Richard was sweating buckets.
He had acted all cool in front of Neia and pretended to be in control of the situation, successfully ’manipulating’ her to do his bidding.
But he felt his luck was about to run out.
After all—
’I don’t know how to get out of here!’ He scread inside his mind.
Richard began to panic as both he and Neia began to walk in the wasteland that used to be the Mountain Range. He didn’t know what to say to the poor woman who was walking right next to him.
’Should I just admit the truth? That I don’t know how to leave this place...?’
No!
He couldn’t simply do that.
That would be too uncool, and it would ruin her image of him.
’But, hold on... Since she is also here, doesn’t that an she could have a way out? No, I can’t make that assumption. The people who forced her into prostitution must have done that intentionally, so she couldn’t escape...’
He couldn’t shalessly rely on soone like Neia.
’I have to figure this out sohow!’
As Richard told himself this, he and Neia continued to walk for an entire hour—with no end to their journey in sight.
Regardless of how small this outside area was, or the distance traveled, they would never be able to reach the City if they kept up such a walk. That was because each City could be considered its own world, and the outskirts were separate spaces outside them.
This was a natural phenonon that existed in this world, which ant one couldn’t simply ’walk’ into the city from the Mountain Range.
Richard knew all of this, so he knew walking was pointless.
Yet—
’I don’t know what to do...’
To make conversation and quell the awkwardness in the air, he glanced at Neia and asked her:
"So what is your Principal Disposition?"
"Ah... Forgive for not ntioning it earlier!" She imdiately bowed in apology, her visage expressing sincerity.
"N-no, I was just curious..."
"I possess a High Rank Principal Disposition called [Impersonation]. I can transform into any person or thing of my choice, as long as I have laid eyes on it or an image of it before. I can also partially transform; that is, altering so parts of my body into different things."
This was actually how Neia blended in with the Six Eyes of Infinity.
She simply changed her form to look like a Commoner Class Vampire, settling properly into their ranks. They had no reason to suspect her, so they didn’t bother activating Status Awareness.
Even if they did, it would do them no good.
Her Principal Disposition was High Rank, which allowed her to truly embody the traits of whatever she shape-shifted into. That ant she could pass off as a Commoner Class or Special Class of Vampire if she wanted.
She could even impersonate those of other races.
Unless one had a Principal Disposition that directly countered her abilities, or they used a Mystic Object of sufficient grade to identify her, she could go about undetected.
This was how she was able to survive on the run for so long.
It was also her greatest secret.
Her trump card!
She didn’t even tell the Six Eyes of Infinity about it, instead pretending her Principal Disposition had to do with flight.
The reason for keeping this secret was not far-fetched.
With [Impersonation], she could beco anyone or anything, and she could thus falsify her Principal Disposition to a large extent.
That’s right...
"I can mimic the Principal Disposition of those I turn into, though I can only use it at about thirty percent power..." Neia continued to say. "I heard if it was Special Rank, I could mimic it a hundred percent."
"I see..."
Richard was stunned after hearing this news.
He never knew such a broken ability existed, but it made a lot of sense when he considered the kind of world he was transported into.
All manner of people possessed different kinds of abilities.
It was so absurd.
"I have a major weakness, though. I can’t shapeshift if I am injured in my base form. I would need to completely heal before I can use that power. Also, depending on how much I alter my body, I won’t be able to maintain my Shapeshifting ability for very long."
"Hmm..."
Richard pretended to be in deep thought about her ability and how it operated, but he was instead simply blown away by its utility.
If he had a proper brain, he would have realized a few things already.
For example, the reason Neia had exposed her Noble status in front of him earlier.
She had no choice but to appear in her true form because she had been injured by the blast, and even the fall had injured her slightly more.
Until she recovered from her wounds, she couldn’t shapeshift.
But one had to wonder...
Why didn’t she activate her ability when the bomb detonated, or why was she in her normal form, to begin with? After all, that risked a major impedint to her Principal Disposition.
These were questions too complicated for Richard to think of, but they were valid.
To answer it, one had to consider the temporary nature of [Impersonation].
Depending on the changes made to her body, she would have less ti to maintain her form. Since she was pretending to be a Commoner Class Vampire, she had modified her body too much, which was why she constantly wore a cloak to cover her entire body.
Thus, even if [Impersonation] was deactivated for so ti, she could still hide her true identity.
It just so happened that while waiting for the [Basic Summoning] Lag to end, she had reverted to her original form. And when the bomb exploded, although she had ti to transform, her ability was still experiencing cooldown, and so she couldn’t alter her appearance.
These sets of circumstances were caused by Richard’s luck, but they served as her misfortune.
Because of the injuries she suffered after the first impact, she was stuck in her original form. Even though she gained the protection of her Mystic Object in the end and was protected from the rest of the chaos, she was no longer able to resort to her greatest weapon.
That was what led to her future predicants.
"You have... a very powerful Principal Disposition." Richard smiled at Neia, which caused her to blush slightly while hanging her head low.
"T-thank you, Richard..." After so monts of silence, she asked him, "What about you? If you don’t mind asking, what is your Principal Disposition?"
"Ahh... It’s Low Rank [Basic Summoning]."
"... Eh?"
Neia’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"You don’t believe , right? Why not transform into and see for yourself?"
Richard tossed her an Elixir to heal her injuries. After she did that, she could be able to activate [Impersonation] and use his power.
The reason he was fine with this experint was that—per their agreent using the Seal of Obedience—she could not harm him.
"O-okay..."
Neia used the Elixir to heal herself and then transford into Richard.
She was simply too curious.
Then—
"A-ah! It really is just [Basic Summoning]!" Neia, who now looked exactly like Richard, was surprised by this discovery.
"I told you..."
"B-but how—?" He had clearly summoned a powerful weapon, and even the gown he gave her was sothing she knew wasn’t common.
So what exactly was happening?!
"It’s a secret."
Richard chuckled, basking in the radiance of her admiration... and her disbelief.
’There’s no way it’s [Basic Summoning]!’ This was the conclusion Neia arrived at after thinking about the matter with all her might.
’He must have so special kind of Principal Disposition that can even trick [Impersonation]. I can only use [Basic Summoning], but his true power must surely be greater. But I’ve never heard of a power that can trick the basic chanics of another Principal Disposition. That ans... could it be a Special Rank Principal Disposition?!’
Neia shuddered in fear and admiration as she stared at the grinning Richard.
’He’s so amazing... No, I should have known this from the very beginning! It had to be Special Rank if he was able to summon such a weapon of mass destruction so easily!’ She clenched her fists and nodded affirmatively.
Just like that, Richard had cented himself in Neia’s mind again.
However, the next mont, everything threatened to co crashing down.
"U-um... forgive my impertinence, Richard, but..." Neia nervously stared at him and then looked around them before completing her dreadful question.
"... Where exactly are we going?"
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