Mutates

[A/N: There is a slight adjustment I made due to a mistake I wrote in the previous chapters

-> First Wave is known as F-Rank(Not E-Rank) and it is not the stage where the group is at]

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Reve gasped after the street camera went out. He found it hard to process what he had just seen.

For sure, the original abominations were considered monsters, but the goo-like creature went above that. It was the epitome of disgusting.

Moreover, Reve could feel that he definitely did not want to see the abomination that sprayed fire on the street camera.

'They are starting to change,' he realized.

It was crystal clear that the group's change could be considered late compared to the change of the abominations. This made Reve wonder what might have happened if they did not leave the mall on time. There was no way they would survive an encounter with those monsters.

Caelus replayed the video one last time before she continued, "The abominations are on a rugged evolution path. Their abilities are bizarre and would not possibly manifest in a normal being. I suspect that the endgame for them is destruction as their body and mind are not in an alliance."

Caelus then went on, "Regarding the First Wave, they are some special occurrence among specific individuals that go through this stage. It is called bloodline awakening. Following the concept of dormant genes, it is highly possible that the so-called "unleashing your latent potential" would also apply to those dormant genes science fails to uncover. They are called bloodlines, a trace of power that was inherited from one's ancestry. It is also normal if one loses connection to this bloodline. Hence, a situation where a brother awakens his hereditary bloodline and the sister does not is highly possible....."

Caelus gave a few more examples, but the group got the point.

Basically, it was quite normal for one's to lose connection to one's bloodline. It is even more rare to retain this connection after hundreds of generations.

"Miss Azrael, Mr. Mark, Miss Macie, you have awakened your bloodline. After a momentary scan, I would be able to identify the bloodline based on the database provided by the Northern Union," offered Caelus.

It was now Reve understood how far ahead the Northern Union was. For them to possess extensive knowledge of all things apocalypse-related was really impressive.

He was starting to think that becoming their henchmen wasn't so bad after all.

Anyways, if there was one thing that Azrael, Mark, and Macie had, it was the appearance of special body features. Azrael had butterfly wings. Mark had snake eyes. Macie looked normal but her eyes glowed white as if she suffered from albinism.

To contrast that, the rest of the group looked normal. Sure, Reve felt like he was using a new body, but there was not much physical change apart from the normal.

'I wonder what their bloodline power gives,' wondered Reve.

"After the First Wave comes the Second Wave, which is where you are at, along with most of the abominations. At this stage, the amount of omega energy in your body is saturated, which leads it to develop an ability in the body of the host," revealed Caelus.

She made it clear that every one among them had developed an ability. Yet, apart from his improved physical ability, Reve couldn't feel any strange ability dwelling in him. Secretly, he wished he possessed the ability to breathe fire.

He couldn't deny the coolness of such ability.

Theo asked, "Caelus, how do we identify this ability?"

He asked the question in everyone's mind.

Caelus replied, "Normally, this ability would manifest during periods of stress. However, if I were to scan the body of the host, I would be able to identify the abilities based on the information provided from the database. Would it be okay if I did that?"

Theo looked at the others, "What do you think?"

Just like Reve, some of them had no idea what their ability was while those like Theo had an inkling was it was.

Anyway, they all came to the conclusion that it wouldn't hurt knowing what it was. It wasn't like Caelus' scanning would be detrimental to their bodies.

Theo gave his affirmative to Caelus, which made the big wall scream beam with a green light.

"Very well. Can I kindly one of you to move closer to the screen?" politely asked Caelus.

As the leader, Theo was the one to move.

Immediately, a ball extended from the screen and emitted a green ray of light that washed over Theo.

The ray of light kept moving up and down on Theo's body for a full minute until it stopped. Caelus then went blank for a while before she gave the results.

"Mr. Theo.

Mutate: [Fire Manipulation].

Mutate Level: Epsilon."

Theo sighed as he had already expected this result. One thing that bordered him was the mutate level.

He queried, "What is mutate level?"

"Mutate level measures the potential and limit of the mutate, otherwise known as ability. This is done by accurately measuring the amount of omega energy in your body. Those with epsilon mutate level would find it tremendously hard to surpass D-Rank, which is another crucial stage."

"All in all, I don't have to worry about that now, right?" asked Theo.

"Affirmative."

That was all Theo needed to hear. He had a lot on his head and wouldn't like to add to the list.

After him, Mark went over for scanning. The green ray of light infiltrated his body and brought out positive results.

"Mr. Mark.

Bloodline: [Water Snake]. Abilities: [Super Senses] and [Venom Claws and Fangs].

Mutate: [Water Manipulation].

Mutate Level: Epsilon."

The latter's eyes squinted when his result was announced. He quickly went to grab a piece of paper to jot down the result. On his way, he tripped on something and fell, which made the group laugh.

The next after him was Lara. She seemed to be nervous about what her mutate would turn out to be.

"Mrs. Lara

Mutate: [Ice Manipulation], [Camouflage]."