Chapter 399: Sample

"Did that just happen?"

Elias stared at the empty space where Elara had disappeared.

Moments ago, the woman had torn open the air itself, creating a Spatial Rift that she, Kaela, and Mark had simply stepped through.

A Gate-like portal.

Greg remained beside him, watching the last traces of distorted space fade.

"Yep."

His answer was calm, but his heart was racing.

Something inside him stirred.

For years, Greg had been searching for a way to replicate the powers of the Titled. The Blessing could grant supernatural abilities, but it was unreliable. Most subjects died, while others became unstable monsters.

Yet Mark had just demonstrated something entirely different.

He could induce monsterfication almost at will, and his body would naturally revert to a somewhat stable state. Kaela and Elara had also displayed incredible talents, and shown that it was always possible to push beyond apparent limits.

Greg's eyes narrowed.

His research had just been given a new direction.

And while it might have seemed like they had arrived, received help to stabilise Mark and custom-designed garments that had cost an absurd amount to produce, then left without so much as a thank-you, Elias and Greg hadn't exactly come away empty-handed.

"You got a sample, right?" Greg asked.

Elias looked offended.

"What do you take me for, sir? Of course I did."

While injecting artificially controlled mana into Mark and monitoring his condition, Elias had also been gathering data.

And most importantly, a blood sample.

He had collected it discreetly enough that neither Kaela nor Elara had noticed.

Greg looked toward the secured container that was holding it.

"Will it be enough to replicate what he is?"

The anticipation in his voice was hard to mask.

"More than enough."

Elias's eyes gleamed.

"Mark's body accepted an absurd amount of Blessing and survived. More importantly, he can transform, adapt, and return to a human-like state."

He smiled.

"If we can figure out what makes him different, we might finally be able to produce it."

Greg's expression sharpened.

"An army of stable artificial Titled."

"Exactly."

Greg couldn't suppress his smile.

"Good."

With that, he left Elias to his research.

As deranged as the doctor he had found was, nobody was more qualified, and with the amount of secret funding he had left him with, it was only a matter of time...

'Before I feel that power.'

Greg's departure was considerably less impressive than Elara's.

There was no Spatial Rift, just a man walking away with a mind full of possibilities and observations.

'Those A Ranks are getting stronger and stronger.'

Elara and Kaela had both changed.

Then there was Mark.

'The first stable artificial Titled we've ever seen.'

He had survived consuming far more than the lethal dose of Blessing and had somehow retained enough control to return to his normal state.

And the one thing all of them had in common was...

Greg smiled.

"Ethan Crowe."

He said the name aloud.

A holographic display appeared before him, filled with reports on Titled across the country. His eyes quickly moved through the files, eventually stopping on the individuals he had personally assigned for surveillance.

Ethan's file was near the top.

Greg opened it.

"So he's already rekindled things with his supposed father."

He scrolled through the latest information.

"Now he's got money..."

His eyes narrowed.

"And that man behind him."

Victor Crowe.

Ethan's father was a powerful figure with resources Greg couldn't ignore and was someone he could find very little about. There were too many unusual developments surrounding Ethan to dismiss as coincidence.

But as always, things were definitely getting interesting.

Greg closed the holographic display.

He smiled.

"Let's see how this progresses."

-

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Ethan had been doing something he hadn't expected to be doing anytime soon.

Playing.

He had been running around his father's building with Isabelle, laughing as she chased him from one room to another. It was such a simple thing, yet Ethan couldn't remember the last time he'd experienced something like it. There was no danger or mysterious supernatural problems waiting around the corner.

For once, he was simply having fun.

The residential floor directly beneath Victor's top-floor office had been designed to feel more like a luxurious home than part of a corporate skyscraper. Comfortable furniture, warm lighting, spacious rooms, and everything a family could possibly need made it easy to forget that they were several dozen floors above the city.

Jessica watched from nearby, laughing at the ridiculous sight of a grown man running around while a six-year-old girl chased after him.

Ethan occasionally slowed down just enough to let Isabelle catch up before darting away again, which only made her laugh harder. It baffled him how quickly everything had become so comfortable.

But if he had always been one thing, it was adaptable.

Only a short time ago, he hadn't even known Isabelle existed. He hadn't known that he had a daughter, hadn't known what she looked like, or whether she would care for him after his absence.

Now he was playing with her as though he had been doing it for years.

It felt strange.

But it was a good kind of strange.

Eventually, Ethan decided to show her something even more special.

"Okay, Isabelle. You want to meet my friends?"

She nodded enthusiastically, practically bouncing in place despite having no idea what that actually meant.

Ethan smiled before summoning Wolfy.

The giant Fenrir suddenly appeared in the room.

Everyone immediately froze.

Jessica practically sprang out of her seat, while Nathan's body shifted instinctively as he prepared to phase himself through the floor. Even though Nathan had seen plenty of supernatural abilities, there was something very different about suddenly having a massive beast appear out of thin air.

Wolfy was enormous, not to mention frightening.

The creature's body was covered in thick fur, its red eyes were sharp and predatory, and its sheer size made the room feel considerably smaller. It looked like a beast designed for hunting and death, one with a suffocating presence.

Isabelle, however, didn't react like everyone else.

She stared at Wolfy for several seconds.

Her eyes widened, then...

She smiled.

"So cute!"

Ethan blinked.

'Cute?'

Wolfy lowered his enormous head, seemingly curious about the tiny human staring at him.

Then Isabelle suddenly frowned.

Her eyes moved toward Wolfy's shoulder.

Even beneath the thick fur, there were still signs of recent injuries. Some patches of fur had yet to fully recover, and faint marks remained from battles Ethan and the beasts had fought just minutes ago in the Tower.

Isabelle stepped closer.

"Is he hurt?"

The question caught Ethan off guard.

Jessica smiled faintly from where she stood.

That gentle concern, that instinct to care, reminded him very much of her mother.

Even as a teen, Jessica had always been the type to stop and help injured animals, to complain when trees were cut down, or to rescue every stray creature she came across. Seeing the same kindness in Isabelle made something warm settle in his chest.

Wolfy lowered himself slightly as Isabelle reached out and carefully touched the fur near the old wound.

"Does it hurt?"

Wolfy gave a quiet huff.

Ethan smiled.

"He got a little banged up helping me."

Isabelle looked genuinely concerned.

"Can you fix him?"

Ethan smiled.

"Yes, I can, Isabelle."