048 FUSION SKILLS
Damen's stomach twisted. He had prayed this question wouldn't come, but now it was time of reckoning.
"Captain Green… I have a confession," he said, forcing his voice to tremble just enough.
Green's brows furrowed. "What is it? What did you do wrong?"
Damen quickly pointed toward the armory. "I… borrowed an energy blade before the mission. You didn't issue me one, and I thought it was too dangerous to go unarmed. So, I snuck one .. erm two out."
"What?" Green's face darkened. "You stole from the armory?"
Before Damen could stammer, Lieutenant Kalmer jumped in. "Come on, Captain—he's right. You should have issued him a blade in the first place. You can't blame the boy for making sure he wasn't going on the mission defenseless."
Damen bobbed his head rapidly in agreement.
Green's jaw tightened.
He knew Kalmer wasn't wrong—it was his oversight. Still, theft was no small offense especially in the army. "Where is the blade now?"
Damen raised his arms. Twin metallic bands gleamed on his wrists. With a flick, short crimson blades of energy snapped out.
"You really took that from the armory before the mission?" Green asked in disbelief.
Damen lowered his head, feigning guilt. "Yes, sir."
It was a lie—but a perfect one.
Damen had stolen the blades … but it was only after returning to Fort Myrone, as he anticipates exactly this line of questioning.
The cover story gave his Fist Form bone blades an alibi.
Captain Green exhaled slowly. His guilt over his oversight tugged at him. "Alright. I'll let this one pass."
Suddenly Liutenant Kalmer has a question. "Wait a minute, I know those energy blades can pierce the hound's skin, but their range couldn't sever the head of a Shadow hound?"
Captain Green looked at Damen for answers again.
"Damnit, it's come to this finally", Damen thought.
Damen merely smiled before replying, "Well, initially the energy blade couldn't kill the Shadow hounds but, in my desperation, I've mastered the advance form of Assassinate. My meta Strength managed to project and extend the range of my energy blade."
"You what? I've not seen anybody mastering the second form of Assassinate…it's all just theory," Kalmer asked in shock.
The meta Strength skill Assasinate wasn't just a form of martial art, it could when mastered to a certain level, become like a meta power, and project a powerful meta weapon.
…But thus far nobody has achieved this level of mastery except Damen.
Damen quickly took out the wrist blades again and pointed to the sky. An energy blade emerged but more than that… the energy was extended for a fair bit …. Extending the energy blade with enough range to sever the head of a Shadow of Annubis.
"You are a wonder… so few people have mastered the advance form of Assassinate and you learned it in… how many days?" Captain Green asked in shock.
"Well, they don't call me a genius for nothing", Damen replied.
Damen thought hard about his response when the question about the beheading of the Shadow hounds came about but couldn't find a reasonable excuse.
Then when he was trying out the energy wrist blade, by instinct he activated his Assassinate's projection. To his surprise, his Assassinate skill could extend the projection of an energy blade.
That became his perfect explanation.
"Captain… should I return the blade?" Damen asked.
Green surprised him with a smile. "No. Keep it. You'll probably need it for the next mission."
Before Damen could retreat, Kalmer cut back in. "Wait. Are we serious about this? The kid killing shadow hounds?... and manifesting an advance form of Assassinate?"
Green simply gestured toward the simulator pod Damen had exited. The results still glowed on the screen: 100 wins, 0 losses.
Kalmer blinked. "What the hell? Even seasoned professionals can't clear the database without a single loss. How did you?"
Damen gave his most boyish grin. "Is that a good record? Guess I'll just have to do better next time." He saluted and slipped out before more questions could pin him down.
"Whew… that was too damn close."
"That's the best record we've got so far," Kalmer said, pausing for a moment as if weighing his next words.
Then he turned to Damen. "Tell me, would you be interested in testing our new experimental Meta-Strength fusion protocol? You are the only one I know of who could project the second form of Assasinate… you are the perfect candidate."
Damen raised a brow. "Meta-strength fusion? What's that supposed to mean?"
Kalmer grinned, pleased by his curiosity.
"Well, ever since the emergence of meta abilities, research has split into two main paths. One focuses on developing Meta aptitude — refining energy control, perception, and psionic skills. The other revolves around strengthening the physical body — raw strength, endurance, and combat efficiency. But recently, our team has been experimenting with a way to combine both traits into a single, hybrid framework. We call it Fusion Skills."
Damen's interest sharpened.
Attributes were never his limitation. With his mining app, he could raise both Strength and Meta with ease. The result could be double his effectiveness.
"I'm in," he said decisively.
"Excellent." Kalmer gestured toward the door. "Then let's head to the Meta Transfusion Chamber. What about you, Captain Green?"
Green gave a curt nod. "I'll leave you two to it. I've got other duties to handle." He turned and exited, his boots echoing down the corridor.
As the door sealed behind them, Kalmer brought up a holographic projector.
The room dimmed, and a rotating image of a human body flickered into view — glowing veins of blue and crimson intertwining like living circuitry.
"Now," Kalmer began, tapping the screen, "let me show you exactly how Fusion Skills work…"
Damen watched the holographic slides with growing interest. The concept was simple yet ingenious — the Fusion Meta allowed a meta effect to trigger simultaneously with a physical strike.
For instance, a punch that relied on Strength as its core power could, upon impact, unleash an additional burst of meta energy.
The combination would amplify both force and elemental effect exponentially.
"I get the theory," Damen said, leaning forward slightly. "But what kind of fusion skills have you actually developed so far?"
Lieutenant Kalmer smiled, clearly proud of his team's work.
"We've built a few prototypes," he began, swiping through several holographic skill schematics.
"First, Explosive Kick — after a Strength-based kick lands, it triggers a secondary explosion on impact. Then there's Electrocuting Throw — when you grab and toss an enemy, electrical currents arc from your hands, stunning and burning the target simultaneously."
He continued through a list of other examples — flame strikes, gravity pulls, sonic impacts — until the display dimmed again.
When he was done, Kalmer turned to Damen. "So, which fusion skill would you like to start with?"
Damen crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Before that… I want to know how strong are these fusion skills once mastered?"
Kalmer nodded, expecting the question. "Considerably stronger than your current combat techniques. But keep in mind, these are experimental. We don't have upgrade programs yet. Their ranks can't be raised artificially — only through practice and real combat experience."
Damen's brow arched. "So… they start at Rank G effectiveness without possibility of upgrade?"
"Yes, only natural upgrades is possible," Kalmer admitted, sheepishly. "Like I said, these are all experimental at this stage."
Damen understood what that meant.
Most heroes upgraded both their meta rank and their skill programs in tandem, otherwise even if they improved their rank, their abilities would lag behind.
Without skill program upgrades, the fusion ability is nerfed.
Then a grin spread across Damen's face. "That's not a problem for me. Ranking up skills is easy — as long as I have the right conditions….with my mining app."
Kalmer tilted his head. "Oh?"
"I'll think of a way," Damen said simply. "So, tell me — can I customize my own fusion skill?"
The lieutenant hesitated, then nodded slowly. "Technically, yes. We can reprogram the meta chip to fit a custom design. Since this is experimental anyway, you'd be our best test case. But whether it works or not… depends entirely on you."
"Perfect," Damen said. "Then design one for me — a combo sequence. Flash Dash as the opening meta-activation, followed by a power kick using Strength, and finishing with a Kinetic Crush meta release on impact."
Kalmer blinked. "That's… quite complex. You're combining two meta phases with a Strength core in between."
Damen smirked. "It'll work."