Chapter 422: Shift Technique
On top of one of the tall buildings, it was still nighttime in the city and it had been a couple of minutes since Ralph got into the black car.
Four figures dropped down on the rooftop of the fifteen-story building, resulting in heavy sounds being produced.
"Mum, I can fly on my own now, you don’t need to hold me," A little girl, probably more than two years old, spoke up.
She had a cute round face with big eyes that made her look absolutely adorable. Her hair was curly black and shone under the stars like the surface of an oily thorny bush.
Chloe shook her head, "I know that, I just don’t want you to stray too far away from me, that’s all,"
Chloe still had her daughter’s hand held in hers. Looking at the bright lights from the tall buildings and street lights.
This place was magical to her, not a single trace of aura from a powerful being but that’s what made this place strange. The power of this place didn’t lie in the individual, it lay in the collective.
It was like the cars, the humans, the lights, they were all microorganisms that made up the body of a powerful entity, and the so-called Internet, was the brain.
"You’re Highness, where should we start," One of the last two figures asked.
They were both vultures in their humanoid forms, where their arms were supposed to be, replaced with black wings.
"We’re waiting for N’bayé and Priya to decipher my technique and send it to everyone," Chloe said.
Just as she said that, Chloe’s daughter and the two humanoid vultures received streams of spirit information. They blinked their eyes rapidly, coming to terms with the nature of the technique.
It was a limiting technique, almost like the limit seal, almost.
The main purpose of the technique was to hide their beastly features like the ears, tails, and the rest. This technique was meant to make them look more...human.
It was limited though as it was very dependent on the correct definition of what was considered beastly features.
For the lions, they were merely hiding their ears and tail, for the vultures, they had to hide a lot less but more distinct features that could give them away.
This technique was not created with humans in mind as it wasn’t trying to copy what humans looked like, that was just a coincidence.
Unlike the limit seal which did its own thing naturally, this shift technique didn’t really limit their powers, rather, it constantly consumed a little bit of energy to be maintained.
Their auras would also be suppressed, allowing them to move around amongst normal creatures without scaring them.
The thing about this technique was that it didn’t only apply to humanoid forms. If one of the vultures used the technique in their true form, they would immediately shrink and begin to look like a regular vulture.
Although the humanoid form version didn’t take away from their strength, this true form version also didn’t take away their strength.
All it made them do was suppress their aura and look very ordinary.
It was the same for lions, bears, wolves, and any other creature. The technique was double-sided and meant to allow them to blend in with the ’ordinary’ folks.
Ordinary folks were weak and most of them were not even as strong as a tier 2 lion.
Chloe had had this technique since before the expedition, but she never really used it much. The majority of lions knew of the technique, but they just didn’t see the need to use it.
It was better than the limit seal as they didn’t have to lose their powers to look ordinary.
After they all familiarized themselves with the modified version of the technique that Priya had just sent them, they put it into practice immediately.
Chloe didn’t have trouble doing it as she had done it many times in the past. Her black wings shrank into her back, her tail melted into her waist and her ears shifted to form human-like ears.
The ears were not perfect as they were a bit sharp and pushed back. But most would not notice it.
Her eyes were still a striking hazel and her fangs didn’t disappear. She just had to control the way she smiled and no one would notice.
Besides that, she was just like a tall young woman with dark brown skin and an intense gaze.
Her little daughter, smarter than any so-called human child her age, had already completed her own transformation.
Her white wings, tail, and ears disappeared.
Her hazel eyes were still as intense as her mother’s.
Not just them, the vultures who had finished their transformations as well also had those intense gazes.
It would take a while for them to fully adjust their looks so as not to scare off anyone.
"Now that that’s done..." Chloe began to look around, "We probably shouldn’t have landed her,"
They had already kept their wings.
"Mum, let’s jump!" The little girl asked, already rushing to the edge of the building.
Luckily, Chloe had a strong grip, if not, this girl would have actually jumped.
At most, she would suffer some injuries, but they were injuries nonetheless.
*DING!*
The sound of an elevator door opening reached their sensitive ears from behind them.
They all turned around, curious. Behold, a strange-looking elevator machine, and next to it was a flight of stairs going down.
The doors of the elevator slid into the side to reveal a middle-aged human male dressed in blue overalls and holding some strange equipment.
He had a mop stick, a duster, a broom, and a big trash box rolled in wheels behind him.
This was a janitor.
"How convenient," Chloe smiled, "Let’s go," She commanded.
The two vulture men, now looking like sketchy men in all black suits, nodded and followed.
"Hey, who are you?" The janitor asked with a frown. It was late at night and all the people in this building should have gone home by now.
The only people still in the building were the managers, janitors, and security personnel.
The janitor was naturally surprised to see this group of people on the roof.
It’s not like it was wrong for anyone to be here, just that it was late and a bit sketchy.
There was a tall woman with an intense gaze staring at him along with two tall men dressed in black suits. And there was also the little girl.
The janitor looked to the side to see a camera with a red light flashing occasionally.
He sighed, knowing that those in the security room were probably seeing this as well.
*BAM!*
The janitor made the mistake of looking away. These people walked fast, really fast. Before anyone knew it, they had reached the entrance of the elevator.
That loud sound was due to the janitor’s body slamming into the inner wall of the elevator after one of the men hit him.
For a brief moment, the janitor truly felt like he was flying. It was as if he had been hit by a moving car. His head hit the strong metal wall and he passed out.
"So weak," The vulture man said with disdain coloring his face. He had merely tried to push the man to step out of the way for Her Highness. He didn’t expect that he would be so weak that that ’small’ push would take him off his feet.
The vulture man himself was at a power level between tier 3 and tier 4, so he was quite strong physically.
What was considered normal strength for him was still a high bar for these ordinary beings.
"Ah, he’s sleeping," The little girl said, also surprised.
"No Dorothy, he’s weak," Chloe said indifferently.
They all stepped into the elevator, oblivious to the camera pointed straight at them.
Chloe looked at the series of buttons with symbols on them.
"This should go to the last floor," Chloe said as she pressed the last button.
The sound of gears and wires turning could be heard as the elevator descended.
"We should be receiving Priya’s language input any moment from now," Chloe muttered.
Without a language model, they wouldn’t be able to communicate or understand the inhabitants of the world effectively.
"Your Highness, a few lifeforms are waiting for us down below," One of the vulture men said as he narrowed his eyes.
He was a fire vulture and could clearly see heat signals coming from the humans gathering below.
"I know," Chloe narrowed her eyes. Her wind powers were intricately wrapped around the whole building.
As a tier 4 lioness, she could easily crush this while building with just a simple thought. It wouldn’t be hard for her.
But then that would attract a lot of attention and alarm their target, wherever he was.
"*Sigh* so annoying," Chloe sighed, "How did they even notice? I thought they didn’t have strong sensory abilities?"
Dorothy’s eyes shone with interest, "Auntie N’bayé said they have technology...
Mum, what is technology?"
The two vulture men took a breath in, readying themselves and monitoring their killing intent.
Chloe smiled, "We’re about to find out,"