The first thing she did is using her abilities. She tries to use it by thinking about it, recalling the written passages commonly seen on Isekai stories.
This method seems to have work as she can feel something within her. It felt like she have a vague grasp of everything, like there is some sort of line connecting her to everything else. The bag that she is wearing, the rocks on the ground, even the dirt itself. Everything in her line of vision seems to be connected to her.
It is a vague connection so it felt like it is imaginary, like she is just hallucinating it. Though at the same time, it felt solid enough that it is impossible to pass it up as something her mind made up.
'If this is like this, then...'
She focuses on one of the rocks just beneath her feet and imagine using her powers on it. Then she suddenly felt her connection shrinking, and being limited to rocks that seems to be nearly identical to the one she have thought of using her powers on.
'It said that I can combine two of the same things. Is this what it means?'
She tries mentally grasping the nearby rock that is identical to the first one she chose, and then the rock suddenly glimmers with light. It is a dim light that is gentle to the eyes which made her startled for a bit, but not enough to instinctively cover her eyes.
The rocks that shines quickly turns into light particles and coalesced into a single point, slowly forming something else besides her. It only took a moment before a new thing has been formed.
"This is..." She picks it up and examines it. The weight is not that heavy, but she can feel it enough that she took a bit of an effort with a single hand.
You got a Brass Lump
"Bronze lump?"
She raised an eyebrow at that, curious about the results. She didn't know what's the deciding factor for that. Combining two rocks seems to turn it into a Brass Lump.
She have seen bronze on internet, but never in her real life. So this is the first time she is touching one.
"Is this pure? Maybe it still have some impurities?"
Not knowing anything at all, she decided to put those thoughts aside and continue.
Before that, she looks at her status first.
[Status]
Motoharu Kyoko ~ Level 1
MP : 0/0
SP : 0/0
STR : 0
VIT : 0
AGI : 0
DEX : 0
MAG : 0
WIS : 0
CHA : 0
[Abilities]
Merge
"I see. So it didn't cost anything."
Satisfied with that, she decided to continue combining things.
She looks at another rock and decided to combine it using another.
You got Brass Lump
You got Brass Lump
You got Brass Lump
Seeing that the three combinations she did always results in the same, she is now convinced of it.
"So despite being formed differently, so long as it is made of rock and they have nearly the same size, it will turn into something like this." She nodded before turning her gaze at the large rocks that is a few walks away. "What about those?"
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She focus her thought on it and felt her connection shrinking to rocks with the same size as it. It seems like there are a few of it in her vicinity so she tries using it and combining them.
You got Brass Lump
Despite the result being stated on the prompt, the lump of brass have the same size as the large rock awhile ago. The rock she chose easily reaches her knees, so it is pretty big.
"So even if it's a large one, it will still be categorized as the same from the small ones, but it is just bigger." She nodded at this.
Then she turns to the other things on her surroundings. The trees that surrounds her, the greenery that surrounds it, and many more. She wanted to try her ability with all of it.
This place seems to be safe enough. She thinks that she still have enough time to test things out before she moves away here. She wanted to test more so she can understand her powers a lot better.
"Okay. Let's do this." She mutters before she starts turning to the other stuff.
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The summary of her experiments are as follows...
Her Merge can't combine vastly different things, even if it's categorized the same. Like how large rocks and small rocks can't be merged, or even a tall grass and a small grass.
This is also the case for trees. It seems like trees that are ten or so feet longer than the other can't be combined. On another way, those lesser than it can be combined.
Flowers of different colors can't also be combined. Only the same ones are allowed. She didn't know if the different intensity of the same color is allowed because she haven't seen anything like that in this place, so she will try it later when she manages to leave this forest.
She have discovered something. Older and newer things can be combined. She have some experience taking care of plants so she have some trivial knowledge about plant age. She saw an old leaf that is close to falling off on a shrub and one that is growing anew and decided to combine these two. It seems like it is allowed.
Though it seems like dead leaves can't be combined to a living one.
She didn't know if this knowledge will help her in the future, but she is still thankful to learn something like this.
She have also learned that she can specify what she wants to combine. For example, she can combine a whole tree or just as simple as a single branch that is connected to a tree.
The convenient way of usage makes her satisfied with her powers, and she thinks it'll be useful later on.
After all of that, she tries something she has been thinking of while doing those experiments. That is combining objects that she have already combined.
She have learned that this is viable so long as it follows the limitations that is stated earlier. Age doesn't matter unless it is dead, size must be nearly identical, color is debatable but must be identical, and texture must truly be the same as the other.
Because there are a lot of rocks in there so she decided to merge a lot of it and turn them into brass lumps. Then she combines those which gave her iron lumps.
Seeing that it is successful, she decided to try and see how far it will work by combining things and improving it over and over.
And now, her mouth hangs wide open at the sheer absurdity of what she can do.
You got Silver Lump
You got Gold Lump
You got Platinum Lump
You got Gem
The rocks turns into a gem. A gem that have the same size as the one she has been combining for awhile now. It is not just a fake, but a real and genuine one. The way it reflects the light, and the weight in it is enough to convince her that it is truly a gem. Even when she tries to throw it, it just makes a rough thud on the ground and it didn't even get a scratch at all.
This is just when she realized the real potential of her abilities. She have the power to turn useless lumps of trashes into real treasures.
"This is amazing!" Her eyes shines in excitement at this discovery.
She felt that this increases her chance of survival.
"Now I just have to see how I can leave this forest. Where should I go here?"
Despite the discovery of her golden fingers, it doesn't matter if she can't even leave in this place alive. Treasures can't save her life after all.
"If only I have something I can use as a weapon." She unconsciously bit her lips while thinking about it.
She thought of creating something like a crude weapon, but she just remembered that she is not strong enough to shape some wood or something. She didn't even have the relevant knowledge about it.
She have some experience about camping on her middle school field trips, but her role are always just a lookout and cooking marshmallows. She didn't have any practical experience on surviving in a forest, much less having the knowledge to create weapon out of stone or wood.
The only thing she can do is hope that something useful resulted in her continuous merging. Like some sort of miracle rock that can let her teleport everywhere, or maybe a weapon suddenly appearing after combining it.
She knows that's just wishful thinking, but she really hopes like that.
She glances at the gem in her hands and her eyes lit up in anticipation. "I'll just have to keep doing it then." With that decision, she sits on the shade of the tree and decided to combine more ricks in her vicinity.
She hopes that something useful occurs.