As the night reached the group and they stopped to allow Theodore to rest his body–the same couldn't be said for Lukas.
He seemed like he was idle, but that was far from the case.
"Chaerin, how does your ability work?" Lukas asked over a couple weeks ago.
"Oh yeah, I haven't seen it before." Alexei said.
The question of Lukas sparked interest between the Vardokens and even Theodore.
"Er…" Chaerin rubbed her arm.
"There's certainly a reason why the Guildmaster and many speak highly of you, notwithstanding your parents." Theodore remarked.
Lukas glared momentarily at the assassin, not entirely happy at bringing that up, but Chaerin touched his arm.
"It's fine." Chaerin assured him, but then glanced meaningfully at Theodore. "I somehow recall you not appreciating my ability before–you spoke of how useful it is against monsters of various kinds."
"I stand by what I said, it is useless in a battlefield against beasts, but it does have its merits." Theodore acknowledged. He didn't feel the need to apologize at all.
"Very well," Chaerin sighed but then turned to Lukas and the two siblings. "I have the ability to change my physical appearance into that of someone else. That's it."
"You're not fully giving it the credit it's due." Lukas couldn't help but say, his mind latching onto the old games he had played in the past. "I think there's a lot of work put into disguising yourself as someone else. Can you copy their exact height, change in voice and such?"
When Lukas saw what his blood did for Chaerin–it included an increase for cellular modification.
Chaerin blinked.
She hadn't actually given her abilities much thought, but she nodded.
"Y-yes, it wouldn't be much of a physical change if I don't copy those things."
"But you can't copy their actual strength and powers, right?" Lukas said.
"Of course she wouldn't be able to do that." Theodore said, but he gave a thoughtful look towards Lukas.
The Vampires of Lux and perhaps other settlements lived most of their lives in relative peace, and even with them losing the potency of their blood abilities, it didn't affect how they lived at all.
So, someone like Gilbert in Blood Works who was a guard might have known that he had 'telekinesis' but did not know the full extent of his capabilities.
They were just quirks to others.
Only those with purer blood like Serena Weisse could contemplate on unlocking the full potential of their gifts.
It was why the fact that Lukas was interviewing Chaerin about the extent of her ability was interesting.
In fact, only the Hunters Association led by Edward dis Verdant took more interest in the unique abilities of its Vampires and maximized it the best way they could.
"You know, it should be easy changing something like hair color or eye color, right?" Lukas rubbed his chin. "But changing your muscle mass, height and other physical structures is inherently difficult. If you do something wrong, it'll be way off and alert others that you're a fraud."
"... I guess so." Chaerin shrugged. "I… I just never really had a hard time with it. All I need is to look at another person and then I'll be able to replicate them with ease–but I guess it's not hard to believe that a lot of thought process goes into it."
"Can you do me then?" Alexei pointed at himself.
Chaerin blinked and stared at the man in surprise, but after a firm nod, she quickly demonstrated her ability.
Right before everyone's eyes, the petite woman besides Lukas suddenly changed and grew into Alexei's size and form.
"What do you think?" Chaerin asked.
"Hmmm… you got my face a bit wrong." Alexei inspected his look-alike. "It's actually more handsome than that, my nose shape is too–"
"It looks exactly like you." Stacy intoned.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm "What?!" Alexei gawked. "That can't be true!"
Lukas ended up chuckling, which was soon followed by the others. However, that didn't stop Lukas from continuing to ask Chaerin a couple more questions.
"How long can you actually maintain that form? Minutes? Hours?"
"Er, I can do it for hours–"
"What about weeks or months?"
"Why would she even want to be someone else for that long?" Stacy arched a brow at Lukas. While Alexei was more or less impressed, the same couldn't be said for her. It didn't actually make sense for her to want to be anybody else but herself.
"Subterfuge. Infiltration." Theodore answered easily.
"You know, I can't help but think of something else too." Alexei said.
"And what's that?" Lukas asked.
He was actually quite interested to see how insightful the Vampire's mind was.
"Like those folks in the Veil Forest, yeah?" Alexei gestured animatedly and pretended he had horns. "That Cervus guy got those wicked horns."
"Antlers." Stacy said.
"Whatever." Alexei rolled his eyes, but then glanced at Chaerin. "You can pretend to be another Vampire, sure. Maybe even the humans since they're not so different–but can you copy those antler things?"
"... I haven't really tried." Chaerin acknowledged, but looked intrigued.
"Well, now that's something relatively useful." Theodore hummed slightly.
"And if you can, why stop at that?" Lukas suddenly said. An idea sparked into his head–he already had it long ago, but Alexei's words reminded him of it.
"Huh?" Chaerin turned to him. "Is there something more?"
"You've seen Ursa right? She could transform into something like a bear–"
"I… I'm not sure if I'm completely comfortable with that." Chaerin waved her hand and smiled uneasily. "I can try the antlers, but something like that… I'm not so sure. It's odd."
"Is it? Really?" Lukas raised a brow. "Maybe you just haven't considered it?"
"Of course not."
Lukas stared at the pitch black darkness of the van and took a deep breath. He remembered the conversation vividly, and while it didn't particularly help him as much as he thought it would–it was still an insight into what Chaerin could or couldn't do.
Serena could turn into a bat.
It didn't seem like a big deal for her, but that again testified to her bloodline and training maybe.
As for him?
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