[3]

Walking through the shittier parts of Harlem, but this time at a much sunnier time of day, it still felt somewhat rotten. I could just feel the atmosphere, and knew without even looking, that every time I passed by a guy standing by a car on the side of the road or casually sitting on the steps of a porch, I was being sized up. Scrutinized on whether or not I would be a worthy individual to steal from.

Unfortunately, it seemed like someone had eventually come to the conclusion that I was.

As I passed by a small alley, I was tugged by the side of my shirt and practically yanked back into the tight space. The back of my head bounced off the brick wall, and I grimaced in pain as the thug stared me down with a nasty sneer etched into his face.

"Run that shit, kid." He ordered, and for a brief moment, I wasn't entirely sure on how to deal with the situation. This would usually be the time that a hero suddenly made an appearance and saved me from the person currently trying to rob me blind, but that never ended up happening. I was left to fend for myself, and that's exactly what I did once the thug began aggressively pressuring me to empty my pockets.

Considering there wasn't anything in my pockets to begin with, that wouldn't have aided him anyway, but nevertheless, before he could even realize what I was actually intending to do, I quickly withdrew a regular kitchen knife from my inventory and drove it forward with as much strength as I possibly could from my disadvantageous position. Half of the blade was shoved through his stomach, and as he immediately released me, crying out in agony as he fell to the ground, I bolted from the alleyway and ran straight back to the place I had recently claimed to be my home for the foreseeable future.

While I had a feeling I probably could have ended him right then and there, I had quite a few more knifes I stole from the kitchen appliances section in Walmart after all, I decided that prioritizing my intentions of settling in and slowly climbing the ladder that was this shithole of a neighborhood would be best at the moment. Not to mention, if he was robbing kids that weren't even old enough to drink alcohol yet, not that I would've let something like that stop me if I wanted to anyway, he probably didn't have much to offer me if I had decided to fuck him up even further and then steal whatever he had on him.

I was well-aware that letting him live could potentially come back to bite me in the ass, but I was okay with that in a weird way, since by the time something like that probably would end up happening, I'd have already merged the items I picked up from Walmart and improved the safety measures I planned on making for situations just like this. There was a reason I grabbed like fifteen knives, but that also wasn't the only thing I picked up that I was intent on weaponizing for my benefit either.

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Stepping into the apartment and locking it behind me, I immediately approached the kitchen, and once I made my way there, I quickly began emptying my inventory onto the island, or whatever the name of that thing was. I would just call it a countertop or something.

I didn't completely empty my inventory, since I planned on eating something after this part was over, so I kept the food stowed away. However, what came out first, something I decided to purposefully focus on after what had literally just occurred a few minutes ago, I took out a bunch of tools that you would normally see in a garage, but there were a few regular kitchen knives and stuff like that spread out in there as well.

Glancing over all of it, the first two things I eventually picked up was a circular saw and a power drill. Since this was more so just me feeding my curiosity, I didn't really try to come up with a direction that I wanted it to go or anything, and simply allowed it to evolve however it desired as I finally merged the two and looked at my first ever creation. There was a brief flash of light, and then there was a completely foreign object in front of me. I couldn't help but slightly grimace at the sight, because just from a glance, it didn't look useful at all.

Bulky and just ugly overall, I used a more subtle ability I had been told about by Zyanya.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Buzz Drill - F rank. A hybrid melding the precision of a circular saw with the versatility of a power drill for a seamless and efficient multitasking tool.]

I shook my head, impressed more by the fact that the merging process actually took effect rather than what ended up coming out of it. Wanting to salvage the fusion, however, I took a gander at what was laid out before me and eventually picked up a stapler gun, and this time around, I did have an idea of what I wanted it to turn into.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Saw Blaster - F rank. A handheld firearm shooting miniature circular saw blades for cutting through your targets.]

My eyes widened at that, before I grinned in triumph. Now I basically had a gun, it just wasn't holding normal ammunition. I bet it would still hurt like hell though.

I briefly lingered on the rank of my newfound creation, wondering why it hadn't increased after evolving so much. However, rather than stopping what I was doing and asking the system about it, I kept going. This time, however, I grabbed two knives, and with an idea in mind, I merged the two into one. The result was expected, and as I nodded in acceptance before grabbing a small bag that contained a bunch of rat-killing pellets, I added that to the fusion.

What I got broadened my smile.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Rat Edge - F rank. With the blade now infused with a potent poison, this versatile knife becomes a deadly tool, capable of delivering a toxic strike against whoever you deem an enemy.]

After that, I took a short break. Unfortunately, my body was the limiter to how many items I could merge in a single sitting, as each fusion acted as a drain on my energy. I was fine with that, however, as I withdrew a bag of chips and started munching.

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For those of you who haven't read it, this story was partly inspired by a fanfiction written by Malcolm Tent, and the story I'm specifically talking about is called Greed God. Now, if you have seen it, it's clear that I've taken a bit from the appraisal function. However, my version has a few notable differences.

Not to mention, with all due respect to Malcolm, I don't think he was the first to come up with an idea like this. I do think he's a great writer though.