thought a little more and since only three options were present, he finally made up his mind.

I want Rusted Lockpick.

[ Request Accepted! ]

[ 6 MP Charged! ]

[ Please Wait... ]

Zane waited and after only a second, the final notification came.

[ Purchase Confirmed! ]

KRRR!

A static noise hummed above Zane’s head as he jerked his eyes upwards.

His brows shot up as the space twisted with various colors at an extreme pace and before he knew it...

THUP!

Something fell on his lap.

He looked and it was nothing other than the Rusted Lockpick.

It was a thin, spindly sliver of iron, roughly five inches long.

The metal was almost entirely hidden beneath a thick, flaking coat of dark crimson rust that looked like dried blood. The item stood by its name.

One end was bent into a crude, jagged hook, while the handle is nothing more than a flat piece of metal wrapped in a scrap of rotting, grey cloth.

Looking closely, Zane found a tiny hairline crack right at the curve of the hook, showing that the metal is stressed and ready to snap. It didn’t shine at all. It absorbed the light around it, looking more like a piece of garbage than a tool.

Zane picked it up and finally held it on his hands.

It felt unnaturally cold, colder than the air around him. It had a rough, stone-like texture that left a faint orange stain on his fingers. It was light, almost weightless.

He raised it a little high for the moon light to fall upon it from the hole in his hut and honestly, it looked pathetic. It seemed like it would crumble if he gripped it too hard.

Maybe this is its charm?

To anyone else, it would look like trash and useless and not worthy of any attention but to Zane, it was his way to survive.

And if he merged it with something, he might have something even better for himself.

He stored it in his pants’ left pocket as the right pocket contained the relic of the Emberlord coin.

He had taken it out from his previous pants before washing them. He would forget to eat but he would not take a risk with something he had to return to someone.

After purchasing, he finally looked at the next section.

———

[ Unused Rewards: 1 ]

—

[ 1. One Free Merge ]

———

He already knew about it and would use it soon, so he moved to the next part.

———

[ Merged Core ]

—

[ Merged Skills: 1 ]

[ 1. Survival Threshold (Convergence Tier) ]

—

[ Merged Objects: 0 ]

—

[ ??? ]

—

[ ??? ]

———

Zane read it as well and asked a passing question:

What is Convergence Tier? And why do you have so many different tiers? Alphabetical tiers for the shop and such tiers for the merged skills? Just follow the tiers used in real life here.

[ Conflux has its own tiers. The products of the shop will use Alphabetical tiers. And your merged results will use slightly different tiers. Convergence Tier is the weakest level of merged results. Merge and create something of a higher tier to know about the next tier. ]

Zane sighed.

You have so many secrets. Fine.

Letting it go, Zane focused on the next things.

———

[ Skills and Traits Core ]

—

[ Skill From Your Current Rank, Void Fragment :- 1]

[ 1. Glitch Flicker]

[ Type:

Random ]

[ Description: Your body isn’t fully set in reality anymore. When attacked, you have a small chance to flicker. The attack will pass through you, dealing zero damage. ]

[ Warning: It works randomly. Don’t depend on it too much. ]

[ Tier: 10 — Same As Your Current Rank ]

—

[ Traits Of Your Current Designation, Myth Harbinger :- 1 ]

[ 1. The Unwritten ]

[ Type: Passive ]

[ Description: You cannot be tracked by traditional ’Fate’ or ’Prophecy’ magic to some extent. ]

[ Warning: Exceptionally strong beings will bypass this Trait. ]

[ Tier: 10 — Same As Your Current Rank ]

———

Zane’s eyes widened as he had forgotten about the skills because of the shop.

He read both the skill and the trait and he couldn’t help but smile.

But his smile vanished as he figured the skill was based on luck and the trait was passive, not offensive as well as defensive.

However, he could change it.

Can I merge them?

The result would surely be something great.

But...

[ No. You will get a Skill with each rise of Rank. And when you reach Rank 1, you will have ten skills in total. After that only, you can choose whether to merge the ten Skills or use them separately. The same rule applies to the Designation. With each Rank, your Designation will also change. Each Designation will bring a Trait. And upon reaching the highest Designation, you will have ten Traits in total. And only then, you can decide whether you want to merge all ten Traits or not. Also, Skills and Traits can’t be merged with each other. ]

Zane quivered his brows.

But you said I can merge anything.

[ You can. But the Skills and Traits are not ’anything.’ ]

Zane massaged the side of his head.

The system’s words were getting to his brain but he figured he was nearly at the end of the interface.

Only a few sections were left.

He darted his eyes on them.

I’ll read them all at once.

———

[ Sealed Core ]

—

[ Origin: ??? ]

[ Convergence Plane: ??? ]

[ Architect: ??? ]

[ True Function: ??? ]

[ Global Erasure Index: ??? ]

[ Axiomatic Synchronization: ??? ]

[ Causality Interference Level: ??? ]

[ Void Heart-Rate: ??? ]

[ Soul-Debt Accumulation: ??? ]

[ Mortal Anchor Stability: ??? ]

[ Hidden Apex Designation: ??? ]

[ System Version: Final_Iteration_v.??? ]

—

[ Warning: Host Authority Insufficient. Attempting to force decryption of [ ??? ] parameters will result in immediate Neural Erasure. ]

———

[[ You can summon a particular section by calling its name or thinking about it whenever you want. ]]

———

[ !! SYSTEM WARNING CORE !! ]

—

[ DISCLOSURE = TOTAL ERASURE ]

[ SPEAK AND REGRET ]

[ ... ]

———

Zane finished reading and he was out of words.

Each section gave him questions but as he read the last words again, he gulped.

If he ignored everything else, the last line of the warning core definitely managed to send a chill down his spine.

Just after the SPEAK AND REGRET, in the same bold letters, something even more terrifying was written...

[ YOU ARE OBSERVED. ]