By the time Aiden realized, time passed and they were already inside the city.

“Huh? Wha- When did we get in?” he gasped waking up from his long inner discussion with Enya. He got lost in the multitude of options that were presented to him once he finally checked the Fusion feature of the system.

This feature raised a lot of questions, questions that he needed answers to. His curious nature, that he still couldn’t understand where it came from, needed the answers to the questions that were drilling his mind. Thankfully, Enya was more than happy to assist in this endeavor, and by the time they realized an unknown amount of time had passed and they were already walking along the busy streets of the city.

“We figured you were just lost in all the stimuli that the first sights of a city can cause. You know, Lily was the same, when she first came to the city with me, she was so cute, hehe. Granny chuckled thinking back.

“Granny!!!” pouted Lily.

Keeping his silence, he looked at the 2 and a small, almost invisible smile could be seen creeping upon his face, as he sank back into his consciousness, digesting all the information he just received.

—

Back at the gates…

[Fusion 

* Step 1 of 3 *

Please provide the ingredients for the process. Once ready, continue to NEXT step.]

A very brief window greeted Aiden as soon as he pressed the Fusion option in his system menu.

‘So now, I need to provide the required mastered forms here from the system or the Energy Orb, right? How many I can provide, and what are the benefits of adding more?’ asked Aiden from the system.

[While there’s no real upper limit to how many can you add, I would not advise adding more than 3, otherwise, the end result will be very hard to calculate and the likeliness of mutations will also increase.]

‘Alright, let’s see…’ Currently, Aiden had 2 mastered forms that he could add, and one of them is completely useless, while the other one is something that he can’t imagine would give many benefits. To top it off, his first useful form, the Cave Viper, has not progressed much, it was still only halfway done. ‘Well, at least I could check how the system works, for later when I actually wanted to use it…’

With that, he added the Prime Slime form, and as the second option, the Monster Energy Orb he received from the hunting trip, before focusing his will on the flashing NEXT button.

[Fusion

* Step 2 of 3 *

Selected Life Forms:

– Prime Slime (clean)

– Monster Energy Orb (Tier 1) (clean)

Chance for mutation: Calculating…

…]

The screen flickered for a few seconds before the calculation completed and the information continued to come into view.

[…

Chance for mutation: 5%

Calculating results… Please stand by.]

[Once the calculation completes, you will be able to select from the projected results and continue with that one while you discard the rest. Make sure you are happy with your selection, as once you go to the last step, you will not be able to go back anymore. Your only options will be to tweak your selected result, and then save it as a draft to commence the fusion at a later date.]

‘What happens if I want to start the fusion immediately?’

[The system will commence the hibernation as it did before, and you will be put into your cocoon once again until the fusion completes. That could take from hours to days or even more.]

‘I will just check out the options. So, as long as I do not go to the last step, I’m fine, as you said. I have not used up my Orb, right? After all, I just want to familiarize myself with the feature. ‘

[No need to worry Aiden, as long as you don’t progress from this step, the Orb will not be used. However, as soon as you continue to the last step, the orb will be used up.]

‘I see…’ Aiden mumbled to himself. Meanwhile, the calculations seemed to have finished which was indicated with the screen flickering up blocking his vision.

[…

Chance for mutation: 5%

1 Fusion result found.

Fusion options:

Fused Form: Primal Black Wolf Alpha (Tier 2+)

Potential: D

1.5 – 2 meters tall, thick black fur, red glowing eyes, Skin fused with Slime’s membrane, creating a jelly-like cover, that provides higher resistance against all types of physical damages. The wolf alpha has higher speed and strength than its regular counterparts.]

While the results were a bit less than expected, as only 1 came up, it provided 2 new parameters that will probably be important later.

‘I have two questions, Enya. What is the plus sign next to the tier and what does the potential mean?’

[During fusion, the results are only calculated, and not 100%. The sign just gives you an indication that the end result could potentially differ either positively or negatively. Keep in mind that. This also means that the Potential rating will be affected.

In this case, the end result can be either the one calculated or slightly better.]

—

Back to the present…

The trio was leisurely making their way towards the marketplace area. On their way, Aiden was looking at the various houses, shops, and other food places.

The occasional passerby sent a few gazes towards them, but they mostly kept to themselves. Aiden however, was using his Dark Sense ability to its maximum, he was focusing on keeping every little detail, every unsavory looking blip on his screen. He also noticed that the little ‘birdie’ that was following and spying on them since yesterday, made its way into the city still following them from a distance. At this point, it seemed more like a silent guardian than a spy sent to gather intel about them.

Apart from the ‘birdie’, he also noticed a group of people in an alleyway gathering, radiating dark, violent impulses. They, -somewhat-, seemed similar to the predators that he could sense during his first few nights in the forest. Predators waiting for their prey walking into the trap that they set.

Well, whatever or whoever they were, they weren’t of concern to Aiden currently. He kept a note of their locations and moved on. Thankfully, he didn’t find anything else noteworthy.

Slowly they arrived at a very crowded square in the city, with a few lines of carpets spread out on the ground with various products placed on them. The best way to make money for the everyday man was to sell their products be it meat they butchered, vegetables or fruits they grew, or treasures they found. While pretty rare, you could even find herbs, or even alchemical products cheaper than the shops around town.

So it’s not much of a surprise, but all types of people gathered in the marketplace. From the penniless to the highest of nobles, all made time in their day to visit at least once every now and then.

However, the trio was only window shopping, as their first target, today was the General Store at the other end of the marketplace, owned by an elderly pair, Mr. and Mrs. Norton. They were good friends with Granny, and they had a long-time order set up for a shipment of healing potions, every 2 weeks. Their store sold a variety of things useful for everyday life, mostly dairies.

While they were making their way through the sea of people, Aiden noticed a few of the unsavory presences that he picked up on the way spread out. They seemed to be looking for their prey, picking up a few stragglers, and unprotected bags.

However, they could not cause any problems for Aiden, as he could spot them with the help of his ability, and the system’s map…

—

A few blocks behind the group, Number 3, with its presence still completely hidden, was carefully following behind the group. Number 3 also noticed the thieves that were probably working for the same group and was currently spread out at this busy hour at the marketplace trying to net a few easy coins.

Since the order was to only monitor the group and report any noteworthy activity, it did not bother removing the few stragglers that got close to the group.

As the trio arrived in front of the general store, Number 3 was thinking about contacting the other Executors completing missions in the city, to exchange intel, and if it’s needed to provide them assistance.

There was one thing that was bothering it since it started watching this small family in the forest. It wasn’t the boy that was sure that he noticed its presence already. It also wasn’t the elderly lady that was shrouded in mystery.

It was the young blonde half-elf girl that raised some flags… something about her reminded Number 3 to a certain mission in the past…

(A/N.: I’m not satisfied with this chapter, and I have kept rewriting it over the course of the last week. This version is actually my 7th attempt, I just don’t like the end result, or by the time I reach the point I wanted to include in the chapter, I’m already way over my own word limit. This attempt is halfway decent, and while I still couldn’t arrive where I originally wanted to, most of the information I wanted to convey was included, and the setting is perfect for the next scenes, so I figured it’s a good attempt. Hopefully, I will be back on track from now on and won’t get stuck again. :D)