“Well I wouldn’t recommend you go inside then,” Arthur said, the Hivemind manipulating his heart rate to make the older man have a red face and slightly swollen sinuses. “Tom had a nasty cough yesterday. Could barely get through work with it.”

“I trust that wholeheartedly,” Olivia assured the old man. “The report he sent in said that he had extreme trouble thinking straight. Since this is the second he’s had that recently, we nearly just decided to send him to the hospital.”

“Isn’t that a little precautionary?” Arthur questioned as the Hivemind in the meanwhile was shaking itself. Another method to gain privacy would have to be used next time, the idea of using one of the vacation days seeming better. None were available at the moment but the Parasite was decently sure that other vessels could donate theirs.

“It very much is, but we can’t take chances with people your age. It takes one wrong step before we have to foot a million-dollar bill because you decided to break every bone in your body because you sneezed too hard,” Olivia said, the mental image seeming enough to get the woman in good spirits for a moment. “But, that isn’t why I am here anyway. Your friend, Tom, decided to fill the form rather weirdly so we had to make sure that he read through the questions. And since he isn’t answering his phone, I was told to make sure that he got things in order.”

“That isn't too far from something Tom would do,” Arthur agreed. “Who told you to do the check-up?”

“My leader is Joel, bless his name,” Olivia said. “He’s one of the few who doesn’t like his coffee with some extremely specific steps.”

“You sound like you’re talking from experience regarding that,” Arthur said, letting the woman rant about her issues as the Kara vessel began to look around its immediate location.

The vessel was currently doing a presentation on her findings about the economic stability of the newly-harvested crops, and the potential to branch out through other supply lines with the extra materials.

Skipping ahead through the slides just slightly, a small bit of acting came into play.

“Oh, sorry, I seem to have forgotten to insert quite the graph into this part,” Kara said, first checking the next few parts before checking her bag for a USB drive. Cursing under her breath, she looked at one of them, many in the conference room waiting for her to proceed. “Joel, do you know where Olivia is at the moment? I had her grab a few files for me a few days ago and I might have forgotten to get a USB back from her.”

“I have her doing some small errands right now,” Joel answered. “I can call for her if you need it.”

“That would be splendid, thank you,” Kara said, the Hivemind showing its relief through the vessel as the manager immediately brought out her phone, sending a text for the woman to get back to the administration buildings. Looking through the eyes of Arthur, the other vessel was able to see the moment that the message came to the woman.

“Great to hear that she is of use to you, by the way,” Joel said. “She makes some amazing coffee.”

“I can’t help but agree on that,” Kara said, shooting the man a smile as the Hivemind focused back on Arthur.

The old man had been able to distract the woman long enough, the Biomancer not needing to step in with an accident of some sort. The fact that the latter option was not needed was great, the Parasite still not sure how it would have been able to play off knocking Olivia in the back of the head with a bottle.

“Damn it all!” Olivia said as she looked at her phone. “My boss wants me to come in with some USB disk that I got from Kara. Sorry, Arthur, but I’ll have to leave you. If you see Tom, make him fill out that report properly. I’ve wasted too much time here already.”

“I’ll do just that, don’t you worry!” Arthur assured the woman as she ran off. Taking a look at the time remaining, the Hivemind didn’t spend much time letting the vessels be out of place. The misunderstanding with the managers was dealt with easily, Arthur was put back into place, and the Biomancer was made to help the old man with a part of the work to explain the recent walk.

Evolution complete

[Analyzation] has been increased by [1]

Without any further complications, the timer was allowed to come to an end. The changes were about the same as the last time, the last lung made to mirror the other. Both were still a complete mystery to the Hivemind. It would have thought the structure would have been different since another stat had been upgraded but they were still eerily close to each other in the inner structure. What were the true mechanics for upgrades?

Such questions were put to the side as the Hivemind focused on the changes to its mind. It didn’t merely expand as had been done last time. Instead, it was like it all became a bit more understandable. The vessels showed more of themselves, their movements making more sense. Each part of each vessel’s body could be focused down to incredible levels, the Hivemind able to point out individual blood vessels when it truly tried.

The level of focus possible was incredible, though it hit the vessels slightly due to the larger focus required for deeper detail. To gain full access, the Hivemind waited until the night before it truly began to study its new capabilities.

The Main-Host’s new organs were still as big a mystery as ever but the details around it were clear. The Hivemind was able to look through each vessel without issue, able to note the differences in structure. It wasn’t able to dive deep enough to look at the DNA but it was able to look deep enough to see small errors in the structures. It was surprising how many times the bodies of humans messed up when passively regenerating cells.

Hundreds of minor mistakes could be found on each vessel, the count only increasing with time as the Hivemind looked more thoroughly through them. It was never anything major but the mistakes were cumulative with time. It took only three weak points on a single muscle before its effectiveness decreased tremendously.

Such errors were not allowed.

It was such a thought process that allowed the Hivemind to discover the next ability that the upgrade had allowed. By diverting [Ether], it was able to fix mistakes on the Main-Host. Skin stopped sagging, protrusions went back into the body, and the slight case of cataracts was wiped away. It cost around [20 Ether] to accomplish but the final results left a vessel that seemed ten years younger. Not on the superficial traits, however, letting the Hivemind continue the use of the Main-Host without issue.

The same process didn’t seem to work on the other vessels. Testing it out, it seemed that physical contact with the Main-Host was required before [Ether] could be expended on the task. Such a fact was going to make it more complicated to optimise the bodies of all the vessels but the Hivemind was sure it could accomplish it over a longer period. For now, it decided to focus on another detail that it had found.

While looking at the Biomancer, the Parasite had been able to note a new strain moving through the body. It wasn’t like anything the other vessels had shown off, and the slight alterations to it seen while the Biomancer used his powers made it clear what it truly was. The Hivemind had found the source of the man’s power.

Granted, it had no way to copy it for the other vessels. Try as it might, the Parasite couldn’t get to a level where it understood how to construct the material from scratch. And seeing how it was specifically made for the vessel in question, merely copying it would do nothing. Ignoring that initial setback, however, the Hivemind grew excited by another part of the material. As the Biomancer continued to use their abilities, the Parasite was able to spot several small flaws in the power. Just like what the bodies of the regular vessels had shown off, there was distinct room to improve. And the [System] thought so as well.

[Power Manipulation Interface] Unlocked!

Current vessel(s) this change applies to: [Oak Williams]

Focusing on the interface’s mention of the Biomancer, the Hivemind was met with a new screen.

Power Manipulation Screen

Power:

Biomancy

Possible Upgrades/Cost:

[Range/100E]

[???/??E]

[???/??E]

No matter how much the Parasite pressed the system for more information, nothing came along. The potential of what was being shown was incredible. The Hivemind did immediately want to upgrade the powered vessel it already had access to but decided against it. Having no idea how the list of [Possible Upgrades] would react once an upgrade had been chosen, the Parasite had no desire to risk losing upgrades that had the potential to be superior to the currently available one. If the Hivemind was able to increase the range of the power through a cursory glance, what would happen once it could go one step deeper? Or maybe more could be learned through nothing more than just studying it more. The truth had to be revealed with time.