Limitless Evolution With My Character Merge System

In a small room, Alden opened his eyes, yawning loudly as he stretched his body, the crackling of his bones following.

The bed was small and covered with clothe, some folded and the rest left untouched.

In fact, the room was a complete mess, with things scattered everywhere. The floor was unclean, and dirty plates were piled in a corner, as if they had been sitting there for years.

A thick curtain covered the window, but a little light still peeked through into the room.

"Finally, I got a good sleep after years," he said with a smile plastered on his face as he slowly got out of bed.

The events of yesterday surfaced in his mind.

After the heart demon disappeared with its last words, everything suddenly went dark, and he woke up from the dream world.

He had received several notifications from the system but didn't even check them because he was extremely tired. 

His brain was fried and unable to think straight anymore.

How he got home was unknown, but somehow, he did.

Immediately after entering his room, he fell into bed, and sleep overtook him instantly.

He had slept from late afternoon until this morning, exhausted from the stress and pain.

"Jeez! Holy castle!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening as he took in the state of the room.

This was beyond his imagination. Looking up, he could see spiderwebs almost covering the ceiling, fan, and single bulb light, as if it were spider territory.

"How is this a room? Or is this an abandoned storeroom?" Alden muttered, completely speechless as he took in the scene.

He even shielded his nose from the foul smell emanating from the room.

As Alden stood up, the first thing he did was swiftly move to the window and open it, allowing fresh morning air to flood in.

"I'll start with the room. I can't bear the sight of this..."

Without hesitation, he quickly removed the clothes from the bed and floor, putting everything in its rightful place.

Shortly after, he sighed, satisfied with the room's improved state.

Walking around the room, it struck him—he could feel nothing in his legs or body.

There was no trace of the pain from yesterday, which made his heart thump with confusion.

After a moment of surprise, his lips curved into a bright smile.

The system must be behind it, he concluded.

"Time to check out the system and notifications," he said.

He already understood how the system worked, so he simply called out, "Pull out the notifications."

A transparent screen appeared before his eyes, displaying several notifications.

[Congrats to host for awakening the SSS-grade rank talent]

[4 rewards distributed ]

[You've successfully dealt with your heart demon]

[+1 point added to your character points, intelligence, and endurance]

Next, he proceeded to check his stats, which were immediately shown to him.

[-CHARACTER STATUS-]

HOST: Alden Finn

TALENT: Character Merge

RACE: Human

«STATS»

LEVEL: 1

EXP: 0/100

CP: 1 ↑

STR: 1

AGL: 1

INT: 2↑

END: 2 ↑

-SKILLS: Character Merge (SSS), Character Scan (SS), 10x Reward (SS), Skill Fusion (SS)

TALENT SKILLS: Character Merge NUM [0/3]

???: YET TO UNLOCK

CHARACTER SHOP: Open shop [Yes/No]

[-CHARACTER STATUS-]

The system interface was slightly different from others he had seen in manhwa and novels. His was like a game interface.

Well, what else could he expect when the system was the same as the game project he had been working on.

Observing the status screen over and over again, Alden couldn't help but burst into deep laughter, disbelief written all over his face.

He was amazed, especially with the skills he had been given. An A-rank skill was already powerful, let alone an S-rank skill, and now he had received even more.

"Is this for real?" He rubbed his eyes with his hand before looking again."Getting one of these would already be enough to dominate, but I was given more..."

His eyes shifted to the last entry with a question mark. He was completely confused and curious about it.

"Yet to unlock? What's supposed to be there?"

The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know.

"System, what's up with the last one?"

He asked, waiting for a response.

But even after a minute, he received nothing.

No matter how many times he tried, the system ignored him, which gave him the sense that it wasn't the interactive type.

"Damn! For it to be like that, it must be an overpowered skill or an extraordinarily useful feature."

[-INFO-]

-Character Merge (SSS): With this, you can merge with any character you desire and copy their skills as long as you meet the requirements. You also receive 30% of their attributes if they break through.

-Character Scan (SS): It reveals other characters' stats to the user.

-10x Reward (SS): Multiplies the host's rewards by ten—not applicable to stats like level, character points, strength, and the rest.

-Skill Fusion (SS): Grants the ability to fuse two or more skills, creating a powerful one as long as the skills are compatible with each other.

[-INFO-]

All the information he needed to know about the system was revealed to him.

"I can't wait to find out about the other races within. Maybe there's a chance I can change my race along the way."

Somehow, he felt excited instead of worried or searching for a way to return to his original body.

It was the opposite—he wanted to explore this world and experience everything.

When he was little, watching his favorite movies, he had always wished he could appear in those worlds. That wish had now been granted; there was no room for regret anymore.

"With these skills, this is getting interesting."

He couldn't imagine the feeling of using his overpowered skills to merge with other individuals and plunder their skills.

"Open character shop."

[Command received... Shop opening»»]

[CHARACTER SHOP]

He opened the shop and saw nothing there except a message displayed in red: [Level too low to unlock this]

[Redirecting host to items available in the system store]

-Rank 1 Dark Blade - 1000 CP

-Rank 1 Soul Sword - 2000 CP

-Random Protective Necklace - 2000 CP

-F-grade Bow - 2500 CP

[Item reloads every 48 hours]

Alden sighed. Almost all the features of the system were currently useless to him.

There was nothing he could use right now, and nothing in the shop he could buy with the measly amount of CP he had.

"One step at a time. With time, I'll be able to access the system's full features and more."

Ring! Ring!

Just then, the alarm on his broken phone began to ring as the clock struck 9:00 AM.

Alden picked up the phone from the bed and saw the alarm label: (Mom's visit time).

It brought back a memory—Sammy's mom had been hospitalized, so he regularly visited her without missing a day.

"This body is a little better compared to my original self, where I was abandoned by my entire family. At least his mom cared about him when she was well."

Alden wasn't worried or concerned about the previous owner's problems, but since he was occupying the body now, he felt he should at least show some care.

His small apartment was a combination of a room, bathroom, and kitchen—all he could afford after leaving his family due to his mom's incident.

Alden quickly went into the bathroom and took a quick bath before coming out.

In no time, he was fully dressed and walked out of his apartment.