Blink!

Leon woke up in his shelter in the fringe of the Wastes.

The moment he woke up, he looked at his bed, wondering. 'Since when did I buy a bed? I've not even returned there since becoming an E Rank Mechanist'.

'What's going on?'

He sat up on the bed, feeling like something was off.

His memories were fragmented. This was a feeling that he forced himself to get used to since awakening in Neo-Tokara, but for some reason it felt even more apparent today, more urgent somehow.

Leon frowned. 'Did something happen?'

And then a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"You're actually a real human".

"…!"

Leon was alarmed.

The first thought that came to his mind was. 'Someone else is inside my shelter? An invasion?!'

'How? Did they secretly tail me?'

But then he paused. 'That voice… why does it sound so familiar?'

At some point in time, someone arrived and now sat in the wooden chair in the living area of his shelter just a few meters away from his bed.

Reflecting in his eyes was a young man with unique dual-colored eyes; one of them was dark green while the other was brownish red like it was bruised.

His young face was rugged and marred with unnatural scars that seemed like a result of torture rather than battle, while his neck was covered in snake tattoos.

Staring at this man, a thought entered Leon's head. 'The Demon of Ozempic!'

Instantly, he became fully awake. 'A dream!' He realized.

But then he frowned. 'I'm dreaming… so how am I still retaining freewill and thought?'

And then he remembered the dream he had right after his trial to become an E Rank Mechanist. 'Another lucid dream?'

The moment he realized who the person sitting opposite him was, he remembered everything and his face fell. 'I couldn't kill him, I fell unconscious'.

He also understood what was happening. 'He infiltrated my dream'. His eyes gleamed. 'Am I still unconscious in reality?'

Lucian didn't interrupt him as he allowed him to regain his bearing. Instead, he curiously looked at his surroundings and asked.

"Where is this? This is the most memorable location in your subconscious".

Leon silently stared at him with an impassive look on his face. The moment he regained his bearing, he made a decision. 'No matter what he says, I won't answer!' He didn't want to reveal any of his secrets to the terrorist leader.

But then he had another thought. 'Wait, can I make use of the System even in this dreamscape?'

The moment he thought of it, Leon accessed his System.

DING!

The System responded!

Instantly, he changed his mind as he had a different idea.

During the battle against the terrorists, though all the terrorists were strong, the true enigma that defied all his knowledge and expectations was Lucian.

The leader of the terrorists displayed a level of Endurance and vitality that was far beyond anything he had ever seen in regular Ascended, his Endurance seemed even more ridiculous than E Rank Gene Augurs.

Apart from that, Lucian displayed a lot of other abilities that left him confounded, especially when he hunted down Captain Raveman.

This was his opportunity to truly understand the leader of the terrorists and learn his secrets.

With a gleam in his black eyes, he focused on Lucian and then the familiar HUD screen appeared.

DING!

~----~

[Snoop Function activated!]

Name: Lucian

(Nickname: Demon of Ozempic)

Faction: Extremist Movement

Title: Leader of the Extremist Movement

Race: Geneform

Class: Quantum Shaper (Neo Shaper)

Rank: E (Adapted)

[Attributes:]

STR – 111; AGI – 119; END – 128; INT – 165; WIL – 158; ADE – 190

[Derived Stats:]

ATK – 355; DEF – 384; SPD – 238

{HP – 7,510/7,510}

{EP – 10,075/10,075}

[Traits:]

[Racial Trait- Geneform] Bio-Enhanced Physiology (Passive): +15% END, +10% STR, -10% INT.

[Racial Trait- Wolf DNA] Undaunted (Passive): +20% STR, +18% AGI, +15% END.

[Racial Trait- Dog DNA] Rabies: Triggered through bite. When triggered, this trait causes extreme behavioral changes and mental disorder, irritability, rashness, extreme aggression and confusion.

[Racial Trait- Tuna Fish DNA] Sonic Navigation (Passive): You can navigate the world using sophisticated sonic pulses that map the environment in real-time, allowing you to perceive vibration, obstacles, and even distant landmasses with perfect clarity.

[Racial Trait- Arctic Bear DNA] Solitary Survivor (Passive & Active).

>Passive- Solitary Survivor: You can go a whole year without needing to eat, sustaining solely on fat reserves, ADE, and willpower.

>Active- Overdrive: When activated, by burning fat reserves, ADE, and willpower, you can generate explosive power exceeding your limits. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the power.

[Racial Trait- Rat DNA] Danger Premonition (Passive): You can clearly perceive danger ahead of time.

[Racial Trait- Cat DNA] Boneless: +50% AGI when triggered, granting superhuman agility and flexibility.

[Racial Trait- Owl DNA] Sleepless (Passive): Night vision enabled. A Sleepless only needs 2 hours of sleep every night to fully recharge.

[Racial Trait- Cockroach DNA] Undying Roach: When triggered, +180% to +300% END and +60% to +120% HP regeneration depending on LUCK.

[Racial Trait- Komodo Dragon DNA] Death Bite: When triggered, drains 40% ADE to instantly take 50% of enemy health. Inflicts Bleed status and poisoned status on enemy, and also impedes HP regeneration.

[Abilities:]

>Vector Sense: When activated, perceive direction, velocity, and momentum of all objects nearby.

>Quantum Touch: When activated, you can interact with micro-particles and ADE to slightly alter motion and reality (e.g., slow bullets, affect dreams).

>Field Equilibrium (Passive): Reduces incoming kinetic damage by 5%.

>Gravity Pulse: When activated, you create a short-range shockwave altering gravity for 5 seconds.

>Temporal Echo: When activated, briefly accelerates user's perception ×2.

>Field Stabilizer (Passive): Reduces ADE fluctuation damage by 10%.

>Quantum Trace: When activated, leaves afterimage decoy lasting 2 seconds. It also grants enhanced dream and reality control.

~----~

"…"

"…"

"…..!"

When Leon decided to use his System's Snooping function on Lucian, he expected to see something abnormal, but this?

'10-10 racial traits?!'

'How…? How is that even possible???'

Leon's brain whirred as he finally realized how Captain Raveman, a true E Rank Gene Augur fell victim despite his strength.

He did the math in his head. 'Quantum Touch & Trace + Komodo Dragon explains the methodical breakdown of an E Rank Gene Augur!' Replaying the scene of the Captain dying in his head, Leon shuddered.

The math of 'Undying Roach + Overdrive' also explained all of Lucian's abnormalities during the final few minutes when they clashed.

In that moment, Leon lost his composure completely as the look on his face turned grave.

Noticing this, Lucian looked at him. "What?"

Unlike his appearance and how he appeared on Live TV with what he did on Live TV, the Demon of Ozempic was surprisingly gentle and soft-spoken.

At this moment, Leon didn't pay attention to that though.

He stared at the terrorist with narrowed eyes as his brain whirred. 'How should I expose this? Should I reveal that I know about his secrets?'

In the end, he quickly arrived at a conclusion.

Leon looked Lucian in the eye and asked bluntly. "How is it possible that you have 10 racial traits?"

"…"

Taken aback, Lucian scrutinized him carefully again then he smiled with a hint of excitement and fanatism. "How did you know? Is this a unique trait of humans?"

"As expected, getting closer to the divine blueprint is God's mandate! Attaining this state is the ideal state of our lives!"

"Only by getting close to the divine can we reach the full potential of our bloodline!"

Hearing Lucian's words, though he was irked and wanted to flare up, Leon knew that at this moment he could not afford to flare up.

Besides, he was curious. "How are you sure that I'm human?" He probed. "How are you sure that I didn't become like this due to cosmetic surgery?"

Lucian smiled calmly. "While we restrained you and your friends, my Doctors already examined you, guess what we found?"

"…"

Lucian clearly didn't mind his silence as he said. "You're 100% human".

Leon's gaze darkened but he kept quiet.

"At first, I was still skeptical and that is why I decided to infiltrate your dream. The moment I saw you though," his smile widened. "I was convinced".

"Why?"

"Dreams are an expression of the purest form of a sentient being's subconscious," he explained. "As a Quantum Shaper, I trust what I see in dreams more than what I see in reality".

"Reality is an illusion. People lie, people tell half-truths, people manipulate, but in a dream, everything is laid bare…" Lucian suddenly paused because he realized another thing.

He looked at Leon with surprise. "You're not acting intoxicated at all". He muttered in confusion, then his eyes widened. "You're lucid?"

Leon didn't answer.

"This is another perk of being human?" Lucian was excited as he instinctively made a praising gesture at the sky. "Gud er større!"

Hearing that term, Leon's gaze darkened instantly, his mind flooding with killing intent but he reacted fast to mask it.

"You haven't answered my question yet". Leon calmly brought him back on track and Lucian nodded.

"Like I said, reality is an illusion but in your dream, your subconscious is like an open book to a Quantum Shaper. No matter what disguise you take or the cosmetic surgery, in your dream, you always revert to your original, untainted self".

"That's what helped me confirm that you're human".

His face showed excitement as he looked at Leon. "This is clearly an orchestration of fate, this is a divine encounter!"

Leon's eyelids twitched. "You actually believe that I'm human? In this era?"

"Of course," Lucian said seriously. "It doesn't matter what era we are in, it doesn't matter what mortals think is impossible".

His voice turned zealous. "With God, everything is possible".

Leon nodded then suddenly getting an idea, he asked with a hint of dark undertones in his voice. "If becoming like me is what God wants, then why is your body still tainted with so many bloodlines?"

"Are those not impurities? Is that not sin?" He asked provocatively.

"Why are you not living in accordance with your preaching?" His gaze turned dark. "Why are you not also embracing the divine?"

Lucian didn't show any sign of stress or embarrassment at all as he answered piously. "God choose me as his Prophet".

"To fulfill God's mandate and save this world from sin, I need power to fight and go on crusades for God".

"I am the sacrifice for the world".

"I embrace sin so that the rest of the world can be saved".

Leon's face twitched.

Lucian continued. "Only when the whole world is free of sin and everyone embraces the divine blueprint will my crusade be over. Then, my mission on this world would have been completed".

"If then, God still keeps me alive, then I will also embrace the divine blueprint".

The moment that Lucian was done, Leon threw his head back and laughed. "Ah, such convenient hypocrisy. You really have it easy Prophet".

Lucian was unfazed. "Not everyone understands the sacrifices that I make but at the end, you'll all understand".

He pointed above. "My reward is in heaven".

"Where's heaven?" Leon asked, smirking.

"Above," Lucian said reverently. "Above where God resides with the ancient holy humans, the carriers of the divine blueprint".

"I don't know about your God," Leon shrugged. "But as a human myself, though I don't remember everything, I'm pretty sure that the humans you revere so much are not deserving of your reverence".

"I don't think there's any difference between then and now".

"Humans, humanoids, they're all the same to me," he shrugged. "They're all capable of good and evil".

Lucian shook his head in reproach. "You're still ignorant. But don't worry," he smiled. "We have a lot of time together so I can teach you the ways of the divine blueprint".

Leon looked at him. "Are you not curious to know how I'm human in this era?"

Lucian shook his head. "I don't question God, God has his reasons for bringing a human now when I'm spearheading his movement".

"I believe that this is a sign".

"I believe this divine encounter was orchestrated by God, and I will fulfill God's mandate to make you the face of the Holy Movement". He vowed solemnly.

"…"

It took a few seconds for Leon to catch on to what Lucian just said, but when he finally did his eyelids twitched even more furiously. 'What is this fool yapping about?'

It took every ounce of his willpower to not crash out right there.

He took a deep breath then he said. "You still haven't answered my question, how is it possible that you have 10 racial traits?"

Lucian leaned back on the chair and sighed. "To answer your question, I'll have to tell you the story of my life".

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