*
Daniel/Not Daniel
We stood within Amelia's office. She called us in to tell us about the new information that came from Safe Zone 1. I was pretty intrigued.
After my little show four days ago, pretending to have been in the line of duty before being attacked by a straggler, I had been extracting information. As I am currently restricted to this Zone, gaining a few more pieces of information is a delight.
I must say, being an actual individual instead of being a collective swarm of consciousness is pretty interesting. I have fused with Daniel. He is me and I am him. The essence of being a thief dwells in me as well. I feel that urge to steal and snatch anything that's valuable.
It's a weird feeling, but I like it.
The only downside is that, I carry my own hunger. Its still far better compared to the collective link I shared with my other selves, feeling the pain across trillions of consciousness was as they say ....a bitch.
It's better now. I just have to play my cards right.
To top of all that Daniel knew, which wasn't much. I investigated every nook and cranny that I could of the base and other areas.
While Daniel never bothered, being the coward that he was, I did. The only places he knew were the food storages and the female residents, along with some shady parts of the residential areas for the standard Invigorated.
The progress I've made so far is important. My other selves can instantly know what I know, which is a plus.
However, the more I explore the more I can tell that this situation is unlike anything we've come across so far. Fighting conventional weaponry and slightly strong species is far different from fighting these powerful humans who also have weapons.
Their planet is protecting them well. The idea that she has the means to expel my main body from the planet is fascinating to me.
I wonder how exactly.
I know there are two important pieces. The girl Emma, who is a speaker for Mother Earth. Then there is the large crystallised life energy left behind by Mother Earth to be protected as she gathers energy.
The girl was here for the past few days, helping out with the work and assisting those that were grieving. I tried to get close to her, but she was always guarded and she slept in the same quarters as Amelia, which was a pain.
This is a war of attrition. I have no doubt that we can win after Grace unleashes the new creations she has been working on. However, we should move on to Safe Zone 1 and take that crystal. It could probably shut Hunger up for a full year.
I initially intended to make my move sooner, but multiple factors are involved. The information acquired from the General Meeting was fascinating. It was told to us Elite Invigorated. An expedition to investigate where I regained my old body was teased, so I decided to await the decision made concerning that.
That decision was about to be announced at this moment.
Amelia had Darius and Sanjay by her side as she looked at us.
It's quite intriguing to me how powerful these three are. I can't wait for what happens next.
"Hello everyone. The information I'm about to disclose is about the expedition to the island where the strange phenomenon occurred. It is purely for investigation purposes," she said as she looked around at all of us.
"Apparently, we are excluded from participating in this expedition on account of the recovery that we are currently undergoing. Four days from now, specific individuals will be assigned to this mission from across the Safe Zones. I don't propose that we celebrate. But, let's use this time to further make our people motivated and strong again. We will have to work from a different environment soon."
'Fascinating,' I thought. 'This makes it even more interesting. A few selected individuals, huh?'
I narrowed my eyes.
Raising my hand, I asked a question after receiving consent to speak.
"Will Maestro be joining the expedition? Your thoughts I mean," I asked with an unsure expression on my face.
"I'm not sure. But I wouldn't count on it. Maestro is a wild card. The Panel can't force him to do anything personally. He's unusually attached to his Safe Zone. I don't think he will simply leave that Safe Zone for a mere investigation," Amelia replied.
'Fantastic!' I thought. If Maestro was going there, it would pose a bit of trouble. The fact that everyone doesn't know everything about his abilities is a great pain in the ass.
However, now I had every reason to act.
"Alright. That's all for now," Amelia said.
As I turned to walk away, she suddenly called out to me.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked with a warm gaze.
"I'm better. Though, I feeling that the straggler that got me did more than just leave flesh wounds," I said.
"I see. I'll have the healers check you up one more time," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Thanks," I said before nodding and leaving the room.
I grinned viciously as I walked out.
*
The night came and devoured all things, hiding them from sight. The standard Invigorated slept while the Elite were busy with either honing their innate abilities or managing their duties.
Within the base which had been fixed by the Construction Pillar after it was punctured by the Tree Straggler consecutively, there were multiple sections.
The area where the Elite Invigorated lived, the training areas and the research areas which were underneath the base, for the safety of everyone in case something went wrong.
I headed to the training areas which were split into three. The general gyms, the Course Fields and the combat arenas.
There were multiple mini rooms were people could have their own individual training exercises.
I headed to one of them.
My first target was there. I knew him and his fondness of that particular room.
I walked into the space where the rubbery floor was evident on the floor to absorb impacts and looked around. The multiple doors to the multitudes of rooms made it look like some kind of prison.
The eerie quiet didn't make it any less weird. Not to me though.
I entered one the rooms and saw my target.
He was a close friend of mine. Of me, Daniel.
I knew him since we came to the Safe Zones. He was eccentric and funny.
(A/N: From this point onwards he speaks as Daniel).
He was an egotistical bastard who loved himself so much you would believe that one day he would kneel down and put a ring on his own finger.
He was a jerk at first, being so selfish that my crimes for food and perversion seemed less offensive in comparison.
His innate ability was born from this.
The innate ability, Handsome Double.
The ability to duplicate yourself. He often used it to prank people within the base, having a good laugh everyday.
That was until the light of Amelia shone on his ego.
It took a lot to turn him into a better individual, including some handsome beatings from Amelia who refused to tolerate any nonsense. Eventually he started to change. He was still pretty selfish but at least he got some priorities straight.
For someone with such a powerful ability he rarely trained in it before his transition after the Amelia fist camp.
He could barely make two doubles of himself and he hadn't mastered a single Extension ability.
But he was putting in the effort now.
I walked into the room and saw a dark skinned man with long, thick locks relentlessly punching a thick dummy.
He was drenched in sweat, but I could see that his movements were a little more refined than the last time I saw him.
I can track such progress because I have more control over the details I've seen. Making a comparison is only one of the vast and useful stuff that the human mind can do.
"Hey, Devon. How's it going?" I said to him.
The man turned to me and wiped the sweat off his brow before shaking his head, making his locks wiggle and holding my shoulder.
I looked at his hand stealthily drying itself on my shirt and my eye twitched.
"Good to see that even death cannot burn away your desire for the ladies, man," he said with a smirk.
"Come on. I'm a new person now," I said pushing his hand away.
"Ahahahaha...Yaman, that's funny. Keep it up and we can live to smoke another day," he said.
"Yea, well. I'm afraid that's probably not going to happen," I said as I instantly reached out my hand towards his neck with a speed that was barely visible to the naked eye. I could tell, that he could barely see it even though he was looking directly at me.
Perhaps it was a ridiculous stroke of luck, or that he was simply in the zone, Devon dodged, moving his head to my right!
He then jumped and rolled on the ground before facing me with a look of shock.
"Daniel man, what are you doing?!" he asked in shock.
"What I need to," I said as I grinned. My body glowed with the light of an energy that made me feel so comfortable and powerful that I almost roared.
My innate ability was one that allowed me to snatch anything within a small range. It was once limited by weight. I was only able to snatch anything with a weight less than 60kg. But after its enhancement, I can carry a whole lot more than that. There is no longer a restriction on its use as my body is no longer anchored by life energy alone, which needs to create a balance by issuing a restriction.
The energy from my main body is the one I have to thank for it.
I raised my hand and activated my Innate ability.
Snatch.
With a dazed look still plastered on his face, Devon vanished and appeared within the tight grasp of my hand!
I held his neck and squeezed it so tight that no voice came out of his mouth. He held my hand while his eyes turned bloodshot.
As he trembled, two figures suddenly appeared from both my sides!
They were doubles!
With their locks flying in the air as they rushed in with offensive attacks, one of them went high delivering a powerful overhead punch that caused me to stagger while the other went low and swept through the floor with his leg in order to make me lose my footing.
I scoffed. While the punch did make me feel a pang of pain, I knew the solution to this situation very well, thus I did not waste my time complicating things.
Under the hopeful gaze of the suffocating Devon (real body) I raised him into the air as I held him by the neck and rammed him into the ground head first!
The sensation of his head slamming against the floor, which even as it was made from rubber made an unsettling sound of collision, was thrilling for me.
He tried to scream but I dug my fingers into his voice box and crushed it with crunch that would irk any sane human being.
His doubles instantly vanished.
He couldn't keep them in the world as long as his mind was in a mess.
I was surprised that he was able to conjure another double now.
However, it was too bad that all that progress was going to go to waste.
As he struggled, blood coming from his mouth and nose, his body quivering vehemently as he glared at me, I smiled.
"Good bye, friend," I said as I utilised the Extension ability that the previous me couldn't use it.
Extension Ability: All To One.
(A/N: I know..hahahaha).
An invasive dark energy penetrated his body and ravaged his flesh!
It sought out something in him. A green light that pulsed with energy, sustaining him.
As my dark energy reached it, circled around it and pulled it from Devon's body and into mine.
I felt a joyful and borderline orgasmic pleasure as I devoured his very essence. His innate ability.
Unlike how my main body had to wait for a victim to die, with my Extension ability, I could steal even innate abilities, through the life energy itself.
And now...Handsome Double, the first piece, was mine...