"Happy anniversary, babe," Julian's fiancée whispered, twisting the knife with a smile, "You really thought I'd marry a broke nobody like you?"
Then darkness. Just the sickening lurch of falling…
"FUCK!"
Julian jolted upright. Pain exploded behind his eyes. He grabbed his head and froze.
The body beneath the filthy rags was barely seventeen; his left wrist still bore the raw burn of a slave brand... three jagged lines.
He remembered the beatings. The forced labor. The way Elder Viperfang's pet black-scaled python had crushed the last slave who talked back, while the elder sipped tea and laughed.
Julian's stomach twisted. "Shit… I got isekai'd into the world's shittiest difficulty setting."
"Still breathing, maggot?" Elder Viperfang stepped through the doorway, a living black viper coiled around his neck. The snake's tongue flicked inches from Julian's face.
"You missed morning feeding duty," the elder drawled, "Again. Do I need to remind you what happens to lazy slaves?"
Julian's new body trembled on instinct. The old Julian would've already been on his knees begging. But the Earth soul inside him felt something else.
He forced a shaky grin. "Sorry, Master. Must've been busy dying in my sleep. Won't happen again."
Viperfang's eyes narrowed. "Clever tongue today? Maybe I'll cut it out and feed it to my python. Or perhaps I'll just let you watch while I contract a new Silver-rank beast and make you carry its shit for the next decade."
Behind him, two other slaves hovered at the doorway, terrified to speak. Mira's lip was split from yesterday's "lesson." Finn clutched a half-dead rat like it was treasure.
Viperfang flicked a finger. The black viper lunged, fangs grazing Julian's cheek hard enough to draw blood.
"Clean the pens. All of them. If I see one speck of filth when I return at dusk, I'll contract you to a Parasite Worm instead of a proper beast. You'll spend the rest of your miserable life eating your own guts from the inside."
The elder spun on his heel and left. The moment the door slammed, Finn whispered,
"Julian, you idiot! Why'd you mouth off? He's been looking for an excuse to kill you since you failed to tame that trash beetle last week!"
Mira hugged herself. "Just… do what he says. Please..."
Julian wiped the blood off his cheek and stood. "Yeah, well, I'm done being the universe's punching bag. Both universes."
He paced the tiny hut, mind racing. Beast taming. Contracts. Spirit beasts ranked from Trash to Legendary. And he was stuck at level zero... no spirit core, no contract slot, just a slave collar that would explode if he tried to run.
A soft mechanical chime echoed inside his skull.
[Ding! Fusion System activated!]
[Host: Julian Moretti.]
[Current Level: 1.]
[Ability: Fuse any living beasts smaller than yourself into a single superior entity. Success rate 100% at Level 1. Cooldown: None.]
[Fusion Limit: Two beasts per fusion. Result inherits strongest traits + hidden evolution chance.]
[Welcome to the Beast Continent, loser! Time to stop getting fucked and start doing the fucking!]
Julian blinked, "Whoa! A system with attitude?" He laughed once.
He dropped to his knees and scanned the hut like a madman. Trash everywhere. Broken crates. A puddle of stagnant water. And there—
Crawling across a moldy beam... a fat, blood-red mosquito the size of a thumb. Poisonous Swamp Skeeter... Trash-rank, but its toxin could paralyze a grown man for hours.
Scuttling in the corner: a fist-sized black spider with glowing blue fangs. Shadow Weaver... Trash-rank, silk strong enough to bind low-level beasts.
Julian's Grinned, "Come to daddy."
He snatched the mosquito mid-flight. The spider he scooped up with the other hand, ignoring the tiny fangs that pricked his skin.
Finn's eyes bugged out. "Julian, what the hell are you... those things are venomous!"
"Shut up and watch!" Julian hissed.
He pressed the two wriggling insects together in his palms.
[Compatible beasts detected...]
[Initiate Fusion? Y/N]
"Fuck yes." A surge of heat exploded between his hands.
The insects melted together... wings fusing with legs, fangs lengthening. Scales rippled across new chitin. A single pair of glowing red eyes snapped open.
[Ding! Fusion successful!]
[New Beast Created!]
[Venomwing Reaper (Rare-rank]
[Traits Inherited:
Paralytic Venom
Rotting Silk Threads
Silent Flight + Shadow Camouflage
Bonus: Soul-Bond Ready (can be contracted instantly by host)]
The creature... now a sleek, fist-sized nightmare with dragonfly wings and spider legs tipped in blades hovered in Julian's palm.
Julian stared, heart hammering. "Holy fucking shit. I just made a boss monster out of two pieces of trash?!"
Finn stumbled backward until he hit the wall. "Th-that's… that's not how taming works... You're supposed to fight them, bleed on them, form a contract circle! You can't just… squish them together!"
Mira's mouth opened, "Julian… your eyes. They're glowing."
Outside, footsteps. Viperfang's voice drifted back, laughing with another elder. "—and if the boy causes trouble again, just toss him in the pit with the hatchling pythons. Let them practice."
Julian's new pet vibrated with excitement, tiny wings blurring.
He could feel it. A thread of will connected them already. No contract circle needed... The system had skipped the bullshit.
He tucked Reaper under his ragged collar.
Finn grabbed his arm. "You're going to get us all killed!"
Julian met his eyes, and for the first time since waking up, the slave-boy body felt powerful.
"Listen up, both of you. I died once already because I trusted the wrong person. I'm not dying again because some snake-wearing asshole thinks he owns me."
He cracked his neck. Reaper's wings hummed under his shirt.