"Let me try."
Geno closed his eyes. Regardless of how he actually managed to close them, he shut off his vision and carefully recalled his former appearance in his mind.
Immediately after, in Twiggy's field of view, colorful Ether bubbles emerged from Geno's body, covering him bit by bit.
When the bubbles disappeared, a brand-new image appeared before Twiggy.
Black hair, large eyes, a handsome face, and the figure of a healthy male around twenty years old. It instantly made Twiggy blush.
"Th... This..."
"Woohoo! That's great! I can actually turn back! How is it? I'm pretty handsome, right?!"
"Pervert!!!!!"
Thud!
A fist the size of a bean bun reflected in Geno's eyes, and his entire body was sent flying by this elbow strike, following the hole to reenact last night's building-jumping behavior once again.
It turned out that when he transformed, he only mimicked the body, not the clothes, resulting in him being stark naked after the transformation.
This couldn't be blamed on him; he hadn't worn any clothes since becoming an Ethereal, so it was no wonder he forgot.
However, Geno didn't care about these details at the moment. He lay on the ground with his limbs spread, looking up at the sky. Breathing in the scent of soil, he once again felt the joy of being human.
"Hmm, it's a bit cold."
-----------------
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't expect this to happen either. Besides, this makes us even. You showed me yours, so I can't slight you by not showing mine, right?"
Climbing back up from downstairs, Geno had already mimicked a set of clothes for himself.
Now, he leaned back in the chair, presenting a thick-skinned face, shamelessly claiming this was a fair trade. If one really calculated it, he was the one at a disadvantage.
"Unbelievable. The thickness of your skin must be even greater than your Ethereal armor!"
Twiggy seemed to recall something again; her cheeks flushed red as she spat out a retort.
But despite their bickering, this was effectively force majeure. Neither of them took this small accident to heart...
Probably not...
Compared to that, what was more concerning right now was exactly what Geno's ability was.
"Absorbing Ether? And mimicking other Ethereal abilities? Or is it something else?"
Twiggy found a small notebook and a ballpoint pen that had been sitting there for who knows how long, recording her observations and deductions.
This was her habit, and also what she was best at.
As a member of the Silver Squad, due to some individual deviations, not every sister possessed super-strong combat capabilities. Just like her—she failed every combat test (crossed out)—but her learning and analytical abilities were the best among the sisters.
To be honest, the testing for the Silver Project was too one-sided, causing Twiggy's potential to be completely buried.
"Transform into something for me to see."
"Eh? So suddenly? But with you saying that, I don't know what to turn into on such short notice."
"Just turn into anything!"
Geno rubbed his head, suddenly staring at Twiggy's face as a plan formed in his mind.
Ether bubbles emerged from his body once again. After a brief covering, what appeared was a face exactly identical to Twiggy's.
"Wh-what are you doing turning into me?!"
"Didn't you tell me to turn into anything?"
The result crossed 'her' arms over 'her' chest, feeling a sensation 'he' had never possessed before, and abruptly blurted out a sentence.
"I didn't expect you to have more substance than I thought~"
"Lecher!"
Thud!
The small notebook tapping on his head didn't hurt or itch, but seeing Twiggy's face heating up, he honestly transformed back.
Next, following his memories and Twiggy's requests, he turned into the appearances of some cats, dogs, or other Ethereals.
However, the Ethereal forms he transformed into didn't seem capable of using their abilities.
Moreover, because he hadn't seen the actual entities, his transformations had some discrepancies from the actual Ethereals.
"This ability of yours is truly ridiculous, though not entirely without flaws."
Twiggy recorded the information matter-of-factly; she had figured out the basic situation of Geno's abilities.
Generally speaking, it was divided into two types.
First was the ability to absorb Ether, including the Ether Corruption on others, to enhance his own strength.
Second was the transformation ability, obviously derived from the Doppelganger.
But the defects were also obvious. It was unknown if there was an upper limit to the absorption ability. As for the transformation ability, he couldn't transform into things he hadn't seen, and the strength of the transformation was linked to his own baseline. Some exclusive abilities of Ethereals, like the Thunder Spider's self-destruct, could not be used.
The most critical point was that Geno's transformation consumed Ether energy. The stronger the creature, the faster the consumption; if he couldn't maintain it, he would immediately revert.
The human state didn't matter much; the consumption was very low, slower than his recovery rate.
Since there was no more data, they would have to test it later if given the chance.
"Heh, fortunately you were here. Otherwise, I estimate I wouldn't have lasted through last night and would have turned into a Tyrfing."
Twiggy couldn't help but sigh at her luck last night. Fortunately, Geno was by her side; fortunately, he stopped her Etherealization in time; fortunately, he defeated the Doppelganger.
Now, the debt of gratitude Twiggy owed was even greater.
Geno's kindness could never be fully repaid!
"I don't really think so."
Twiggy frowned. This guy wasn't going to say something hypocritical like 'you don't need to repay me', was he? If so, she would have to re-evaluate this guy.
Whether true or false, be it hypocrisy or indiscriminate kindness, such people never met a good end.
But the second half of his sentence made Twiggy's eyes go wide, and she almost lost her grip on the pen.
"I think if you turned into an Ethereal, you would definitely be much more amazing than a Doppelganger or whatever. Luckily you didn't, otherwise I would be dead meat~"
"..."
Did this guy mean that? Hmph, forget it, I'll just take it as him praising me. I won't write this incident in the notebook.
The two of them enthusiastically studied Geno's abilities like this, and in the blink of an eye, the day passed.
"Crap, I was so focused on researching abilities that I forgot to fix the wall."
Looking at the wall he had said he would fix since morning, which hadn't been touched even as the sun went down, Geno felt a bit troubled.
He had only tidied up two rooms in the entire hospital: one was the single room he lived in, and the other was this large ward.
Now that the wall of the large ward was cracked open, the eleven of them couldn't all squeeze into the single room, could they?
"No choice. We can only transfer the patients to my room first. We can't let them freeze."
The patients' bodies were very fragile. Who knew when they would wake up? It wouldn't do to have an accident over something like this.
The two moved the beds, pushing them one by one into Geno's single room, filling up every bit of space.
But after delivering the last bed, they discovered that even at full capacity, this room could only fit ten people. The two of them were left unable to squeeze in.
"Looks like the two of us are going to be braving the cold wind tonight."
"It's fine. My injuries are mostly healed anyway. A little wind like this is a trivial matter for a soldier."
Twiggy spoke lightly, but when night actually fell, she suddenly realized something.
Cold wind or not, wasn't this a lone man and a lone woman sharing a room?!
Realizing the current atmosphere was very subtle, Twiggy subconsciously turned her head to glance at Geno.
Only to see that he was repairing the wall bit by bit, having absolutely no other intentions.
Twiggy instantly breathed a sigh of relief, then secretly scolded herself for having impure thoughts.
Although this guy looked human now, in the end, he was still an Ethereal. It wasn't even certain if he had those kinds of thoughts or abilities.
"Achoo! Strange, can Ethereals catch colds too?"
Geno rubbed his nose, completely unaware that someone was badmouthing him behind his back.
Anyway, he didn't need to sleep. The sooner he fixed the wall, the sooner he could move back into his small room.
However...
Stealing a glance behind him at Twiggy, who could only sleep lying on the table because all the beds had been moved away, Geno silently transformed into a tall and large figure, using his body to block the cold night wind for Twiggy inside the room.
And perhaps because of the rise in temperature, the corners of Twiggy's mouth slightly curled up into an arc.
Do you like spinning wheels? (Laughs)
____
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