Sunny opened his eyes.
Wrong ceiling.
He sat up. His body felt lighter. Younger.
Where am I?
The room was small. Stone walls. A wooden bed. Sunlight streamed through a narrow window.
His memories crashed into him like a tidal wave.
Earth. The betrayal. His so-called "friends" stabbing him in the back for a promotion. The knife sliding between his ribs. The cold spreading through his chest.
Death. And now... this.
Sunny clenched his fists. No emotion showed on his face. He'd learned long ago that feelings were a weakness. They got you killed. Or betrayed. He stood up and walked to the window. Outside was a medieval town. People in leather armor walked the streets. In the distance, he saw something massive flying across the sky.
A dragon.
His lips curved slightly. Not quite a smile.
So that's how it is.
Memories flooded his mind. Not his memories. The previous owner of this body. Also named Sunny. Also betrayed. Killed by his own party members during a dungeon raid.
How fitting.
This world was called Astria. People here tamed monsters. They called them "Beasts." Warriors formed contracts with Beasts and used them in battles. Dungeons appeared randomly. Wars between kingdoms were common.
Magic existed. And the previous Sunny had been weak. Useless. No talent for Beast taming. No magical aptitude.
So they killed him and took his loot. Sunny felt nothing for the dead fool. Trusting people was the first mistake.
[Ding!]
A sound rang in his head.
Blue light flashed before his eyes.
[Welcome, Host!]
[You have been granted the Fusion System!]
[Function: Fuse any two entities to create something new]
[Fusion Types: Beasts + Beasts, Items + Items, Skills + Skills, and more!]
[Current Level: 1]
[Fusion Slots: 2]
Sunny stared at the blue screen floating in front of him.
A system. Just like the novels he'd read in his previous life to pass the time between corporate backstabbing sessions.
He reached out. His hand passed through the screen. Only he could see it.
"Status," he said quietly.
The screen changed.
[STATUS]
Name: Sunny
Level: 1
Class: None
Beasts Contracted: 0/1
Skills: None
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Intelligence: 12
Magic: 5
Fusion Points: 100
Pathetic stats. But the system changed everything.
Sunny closed the screen with a thought. He moved to the small desk in the corner. The previous owner had left behind a notebook. He flipped through it.
Beast taming basics. Common Beasts in the area. Information about the local guild.
According to the notes, the weakest Beasts were Slimes. They lived in the forest outside town. Useless in combat. People only caught them for manual labor.
Sunny stood. He had no money. No equipment. No Beasts.
But he had something better. A system that no one else possessed.
He left the room. The inn was cheap and dirty. He walked past the innkeeper without a word and stepped into the street.
The town was called Riverhold. A small frontier settlement. The Guild Hall was three streets over.
He didn't go there. Instead, Sunny headed for the town gate. The guards barely looked at him. Just another weak nobody leaving to try his luck.
The forest was dense. Sunny moved carefully through the undergrowth. His body was weak, but his mind was sharp. He'd survived years in the corporate jungle. This was just a different kind of wilderness.
After twenty minutes, he found his first target. A Blue Slime.
It was the size of a basketball, bouncing slowly between trees. Its gelatinous body jiggled with each movement.
Sunny picked up a rock. The Slime didn't even notice him. He walked up behind it and brought the rock down hard.
Splat!
[You have defeated: Blue Slime (Level 1)]
[Experience gained: 5]
[You have obtained: Slime Core (F-Rank)]
A small blue crystal appeared where the Slime had been. Sunny picked it up. It was warm.
He continued deeper into the forest. By the time the sun reached its peak, Sunny had killed seven Slimes. His clothes were splattered with blue goo, but his expression never changed.
Seven Slime Cores sat in his pocket.
More importantly, he'd found something else. A Red Slime.
These were slightly stronger. Fire-attribute. Still useless in real combat, but different from the Blue ones. Sunny killed it with the same efficiency as the others.
[You have obtained: Slime Core (F-Rank, Fire)]
He sat down on a fallen log and opened his system.
"Fusion," he said.
A new screen appeared.
[FUSION INTERFACE]
[Select two items to fuse]
[Slot 1: Empty]
[Slot 2: Empty]
Sunny pulled out two Slime Cores. One blue. One red. He placed them in the slots mentally. The cores appeared in the blue screen, floating in separate boxes.
[Fusion Available!]
[Blue Slime Core + Red Slime Core]
[Result: Dual-Element Slime Core (E-Rank)]
[Cost: 50 Fusion Points]
[Proceed?]
"Yes."
The cores in his hand began to glow. They lifted into the air, pulled by invisible force. They spun around each other, faster and faster. Light flashed.
When it faded, a single core remained. It was larger than before. Half blue, half red, with a swirling pattern between them.
[Fusion Successful!]
[You have created: Dual-Element Slime Core (E-Rank)]
[Fusion Points remaining: 50/100]
Sunny held the new core. It pulsed with power. Weak power, but power nonetheless. E-Rank was one tier above F-Rank. Still trash by this world's standards. But it was progress.