[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 185 - Drake and Lily

“Hey, did you know that it’s literally impossible to spy on me?” Freddy asked the 18th servant in a row. “I always know the moment anyone tries it!” He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

The man stared at Freddy in abject confusion. “Uh… Okay.”

“Good! Have a good day!”

He and Sophia continued walking, with her staring at him. “Are you going to tell me why you keep telling this to literally everyone we come across?”

Grinning at her, he shrugged. “I’ll tell you if it works.”

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach the room. There, they found Lucas comforting a weeping Janice. 

Freddy sighed. He had been hoping that they would be ready to go. That being said, he couldn’t judge the poor girl. 

The problem was that Janice didn’t really need to change her identity. But she couldn’t keep dating Lucas if she didn’t. So she was torn between the two options. “My parents are gonna have no idea what happened to me…” she said between tears. 

Sophia cupped her chin. “Why don’t you send them a message telling them that you ran away with Lucas?”

She cried harder at that. “They’re going to be angry because they hate him so much!”

Freddy burst into laughter upon hearing that, causing everyone in the room to glare at him. He schooled himself. “I’m so sorry, that just caught me off guard.”

Sophia tapped him on the shoulder. “Come on,” she cocked her head towards the door. “Let’s give them a few more minutes alone.”

Sighing, he followed her out of the room. 

She leaned against the wall, her expression turning severe. “There is something I should tell you.”

“If it’s bad news, uh… don’t.”

She laughed. “No. Well, not really.”

“That still doesn’t sound good,” he pointed out.

“It’s complicated.”

He eyed for a long moment before succumbing to his curiosity. “Okay, what is it?”

“My talent is really, really good,” she said. 

“Not exactly news to me, but all right.”

“It’s even better than we thought.”

He turned serious upon hearing that. As far as he was concerned, she had the most ridiculous talent he had ever heard of. “In what way?” he asked.

Lifting her hand, she conjured a spark. It was one of the ultra-high-quality ones. “Life-affinity archhumans manipulate life force,” she said. “These sparks are life force. And I’m still manipulating them.” Turning to look at him, she pulled the spark back in. “When I target life force with my manipulation and then use my talent on the same target, the life force I’m manipulating gets… swept up. Given that I am the source of the change, it still counts as if I were the one manipulating it.”

He didn’t understand for a moment. And then he realized what she was insinuating. “It counts towards your abilities…” he muttered. “Your talent doubles as a manipulation talent.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And an amazing one, at that. I have made stage 0 abilities capable of supreme-quality healing,” she declared with a chuckle, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. “And it gets even more absurd. Different types of life force and different levels of quality cause different effects. Since it all counts as my manipulation, I am technically able to manually do everything my talent is capable of. 

“You should see my ethercosm—it is flooded with shells. Highly complex ones, too. I have no idea what the overwhelming majority of them even do. I had tested it quite extensively, and the few abilities I made were so beyond anything I expected, that… it scares me.”

“It scares me too,” he said half-jokingly. “Shit. I honestly envy you,” he said. “Your talent can do everything mine can, and then a whole lot more. Regardless of the current difference in power between us, I have a feeling you’re gonna leave me in the dust one day.”

For a moment, she looked like she wanted to deny it. But it was true. “You know, I wouldn’t be able to do this if you didn’t have the talent you do.”

He shrugged. “But now that you can, you don’t even need me anymore.” He sounded a lot more hurt than he expected.

She smiled at him. “We’re always gonna be friends. I won’t forget you when I become the ruler of the planet one day.”

Chortling, he protested, “Hold up, now, you never know. Let’s wait for my next talent upgrade before we get ahead of ourselves.”

She laughed. “Anyway… I’m telling you this for a reason. I want you to know I’m extremely confident in what I can do. And I had an idea. I know I can do it, but I’m still not sure you’d be on board with it…”

“What is it?”

“Okay, so. Just stay with me. First, we decapitate you—”

“Oh, sure, why not!” he said. “Any idea that starts with decapitating me has to be perfectly sane!”

Laughing, she slapped his arm. “Oh, shush. Hear me out first. So, we decapitate you and then regrow a completely new body while keeping the old one.”

Freddy’s blood ran cold at that. “Do you want to make undead with that?”

She froze. “What? No! That’s not where I’m going with this. Instead, I want to use you as a base for Lucas’s and Janice’s new bodies.”

He scowled at that. “Ew! What the hell? That’s gross.”

“Please just hear me out!” she insisted. “This is basically like your organ sales, just… you know… you donate everything from the neck down. I’m just going to use it as a material, that’s all. And they’re going to be significantly tougher as a result.”

His frown persisted. “That still sounds… wrong. I highly doubt Janice will be thrilled about getting a dude’s body.”

“That’s the best part!” she said. “She won’t even know! I can simply transplant her woman bits and—”

“Hold up, what did you just say?”

“I can transplant—”

“No. Before that. You said she won’t know?”

Sophia looked confused. “Well… yeah? It’s not like they’re going to be awake for the procedure. It’s basically a head transplant.”

“But why wouldn’t you tell them?”

“I mean… it is a bit wack. I just thought it would be better if they didn’t know.”

He pinched his brow in exasperation. “Sophia, I can’t believe I have to tell you this, but just because they won’t know what you do to them when they’re out, that is really, really, really not a good excuse not to ask for their consent, first.”

“Oh, come on! This isn't like that.” She groaned. “We’re taking them to a damn warzone! I’m just trying to minimize the risk.”

“So why not just ask them?”

“Because they’re probably… going to… say no…” His stare persisted until she got the message. “Yeah, okay, I get it,” she said with a sigh. “Sorry. I got carried away with—”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You don’t owe me an apology. Just know that… Look, I already made choices in Lucas’s stead while thinking it would be the best thing for him. It isn’t even about whether it’s a good or bad idea, it’s just… no matter what happens, it will all be your fault. Don’t do that to yourself.”

She slowly nodded. “I won’t.”

They waited for a few more minutes in silence. Freddy looked visibly uncomfortable, and Sophia noticed it. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Rationally, I understand that what you’re suggesting is a good idea. But I worked hard for this body, you know? It feels unfair to just give all my hard work to others. I know it’s stupid, but—”

“It’s not stupid,” she interrupted. “It’s your body, after all. You have the right to feel that way. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, just remember—since the effects of your tempering are tied to your soul, most of that will fade as their own soul adjusts to it. Also, their overall physical capabilities won’t get the boost you got at the second star.”

“I know,” he said. “But still…”

“Yeah… If you don’t want to—”

“It’s fine,” he said with a smile. “Honestly, I’m pretty damn curious to see how well this idea will work. If they agree to it, of course.”

She nodded. “To be honest, I’m dying to find out.”

Suddenly, Freddy realized something. “What if… what if we found some kind of monster with a particularly powerful physique… Would you be able to use their body as a material, too?”

She grinned widely at him, raising her arm and flexing her biceps. “I don’t know… could I?”

He shook his head. “You’re gonna have to show me that.”

Her smile suddenly died. “Oh crap!” she suddenly shouted. 

“What?”

She facepalmed. “You ordered that super expensive armor before I gave you your mods. It’s not gonna fit! Can you get it adjusted by tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a chuckle, waving her off. “I was going to tell you—I think it would be better if you didn’t change my overall proportions. At least for now.”

“But why? I can do it so much better now!”

“Maybe you can,” he said. “But I’ve spent a century training with this body. The muscle memory is stuck to me like glue. Big changes will take a while to get used to.”

“Oh… Right. Yeah, that makes sense. But hey, there’s still plenty I can do.”

He smiled. “And I’m looking forward to it.”

It didn’t take much longer before the doors finally cracked open. Lucas and Janice walked out, holding hands. “We’ll do it,” Lucas said. “Just send a message to her parents so they don’t worry.”

Freddy nodded. “As long as you don’t tell them too much, it’s fine.” He turned to Sophia, looking at her poignantly. “Well?”

She took a deep breath and gestured at the couch. “You should sit down. I will have to explain exactly what I’ll do to you before we get started.”

She briefed them about the whole process, making sure to get their consent for everything that would be done to them. They looked horrified at the mention of using Freddy’s body as a material, but she somehow managed to convince them to agree. Frankly, Lucas was a little too eager for a boost in power, but Janice had some reasonable concerns. 

In the end, Sophia demonstrated her Body Modification on herself, changing her arm quite drastically in a shockingly short time, and thus proving that Janice won’t look anything like a man. That was enough for her. 

That being said, both of them were more than a little hesitant at the mention of undeath. It made sense, given the reputation being undead had. They agreed in the end, but frankly, Freddy believed they didn’t quite understand what they were getting themselves into. He even urged them to think more about it, explaining the worst of what could happen, but they maintained their stance.

Oh, well. He’d done his part. 

After the talk, Janice turned shy and blushed, gesturing for Sophia to come closer. She whispered something into the other woman’s ear, to which Sophia reacted by gaping with a mixture of amusement and shock. “Gurl!” Sophia glanced at Lucas. “I mean, I can, but… How about after all of this?”

Janice blushed harder and whispered again.

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Oh, he won’t!”

Another whisper.

Sophia chuckled. “Just relax, okay? Just have some faith in him.”

Lucas scowled and glanced at Freddy. “What is happening right now?”

Freddy shrugged. “I genuinely have no idea.”

After confirming that everyone was on board, Freddy put Janice and Lucas into a large bag and then carried them outside. It was mostly so that nobody would see Lucas walking about in the open. 

They made their way into the secret passage underneath Valhalla and got started. Sophia gave Freddy a shopping list of monster bodies she wanted him to find. She wanted one powerful reptilian, a large cat, a wolf-type monster, and finally, anything resembling a monkey. She had experimented quite a bit, blending all sorts of tissues with her Body Modification, and these four added the most value to human tissue. At least to the best of her knowledge. 

She wasn’t kidding about her Body Modification being highly advanced. If anything, her version of the ability deserved to be renamed to Tissue Master or something like that. 

It took her nearly no effort to fuse several types of tissue while only keeping the best aspects of each different type. This was already far above what even a high-level life-affinity archhuman with a manipulation talent was expected to be able to do.

After several hours of hunting, Freddy tracked down the exact monsters they needed. Then, Sophia got started. Freddy was first, since his body would be used as a base for the other two.

The moment she started, he could tell that she was far better at what she was doing. There was no more pain. Things just fused and blended and morphed. No force was involved in the process. From his bones, to his tendons, to his muscles, everything felt… premium. There was no better word to describe it. 

It was the same feeling he got when he first got his hands on expensive clothing. Everything just felt so much nicer. A quick test showed that his strength had gone up by at least another 30%, which was bonkers at the level he was already at. But that wasn’t the full extent of the changes. He was faster, his movements were smoother, his muscles reacted quicker to his commands, and they burst into action with an explosive force.

“Sophia… holy shit,” he muttered. 

She grinned at him. “Good, no?”

“Good doesn’t even begin to cut it. I’m gonna need one hell of a talent upgrade to keep up with you if you can already do this at the first star.”

Once done with him, they got started on part two. 

It took them almost the entire night to get two extra copies of Freddy’s body. It was a lot of work, especially with getting Bloodshed ready to heal him back from being just a head. 

But once done with that, things went a lot faster.

Freddy wasn’t allowed to look, as per Janice’s request, so he was forced to wait until the procedure was done.

And finally, after a bit of a wait, the three of them walked out—with Janice and Lucas looking like completely different people.

Now, Freddy knew damn well that they would need some emotional support. So he had prepared himself to be sympathetic and to assure them that they would get used to it. 

That being said, he was currently trying not to laugh at what Lucas decided to do to himself. 

Simply put, the young man had decided to take all the extra tissue that Janice didn’t want. All of it. Thus, he stood at over 7 feet tall, with enough muscle to eclipse the damn sun. His face had changed relatively little—he looked like his own cousin, or brother even, but with the stark physical changes, nobody would ever recognize him. 

On the other hand, Janice had gone in the completely opposite direction. Where she used to be a little stocky and visibly muscular, she was now skinny, almost frail looking, if a bit taller than before. Granted, given that she was now made of Freddy, she would certainly not be frail or weak, even at that size. 

But even then, Freddy couldn’t help but sigh at the sight. 

Frankly, they both seemed to have had some insecurities about their looks, and if he allowed himself to be a little judgy, they had taken it a step too far. Especially Lucas. But it was ultimately their choice. They had the right to do whatever they wanted. And while he had his private thoughts, he would never say anything that would make them feel bad about themselves. And he absolutely wouldn’t laugh.

That being said, he at least hoped they were happy with their new looks. Anything that could help them cope with the loss of identity was a good thing as far as he was concerned.

Also, it was important to note just how much prettier their faces were. Seriously, it was almost scary. Sophia would make a killing as a plastic surgeon with skills like these.

“You two look amazing!” he said, still trying his best not to laugh at the ridiculous proportions of Lucas. “Now. Have you settled on new names?”

“Yeah,” Lucas said in a slightly deeper voice. “I’d like to be called Drake. Also, I’d prefer to keep my surname. It’s common enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Freddy remained quiet, but Sophia laughed. “Drake? Really?”

Lucas blushed. “I like the name, okay?”

“Yeah, I like it too,” Janice said. “Don’t worry about what she says, Luc—I mean… Drake.”

“What about you?” Freddy asked.

She thought about it for only a moment. “Lily. That is my grandmother’s name. And I’d like to… take… his surname,” that last part came out as barely even a whisper. 

Freddy smiled at that. “That sounds great, Lily. Now, we should probably hurry. As the owner of Repentawa, I have the authority to issue new identities for you two, so that shouldn’t be a problem. But the monster hordes are coming and we need to get ready for that.”

They headed out of the interspace. On the way there, Freddy found himself talking to Sophia. He unexpectedly found himself asking, “Could you change my face back?” He sounded so much more vulnerable than he wanted to.

She thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded. “You’re gonna have to wait a bit, though. I’ll have to practice, and I’m doing it from memory, so you’ll have to guide me.”

He nodded at her with a happy smile. “Thank you.”

They got Lucas and Janice—well, Drake and Lily, some last-minute equipment. They both opted for full plate armor, but relatively lighter. Lucas—or, Drake, decided to use a halberd rather than a spear, and Janice—or rather, Lily, wanted a greatsword. 

While their equipment had been by no means cheap, compared to what Freddy and Sophia had already spent, it felt like spare change.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. 

Freddy got his equipment, issued a new identity for Lucas and Janice—while still struggling to mentally think of them as Drake and Lily. 

Before they even realized it, the monster wave was only a couple of hours away, and the adjudicator was calling everyone for a meeting.