"Hey Sam, what happened to you? Your face? Something is odd..."
Sam's heart almost stopped for a second before pretending to burst into a smile.
"Ahaha! What can happen to me? I'm fine."
"Now, I'm almost convinced that something happened to you."
Rahul leaned toward Sam's ear and whispered while Piyush's ears also perked up.
Seeing his façade unable to shield him even for a moment, he gave a bitter smile.
"That's right. I'm not... I can't explain, like, things are very messy to even start, and I don't know how to..."
"Hey! Hey! Calm down!"
Patting Sam's shoulder, Rahul leaned back into his seat while words escaped his mouth.
"I understand. You should first clear your mind."
Huff!
Exhaling a deep breath, Sam's back slumped into the seat.
'Thank God! Didn't insist.'
His eyes inadvertently moved to the outside of the window and the sun almost brightened the whole world. People started to appear on the road—some jogging, some opening their stalls and...
'How carefree! Someone really said the truth: The less you know, the more smiles bloom on your face.'
Having understood that he is really powerless against the current tide, he decided to put it to the back of his mind and focus on the upcoming journey. He decided to only enjoy his vacation, but his solemn eyes moved to the back of his palm where he felt a bit of burning pain.
The fire was flickering in his tattoo, which seemed almost invisible unless someone entirely focused on it, and a thought resurfaced in his mind.
'Why?'
A crude yet simple question, because he knew that this tattoo only appeared after he gained the Origin Fire in the dream world, and it flickered only a few times when the Merge Ability wanted to communicate with him. But now...
His eyebrows knitted and his forehead constricted while his eyes showed numerous emotions he couldn't express. Unconsciously, his finger preened over the flickering light, and he appeared in that Merge Ability dimension. Instantly, all his displeasure and anxiety were replaced by a beautiful smile.
Simultaneously, a sharp pain shot through the back of his head and a hiss escaped his mouth, but soon everything returned to normal with a whisper reverberating in the whole dimension.
'Thank God! The pain wasn't so intense.'
Just by thinking about what he went through, he couldn't imagine how he endured all of it—or maybe it was his will to live or to prove himself. He himself didn't know the reason.
Pondering his thoughts, his teeth softly bit the corner of his lips, and his eyes wandered around the Merge Ability dimension.
Initially, there was a 2D rectangular plane consisting of slots, but now the area of the whole dimension had increased, while a panel showed before his eyes.
Merge Ability [Level: 1]:
Ability: Origin Fire
Points: 2000
Time ratio: 2:1 [2 hours in the real world to 1 hour in the real dimension]
Just by seeing the panel before his sight, his face radiated the source of all happiness, and his body fidgeted excitedly, unable to control the pumping sound in his chest, as if it would leap out at any moment.
'Calm down! Calm down!'
Gently patting his chest, he whispered under his breath to not let himself die of excitement.
Regaining control of his body, light overflowed through his eyes as he got a glimpse of the Merge Ability.
Merge Ability showing Level 1, which means it still isn't at its peak, and below, both functions—Ability and Points—he is familiar with. But the most exciting thing is the time function, which gives him an edge over all other creatures.
Numerous calculations passed through his mind, but shaking his head, he decided not to dwell on these but to find the source that caused so many changes in this dimension.
As this thought surged in his mind, the memories resurfaced.
His eyes closed and the memories played like a movie in a theatre. A moment later, his eyelids uncovered his eyes, and a word escaped his mouth.
"So, that was the reason."
He sighed that everything was within his range and the reason for the change in dimension was him helping those humans in the Lost-Golden Sanctuary. The feedback from this world was the reason.
But then...
As these thoughts were going through his mind, he felt someone buzzing his body.
"Sam! Sam!"
His eyelids fluttered and Piyush came into sight.
"What happened? Why were you calling me?"
"Hey buddy! Almost two and a half hours have passed."
"Ah!"
Stretching his body, he glanced outside the window and the soothing air crashed against his face.
'How relaxing! Time passed in the blink of an eye.'
He muttered under his breath, as if his body wanted to rest, but the bus was now going to stop at any time because it was time for breakfast, which he couldn't miss because he now felt like a mouse was jumping in his stomach for food.
Glancing outside, his thoughts inadvertently moved randomly without any direction or limit.
'I now have a real edge, and if I still fail to achieve anything in this life, then maybe... No, I can never let that happen!'
He almost shook his head because of the regret from his previous life. He still remembered when everything was lost by his own hand—when he simply wasted four years after matriculation and had nowhere to advance in life. Somehow, he passed higher secondary school. Then, after he took up a diploma college recommended by someone, his life track improved from there and he never turned back to face his failures.
But now life itself had given him a new chance and also an edge, so how could he again betray himself? That wasn't an option and was never going to happen as long as his heart kept beating.
And this promise, he decided to make to himself—to never drown in that abyss again where even a flicker of hope seemed world-apart.