"What?" Boss Howell howled. "He knew nothing?!"
The man was furious. He did send Greg and Zachary again to extort information about Erik from the old man he worked with. Still, apparently, he knew nothing, so the duo was forced to kill him.
"It's not our fault, boss!" Greg said.
"Yeah, we even tortured him! But it didn't work."
Boss Howell sighed deeply before speaking in a calmer tone than usual: "We can get someone else then… Someone who knows more…" Greg said. "He has many friends; we could do something about it! If the old man knew nothing, their friends probably will!" he added.
Howell looked up at his men. They both nodded solemnly at each other as a sign of reassurance and as they waited for their leader to decide.
The men could tell by the way he kept looking down on them that their failure would be met with punishment. They were both terrified of getting punished when all this was over.
The man was already enraged because they found nothing on the young man's computer. However, they were able to understand what kind of person Erik was.
There was a lot of rage in him, and he was very interested in the war. Still, aside from that, there was nothing about a secret device, information, and stuff like that.
The only way for them to find out what they were paid for was to kidnap the young man. The problem was that he spent most of the time at the Red Palace and got out only to work, but now that the two pricks killed his employer, it was clear he wasn't going to the farm anymore.
Howell sighed again, thinking hard. Finally, he spoke: "There is still a chance for you to redeem yourselves..." he said with a grim smile. His eyes narrowed; Greg swallowed nervously, and Zachary remained silent.
"It has come to my attention that the military is planning a big event outside of the city, and the Red Palace and the military school are involved..." the man said quietly. Greg gulped loudly while Zachary tried desperately not to show any fear whatsoever.
"Apparently, they will bring the students to hunt thaids, and if things go as they should, our little Erik Romano should be among them... Well, that's what my informant told me…"
After knowing who the kid was, Howell was surprised. He knew an awakener had appeared in New Alexandria, but he didn't know who he was.
He learned about his identity after a newspaper talked about the local school's tournament. The young man's name appeared again, and he made 2+2.
Obviously, trying to kidnap the awakener was risky since the military kept an eye on him. However, the pricks couldn't do anything about Howell's organization for a long time, so he didn't think this would make a difference. However, the operation itself was going to be risky.
If everything went according to the plan he just brewed, the team sent to capture the young man would have no trouble doing so.
"Look... this is what you are going to do..."
***
Erik arrived at the Red Palace after a while but wasn't in the best state of mind; he was in a conflict. On the one hand, his employer, the only person who gave him a job these past two years, died, and he was sad about this.
Despite not everything being the best with the old man, he remembered genuinely good moments at the farm with pleasure.
On the other hand, a greedy person died, someone who took advantage of him for a long time and paid him a pittance that barely allowed him to survive for two years.
Only recently, since Erik got the system, things improved, with the old man at least paying him a decent salary. However, Mister Fox's past behavior made the young man think that he kind of deserved what happened to him.
It was with these conflicting emotions that Erik went to his room. Once he opened the door, there was still no one.
Benedict was probably with the others doing who knew what; for this reason, the young man decided to head to his room and finally test the merging power; to stop thinking about the murder.
Erik sat on his bed and quickly studied his status. There were many combinations he could do.
For example, he could merge the bone manipulation power with the mana exoskeleton and combine the first with the metallization power.
He could also try to merge the mana exoskeleton with the astral wolf or the poisonous mana spikes to see what would happen.
This was because these last powers were more on ethereal aspect. Unfortunately, he couldn't merge the sharpening power with the metallization one since this would mean changing the power he was most known for, which would be a problem.
For this reason, Erik decided that the best thing was to merge the powers he used less so that he wouldn't lose that much, even if the result was a bad power.
Metallization was a big nono since it helped reinforce his weapons. The poisonous mana darts power was his only ranged one, so he decided to keep it.
Ultimately, he decided that the best thing to do would be to merge the astral wolf bite and the poisonous mana spikes and see what happened.
According to the system, a new power with the previous characteristics had to be born. The system estimated what could come out, yet the effects were random, and an entirely different one could be born.
So, Erik said to the system, <Will some effects could be seen from the outside while I merge the powers?>
It was important for the young man to understand if there was a visible effect that took place and that could potentially endanger him.
[ANSWER: THE MERGING POWER WILL TAKE PLACE INSIDE THE HOST BODY, NOTHING WILL BE ABLE TO BE SEEN OR NOTICED FROM THE OUTSIDE.]
<Is everything you said valid for the DNA merging, too?>
[ANSWER: CORRECT] the system replied.
<Good. Then how much does it cost to merge two powers and two DNAs?>
[ANSWER: TWO HUNDRED DNA POINTS FOR THE DNA MERGING AND TWO HUNDRED FOR THE POWER MERGING. IN TOTAL, IT WILL BE FOUR HUNDRED DNA POINTS.]
<This is costly...> Erik thought. However, there was nothing that could stop him from trying.
<How much time will it be required for the whole procedure to be completed?> Erik asked the system. The biological supercomputer promptly replied to the young man.
[ANSWER: THREE HOURS.]
<Good, then start... merge the Astral Wolf Bite and the Poisonous mana spikes DNAs, then the powers!>
[UNDERSTOOD 1940 DNA POINTS DETECTED. TWO HUNDRED DNA POINTS USED. DNA MERGING PROCEDURE BEGINNING. THE USER IS RECOMMENDED TO LAY ON A BED.]
As Erik did expect, he started feeling a ravaging pain inside his body. This was probably because the system was changing his whole DNA to accommodate the combination of the other two.
It started with an incredibly sharp pain in his head, as though someone had stabbed a knife into the center of it.
Erik's vision blurred at that point; all he saw was white. In fact, he didn't feel anything else besides that. It was at that moment that the young man started feeling something else. It was like he was losing his connection with the two powers he was merging.
Erik swore that he felt something snap when the two DNAs started merging. After a short while, he understood what it was. The neural links belonging to the two powers disappeared.
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