Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 122: First Fusion
Adam’s thoughts drifted back to the panel he’d seen. The description still hadn’t fully settled in his mind, even after three days.
Once Upon A Time.
[Once Upon A Time: The bearer is able to send a fragment of their soul back in time upon death]
His jaw tightened slightly.
Send a fragment of their soul back in time... upon death.
Even now, the implications were absurd.
As Remedy continued feeding him, the conclusion finally crystallized.
So she’s a regressor.
It explained too much.
Her timing.
Her preparation.
Her certainty.
The way she seemed to know things that weren’t written anywhere. The way she’d predicted a Lord coming for him. The way she’d spoken about reawakening talents as if she’d done it before.
And most of all...
The way she treats me.
Adam’s gaze softened a fraction.
She must have known me.
Maybe not this version of me. Maybe not this timeline. But some version. One important enough for her to interfere and invest this much effort.
"All done," Remedy said, pulling the spoon away.
She tilted her head slightly.
"So? How was the soup?"
Adam blinked, pulled out of his thoughts.
She was looking at him, genuinely waiting for his answer.
He stayed silent for a moment.
Then closed his eyes and let out a slow breath.
"It was delicious."
Remedy smiled.
"I’m glad," she said softly, as she stood up from the bed and walked toward the kitchenette.
"With the ingredients we have, it was actually pretty hard to make something decent."
She began washing the plates, back turned to him.
Adam caught the phrasing.
The ingredients we have...
Where exactly are we?
The question never formed fully, as fatigue washed over him suddenly, heavy and irresistible. His limbs felt even more distant than before, consciousness slipping like sand through his fingers.
This wasn’t new.
Remedy had already explained it to him, his body was consuming an enormous amount of energy to heal. Sleep wasn’t rest anymore.
It was survival.
His vision dimmed.
Sounds faded.
And just like that...
Everything went black.
****
Adam was finally awake.
The room was quiet, since Remedy had stepped out, leaving him alone with the hum of the air conditioner.
He wasn’t idle, as this was the best time to test his 4th special talent [Fuse] .
Adam summoned his panel.
╭───────────╮
〖Name: Adam〗
〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗
〖Cultivation Talent: G〗
〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect ❖
Analyze ❖ Fuse〗
〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗
〖SLOT〗
↳ SOUL (5): Rapid E ❖ Petrification F ❖
Cultivation D ❖ Freeze F ❖
Mind Control E
↳ BODY (6): Empty
╰───────────╯
Star Power: 24+
Existence: 3830
Martial Spirit: Profound — 3 Star
Adam focused and activated Fuse
The panel reacted immediately.
[Analyzing Compatible Slot Items...]
[Analysis Complete]
[Compatible Slots for Fusion: 2]
[Petrification F and Freeze F are suitable for fusion]
"So it’s like that," Adam murmured.
The result made sense.
He understood why only those two were compatible, it had everything to do with how talents were formed in the first place.
After awakening six months ago, Adam had done extensive research.
Not because he had many talents, quite the opposite. Back then, Equip was all he had. He’d been desperate to understand how to use it properly.
Most of that research led nowhere.
But he had learned a few things.
The obvious one was that talents came from the soul. But they didn’t appear out of thin air. The soul itself was the fuel of life, a mirror of the mind, the consciousness of a living being, that was why Adam used Connect the way he did. Because reading the soul was like elementary math, while reading the mind... was like understanding women.
One was manageable. The other was pure madness.
If he could fully understand the mind, he wouldn’t just sense emotions, he’d be able to read thoughts outright.
But back to talents.
They were born from two components of the soul working together:
The Soul Core and the Soul Flame.
The core was the storage. It housed both the cultivation talent and special talent.
But the flame?
The flame was the generator.
It emitted something known as a soul frequency, a unique resonance that defined how a talent expressed itself.
And that was the key to fusion.
The two frequencies had to be equal in strength, preventing one from canceling the other out and they had to be different because only two different talents were able to synergize and build upon one another’s strengths and cover their weaknesses.
Freeze and Petrification share similar strength frequencies. Both were about immobilization, state change, denial of movement. Different expressions of the same underlying concept.
That was why they could fuse.
Adam didn’t waste any more time.
He initiated the fusion.
Instantly, a sharp tug ripped through his soul.
The two talents Petrification F and Freeze F began to move, their soul frequencies pulling toward each other. What had once been two distinct wavelengths started to overlap, intertwine, and compress.
The soul flame flared, as two separate frequencies merged into one, albeit causing a tremendous pain that wasn’t physical but deeper.
Like a million pin needles stabbing directly into his soul as the frequency transformed, reaching beyond what either talent had ever reached on its own.
Adam clenched his jaw, silently forcing himself with sheer willpower not to scream.
Then...
The frequency stabilized and the pain vanished as suddenly as it had come.
Adam exhaled.
He felt it immediately.
From the original five soul slots, one was now empty and only four remained occupied.
Yet...
He didn’t feel weaker.
He felt stronger, sharper and more durable.
Like something inefficient had been compressed into something lethal.
Adam pulled up his panel.
╭───────────╮
〖Name: Adam〗
〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗
〖Cultivation Talent: G〗
〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect ❖
Analyze ❖ Fuse〗
〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗
〖SLOT〗
↳ SOUL (5): Rapid E ❖ Stone Cold E ❖
Cultivation D ❖ Mind Control E
↳ BODY (6): Empty
╰───────────╯
[Star Power: 28]
[Existence: 3830]
[Martial Spirit: Profound — 3 Star]
Adam’s eyes went straight to his Star Power.
28.
It had jumped far more than three points, leaping from 24+ to a clean 28 in a single fusion.
That alone made his chest tighten with satisfaction.
And he could feel it, his body healing faster. Subtly, but undeniably. The new talent was reinforcing him at a fundamental level.
Adam shifted his focus to the newly formed special talent.
"Stone Cold... E?"
****
A/N: Who comes up with these names?
