Everyone was about to celebrate this lovely reunion, when Harker confessed to something.
"I still feel the hunger for flesh. I'm only doing my best to control it right now." He smiled awkwardly as he left the confinement room with Mina holding his hand. "I suggest everyone else beside Mina and Joan to keep their distance. I don't feel any hunger towards those who had shared DNA with me."
The joyful atmosphere faded a bit, as many made sounds of disappointment. But no one could be more disappointed than Roland.
"Oh, that's understandable. How much distance is a good distance?" He asked.
"More than one meter apart should be good. And no skin contact….. That's the biggest no-no, someone told me."
That someone being a flying eyeball inside his brain, but he didn't really have to explain himself for people to be wary of their safety.
Roland nodded, and raised his hand. "Okay. LDH5?"
Harker chuckled, remembering fond childhood memories because of this. "LDH5!"
"What is LDH5?" Mina asked him.
"It's short for 'Long Distance High Five'. We do it all the time back when Roland was sick and we can't go near each other. He gets fevers and pneumonia often because of his blood condition." Harker explained.
"I'm just glad you're safe. But are you really okay now?" Roland asked worriedly. "You've been non-verbal for 6 days."
"6 days? Wow, it felt much longer than that somehow."
Harker then noticed the scales on Mina's arms. "Hey, what happened to that blood sample I sent you!? You weren't caught by those An Xin bastards looking like this, are you?"
Mina chuckled. "No, silly! Of course I'd be careful enough to not have anyone catch me looking like this, I cover up. And besides….. I was only able to catch up to one of them. The groundskeeper of the house. I'll explain all the details later, but basically, they will be having this gathering in London."
"London? That's pretty lucky since we're also headed there. I got the information I needed for Victoria's location, right down to the exact coordinates." Harker said. "Let's all discuss that later too."
One of the guards said. "You must be starving, Mr. Jones. This is usually your lunch time…."
"Oh, right. Yeah, I could eat a whole horse right about now."
"Would you prefer it live or dead, Sir?"
Harker blinked, and was about to say he was just joking. But on second thought, he really would like to eat a whole horse.
"Um…. live would be preferable. Please make sure it's an old one, I don't want to eat perfectly healthy young ponies."
They set out to do their task as usual, leaving the trio behind.
No, there were four, but Joan was just so quiet the whole time that everybody forgot she was even there. She was furrowing her brows and wearing a conflicted expression on her face.
Harker finally turned, acknowledging her presence. "Oh.... Hi."
She forced out a small 'hi'.
Mina looked back and forth between the two of them, and tightened her grip on Harker. "You should tell me everything that happened over lunch. I'm really hungry too. You, me and Roland have a lot of catching up to do.... Haha, that rhymes!"
She chuckled but there was no mirth to it. Even a blind man can see through her jealousy.
Harker knew he'd have to deal with this in a private conversation later. There's a lot to unpack after the aftermath of the journey to the Appalachians.
Earlier, he had gained a lot of new updates on his abilities:
[Enhance Wendigo's Ability (Duplicated)
Raw Power: SR
Endurance: B
Range: A+
Speed: SR
Precision: A+
Potential: C ]
"Was it duplicated because Legion and I have the exact same stats on these abilities?" Harker asked Yan.
The eyeball confirmed it. "Yes. Every other ability that had similar stats would also be duplicated this way unless the Potential limit has been reached."
[Enhanced Succubus Ability (Duplicated)
Raw Power: R
Endurance: A
Range: R
Speed: A
Precision: R
Potential: A ]
[Enhanced Snake Demon Ability (Unable to Duplicate, Reached Potential Limit)
Raw Power: SR
Endurance: A+
Range: SR
Speed: SR
Precision: SR
Potential: D- ]
Harker remembered that merging Lord Jiaoshe and Xi Hua's Snake ability had led to this low Potential. But that's fine, since this ability was still relatively the strongest among the rest even with the duplication.
The next ones were the new abilities that he had just gained now, so there was no duplication. Still, Legion technically duplicates itself just from feeding on many people alone. His type of Zombie and Shapeshifting abilities were unique, possibly no duplicates can be made in this world.
[ Experimental Zombie Ability
Raw Power: R
Endurance: SR
Range: B
Speed: A
Precision: B
Potential: C ]
[Legion's Shapeshifting Ability (Not Duplicated, Different Type of Shapeshifting)
Raw Power: SR
Endurance: SR
Range: SR
Speed: SR
Precision: SR
Potential: UR ]
Harker frowned. "Different type? Was it because of the cloning thing?"
The corrupted SS cells can separate themselves to create other beings that have their own consciousness. It was a fantastic skill to have, but also dangerous as the clone may make actions on their own and not follow his command.
Harker was still learning to utilize this new skill, after all. It might take time before he can confidently separate himself into other beings, but for now, he would study it first.
This thought came back to him as he looked at Joan, who looked rather miserable during lunch. Things were left on a very awkward note between the two of them, and remained unresolved after the whole ascension thing.
He just wished she wouldn't look so sad, seeing him with Mina. She must feel out of place in the trio's conversation too as a newcomer, since she wasn't included in this friendship dynamic they had. But more than that, her eyes would always be drawn towards their hands that so often touched each other, or their knees that bumped once in a while under the table.
He loves both of them very much, and wanted to give both of them affection. A silly thought came to his mind.
Being in two places at once, loving two women at the same time…..
Two women were at a king's feet, both claiming they have mothered this newborn child and that the other was lying. The king then proposed to have that child be sliced in half to be shared by them. Of course, he only gave that proposition to test who was the true mother of the child, for she would rather giver her child away than have him killed.
Unlike the child, Harker could truly slice himself in half to be shared. But is it the right solution to this dilemma?
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com