Chapter 79 - Feel The Power

She could feel the Repilitian man's strength, the mutant elemental power, and the other abilities fusing with her very being, new XGenes being created, and existing DNA adapting or fusing with them to be better.

The process of devouring the mutants and Inhumans was quick and progressed seamlessly. After each assimilation, her body rapidly broke down the information and improved her own; new layers of strength and capabilities were being added to Lily's already formidable repertoire.

Each surge of power felt intoxicating, and her body tingled with the enjoyment of it— eating 12 super-powered individuals at once was beyond pleasing. 

As she finished devouring them, she could feel her body had completely broken down each of the new information she had gained and created new ones. Some of the most prominent ones were ones she expected, such as the reptilian and fire elemental abilities— but others were a pleasant surprise.

She checked her status panel and peered only at the ability section, checking the new abilities she had gained.

Skills:

Hivemind

Adapt, Evolve, Overcome 

Mimic Creation 

Werecat XGene

Weredog XGene

Radioactive Body XGene

Lesser Demon Physiology

Acid Secretion XGene

Astral Projection XGene

Energy Condensing XGene

Ink Manipulation XGene

Elemental Transmutation XGene 

Scrying XGene

Vampire Physiology

Animal Physiology - The user possesses a wide range of animal capabilities from a wide range of different species of Earth Animals.

Mental Mastery - Mental Mastery is a skill that combines all the mental-related abilities gained by the user into one, allowing them to further expand each of these abilities as a whole and integrate them together perfectly.

Reptilian XGene - The user has the abilities of a reptile even in their normal form, having capabilities such as enhanced hearing, sight, smell, taste, and even touch, along with things that can be found commonly among a wide range of reptile species. 

Lesser Pyromancy - The user has developed a combination of fire elemental skills into Lesser Pyromancy, allowing them to create and manipulate this created fire to an extent.

Superior Body - The user has a wide range of physically enhancing abilities; these have integrated perfectly with each other and further enhance the user's physical body, allowing them to not only have an increase in common physical capabilities such as strength, speed, durability, senses, and more, but also an enhanced regenerative factor, resistance to physical alignments, and more.

Barrier Creation XGene - The user is able to create weak semi-translucent illusions from their hand to cover the surface area of things they touch.

Temperature Regulation XGene - The user is able to manipulate the temperature of their own body, allowing them to resist high or low temperatures with better capabilities.

Bioluminescent Glow XGene - The user is able to emit a faint bioluminescent glow from their skin. 

Microscale Telekinesis XGene - The user is able to move things within sight with limited capabilities. This ability is very limited and does not allow the user to move heavy things.

Mild Sonic Vibration Generation XGene - The user is able to generate very mild sonic vibrations from their body that vibrate things around them or within touch.

Pheromone XGene - The user is able to naturally produce a pheromone that is found attractive to a wide range of species.

Terrigen Fragment - The user has gained a fragmented piece of Terrigen Crystal information.

From everything she had devoured, Lily had gained a wide range of abilities, and while not all of them were strong, they could still be useful to her. 

Not to mention, more information was better since her body could combine them to make new ones— as she noticed it had done.

A few listings were missing from the panel, and that wasn't because they had been removed or forgotten; rather, her body had adapted them into new abilities using a combination of different ones.

Namely Animal Physiology, Mental Mastery, Lesser Pyromancy, and Superior Body.

The abilities these had been developed from were self-evident, but Lily was pleased with them nonetheless— especially with Mental Mastery, combining not only the abilities she had but also the increase in mental stats.

Another interesting addition to the list of abilities that had caught her attention was Terrigen Fragment.

It was less an ability but more information her body was trying to break down in order to use as material to improve itself. It was obvious she had gotten it from the Inhumans, but she didn't have enough of it for her body to use.

To fully complete it, she would most likely need to devour more Inhumans or try to acquire Terrigen Mist or even pure Terrigen Crystals. However, both things would be very difficult to acquire due to their low quantity and usage.

They were used to awaken the abilities of Inhumans, and because of this, they were highly sought after by Inhumans, and any existing ones would either be in the possession of Inhumans or searched for by Inhumans.

While she didn't mind getting in the way of Inhumans to acquire them, certain Inhumans would prove to be very dangerous— and she didn't want to even encounter them.

Shaking her head, she broke that thought out from her mind for the time being— that was for the future— for now, she finished glancing over the information and was satisfied with it.

They weren't great, but what could she expect from a little group that was basically made up of street thugs and common people— the real power wouldn't be in this small base; it would be in their main base.

She did acquire some pleasant surprises, though; Vibration Creation, Barrier Creation, and even Temperature Regulation were all hidden gems that she could use— and would gratefully use.

But for now, she had to get going quickly— there was just one more thing she had to do before she left.

She shifted her focus over to the group of the remaining unconscious humans. Time was of the essence, and the approaching authorities added to her urgency; as such, she quickly moved on to the next step of her plan.

These humans were useful, as they could prove to be useful pawns in order to find the other bases, draw out the attention of the other members of the group, or even cause them to raise their alertness.

While having them raise their alertness may sound counterproductive, that would actually work in Lily's favor. By increasing their security, they would, in turn, create a lot of movement that Lily could catch onto using her Hive Scouts.

This would make finding them much easier. And in the off chance they instead decide to lay low— this would allow her to find them all at once without having to find their scattered members.

Plus— this might draw the attention of the leaders, and if she could get to them, it would be worthwhile.

She wasn't too worried about them sharing her appearance as eventually her true appearance would be leaked— and it wasn't like she couldn't shapeshift to take on different looks. 

And any being that was strong enough to prove immediately terrifying to Lily could easily acquire knowledge about how she looked.

The only thing she was worried about was them getting arrested— if that happened, they wouldn't be able to relay the information to other members, and it would become troublesome.

As such, using her newly acquired Mental Mastery, she tapped into their minds.

It was beyond easy— they were normal humans, and she was a hivemind with hundreds of beings apart of her; entering their minds was like walking through an open door.

Using this, she left a command in their minds, one clear and simple command— get up and escape. The suggestion took hold almost instantly, and their minds jolted their bodies awake— groggy and disoriented, they slowly stumbled out of the abandoned building, their memories clouded by the manipulation but their goal clear.

With that out of the way, Lily now had no more reason to stay here— using her Lesser Pyromance, she started a fire in the base, one that rapidly spread to the entire building.

And with the fire as a distraction and her camouflage as a cover— she vanished into the city.