73 69. showing off.

Somewhere else, three teenagers were sitting in a bunker room. They were having a good time talking and eating. One of them still had mixed feeling about his situation.

Liv played with the hair of her younger sister while explaining Luz's situation to her: "Sarah, Luz is a bit different from us and ended up differently compared to the rest of us. But he'll hopefully fully gain control of his parasites."

"I get it," Sarah replies with the back of her head against Liv's shoulder.

Sighing, Luz asked: "Could you please tell me what you all mean with [Why doesn't he have full control over his parasites?]? I still don't get it even though it's been two weeks since the symbiosis."

Playing with her younger sister's hair, Liv explained Luz: "You can think of it the following way. The parasites in Sarah and me are part of us and our consciousness. They stopped having free will compared to your kind."

His heart began beating faster out of excitement, and he asked after taking a deep breath: "How did you achieve such a state, and what are the benefits of it?"

Grinning, Liv said: "Sarah, it's time to impress your older brother with your abilities."

The 13-year-old girl, on the other hand, slowly stood up and yawned.

Filled with curiosity, Luz stared at her, and in the next moment, two snakes formed out of Sarah's left eye before wrapping around her arms. After that, she regained the brown eye color on her left eye.

"Now my eyes look like regular ones," she sighed as the two snakes nested against her shoulder while hissing in regular intervals.

These two behaved and looked like real ones.

Around Sarah's left arm was wrapped by a 1-meter long blue snake, while on the other arm, another snake wrapped around her arm, which was red. Both of them glowed slightly, and interestingly these two snakes were out of mana, combined with the water and fire element.

But their behavior showed that unlike something out of pure element, they seemed to act as living beings that retained some intelligence.

"Amazing," muttered Luz while the latter stood there with her chest puffed, flexing her biceps like a bodybuilder.

A lovely sight to behold.

Liz continued with: "Sarah got a mana parasite that focuses on water and fire. She can use these reserves and her parasite to create living creatures that act as if she commanded them."

Next, Sarah used two different elements at the same time. Unheard for a beginner mage, and it got more interesting. She didn't even have to use a spell or anything.

A fire and a water ball appeared on each hand, whose shape she controlled with ease.

'Are you kidding me? She doesn't even use mana on her hand. HOW DOES HER HAND NOT BURN??? Also, she plays with them as if they were out of mud. I'm getting envious of that,' went through Luz's mind.

"That's an amazing ability," he commented.

Sarah stopped showing off, and the two snakes went back into her eyes.

Grinning, she exclaimed: "Compared to my siblings, I'm merely average. But it will take time before you gain any abilities."

Liv nodded before commenting: "You're probably asking yourself how to regain such an ability and the theory behind it is easy. Consume and enslave all the minds of parasites."

"But I've done that. I mean, we signed a soul contract, bounding each member onto it, and with that, I'm enslaving them," told Luz as he scratched the back of his head.

"Luz," sighed Liv before she continued with: "that is not enslaving your parasites. They still have a will. They still communicate with each other. They still live and aren't part of you. But in the case of Sarah and me, these parasites are part of us."

"I see…" uttered Luz as he realized why the plan of his Master and him was wrong.

'But how can I even make the decentralized hive a part of me?'

"Did you ever hear of the Mitochondria?" asked Liv after sending Liv off to bring something to drink.

Luz shook his head after her words, and she just sighed: "I thought so," before continuing to explain to him what a Mitochondria is and the theory on how it got to us.

"So, if I got it correctly, it was an independent thing before getting consumed and becoming part of us, right?" asked Luz.

"Yes, and if it can happen millions of years ago in one of the smallest building blocks of your own body, why can't it happen again?" commented Liv with a smile.

"The only thing you have to do is to consume all minds of the parasites. If you achieve that feat, something interesting will happen. All these unclean souls still got a flicker of their egos and wills in them, resulting in a rejection from your souls. Out of this rejection, a new soul will be born. This soul will be the manifestation of all the wills and desires of the parasite," explained Liv as she enjoyed seeing Luz thirst for knowledge.

"So if I get it correctly, I'll have to fight the parasites twice. The first time I'll fight against a decentralized being before consuming it. The second time I'll fight against the centralized will of the hivemind that tries to survive." summarized Luz and Liv just nodded.

At that moment, Sarah walked in with a tablet, carrying three prepared tea glasses, before placing them onto the table.

"Thank you, Sarah," Liv said before reaching for the bronze tea glass. The scent of the tea filled the room.

Luz was confused. He had never smelled a tea like this before.

A small bag with tea leaves was in the bronze cup while a mint leaf floated in the water. Looking at the slight red-orange color, Luz decided to take a sip.

'It tastes like…like… I don't know, like an average tea, I guess. I had more expectations, but yeah, I shouldn't be expecting too much from a child,' thought Luz as he took a few more sips of the tea.

Sarah merely stared at Luz as he drank before asking with curiosity: "and do you like my tea?"

Luz pondered for a second, thinking about what to say, not to disappoint a child.

With a smile, he stated: "It's tastes better than the tea I make."

"I knew that you would like it," she replied.