286 I am Blood (3)

I'm led into a large laboratory. The moment Navi enters, a large fat man approaches her with an angry face. Just standing near him sends shivers down my spine. I can feel the other one burying deeper into the void as those bad feeling multiply.

"Why did you call me?! I told you that unless it's urgent I am busy. Do you have any-"

Suddenly his rant dies down mid-sentence and the oppressive aura vanishes completely. Finally, the other one calms down and sinks back into stasis.

"Why did you bring her? How?"

His voice is barely a whisper and he looks incredibly tense. Is he scared of me? Can I kill him?

No! If I try to attack him, Navi will kick me again… I need to control it.

"Jade used the shatter skill to create an alter ego based around killing. It's her blood/alter skill, calls herself blood. I need you to take a look at her and assess the damage, also connect her to the network."

"Do you know how much more damage I might cause if I take a look? We nearly lost her the last time and I didn't even focus on her."

"You were angry and she was vulnerable. Things are different now, her alter ego can take it. We need to know her exact condition, even if that makes things worse! I am done treading in the blind while hoping not to step on glass."

After a short but heated exchange, Navi has won over the fat man. Was he really the one who put the other one into such a situation?

"Blood, lie down here. This is Darwin, he will take a look at your soul and assess the damage. You might feel uncomfortable while he does this but I promise you that this is necessary."

I lie down on the metal lying chair. The cold metal bites into my skin and I feel a bit uncomfortable. And then, the word uncomfortable gets a whole new meaning as I feel like someone is turning my insides out. Every last thing within me is dragged to the surface. I feel like I'm going to puke but then the other one suddenly releases an explosive burst of bad feelings and my body locks up.

Just as fast as this horrible feeling arrived, it disappears. I breathe a sigh of relief and just focus on my breathing. That burst of bad feelings is still affecting me but I can already feel it lose power and dissipate.

"So, what did you see?"

"Jade is submerged in an sea of negative emotions. She's entered a sort of unconscious state while letting the alter ego control her body. The alter ego is largely immune to the negative emotions and Jade can slowly let the negative emotions pass as time goes by."

"How bad was the reaction to your inspection?"

"Bad. The negative energy immediately started to increase."

"How long do you think it will take for her to be able to get rid of those negative emotions?"

"Months, assuming we don't do anything to make them worse."

"So no dying and no meeting family? Can we do something to help her?"

"Death are possible but try to keep it on the low end. With her alter ego acting as a filter, she can take a low amount of dying fatigue. However, no more than one death a week. As for help, I don't know. With how unstable Jade has proven to be, I feel safer not doing anything."

"I don't. What can be done?"

"Sigh, anything that Jade connects to good emotions. But what I've seen from Jade so far, there isn't anything she was really happy about. At any rate, I split the connection between the two of them so they are both part of the network now."

"Making Jade feel happy… that does seem difficult. Thank you for everything. I'll take it from here."

"…"

"What is it, Darwin?"

"How is… everyone."

"Valeria is still out of commission but I hope that the excursion I sent her on with Guy and his family will help her get better. Guy knows what happened but doesn't appear to blame you. Edward is swamped picking up the slack together with Rani and Jake is slowly improving thanks to Guy."

"Thanks, and sorry for pushing all of this onto you."

The fat man disappears and Navi glares at the air. How did he do that? Space magic?

"Don't apologize if you'll keep doing it!"

She turns to look at me and I feel a shiver run down my back as her voice suddenly appears in my head without her lips moving.

What the hell is this? Get out of my head!

<I'm afraid that isn't an option. I can't physically accompany you everywhere so a disembodied voice in your mind is what you get. Now, be a dear and open your status for me. While we did brute force it open through Jade's connection before, I'd like to avoid any mistakes.>

I don't know what exactly she wants me to do, but the moment I think about my status, numerous rows of words appear before me.

Status Jade Lv.2 shattered sanguine wyrm

Mp 10+91+307

Strength 3+91+40

Constitution 3+91+72

Speed 6+91+16

Magic ability 5+91+23

Skills:

universal humanoid language, universal monster language, dungeon map, thermal detection, shatter, blood/alter

Sanguine bite lv. 7; blood-stealing constriction lv. 3; sanguine venom lv. 5; enhanced stamina lv. 6; sanguine boost lv. 3; stealth lv. 5; energy fang lv. 7; hardened scales lv. 8; tail whip lv .5; heat resistance lv. 6; blood magic lv. 4; group fight tactics lv. 2; digestion of the great serpent lv. 1; venomous mist breath lv. 5; slaughter sense lv.2

But it's wrong!

It says Jade but I am Blood!

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