Imposter System

Alexis sat in the office and stared at the other wyrmling. She had already started the process for creating a new one after reabsorbing once. This had given her five proficiency points. That meant she would have to wait the full duration of the wyrmlings gestation period in order to reach the next mastery level. Therefore, she decided to reabsorb the other wyrmling as well. Part of her started to hate the idea of wasting those points. She felt like she could do much better.

Although the Blood Burst was interesting, Alexis wanted better. Her instinct told her that a higher proficiency would also give higher quality spawns. After swallowing the Wyrmling, she immediately formed another egg. This pushed her proficiency to one hundred, increasing the master of her spawning ability. Alexis felt the changes in her body and smiled. Now I can create a stronger army for Matt, she thought.

[Spawning

Species: Wyrmling, Dracolisk, Tarranaught

Gestation: 216/576/720 -> 192/528/648 hours

Active Spawns: 3/4

Proficiency: Flawed (0/100)]

The time to spawn a Wyrmling, Dracolisk, and Tarranaught went down one, two, and three days respectively. Although she was curious about the other two spawns, Alexis understood the logic behind only making Wyrmlings.

Once she was proficient enough, she could devote the time and energy to the other two. Additionally, the maximum number of spawns she could have increased by one. With this, she immediately began growing a third wyrmling egg. She had to admit, the process of creation and destruction was addicting. She felt something itch along her hairline at the back of her neck and when she scratched it, some peeling skin came off.

Before Alexis could ponder what it was, she sensed her tertiary parasite linking to another organism. At first, she thought it would be another woman, but she realized quickly that it was something far scarier. The initial flood of thoughts was like a tsunami. Since she was the primary link between Martha and the rest of the group, she took the brunt of it.

The feeling was similar to when Alexandria first joined the collective. However, instead of the feeling of rejection from the foreign parasite, Alexis only felt acceptance and unity from Martha. Though, this didn't prevent her from being overwhelmed by the sheer size of Martha's mind. As a descendant of her race, one shouldered with the responsibility of bringing it back to life, she had all the ancestral memories from the ancient world tree.

Alexis was overwhelmed by the small fragments of memories, and if Martha meant harm, Alexis's brain would turn to mush from the amount of information. After connecting to the group, and sensing the familiar Alexis and Matt, Martha withdrew her thoughts and began to awaken. The solution that Willard had injected into her caused her body to undergo a transformation.

As Alexis attempted to establish the connected with her new follower, Matt was inspecting Martha's skills and abilities.

[All-Devourer Lv. Max: Yggdra are blessed with the ability to transform all matter into energy. Due to the limitations of hybridization, matter must be taken orally and at a set interval to avoid over nourishment.

]Capacity: 2,223/5,000 kg

]Interval: 8 years]

Matt was shocked to see that Martha had consumed so much mass. However, based on the interval it seemed to make sense. It was likely everything she had consumed since her birth, even while in plant form. It seemed the number went down over time so there was also likely some consumed along the way. Thinking about it, it was possible that she had reached her previous limitation and needed to get stronger to deal with the over nourishment or digest it in hibernation.

[Universal Energy Conversion Lv. Max: Due to the incomplete nature of the Lesser Yggdra, you have developed the ability to convert all forms of energy to a compatible form. Process requires a high-energy catalyst and has a large amount of waste product.

]Conversion Ratio: 12%]

This seemed to be the source of the radioactive material within Martha's seeds. It turned out that this was due to the poor conversion ratio, and infertile seeds were the easiest ways to remove them from her body. Seeing the rate or conversion, Matt thought it was quite abysmal.

Thinking of the original lifeform that Martha was created from, he could only imagine how ridiculous their control over energy was. This was probably the reason Excalibur required the branch as its body. No other material could withstand the energy output of the mysterious 'Heart of a Dragon.'

[Longevity Lv. 2: Yggdra are ageless and never grow old or have diseases. Due to being a Lesser product, you have only acquired a longer life.

]Lifespan: +10,000 Earth Years]

[Spatial Control Lv. 1: Due to an abnormality in your genetics during hybridization and then subsequent over nourishment, you have developed minor control over gravity and space-time. May increase or decrease gravity in a short area, as well as manipulating relativity.

]Gravity Control: 1.4

]Space-Time Control: 1.2

]Range: 10 meters]

Matt wasn't specifically impressed with Longevity as it made sense. However, when he read spatial control, he was very shocked. This wasn't something that came from Martha's ancestry, but a mutation! The ability to control space-time was beyond human realms. This was certainly the ability of a Grade Three or higher life form! That meant Martha was on the verge of becoming much stronger. He was both relieved and regretful simultaneously.

If she became a Grade Three before Matt, she could have very well turned on him. However, this meant that he lost a source of highly valuable genetic material. He tested his Energy Vampire ability on Martha, but it didn't seem to do anything. He shook his head and inspected the Energy Parasite within his mind. It had shrunk to the size of a crumb and was just about to disappear completely.

As the last bit of Willard's attempt to control Matt disappeared, a large amount of energy flowed into Matt.

[Conscious Energy Absorbed. 91% Compatibility. Grade 2+. 310 Evolution Points Gained.]

'Incredible. Willard you poor bastard, why is your ability so weak?' Matt enjoyed the flow of energy. It was a very significant boost. He had never received that many points in a single action before. He could recognize the feeling of being high by comparison. Without missing a beat, Matt immediately upgraded his Genetic Assimilation.

[Genetic Assimilation Lv. 7->8: There is no being in the universe with more potential than the parasite. This is not because of their individual strength, but due to their ability to steal all other beings' strengths. Instead of replacing the host for a more suitable vessel, absorbing the genetics of all creatures will allow the parasite to enhance, improve, and perfect a unique body.

]Ability: Detect Life (400m->600m)

]Absorption Grade Limit: 4->4

]Unique Ability Limit: 2->2

]Efficiency: 170%->180%

]Level Cost: 520 EP->680 EP]

Although it seemed far from the ultimate goal of level ten, it was only because he held himself back for so many months. The amount of genetic material saved up in Alexandria's blood samples should bring him to the peak. He was excited to see which Human ability he would gain at that point. Additionally, he hoped that the samples counted toward his accumulation of the Ku'Lothri.

Matt returned to the main room to let Martha finish her process. However, he realized something strange. Why was it that Martha didn't have an ability to turn invisible? He had forgotten about that point and turned back at the door. He could only wait for her to finish before investigating, therefore he left it alone and continued onward.

This would be a good opportunity to test Scorch's attitude. Matt knew that Scorch was aware of Martha's existence. However, he seemed to allow it to exist. The most reasonable explanation was probably the experiments happening with the alien branch. This would mean that the branch was being studied by the same faction as Scorch.

If that were true, then Martha was actually a product of the faction opposing Willard. That would also explain why he was trying to take her. However, what confused him was why Willard didn't take her from him long ago. Matt decided to put it in the back of his mind and wait to have more clues.

The action that Scorch takes after Martha regains her cat-like body will open the door to new questions. This would also allow Matt to figure out all of the hands in the dark. Since he planned to make the crew his subordinates, Matt needed to know who was in power and what kind of influence they had. The quickest way to the top was to control those key persons.

Of course, he had never considered himself as the person to hold the power on the surface. He had long since devised a plan to put his subordinates in positions of power all over the ship while slowly turning everyone. However, his plans had been on hold due to the lack of knowledge and the mysterious Patient Zero.

'I just need it to make a mistake so that I can destroy it. There can only be one.'