After their beds had been prepared from the remnant housewares in the building, Miles and others chose their rooms. As the supreme leader of the operation, Mercer had his own room. Malcolm was staying with Kostas Anemone. As for their sons, Demos, Merlin and Miles shared a room while the two princesses were staying together. The rest of the soldiers occupied several rooms and mostly stayed in groups.
It was early, so the group left their extra baggage and went in front of the building. There, some soldiers were luring the beasts away, while the two, Mercer had ordered before, almost finished the construction of the simple walls covering the perimeter of the building.
Malcolm was studying a map on his wristwatch, so Miles didn’t want to disturb him. With nothing to do, he went to bother Merlin.
“What is the deal with the awakened dead? How can they awaken powers?” Miles asked. Superpowers were mysterious even though easy to awaken with the correct stimulant. When Mother AI first arrived, humans didn’t believe such a phenomenal theory, but when Adam tried it first, he really awakened a superpower much to humans’ surprise.
According to what Mother AI said, every being was born with ancient genes in their bodies. Ancient genes weren’t hereditary genetics passed from family but gifts of the universe, so it wasn’t special to humans. At first, Mother AI didn’t disclose it, but after humans learned that there were 6 races and 6 AIs in the Portal World before Monsters occupied it, Mother AI also let humans know that those six native races had awakened superpowers as well, but they were found too late and the monster had already conquered the Portal World by the time, thus 6 races failed to fight back.
The main question in Miles's head was, what was stimulating the walking dead’s ancient genes. As far as Miles knew there was no other way of activating ancient genes besides using a correct stimulant.
“In theory, after coming in touch with energy and monsters, the flora and fauna on Earth changed as well. Animals eat dead monsters and walking dead while walking dead eat monsters and animals thus produce a core of their own. Because using energy and creating seeds without leveling up and strengthening the body and mind is impossible for humans, we had never achieved it before, but animals are different. Animals have different bodies and thus can do things humans can’t. And walking dead, with mysterious viruses allowing them to live after death, is an entirely different phenomenon. They somehow gained sentience and even created cores.” Merlin explained the most acceptable theory.
“Are they similar to monster cores?” Miles couldn’t help but ask.
“They are exactly like monster cores.” Merlin said and explained, “I told you about seed creation right? When you level up to E-Tier, the seed grows up to the size of an infant's fist, and in D-Tier to the size of a toddler's fist. In C-Tier, it becomes as big as an adult fist. Familiar right? Monster cores also have similar sizes.”
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“There are two things that don't fit in this theory.” Miles shook his head.
“That low-tier monsters have the same core size as high tiers right?” Merlin grinned and asked. Miles nodded.
“It is probably inherited.” Merlin shook his head, “We still don’t know why so, but monsters have different anatomy than humans and can use energy from birth.”
“The second question is, why do all monster cores are in their brains, while humans have three different places where seeds and cores can appear,” Miles asked, making Merlin frown.
“Now that is a good question.” Merlin pondered for a while and answered, “I cannot give a definite answer to this question. But if you ask my opinion, it should be that low-tier monsters are all creating mind seeds. What low-tier monsters lack most is the brain. They are born with a strong body and energy after all.”
“What do you mean low-tier monsters?” Miles asked.
“Most of the humanoid monsters have cores in different parts of their bodies,” Merlin said. Miles's eyes widened, while an egg could fit his mouth. “Monsters lower than F-Tier cannot use ultimates, but almost all humanoid monsters and some higher tier non humanoid monsters have their scary ultimates. And they are extremely frightening.” Merlin looked at the distance with trepidation in his eyes. He shuddered all of a sudden and smiled warmly once again.
“Let’s not talk about these things for now.” Merlin changed the subject and asked, “Have you ever seen a blood-colored orb?”
Miles's pupils shrunk to the limit but nodded a second later. He already talked with his father. It wasn’t a secret anymore. “I did. I also read mother’s article about them. And father explained a little to me about them.”
“It is better if you know. Skill Orbs are a special type of orbs that can give you abilities doesn’t matter which branch you master. They are super rare. How can I phrase it for you to understand? Let's say humanoid monsters are rare, like one in thousands right, then Skill Orbs are one in a thousand and can only drop from humanoid monsters. That makes them one in a million rare. There are only a handful of cases recorded in Unity.” Merlin explained with vigor.
“Why are you telling this now?” Miles asked with surprise all over his face. It didn’t seem like a random topic.
“Well, awakened dead have Skill Cores, the percentage isn’t very high, but it is just a theory. We will prove it in this expedition…” Merlin grinned and said.
“What!” Miles exclaimed in surprise then realized what Merlin said, “You said Skill Cores, not Skill Orb. What is the difference.”
“Well, the difference is the same with regular orbs and cores. Orbs can change shape and take the form of an item. And Skill Orbs can give you one skill. Unfortunately, Skill Cores do not have the same ability, but they are unique for sure. We have the only Skill Core on Earth and mother is working on it ever since we killed the previous awakened dead.” Merlin explained.
“You mean, there might be a way for humans to gain skill through cores as well?” Miles couldn’t help but ask. He had one of those abilities and it was as good as a superpower. If there were a way to gain more skills, it would give him unlimited powers.
“We, after all, created weapons from monster cores. Although they are weaker than orbs, they are pretty useful. So I think in the future we will find a way to extract skills from Skill Cores. Sure, it will be weaker than orbs, but it will still be a skill!” Merlin laughed heartily and explained.
“Imagine having the Pope's ability. He can boost others with his powers and make them stronger while leading them. If I were to extract this ability to use on my soldiers, no one could stop our family. Not aliens, not monsters, and not other families.”