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Chapter 14: Useless trait

He saw Luna and the cute girl struggling to kill the cryptid they had caught, he also took notice of Shaker's bitter reaction when he realized that Uriel had received his trait. Shaker's face distorted, but it was too late, There was nothing he could do now to impede him from acquiring a trait.

The light that came from the corpse of the horned rabbit fizzled out, the power surge ended and Uriel was... disappointed.

He didn't feel any stronger or faster, in fact, after tasting the slow motion effect everything seemed to happen too fast for his liking. He was left in a daze while horned rabbits took the chance to attack him from all sides bruising him up.

He had heard that once someone gets their trait they would instinctively know how to use it or feel the change, but Uriel couldn't figure out the nature of his trait. If anything, the only positive effect he could feel was that he wasn't so tired anymore and the damage he suffered from the crytpid's onslaught was minimal. This was nice, but not nearly as good as he expected.

Thanks to their team effort, the girls took down three horned rabbits and both of them were able to to get their traits.

After experiencing something quite similar to what Uriel had just gone through, their bodies changed in a noticeable way. Uriel could see how Luna's usually droopy eyes were now wide open, her hair that was of a dark color was now ashen white. The pretty girl's change was even more astounding, she became a bit taller and her eyes turned red and bright.

"Is it over?" The pretty girl asked.

Luna was still trying to make sense of her trait, but there was a faint smile on her face hinting that she was quite satisfied with the result, at that moment the first light of day hit her, complimenting her soothing face.

Now the group was finally safe, during day time cryptids weren't as big of a threat as they were during the night. This allowed Uriel to scan his surroundings, he was finally able to see the small creek nearby.

It was the first time for him to see a natural source of water, he was deeply amazed at the sound it made and the small pebbles on its bottom. He was born and raised within city walls and never had the chance to venture out in the wilderness, a fate that most people born after the arrival of the cryptids shared, including the rest of their group.

"Is it safe to... you know... put our feet in the water?" The pretty girl asked hesitantly, to which Shaker replied by pushing Uriel onto the creek. The poor student fell hands first on the shallow water and got completely wet and muddy.

"Why did you do something like that!?" The cute girl said angrily. She didn't like Shaker one bit and she felt she owed Uriel big time. Shaker simply laughed as he took off his boots and placed his feet on the water, but the girl wasn't willing to let it go.

"Apologize right now or..."

"Or what?" Shaker said, daring the girl to take action.

The girl's eyes gleamed brightly and she looked at the man straight into the eyes. Shaker returned the look with an arrogant face and stared directly onto her red eyes for a few seconds, until he was unable to hold it anymore. There was something deeply unsettling in her glare, something that tickled his inner most fears and worries.

"Fine, I'm sorry, It just seemed like something fun to do but I didn't think it'd be a big deal." Much to everyone's surprise he apologized honestly and even helped Uriel to get back on his feet.

The group spent a short while enjoying themselves, feeling much relief with their sore feet submerged under the clear water of the creek and basking in the sun like cats. It was as if their wounds and bruises became less painful, their bodies less tired and their minds more clear.

Uriel thought for a brief second that the creek had some sort of healing effect, but his rationality quickly kicked in. 'Magical thinking is but the first stage of religious beliefs' he remembered what he read in an old anthropology book. Believing that a natural source of water had magical abilities was beyond scientific thought and the explanation was much more simple than that as usual.

Their traits allowed them to recover much faster than before. While it was true that Uriel didn't know the extent of the changes within his body, he now was certain that he did acquire a trait.

'It's not about whether I have a trait or not, but if I am able to tap on its power. I need to find out what am I capable of now.'

Extending his arms in front of him, Uriel focused his mind on feeling every inch of his body. By thinking back on how he felt when he was surrounded by the strange light he was able to identify some sort of energy coursing through his body, only a thousand times weaker than before.

"AHHH!" Uriel shouted startling the rest of the group.

"Uh- What are you doing?" Luna asked.

"I'm trying to activate my trait."

"It doesn't work like that. You either know how to or you simply don't have a trait." The cute girl explained. "For instance, I somehow know what I can do now. My eyes, they feel different, it's like they're burning hot but it's not painful or bothersome and, judging by how Shaker reacted, I'm willing to bet that it makes people scared." She whispered the last part to keep Shaker from hearing her.

"Can you try it on me?" Luna asked curiously.

"Are you sure?" She glanced at Shaker, who was still affected by her trait. He was at a distance brooding in silence. "I don't think it'll be pleasant"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Luna was so relaxed all the time, even in the face of danger it was almost as if nothing worried her. She somewhat reminded him of Cassandra, the girl who always came last during Captain Silvermane's lessons.

When the cute girl stared at Luna she didn't seem to be affected. Instead of fear, her curiosity was piqued.

"This is interesting. Have you heard about the uncanny valley theory?" She dragged her words as always. Despite knowing that it was likely that she would start explaining in her annoying manner of speech, both Uriel and the cute girl shook their heads prompting her to speak.

"Have you noticed how whenever you look at something that resembles a human but it's not human, you get this eerie feeling? It gets to a point where it's so unsettling that people's heart begin to race just by looking at pictures. People with deformities, animals behaving like humans, things like that.

"A fear so primal could only be explained if at some point in human history all of humanity was hunted by something similar to humans, but not quite human. It's the same fear that prey animals experience when facing predators, it's so strong that some of those prey animals can't withstand it and their heart just gives up. When you used your trait on me, I felt something of the sorts, I can't really explain it any better."

Uriel didn't know about that girl's trait because he didn't experience it himself, but he had to admit that Luna's theory actually made sense. There was a lot of archaeological evidence that could back it up, like the therianthropes in ancient Egypt and many other cultures where they worshiped creatures that were similar to humans but also to animals.

He would have loved to talk about that with Luna and he was starting to actually believe that cryptozoology may as well be considered true science now, but this wasn't the time for that.

"That can't be it, I must have a trait, you all saw the light surrounding me!"

"We can't be sure until they measure your power. I've heard the army has a device that allows them to measure the exact amount of energy a person has, that's an indicator of how strong they are. But of course, some traits are more useful or powerful than others by themselves." The pretty girl said. "Anyway, if it wasn't for you we would have been dead already. I've been practicing martial arts since I was a child, but when those things came at us I froze. Even if you don't have a trait, you have a good head over your shoulders and I think that's even better."