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Avarice laughed in amusement as he sat at the metal desk built into his new machine. He was satisfied with how things were going almost exactly as he predicted.

He glanced around the laboratory to check on the others.

He was in the back of the lab where the augmentation tanks were, while Junichiro was a few feet in front of his throne in the center of the lab, meditating and floating above his seat. To the throne's right was a box area with a thick metal wall raised as Verin and Trevor collaborated on their project inside it.

Suddenly, Wren burst into the laboratory dramatically, muttering, "This is stupid."

Trevor and Verin came out due to the loud noise, while Junichiro opened his eyes as his meditation was interrupted.

"Something wrong," Avarice asked with a smirk as he approached her.

"No, Dad, everything's perfect. I've been trying to spy on your special playthings, but it's been taking agonizingly longer, with me needing to wait for that stupid robot to be gone or asleep. Even with the planted bugs, I don't get a good signal from a thousand miles away. Plus, it wastes all of my day," she ranted before sighing and continuing more calmer, "But, last night when most were asleep, I was finally able to get close without the robot detecting me. I'm not sure exactly why, but Tymon and Za'Fia have separated from the others."

Verin smiled deviously but remained silent.

"Yes, I'm aware," Avarice told her, "As for the constant surveillance reports, you all no longer need to do them."

"Finally," Wren and Trevor said in unison.

Wren sat down at Junichiro's table and started picking on Trevor by using wind to mess with his hair.

"Why are we no longer observing them," Junichiro asked as he approached Avarice.

"As your sister stated, it's not as effective as it used to be," Avarice replied. "Plus, I don't want to risk any of you being caught."

"We'll be fine. Besides, you can send two at a time if you're concerned about us fighting," Junichiro suggested.

Avarice smiled patiently at Junichiro and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I appreciate your zeal, but we must be careful not to start the war prematurely; otherwise, it'll bring too much attention to us before we're ready for it," he explained. "Moving forward, I'll be personally keeping an ear on them more often so we'll still be up-to-date with their movements."

"But being a busy man, you won't be able to listen all the time," Junichiro protested. "It doesn't make sense to reduce the surveillance of our enemies, especially when more and more of them are gathering."

Avarice flashed his eyes at Junichiro.

"Are you questioning my judgment?" he asked threateningly.

Junichiro's head lowered some as his body stiffened slightly.

"No, Father," he responded.

"Good, now leave me. I have work to do," Avarice said, dismissing him as he returned to his desk.

As Avarice continued his project, Verin walked up to see what he was doing.

Avarice placed his hands inside the machine, allowing him to control two surgically precise mechanical arms within it.

"I've watched you fail multiple times at whatever this is you're trying to accomplish, all while using up our supply of PRP," Verin commented as she observed him curiously. "What exactly are you trying to achieve with all of this?"

"The machine's purpose is to create anti-hematopoietic nanites capable of preventing stem cells from forming while the PRP's purpose is to be melded within the nanites," Avarice explained as he continued working. "That way, they become much more effective when I apply my spirit energy to them."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There were tiny sparks inside the machine, causing Avarice to sigh heavily.

"The point of them is to stop Michael and Tymon's regenerative capabilities, but the process isn't going well," he added. "It's already a difficult process trying to meld delicate pieces of PRP onto just as delicate nanites without them breaking, but I also must be careful not to infuse too much of my energy inside the crystals, or they explode. It's like trying to shake an ant's hand without ripping it off."

"Would that even work on Tymon?" Verin questioned skeptically. "His regeneration isn't like Michael's; it's more like a protective resurrection or rebirth."

"I don't know. If I can successfully pull this off, we'll find out," he responded. "How is your and Trevor's project progressing?"

Verin placed a small triangular device on the desk.

"So this is an energy converter..." Avarice said as he picked it up and eyed it.

"It's an inactive prototype," she stated. "We keep running into the issue of getting them to react to our energy properly. They keep exploding."

There was a sudden explosion from the area Verin and Trevor were set up in.

"Like that," Verin commented, pointing her thumb toward her work area.

Trevor walked out of the area with smoke swirling around him.

"Hmm," Avarice said as he examined the energy converter and then looked at the nanites, realizing they had a similar problem.

"We need an absorbent. Something that'll absorb the excess energy that's not needed," he said.

"It'll have to be something that can continuously absorb and store energy; otherwise, we'd only be delaying the explosion, not preventing it," Trevor inputted.

"Not if we create vents instead, giving the excess energy a way to escape," Avarice suggested.

"With the amount of energy we have that'll constantly be running through them, the absorbent will have to be made from something less prone to melting or overheating...something like goop! I can create a goop that won't melt, infuse it with a little PRP, and we'll have an absorbent that can withstand tremendous amounts of energy," Verin said enthusiastically. "Trevor, you create the vents we'll need. Then when we add them both to the converter and nanites, none of us should have the exploding problem anymore."

"Cool, but with the resources we have left, I can only make five, so we'll only be able to make five converters," he told them.

Suddenly, a loud ding was heard from two of the augmentation tanks as the lids to them opened.

"Five is perfect," Avarice said, grinning.

"Finally," Avarice said as two figures spilled out of the tanks.

One was a large, six-foot-tall, muscular male with no hair and gray skin. The iris of his eyes was grey with white pupils, and he had two rows of razor-sharp teeth on his top and bottom jaw.

The other figure was a smaller framed woman, 5'8" in height. She had short, black hair, red, curious eyes, pale skin, and two protruding canines on her top row of teeth.

Avarice had given them the names Claeg. T. Keres and Kaila T. Keres long ago. They both were adamant about keeping the first and last names that had defined them their whole lives.

Both of them were stark naked before Wren through towels over them.

Claeg and Kaila were twins with extremely high raw potential who were on the run and facing the death penalty when Avarice and Junichiro found them five centuries ago. They'd been preserved in their augmentation tanks since then.

It's taken them much longer to complete the transmutation because their bodies reacted to the augmentation portion of the process differently than the other.

Instead of adapting and evolving with a physical and spiritual balance like the others, they both developed, focusing mainly on one or the other.

Claeg's body developed more physically than spiritually, so where he lacked spirit energy, he made up for it with physical power and durability.

However, Kaila's body developed more spiritually, so where she lacked physically, she made up for it with her immense spirit energy.

According to their readings, Claeg's EQN was only 800,000, but Kaila's was an astounding 12,000,000, placing her above Junichiro.

Everyone looked at them peculiarly, wondering why they had characteristics of mythical creatures.

"Do they have hybrid forms like the others?" Junichiro asked.

"I can't be 100% certain, but judging from their readings, I'd guess it's due to their extended time in the tanks," Verin said as she examined them and scrutinized their charts. "Whatever's in Avarice's blood or spirit energy that triggers his transformation must've seeped deep into their DNA somehow, giving them these characteristics."

"That's gonna make it hard for them to blend in," Wren mentioned.

"Blennnd?" Kaila repeated.

"Hey, check it out," Trevor said as he pointed at Claeg and Kaila's wrists.

They each had a single mark around their wrist.

"Wonder what kind of special abilities they have," Wren said.

"A-bil-ity..." Claeg repeated slowly.

"Just like it was for you three, it's going to take an hour or so for their minds to return to normal," Avarice reminded them. "For now, let's get them cleaned, then we'll take them to the training building to see what they can do."

Avarice grabbed Claeg and Kaila by the shoulder.

Looking into their eyes, he could feel their awareness slowly creeping back to the surface already.

Maybe it won't take them an hour, he mused.

"Welcome to the family," he said with a smile as he led them out of the laboratory. "I've got big plans for the two of you.

-----

Only two chapters left! That's crazy!

This book was pretty short. It's the shortest in the Earthly Ties Saga of the series.

Don't worry though, the next two chapters will ends things on high note, prepping us for the chaos to come...