"Which one of you is going to become a problem first?"
Lucian asked with a big grin on his face.
"What?"
The Wrath-class man frowned.
"Wrath becomes angry."
Lucian only shrugged.
His eyes then moved to the Pride-class man.
"Pride is easily offended.
Greed counts everyone’s belongings."
The Greed-class woman looked away from the weapons case she was eyeing.
"Envy hates everyone."
The woman carrying Envy blood narrowed her eyes.
"Gluttony is still focusing on the emergency supplies."
The broad man looked away from the supplies.
Lucian chuckled at their reactions, then his eyes fell on the Sloth-class man, who still had his eyes closed, and—
"And Sloth does... absolutely nothing."
"Sounds better than the others, doesn’t it?"
The man opened one eye.
"I don’t disagree."
Lucian nodded.
Then his eyes moved to the two Desire-class Blood-Altered Humans and his grin widened.
"And Desire makes the situation worse."
"You forgot yourself."
One of them, a woman with short dark hair, snorted as she leaned back.
"I was describing the others."
Lucian smiled at her.
"That is very Pride-like."
The girl answered.
"He does not carry Pride blood."
The Pride-class man corrected quickly, as if just the thought of Lucian being in the same class as him disgusted him.
"Yes, I do not have Pride blood."
Lucian chuckled.
"Thank the Lord."
The man’s expression became colder.
Lucian noticed that and naturally, it only encouraged him to continue—
"What exactly does Pride blood even do?"
He asked curiously.
The man stared at him for a short moment, then he gave a direct answer.
"It strengthens the body and energy when the user’s will remains unbroken."
"So confidence makes you stronger."
"Conviction."
The man corrected.
"There is a difference."
"Oh, I know."
Lucian chuckled.
"Confidence is when you believe you are the best. Conviction is when you make everyone else listen to why you are the best."
The Desire-class woman laughed, even the Wrath-class man smiled. He liked putting Pride down, no matter how it happened.
The Pride-class man stared at Lucian for a moment, then—
"And mockery is what people use when they cannot compete."
He commented and that made Lucian’s smile widen even further.
"I like you."
"I do not."
"Don’t worry, I won’t make a move. I have high standards."
Lucian chuckled. Once again, the Desire-class woman laughed. At this point, Lucian felt like she was laughing purposefully to annoy Pride so he would attack him.
Lucian stared at her for a moment, then his gaze moved towards the Greed-class woman.
"And you?"
"What about me?"
She smiled.
"Do you actually sense valuable things, or were you only judging everyone’s equipment?"
"Both."
That made Lucian laugh.
The woman continued—
"Greed blood reacts to possession."
"Money?"
"Not just money, Artifacts, weapons, rare materials, anything with value."
"Can you tell what something is worth?"
"Sometimes."
"Can you tell whether someone is lying about what they own?"
That question made her smile.
"Usually."
"That is interesting."
Lucian’s grin widened.
That was when the broad man carrying Gluttony blood tore open his ration pack.
"Really? You couldn’t wait any longer?"
Lucian stared at him with flat eyes.
"I was hungry."
The man shrugged.
"You ate ten minutes ago."
"I am still hungry."
Lucian couldn’t believe it.
"Can someone confirm whether Gluttony blood actually gives him abilities, or whether the Enclave simply recruited a large man with no self-control?"
"It lets me absorb energy through consumption."
The man swallowed.
"What type of energy?"
Lucian raised an eyebrow.
"Any type. I can then convert it into my own, food, blood, enchanted materials, sometimes I can even absorb energy from weak attacks and refill my reserves."
The man explained and Lucian stared at him in surprise.
"That is actually useful."
"Very."
The man smiled proudly.
Lucian then turned towards the quiet Sloth-class man.
"And Sloth?"
"I knew you would ask."
The young man sighed.
"You don’t like being questioned?"
"Don’t you think it’s wasteful? Questioning and answering, it’s not like you’ll be marrying me."
"I don’t know, you seem different from him."
Lucian momentarily stared at Pride before his gaze returned to Sloth.
"I might consider it."
Sloth stared at him, Lucian only grinned.
"So what does your power do?"
"Stores effort."
The man answered and then—
He closed his eyes again.
Lucian patiently waited for a further explanation, but the man didn’t say anything else. That made Lucian turn to the Desire-class woman.
"Do I consider this a sign that he doesn’t want to marry me? Or was that a yes?"
The woman laughed.
The Envy-class woman snorted, not liking how Lucian seemed to be paying more attention to the Demon-class woman than her, so she started explaining.
"He can remain inactive for hours and store physical and demonic energy."
"What does he do after storing it?"
Lucian asked curiously.
"One movement."
The man answered without opening his eyes.
"All the stored force is released at once."
"So the longer you do nothing, the more dangerous you become."
Lucian’s eyes shimmered with interest.
"Yes."
"That may be the greatest power I have ever heard of."
"I know, right?"
The Envy-class woman saw Lucian smile and snorted again.
"It only works if he survives long enough to use it."
The Sloth-class man didn’t react to her words.
He didn’t care.
’Chill guy...’
Lucian couldn’t help but remember that bear, or whatever that thing with its hands in its pockets was.
Then he focused on the Envy-class woman and—
"I know about you."
He smiled.
"You do...?"
The woman’s eyes shone.
Was he paying attention to her all this while?
"Envy blood lets you steal abilities."
"Yes."
She smiled.
"Envy reacts to differences. Meaning that if someone near me is faster, stronger, or more skilled in a certain way, my blood helps me imitate part of it."
"That’s... powerful."
Lucian was surprised.
He knew how Envy Demons worked, he had read about it all, but still, when someone with that power explained it, it was more interesting.
But then—
"She copies fragments."
The Pride-class man snorted.
Envy stared at him and—
"My ability only works when I am around exceptional people, so you have nothing to worry about."