The next week we spent trainign as well, sworjuice pushing herself the hardest she could every night ending up almost like a pool of noodle, I gave her always the serum, as we started calling it and every morning she woke up ready for more.

All the others were also engangin in that, led pushing them with ocnstant reminders to not waste the opportunity.

Victor had joied us in out training fights, being a real menace on the battlefield dishing out all types of artillery at long range and having a versatile attack and defense at close quarters.

The fights between him and sworjuice were the most interesting as their powers worked on smiliar levls, giving them attack and defense at the same time, and when sordjuice put on a shourd that wasn’t as stacked as the extreme ones she used agaisnt me the ycoudl fight on very close levels of powers

Sworjuce was still stronger over all being able to outlast victor in the amount of time she could stay in batle even more having more jellies to use that she stacks up on outside combat, while if victors energy ran out that was it.

Even then he didn’t go down easily, getting more and more combat able with the almost reletless training he shot the best type of ammuntion agasint sworjuices shrouds, made sheilds that absorbed the kniectd energy of her blunt attacks while using the solid metal to defenct agasin the slashing attacks,

He could wrap it around himself which made for a great cosply of (silver guy la) wihihc was hiralirous and made everyone crack up the frist time he pulled it off.

Fightin me was the same as with everyone else, I could addapt to protect me gform the diverse types of bullets and attacks that he could pull and then every fight I could just turn into that optimal tranformation and start with ahead from the begginnung,

One interesting thing was trying to fight on the same terms where we tried to up one another using the four mods in interesting ways, he would enhance invert or delay properties of his attack trying to get over my tranformations, which as the fight went along made me improve in a way that tried to emcompass more and more of all the possibilities.

Sometimes that was simply the protection that I had becoming more and more robust but then on one of our fghits instead of simple using the enhance on my own created armor I started trying to use invert in it but trying to make my skin apy the effect in what struck it, in its hardness for starters.

At first it didn’t work, only refusing to make itself softer, it was notousrily hard to try and impose a trnaformation that would hinder me in my matrix, what probably also prevented me from making any catrastrophic msistakes in my dozens of tests.

The fight dragged on with victor trying out making the most liquid and soft bullets he could and then inverting their softness, it resulted in some very hard hits that splashed like water but impacted with the same force as a normal bullet not having any of the felxibility it shoub be, each droplet was like a shard of metal.

Then my matrix eventually caught on, and made a mind boggling invertment of the interpreting mod intelaying them so that it instead of being imbued with something would reflect it, it was fickle and broke apart after making victors attacks innefective for a couple secons taht I used to rush him down.

It didn’t las long but it showed the infinity possibilities when powers were laid like bricks before you.

Spotlight could sneak up on him as didnt have any protection agaisnt that, but his I though his metal could gain sentience or maybe a survainlance ability or even a passive defensinve mode if he could encounter other powers that created weapons with those abilities.

The other night me and led had went to old dans house as planned, to give the old man a power or try to, his diminished core was a curious happenstance and once more it was something that I was oging to discover more about along the way as I interacted with more people, trying to give them powers.

Led and me made the same dance as before, him putting his buffs on frist and then me coming along and giving the person a connection, this time we explained from the beginign what dan had to do sometihng victor had to figure out by himself. But now it would be easier

But maybe because his core was so much smaller it was more difficult for him to actually grasp into the conncetion and try and expand it, the second tim ewe tried he difinetely felt something, the inkling of a way but it took another three times before it acutally worked, and the awakening of his core send the buffs and my tether scattergin away into nothing.

I frist saw his reaction I nthe real world, marveling at his own hands and with a giddinnes that I ver saw anything close to on his face. He was mostly the same, only the lobes of his ears extending while it got progressively greener, finishing I nwhat seemed like a seed pod at the end of each of his lobes, like a long green pearl earring.

You know living with this all this time, it really is something diferent to actually have one yourself.

I know, feel much more real huh

Yeah...

Can you tell what it is?

Yeah.. He said almost in a daze raising his hand to us to see, in the palm of his hand there was a bump, like another one of his seed pods. It is growin in here he said, and touched one of his lobes with his other hand and here too.

A mutation power then? Something to do with plants

I guess so, he said shruggin

Can you tell what it does? Or something? Led asked

Calmd down boy, I can. When theyre ready i can plant them and they’ll produce diferent plants, I have four. It seems, one for each seedpod.

Interesting I said, approaching to look at the seedpod in the palm of his hand

And can you tell what each one does?

Yeah, its like its part of me man. I tihnk ill be deeply cneected with these plants. He raised his right hand this one has a feeling like, action, like when you finally give someone a jump after waitign around a corner.

He touched his right lobe then this one feels like when you notice someona at a distance you know, or from out of a crowd.

He turned his left hand showing the pod in there too and this one. Like the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, those that with a drink make you feel more alert. And lastly he gestured towards the left lobe his palm staying there in the gesture as the silence stented

Nothing?

Yeah, nothing he laughed. Its like...h ecupped his chin deep in though.holding a chritmass present, that you have no idea what will come of it.

Can you accelerate them?

I do, the ones in my hadns he extender his hadn to us again, the right one and frowned starting at the pod.

He visibly got slimmer, stumbling in place, I hel him up quicly alarmed

Its done, he said showing us the brilliat seed, like a gem made of the purest green.

Jesus man youre okay?

Yeah he said feebly and we guided him to a chair.

Jesus man semes like you lost like 5kg

I feel fine eh ocoughed a manic grin on his slughtyl sunken face, lok at this he said showing the seed

Yeah I saw your seed

How much time you figure it will take to grow?

Ill go plant it

Me and led followe the man as he went out on his couwryard around his house found a good spot and shoved the plant on the ground, it surprinsigly did sroup immeditaly but only growing to a sapling, little more than 20 centimenters.

Led and I stared in slight disapointment

A green thumb huh

Humph, thsis will take time, yes, but look at this place, he gestured to the multitude of plant around his house, the plantations extention over the horizon.

Don’t you get it, this little plant here isnt the only one, itll produce seeds herself

My eyes widened a bit at that, crzy this really was a long term power but shit, he could then probably breed them together to make stronger variations, and the one who came with ramdom properties was to make an even bigger bucker of possibilities.

That’s a crzy power then man, a garndenres dream

Dan chuclked evily croucehd in fonrt of the little plant, and after a while of letting him admire it we maneagded to bring him to inside his house. I inteded to look closely over his powers, even though I dint tihnk that the power itself would be of much help to me, giving how long term it was, the mechaniscs interested me

And I’ll certainly visits if he managed to make some nteresting plants, I think THEY’D have matrices of themselves, could a copy a plants matrix? Probably.

I connected with dan’s newly formed matrix while he rested in the couch with a cup of water talking with led.

It stayed small sunrpsisingly as with a power that comlpes I really thoutght it might haven gotten big, but it did use his own body as fuel and seemd to otherwise grow slowly, with his bodys nutrients most likely,

I dived deeper, not fiding much of anything until I encountered the part that dictated what would be in his phisical body

The same part where my mutations started, the matrix changed there and made my body change as well, I concentrated in the area fully, seeing that there was a strong connection with his body.

Was this how mutation powers worked then, it made sense. Interesting but there were no more matrices here, there was how he would be able to direct his body energy to the seed pods and the creation of the seed pods, where was the rest of it?

Wait, would it be in his actual body, separated just like victors’ metal is, but not exactly in here, but maybe I just didn’t see it because his matrix is so small. I moved my conscious form the tether back to my matrix, and extended my tentacles form it in the idirection of the tether, putting everything in it so that I could ‘see’ with them

Looking here from outise I oculd see another four clusters of matrix orbiting aournd dans matrix from a distance, so there they were. Orbiting implied motion thoug hand they were just there.

I opened my eyes briefly seeing that the matrix were overposed with his body where the pods were with his core being around his chest.

This time I went to study the pods directyl, putting my sensor all over them and cofcusing completely, the implications of this new way of building matrices had been floating around in the back of my mind and it could be the missing piece to making mre leaps and bounds in manipulating my matrix and giving myself even more powers.

It was something that I had been planning on doing, mutating myself, manipulating the part of me that dictated the way my body should be and tehrefore creating something new, I had no frame for it though and I was sure that going at it badly would only result in terrible outcomes.

I di thing this was how different mutation powers arised though, matricies fused to the bodies biology creating a variety of powers like an organ that produces a type of superpowered hormone or an arm that can destroy anything it touches.

And it showed me a way ahead instead of only building from nothing and tryinf to create better biologicaa material than what a power like rebecas would provide me, I could try to combine a litte bit of mutating with new whole powers, if I could implement in myself the matrix that I couldn’t implement in my tranformation I could be looking to a whole new array of powers.