Conflux System: I Can Merge Anything

There’s a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination.

Jammy didn’t know where Zane fell between those.

He and Hena both presented the consequences of not attending the dead bodies and Zane’s face appeared as if he had agreed.

The man had slapped himself after all.

So it didn’t make sense when Zane repeated the same thing once more:

"The dead bodies will remain as they are."

"Motherfu—"

Jammy jerked his hands all around.

"Why are you not understanding this? You are not strong enough to take on the Simmers." Hena iterated once more. Her ever so straight face found annoyance.

Zane didn’t reply.

He turned on the lighter and tossed it to Tesla.

Tesla caught it.

"What?" He asked.

"Take Draxus’ ring, search the whole house, store anything of value, any kinds of paper, pictures you can find inside the ring and come back here. Make sure the lighter doesn’t die out of fire."

"What?"

Draxus and Tesla both exclaimed.

Zane looked at Draxus.

"Give him your ring. He is faster than all of us here right now. Try to understand."

Draxus bit his lip.

He gazed at Hena and the girl nodded.

Draxus clicked his tongue and gave his Flame Ring to Tesla.

Tesla wore it on his finger and eyed Zane.

Zane gave him a nod and Tesla returned it.

He opened the lighter and started his search.

For him, the lighter was just for show. He could see in the dark without any help.

He went to the first room and began his search.

But all eyes were on Zane again.

"Answer me." Hena asked.

"What is going inside your mind?" Jammy asked.

Zane sighed.

He turned to Hena.

She had come in front of him in a not-so good mood.

"You mentioned Milo. By now, I am sure you all know I would never do something that could harm Milo. And that is my answer to your questions."

That was the only answer Zane gave and sat on the stairs once more.

Darkness had covered them again and since the man wasn’t willing to talk anymore, no one else tried it as well.

Sitting idly, Zane took out his weapon Last Toll from his ring.

But he frowned.

The weapon wasn’t inside the ring.

Zane recalled the last couple of minutes and sighed in understanding.

When he severed the head of Iklaam Simmer, the leader, a few minutes ago, the weapon had slipped out of his hands.

It was still lying near the door.

Zane shook his head and tried to stand up.

[ Call it here. ]

Huh? Call who?

[ The Last Toll ]

I can do that?

[ It has the properties of Phoenix feathers. If a Phoenix acknowledges someone as their master, they become loyal to them. After the kill, I think you can call it here. ]

Let’s try it then.

Zane made up his mind but before that...

"Move." He said.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"If anyone is standing in front of me, this is the right time to get away."

"Why?"

"If you don’t want to be sliced in two, scram."

Zane warned and raised his right hand.

"Fly to me."

SKREECH!

A floor scratching sound came and if not for this sound, no one would have listened to Zane.

They believed something was about to happen so Jammy and Hena, both of them jumped to the side.

The next second, a gust of wind flew past their faces and...

THUP!

The weapon landed right on Zane’s hand.

Zane got his Last Toll back.

Not bad.

"What the hell was that?" Jammy yelled.

"That was Last Toll." Zane replied.

"And that is?" Hena asked this time.

"My weapon. Didn’t you hear the bell?"

"That was your weapon? When did you get that? And how can you call it to yourself?" Xavier asked the next questions. His voice carried excitement like Zane carried the burden of his memories.

"I modified it. The Bedrock Piston and Vellum Razor helped."

"Are you a genius? You created such a weapon with the discarded weapons. But how were you able to manage to make it come to you on its own? And how come the bell isn’t ringing right now?"

Xavier asked a bunch of questions once more and Zane regretted talking about Last Toll in the first place.

"I can’t explain well but I can tweak things a bit. You won’t understand anything and I don’t want to talk."

Zane pinned everything onto Xavier’s stupidity. Which was a lie.

But he couldn’t tell them that he got a system from the slab that could merge anything.

So modify was the best choice to answer.

"Then can you modify my Helven too?"

Xavier presented his weapon.

Zane frowned.

Yeah. I never thought about it. Can I merge things that belong to my Ashbearers?

[ Yes. ]

Nice.

"I can. Yes. But I would need three days to work my brain regarding that. And you also have to give me more items that you want to be used with your weapon. Those items must belong to you. No stealing. While we are on this topic, I will modify Hena’s and Jammy’s weapons too."

"What about mine?" Draxus asked. Zane didn’t take his name.

Can I only merge things of my Ashbearers’? Not of my subordinates’?

[ Yes. Only Ashbearers. ]

Zane sighed.

"I am afraid I can’t help you, Draxus. There are some conditions that must be met before I can modify other people’s stuff."

"What are those? Tell me. I also want my weapon to be better."

Zane paused.

He had to think of something believable.

Faster.

"Xavier considers me his best friend. So my skill work for him. Hena wants me for her goal so she qualifies too. Jammy is also with me. But you are not one of them.

You are loyal to Hena, you don’t consider me a great friend and you are with me only because of Hena. And I don’t mind that. But my modification won’t work for you. I would deem you not loyal enough to me and fail. You might lose your original weapon if you forced me. Do you want that?"

Now Draxus went silent.

Zane waited for an answer and the next second, it came.

"I will think about it."

Draxus didn’t give a direct no but he also didn’t say yes which was good enough for Zane at the moment.

STEP!

STEP!

Zane jerked his head behind.

Footsteps were coming.

But his heart found peace when he saw the familiar lighter and the face.

It was Tesla.

"When did you go upstairs? I didn’t see it." Zane asked.

"Yeah. Me too." Jammy said.

The others said the same thing.

No one saw Tesla going upstairs and that also meant that Tesla didn’t use the lighter, otherwise they would have seen Tesla going upstairs.

At their questions and gazes, Tesla gulped and glanced at Zane.

Zane sensed the tension and sighed.

"I understand that I told you to make sure the lighter doesn’t die. You didn’t have to obey me this much by walking in darkness."

Zane shook his head and the others did the same.

They brought Zane’s words and Tesla breathed in relief.

But forgetting relief, Tesla tossed Draxus’ flame ring to Zane.

"I collected everything this house had to offer."

Zane caught it, stored it in his robe’s pocket and faced everyone.

He stayed silent for a second then gave his order.

"It’s time for the next phase."