New Sword

William entered his room in a flash. He locked his door and sat down on his bed. First, he calmed himself down and began to say motivational words to himself.

'Do not rush. You've lived without a system until today. No disappointments. Even if not, I'm already strong. And it might not be a good thing.'

Then he thought of the novels he used to read.

'But it's always a good thing that these systems happen. Is it a mission system? Is it intelligent? I do not think so. If it was intelligent, it wouldn't talk like a robot. Ahhhhhh! All right. Beware!'

He folded his hands in front of him and meditated for about an hour.

When he opened his eyes, the excitement was gone.

'Alright, I am calm. Let's do it!'

He took out the box of potions from his dimensional bag.

He calmly took a potion out of the box. He examined the potion from the outside of the transparent container for a long time.

He was disappointed because he didn't have any information. Finally, he opened the lid and drank in one go.

It was only a sip. It left a bad taste in his mouth. He stood in the meditation posture for a while, but nothing happened.

He began to worry again. He was about to get up from his bed and go back to ask Baldur when he suddenly fainted as he moved.

It was good that he was on his bed. He collapsed on the bed like a tired man who had just come home from work.

He was unconscious for three hours. When he woke up, he saw that the sun had reached the top of the sky. His head hurt a little. He rubbed his temples with both hands and sat up in bed.

'What happened? Have I fainted?' He looked around as he thought. The only thing he remembered was getting up to go to Baldur.

He hadn't knocked over anything in the room.

He soon got rid of the confusion.

After he fainted, he wanted to see if the potion was effective. That's why he shouted in his mind.

"System!"

[System...Repairing...In Progress...Estimated...Time...is...2 Years...4 Months...2 Days...]

'Damn it! What I thought was right! Less than four months!'

William now understood that for this so-called system to be fully active, his Soul Power had to reach a certain number.

He didn't waste any time. He immediately sat on his bed and took another to drink, and after a while, he fainted again.

After the second potion, he repeated this process six more times. The last time he drank the potion, it was the next day and the sun was rising. He noticed that with each potion, his mind became a little more enduring. By the seventh potion, he was unconscious for two hours.

This time was even shorter when he drank the last potion and fainted again. He woke up about an hour later.

He felt extremely energetic. Of course, this feeling was a mental thing, it had nothing to do with the body.

He felt that his brain was working faster now. It was as if he had taken a super-intelligent drug.

He hadn't shouted "System!" since he first heard it. He wanted his surprise to be as pleasant as possible. At first, he thought of being patient and going and eating, but he succumbed to the curiosity that was constantly bothering him in his mind and shouted.

"System!"

[System repaired! System activated! Activated!]

William sat enchanted on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was as if he had just received the news of the birth of his child. Had he not been ashamed, two drops of tears would have fallen silently from the corner of his eye.

He called out again. He wanted to know what this system could do.

"System!"

[Welcome to Combine & Strengthen! Please tap anywhere to continue!]

"What the hell is that?" William was very surprised. Wasn't this the mobile game he was playing in his previous world?

A transparent screen appeared in front of William's eyes. He didn't see that there was any place to touch, but he reached out to try anyway.

[Welcome back. Do you wish to continue with the tutorial? Y/N]

An option appeared in front of him. His mind was filled with different thoughts. Wasn't the system really what he had imagined?

He also asked himself the same question. He didn't want to face a big disappointment, but considering that this so-called system was repaired with his mind, he guessed that it must have some function.

He couldn't have just spent his soul power on a mobile game, right?

That's why he wanted to listen to the tutorial that he always skipped.

He clicked [Yes].

[Combine and Strengthen is the simplest system in the world. Just collect a minimum of two and a maximum of ten of the items you want to strengthen and click 'Combine'. Your item will be stronger!]

[Congratulations on completing the tutorial! Do you want to continue with the rules? Y/N]

"Oh! Damn. Is it too strong? But I don't even know if it has any real effects. Besides, maybe it'll just increase its size or something? It also says ten. Is that related to my power?'

The system spoke again as if it had heard him.

[The system does not increase its size when combining items. Strengthens the item from the base, permanently. The power of the system is directly proportional to your own power. The spiritual energy in your body is the fuel of the system.]

[Do you want to see an example based on the information you have received? Y/N]

William was surprised that the system could be intelligent. But then he gave up on the idea because it was probably already engraved in his soul.

He tapped [Yes].

[Example: Advanced Apprentice Level Sword x1] A 2D sword image appeared in front of William.

[Example: (Advanced Apprentice Level Sword x1 + Advanced Apprentice Level Sword x9) = 1st Level Sword x1 (Material Quality Only)(Other features may combine differently.).]

"Wow!" William thought. "Can this system be too powerful?

After giving the sample, the sound of the system stopped. There was only a blank screen in front of him.

He couldn't find the rules section mentioned earlier. He'd have to try and test it.

William was actually quite confused. First of all, he regretted one thing. There had been an update to the game earlier, and he hadn't found the time to update it because his friend had called that day. In the new update, you could also collect and combine pets. William cursed himself over and over again for missing this opportunity.

Besides, this 'system' was extremely lifeless. It was like software. It wouldn't do anything on its own unless he gave it a command.

He wanted to try it to understand the rules of the system and see what he could do. But right now, he had neither money nor a few items of the same kind.

Besides, he did not fully understand the example given. In general, it was the strengthens of the sword that determined its power. Did the system only work on materials?

No matter how excited and curious he was, he decided to go hunting after a day's rest. With his new sword tomorrow, he decided to both test it and earn money to use the system.

The next day, he quickly ate his breakfast and got a mission from the mission building called "Evil Pig".

He knew these pigs. The reason they were named like that was because of their nature. They were generally herbivores and led a quiet life, but things changed when they saw a human. It was as if they had a natural grudge against humans.

That's why they were named like that.

Their habitat was to the northeast of the Academy. They usually wandered around the edges of the Mist Swamp.

This mist swamp was a place called the forbidden zone, but as long as you didn't enter the mist, there was no danger. Right next to the mist, there was an everyday rosy air.

Although William was in a hurry, he did not dare to underestimate the forest. He slowed down, not knowing what to expect.

This side of the forest was mostly covered with short trees. Most of them were willow-like trees.

In general, it was a peaceful area. Most beginners would start their hunting life in this area.

As the sun reached its peak, he saw the smoke of a burning fire ahead of him.

These were most likely students from the academy.

William did not want to waste his time with unnecessary conversation. So he veered off his path a bit. He decided to go around them.

After about an hour of searching, he finally found the prey he wanted. The mission said that any evil pig below the iron level was acceptable, but this was at the top of the iron level he found.

It had red fur and two large black teeth. The creature's eyes looked as if they were bloodshot. It hadn't noticed William yet, but it was already radiating anger as if it had met humans today.

William decided that it wasn't a threat to him. He could handle it. After thoroughly checking his surroundings, he found no sign of any other creature. Then he turned his attention back to the evil pig.

The pig's entire body was two meters wide and three meters long. He could easily fit its entire body into his dimensional bag.

He took out his sword and hung it around his waist.

He kept moving in the tops of the trees, at an angle that the pig couldn't see. The last time, he successfully reached the top of the pig.

The moment he pulled his sword from its scabbard, he knew he had to jump. The pig would certainly have notice him from the sound he'd make when he pulled it out of the scabbard.

So he prepared himself. In a matter of seconds, he would have to wield the execution sword and the weight of the mountain.

He couldn't use the sword's own strenghtens yet, but these two techniques were enough for this pig.

He used his flame steps and jumped down. In the air, he quickly circled the two techniques and pulled the sword out of its scabbard. He made a downward slash.

"Kacha! Puchi!"

The sword had cut off the pig's head cleanly on the spot, like butter. He immediately ran and approached to put the pig's body into his dimensional bag. He placed the head in the bag and walked over to the body. The head rolled a few feet away.

He couldn't avoid getting a few drops of the evil pig's blood on his hand when he touched the body, but a few drops had surprised him. The system was in motion.

[Evil Pig's Evil Blood x19 liters. Combine? Y/N]

He was very surprised. Could he use it on other things like blood? He wasted a few seconds of excitement, as it was the first time he wanted to combine something. During this time, the creature lost a few more liters of blood.

[Evil Pig's Evil Blood x10 Liters. Combine? Y/N]

William could not afford to lose any more blood, so he pressed [Yes].

Surprisingly, when he pressed Yes, the blood in the pig's body began to be drawn with white light. It was all drawn right in front of his chest. The blood which looked like a huge river at first became smaller and smaller.

Eventually, it shrank to a ball the size of a finger.

He felt the qi in his body decrease slightly, but it was negligible.

William sent his qi into his hand, creating a layer.

He held the blood in his palm.

[Evil Pig's Evil Blood (Evil Pig's Bloodline Purity %70) (Cursed Pig's Bloodline Purity %0.1) x0.1 lt]

William could not believe his eyes when he saw this message. Thanks to the system, he had accomplished in a matter of seconds what Baldur had been working on for many years. He was completely enthralled by this message. If he hadn't been in the middle of the forest, he would have laughed out loud.

The raising of two eyebrows on his face and the wide opening of his eyes and mouth were enough to express his astonishment.

Thousands of ideas immediately popped into his head. While he hadn't even put the pig in his bag, he was thinking about creatures that could cultivate the power of his bloodline.

After a while, the excitement was replaced by regret. Because he had nothing with him to put the blood in.

He couldn't carry the blood on his hands all the way to the Academy. Besides, he was the descendant of an unknown creature called the Cursed Pig. It sounded dangerous. That's why he threw the blood on his hand aside.

There was a small tree where he threw it. The roots of the tree gladly absorbed the blood.

He put the shrunken body of the pig into his dimensional bag and continued to search for a baby pig.

What he was most happy about today was that the system did not disappoint him. From the beginning, he was afraid that he would encounter an unnecessary system, but now he was satisfied with what he had just experienced.

He could definitely use this system with peace of mind.

Note: Tell me what you think about the system. I don't want a strong system, but it shouldn't let you down either. Intelligent systems that give missions are not for me. I think of systems as more of an advanced spell. What do you think?