Thud! Thud!
Shimmering golden rays glistened on the dew-soaked grassland as Sam maintained a steady, rhythmic jogging pace.
A heavy drop of sweat rolled down his chin, splashing onto the wet grass. The stubborn chill of the departing winter was still clinging to the morning air, putting up a final fight before giving way to spring.
A small towel hung loosely around his neck. He reached up, wiping the freezing sweat from his face without breaking his stride.
"That should be enough for today," he murmured.
Slowing to a halt, he focused on controlling his breathing—inhaling deeply through his nose and exhaling slowly.
According to his physical conditioning books, breathing heavily through the mouth induced rapid fatigue and signaled premature exhaustion to the body. Around him in the vast hostel playground, several other boys were going through their own morning drills, none paying him any mind.
…
Stepping out of the communal showers a short while later, he threw on a simple pair of pants and a comfortable half-sleeve shirt.
"Now that the chores are done, it's time to get to work," Sam whispered to himself.
He had exactly two months of free time before the Central Education Board released the matriculation exam results. This was a golden opportunity to build his foundation and explore his options without academic distractions.
Then, a self-deprecating smile crept onto his face as he remembered his financial reality. "I'm drowning in debt."
Sitting at his study table, he retrieved a batch of Spiritual Fire Ganoderma from his storage ring. Focusing his mind, he urged his rune energy into his palms.
Swish!
In an instant, his consciousness was pulled into the dark void of the Merge space. He smiled as the automated ignition process took over, seamlessly fusing the raw materials.
When he opened his eyes a moment later, he slumped forward against the table, a fine bead of sweat dotting his forehead.
'My rune energy is completely exhausted again.'
Closing his eyes, Sam immediately shifted into a meditative state to restore his depleted reserves. It took him exactly forty-five agonizing minutes to completely refill his rune energy. Once he was full, he repeated the exact same process. Merge, exhaust, meditate, repeat.
After several grueling cycles, he slumped back in his chair, his eyes closed in sheer exhaustion.
Knock! Knock!
"Wait a second!" Sam called out, groggily rising to his feet and striding toward the door.
Clink! He unlocked it to find a curly-haired boy standing in the hallway.
"Breakfast time!" the boy announced cheerfully.
"Coming," Sam replied. He grabbed his room key from under his pillow, stepped out, and securely locked the door behind him. "Let's go."
As they walked toward the cafeteria, the boy gave him a side-eye. "Are you insanely busy lately or something? You've changed, Sam. And your face looks deathly pale!"
Sam's body flinched slightly.
"Maybe I have changed a bit, Rahul," Sam replied, keeping his voice carefully neutral.
Rahul nodded in understanding. He already knew the rough gist of Sam's disappearance in the wilderness. It was entirely natural for someone to change after surviving such a vicious, near-death encounter.
"It's okay, man." Rahul sympathetically patted his shoulder.
Sam just nodded. 'What else do you expect me to do? I barely know how the original owner used to behave anyway.'
To maintain his disguise, Sam walked in calm silence until Rahul sparked up the conversation again.
"Which intermediate college are you planning to aim for?"
Sam's footsteps briefly halted before he recovered his casual expression. "RPS College."
"Nice. I'm also planning to try for a standard government college."
Suddenly, Rahul stiffened. "Sir!" he mumbled respectfully, and absolute silence descended upon the duo.
"Good morning, sir!" they both chorused as the stern hostel teacher walked past them. The man gave a curt nod, and they quickly hurried toward the cafeteria.
…
Clink!
Returning from breakfast, Sam slipped back into his room and immediately locked the door. Reclaiming his spot at the study table, he dove straight back into the grueling cycle of his Merge ability.
Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes bled into hours.
Finally, Sam collapsed onto the table. Despite his bone-deep exhaustion, a faint, satisfied smile graced his lips, and a brilliant light overflowed in his eyes.
Sometime later, after his face had regained a bit of color and his muscles found enough strength to make basic movements, he pressed his fingers against his wristband.
[Strength: 2]
[Agility: 2]
[Physique: 2]
[Spirit: 10]
[Endurance: 3/3 (Physique + 10% Spirit)]
[Rune Energy: 10/10 (Spirit)]
[Rune Abilities: None]
[Special Abilities: Merge (Merge Points: 1500)]
Resting his cheek heavily against his palm, Sam pondered the data.
'So that's why the ability has been practically begging me to use these points.'
During his third round of refining earlier that morning, a strange, instinctual urge had pulsed from the Merge ability itself.
Somehow, an innate set of instructions had forcefully imprinted into his mind, explaining exactly how to utilize the accumulated Merge Points to temper his own body.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sam closed his eyes. Following the instinctual instructions, he gently rubbed his right hand—almost like Aladdin polishing a magic lamp—and willed the system to consume the points.
In a fraction of a second, his reality warped.
Sam found his consciousness plunging into a mystical, glowing river. The water was incredibly soothing. All of his tense, overworked muscles instantly relaxed upon contact with the healing currents, his cells greedily absorbing every drop of the miraculous liquid as if they had been starved for decades.
"Ah..." A soft moan of pure relief escaped his lips.
But a moment later, the sensation shifted.
He started to feel the temperature of the river rapidly rising. With every passing second, the water grew hotter, yet his consciousness remained submerged, physically witnessing the violent rebirth of his own cellular structure.
He was being dragged deeper and deeper into the current. The crushing hydrostatic pressure acting upon his body increased exponentially. His rational mind screamed that this boiling heat would cook him alive and lead to a dead end.
Strangely, however, a deeper, primal part of his mind encouraged him to dive even further into the abyss.
Slowly but gradually, pale, blistering burn marks began to manifest across his skin. But the moment they appeared, his body regenerated at an explosive rate. The dead, burned cells sloughed off and washed away, instantly replaced by tougher, denser tissue.
The speed of his cellular regeneration was vastly outclassing the destructive boiling heat.
Persistently, he allowed himself to sink into the deepest, hottest depths. Suddenly, a blinding flash of pure light pierced through him, forcefully snatching away his vision.
His eyelids trembled violently, and his eyes snapped open.
"Was that... a hallucination?!"
Breathing heavily, his eyes wide with shock, Sam frantically looked left, right, up, and down around his small dorm room.
'What the hell was that? Was it just a dream?'
Every agonizing second of the boiling river had felt incredibly real, yet here he was, sitting perfectly dry in his chair, staring blankly at his own right hand.
He raised an eyebrow. 'How dumb can I be? Let's just check the numbers.'
His fingers unconsciously tapped the side of his wristband.
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 4]
[Physique: 7]
[Spirit: 10]
[Endurance: 8/8 (Physique + 10% Spirit)]
[Rune Energy: 10/10 (Spirit)]
[Rune Abilities: None]
[Special Abilities: Merge (Merge Points: 1000)]
Sam blinked. Then he blinked again.
'I have to be hallucinating.'
His Physique had skyrocketed from 2 to 7. His Agility had doubled. His Endurance had more than doubled.
In a daze, he gripped the wooden edge of his study table to push himself up.
Crunch!
The thick wooden arm of the table completely shattered under his grip, utterly unable to withstand the sheer, sudden stress of his newly upgraded Strength. The splintered chunks of wood hung pathetically by a few bent nails.
Sam stared dumbly at his hand, then at the ruined furniture.
'Am I really that strong now?!'
A surge of pure, boyish joy bloomed in his soul. Since childhood, it was every young boy's dream to casually crush a piece of furniture with their bare hands, showing off raw power to impress their friends or their crush.
"Wait. I just broke the hostel's table."
The harsh reality of property damage—and the fines that came with it—dawned on him before he could even fully enjoy his superhuman awakening.