Chapter 14: Pure Fire

Dumbfounded, Sam stared blankly with his wide-open eyes.

"What should I do?"

He muttered under his breath, seeing no option left except joining it using an iron sheet with nails.

"Maybe this is the only thing I can do!"

Sam shook his head. As for buying a new table, that was out of the question since he couldn't afford to spend money like that.

"Anyway, what had to happen already happened, so worrying about it will only trouble me since I have other matters to take care of now."

Sam cursed in a low voice, and his mind shifted toward the matter at hand.

His eyes again stared at the previous position, demanding him to show exposure.

Strength: 3

Agility: 4

Physique: 7

Spirit: 10

Endurance: 8/8 [Physique + 10% Spirit]

Rune Energy: 10/10 [Spirit]

Rune Abilities:

Special Abilities: Merge [Merge points: 1000]

Every stat increased by some margin, but the Physique attribute increased by a significant amount, and Endurance also rose to 8.

He was shocked because he knew for sure that the attribute limit for every dimensional stat was 10. Even if one attribute surpassed 10, it would fall under the E-rank stat. However, in this world, stats weren't the only things that defined one's rank—rune abilities did as well.

"Since I'm at F rank, it means I can have one ability, and my ability should be of the fire type since I'm prone to being a rune producer..."

Sam pondered over his conclusion.

"But the stats are almost at their limit..."

"Wait!"

Jolted, Sam stood up as realization dawned on him.

'Is my memory so weak?'

He facepalmed himself.

Previously, he was shocked, but there was also a lingering fear because stats shouldn't increase randomly. Otherwise, all the time spent building a solid foundation would go to waste. It was a given priority that stats should always increase through battle in the early stages without relying on rune potions, as excessive use of those came with a cost—the residual waste would accumulate in the body, hindering progress.

"Phew! I was overly worried."

Sam sighed, and a relieved breath escaped his mouth since his attributes had mainly increased due to the Merge ability.

His wandering mind, lost in his own stupidity, reached a conclusion.

"So, 500 merge points were used in shaping my foundation, but..."

"Why is it still urging me to use more?"

His stare shifted to his backhand.

In an instant, his pupils dilated.

'What's this?'

A round tattoo in the shape of a flickering fire appeared!

"Is this the manifestation of the Merge ability?"

Sam asked himself. It was the only thought that surfaced in his mind, and the reason was simple—he had rubbed that spot, and it had appeared after using the Merge ability.

'Maybe, only after using it can I reach a conclusion.'

Without giving it much thought, Sam gently rubbed over the flickering tattoo again, closing his eyes.

"Why am I here?"

He was surprised for a moment before returning to normal, as he was already numb from the shock of the Merge ability. Once again, he stood at the slot where the spiritual fire ganoderma had been ignited and refined into a rune pill.

'Maybe I'll get a reply in a moment...'

As he was deep in thought, his eyes were drawn to the phenomenon unfolding before him—a beam of light diverged from three different slots and converged at the middle slot.

"Laser light!"

His eyes twinkled like a row of stars.

'That's why everyone is attracted to reading novels—because they can let their imagination run wild without any base.'

This would have seemed absurd to him in his previous life, but somehow, he was most drawn to the beam of light, staring with fierce eyes, unwilling to miss a single detail.

'So, in the future, I can get this type of ability!'

"Maybe I can also create a game panel for myself."

Just having these thoughts gave him goosebumps, as if all his hair stood on end, and his body fidgeted excitedly.

"What!"

Suddenly, the beam of light accumulated in the middle slot and shot toward him. His body tried to evade unconsciously, but he found that he couldn't even raise a finger. Time seemed to freeze around him, and the space crackled, unable to support the ferocity of the beam of light.

His dilated pupils watched as the distance between him and the beam of light narrowed.

"Is this a malfunction?"

A thought surfaced in his mind, only to be dismissed immediately. This ability was beyond human comprehension, so such bugs or malfunctions weren't possible. There was only one explanation...

"This beam of light carries the attribute to change my properties..."

As his thoughts raced, the beam of light was now just one hand away. He could confidently tell that if it followed this trajectory, it would collide with his forehead.

Due to the intensity of the light, his vision blurred, but he persistently squinted his eyes to keep his sight. That was when he realized he had misunderstood everything all along—it wasn't a beam of light.

It was a mass of fire.

Pure fire!

As the distance narrowed to just two inches, he noticed a crackling sound. The tip of the beam carried a blue light, extinguishing everything in its path, breaking down objects into the smallest particles, and ultimately reducing them to ashes. It didn't take him long to realize that the crackling sound resonating in his ears was the friction of every fabric of reality and space being torn apart.

Blue!

Pure blue!

"Am I also going to burn down to ashes?"

This was his last thought after noticing his fragile body, which had already struggled to resist the corrosion of the Merge ability, now frozen in space, unaffected by time.

As the beam of blue light reached his forehead, it entered his body as if it had disappeared upon contact.

Bang!

A volcanic eruption took place in his mind, accompanied by an endless scream escaping his mouth, shaking the space around his body.