Strength.

'Strength is enough to overcome any obstacles.'

Was that really true? Varian believed so at times, but there were also times he thought it was incomplete.

Perhaps it was the wrong perception about how strength was perceived.

It wasn't just one's own strength. It was the complete power one could project, after exhausting every possible means.

So, when he found his strength to be lacking to fight off the high level 7s, Varian's first thought wasn't to grind.

That was stupid for multiple reasons.

Each sub-level in high awakeners had a large difference. Even for him, it'd take a significant amount of time to hit the strength of a high level 7.

But even then, he'd only be able to fight some of the weaker ones. He wouldn't be able to defeat the strong high level 7s, forget peak level 7, who were the actual obstacles to the key.

That's why he picked another way. It was a bit hard, and might not work, but if it did, it could solve a lot of problems.

He stood still in one of the desolate places in the thirty-fifth-mile radius. He already searched his surroundings and made sure he was far away from the princes and princesses.

Without any worry, he tapped his legs on the surface and kept waiting.

The surface of the lake was sky blue. It was no different from any water surface, except that it acted like a solid.

At least from the outside. That nature prevented anyone from diving into the lake.

But from the inside, the lake's surface sure wasn't solid.

Kacha!

The lake's sky blue surface in the distance shook and a crack appeared in the perfect blue and that crack gave a glimpse of the darker blue water inside the lake.

Bam!

Two scaled hands gripped the edge of the cracked surface and pushed upward.

A merman appeared in front of Varian and growled at him.

Varian wasn't surprised. This was normal in any part of the lake. Mermans just kept appearing and confronting the humans.

Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!

Three more cracking sounds resounded and with the sound of wind whistling, three more mermen stood behind the first merman.

They all looked at him with green eyes and hissed.

Varian hissed back, trying to imitate them.

His current form was also that of a merman. His aura and even his actions resembled them.

Not even the brightest human prince he encountered had any doubt regarding his merman identity.

That was how perfect his disguise was.

So, why…?

"Roar!"

The leading merman roared and the three mermen behind it followed its order.

Water dragons flew into the air and green vines spread out on the ground. Simultaneously, the space around Varian was locked off and the gravity on him rose multi-fold.

"Where did I give it away?" Varian cursed and broke the space lock. With ease, he teleported out of the attacks and looked at the mermen again.

'How are they able to me apart?' Varian thought hard.

Perhaps, his disguise wasn't perfect. It was good enough for humans, but not for the mermen.

He could be missing a piece.

'The only way to know is to keep trying.' Varian's body flashed and he kicked the ground.

Whoosh!

Boom! Boom!

It was a foregone fight.

In a few minutes, Varian decimated the mermen force.

But instead of killing them, he left them alive with serious injuries.

Then, he began to examine the differences between his disguised form and the original mermen.

'Each species has a way.' Varian's mental sense ran through the body of the merman, analyzing each and every single part.

A way to tell their own from others.

"Boo, make a list of recognition patter—"

Varian paused abruptly and closed his eyes.

He forgot.

No. He had been trying to forget. At least temporarily.

Even though he tried to avoid it, his mental sense flowed into the ghost ship.

It was still frozen. The holographic graphs in the command room were frozen as if someone paused its time.

In the same room was Boo.

Rubbing its chin, it was looking at one of the graphs.

It was a cute picture…

If only Boo wasn't frozen.

Varian pushed down his worries and turned his attention back to the mermen.

One by one, he crossed out the possibilities.

Sight.

"I look the same as them. Down to the scales."

Words.

"They don't have any language. But they do have different sounds that signal their intent. Battle Cry. Anger. Sadness. Hmm, I should learn and replicate these.

But this can't be a reason that my disguise isn't successful. They attacked me even before I made any sound."

Aura.

"The feeling my aura give is the same as theirs."

Smell.

"Hm…but I can't smell anything different."

Varian focused his senses and checked if there was any special scent coming from the mermen.

It stuck to him that the fish used smell as their main sense. It was made possible by…

Varian rubbed his forehead and tried to remember the information he studied during his early years.

Normally, he'd have never recalled it. But thanks to his psychic power, he remembered it in a second.

"Pheromones!"

Pheromones were special chemicals that a creature releases out of its body. They play a major part in communication.

For instance, ants release a special chemical to alert their species of any incoming threat.

"Fuck! I totally forgot about them!" Varian slapped his forehead.

Their role in the human race wasn't very pronounced, so him forgetting their existence wasn't weird.

"What sort of pheromone do they release?" Varian spread his mental sense along with all other senses to check.

He quickly found a weird substance being released out of the merman's skin. It was colorless, and had no smell, but it was definitely there.

This substance was then absorbed by another merman through its scales. The scales had a very slight movement in response.

Varian followed the nerve connections through the scales and confirmed that it was indeed an identification pheromone.

"Well, well…" His face glowed brighter than disco lights and he reached for the mermen's bodies.

Pheromones were near the right chest of the mermen. All he needed to do was—

Ka!

"Thanks for the pheromones."

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