13 Families

'Hide & Seek, Doppelganger. I can either use them to distract the people following me or I can have extra help when tailing someone. It really matches each other well.' Jian Sheng thought of ways to use the 2 skills together. 'However, I don't know how effective Hide & Seek is, nor do I know how far I could change for the appearance of the doppelganger. I'll try it out after leaving here this place.'

Lin Ren's suddenly tap on Jian Sheng's shoulder and the latter looked up. Lin Ren was still smiling but his eyes showed there was genuine happiness in them. Jian Sheng did not know how he came to decipher it that way but he just felt like it was right.

"Just swallow them to acquire the skills. Don't worry, it's edible." Lin Ren said while smiling.

Jian Sheng was stupefied when he heard that. 'Swallow them?' He looked at the two orbs in his hands nearly the size of his palm. 'Seriously?'

Lin Gui suddenly chuckled. "I know it seems hard to swallow such a thing. I probably look like you now back then when I first obtained my first orb. Trust me, just put them in your mouth and it will go down your throat smoothly."

Jian Sheng looked at him in doubt but chose to do as he said. He raised both the orbs and wanted to shove both of them in together.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Do it one by one, my stupid little brother. No one is here to snatch them from you. Do it slowly." Lin Gui cried out.

Meanwhile, Lin Ren was holding his stomach on the bed rolling while trying to keep his laughter quiet.

Jian Sheng nodded and blushed slightly. He did not know what came over him. Sometimes, he thought of doing stupid things all of a sudden. Like just now, for example, his thought was: 'Could I perhaps fit 2 orbs into my mouth simultaneously? Maybe I would look like a chipmunk or a hamster. I want to try it.'

Lin Gui gave Lin Ren a look. Lin Ren sat up and tried to stop laughing. Jian Sheng first swallowed the 'Hide and Seek' skill orb. The glass orb melted the moment Jian Sheng closed his mouth. It felt like honey slowly creeping down his throat. It was sticky and sweet, the taste was similar to the pure honey he tasted when he went to a honey bee farm during his elementary school trip.

Jian Sheng's body released a slight rainbow glow. After the glow disappeared, he checked his body but did not find any changes. He then put the 'Doppelganger' orb into his mouth and like the 'Hide and Seek' skill orb, it melted and slowly went down his throat.

While the glass-like skill orb tasted like honey, this black one tasted like blackberries. He did not know why both skill orbs have the tastes of food, maybe it was his "brothers" who made it that way, or that was how it was supposed to be. A black glow appeared from within him and soon disappeared just like the rainbow glow.

Lin Gui nodded. "You can check your character window. It should display the skills there now." Hearing that, Jian Sheng checked his character panel.

_________________________

Name: Lin Jian Sheng

Age: 24

Occupation: Unemployed

Active Skills: Doppelganger

Passive Skills: Language, Hide & Seek

Gifts: 6 senses

Missions:

- (Completed) Get to Country C within a week

- (Ongoing) Save Xue Tian Xin and Xue Wen Jing in Country C.

- (Ongoing) Go to S. Hotel

- (Ongoing) Hide & Seek

Relationship: None

Titles: Just Awakened, 6th brother of the Lin family.

_________________________

Jian Sheng looked through his character panel and found some changes. First, the skill column is separated into active and passive skills. His missions are stated properly and his title changed as well.

'6th brother of the Lin family, although there might be millions of people who have the Lin surname, they were not included in this family. This family should be those with a system while also having the Lin surname. That means there are 3 others besides Lin Ren and Lin Gui before me.' Jian Sheng thought it might not be a bad thing to have such a family. He did not have any siblings and his parents are now in another country somewhere living off their retirement funds.

Jian Sheng suddenly thought of something. 'Wait a minute. My relationship shows none instead of being single. Shouldn't I be single? Why is it written none here?'

Jian Sheng turned to Lin Gui and asked about it.

"Oh, you need to keep becoming stronger before you're allowed to be in a relationship, even if it's being single. Don't worry too much about it, Little Sheng. You'll become stronger before you know it." Lin Gui patted Jian Sheng's shoulder softly but firmly.

'Little Sheng? Is that my nickname now?' Jian Sheng did not know what to say about his new nickname. Getting called "little" while he is 24 seemed a bit embarrassing.

"It shows here I am the 6th brother in the Lin family. Does that mean there are 3 other older brothers? And does that mean there are other families out there?" Jian Sheng asked again while turning to and fro between Lin Ren and Lin Gui.

Lin Ren turned serious and this caused Jian Sheng to become scared. Since the moment he met Lin Ren, Lin Ren was smiling the whole time. This time, a single question cost that smile to disappear and a serious face appeared on Lin Ren's usually smiling face.

"Yes, there are other families out there. In this world, some families hunt other's systems to make themselves stronger. Those other 3 brothers and we are the only surviving males in the Lin family. Females with systems are sent into a different place than us. The only times we meet are during festivals, events, and very rarely, in our own world."

"Right now, our worlds are linked together since we came together for this mission. Normally, our worlds are separated by dimensions. There are theories of multiple universes and planes in our world. And these theories are true, just not really much was discovered and proven by scientists. That's why they mostly only stay as theories."

This was the first time Jian Sheng had heard Lin Ren speak so much.

Lin Gui interrupted and said, "Do you still remember that heart you used to collect those fragments? That heart is my heart. If it was destroyed, I will cease to exist and you will become the 5th brother instead. Each dead member will bring those behind them 1 place up. Meaning there are others but they died a true death."

Jian Sheng was quite interested in the theories regarding the multiverse. "Does that mean we can travel to other planes and dimensions? How can we do that?"

Lin Gui shook his head. "You cannot freely travel to other dimensions unless you have the approval of the administrators. We do not know if that specifics but the dimension of the traveller might collapse after the traveller leaves his or her world."

Lin Ren's smile appeared back onto his face although it was just a small one. "We and a few other families have a good relationship. According to some records at the Lin family clan mansion, once our system is upgraded enough, we will be sent into the main world where everyone has a system. I'm the oldest out of our brothers but even I don't really know if that's true."

Lin Gui continued "The only people we know are either those that are still living or those that have already ceased to exist in their world. The only ways we know how to upgrade the system are either to complete missions or to steal and absorb other systems. The most famous family that kills and steal other's systems is the Smith family. They act arrogantly and everything they do is justified according to them. Others can't hurt their family members but they can kill and rob others because it's their right to do so. And it's one of the families that has the most members."

Jian Sheng thought the family names strangely sounded like one of the most common family names in the west in his world. Although he thought that, he didn't stay on that thought and moved on.

"Erm, brother Gui, I since you were resurrected using those soul fragments from the rooms, I accidentally found the body of a person in the mattress. What is up with that?" Jian Sheng finally asked the question that was stuck in his mind. When he found the body of the person, he freaked out but pushed it to the back of his mind since time was pressing. Now that all is done with, he could finally find out what that was all about.

After asking the question, Jian Sheng saw Lin Ren looking at Lin Gui with a weird expression.