Chapter 86 - Ability Gains

Lily settled into the abandoned building and took a moment to focus on the information panel before her— allowing her to get a visual representation of the newly acquired abilities she had gained.

A total of eight new abilities were added to her already expansive list of capabilities, and 4 of her existing capabilities were either enhanced or gained additional resources.

Firstly, she checked the abilities that had been enhanced.

Lesser Pyromancy had gained a small boost in its flexibility as it seemed one of the mutants among the ones she had eaten had an ability that allowed them to create minor flames. 

It wasn't much, but it was getting better.

The second ability that was improved was her Superior Body. Physical enhancement type mutant abilities were very common, perhaps one of the most common types to exist; this ability was the easiest to gain more resources for.

Unfortunately, it was already very strong to begin with, and the boost she gained was ignorable at best.

The next ability to improve was her Mental Mastery. It was the ability she had the deepest understanding and mastery over; it was her key focus for the most part, and it took an important role in her strength.

This improvement was minor, but it allowed her to better read the thoughts of those around her, which was always useful.

Lastly, and perhaps the ability she was the most unsure about, was her Lesser Demon Physiology. 

It had improved slightly, and it seemed the horned mutant had demon blood within his body— at least a very little bit of it. It wasn't enough to improve the ability outright, but she could feel the clear changes— she could feel the demonic blood flowing within her.

'It seems I will need to hunt down some more beings with Demon Blood in them.'

Lesser Demon Physiology was rather useful as she had used it previously to end a fight completely with little effort. If she was able to further improve it, then it would be another key ability she had in her arsenal.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, she moved on from the list of abilities that had been improved and instead focused on the abilities she had gained.

Glass Skin XGene - The user is able to cover their skin in a layer of a thin glass-like substance that is fragile but sharp. If shattered, the substance will burst out in all directions and slowly reform.

This ability obviously came from the mutant she had fought in the base that had a body covered in glass. Thankfully, her body adapted the ability to be more useful than the mutant version, allowing her to choose to cover her skin willingly or not— unlike the mutant.

It wasn't very strong, but she could use it as a means to cover certain Hive Units and essentially make them into shrapnel grenades of the sorts.

Elastic Body XGene - The user's body is naturally more elastic than average; they are able to temporarily stretch and contort their body in ways that aren't commonly possible.

While not a very strong ability, and she couldn't use it to the extent of someone like Reed Richards, it would allow her to be more creative with her Hive Units and a great utility in the future.

Lesser Sound Alteration XGene - The user is able to alter the soundwave that is created when they speak, allowing them to mimic sounds of things that they have heard or even mix certain sounds to make new ones.

Once more, it was another utility ability, but she couldn't complain. The more abilities she had, the better; even utility abilities had their uses, and this one could definitely be useful in hunting, blending in, or even further improved in the future to be Sound Manipulation as a whole.

Plant Empathy XGene - The user is able to feel a deepened connection to plant life around them, allowing them to feel the emotions that a plant is feeling to a certain extent.

This one was rather useless as is, but in the future, it could further improve, so she didn't think too much about it for now.

Lesser Chrono-Sense XGene - The user has a heightened awareness of the passage of time around them, allowing them to tell exactly how much time has passed or how time flows around them.

'Interesting?'

Lily was unsure about this one; on the one hand, it sounded rather plain, it was essentially an ability that made her a walking clock, but on the other hand, it could be much more if she experimented with it.

She was no fool of the possibilities of the Marvel Universe— many beings controlled the ability to mess with time to some extent. One such being she could name off the top of her head lived on earth.

And while he technically hadn't grown into his power yet, his predecessor and the Time Stone were here.

She didn't know or understand why the Sorcerer Supreme hadn't tried to interfere or contact her yet, but she wasn't delusional to think that she had the ability to win against them.

This ability, however, would allow her to sense if the time around her was being messed with— in essence, she could tell if she was trapped in a time loop; time was flowing slow, fast, or wrong.

And in the future, who knows what boundaries it would have if she could further improve it?

Saying she was pleased with this ability would be an understatement. 

It was an unexpected— but welcomed— gain.

Moving on, she looked at the remaining abilities.

Electrostatic Discharge XGene - The user is able to generate and discharge small bursts of static electricity from their body in a targeted direction around them.

This was the ability that the leader of the group was using, and it was probably the most outright offensive ability she had gained from her hunt so far.

Using this, she would be able to add another means of attack— or even defense— to her list of methods. 

Adhesive Touch XGene - The user's skin can secrete a mild adhesive substance that makes the skin naturally sticky and cling to surfaces with much ease.

Hardened Hair XGene - The user is able to harden their hair, making it darker in color, but able to gain properties similar to metallic in nature while retaining its flexibility.

The last two abilities weren't anything outstanding, but they were useful nonetheless. Now, she could be Spidergirl if she really wanted to— that's not to say she wanted to.

Regardless, she was pleased with her gains for now and was about to gain a lot more.

Now that she was finished reviewing her gains, it was onto preparing for the attack.