Toxin Fusion (Please Read and Follow!)

"Need my help?"

Senor looked a little surprised to see who had come.

"I need some lethal toxins for research."

Abel said it with a straight face.

"Research? That kind of thing is too dangerous. That reason isn't enough to convince me."

Senor exhaled a cloud of smoke, unmoved.

"Fine. Actually, I read about a treatment called 'fighting poison with poison' in a book, so I wondered: since Lead Sickness is a toxin that's hard to eliminate, could there be another deadly poison that might counteract it?"

Senor's smoking hand suddenly paused, and his expression turned serious.

Although the explanation sounded completely unreliable, there was a certain twisted logic to it—and it might actually work.

Still, the odds of a blind cat stumbling onto a dead rat seemed far too low.

"Are you sure you can pull it off?"

"I'm just going to research it first. Who'd joke around with their own life?"

Senor was finally persuaded. "I know where to get a few kinds of lethal toxins. All right, I'll bring them back for you tomorrow. Some other poisons are harder to find—at least, they're rare in the North Sea. We'll have to try our luck through the family's connections."

Abel was overjoyed. He'd been right to ask a real man!

"That's enough. We'll take whatever we can find, one kind at a time. It's just research for now, and we can take our time with the rest."

Senor nodded. "Then it's settled. Wait for my word."

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"No need. I just find you fairly likable."

Senor waved a hand and left without hesitation.

Abel made a mental note to repay him someday, if he got the chance.

True to his word, Senor returned the following night, travel-worn, with the lethal toxins Abel had been eagerly awaiting.

"This vial contains King Cobra Toxin. It's extremely potent. This one is Blue Ring Octopus Toxin, a very powerful neurotoxin."

"Since you needed them quickly, I could only find these two relatively common poisons for now."

Abel accepted the precious vials. He didn't bother with more thanks; no amount of words could compare to repaying Senor with actions.

"These two will do for now. You've really helped me out."

Senor looked at Abel's excited expression and hesitated before saying, "I got them for you, but don't do anything reckless. There's still time. Maybe you really will find a Devil Fruit that can cure your illness."

"Your attempts at comforting people are terrible, but I'll remember what you said. I won't do anything unless I'm sure."

Senor rubbed his nose. "I'm off."

Abel couldn't help laughing a couple of times, which only made Senor leave faster.

Once he was alone in the room, the smile vanished from Abel's face. His expression turned serious and grave.

He'd always thought that evolving [Ghoul Heart] was a distant prospect. Even if he found suitable poisons, he wouldn't dare gamble with his life.

But things were different now.

The orange talent [Soul of the Samurai] gave him the confidence to try!

As long as he was careful and prepared, the odds of success were high. And even if he failed, he could still save himself.

Together with the [Salamander Poison] he'd bought from the System Shop earlier, he now had all three lethal toxins.

To be safe, he didn't recklessly inject all three into his heart at once. Instead, he chose to start with the King Cobra Toxin, which seemed relatively easy to fuse.

He took out the syringe he'd prepared, drew up some of the venom, gritted his teeth, and injected it straight into his heart!

It was practically an act of suicide!

But the moment the King Cobra Toxin entered his heart, his talent [Ghoul Heart] reacted at once, as if provoked, launching a fierce assault.

"Ugh!"

Abel clutched his chest and collapsed onto the bed in agony.

His heart began to swell and die, its function rapidly failing.

Then he began to struggle to breathe, starved of oxygen!

In just a few seconds, he triggered the 'Severely Wounded' state of [Soul of the Samurai].

But the tripled combat power was completely useless now. His enemy was the deadly poison inside his own body.

At that moment, the Gourmet Cells in his body suddenly refused to take it lying down.

As the King Cobra Toxin coursed through Abel's body, his Gourmet Cells were undoubtedly challenged and attacked as well.

So they immediately tried to evolve until they became immune to the toxin.

The process wasn't fast, but it further slowed the poison's damage.

Then his purple talent [Rapid Digestion] was stimulated too, and actually began trying to digest the toxins in his stomach and intestines.

Even Abel hadn't expected that fusing the first toxin would trigger such a chain reaction.

His body was trying to save itself!

Abel had planned to wait until he entered the 'Severely Wounded' state and triggered the immunity to death effect, putting him in the 'Near-Death' state. Then he would do three sit-ups as quickly as possible to 'revive.'

But now, despite the agonizing process, he'd unexpectedly managed to hold on.

After several more minutes of torment, [Ghoul Heart] finally finished devouring and fusing with the King Cobra Toxin.

All the poison that had spread through his bloodstream swiftly retreated into his heart, as if nothing had happened.

But something had changed.

Not only had [Ghoul Heart] completed a third of its evolution, but with the Gourmet Cells working overtime, Abel's body had also generated antibodies to resist toxins.

That was an unexpected bonus!

Since the fusion was complete, his heart returned to normal, and Abel left the 'Severely Wounded' state.

So he decided to rest for a while and wait until the talent's 24-hour cooldown had passed before fusing with the next toxin.

Fortunately, he'd played it safe. Otherwise, he would've nearly gotten himself killed.

Twenty-four hours later, the fusion with Blue Ring Octopus Toxin went relatively smoothly.

It still put him through plenty of pain, but with his first experience behind him, the process was nerve-racking yet harmless. He didn't even trigger the 'Severely Wounded' state.

But just as he was preparing to press on and inject the last toxin, [Salamander Poison], into his heart, he nearly crashed and burned.

The potency of [Salamander Poison] exceeded Abel's expectations.

In the end, it took one of [Soul of the Samurai]'s immunity-to-death effects for him to finally devour and fuse with it.

Fortunately, he'd saved [Salamander Poison] for last. While adapting to the first two toxins, his body had developed some resistance to poison. Otherwise, the final fusion might well have failed.

After succeeding, Abel finally breathed a sigh of relief. The ordeal had left him so drained that he could barely stand.