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Chapter 11: Fidex
Mark considered the question carefully, organizing his thoughts before responding. "Since the contract, the feedback has been steady. A trickle. I'm definitely stronger than this morning, but it's hard to say exactly how much. Definitely not as much as you."
Jin's strength was obvious. Mark had never asked about the specifics of his Summon's Claw skill, but in his mind, it was clearly a natural acquisition—something that came with the territory. The power feedback from a stronger Summon meant more enhancement.
But only Jin knew the truth. Most of his strength came from Fusion, not just natural growth. The gap was widening.
Jin shifted the question. "How long until First Order Mid?"
Mark thought seriously. "Based on how it feels… if nothing unexpected happens, maybe seven days."
After forming a contract, there was a vague sense of the Summon's strength—a link between them. They could feel the power growing, but the rate wasn't consistent. He couldn't guarantee it would hold.
Jin looked at Lisa.
She considered. "Five days for me, I think. When I control the Mutant Rat, I can feel my speed increasing. My constitution is improving. Slowly, but it's there."
From morning until afternoon, they had barely rested. Before the cataclysm, a day like this would have left her exhausted. Now she wasn't.
If Jin set aside Fusion, his Summon's natural advancement speed was probably close to Lisa's.
So the key to accelerating strength is Fusion materials.
"Let's rest," Jin said. "Tomorrow we call Simon and keep clearing."
Mark and Lisa didn't stay in Jin's apartment. Though they had rooms, it wasn't appropriate. They left, and the apartment fell into silence. Only the dim glow of the LED lamp—scavenged that day, plugged into a power bank on its lowest setting—kept the darkness at bay.
Jin sat alone with his thoughts.
LV2 Common Metal took three to four hundred pounds. LV3 will need more. Maybe over a thousand. Without leaving this building, it'll be hard to gather that much metal in the short term. I need to switch to a different material.
He had considered this before. Metal had been his first choice, but stone, water, wood—those were options too. He pulled out samples he had collected: a chunk of broken concrete, a bottle of water, a piece of furniture trim.
First, test compatibility.
Compatibility determined Fusion speed and efficiency. At this stage, that mattered more than anything.
He touched the concrete to his Summon.
[Material detected: ordinary stone. Proceed with Fusion?]
"Fusion."
The Summon's flesh rippled. Tendrils extended, enveloping the concrete. The assimilation was slow. Jin's brow furrowed.
When the Fusion completed, he checked the progress.
Ordinary Stone: 0.03%
A chunk of concrete the size of his fist had yielded almost nothing. To reach LV1, he would need several hundred pounds—more than he could carry, more than the building could provide without tearing down walls. And time wouldn't allow it.
He canceled the Fusion. The progress vanished.
Next: water. He poured a cup.
Fusion time: three minutes.
Water: 0.05%
Better than stone, but still slower than metal. And water was already scarce. He couldn't afford to waste it on Fusion.
Next: wood.
Fusion time: three minutes.
Wood: 0.08%
Better than both, but still inferior to metal. And finding significant amounts of wood in an apartment building wasn't any easier than finding metal.
Jin sat back, frustration tightening his jaw. Time he could make. Resources were the problem. If he were in a garage, a scrapyard, a rebar yard—anywhere with concentrated metal—he could push the Fusion further.
What's the most common thing in this building right now?
The answer came to him.
Corpses.
He stood. Flashlight in one hand, crowbar in the other. He commanded his Summon to follow.
There was a Zombie corpse in the seventh-floor corridor from yesterday's kill. Perfect for testing.
The hallway stank of blood and rot. He approached the corpse, covering his nose.
Even if the Fusion isn't good, this body needs to be cleaned up. Rotting corpses will spread disease.
He commanded his Summon to kneel beside the corpse.
[Material detected: Zombie flesh and blood. Proceed with Fusion?]
It works.
"Fusion."
Tendrils erupted from the Summon's body—countless threads of living flesh that burrowed into the corpse. The assimilation was fast. Much faster than metal. The corpse dissolved, its flesh and blood drawn into the Summon's mass.
Less than five minutes later, only a twisted skeleton remained on the floor. The skull was deformed, the spine contorted. Nothing human remained.
Warmth flooded through Jin's body—stronger than the feedback from any previous Fusion. He opened the Summon's status.
Summon: Zombie
Tier: First Order (Mid)
Skills: [Claw] [Metal Body]
Fusion: Common Metal LV2, Zombie Flesh and Blood 18%
One corpse. Eighteen percent.
Jin's heart rate quickened. Even if the percentage requirement increased with each level, he wouldn't need more than seven or eight corpses to complete the first Fusion. And in the past two days, he had cleared far more than that on the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors.
He could do this tonight.
He moved quickly. Seventh floor, sixth floor, fifth floor. Room after room, corpse after corpse. His Summon absorbed them all—the ones they had killed, the ones left behind by others. Each Fusion brought more feedback, more warmth, more strength flowing into his own body.
After the tenth corpse, the prompt came.
[LV1 Zombie Flesh and Blood Fusion complete. Summon form advancement: Four-Armed Corpse]
Jin stared as his Summon began to change.
Red light pulsed beneath its skin. Muscles bulged, bones cracked and reformed with a sound like snapping branches. The creature's already massive frame grew—from two meters to two and a half, its shoulders broadening, its chest thickening. Between its shoulder blades, the flesh swelled, the spine twisted, and then, like shoots breaking through soil, two new arms erupted from its back.
The muscles in those new arms swelled with power. The claws were sharp, identical to the original limbs. The Summon stood in the hallway, four arms flexing, its form a grotesque monument to evolution.
Summon: Four-Armed Corpse
Tier: First Order (Mid)
Skills: [Claw] [Metal Body]
Fusion: Common Metal LV2, Zombie Flesh and Blood LV1 2%
The tier hadn't changed, but Jin could feel it—the Four-Armed Corpse was two or three times stronger than before. The breakthrough to First Order High was close.
And the feedback. The warmth flooded through him, deeper than before, working into his joints, his muscles, his bones. He felt himself being remade, piece by piece. His grip tightened on the crowbar. He felt like he could bend it with one hand.
He smiled.
Better than expected. High compatibility. No skill from this Fusion, but a form change—that might be even more valuable.
He looked at the skeleton fragments scattered on the floor, the remains of the tenth corpse. For a moment, he thought of Simon's son, locked in a bedroom one floor below. The boy's body would make excellent Fusion material.
He pushed the thought aside. Not yet. Simon would have to make his choice first.
He looked at his Four-Armed Summon, standing silent and obedient in the darkness.
"For now," he said quietly, "corpses are the priority."
The Summon didn't respond. It didn't need to.
Jin turned back toward the stairwell, toward the seventh floor, toward the apartment where supplies waited and decisions loomed. He had found what he needed. Now he needed more.
He paused at the stairwell door, looking back at his Summon.
Four arms. Two and a half meters of fused flesh and metal. A creature built for evolution.
He thought about what had brought him here. The contracts, the fusions, the constant adaptation. The world had ended, and in its place was a system that rewarded those who could change, who could absorb, who could become something new.
He had fused metal. Now he was fusing flesh. What would come next? Stone? Wood? Something else entirely?
The thought settled in his mind like a key turning in a lock.
Adaptability. That's the real strength. Not any single skill, but the ability to fuse anything, become anything.
He looked at the Four-Armed Corpse, waiting silently for his command.
"Fidex," he said.
The word came from nowhere and everywhere. It felt right. A name for something that would always change, always grow, always fuse whatever it needed to survive.
His Summon—Fidex—did not react. It had no consciousness to recognize a name. But the bond between them pulsed once, as if acknowledging the designation.
Jin nodded slowly.
As long as I can fuse, I will adapt. That's the path.
He turned and walked through the stairwell door, Fidex following in silence.
Tomorrow, they would clear the lower floors. Tomorrow, they would face whatever waited in the lobby. And tomorrow, he would take another step down the only road left to him.
The road of fusion.