The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.
Zane went through such pain by seeing the bag but since he was accustomed to the emotional torment, he put it behind himself and searched the bag.
In his search, he found nothing of value except a key.
The key that didn't look like it belonged to normal locks.
It had no edges at its end as it only had an oval shape on both sides.
It was black in color and cold in touch.
He would have discarded it but then his system chimed in:
[ Do you want to merge the Rusted Lockpick with the Memory Key? ]
Before answering anything, the first thought that came to Zane was:
What is a Memory Key? What can I do with it?
[ Convergence and Synchronization too low for Conflux to access its detailed properties. ]
So if I merge it I might know about it better?
[ Possibly. ]
Fine. Let me go back first.
The system went silent and Zane placed the bag back inside the ground.
But he kept the photo and the key with him.
He would not take the bag but the photo of his parents would surely go with him to the Citadel.
He hid the spot with leaves and mud again and finally turned around.
"This might be my last time coming here. I'll miss you."
He said some parting words and continued walking forward.
He also bent and held a stone in his hand and tip-toed towards his hut.
He shifted the curtain a little to the side and seeing only Milo, he heaved the longest sigh of relief.
He let go of the stone and entered.
He washed his feet and laid beside Milo again.
All the while making little to no sound.
After settling down, he finally filled both of his palms.
One palm held the lock-pick and the other held the Memory Key.
[ Do you want to merge the Rusted Lock-pick and Memory Key? ]
Zane took a deep breath.
Let's make one thing clear first.
The system waited.
Both of these things are Objects. And since I have the Object to Object merge node unlocked, I am not using my reward of Free Merge here. I am merging this using the Merge Points I have. Is that clear? That Free Merge reward is still unused.
[ Noted. You have two Merge Points in total. Do you want to use one of them to merge the Rusted Lock-pick and the Memory Key? ]
Zane smiled. This time, he didn't back off.
Yes. Merge them.
[ Command Accepted! ]
The system went silent.
Nothing happened.
But Zane waited.
And his wait was worth it.
From his palms, the black key glowed in its own color and then floated from the palm.
It hovered in the air.
The same phenomenon happened with the Lock-pick as both the items rotated in the air.
With each passing second, their rotating speed increased.
The next second, Zane's brows shot up.
The black key began to melt, but it didn't turn into liquid. It turned into a thick, black oil.
Both items never stopped rotating but the oil didn't fall off. The liquid rotated without spilling around.. As if gravity didn't touch them.
In the air itself, the oil crawled towards the rotating Rusted Lockpick and enveloped it.
The rust on the pick didn't disappear, it started to grind and shift, making a sound like teeth chattering in the dark. As if fighting the liquid of the Memory Key.
But as time passed, the lockpick gave up and let the liquid completely take over its body.
Every inch of the lockpick turned shiny black and when there was no oil left, the rotating stopped as the finished product fell on Zane's open palms again.
It was warm, shining, and now it looked like it had learned how to be a key.
Care to explain now?
[ Congratulations. First Object and Object Merge Successful! ]
[ Result:- ]
[ Name: The Remembering Needle ]
[ Tier: Convergence Tier—F (?) ]
[ Type: Tool/Catalyst ]
[ Properties: 3 ]
[ 1. Failure-Mapping: Every time it fails to open a lock, it "remembers" the shape of the tumblers. Each attempt on the same lock increases the success rate by 20%. ]
[ 2. Echo Of Home: Because it was merged with a family item, it produces zero noise when inserted into a lock. It is "comfortable" in the dark. ]
[ 3. ???: It can act on its own to ### the user might find himself %%% ]
[[ Warning from Conflux: Don't use it often until you can handle the locks it will open. ]]
… What is this?
Zane read the details and he got the most part but it felt the Conflux added a warning on its own and the third property was nonsensical.
What's with the Tier? Why is there a Question mark in the end? And explain the third property to me please?
[ The Merged Skills and Objects and other merged types follow a different tier system. Convergence tier is the lowest and Convergence Tier—ZZZ is the highest. The alphabetical tiers are used to donate the shop items. And the system combines them to depict the tiers of its merged results. ]
So to make it clear… F, D, B and others, such tiers are used for the shop items and the tiers for the things I merge are denoted in the same way but with Convergence tier in the start. Is that it?
[ Yes. ]
Alright. Now what about the third property?
[ Conflux was unable to decode that. That's also why there is a question mark at the end of its Tier. You don't have enough of the Conflux System inside you, which is Convergence, to discover that. ]
Fair enough. I will stay satisfied with two properties for now.
Zane sighed and ran his fingers over the Remembering Needle.
There were no signs of rust in it anymore and if anything, it had become a smaller version of the black key he found in the bag.
The oval shape on both ends remained the same and Zane hoped it would help him in dangerous situations.
He put the Needle in his left pocket and now that everything was done, he decided he could get a shut eye.
The morning was only a few hours away according to his estimate.
He left the bed and placed an empty metal bucket just in front of the curtain or the door of the hut like usual.
If someone trespassed, he would be alerted.
He came back and lied on the bed.
He then turned towards Milo and hiding her in his arms, he closed his eyes.
He needed sleep.
He had to be in his best condition for tomorrow.
If the lamb had to live in the forest, it had to learn how to enter and exit the lion's cave.
And tomorrow…
The lamb would enter the lion's cave.
That was to say…
Zane would enter the Citadel.