Empathic Mimicry: Copying Apocalypse's Powers

At a village, it was the morning but all of the habitants were awake and working, everyone was plowing their fields in plans to have a bountiful harvest for the next season.

In between the villagers plowing the fields was Raciel, he arrived at this village 7 days ago. After he accepted the mission he was teleported to a space close to this village.

Raciel wanted to head towards a city to understand the state of this country, the state of the Barbarians, and how they have been attacking.

So Raciel headed towards the village to ask for direction and made up the story that he was lost and needed direction to a nearby city.

When he asked, the Village Chief who happened to be there at the time told him that none of them knew where the city was because people from the city never come towards this part, not even the guards.

What they did know is that every month or so a caravan always passed towards these parts to to sell them stuff they may need and also to replenish their food and merchandise.

The Village Chief told him that if Raciel wanted he could stay in this village until the caravan arrived and he could then ask them for a ride towards the city.

Raciel accepted the offer knowing that there was only one more week before the caravan arrived at their village to sell and restock.

The Village Chief offered a place to stay and sleep meanwhile he waited, but Raciel didn't want to stay without doing anything so he offered to help the villagers with anything they needed.

The Village Chief accepted his offer and Raciel since then has been helping the villagers with chores like plowing the fields, chopping wood, taking care of the livestock, helping with house renovations, etc.

Throughout this week Raciel has been working nonstop and by having Logan's Healing Factor active his body shape has changed from the normal non-muscular to a more muscular and sharp look.

All of Raciel's muscles weren't big or exaggerated but they were full, they were carved by the gods. The sweat that fell from Raciel's head made his abdominal muscles look more godly and tempting.

"Ahh!" With the last swing of his plowing tool, Raciel finally finished plowing the last part.

This was the last chore he needed to do for the day, with Logan's ability he has inexhaustible stamina and all wounds heal instantly including muscle rupturing. This in turn helps with the growth of muscle in Raciel, that's why what took a full year of work was obtained in a week's worth with only non-stop work.

Having finished the last chore for the day Raciel grabbed his tool and took it towards where he was living at the moment. He decided to rest for the moment knowing that today a caravan of merchants are supposed to stop by here.

Raciel put his plow inside the door and then grabbed a chair from inside and sat outside the house to wait for the Caravan.

Although Raciel was sitting down and doing nothing, that wasn't completely true because he was at the same time using Apocalypse's Matter Manipulation. In his hand, there was a rock and he started to change the composition of the rock from a normal rock to sand then metal, and after other materials like carbon or diamond.

This training let Raciel familiarize himself with the control of the ability of Matter Manipulation, now Raciel can turn other matter into any other element as long as he thinks about it.

The only downside is that to turn one material into another the size of said material can not be too big. If the material is too big the action of changing and rearranging its atoms will make the object atoms collapse turning it into none functional matter.

The ability's name may be Matter Manipulation but that doesn't mean that he can control all matter to his will—Not yet. As for the reason why he doesn't use the ability on any functional matter to turn it back to a material, well the answer is simple he cannot control and manipulate matter or atoms themselves.

If he had the ability of atom manipulation or Atom Control then doing said complex action would be like a walk in the park for Raciel but he doesn't have that ability.

If Raciel had trained his telekinesis to an astronomical level, he could have controlled and manipulated the atoms using telekinesis, but he can't now.

Raciel kept practicing by turning the stone into other forms of matter with his eyes closed until he heard house hooves.

Raciel wasn't the only one to hear the hooves of the horses, the rest of the village heard the same thing.

When the villagers heard the horses everyone was clamoring—excited that the merchant caravan had come.

Now they have a chance to buy everything they need from the merchants.

"They are here!"

"I wonder what else they brought. They always bring luxury stuff."

"I have been waiting since last week to buy from them."

Raciel could hear the excitement in their voices so not wanting to disturb them he decided to wait for the villagers to finish buying what they wanted, then he could ask the merchants if they could take him towards the closest city.

Going inside the room, Raciel put his shirt back, and then from the corner of this house opened a blanket that was full of stones.

He grabbed two at random and put them in his pocket, afterwards, he looked at the rest of the stones and then turned all of them into gold.

There were 7 stones in total and each of the stones was approximately 1 to 2 cm in radios. The stones didn't have stone or circular surfaces because that would make them look weird but all had uneven surfaces.

After turning all those stones into gold, he put the blanket together with the gold on top of the bed. He didn't forget to close the blanket and make a knot to safeguard the gold until he left.

All those stones turned to gold are for the villagers, although he worked with the villagers during his stay Raciel was still grateful that they let him stay regardless. The gold is the gift he will leave them to take him.

After giving the room a little clean Raciel made sure that everything was on him and left after closing the door. On Raciel there was nothing besides the two stones in his pockets and you may also be wondering what happened with the katana blade he had when he accepted this mission.

Well, the answer is simple after he arrives at the vicinity of the village he doesn't want to scare the villagers by having a weapon on him, so using Magneto's power he divides the katana into 6 parts.

He made two of those parts into bracelets and the other two into anklets, as for the rest of the metal, he made it into a small knife that he could hide.

The moment that he needs it he could use once again Magneto's power and also Matter Manipulation to put them back and sharpen it. The only thing that Raciel hasn't been able to do is to find a material good enough to make a handle, he could also ask a Blacksmith to make a handle for him but he needed a Blacksmith for that.

Raciel plans to find one if he cannot find good enough material but that's for the future not for now.

After all the villagers have finished buying whatever they need and also the merchants have finally replenished their goods Raciel decides to ask.

"Excuse me!" Raciel said to the merchant supervising the rest and putting the goods in the carriage.

"If you are looking to buy something you're late, we already sold everything we had." Said the merchant.

"No, No! I don't want to buy anything. My purpose is something else."

"Oh! So, then what's your purpose?" Asked the merchant intrigue.

"I need your help to reach the city. You see while I was traveling I got lost and after looking for a few days I found this village and they told me that only you knew where the closest city was." Explain Raciel.

He then took one of the stones in his pocket which had already turned into gold long ago.

Raciel then grabbed the hand of the Merchant and then sneakily put the golf nugget in his hand.

When Raciel grabbed the hand of the merchant, he was weirded out by Raciel's sudden action. Moreover, he was even more confused when he felt Raciel put something on his hand.

"I will not be a passager without any compensation!" Said Raciel after signaling at the hand of the Merchant.

After the Merchant saw the gold nugget, he was so shocked that he almost yelled but then he covered his mouth, shut up, and looked at Raciel in surprise.

"After I arrive at the city there will be another one as thanks for the trouble." Said when the merchant looked at him after seeing the gold.

The Merchant hearing this stayed quiet for a moment, thinking for a bit.

"Alright, I will talk with the rest and let them know. I will send someone to you when we'll leave." Said the merchant after thinking about it for a bit.

"Many thanks, Sir." Raciel said sincerely.

After that, Raciel just turned away and left the caravan towards the Village chief. He was going to give him his thanks and also said goodbye.

By the time he was called by one of the merchants, it was after one hour and a half, that Raciel then boarded the carriage and left together with the merchant group.

Time went by fast it was almost night and there wasn't the sight of the city yet, it would take maybe a few more days.

This day wasn't wasted for nothing because while riding with the merchant group Raciel learned a little bit about the situation of the Barbarians.

The war between the Kingdom and the Barbarians has been going on for about 7 years.

It all started 7 years ago in the Kingdom of Goguryeo, one of its war ministers found a Tribe of indigenous people far and deep on the east side of the Kingdom.

This place's dirt was unfit for the growth of crops by the Kingdom so it was chosen to be explored by the king in search of minerals or other natural resources that could help grow the Kingdom in strength and prosperity.

When the Minister of War sent scouts to this place they found indigenous people living in those terrains even though the growth of crops was almost impossible.

The scouts returned and told the Minister of War all of the findings including the Indigenous people.

The Minister of War saw a possible future with those Indigenous people after all even in those types of terrains they were still strong and tall.

The Minister of War thought that if they could enslave all of those people they could have a strong Militia for future threats to the Kingdom, so he sent 150 people to enslave the Indigenous people.

When the troops arrived they did not even accomplish that after being attacked by the Indigenous people, they ended up massacring those indigenous people in retaliation.

What they didn't know at that time was that the Tribe was one of the many tribes that were living in the area and that they had a King among them.

When the king learned of the massacre of his people he was enraged and he ordered all of the tribes and their warriors to find and kill those responsible for the death of that tribe and that's what they did.

The Indigenous people found the one responsible for the massacre of the tribe and with one combined sneak attack, they destroyed a city of the kingdom. When the King of Goguryeo learned of these he was so furious that he called those Indigenous people "Barbarians".

That was how they have been named ever since, the worst part is that the Barbarians have a rule they will kill until they destroy the one who did them bad.

They also were surprised at the lands that the Kingdom held and how fertile they were so they decided to invade this land and take them for themselves while avenging their people.

Just like that for 7 years the Barbarians and the Goguryeo Kingdom have been fighting back. The Barbarians for revenge and to occupy those land and the Kingdom to take back the face the lost due to the destruction of the city.

Neither the King of Goruryeo nor the King of the Barbarians has the to settle this dispute.

Due to the Barbarians' superior physical prowess, the Kingdom lost five cities to them in those seven years. The barbarians are practically unstoppable for the army of the Kingdom because of their incredible physical strength and endurance.

The Kingdom has only been able to repel some of the attacks on other cities but they still suffer losses due to the Barbarian's physic. With that amount of damage, they have been going from the stable Kingdom of Goguryeo to a poor one.

The people of the Kingdom haven't had a good harvest for 5 years due to the war, and many men and fathers have been taken to fill the ranks of their army to not be seen ever again.

That is how the war between the Barbarians and the Kingdom has been going on there are no signs of a stop for this war.

Thanks to the talk between the merchants Raciel at least knew why the war started and how they were facing this war.

While thinking about how he was going to accomplish his mission, Raciel noticed that for a while now he has been feeling a killing Intent.

So he started to look around on the outside to find the source of it. Raciel notices this killing intent because of Logan's healing factor due to the rapid and almost never-ending healing all of his senses are heightened to an incredible degree.

That's why he was able to notice the killing intent, what's more, Raciel also noticed that he not only is able to mimic the ability of others but also their weaknesses of some sort.

Like Logan due to his healing factor all of his senses are heightened, this is a side effect of his mutation including his bone claws. Raciel felt that if he thought about it he would be able to take out the same bone claws from his knuckles like Logan.

All this was just a conjecture and Raciel didn't want to see if this was right so he didn't try it for that reason, but he decided to keep that in mind.

Raciel also decided to try later because he was afraid of the pain if he ever tried to extend the bone claws like Logan, after all, he doesn't have the same willpower as him and he hasn't lived as long as him.

Using his heightened senses Raciel started to search for the responsible. He didn't want to stay idle because this would mean that if they got attacked it would make their trip longer.

After a while Raciel noticed where the source of the Killing Intent came from and this confused him. At that exact moment, the Carriage stopped.

"Everyone prepare, we will rest here for the day! Start Preparing the camp and the fire!" Said the driver.