Emperor Jagang

Matt brought more water to the lab while using his new ability to make sure no one saw him entering. Martha had since woken and was practicing walking again. Matt poured out the four liters of water into the feeding dish and started to create a connection with Martha with telepathy. While he was concentrating on that, Martha absorbed half the water through her paws and then laid down lazily. Matt finally formed the connection after ten minutes, taking much less time than before.

{I have to leave you alone here, is that okay?}

Martha shook her body once. It was normal that she didn't understand any of the mannerisms of humans. Matt planned to teach her various things to make their communication easier. Matt made sure to lock the door. The W logo spun around on the keypad before disappearing and returning to the normal image. Matt sighed in relief knowing that Willard had followed through. He was afraid that his Hypnosis would wear off. It hadn't yet, but he wouldn't get too reliant on it.

The whole ordeal had taken a very long time. When Matt turned on his personal device, he saw that it was almost dinner. With his now maxed DNA absorption, he should get three or four points from a steak. This was a great motivator for his plan later that night. Although he got a huge windfall from Martha's membrane, Matt already put this plan in motion so he wouldn't give up on more points.

When he arrived at the café, it was packed. There was a long line weaving between the tables going around, along the wall of the café. When Matt entered, Alexis leaned to the side in the middle of the line and called him over. Since she was a high rank, he wouldn't be polite and simply took the spot. He didn't care if anyone complained anyway. Once he stepped in line there were some grunts of annoyance but no one voiced their opinion.

"What's up Lexi, why is there such a long line?"

"Because of the emergency earlier in the Botany labs, everyone is receiving some antirad medication. It's just standard procedure. Are you okay? I know you went to Dr. Bradshaw's lab today."

"Yeah, I left before the alarms went off."

"That's good. Oh, I got to see my personal combat suit today. It's really incredible."

"Are you allowed to talk about that?"

"Psh, its fine. Who is going to steal technology now that we're so far from earth?"

"Oh, then please do tell all the details."

"My suit is called 'Space Marine.' It has the ability to move through zero- to low-gravity regions with ease. Since most of the functions are built for maneuverability in space, the weaponry is low caliber. This is the common beginners suit."

Matt nodded as he listened to her. This was what he remembered from the game. Space Marine was the basic model of combat suit. She described it as being used to maneuver in space but it had an even better function—Speed. In normal gravity, when the maneuver system is activated, a human could reach very high speeds. He wasn't sure the exact numbers since movement speed wasn't calculated with standard conventions in the game. However, an unsuited crewman moved at two-hundred. In the suit, they moved at five-hundred. This was a two-hundred fifty percent increase.

"So, I'll be practicing with that suit until I master it. Unfortunately, since I'll be unable to do my duties soon, that will have to wait until after the delivery."

"Have you already set up your maternity leave?"

"I'll be off-duty starting next week."

The two of them eventually made it to the front of the line where people were being served their meal and two capsules. In order to ensure everyone was protected, they were required to take the capsules in front of the server. Matt thought this was all extremely suspicious so he carefully hid the capsule behind his molar and spit it out into a napkin on his way to a table. Fortunately, he had a mass spectrometer in his lab and would be able to confirm whether this drug is what they say it is.

Once they sat down, Matt started on his meal. He figured out that his actions may have been a bit too forward in the past so he recently became stealthier about his eating habits. He would eat some side dishes first with a few slices of steak in between. Seeing his points go up by three made him disappointed. A slightly bigger steak would likely give him four all the time, but his current serving had a good chance of only three.

Regardless, he was still happy about his gains. Matt decided that evolving Dream Casting would be a good idea. He brought up the skill and read it over a few times. Based on Whispers becoming Telepathy, he was certain that Dream Casting would become much better once it was evolved. He confirmed the evolution in his mind and suddenly felt lightheaded. He covered up his change in demeaner by coughing after drinking some water.

[Dream Walking Lv. 1: Your consciousness is able to form an astral body which can enter the dreams of living creatures. Once within, you are capable of influencing the dreams directly and witnessing them.

>Ability: Dream Walk

>Level Cost: 16 EP]

[Dream Walk

Activation: Astral Body

Duration: 4 hours

Influence: Minor]

Once Matt was able to take control and stop his Astral Body from forming, he internally cheered in excitement. This is exactly what he needed. Matt couldn't keep risking interacting with people directly until he was stronger. This was a silent means of interrogating people. Although he would need to filter through a lot of subconscious dream noise, there is a high chance he would learn some very sensitive information. Matt determined that this was definitely high priority to level.

Additionally, he would be able to screen his potential allies. With this, he could safely investigate Alexis's mind. Once he was satisfied that she wasn't a hidden agent investigating him, he would begin her brainwashing and eventually have her become his first acolyte. The thought of being the target of worship excited Matt. He wasn't sure if this was his human side, his parasite side, or both. Matt realized how scary those thoughts were which led to many wars in history.

'Anyway, that's in the future. I'll cross that bridge once I get to it.'

After dinner, he walked Alexis back to their quarters and went to see his 'good friend.' Matt still didn't know the man's name, but he also didn't really care to learn it. Once he arrived, the guy was already there drinking while leaning on the bar. Matt came over and patted his shoulder. He was all smiles as he greeted this unknown victim.

[Hypnotism Activated.]

"Hey man, you're early! Let's get a table."

"Oh hey. Yeah, sure."

The two of them drank for hours. Due to Matt's Toxin Resistance, he couldn't get drunk unless he took in fifty times the amount of a normal person. However, he was good at acting due to perfect mimicry and was able to fool everyone. He intermittently used Hypnosis and once the man was drunk enough, he created a Telepathy channel and started saying things into his head as if they were his own thoughts.

{It's all his fault.}

{He is stealing my spot.}

{…}

Matt made sure to build up the man's resentment toward Lorenz. There was no basis for these thoughts, but he was drunk and it would slowly seep into his subconscious. Matt occasionally asked some leading questions. Once the man started cursing all the wrongs he suffered because of Lorenz in the past, Matt knew it was working. However, he didn't go overboard and once he seemed too drunk to stay conscious, Matt brought him to his quarters.

"Hic, ye-eah that-that's the one. Ah crap, my ro-oom mates are going to be pissed."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them."

"Ah-ha. Thanks Mike."

Matt entered the room shaking his head. He had used Life Sense outside to see how many people were in the room already and confirmed it was only one. Once they entered, Matt set the man down and started explaining to his roommate. He used Hypnosis to make everything about the situation seem normal and then he marked the two of them.

He discovered that he could leave a piece of his Astral Body on someone so that it was easier to find them once his Astral Body left Matt's mind. With the two of them marked, Matt hypnotized the roommate to sleep early. Then, Matt took out one of the metal bracelets from his lab and stuck it around the drunk man's leg. It pierced him and drew out a vial of blood. Then, Matt left as if nothing happened.

[Grade 2 Genetic Material Detected. 100% compatibility. Consume for 6 Evolution Points.]