"Hmm, an unfamiliar ceiling."
"What are you talking about? Is your body okay? Hey, hey, hey? Can you hear me? Look, how many fingers is this?"
Looking at the single finger waving incessantly before his eyes, Geno spoke with absolute certainty.
"Eight! It's just missing a stroke!"
"...Looks like he hasn't fully recovered yet. Increase the dosage."
Twiggy's expression was calm as she pulled out a massive syringe, thicker than her own arm, from behind her back, preparing to stab it right into Geno's face.
"Holy crap! Don't! Ahhh! I was joking! Look, I'm already fine!"
As he spoke, terrified that Twiggy would actually poke him with that thing, Geno hurriedly jumped off the bed. He struck a bodybuilding pose to prove he was fine.
He was so healthy he could be stamped with a quarantine certificate and sent straight to the vegetable market.
"Hmm, since you're better, shouldn't you explain what's up with this pit?"
Twiggy casually tossed the abnormal syringe away. It fell through the large hole Geno had smashed open last night, making a crisp shattering sound as it hit the bottom.
"Uh, well, that's a long story."
"Fine, let's put that aside for now. There's a more important issue."
Saying this, Twiggy crossed her hands at the hem of her clothes, then lifted it up. Her fair, smooth lower abdomen was brazenly exposed right before Geno's eyes.
"Wait, isn't this moving too fast? Besides, humans and Ethereals walk different paths; there can be no result between us!"
While he pontificated about humans and Ethereals being different, his eyes didn't blink even once.
"Who asked you to look at that! It's the scars! The scars originally caused by Ether Corruption are all gone!"
Twiggy also realized her actions were a bit abrupt and immediately lowered the clothes she had lifted halfway.
'What's wrong with me? Why am I being shy? This guy is clearly just an Ethereal.'
It seemed Geno's constant Ethereal appearance made Twiggy forget the fact that this guy was still male. But when actually doing something a bit bold, she would still feel shy.
Forcing herself to stay calm and act like nothing happened, Twiggy then unwrapped the bandages on her hands to show Geno.
"Just like this. The previous fissures have completely disappeared. Do you know what happened?"
Geno averted his gaze. Hmm, smooth as new, just like what he saw earlier. Cough cough, beautiful.
"Um, I don't really know what happened either. Just that last night, you almost turned into an Ethereal. I stepped in to help, and then..."
Geno recounted the battle with the Doppelganger last night to Twiggy, from the women's restroom to the big fight downstairs, without missing a word.
After listening, Twiggy frowned. She had never heard of such a thing.
Ethereals absorbing Ether was normal—after all, it was the foundation of their survival—but absorbing someone else's Ether Corruption symptoms... that was unheard of.
When she woke up this morning, she found herself lying on the floor. She thought something bad had happened, but she felt refreshed upon rising. She discovered that not only herself, but even the Silver forces members lying on the beds had all their Ether symptoms disappear.
Then she saw the large hole caused by Geno and the Doppelganger's fight, and looking down through it, she saw Geno lying on the ground with his butt sticking up.
And that led to the current scene.
"So you're saying, you absorbed the Ether energy from us, not only eliminating our Ether Corruption but also greatly increasing your strength? Then you fought the Doppelganger for three hundred rounds and finally won by a narrow margin, is that right?"
"Uh, yes."
Hard to understand. This was the first time Twiggy had encountered such a situation.
It wasn't just Geno being able to absorb Ether Corruption, but also the appearance of the Doppelganger.
The spawn locations of such rare and powerful Ethereals had always been a mystery. Moreover, compared to other Plasma-type Ethereals, the Doppelganger seemed more like some kind of artificial product.
In that sense, the guy in front of her was about the same.
Twiggy glanced at Geno, who was standing there somewhat blankly and at a loss. The miraculous nature of this guy also puzzled her endlessly.
"Forget it. If we can't figure it out now, let's not think about it. Whether it's you or the Doppelganger, neither of you are normal Ethereals."
At least for now, they didn't have to worry about the mortal danger of suddenly turning into Ethereals one day.
"I get the feeling you're not complimenting me... I'll go fix the wall first. It'll get cold if the wind leaks in tonight."
Geno left Twiggy to her contemplation and prepared to patch up the big hole he had created last night.
He walked to the wall and casually picked up some rocks and bricks that looked sturdy enough.
However, they were directly crushed into fragments by his sharp claws.
After last night's events, his strength had also increased. He was now touching the edge of Level 3, but because of this, he had absolutely no control over his power.
"Ah, damn it. It's times like this that being an Ethereal feels really inconvenient! If only I still had human hands."
Complaining and grumbling, the work still had to be done. He picked up another stone, intending to place it on the wall to plug the gap, but when he put it down, he froze.
"Hey, for real? Twiggy! Twiggy, come look quickly!"
Twiggy was examining her sisters' bodies in the room when she suddenly heard Geno's call, and she rushed over in a hurry.
"What? What happened? Eh—eh?! What is this situation?!"
Twiggy simply couldn't believe her eyes. Geno, standing before her, still had that terrifying appearance, but looking down at his palms, the original sharp claws were gone, replaced by a pair of black human hands.
The current Geno was marvelously like a stitched-together monster of human and Ethereal; the sense of incongruity was maxed out.
"This... could it be the Doppelganger's ability?"
Seeing this strange scene, Geno immediately thought of how the Doppelganger looked when its transformation went chaotic last night—a mix of human and monster. It was so similar to his current image.
"It's possible... but it doesn't make sense. Judging by appearance, you shouldn't belong to the Plasma type, let alone be a Doppelganger."
Twiggy was in disarray. What was up with this guy? Not only was his behavioral logic different from ordinary Ethereals, but the abilities he was displaying now were making her brain crash.
Was this guy really not a test subject that ran out of some mad scientist's lab?
"I don't know either. When I became conscious, I was already wandering in the Hollow."
Now even Geno himself felt a bit creeped out. Just what was going on with his body?
"Wait? How do you know what I'm thinking? Can you read minds?!"
"Ah, really. I just suddenly heard it."
Geno realized he had just heard Twiggy's inner voice. He tried to listen again, but found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hear it anymore.
"Uncontrollable ability? It's becoming more and more similar."
"What?"
"More and more like the Doppelganger. The intelligence on the Doppelganger mentions that it can read the memories of fear deep within a prey's heart, which is why it can transform so accurately."
Suddenly, Geno spotted a blind spot. The Doppelganger's ability allowed for transformation, and his arms had become human, which meant...
"Wait, so that means... can I turn back into a human now?"
"..."
Twiggy fell silent. If her superficial deduction just now wasn't wrong, then Geno really should be able to turn into a human—or rather, turn back into a human.
Late again, late again. Getting off work on Monday is slower than everyone else. (Cry)
____
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