Alex stood in the quiet cabin, the remnants of his earlier intimacy with Alice lingering in the air, the girl still resting, though her eyes were opened.
But now, his focus had shifted.
The synthesis feature that came after eating the fruit and enhanced his talent could definitely be useful if it truly did what he thought it did.
And so he immediately wanted to use it.
He glanced at the items in his inventory, trying to grab his [Golden Staff] alongside a [Poison Ring].
“Synthesis!”
But it did nothing.
[“Elysian Staff of the Silver Mage” and “Poison Ring” cannot be combined, try something else!]
He tried a few combinations afterward, but all of them failed.
‘Finding a match is more difficult than I thought…’
[Use your brain.]
‘Damn.’
But this advice unironically actually helped him understand how it worked better: why the hell was he even trying to combine Boar Meat with a Poison Ring? Trying to create poisoned meat?
No, he needed to be smart with it.
And so the first thing he did was pull out both of his [Beginner Backpacks].
They were useful, but two backpacks took up unnecessary space.
“Synthesis!”
And this time, it actually did something!
Ding!
[Synthesis: Beginner Backpack + Beginner Backpack = ?]
The system glowed for a moment as the two items floated in front of him, merging together into a swirling ball of light.
After a second, the light faded, and in their place was a single, larger backpack.
[Advanced Backpack (Rare): Increases inventory space to 40 slots. Reduces weight burden by 25%, and can now carry ‘Epic’ items ]
“Perfect,” Alex muttered to himself, slinging the [Advanced Backpack] onto his back. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
It was a significant upgrade, giving him more room to carry loot and making travel easier by reducing the weight of his gear.
Next, Alex strategically eyed the [Bear Dagger] he had recently looted.
It was already a decent weapon, but it could be better.
He glanced at the [Poison Ring] in his inventory and quickly decided that adding a poison effect to the dagger would make it much deadlier.
[Synthesis: Bear Dagger + Poison Ring = ?]
The items merged in the same way, glowing briefly before transforming into something new.
[Bear Poison Dagger: Inflicts 100% of strength with each strike and has a 25% chance of dealing the poison effect: 20 damage per second for 10 seconds. (Uncommon)]
Alex grinned.
He didn’t use a dagger, but the one he owned had probably quadrupled in value since it not only packed a punch but also had a lingering effect with its poison.
This would make close-range combat much more effective.
Lastly, Alex had one more combination in his mind: Bear King’s Chest Armor and Wild Boar Trophy, two rare-tier items.
“Synthesis…!” he used the skill while thinking of these two.
But yet again, something strange happened: the system issued a warning as soon as he tried to initiate the synthesis.
[High risk of failure: both items will break! Proceed with caution.]
Alex winced at the thought.
Losing both items would be a disaster.
The armor reduced the damage he took, and the trophy could be sold to a collector in the first city.
“Not worth it,” Alex muttered, canceling the synthesis attempt.
He’d need more levels and perhaps better control of the synthesis feature before attempting such a risky merge.
Satisfied with his current upgrades, Alex decided it was time to check his overall status.
He hadn’t done so since the beginning, and after all the leveling and gear upgrades, he was eager to see just how much stronger he had become.
With a mental command, his character panel appeared in front of him:
[ID:] FateBreaker
[Level:] 10 (54797/1000)
[Occupation:] Mage
[Class:] Beginner Mage
[Talent:] Extraction (SSS)
[Talent Effect #1:] Upon defeating a monster, you are able to extract an item/attribute/skill/talent from them, with a 20% chance of the prompt appearing.
[Talent Effect #2:] Defeating monsters will grant you “Extraction Points”, which you can use later on to enhance your talent or buy items.
[Talent Effect #3:] Potential Extraction; You can use this to extract the full potential of an item and thus enhance its powers.
[Talent Effect #4:] Synthesis; Combine items, skills, or abilities to create something stronger.
[Health Points:] 1090 (Vitality * 10)
[Mana Points:] 2570 (Spirit * 10)
[Speed:] 174 (Agility * 1)
[Magic Damage:] 257 (Spirit * 1)
[Physical Damage:] 139 (Strength * 1)
[Magic Resistance:] 257 + 11 (bear armor) (Spirit * 1)
[Physical Resistance:] 139 + 2 (rat helmet) (Vitality * 1)
[Attributes:] Vitality 109; Strength 139; Agility 174; Spirit 257 + 1000 (golden staff)
[Skills:]
[Fireball Level 8: Deal 300 points of damage to target + 100% of spirit to target; consumes 10 mana; 3-second cooldown.]
[Red Crystal Level 7: Deals exactly 500 damage to target; consumes 15 mana; 5-second cooldown.]
[Rock Throw Level 5: Create a small ball of rock that you can throw at the enemy, dealing 620 damage, with a chance of stunning; consumes 20 mana; 3-second cooldown.]
[Earth Shield Level 3: Create an earth shield that can block up to 540 damage at once; costs 50 mana; one-minute cooldown.]
[Fire Storm Level 2: Deal 52% of your spirit in damage to enemies in a large area; consumes 100 mana; 30-second cooldown.]
[Attributes Points:] 0
[Skill Points:] 21
[Equipment:] Elysian Staff of the Silver Mage (Legendary), Snake Backpack (Uncommon), Bear King’s Chest Armor (rare), Advanced Backpack (Rare), Bear Poison Dagger (Uncommon), Wild Boar Trophy (Rare), 2x Boar Meat.
…
Everything seemed in order, except for one detail Alex had never taken the time to observe before: the second perk of his Extraction talent.
He had never paid much attention to the [Extraction Points] until now.
“Strange,” Alex muttered, “What’s Extraction Points, and why haven’t I seen them before?”
As if in response, a new prompt appeared in front of him:
[You need to ask for it.]
“Can I see my Extraction Points then?” Alex asked.
[Ding!]
[Extraction Points: 47/100]
[Reach 100 Extraction Points to enhance your skill and get access to the shop!]
[One extraction = One extraction point; this amount will increase as you progress.]
[Enhancing your talent may increase the odds of triggering the prompt!]
Alex’s eyebrows shot up.
“Interesting,” he muttered, rubbing his chin.
If so, then he needed to try and kill more monsters instead of focusing on the levels, he just got an [Advanced Backpack] that can store 40 items up to epic-tier after all, making it much easier.
Just then, Alice finally stirred from her rest, stretching as she sat up.
She quickly gathered her scattered clothes and began to dress, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
“That was… intense,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
Alex chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, “Yeah, it was. I didn’t mean to—well, I mean, you seemed to enjoy it.”
Alice blushed even more, nodding quickly. “No, it was… good,” she admitted, biting her lip shyly.
After a few more awkward moments, they both finished dressing and left the cabin, ready to head back down to the forest floor.
“Let’s get going,” Alex said. “We need to deal with the final boss before the other players beat us to it.”
As they descended into the forest, Alex killed a few wandering monsters, adding more loot and experience to his ever-growing inventory.
He was about halfway to the boss area when he overheard voices ahead, causing him to pause and motion for Alice to do the same.
“Quick! The leader said we need to go now if we want to unlock the first city!” one voice said urgently.
“Yeah, that FateBreaker guy ruined our initial plans,” another grumbled.
“Honestly, I don’t want to meet him. If he managed to beat MartialMage, he must be terrifying…”
“Shhh! If he hears you, you’re dead!”
Alex narrowed his eyes, listening as the players hurried past.
They were heading deeper into the forest, likely towards the boss.
And if they were talking about him, that meant they were gunning for the final boss kill, just like he was.
The first city had been opened on the third day in his past life, but now it was going to be on the second, as Daniel’s EGO probably got hurt.
He grinned, “Looks like we’ve got some competition, Alice,” he said, his tone filled with excitement.
Alice raised an eyebrow, curious. “Are we going to let them get to the boss first?”
“Not a chance,” Alex replied, his eyes gleaming, “Let’s have some fun, Daniel.”