"I also seem to be able to tear apart a small part of space to teleport."
"Teleport?" Ray muttered, raising his brows.
"Yeah, but it has many limitations. It's not very convenient to use; it takes time to open, and the location has to be vividly recorded in my memory. If I forget the exact details of the place, I won't be able to reach it."
"Show me."
"Alright." Yuna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After two minutes, she lightly swiped her hand.
Reality seemed to crumble in an instant, like a rock shattering glass, as a small pocket-sized hole appeared before Ray's eyes.
"This... this... isn't it a little small?"
"Yeah, with my current mutation energy , I can only make it this big," Yuna admitted.
The hole, as if reality itself had been broken, lasted only a few seconds before it closed, and reality seemed to mend itself.
"Oh," Ray nodded, realising that Yuna had only one energy mutation.
It was a wonder she was even able to activate her skill with just a single mutation energy.
"Yuna, I want to share my genes with you."
"Eh?" Yuna immediately became flustered. "Didn't we already do that..."
"Idiot," Ray flicked her forehead. "I mean, one of my abilities allows us to share our genes. I can gain your abilities, and you can also get a portion of my power. It'll increase our chances of escaping or even destroying them."
"Oww… oh," Yuna rubbed her forehead. "How many abilities do you have?" Her eyes were filled with confusion.
"Countless," Ray said mysteriously. "It's actually ten," he muttered to himself.
"Woah," Yuna's mouth opened in astonishment.
She didn't question how he had so many abilities but felt happy, knowing that if he wasn't strong enough, protecting them all would be impossible.
"Let's bond, then."
"How do I do that?"
"Just hug me tightly."
"Like this?" Yuna hugged him, her soft skin seeming to melt into his body.
Ray hugged her tighter. "Alright, this will do." Actually, just holding hands would have sufficed, but why settle for that?
The mutation energy in Ray's body rapidly began to dissipate, circulating instinctively as a blinding green light filled the room, enveloping everything with the faint shadow of two figures at the source of the glow.
Ray felt a warm sensation that made his heart instinctively happy.
At the same time, as his mutation energy rapidly drained, he sensed subtle changes in his surroundings despite the overwhelming green light covering everything.
This process lasted for five minutes.
As the last of his mutation energy was nearly depleted, the blinding green light began to fade, and everything returned to normal.
"Sigh, I thought the mutation energy might not be enough," Ray heaved a sigh of relief.
He could feel that his perception of the surroundings had shifted slightly, and he now had access to an independent space that only he could enter.
"Status."
[Gene Synchronisation: Yuna - Space Mastery (Time: 46:21)]
The first thing he noticed made him raise his eyebrows.
The duration of the bond, which ranged from ten minutes to an hour, depended on the strength of the connection between them, and this was quite close to the maximum time.
"I didn't expect our bond to be so strong," Ray muttered while looking at Yuna.
"Is it done, Ray?" Yuna asked, looking at her hand and tightening it, causing the surrounding air to slightly quake. "I feel so much stronger now, like I'm invincible."
"Of course, that's just a portion of my power. Don't underestimate it."
"Just a portion of your power can cause such a change?" Yuna looked at Ray with reverence in her eyes.
"Yeah, and this power will only increase in the future. Don't worry," Ray smiled, gently rubbing her head.
He, too, had gained a portion of her power, though aside from the S-class skill, the rest of the stats were almost negligible.
"Let's move now. The boost will only last for about 45 minutes, and then everything will return to normal. You'll also feel a period of weakness afterward."
"Alright," Yuna nodded obediently.
The wind howled softly as the red hue from the moon bathed the small city in an eerie glow.
In the dead silence of the city, broken only by the occasional sounds of the undead, several shadowy figures cautiously made their way out of the city. Their eyes darted around, filled with vigilance, worry, and tension.
"Can we really escape, Ray?" Vanessa asked, her voice tinged with nervousness as she tightened her grip on Ray's sleeve.
"Don't worry, it's fine," Ray reassured her in his calm tone. "I will protect you."
As he said this, he wrapped his free hand around her slim waist, pulling her close and letting her rest on his left shoulder.
"Argh," Vanessa yelped softly but quickly began to relax, leaning into him as a sense of warmth and safety replaced her fear.
"Hmph," Freya pouted, jealousy evident in her eyes as she watched them.
"Hey, Ray, I'm also terrified," she said, her voice dripping with playful exaggeration.
"..." Ray looked at her speechlessly.
With Vanessa on his left shoulder and Yuna on his right, he couldn't help but wonder where Freya thought she would fit in.
This was one of the downsides of having so many women; no matter how capable he was of handling them individually or even in pairs, two hands couldn't manage more than two hundred.
Unless, of course, he could grow more arms in the future.
"Hmm, can I?" Ray pondered sincerely, his post-nut clarity sharpening his thoughts.
Soon, they reached the military's encirclement, hiding in the last building that separated them from the enemy forces.
"You all stay here. I'll go meet them," Ray instructed the women.
"I'll come too, Ray," Evelyn said, stepping forward.
"Sure," Ray nodded.
"I will—"
"You and Vanessa should stay here to protect the others," Ray interrupted, looking at Yuna with a stern expression before walking off with Evelyn.
"Are you prepared?" he asked as they neared the meeting point.
"Don't worry, boss. We've got some guns, and our boys are all set," Greg replied, a small ball of fire manifesting in his hand as he spoke.
"Hmm," Ray muttered, squinting as he surveyed the soldiers stretched out before him, extending as far as the eye could see.