The next day, midnight.
Ren sat cross-legged and opened the status panel.
[SKILL: SYNTHESIS — RANK F]
Allows the user to combine two objects or entities into a single new entity. Success depends on understanding the fundamental properties of the material.
Warning: material incompatibility may cause backlash that injures the user.
That warning line was still there. Ren read it once, then closed the panel.
"Combining two things into one."
He picked up two stones, one in each palm. Closed his eyes, imagining both stones—rough texture, heavy, cold—then imagined them merging.
Nothing happened.
Ren opened his eyes. Both stones still intact.
"...Hm."
He set them both on the floor, didn't try again immediately. Ren picked up one stone and turned it over in his palm, feeling every ridge and small pore on the surface. Cold. The surface was rough, a white streak on one side.
He set that stone down, then picked up the second. Nearly the same size, but the surface was smoother.
Ren compared the two. One rough and heavy, one smooth and light.
If he combined them, what would come out?
He closed his eyes. This time not imagining them becoming one, but their properties instead: roughness, smoothness, the difference in weight. Then squeezed.
Skill activated.
A pull from his chest to his palms.
Third second, a cramp shot from his palms to his wrists. Ren held his breath, feeling every part of it.
The vibration and cramp stopped.
Ren opened his eyes. In his hands, one stone—larger than the two originals combined. The surface was uneven, a thin crack down the middle.
He tapped it with his thumbnail.
"Same as a regular stone."
"Kakak." A voice alongside small footsteps from the bedroom.
Ren looked up. Mira stood at the doorway, hair tangled, eyes still heavy. Carrying a small blanket cradled in her arms.
"Why aren't you asleep?" Ren asked.
"What are you doing?"
Ren looked at the stones on the floor, then at Mira. "Scientific experiment."
Mira blinked. Her eyes dropped to the floor. "That's a rock."
"Yeah. Scientific experiment using rocks."
"Kakak's weird."
She turned around, went back to her room. Blanket dragging along the floor.
Ren waited ten seconds until there were no more sounds.
He went back to the floor and continued. Picked up a stone and a dry twig from near the stove.
Ren held the stone in his left, the twig in his right. The more different the materials, what would happen?
He closed his eyes, imagining their properties: stone hard and cold, wood light and fibrous. Then squeezed.
Skill activated.
The cramp sensation came faster. But shorter, then gone.
Ren opened his eyes and looked at the thing in his hands. Strange: one side hard like stone, the other fibrous like wood. In the middle, the two had merged without a clear boundary.
He slammed it against the wall. The thing didn't break. The flat wall cracked slightly instead. He hit it again, harder, but the thing stayed intact.
Ren sat back down and opened his notebook—a thin exercise book with a worn cover. Mira had used it once to draw. The last page still had a house with smoke rising from it. Ren flipped to a blank page, wrote his research notes.
Synthesis 1: Stone + Stone
Result: Larger stone, crack down the middle. No new properties.
Cost: Hand cramp, 3–4 seconds.
Synthesis 2: Stone + Wood
Result: Hard on one side, fibrous on the other. Impact-resistant.
Cost: Shorter cramp than attempt 1.
Hypothesis: The more different the materials, the more interesting the result. But the higher the cost?
His palms were still slightly red. A faint warmth.
Ren set down the pencil. Glanced at the iron piece and glass he'd just bought.
He picked them both up.
Iron in his left—good weight, rough texture, rusted on one side. Glass in his right—handle cracked, but the lens still intact.
Ren closed his eyes, imagining their properties: iron hard, cold, dense; glass fragile, clear, light. Then squeezed both.
Skill activated.
The pull from his chest to his palms—same as the two attempts before.
Ren waited for the vibration. Waited for the cramp.
Nothing.
He squeezed harder. The pull was still there, but the iron and glass in his hands were still.
Ten seconds. Twenty. Same thing, no change in sensation.
Ren opened his eyes. Iron in the left, glass in the right—exactly as before.
He set them both on the floor and opened the notebook. Wrote beneath the last line:
Synthesis 3: Iron + Glass
Result: None.
Cost: None.
Notes: Skill activated, pull felt, but nothing happened. Why?
Ren closed the notebook. Put the iron and glass back on the chest, side by side like before.
Ren lay down on the floor, on the thin rug beneath him.
Why, though?